Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray
Series Code: HHR
Program Code: HHR000008
|
00:25 When I wake up
00:30 Early in the morning 00:34 As I watch the bright sunrise 00:45 I thank you Jesus for the vision 00:54 the sight you given to me 00:58 in my eyes 01:02 Ohhhhh, In the morning when I rise 01:09 When I rise, In the morning when I rise 01:14 I thank God 01:18 That I am alive 01:26 Ohhhhhh 01:33 I can hear the sweet song of a bird 01:41 As they sing a new melody in my ear 01:50 Ohhhhhh, I can taste the beauty of your love 01:59 all these blessings 02:05 they come from above 02:10 Ohhhhhh, Ohhhhhh In the morning when I rise 02:17 When I rise In the morning when I rise 02:23 I thank God 02:26 That I am alive. 02:34 Ohhhhhh 02:38 Lord as I move my feet and my hands 02:49 I'm so amazed that I'm alive once again. 02:59 another new day that you have given to me 03:08 Your grace and Your mercy Lord have made me free. 03:20 And much to my surprise 03:25 I thank you God that I am alive. 03:34 yes, when I arise when I arise 03:39 when I rise, when I rise In the morning when I rise 03:46 when I arise I thank you Jesus 03:52 I thank you Daddy that I am alive. 04:00 Yes! In the morning when I rise 04:06 Your my strong tower, 04:08 My Deliver, my Healer, 04:14 my Conqueror 04:16 When I rise, 04:24 You are my friend my Prince of Peace, 04:30 my King of Kings, my Lord of Lords, 04:34 Yes, yes, yes, 04:39 Yes when I rise, I thank you Jesus 04:57 It thank you Daddy, that I am alive 05:04 Ohhhhhh, yeah, yeah, yeah 05:09 yeah, yeah, yeah, I thank you Jesus 05:18 That I'm alive 05:27 yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah 05:34 I thank you today Jesus that you took the time 05:38 to look upon me and have mercy 05:41 That Your finger of love that you kissed and touched me 05:45 To allow me to live one more day 05:49 in the name of Jesus 05:52 in the morning, in the noonday, in the night time 05:58 In the morning, I thank you Jesus, that I'm alive. 06:12 Halleluiah! 06:15 Amen and Amen! 06:20 Tonight's title subject is Les Miserables 06:27 And we want you to remember that on tomorrow evening we take a 06:33 little break to rest and we are back on Tuesday 06:37 and the title or message is Soul Man, on Tuesday evening 06:42 so you will want to be back with us for that. 06:44 Tonight is Les Miserables 06:45 Turn with me if you will to 1 Corinthians 15, 06:50 what book did I say? 06:51 1 Corinthians 15, we will give you a moment to find it 06:54 and then we will pray and then we will launch out into 06:57 our subject for this evening. 06:58 1 Corinthians 15, you are turning with me to it, having 07:03 found it let's bow our heads as we ask God's blessing 07:08 upon our meeting tonight. 07:09 Father God, we thank you once again for the power 07:13 of Your word. 07:15 We thank you for the power of the word of God 07:19 that it is alive and a quickens us and 07:22 that it is sharper than any two edged sword 07:25 we thank you that there is living powering in your word. 07:29 Help us Lord to hear Your word and to do Your word, 07:35 for time is running short and we want to be ready when Jesus 07:39 comes, forgive us for every sin, 07:42 take hold of our hands even this day and walk us in 07:47 the path of righteousness. 07:49 We asked these things and thank you blessed Father, 07:53 in Jesus name, Amen! 07:59 I tend to like to spend some time at old bookstores 08:05 and rummage sales. 08:07 I found years ago, in fact forty years ago I was just child 08:11 and I found at a church rummage sale a violin that 08:15 was made in Germany in 1898 and I picked it up for two dollars 08:25 in 1961 and I had it appraised some years ago 08:30 and I think the price had on up then about six or seven 08:34 hundred dollars, and the fellow as to just hold onto that violin 08:38 because once it passes the hundred year mark the price 08:42 will go up again. 08:43 Maybe by the time it's done it may be worth 1800 or 08:46 2000 dollars, which I thought was not a bad investment 08:49 on a two dollar violin that I got one of his 8 or 10 08:52 years of age. 08:53 But I also like old books and I have a number of old books, 08:57 I don't know if they are worth anything. 