Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL150001A
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:02 and sit bit as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of House calls. 00:23 Hello, friends, welcome to the best Bible program 00:26 this time of the day anywhere on the planet. 00:29 And my friend, John agrees. Don't you John? 00:31 Hey, it is-- 00:32 I wouldn't be here. That's right. 00:34 If we didn't believe that to be true, 00:35 we really would be sitting here with our two laptops, 00:37 our Bible questions, our Bibles, 00:39 and with you tuning as an audience. 00:42 So we thank you so much for tuning in. 00:44 Get your Bibles 00:45 because this is the program that you've been waiting for. 00:47 And, John, what are we gonna be discussing today, 00:50 just you can give us a tease. 00:51 God's character, you know 00:53 it's really come under fire of light, 00:55 and it's time that we see with the word 00:57 has to say about it. 00:58 Okay. 01:00 And as you know, friends, we don't do anything. 01:01 We're gonna gone to our Bible questions. 01:03 When we get back in just a moment, 01:04 we'll tell you where to send your Bible questions. 01:07 And but before we do any of that, 01:09 we're gonna have prayer. 01:10 And John is always the one designated to have our prayer. 01:13 So, John, lead us before the throne of grace. 01:15 Happy to do that. 01:16 Father in heaven, we're thankful again 01:18 to open your word and to have that word 01:20 that we can trust and you too about reveal truth 01:23 and reveal yourself through. 01:26 We pray that you'd send your spirit, Lord, 01:28 to help along this program and to be with each here 01:31 so that we might understand not only that truth 01:33 but who you are more deeply in our heart. 01:36 In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. 01:39 As you know, friends, 01:40 many of you send your Bible questions. 01:41 We thank you for those of you 01:43 who are still sending in the letters, 01:45 we still accept them. 01:46 I know that many of you know the address, 01:48 PO box 220, West Frankfort, IL 62896. 01:52 Attention: House calls. 01:54 But some of you send the email, 01:56 the question, which we appreciate those also. 01:58 But if you have any questions at all, 02:00 you can send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org. 02:04 That's housecalls@3abn.org. 02:08 Keep them coming because we really enjoy your questions. 02:11 And even thank you for those who repeat questions 02:13 because sometimes we answer questions, 02:15 we may leave something out, 02:17 and if you want for the clarification 02:19 you can send those questions us again. 02:20 But, John, what do we have today? 02:23 Well, we've got several questions. 02:24 I think we're gonna start off with the couple 02:26 little, a little faster. 02:28 And then we can get to a question 02:29 that may take a little longer. 02:31 So I'm gonna mention here a one question 02:33 that is a little more brief, just a request by Cathie. 02:38 And she is asking us to elaborate on Psalm 45:11. 02:42 So lets take a look at Psalm 45:11, 02:45 and I'll read that here for you. 02:47 In fact, why don't we back of few verses 02:49 just so we get the context. 02:51 All right. 02:52 Psalm 45, let's start with verse 6. 02:55 Okay. 02:57 "Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever, 02:59 scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom. 03:03 You love righteousness and hate wickedness, 03:05 therefore, God, your God, 03:06 has anointed you with the oil of gladness 03:09 more than your companions 03:11 All Your garments are sainted with myrrh, 03:14 and aloes, and cassia out of the ivory palaces 03:17 by which they have made you glad. 03:20 Kings daughters are among your honorable women. 03:24 At your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. 03:27 Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear 03:30 forget your own people also and your father's house". 03:32 And here is the verse 03:34 "So the king will greatly desire your beauty 03:36 because he is your Lord, worship him." 03:39 Okay. 03:40 And I think probably one of the questions, 03:42 a part of the question 03:43 that they are asking us to elaborate on is, 03:45 is what's kind of a depth they meaning here 03:48 because we need to know who the king is. 03:52 And we also need to know who's this daughter is 03:55 that is been spoken of in this passage. 03:58 First of all if the king is the one that is the Lord 04:00 and to worship him, we know that only can be Jesus. 04:03 That's right. 04:04 Jesus throughout the Bible is clearly the king. 04:07 The other part, the daughter is also revealed in that 04:10 the Bible depicts a woman, daughter often, 04:15 as one that is the wife of the Lord 04:19 or he is the husband and the daughter is his wife. 04:23 And so his church 04:25 is really what he is talking about here, his people. 04:29 If you look else for in scripture as well 04:31 you'll find such as Isaiah 61. 04:34 Isaiah talks about how the Lord ornaments are puts, 04:37 for beautiful things on his woman, 04:40 on the daughter. 04:42 And of course, we knows those beautiful ornaments 04:43 are not true rings, and necklaces, and ear rings, 04:47 and in all that kind of stuff. 04:48 It's the beauty of holiness, it's serving the Lord, 04:50 it's walking in God's ways. 04:53 And so he's asking, his to saying here really, 04:55 this is a prophecy about the king desire 04:58 that desire for his wife, the church, 05:01 to walk in that beauty, to walk in the holiness of God, 05:04 to worship their king and their king alone, 05:06 and to serve him. 05:08 And that's really the deeper meaning of this. 05:09 There may some other things 05:11 that people have some different prospective on, 05:14 but at the heart of it that's the message. 05:16 And truly you know, 05:18 you talked about the Lord ornamenting his church, 05:20 he uses the illustration of the Asian bride. 05:23 If you go to India, you see ornamentation is opulent 05:30 when you see the bride. 05:31 So much of the wedding in Asia is indicative of Christ saying, 05:35 "Do you see that bride? 05:37 Hey, a picture of the beauty of my church." 05:40 Not the false externals 05:42 but the beauty that he gives her, 05:45 he's weighing far greater 05:46 than the beauty that is seen in the external Asian wedding. 05:51 But that was pretty clear to the point, 05:53 I don't think there's as much of explanation 05:54 that needs to be there. 05:57 Question we have here, Luke 22:36-38. 06:03 I am gonna go ahead and read those. 06:05 And I am reading in the end New King James version. 06:09 And the question is, "Would you kindly explain 06:12 what does the sword in these verses stands for? 06:15 I have not seen them used anywhere 06:18 after the Lord told them to go and get swords, 06:22 and to sell what they have, and buy one if necessary." 06:27 Think you joy, and it puts you a servant in Christ. 06:31 And they are from Trinidad. 06:32 So, hey, we got some questions coming from the West Indies. 06:36 So that's the wonderful thing. 06:37 Lets read the verses, Luke 22:36-38. 06:41 And by the way, the lady who raised me 06:42 was from Trinidad, that's why I can't did that little thing. 06:44 You identified with that. Exactly. 