3ABN On the Road

What You See Is What You Get

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ty Gibson

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000423


01:01 I wanna begin our time together this afternoon
01:05 by sharing with you a very fascinating story
01:09 of a man that I met in Missouri.
01:12 His name is Tommy.
01:15 And Tommy and I found ourselves
01:16 sitting together one afternoon
01:19 while a meal was being prepared.
01:22 And I could tell that Tommy wanted to share
01:24 something with me out of the ordinary.
01:27 We weren't friends, we were just acquaintances.
01:29 We didn't know each other really at all,
01:31 but we found ourselves sitting in one
01:34 and others presence.
01:36 And a few time he sat forward on his seat
01:39 as if he wanted to get a little bit more personal
01:44 and then he couldn't work up the courage
01:46 and would sit back in his seat
01:48 and resort to small talk again.
01:53 So I tried to encourage him.
01:55 Finally, I said Tommy,
01:56 it looks to me like there's something
01:57 you might want to share
01:59 and I sure be open to hear whatever it is.
02:02 Feel free to just go ahead
02:04 and open your heart
02:07 and share with me whatever you would like to.
02:10 Now, Tommy had been attending
02:12 a series of meetings that I was conducting.
02:15 And on one of the evenings earlier
02:17 I had shared some of my personal testimony
02:20 about how God had led in my life
02:23 and Tommy felt compelled,
02:25 although he couldn't work up the courage.
02:28 He felt compelled to share with me
02:30 his own personal journey with the Lord.
02:35 And so he begin to unfold
02:37 that story to me at my encouragement.
02:40 Tommy said that as a little boy,
02:42 he was raised by his mother
02:44 and had no mental image of his father.
02:48 He couldn't remember his father
02:50 because there was a separation
02:52 that occurred very young in his little life as a baby,
02:57 and his mother was raising him alone in the state of Oregon.
03:02 And as he began to tell me
03:05 the difficult parts of the story,
03:07 I could see that there were tears
03:09 swelling up in his eyes as he told me.
03:11 He said Ty listen,
03:12 the hardest thing for me growing up was that over
03:15 and over again my mother would tell me two things
03:18 as a little boy up into my teenage years.
03:23 The first thing that she would tell me is,
03:26 Tommy you are such a selfish little brat
03:31 and I wish you were never born.
03:33 Now that's a hard thing for a mom
03:34 to say to a little boy, would you agree?
03:37 Now he didn't hear this once or twice,
03:40 but he heard this over and over again growing up.
03:44 I wish you were never born
03:46 and all kinds of other things joined to that
03:49 and then to complicate matters to make it all the worse.
03:54 The second thing that she would always say
03:56 to Tommy was Tommy you're just like your,
03:59 what do you think? You're just like your dad.
04:02 You're just like your father.
04:04 Now this is very difficult for Tommy,
04:06 because he had never met his father.
04:08 He didn't know who his father was.
04:11 But I can tell you one thing as Tommy told me the story,
04:15 he was quick to add.
04:17 He said, Ty with every passing days
04:20 I grew up my mom raising me with this vivid image over
04:25 and over again reinforced in my mind.
04:28 You're a selfish little brat
04:30 and I wish you were never born.
04:31 Tommy you're just like your dad.
04:34 He said Ty there was something
04:36 that began to grow inside of me
04:37 and it was an intense hatred for my father.
04:41 He said it was the strangest thing,
04:43 because I didn't know my father.
04:45 I've never met my father.
04:46 I couldn't close my eyes
04:48 and even see a picture of his face.
04:50 I didn't know the man at all and yet I hated him.
04:54 I hated him, because I was so much like him.
04:56 And the person that I was--was very unlikable
05:00 to my mother the only person in my life who is meaningful.
05:04 And he said the more I hated my father,
05:07 he said, it seemed the more like him I became
05:11 and life went from bad to worse.
05:13 And Tommy told me
05:14 how he became a very rebellious teenager,
05:18 and finally he enlisted in the marines
05:22 in a desperate effort to bring his behavior
05:25 and his life under discipline and control,
05:27 because he thought, you know,
05:28 something needs to happen with me,
05:30 I'm gonna end up in prison.
05:32 He not only developed a hatred
05:33 for his father whom he had never met.
05:35 but he developed a hatred for his mother
05:37 who reinforced this idea in his mind.
05:41 Finally, Tommy said that he came to the place
05:43 where he hated everyone including himself
05:48 but most he hated his father.
05:52 Well then something strange happened in Tommy's life.
05:56 After he had been in the marines
05:59 for a few years and was out on leave,
06:03 his mother made an announcement to her family
06:06 and friends a rather startling announcement