08:59 I never had them appraised, it just tend to like old 09:02 books and one of the old books I have in my library is 09:06 an edition of the book, Les Miserables from the 1800's. 09:11 The book was originally written by Victor Hugo in 1862. 09:16 I remember being in high school and we had to read it 09:21 and study it. 09:22 It is a novel and I don't really promote reading of novels, 09:28 but it is a classic and it has a very 09:32 interesting premise. 09:34 What is interesting about Les Miserables that since the age of 09:40 film, since movies have been made in the last century there 09:46 has not been a period when either a film 09:52 was being made about this book or a film was actually 09:57 been shown about this book. 09:58 This is the one book that has been translated into film more 10:04 than any other modern work or classic work. 10:07 It is an extremely popular work of fiction. 10:11 There are those who have studied Lay Mis and have come away 10:17 with the idea that there are certain hidden 10:21 Christian messages to be found in this book. 10:25 And it was not unusual for secular writers oft times 10:29 back in1800's and 1900's to interlace with their novels 10:34 certain Christian messages. 10:35 Tolstory did it Tolkin rather did it. 10:39 There are a number of authors, C. S. Lewis did it. 10:43 Who often interwove Christian messages into what were 10:48 ostensibly secular books to try to get the Christian message 10:51 into the wider population. 10:52 There are those that believe Les Miserables is one of those. 10:57 The story begins and deals with a life of a man by the name of 11:02 Jean Valijean. 11:04 At the opening of the book we find him in prison. 11:07 He is in prison for stealing food. 11:11 He was hungry, he was starving and passed by this cart 11:16 of food every day and one day when his stomach was empty, 11:20 and he was faint from hunger, he stole a small amount of food 11:25 and he was put in prison. 11:27 There he spent 19 years at hard labor. 11:32 His prison guard was a man by the name of Javert. 11:38 Later he became inspector Javert. 11:43 Javert is a mean-spirited person who believes in law 11:51 and no grace. 11:53 He is possessed of a belief that people are either basically 11:59 good, or basically bad, and they do not change. 12:03 This is the one thing that drives his life, 12:07 people are good, people are bad, but the bad do not 12:12 become good, and the good do not become bad. 12:15 You are what you are and you do not change. 12:20 He cannot believe that Jean Valijean can change. 12:27 As a boy he is arrested for stealing food, 12:31 he serves 19 years in prison. 12:33 When Valijean comes out of prison he steals one more 12:38 time, he actually steals from a priest. 12:40 But that act and meeting that priest actually changed 12:44 his life, his life changes at that moment. 12:48 He goes to work in a factory, ends up buying that 12:54 factory, changing the work rules in that factory, 12:59 and making it a model place to work. 13:03 He does so well at running this factory that they make 13:09 him the Mayor of this small town. 13:12 So he is a good businessman, he is a good Mayor, 13:16 he is a good neighbor, he is basically showing that 13:21 he is a good person. 13:22 Later on he adopts the child of a dying person who use 13:28 to work in his factory. 13:30 He raises her as his own. 13:32 He begins to show that even if at one time he was a bad person 13:38 that he is now a good person, a converted person, 13:42 a hard-working concerned citizen of high moral character who 13:49 made a mistake as a child. 13:51 But Inspector Javert cannot accept that. 13:56 In his mind once a thief, always a thief, 14:01 born a thief, die a thief. 14:05 One evil act in Javert's mind condemns you for life. 14:11 So Javert spends his entire life tracking down, looking for, 14:19 and hounding the life of Jean Valijean from town 14:24 to town, from city to city. 14:26 He moves to Paris, decade after decade he is possessed 14:31 by this blind intractable determination that regardless 14:37 of how much good Valijean does, he is basically an evil person 14:43 and should be punished. 14:45 It is the center and circumference of his life. 14:49 His whole life is spent tracking down this one man who 14:54 got away and in the end he does indeed catch Valijean. 