06:47 "Then He said," that is Jesus in verse 36, He said to them, 06:51 "By but now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, 06:57 and likewise a knapsack, and he who has no sword, 07:01 let him sell his garment and buy one. 07:05 For I say to you that this which is written 07:08 must be accomplished in Me. 07:11 And he was numbered with the transgressors 07:14 for the things concerning Me have an end." 07:18 And verse 38, "So they said, 'Look, Lord, or Lord, look, 07:23 here are two swords, 07:25 and He said to them, 'It is enough.'" 07:27 And I think those the verses that they referring to there. 07:30 Now the question is I believe, 07:33 is the Lord advocating violence? 07:36 Because you know, we think at the context of the sword. 07:39 What's actually happening here 07:40 is when Jesus began his ministry, 07:43 what was closely associate with his ministry 07:46 was the tension that builds on the announcement 07:50 that another king has risen. 07:54 He could possibly be the messiah 07:56 or he could be the king 07:58 that overthrows the Roman government. 08:00 And the tensions here 08:02 are not any tension that we can take lightly, 08:04 so we must "protect ourselves." 08:08 So when Jesus referred to the disciples needing a sword, 08:12 and they say, look we have two swords 08:13 and Lord says, well, that's enough. 08:16 He was not advocating, you take that sword 08:18 to use a sword, he was simply recognizing the tension 08:22 that the atmosphere in which his ministry began 08:25 shifted so much to violence. 08:27 And if you notice further on, matter of fact, 08:30 I'll give you a couple of text here 08:31 just to bring this to, bring this point home. 08:34 Jesus wasn't saying to the disciple, 08:37 when the time comes, 08:38 if you need the sword, kill them. 08:40 Right. Right. 08:42 He wasn't saying that this is, arm yourself. 08:44 But the visibility of the sword 08:46 was not the advocacy of violence. 08:49 Let me give you a couple of examples, 08:51 Mathew 10:34. 08:53 Look at the ways that Jesus uses the sword. 08:56 He says "Do not think 08:57 that I came to bring peace on earth. 08:59 I did not come to bring peace but a sword". 09:04 He is saying a lot of people think 09:05 that my mission is going to be a peaceful mission. 09:08 Well, if I was living at the time that Jesus arrived 09:10 and I was apart of the Judeo-Christian church 09:14 at the time or the before it became the Christian, 09:16 the movement of Judaism. 09:18 And then the messiah showed up 09:20 and I was told about my leaders, that's not him. 09:23 And then the Romans were told by the Jews, 09:25 that's not him. 09:26 And we both have something to fear, 09:28 this man is gonna overthrow our government, 09:30 he's gonna upset our religion, so you got be careful. 09:33 And then now there is search looking for him. 09:36 You can see the tension of the atmosphere, 09:38 but Jesus made it very clear. 09:40 And Mathew 10:34, and Luke 12:51, 09:43 he talked about he didn't come to bring peace 09:46 but He brought a sword in Mathew, 09:48 and then He equated that sword to division. 09:51 But to show that He did not support violence, 09:54 when they came and arrest the Jesus in the garden, 09:57 Peter took out his sword 09:59 and he cut off the ear of one of the solders. 10:03 And Jesus made it very clear in Mathew 26:52, he said, 10:08 "Put your sword in its place, 10:10 for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." 10:16 So now the question you ask, okay, Peter probably said, 10:19 "Lord, didn't you tell me to get a sword?" 10:23 He said, "I didn't tell you to use it to hurt anybody. 10:27 Just, it has a visible representation of protection 10:30 but do not take that sword out because if you'll use it, 10:33 it's gonna be the same instrument 10:35 by which you're gonna perish." 10:37 And then finally the reiteration of that 10:39 and the apostle John in Revelation 13:10, 10:43 "He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. 10:46 He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword." 10:52 So then what's the obvious stipulation for the sword? 10:58 Well, Paul the apostle brings the sword into full view 11:02 when he speaks about the sword. 11:05 Not of the solder, not of the murderer, 11:09 but the sword of the spirit is the word of the God. 11:13 And so the sword, that's most likely talked about here is, 11:15 Jesus saying, the reasons 11:17 why there is going to be such tension in my arrival 11:20 is because they see me as one who brings division. 11:23 And truly, my doctor more cause division 11:26 but the reason why its gonna cause division 11:28 is because I come not with the Roman sword 11:31 but I come with the sword of the spirit, 11:33 which is the word of God. 11:34 And the proclamation of that sword, 11:36 the spiritual sword, division become the result. 11:39 Its amazing, you know, when Jesus comes back 11:41 a sword is gonna be proceed from his mouth, 11:43 which is the word of God. 11:45 So this is not the advocacy of violence 11:47 but in fact, talking about the fact 11:49 that my mission will be accompanied by tension 11:52 on both the side of the Jews and the Romans, 11:55 but we need to show ourselves ready for this atmosphere, 11:59 but I am not advocating that you take that sword 12:01 and even cut any one with it, 12:03 as it's the case when Peter used it. 12:05 And you know, to elaborate on that further 12:07 I like which you mentioned here with Paul, 12:09 how he talks about the sword of the spirit 12:11 as the word of God. 12:12 We even have to be careful when we wield the sword of, 12:15 the word of God. 12:17 Because remember that it's the sword of the spirit, 12:20 it's the spirit that wields the sword. 12:23 Sometimes we can take the sword and we can start cutting, 12:27 and then we assume the position of a spirit, 12:30 and no longer it's the sword of the spirit, 12:32 it became the sword of John. 12:33 Like the sword of Peter, right. 12:35 And so we can do that even with the word of God. 12:38 We need to make sure that the Holy Spirit 12:40 is the one wielding that sword, 12:42 He is the one that's on the offensive 12:43 in their heart. 12:45 We present the message, 12:46 we present in loving and care for others 12:48 but the Holy Spirit does the convicting. 12:50 You know I like that you bring that out. 12:52 One of the things is we both think alike a lot, 12:55 that's why I decided to give him my name. 12:58 His name is John also. 13:00 But in the reality, 13:02 that same note fits in to the beauty of God's word, 13:06 it's a lamp and a light. 13:08 And when the Lord says, let your light so shine, 13:11 He didn't say to turn on your halogen head lights 13:14 and go blinding other people with the light, 13:16 he wanted us to shine forth like a candle. 13:19 And a candle is not offensive. 13:20 You could look at it 13:21 and it begins to illuminate the surroundings that we're in. 13:24 So, yes, don't use the word of God as a sword 13:27 to cut people up, 13:28 don't use it as light to blind individuals. 13:31 Allow God's glory to be seen, 13:33 and the word of God let be heard, 13:34 and let the spirit of the God do the cutting. 13:37 What you have next for us, John? 13:39 I have a question that comes here from, 13:42 lets see, Jo. 13:45 And I think it's short for Joanne. 13:48 Okay. 13:49 And she says, "Thank you for the House Calls program. 13:51 Its help me to understand and grow in God's word. 13:55 I have a question about the 2520 prophecy." 13:58 "Please clarify what this is and why it is, 14:01 or it's not true. 14:04 Is it gaining momentum 14:05 or it's just another end time deception 14:07 that enemy uses to divide and concur?" 14:10 And then she just wants to know little more about this. 14:13 Now, I would say that this topic, John, 14:16 can fill up in entire in two or three programs. 14:19 So we can't cover this question with any kind of depth. 14:23 But just a quick synopsis here, the 2520, 14:27 in those that advocate that "prophecy" 14:32 are taking it from William Miller 14:36 and the 1843 chart, 14:38 that was first used by the Millerites 14:40 to proclaim the last Advent message. 14:43 And so we are the first, second angles, 14:45 and third angles message that came over that period 14:47 of about 1840 through 1844, 1845. 14:52 During that period Ellen White writes about that 14:56 and she speak of this chart 14:58 as being a significant impieties 15:01 for helping through advent that message by William Miller. 15:04 William Miller use that chart and it was a real great, 15:07 a great tool for helping that message go forward. 15:10 Now the top right corner of the message, 15:12 you'll see that the most significant part of it 15:15 was the 2300 days prophecy, which we knows the 2300 years. 15:20 And that has been advocated. 15:22 We share that message to this very day 15:24 as Seventh-day Adventist. 15:27 But there is another prophecy there 15:30 that William Miller advocating 15:31 which was called 2520 day prophecy, 2520 years. 15:37 And so this group has come together, saying, 15:40 this is kind of the last prophecy 15:41 within Adventism, 15:43 although it was not an Adventist prophecy, 15:44 it never was. 15:45 It was very much William Miller and the Millerites at the time. 15:49 So they advocated, it's the last prophecy 15:51 that's need to be brought back to the forefront 15:53 because it provides a second witness 15:55 to key dates in our prophetic timeline, 15:58 those being 1798 and 1844. 16:02 Essentially what they're saying with the 2520 prophecy 16:05 is that it is given in Leviticus 26, 16:11 its in regard to seventh times, that is indicated there, 16:15 specifically in the King James and New King James version. 16:19 And if that seven time it's used prophetically, 16:22 it add up to 2520 years. 16:24 And you get that by a time is a year, 16:28 so seven times means seven years, 16:30 which equal 2520 days, 16:33 and then convert it into years, its 2520 years. 16:36 Right, if you use the number 360. 16:38 Right, if 360 days per year, 16:41 which is the way the Jews system 16:43 always used a year in prophecy. 16:46 So what they do is, they take that number 16:48 and miller himself believe that the date started 16:52 when Manasha was taking in chains to Syria. 16:58 He was ultimately released and came back to power, 17:00 but for a time he was taken. 17:01 And that was in 677 BC. 17:04 Counting forward that time period, 17:06 you arrive at the 2520 days, 17:09 which is 1844, 2520 years. 17:14 Now during that time also Hiram Edson also came into play 17:18 and disagreed fairly significantly with Millerite, 17:21 in fact, if you go into our history, 17:23 he took an adamant view against Miller's starting date. 17:26 And he advocated the date of 722, which was the time 17:33 that the Assyrians sat and destroyed 17:38 the Northern Kingdom of Samaria, the key city. 17:43 And so he advocates that 17:45 that day the 2520 period run to 1798. 17:50 Well, this group is come together 17:51 and used both to show that, 17:54 hey, this is the second witness, 17:56 sort of speak in the Bible for those two dates. 17:59 And the 2520 year period 18:02 is seen as a time of scattering. 18:06 Yeah, scattering, a scattering period 18:08 where by the Jews and those in the earth 18:12 were under a curse that they called curse of Moses 18:15 for the disobedience that happened back then. 18:18 So that curse then began in 677 under Miller's view 18:22 and continued on through 1844, 18:24 then after the Great Disappointment 18:26 you had a gathering period, 18:27 which is when God's people would gather 18:29 under the Adventist message, 18:30 the three angles message is to proclaim it. 18:32 That in essence is the 2520. 18:34 Here's some significant problems with this. 18:38 Number one, Leviticus 26, the seventh times there, 18:43 Leviticus is not a apocalyptic book. 18:45 It's not a book to be read prophetically. 18:48 So, there's no reason to formulate 18:53 or take the word seven times 18:55 and say, hey, that means prophetic, 18:57 that's prophetic time. 18:59 Number two, the word time 19:01 isn't even in the original text, okay. 19:04 James White came up pretty clearly on this in 1863, 19:07 where he shared and he said it 19:09 in the all inclusive we as a church, 19:12 he said that we believe 19:14 if there is no prophecy existing here at all. 19:17 Therefore, all this arguing about start dates, 19:19 and finish dates, and all those are the things, 19:20 they're just a bunch of nonsense. 19:22 So we as a church at that point left it behind. 19:25 Now this group says, we didn't. 19:27 They tried to kind of read into Ellen White's writings 19:29 and try to bring it back, saying, she advocated it. 19:31 But there is no evidence of that whatsoever. 19:35 All the evidence points to how the church had rejected 19:38 that part of William Miller's prophecy 19:41 and his message and we move forward 19:43 slowly focused on the 2300 year prophecies. 19:48 There's couple other issues 19:49 that are significant here with this prophecy. 19:51 Number one, occurs. 19:52 How does occurs last through the apostolic era? 19:57 How does Christ who came to deliver and set people free, 20:02 how are we operating under a curse 20:05 as we transition from that old covenant experience 20:07 to a new covenant, 20:08 conversion experience in Christ. 20:10 Another thing you have to ask is, 20:12 is this church, is this curse then just handed it to church? 20:15 No. 20:16 What do the gentiles had to do with the curse 20:18 that was brought on "by Israel" way back went for disobedience? 20:24 Several other issues too. 20:25 You have the, Leviticus 26 20:28 is clearly a conditional prophecy. 20:31 It's a prophecy that indicates the increasing-- 20:40 correction, chastisement of God upon to people 20:43 for continue disobedience. 20:45 He repeatedly, it says 20:46 if you turn from that this won't happen. 20:49 And so we do say that when God issues 20:51 some kind of a judgment upon his people 20:53 that he would not relent. 20:54 Clearly through out the Bible he relents many times. 20:56 Its right. 20:57 But the other things here is that 20:59 indication are that they did experience the curse. 21:03 And Daniel spoke of that experience in Daniel 9, 21:06 where he says curse within the Law of Moses 21:08 has come upon us as a people. 21:11 Which means that Israel was experiencing the scattering 21:15 and this curse of Moses during the era they were in Babylon. 21:21 And as God brought them out of Babylon, 21:24 he gathers them together again as a people. 21:27 So you have the context of the scattering 21:29 and the gathering within that seven year period 21:31 and then afterward. 21:33 Furthermore too, you have other examples that there, 21:37 in fact, the pioneers use the terminology 21:39 scattering and gathering, 21:40 Ellen White herself did the same thing, 21:42 but she spoke of it in regard to scattering 21:46 that occurred after the Great Disappointment. 21:48 Not up to the Great Disappointment. 21:50 And she said then, the pioneers agreed 21:52 that the gathering period 21:54 actually began more like 1848 to 50. 21:58 And history actually clearly shows that 22:00 and establishes that they wrote on that basis. 