15:00 Just before he catches Valijean, Valijean actually 15:05 saves Javert's life. 15:08 But even having his life saved by his enemy does not convince 15:13 him, so he catches him. 15:15 There with gun to Valijean's head, at that same instant 15:22 he is forced to the realization the fact that his entire life 15:29 has been wrong. 15:31 That his twisted sense of justice has condemned him 15:36 to a life of unforgiveness. 15:38 I want you to hold on to that point. 15:40 He cannot accept grace, he cannot accept forgiveness, 15:45 all he knows is crime and punishment. 15:50 And he has spent his entire adult life tracking down 15:57 one man and at the point of capture he now realizes 16:03 that his greatest success is also his greatest failure. 16:10 He ends up taking his own life there before Valijean 16:17 and sets Valijean free. 16:21 The side issue that is never stated, but constantly implied 16:29 is that if you cannot forgive, you sentence yourself to prison. 16:38 That the owner of an unforgiving heart is really 16:44 the one imprisoned. 16:46 If you cannot let go of wrongs done you, 16:51 you are the one who will suffer. 16:55 That unforgiveness is its own punishment, 17:03 for the person that has wronged has gone on and lived 17:07 their life and you sit there, in prison, not forgiving. 17:12 Years ago at the motor vehicle department and I was standing 17:17 there, actually was the insurance agency getting ready 17:21 to get some insurance cards for car that I had gotten. 17:23 A fellow came in with a little boy on his shoulder. 17:26 As he walked in he was just upset and 17:29 screaming and hollering. 17:30 He was just upset and he was saying how his wife had 17:34 left him for another man, and how she got the car, 17:37 she got the home, and all I had was this little raggedy car 17:40 that he was now driving and trying to insure. 17:42 How if he ever saw them again he was going to just 17:44 do awful things to her, and awful things to him. 17:47 How he could not forgive her and his face was beat red with 17:50 anger with this little boy sitting his shoulder. 17:52 The Lord said to me you need to say something to this 17:56 guy, and I said to the Lord, no I don't. 17:59 And the Lord said yes you do, you have to say something. 18:01 He was so loud that he was making everybody 18:04 uncomfortable in the place. 18:06 Everybody can hear him how I just hate my wife and I 18:08 have this raggedy awful car and she's got the house, 18:10 she's got this, and a little boy sitting upon his shoulder 18:13 and God said C. A. you need to say something. 18:15 I said, no I don't. 18:20 But after a while I summoned up the courage up and I 18:23 said to him, how long are you going to be imprisoned? 18:26 He said what? 18:29 I said how long are you going to be imprisoned? 18:32 You say your wife has gone with someone else and that 18:36 she has the house, she's got the car, and you will 18:39 never forgive her and you are plotting to do them harm. 18:42 You have a son there on your shoulder, you have to get 18:45 out of prison, you have to free yourself. 18:49 Your wife is gone on and lived her life and your 18:52 response to that is to put yourself in jail. 18:56 You have to get free, you have to forgive her to free 19:01 yourself, and he listened. 19:03 I asked him his name and I said, I will pray for you 19:07 man that God puts the key to your own jail cell into 19:10 your hand and you get yourself free. 19:13 That is the burden of the entire novel, Les Miserables. 19:19 That is the person who fails to forgive, 19:21 puts himself in jail. 19:24 It occurs to me that we are most like God when we do 19:29 the thing, that I suspect God does the most, 19:31 and that's forgive. 19:34 We humans, particularly Christians, being what we are, 19:38 we really have to go to God a lot for forgiveness, 19:43 don't we? 19:44 If there's anything that we really have to go to God 19:48 a lot for, it is forgiveness. 19:51 So let's go now to 1 Corinthians 15:19, 19:58 let's read the word of God. 20:08 Or miserable the word of God says. 20:11 I am so glad that when we come to God, we serve a God 20:18 who is ready, willing, and able to forgive. 20:23 How many here have ever done anything that you've had 20:30 to ask forgiveness for? 20:34 You see if you don't raise your hand, you have to 20:36 ask forgiveness for that because you are not 20:37 telling the truth. 