22:03 James White says its wonderful during this gathering time, 22:06 and he spoke about the 1848, 1849, 22:09 Sabbatarian or Sabbath conferences 22:11 that were happening around the north east at that time 22:14 that people were being gathered together. 22:16 So one other things we get from all of this 22:20 is the Millerite movement, I refer to it is Neo-Millerite, 22:24 it's a new version of the Millerite movement. 22:26 Okay. 22:28 This Millerite movement, Neo-Millerite movement 22:30 is really a revisionist prospective of history. 22:33 They're taking what history is 22:35 and revise according to a picture 22:37 they've put together, that is fraught with error, 22:41 and problems, and issues. 22:42 And when looked at, it's very complicated, 22:45 but when looked at very deeply you can see fairly quick, 22:49 if you're looking in the right place, 22:50 how problematic it truly is. 22:52 Wow. True. And it is a causing division. 22:55 Coming to the churches where goes, 22:57 the fruit is division and separation, 22:59 division among the people 23:01 when we're called to press together. 23:03 Right. This message is dividing. 23:05 It takes us away from our message to the world, 23:07 it focuses on us, that's another problematic area. 23:10 So there are all kind of issues related to this. 23:14 I wish we had time to going into them in detail. 23:16 But my counsel will be stay away from it, 23:20 don't let it get into the church, 23:21 and make sure you stand clearly on the true present truth, 23:25 not that rendition of it. 23:27 You know, I like the fact that you, 23:29 expounded the way you did, putting into proper context. 23:32 The fact of the matter is this is not the original text 23:37 in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, and 28. 23:42 It's not a prophecy at all. 23:45 So the very foundation is it's not a prophecy at all. 23:49 In the sense of symbolic time, 23:52 then you have a difficulty there 23:53 because you're taking something 23:55 that's not symbolic at all and making it symbolic. 23:59 It was never intended to be symbolic. 24:01 It was talking about, 24:02 and let me just use an example here, 24:04 these verse is talking about the intensity 24:08 of the God's punishment. 24:09 Not the duration of God's punishment. 24:12 In fact, modern translationist interrupt seven times 24:14 as seven folds. 24:16 Right. 24:17 And so when you begin to add to something in the Bible 24:21 that does not exist then you have problems. 24:24 Let me give you an example I will use this illustration, 24:28 Mike Tyson can hit you seven times harder than I can. 24:33 That's not hitting him for seventy days 24:37 or seven weeks or-- 24:39 Or even in seven times. 24:40 Or seven times, 24:42 that's just the intensity of the hit is much greater. 24:44 And if I read the text, 24:45 and I'll just go through this very quickly, 24:46 and I will make one comparison. 24:48 I am gonna lead in to this by saying 24:50 this is not referring to duration 24:52 but the intensity of God's punishment. 24:55 Listen to this Luke 26, Leviticus 26:18, 24:59 "And after all this, if you do not obey Me, 25:03 then I will punish you seven times more 25:06 for your sins." 25:08 It's clear seven times more, 25:10 not seven years or seven periods longer. 25:14 And verse 21, "Then, if you walk contrary to Me, 25:19 and are not willing to obey Me, 25:21 I will bring on you seven times more plagues 25:25 at intensity over and over" 25:27 And then verse 24, 25:29 "then I also will walk contrary to you, 25:36 I will punish you yet seven times for your sins, 25:40 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury 25:43 and I even I will chastise you seven times for your sins." 25:48 And in all four categories we're seeing intensity 25:51 rather than duration. 25:53 Now one example in a book that is prophetic 25:56 is the punishment of Nebuchadnezzar. 26:00 In Daniel 4:16, and by the way, 26:03 a lot of time people read the text 26:05 but they don't understand 26:06 that the word there in the Hebrew 26:07 is the word Sheba, 26:09 which does not delineate time but duration. 26:14 Seven times, its not delineating and the word Sheba, 26:19 they can be used in the context of seven weeks. 26:22 But that has not even implemented 26:24 in this particular verse, not even suggested slightly, 26:27 but it is referring to 26:29 'you don't understand my punishment 26:30 until you disobey me.' 26:32 That's what it is being said here. 26:34 Look at the same word in Hebrew here in Daniel 4:16. 26:41 Speaking of Nebuchadnezzar not humbling himself. 26:44 He says," Let his heart be changed from that of a man, 26:48 let him be given the heart of a beast, 26:50 and let seven times pass over him". 26:54 That is referring to duration not intensity. 26:57 So there's a difference one is intensity not duration 27:00 one is duration not intensity. 27:02 So after seven years 27:04 the reasoning of Nebuchadnezzar was returned. 27:06 But after Israel's rebellion 27:09 the intensity of God's judgment increased. 27:12 That's simply that, 27:13 never intended to be a prophecy. 27:15 So if the foundation is not what people are suggesting, 27:18 don't even worry about 27:20 explaining anything beyond that. 27:22 Now, I was say here that there are churches that have, 27:26 the way in which they advocate this 27:28 is to come into churches 27:30 and they began to hand DVDs out, 27:31 they pull people aside, 27:33 and they talk to them about the stuff. 27:34 They usually say, often they come in and they say, 27:36 "Hey, anybody want to stay after potluck for Bible study?" 27:39 And then this is what's advocated. 27:41 So this is how they come in, in a very sneaky way. 27:44 And its not overtly open and nor is it transparent. 27:49 Its very secret. 27:51 So even the fruit of this is really, 27:55 its really demonic. 27:56 It's very divisive. Very divisive. 27:58 What I will do to say this. 28:00 I've actually had an opportunity 28:01 to go to different places 28:03 and help them work through this issues. 28:04 So I have done this several times. 28:06 And if you have people, your church is hit by this, 28:09 and kind of stuck in muck and mire this, 28:11 feel free to contact me because I do have, 28:13 if I have a schedule that can do it, I can go. 28:16 In fact, I am going to Philadelphia here 28:18 in a few weeks 28:19 to help them work through this issue as well. 28:21 And so, let me know 28:23 and I'm happy to help you through it, 28:25 whether it be send you information on it 28:27 or come out and actually do a presentation, 28:29 I'm happy to do that. 28:31 Great, invite John, and he'll represent both of us. 28:36 Appreciate that very much. 28:37 Well, I know our time has come and gone for our questions, 28:39 but if you have any more questions 28:41 or any further clarification is needed, 28:44 send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org. 28:48 That's housecalls@3abn.org, 28:51 and we surely do appreciate your prayers 28:54 and your financial support of this network. 28:58 John, we have a dynamic topic today, 29:02 that we're gonna talk about is that, 29:04 and I'll let you lead into it. 29:06 I got this little bug in my throat. 29:07 Kindly lead into it. 29:09 Yeah, well, you know, we-- 29:10 in this day and age, one of the challenges we have, 29:14 Christians have in general, is sharing their faith 29:17 to an increasing world that is secular. 29:21 I'm not talking about the just those who don't believe in God, 29:24 but the God that is being advocated 29:26 by Christians at large 29:27 isn't necessarily the God of the scriptures. 29:30 And one of the biggest challenges there with that 29:32 and would keep, 29:34 I keep using the word challenge here 29:35 because it's creating that, 29:37 is that the God that's advocated is harsh, 29:41 exacting, judgmental, 29:43 one that is not merciful, and kind, 29:46 and loving as the bible portrays. 29:48 And so you have Christians out there with signs, 29:52 'God hates' and add whatever you want to do that sign. 29:55 God hates this, God hates that, God, you know. 29:57 And Christians are becoming known 30:00 for more of what they disagree with 30:04 than they are for who they are, the love that they have, 30:08 the love of Christ in them. 30:10 And so, what's that doing is 30:12 it has a negative effect on sharing the Gospel. 30:16 People don't want to hear about that God. 30:18 And I don't blame them. John, I would want to either. 30:22 But the God of the Bible 30:23 and his character is not being portrayed accurately. 30:28 By I would even say most Christians today, 30:31 they don't even understand the true God 30:33 and His character in the Bible. 30:35 And so I think it's good we spend a program or two, 30:39 going through that and kind of maybe it's defending God, 30:43 maybe defending his character, 30:44 but truly what we're doing 30:46 is trying to reveal God's true character 30:48 to the world through his word. 30:50 That's the good word to talk about 30:51 because God is misunderstood. 30:53 There are so many doctrines today, 30:55 when you think about 30:56 how God's character is being maligned 30:59 in a very terrible way. 31:01 One of those is the doctrine of the eternally burning hell. 31:05 God is seen as this tyrannical God 31:06 that just cannot get a peace that all 31:09 and he's gonna torment, and rotisserie, 31:12 people that have lived 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 maybe even 90 years. 31:16 Trying to make God a torturer. Yeah. 31:18 Because you have to keep someone alive 31:20 to torture them for eternity. 31:21 So he deliberately keeping them alive 31:23 to torture them? 31:25 And this is what is being advocated. 31:26 And let me tell you why I'm so-- 31:28 Passionate. Passionate about that. 31:31 Yes, one of the answers is, one of the reasons why, 31:35 or even evangelical friends, don't like the view 31:39 that hell is about fire coming from heaven 31:41 and consuming the wicked and it's done. 31:44 They don't like that. 31:45 Because what they say is, 31:46 well, you're taking away a key motivator 31:50 for someone excepting the Gospel. 31:52 And I think to myself 31:54 what kind of God do you picture him to be 31:57 if your motivator needs to be torment 32:01 or you know, except Christ 32:03 or you're burnt forever and ever. 32:05 What part of that motivates anybody to wanna follow God? 32:09 It's fire escape religion. 32:10 When the fire is out, I don't love you any longer. 32:12 Yeah, and it's like God holding a gun at your head 32:15 and saying, "Love me or I'm gonna kill you." 32:18 I mean who would respond favorably to that? 32:20 You might say, "Okay, I love you." 32:22 But would you really? You know, that's amazing. 32:25 And we haven't even gone to the first verse yet 32:27 in our study, 32:28 but we're just kind of laying some foundation here, 32:30 'cause have the blessing of the maybe extending this 32:33 to a second program. 32:35 To show that God is love, who would out of anyone else, 32:39 who would be the most likely person 32:40 that God should have killed a long time ago. 32:42 Who is it? Satan. 32:44 But he's still around. 32:45 Showing that God is not only loving, 32:48 but God is allowing sin to run its course. 32:52 God is not saying, "Boy, I should have killed him 32:54 a long time ago, I'm gonna--" 32:55 In his mercy, he's letting sin run its course. 32:58 So that his character would be vindicated 33:01 so that people will never come with the idea that, see, 33:04 exactly what he was accused, that was being unjust, 33:08 and exacting, and tormenting, is prove him by the fact 33:12 that he outed Satan the moment he stepped out of line. 33:15 Well, he didn't, you know. 33:17 So we're gonna talk about that today in the program 33:20 and what we're hoping to do, 33:21 and I know John is gonna chine in on this too, is where, 33:24 we in our finite understanding, in our limited view, 33:28 only through the revealed word of God, 33:30 we want to say, if you really know who God is, 33:33 you would fall in love with him, 33:35 and you would want to be in his relationship, 33:38 you would want to be in his will. 33:39 You wouldn't think of anybody more appropriate 33:43 to dedicate your life completely to, 33:46 except the God that we're gonna talk about here today. 33:48 We're gonna use some of the hard versus too, 33:50 because they're versus in the Bible 33:52 that talks about God's justice. 33:54 But it still doesn't take away from the character of God. 33:57 And a God who is God of justice is also the God of mercy. 34:01 Every aspect of his judicial system must be intact 34:04 in order of his character to be fully formed in our sight. 34:07 There's so many directions 34:09 and things we need to talk about on these things, 34:10 I could just launce in the stuff here, 34:12 but we really need to start with a Bible verse-- 34:16 Sure. 34:17 That talks about how-- 34:21 I mean, we're finite human model beings. 34:24 Can we really know God? Okay. 34:27 And so there's a verse in the Bible, Job 11:7. 34:30 Okay. 34:32 And it says this, "Can you search out 34:33 the deep things of God? 34:36 Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?" 34:39 Can we truly know to the fullest extent 34:42 God and what he's doing? 34:44 God and his plans. 34:46 We can't see beyond 34:47 what's right in front of us that day. 34:49 Right. 34:50 And, so what we talk about here is just what the word gives us. 34:56 There two terms, there's general revelation 34:58 and there's a special revelation. 35:00 General revelation is what we see in nature, around us. 35:04 It reveals God in a general sense. 35:07 If there is a creator, 35:09 it goes beyond just a big bang-- 35:12 By the designer. God designed this world. 35:15 He put into effect, he created us, 35:17 and the life that we have is because of him. 35:19 And the things around us reveal who he is in a general sense. 35:25 Special revelation is the scriptures. 35:27 It reveals to us specifically more detail 35:31 than just the general we see around this nature. 35:34 Reveals details about the character of God. 35:36 But even John said at the end of the his book, 35:40 that if you had to write all the things that Jesus did, 35:43 and he represented and he brought to this world, 35:46 the world couldn't house the books 35:47 that would be written about it. 35:49 So we can only scratch the surface here 35:53 to reveal what God's characters will be like, 35:55 but there's plenty there 35:56 to demonstrate the God is so much more loving, 35:59 and kind, and good to us 36:02 than what is being advocated today. 36:04 That's right. 36:05 The Bible is the distillation 36:07 of all that God's so necessary to reveal to humanity. 36:11 But, sufficiently enough 36:13 to know that God is the God of love. 36:15 1 John 4:8, I believe is the wonderful one, 36:17 "He who does not love does not know God 36:19 for God is love." 36:21 And that is so often, 36:25 yeah, let me show you how it's handled. 