20:43 We have all had to ask God for forgiveness. 20:45 What is that old axiom? 20:47 To error is human, to forgive is divine. 20:51 Forgiveness truly is of divine origin which begs the 20:56 question, is there something that we can do that God 21:02 will not forgive? 21:07 I'm touching on the unpardonable sin. 21:09 Is there an act that you or I could commit that 21:14 God simply cannot forgive? 21:18 In short, what is the unpardonable sin? 21:23 Well, there are a number of texts that touch on this, 21:27 that touch on it for us. 21:30 I have spent a fair amount of time looking at this myself, 21:34 so let's go into the word of God and see what 21:35 God has to say. 21:36 I'm in the book of Matthew, what book did I say? 21:38 Matthew 12:31-32. 22:11 When we try to unravel the mystery of the sin that God will 22:16 not forgive, it begins, ladies and gentlemen, with attitude. 22:22 What did I say? 22:23 It begins with attitude, an attitude of resistance and 22:29 unsubmissive attitude towards the things of God. 22:34 Now we are in Matthew let's go to verse 24 of that 22:39 same chapter 12. 22:54 Let's look at the context, the context is Christ had 22:57 just healed a demon possessed man. 23:00 He was dumb, and to be more politically correct, 23:05 he was blind and mute. 23:06 After Jesus dealt with him he could see, hear, and speak. 23:12 Those Pharisees who saw it, deduced the following, the only 23:18 reason the Devils obey Him, is because he is 23:23 Prince of the Devils, and the Devils are simply 23:28 obeying his leader. 23:30 In response to that assertion Christ gives a long series of 23:35 statements about a house divided against itself, cannot stand. 23:40 So He says basically, if I am the Prince of Devils, and 23:43 casting out devils, the kingdom of the devil will not 23:46 be around very long because I'm working against myself. 23:50 It simply does not make sense. 23:54 That it is a blasphemous statement. 23:59 We get a clue to that and what it means, when we look 24:05 at the unbelief, and the rejection of Jesus Christ. 24:09 The Bible indicates that rejecting truth is a very 24:15 dangerous thing, ladies and gentlemen. 24:17 I want to stress that point, it is a dangerous thing to sit in 24:24 the presence of truth, to be convicted by the Holy Spirit of 24:31 truth, and then in turn your back on truth. 24:36 It is a dangerous thing, because you have to harden your heart 24:41 against the convicting power and Spirit of God. 24:45 So then, you are resisting the very presence of God. 24:51 That miracle was accompanied by a spirit, that touched 24:56 the heart of those who wanted to see. 24:59 You see the thing about truth is if you want to see it, 25:03 it's plain to see. 25:05 If you want to be blind, you can reject truth. 25:10 But you reject truth at the peril of your own soul. 25:14 The Bible says my spirit will not always strive with mankind, 25:18 so we are not talking about a particular act. 25:22 We are talking about a resistance lifestyle. 25:26 You say, no once, it gets a little easier to say, 25:31 no the next time. 25:32 And a little easier to say, no the next time, 25:36 to the point where the spirit is speaking, 25:39 but you are not listening. 25:42 Let's go to the book of Acts, what book did I say? 25:45 Acts 17:30. 26:04 You see it is one thing to not know, it is in other 26:09 to know and not do, can you say Amen? 26:13 When you don't know, you don't know. 26:17 But when you know, God calls you to do. 26:20 Now I want you to think about something, 26:23 Does God know what you do? 26:30 Does God know what you think? 26:32 Does God know what you are about to do? 26:36 Does God know what you could do if you had a chance? 26:49 You see a lot of us don't sin, not because we don't 26:54 want to, we just haven't had the chance. 27:03 Do you think that God knows if you had the chance, 27:06 you would? 27:12 Do you think of the Lord knows if you found a hundred dollars 27:18 you may turn it in? And you may not? 27:22 Do you think the Lord knows that? 27:26 You know why he knows, a number of reasons. 27:29 One He knows because of your lifestyle, because last week you 27:32 may have found a quarter and put it in your pocket. 27:37 Or you may have found 5 dollars. 27:39 You know what I was a child I went in the bathroom at 27:42 the Manna Temple Seventh-day Adventist church in Buffalo, 27:44 New York and found 75 dollars on the grounds. 27:48 As I put it in my pocket I was praising the Lord. 27:57 When I came out of the bathroom it was like my pocket 28:00 was on fire, I just couldn't keep it in there. 28:04 I was about 12 years old and thinking, candy, train set, 28:15 bubblegum, cookies, and then I said, hell fire. 28:29 I took out the 75 dollars and gave it to the Deacon. 28:34 I said, I found this in the bathroom. 28:35 Later on in the service, at the end of the service the Pastor 28:40 announced that this fellow had lost 75 dollars in the bathroom, 28:44 and I knew the fellow. 28:45 I began to think to myself, what if I spent that money 28:49 and I know him. 28:50 But even if I didn't know him, honesty compels us to do 28:55 the right thing, Amen! 28:56 So God knows, you cannot surprise God. 29:02 God knows what we will do and what we would do. 29:05 The fact that you said that, I do not want to know 29:08 about the Sabbath, so I'm going to stay home, 29:11 God knows you should have been there. 29:13 So you're going to be judged, ladies and gentlemen, 29:18 by what you do, what you don't do, what you should have done, 29:26 what you could have done, what you would have done, what you 29:35 think, what you say, what you could have said, what you would 29:43 have said, what you should have said 29:46 and didn't say, Amen. 29:49 It all goes in the mix, do you see why you need Jesus 29:54 if you are going to make in? 29:55 You can't get in on your own and every time you hear 30:00 truth and turn your back on truth, it is a strike against 30:03 you because you are responsible for the truth you know. 30:06 And you were responsible for the truth you 30:08 should have known. 30:09 I bought a Bible 20 years ago and it's collecting 30:11 dust on the shelf, you are responsible for that. 30:21 The Lord says choose ye this day, Amen. 30:26 Why halt between two opinions? We need to serve the Lord. 30:32 When you know and don't do you put yourself 30:37 on dangerous ground. 30:39 The book is Acts, what book did I say? 30:42 Acts 4:20, this is the text we have read before and I want 30:46 to use it for re-emphasis. 31:00 I said, the other night, that is a mutually 31:03 exclusive text. 31:05 It says simply, if you want to go to heaven you have to 31:11 go through Jesus. 31:13 The one name that ushers in salvation is the name of Christ. 31:18 There are other popular names, there are other names 31:21 that people go by, but the name that gets you entrance into 31:25 the kingdom of God, is the name of Jesus, 31:28 and Jesus alone. 31:32 The ramifications of that particular text 31:35 are far reaching. 31:37 Those words eliminate all rivals and pretenders to 31:43 the throne, the name of Jesus is the one and only name that 31:48 guarantees salvation. 31:50 So then, what ever Jesus asks us to do, those of us 31:55 who claim to love Jesus are responsible to do it, 32:01 can you say Amen? 32:02 That is down to the smallest detail, only one way, 32:08 only one man, and that puts Christianity in the drivers 32:13 seat, ladies and gentlemen. 32:15 No competition if you want to make it into the kingdom, 32:21 Jesus is the way. 32:23 If you turn your back on Jesus, you turn your back 32:27 on the only way. 32:30 John 14:6 is a text that we know very well. 32:49 It cannot get any plainer than that. 32:51 If you want to get to God, Jesus is the way, 32:55 no other way. 32:56 No other road, no other avenue, you have to give it all 33:01 to the Lord and what Christ asked us to do, 33:05 God's people have got to do. 33:11 Romans 5:10 talks about Christ being the reconciliation that 33:15 is wrought through Jesus. 33:17 They saw the Lord manifest His divinity in that miracle, 33:23 and yet they attributed it to Satan. 33:26 How does one forgive that? 33:30 There in the presence of a miracle of God, and your 33:34 disbelieving the evidence of your own eyes and saying, 33:39 it's got be by the devil. 33:41 Let me show you something, I'm in the book of John, 33:44 what book did I say? 33:46 John 6:63. 34:13 Christ sent the Holy Spirit, He dispatched to this world, 34:18 the Holy Spirit to convince and convict of sin. 34:23 When you are sitting before a preacher and the words of God 34:29 are digging their way into your soul, and you begin 34:34 to feel a little uncomfortable, that is precisely the job of 34:39 the Holy Spirit. 