36:27 God is love. 36:29 Yeah, but he's gonna burn you forever and ever 36:31 and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever-- 36:33 If I sat here for the next four years 36:34 and just kept saying "forever and ever!" 36:37 I haven't even tapped the duration 36:39 of how long people say "God is gonna torment people." 36:41 That's just so contra to God is love, 36:45 that it doesn't even make sense. 36:47 So one of the points I'd like you broad out of the fact 36:49 that yeah, we can't really search the deep things of God. 36:52 So the knowledge of God, 36:53 the first thing we wanna bring out 36:55 is the knowledge of God is so limitless. 36:58 It's like trying to measure the universe 36:59 with the 36 inch tape measure. 37:02 We could never do it. 37:03 We could not reach the extensions 37:05 that are beyond human understanding, 37:08 the other thing I want to point out 37:09 is the exclusiveness of God, in Isaiah 45:22. 37:14 John, you have that one there, Isaiah 45:22? 37:18 Lets share that one. 37:20 Isaiah 45:22, "Look to me, and be saved, 37:25 all you ends of the earth, for I am God, 37:27 and there is no other." 37:30 And then it says, "I'm God and there's none like me." 37:34 So exclusive, unique, you cannot copy him, 37:39 he's the original, he's the first, 37:41 the last, the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end. 37:44 There is other to compare with him. 37:46 And so when you see in the Old Testament, 37:49 the many, many Gods that were constructed, 37:51 each one was the failed attempt to duplicate who God really is. 37:56 I believe Isaiah said, 37:58 they have eyes but they can't see, 37:59 ears but they can't hear, hands but they can't touch, 38:01 feet but they can't walk. 38:02 And no matter how elaborately they are painted, 38:06 it's still doesn't indent who God really is. 38:11 "There is none like me, 38:13 look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth 38:16 for I am God and there is none like me". 38:21 I remember watching a video, 38:23 somebody actually linked this to me in my email, 38:25 and you know, we live in a very technical world today. 38:28 Somebody linked this to my email and there was a-- 38:31 evidently it was happening in a church, 38:33 and there were four men carrying on a shoulder stand 38:38 this great image. 38:39 Obviously, that they were gonna inaugurated or something, 38:41 you may have seen the video. 38:42 No, I-- I gotta send it to you. 38:44 It was taller than a human but it was made out of plaster 38:48 and it was painted so elaborately, 38:50 and so beautifully, and the audience stood in awe 38:53 as it was walking down the aisle. 38:55 They were gonna, obviously, they were gonna maneuver 38:57 and lower the stand 39:00 and put it in its rightful place. 39:02 And one of the man miss-stepped. 39:06 You should have seen this. 39:08 And as this statue begin the tether, 39:10 you heard the 'Ah!' 39:11 in the crowd and then it fell 39:13 and crashed into thousands of pieces. 39:17 And the gasp from the congregation 39:19 was almost like God just died. 39:23 And I said, I didn't send them an email or anything 39:27 but I said, "God was just really upset 39:30 that you're putting this porcelain painted figure 39:33 to bow down to and worship and inveterate, 39:35 and he cannot ever be duplicated by anything 39:38 that man can design with his hands". 39:40 And you find examples in the scripture 39:42 where you know, they dig on, 39:44 he cut off his hands, and cut off his feet, 39:46 and cut off his head, and the fellow seems realized, 39:48 wait a minute, whose doing this? 39:51 God is not to be mocked, not to be duplicated. 39:54 But anyways, so God is unique, that's the point I wanna make. 39:56 And taking that story, 39:57 when we're talking about God's character, 39:59 I believe that in the last days 40:00 it' gonna be more about the Gospel. 40:02 Going to all the worlds 40:04 can be more about destroying the first character of God 40:08 and revealing the true character of God. 40:10 Very good the way you put it. 40:11 And so he's going to tear down, 40:13 he's gonna break down this false image 40:15 that he's been set up of his character. 40:17 And give instead through his people 40:21 a true perspective of who he is. 40:23 You know the answer, 40:24 what book is best describing the fact 40:26 that unless he's, 40:28 the true character of God is gonna be revealed. 40:30 The Book of Revelation. Yeah. Revelation. 40:32 See, Revelation is the book of revealing, 40:34 what people need to see more than anything else 40:37 in these last days is the truth about the character of God. 40:40 Amen, amen. 40:42 You know one of the things too that I wanna mention 40:44 at the start of this program 40:45 is God's ways are not light always. 40:51 Okay, so when we think, we can't think like God. 40:55 Okay, we can only think like a mortal human being, 40:59 a limited, a mind and perspective in thoughts. 41:03 Whatever we think about, in fact, 41:05 I believe that's inspired, it's not inspired by us, 41:08 it's inspired the Holy Spirit, right? 41:11 And one of the things that is difficult 41:13 that I think really Christians in general 41:16 have a tough time which is what I call a parent dichotomies-- 41:23 Okay. With the in scripture. 41:24 Stuff that doesn't seem to go together. 41:26 But when it comes to God's character, 41:28 it is both pertinent for God. 41:32 Okay. It both is important for God. 41:34 Let give you few of them. All right. 41:35 Love and wrath. Okay. 41:39 Faith, obedience. Freedom, law. 41:45 Grace, judgment. Humanity, power. 41:50 You see, these things are both, they come together in God. 41:54 In fact, I think the psalmist said-- 41:59 What is it? 42:00 "Justice and mercy." 42:02 And truth have kissed, have to come together. 42:06 And it's not in a way 42:07 that we understand justice and mercy, 42:09 it's the way the God has brought them together 42:10 at the cross. 42:12 And so when we look at the cross 42:14 and what Jesus is doing there, 42:16 he's there because of his love but he's also there 42:18 because of the justice that was necessary 42:21 to work out the redemption of all mankind. 42:24 So God's love and his justice, 42:27 and these apparent dichotomy, it isn't one or the other. 42:31 Right. It's both. 42:33 And unless we understand in the context of both together 42:36 we're gonna miss God's true character. 42:39 And so maybe a good place to start 42:41 when we're talking about this, 42:42 another place to start would be Exodus 34. 42:46 Okay. 42:47 Remember the story of Moses, he comes up to the Mountain, 42:50 God calls him up there, 42:52 he's to receive the Ten Commandments. 42:54 And what does he asked for God to do? 42:57 "Show me yourself." 42:58 He says, show me who you are, show me your-- 43:00 He used the word Glory. Show me your Glory? 43:03 Do you have that passage 43:04 and what he's specifically said in that? 43:07 Let me go there. Exodus 34? 43:09 Yeah, Exodus 34. 43:10 Let me go there-- And what God did-- 43:12 I have verse 6, 43:13 and I wanna just go to the full context of this. 43:15 That's a beautiful way to illustrate that 43:16 because when you think about God revealing himself. 43:20 I wanted to comment 43:22 on something you said a moment ago, 43:24 about these dichotomies, the apparent contradictions. 43:28 Yeah. 43:29 And apparent is the operative word. 43:31 Yeah, apparent contradictions. 43:33 The reasons why they seem to be contradictory 43:35 is because of the perspective 43:36 from which we begin to weight everything that we talk about. 43:39 And this is huge, this is kind of, 43:41 if I could said, "I'm gonna get a little intellectual here 43:44 for a brief moment". 