34:41 It's the job of the Holy Spirit to afflict the comfortable, 34:45 and to comfort the afflicted. 34:47 Can you say Amen? 34:49 If you are a little too comfortable in that chair, 34:53 it's the Spirit's job to give you little pinprick. 35:02 But if your life is in turmoil, and your life is nothing but 35:06 pin pricks, it's the Spirit's job to rub a little 35:09 salve on the wound. Amen? 35:12 That is the Spirit's job, to afflict the comfortable 35:15 and comfort the afflicted. 35:17 It is the Spirit the Bible says, that quickened, 35:20 the flesh profited nothing. 35:24 It's the Holy Spirit's job to take the truth and seal it into 35:28 your heart and soul. 35:30 God's Spirit is the convincer, God's Spirit is the convictor. 35:38 We are just the preacher's. 35:41 The power is in the Spirit, the Spirit is good and to reject 35:47 the Spirit is to reject the voice of God. 35:51 So if God sends you His word, and confirms it by His Spirit, 35:58 to reject it puts you on dangerous ground. 36:06 The unbeliever makes 4 fatal mistakes, 36:08 let's run through them real fast. 36:10 The first is found in Psalms 19:13, what book did I say? 36:31 Now what do we mean by presumptuous sin? 36:32 A presumptuous sin is one where you know it is wrong, where 36:39 you have a clear outline and mandate that it is wrong, 36:42 yet you say not me. 36:46 It's like the law says, 65 miles an hour on I-57. 36:56 Not me, I go 95, that is presumptuous. 37:05 Particularly when you say it's raining and I have got to get 37:13 there, so God will take care of me, I will do a 100. 37:17 That's presumptuous. 37:20 David said, keep me back Lord from presumptuous, when I know 37:27 it is wrong, when I am presuming on the goodness 37:29 of God, don't let me fall into that category. 37:32 Don't let me thumb my nose at the will of God. 37:35 Keep me back from presumptuous sin. 37:38 Number two, we make a fatal mistake when we reject 37:46 the plain thus saith the Lord, wind we thumb our nose, 37:54 as it were, at the truth. 37:55 I'm in John 16:13. 38:21 It is the Holy Spirit's job to lead us into truth. 38:26 That's why I ask you every time you come here to listen and 38:31 pray and when you hear truth follow truth. 38:36 Truth has a certain ring, asked the Lord every time you open 38:39 the Bible, Lord when I run into truth, and I will 38:43 run into truth in this book, convict me of it. 38:47 Convince me of it, give me discernment. 38:50 Particularly if you are one who tends to watch preachers on 38:55 television, you have to be very careful where you get your 38:59 truth from, and make sure your truth is not mingled, 39:04 or mixed with error. 39:06 Check everybody by the word of God, if it is of God it 39:12 can stand investigation. 39:15 If it cannot stand investigation, maybe it is 39:18 not of God and you need to turn your back on it. 39:21 But once you're convicted and convinced that it is 39:23 of God; as a person, a man or woman of God, 39:27 you have got to follow truth. 39:30 I say again, turn your back on truth puts you 39:35 on dangerous ground. 39:37 So 1. Presumptuous sin, 2. Rejection of truth 39:42 3. Refusing to repent, what did I say? 39:48 Refusing to repent, I'm in the book of Proverbs 28:13. 40:12 Let me ask you a question. 40:14 How soon after you sin does God know? 40:20 Yeah, He knows when you are on the way to sin. 40:29 So when it says confess your sins, does it mean 40:38 inform God that you have sinned? 40:40 So who are you confessing to? 40:45 Who are you informing? You are not informing God. 40:51 You are simply admitting to God and yourself that you 40:58 made a mistake. 40:59 You see you never get found unless you admit that 41:02 you are lost. 41:04 You see my wife and I had this argument all the time. 41:06 Pull over and asked somebody. 41:09 I'm not lost, ask who I'm not lost fine, this is just 41:16 an adventure, this is just an adventure. 41:20 She said, will you pull over and ask somebody? 41:21 I'm not going to ask somebody, I'm not lost. 41:22 I bet I'm not the only one that's had this conversation. 41:29 You never get found unless you admit that you are lost. 41:34 So when you confess your sins you are telling God something 41:39 He already knows but needs to hear from your lips. 41:43 God needs to know that you know that you 41:45 are fessed up. 41:49 Confess to your sins. 41:52 So if you try to cover them, the only person that you 41:56 are really playing games with is yourself, 41:58 because God already knows. 42:01 If you cover your sins you cannot prosper. 42:05 God can't bless you lying to yourself. 42:09 He knows you sinned, you ought to know you sinned. 42:14 So go ahead and admit it and let the blood of Christ cleanse 42:20 you from your sin. 42:21 Not my favorite text, if we confess our sins, 42:28 He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. 42:33 So if you don't confess, He is not going to forgive, 42:38 and He is not going to cleanse. 42:41 But the moment you do, He is faithful and just to 42:47 forgive and to cleanse. 42:50 Same book of Proverbs 28:9, this is a strong piece of 42:53 Scripture, powerful text. 43:09 That is a frightening text. 43:10 God says, if you turn your back on Me, if you turn your back 43:15 on My law and My words, what are you praying for? 43:19 Why are you praying? Does it make sense? 43:25 You are not going to hear Me, you are not going to 43:30 obey Me, you are not going to follow Me, why pray? 43:35 You are making a mockery of God. 43:39 One of the first text I committed to memory 43:42 Galatians 6:7, "be not deceived, God is not mocked, 43:48 whatsoever you sow you reap. " 43:52 If you are not going to listen to Him, if you're not 43:55 going to obey Him, if you are not going to follow Him, 43:58 if you are not going to surrender yourself to Him, 44:01 then why are you praying to Him? 44:02 That's a front, it is a mockery of God to ask for power from 44:07 God and then not intend to follow Him. 44:11 "So he who turns his ear away from hearing the law, 44:14 even your prayer is an abomination," it works against 44:17 you, rather than help you. 44:19 God told King Saul, "to obey is better than sacrifice. 44:29 And to hearken, to listen then the fat of rams. " 44:34 Let's go to another text, I'm in the book John 12:48. 45:04 Christ is making a very powerful statement. 45:09 He who rejects me and doesn't receive my word, 45:14 the word is judging. 45:19 If God says, seek truth and pursue it and you passed 45:24 truth by, truth is your judge. 45:29 If God says, be kind, and love, and give, and share, 45:34 and you refuse to do those things, then those things 45:40 are your judge. 45:41 God does not kick people out of the kingdom. 45:46 We say, by our actions, I don't want to be in there. 45:53 I don't want to have God. 45:55 What a mistake it would be for God to take to heaven someone 46:02 who doesn't want to be there. 46:04 You would be miserable in heaven. 46:09 We are singing and praising the Lord and you are out 46:14 back trying to find a cigarette to smoke. 46:16 Everybody has their doors unlocked and the streets are 46:22 paved with gold and you are out back with a hammer and chisel, 46:26 trying to chisel up the golden streets. 46:27 Why would God takes someone to heaven who does not want 46:34 to be there, who would be uncomfortable there? 46:37 Instead of eternal joy, it would be eternal torture. 46:42 Heaven would be hell for a person who does not want 46:48 to be there, does it make sense? 46:50 So our actions each and every day show whether we want 46:54 to be God or not. 46:59 Do you see a pattern? 47:00 What we have described is not one evil act, it is my 47:09 contention that one bad act in a life of good, 47:14 will not keep you out of heaven. 47:16 One good act in a life of evil will not get you in. 47:21 It is a pattern, now let's think of an act that God 47:26 could not forgive. 47:28 Do we have a case in the Bible where God forgave adultery? 47:39 Yes, so adultery is not the unpardonable sin. 47:45 Do we have a case the Bible where God forgave murder? 47:54 Several, in fact there is a fellow in heaven right now 47:58 who is an ex-murderer. 48:02 So murder is not the unpardonable sin. 48:05 Do we have a case in the Bible where God forgave lying? 48:12 Yes, so murder, lying, adultery are not the 48:17 unpardonable sin. 48:18 Do we have a case in the Bible where God forgave covetousness? 48:24 Yes, do we have a case the Bible were God forgave 48:29 someone who did not honor their parents? 