43:45 Whenever I discuss any particular topic, 43:47 I always approach it from the basis of what I know. 43:50 That's the knowledge I have. 43:52 Can you imagine God approaching a topic 43:55 and discussing from the basis of the knowledge he has? 44:00 My mind just got hurt. 44:02 The basis of the knowledge he has? 44:06 Is there any weakness in the knowledge of God-- 44:09 Job ran into that problem. 44:11 Can you, if you know of anyone who knows it all? 44:15 God knows it all. What did God say to Job? 44:18 Hey, hey, were you there when I form the heavens? 44:21 Were you there when I lay the foundations of the world? 44:24 Were you around, can you understand that? 44:26 Were you there when I told the ocean to go this far 44:28 and no further? 44:30 And Job began to understand how small he was, 44:32 and he said, "Okay, God." 44:33 He said, "No, God," he said, "No, no, no. 44:35 Now it's my turn, you take it like a man." 44:37 And he laid it out for the next three chapters 44:39 in Job with just a gasp-- 44:41 And he said, I would just shut my mouth. 44:43 That's what Job's response to all that. 44:45 So the intellectuality of people that we know, 44:47 we talk about Aristotle, Socrates, 44:49 and great minds and-- 44:50 Philosophers. 44:51 Sir Isaac Newton, philosophers, 44:53 these men operated maybe seven to ten percent of their brains. 44:55 Ten percent is huge. 44:57 These men operated on the limitlessness 44:59 of their short life span. 45:01 And surely, they don't have access 45:02 to the names of all the stars. 45:05 They can't count the numbers of hairs in my head. 45:07 They cannot understand-- 45:09 Good thing for me. 45:11 I resisted that, but you fell into the trap. 45:14 They don't have the understanding 45:16 of everything. 45:17 Yet, when God speaks to us, if you stand before God, 45:19 the judge of all the universe, one of the reasons 45:22 why this point comes to me so well, is in-- 45:25 What story that you always illustrate very well? 45:27 Mathew 25, the parable of the 10 virgins. 45:31 Oh, but the other one is unjust judge, 45:32 I think, Mathew 26. 45:34 So what happens is when the Lord comes in 45:36 to examine the guests in the wedding, he says, 45:40 "How did you get in here without a wedding garment?" 45:42 And what was the response? He was speechless. 45:44 He was speechless, 45:46 'cause what excuse could he give to God. 45:48 He looked down and-- 45:52 God, what could he say to God when God says-- 45:56 Nothing. 45:58 What, before you call, I will answer. 46:01 And while you're yet speaking, I will hear. 46:04 This is the God who is foreknowledge, 46:06 far supersedes any intellect that we have. 46:08 And this is the God whose love is so unsurpassing 46:12 that he would say, 46:13 and we try to reveal that by saying, 46:16 "While you were still sinners, Christ dies for you." 46:21 I mean, that was Paul's revelation of love. 46:24 Before, I know we would probably get to that 46:26 at some time, but let me read this here. 46:27 I'm gonna start with Exodus 33, it says there in verse 18, 46:32 Moses asking the Lord to show him his glory. 46:36 And then he says in verse 19, 46:38 "I will make all my goodness pass before you 46:40 and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. 46:43 I will be gracious to who I would gracious 46:45 and have compassion on whom I'll have compassion." 46:48 But he said, "You cannot see my face 46:49 nor man shall see me and live." 46:53 Or "no man." 46:54 "No man shall see me and live." 46:55 Because of he's intensity and his glory, 46:59 no man can stand that is a mortal. 47:01 Mortal man can't stand-- But what is this-- 47:03 Immortal God. 47:05 Then he connects his glory, 47:06 in his revelation he's about to give Moses 47:07 with the Ten Commandments. 47:09 Right. 47:10 And he asked them, he said, 47:11 "Go ahead and cut two tablets of stone," 47:16 Exodus 34:1, "like the first one." 47:18 So he said, remember, he smashed the first one 47:20 when he came down off of the mountain. 47:22 So he says, "Cut two more tables of stone, 47:25 I'll write on those tablets, 47:27 and be ready in the morning and come up to me." 47:30 And so Moses does that, verse 4. 47:33 And the Lord then descends upon him, verse 5. 47:37 And then the lord proclaims his glory. 47:39 So see, this is all part of one passage here. 47:42 And he says in verse 6, 47:43 listen to the character of God here. 47:46 "And the Lord pass before him and proclaimed the Lord, 47:49 the Lord God merciful and gracious. 47:54 Long suffering or patient 47:56 and abounding in goodness and truth, 47:58 keeping mercy for thousands, 48:00 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin 48:02 by no means, clearing the guilty." 48:04 So now you have a little bit of a shift. 48:06 But it's still the character of God. 48:08 We have an apparent dichotomy, 48:09 but it's not a dichotomy with God. 48:11 Right. It's a full disclosure. 48:14 Of who he is, his wholeness. 48:15 And this is by not clearing the guilty, 48:18 visiting the iniquity of the fathers 48:19 upon their children and their children's children 48:22 to the third and fourth generation. 48:23 So he is a God of Justice and he's God of mercy. 48:27 And he can be both those things through Jesus. 48:30 And I wanna go ahead and have you read verse 9 48:32 because look how beautiful-- 48:34 Well, I'm gonna read verse 8 and 9. 48:35 "And so Moses made haste, 48:38 bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped." 48:41 And look at what he said, 48:43 we think that verse 9 is just a New Testament verse. 48:46 Listen what he says. 48:47 "Then he said, I now, 48:50 If now I have found grace in your sight, 48:53 O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, 48:56 go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, 49:01 and pardon our iniquity and our sin, 49:04 and take us as your inheritance." 49:06 He referred to God in the grace of God, see. 49:10 One of the greatest examples of a powerful person, 49:14 one of greatest examples of the God of love 49:15 is to have the ability to kill us, 49:20 every reason to kill us, and he doesn't. 49:25 Have all the power to abuse us, 49:27 has every reason not to even show us mercy, yet he does. 49:32 How do you show a person who's completely born in sin, 49:37 develop shape in an iniquity is the sinner, 49:41 nothing good in him. 49:42 Even his best righteousness is like filthy rags, 49:45 and he come before God and says, 49:47 "Have mercy on me," and he say, 49:48 "You know what, you deserving of just death. 49:51 But you know what, I'm gonna give you eternal life." 49:54 You know, and the, and God, 49:57 this is the part that's we need to clarify. 49:59 It's not that God wants to administer justice 50:03 against the wicked, he loves all of his creation. 50:06 That's right. 50:08 He's not sitting there and going, 50:09 "Oh, I wish I can just pour out my judgment upon them." 50:11 He's not doing that. 50:12 He is open with his arms wide, wanting to embrace you. 50:18 In fact, if there is any anxiety in him in all 50:21 it's because he wants a sinner turn and live. 50:24 Right. 50:25 Judgment from God is the natural consequence 50:30 from rejecting grace and mercy. 50:34 It's our willingness to hold on to sin 50:37 and on to the life we have, 50:38 that is meaningless without him and a determination to be lost. 50:43 It is only those that retain their sin 50:45 and refuse to embrace the love that God has for them, 50:50 that experience is justice in the end. 50:53 And this is what we need to remember about God 50:55 that he doesn't want to destroy anyone. 