48:33 Yes, do we have a case in the Bible where God forgave someone 48:37 who was an Idolater, or had another kind of God? Yes! 48:41 So we can go down the Ten Commandments and find cases 48:46 where God forgave the breaking of all those, because 48:50 they were confessed and forsaken. 48:53 So is there one particular act in the Bible that 48:58 cannot be forgiven? 49:05 Yes and no, there is not one thing you can do that 49:12 would put you beyond the love of God. 49:14 Can you say Amen? 49:15 Because everything you do, someone has already done it, 49:22 Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun. 49:28 In fact, sometimes we do things that surprise us, 49:32 but they do not surprise Jesus. 49:35 They don't surprise Satan, the only person that is surprised 49:40 when you do the things you do, is you. 49:46 And no matter what we do, God can forgive. 49:50 The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the one that 49:58 we do not confess, are you listening to me? 50:02 Every sin you confess and forsake can be forgiven, 50:07 the one that is not, is the one that you do not 50:12 confess and forsake. 50:14 The longer you hang onto a sin, the more it poisoned your 50:19 spiritual barrel, it hardens you against the convicting power 50:24 of the Holy Spirit, till you get to the point you can not 50:29 see, you cannot hear and sometimes even as you pray and 50:34 you do not believe that you can change. 50:36 That is why it is so sad and so dangerous to turn your back on 50:45 truth once you know the truth. 50:48 Because you harden your own heart against the convicting 50:54 power of God and soon you turn off the Holy Spirit which 50:59 convinces and convicts you of sin. 51:02 The very fact that your heart is pricked, your conscience is 51:08 touched means that you are not too far gone. Amen! 51:12 So don't worry about the sin against the Holy Spirit, 51:17 worry about accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and following 51:22 wherever He leads, because as long as you 51:26 have made that determination you don't have to worry 51:29 about the sin against the Holy Ghost. 51:32 All you have to worry about is putting your hands in 51:37 the hand of Jesus and following wherever Jesus leads, 51:41 and when Christ brings truth to your door step, 51:46 open the door and let Him in. Amen and Amen! 51:53 Matthew 4:4, what book did I say? 52:06 Every word, every word, every word, not just some 52:10 of the words, not just the New Testament, not just 52:14 the Old Testament, but every word is important, 52:17 truth filled and life-giving. 52:19 We have to except every word. 52:20 John 15:5. 52:44 Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes God is going to take 52:48 us through experiences that we do not understand, 52:51 that don't make sense to us. 52:54 We have to except it and follow wherever He leads. 52:59 To do otherwise is to place yourself in danger, 53:04 now I am running out of time so I want to give you 3 53:06 texts to be as a home work assignment. 53:08 1 Timothy 4:2, talking about the conscience seared with 53:13 a hot iron, that is turning off what the will of 53:15 God tells you, you get your conscience seared and 53:18 built-up scar tissue till you can't hear. 53:20 2 Timothy 5:1, the Bible says "he that lives in pleasure 53:24 is dead while he lives. " 53:26 Important text, Ephesians 4:18, 19. 53:29 The Bible talks about "having your conscience darkened 53:32 and being alienated from God because of consistent refusal 53:35 to hear the voice of God. " 53:37 Ephesians 4:30, a powerful text. 53:42 It says, "do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom 53:47 you are sealed for the day redemption. " 53:50 Don't grieve the Spirit, co operate with the Spirit, 53:53 work with the Spirit and when God calls you to truth, 53:58 following in that truth for it is your only safeguard and 54:02 ladies and gentlemen your life depends 54:05 upon it, Amen and Amen. 54:09 Stand with me please as we pray, Holy Father, 54:15 we come to You now in prayer asking You please Lord, 54:20 please Lord, help us to accept and follow in the truth. 54:26 Not to place tradition before truth or our ways before truth, 54:33 or any Pastor or any man before truth but always look to Jesus. |
Revised 2014-12-17