50:58 No. 51:00 But he has compassion and he has love for us, 51:03 and the greatest thing he desires 51:05 is for you to turn your heart to him, 51:08 for him to pour that love into you, to change your life, 51:11 and then make you everything he wanted you to be. 51:13 He knows you can be if you let him. 51:17 When Peter talks about God, 51:19 when Peter talks about the Lord, 51:22 he says, not willing that anyone should perish. 51:26 That's right. 51:28 When I think about, now let's go back and appeal, 51:31 let's talk about our humanness. 51:33 When you think about the people that have done you wrong, 51:37 have incessantly maligned your name, 51:42 stolen from you, made attempts to kill you, 51:44 poisoned you, destroy your character, 51:49 you say, I can't wait till they move. 51:51 I can't wait till they leave, 51:53 I can't wait to get rid of them. 51:54 If I was-- 51:56 this is what I would do. 51:57 If God, in all those examples of the things that humanity 52:01 has done and is guilty of, 52:04 he desires so much that we be with him. 52:07 He says, I'm going to get ready, 52:08 I'm gonna go prepare a place for you, 52:10 and I'll come again to receive it to myself." 52:12 So we're talking right now 52:13 the part they would exemplifying 52:15 is long suffering of God, 52:16 the character of God, that's gracious, 52:18 a bounding in goodness and truce. 52:21 See, showing mercy to thousands. 52:23 And so when we think about that 52:25 we think, well, who could be like that person? 52:28 And God's character doesn't change. 52:29 No. 52:31 Even in administration of justice in the end, 52:32 the judgment, the fire that comes out of heaven, 52:35 devour the wicked and devour Satan 52:36 and his angels. 52:38 Even in that fire, 52:39 he will extend mercy by allowing it to consume 52:43 and burn up and be done. 52:44 That's right. 52:45 That is still God's mercy at work. 52:48 And let me say that, there are differences. 52:50 I hear often when I'm listening to preachers, 52:52 I just, I don't know why. 52:53 There's something's we tune into with our ear 52:55 that kind of become our hot button 52:57 or something like that. 52:59 I don't know how to call it, what to call it but-- 53:00 You pick it up. I just pick it up. 53:01 And grace and mercy are two different things. 53:08 Grace, I would say in general, 53:10 grace is giving us something we don't deserve. 53:15 Mercy is withholding something we deserve. 53:20 Very good point. 53:22 So grace is giving when you don't deserve it, 53:25 mercy is withholding that judgment, 53:27 that sensing what we deserve. 53:31 And, so, they're different things. 53:33 So sometimes grace is kind of this catch all thing. 53:36 But the mercy of God is new every morning. 53:39 That's beautiful. 53:40 And the grace of God is always been extended to us. 53:43 He's doing both at the same time 53:45 that the writers of the apostles often use this 53:50 as an introduction to their letters. 53:52 'Grace and mercy to you,' usually adding piece to that, 53:56 'cause grace and mercy equals peace. 53:58 So those three words are commonly brought together. 54:01 We shouldn't just mould them all together and say, 54:03 oh, the grace of God. 54:04 Yeah, the grace of God is everything to us 54:06 but he is merciful to us as well. 54:08 And sometimes there's question, 54:09 we talk in a way that doesn't give God credit for mercy. 54:14 And I wish we had more time, 54:16 I can see things are just slowly wrapping up to an end. 54:18 We'll have to a second program on this, 54:20 but we need to get into that merciful side of God. 54:23 The other thing I wanna point out is, 54:26 I'm going back to the all knowingness of God. 54:31 I talked about a moment ago, my laptop, John, 54:36 recently I put a one terabyte hard drive in here, 54:38 the solid state drive that may not mean anything 54:41 to those of you watching the program. 54:43 Meaning, no moving parts. That's one terabyte of storage. 54:47 So whatever I wanna access, I can get it, 54:49 because it's pretty much on my laptop. 54:52 I think of the storage capacity that God has. 54:56 And I think of this little tiny planet 54:58 that we think we have a, 54:59 you know we something now called the cloud. 55:04 Another technical term that may not make a difference 55:06 to those listened to the program. 55:08 A technical place to store things 55:10 out there somewhere. 55:11 You know when you wanna store important documents 55:14 that you don't wanna lose, it's on the cloud, or pictures, 55:17 it's on the cloud. 55:18 It's out there somewhere. 55:20 And somebody once asked me, well, where is the cloud? 55:21 And because I couldn't answer that, 55:23 I said, I'm not storing anything in the cloud. 55:26 I don't know what happens to it when it goes to cloud 55:29 because I don't even know where that is. 55:30 So that's the term that's used nowadays, 55:32 not just Mac and PC, 55:33 everybody is into this storing in the clouds. 55:35 I think the cloud is higher than the clouds, right? 55:38 When you think of that as high as the heavens 55:41 are above the earth so are my ways above your ways, 55:45 and my thoughts above your thoughts. 55:48 His way beyond the clouds. 55:50 And so this God, that were talking about, 55:52 Isaiah 46:9-10, I wanna just share this one 55:56 before we wind up. 55:57 "Remember the former things of old. 55:59 For I am God, and there is no other I am God, 56:01 and there is none like me. 56:03 Declaring," verse 10 of Isaiah 46, 56:05 "the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, 56:09 things that are not yet done, saying, 56:11 my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." 56:16 In other words, God says, hey, I got it, I'm in control. 56:19 And the reason why this topic is so widely important, John, 56:21 is this, in this day and age there are very few things 56:24 you can still trust, and rely on, and hold on to, 56:27 and dedicate yourself fully to, 56:28 and find comfort and compassion in, 56:31 you can still find that in God. 56:32 That's right, that's right. 56:34 You know this whole thing, 56:36 we talk about the grace and mercy of God, 56:38 and we'll elaborate on this little more. 56:40 But I wanna give a definition of grace here. 56:42 Because I know that sometimes you say, "Oh, what is grace?" 56:44 And what is the classic answer? 56:46 Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. 56:48 And it's becomes such a term that we hear all the time 56:50 but we're not really diving into this. 56:52 And so, here's my definition of grace. 56:54 And this came few years ago and I've used ever since. 56:57 But grace, the grace of God 56:59 is any time the God reaches his hand down 57:02 to do something for us 57:03 that we cannot do for ourselves. 57:04 Beautiful. 57:06 It is to save us, but it's also to deliver us from temptation, 57:10 it's to provide power and strength, 57:11 it's to meet our needs, 57:13 all these things are God's grace. 57:14 He's giving something, he's doing something for us 57:16 that we cannot do for ourselves. 57:18 That's the God that we're love and we serve. 57:20 And, friends, that's why we talk about that God 57:22 here at House Calls. 57:23 So keep trusting the lord, 57:24 because one day he's going to make a house call, 57:26 and when he does 57:27 you're gonna meet the God of grace and mercy. 57:29 God bless you, until we see you again. |
Revised 2016-08-15