06:09 that caught everybody by surprise.
06:12 His mother announced that for all these years
06:16 as Tommy was growing up
06:18 that she had been living a secret lifestyle
06:24 that was very compromised on a moral level.
06:28 She had been seeing other woman.
06:31 Now this is only important to the story
06:33 because of how it affected Tommy.
06:36 Because as soon as his mother made this announcement
06:40 about this secret that she had.
06:44 For the first time in Tommy's life
06:46 something occurred to him.
06:49 For the first time in his life he felt the desire
06:52 to meet his father for himself.
06:56 Before that he had only hated his father,
06:59 but he had never experienced
07:01 any kind of desire to meet his father.
07:03 I mean, why would you want to meet someone
07:05 as horrible as Tommy's father was?
07:09 Why would you want to meet someone
07:10 that you hated with such deep resentment and hatred?
07:16 But when his mother came out of the closet so to speak
07:20 and made this announcement to her family and friends.
07:24 Something in Tommy began to stir
07:28 and he wondered, he wondered in his mind,
07:31 because his mother had been living a life
07:33 for so many years. He wondered
07:35 if for chance there were other lies.
07:40 And so Tommy began inquiring among various family members
07:46 and he came up with the name of a town
07:49 in the state of Missouri.
07:52 And why by the use of our great
07:56 telecommunication system in this country,
07:59 it wasn't too hard for Tommy
08:01 to come up with a phone number.
08:03 And he sat staring at the phone one day
08:07 for what seems like a rather long time an hour
08:09 or two he sat, but he just sat there
08:11 debating in his mind shall I dial the number or not.
08:15 And finally he dialed the number.
08:19 His stomach quaking with fear
08:23 and on the other end of the line
08:24 a rather abrupt voice of an elderly gentlemen answered
08:29 and simply said McGregor here.
08:33 Not a very pleasant way to answer the phone
08:37 but that's all the man said.
08:40 Obviously not a man
08:41 who received the lot of phone calls.
08:43 Obviously a man who was not super happy
08:46 about life for meeting people.
08:49 McGregor here he said,
08:51 and then paused in silence waiting
08:52 for the return voice on the other end.
08:55 Tommy trying to work up the courage to speak
08:58 almost hanged up the phone
09:01 and then he began to speak
09:03 and simply said Mr. McGregor,
09:06 my name is Tommy, I am your son
09:11 and I would like to meet you if that would be all right.
09:16 I've never known you sir,
09:19 but I sure would like to meet you for myself.
09:23 And Tommy told me he said Ty,
09:25 I didn't know if the old man was just going to hang up
09:27 or become angry and fly up the handle,
09:31 but then he said the man began to speak
09:35 and his voice was changed.
09:38 Now he seemed to be calm
09:40 and he said I think I even heard tears
09:43 in his voice as Mr. McGregor simply said to Tommy
09:47 on the phone the simple words.
09:49 He said, I will be please to meet you son.
09:54 Well, Tommy secured an airline ticket.
09:57 He made arrangements for a rental car on that end.
10:03 And finally the day of destiny,
10:07 an incredible encounter came.
10:10 Tommy, now an adult man married with children
10:14 took that flight to the nearby city
10:17 of that small town got in the rental car
10:21 and drove out far into the country.
10:24 And there following the directions
10:26 given to him by the old man.
10:29 He came upon an old farmhouse with evidence
10:34 of long years of hard work everywhere to be seen.
10:39 Tommy said that as he drove up to the house
10:42 there was an old tractor propped up
10:45 on a street stump with the front wheels off.
10:49 There were perfectly morn-fields behind the house.
10:56 There was a cattle guard over
10:57 which he had to pass to get on to the property.
11:02 And there were cattle in the distance.
11:05 And Tommy said he came up
11:07 to that door on that creaky porch,
11:10 that old farmhouse and while the fields were perfect
11:14 and the tractor was being cared
11:17 for the house was in ill-repair.
11:21 And Tommy knocked on that door shaking,
11:25 shaking deep inside wondering
11:29 what kind of person am I going to encounter.
11:33 Seething with anger deep inside for the stories
11:36 that he had been told by his mother
11:39 half believing them half wondering
11:41 whether or not any of it was true.
11:45 And then the old man came to the door
11:46 and opened and slightly hunched over
11:50 from long years of labor on the farm.
11:53 The old man pushed the screen door opened
11:56 and invited Tommy
11:57 and Tommy found himself standing before a man
12:01 who had a very striking resemblance
12:04 in facial features to himself.
12:08 Tommy didn't know what to say.
12:11 How to break the ice.
12:13 Do I fly into a rage and tell him everything
12:16 that I ever heard about him.
12:20 Do I give him the benefit of the doubt,
12:21 but the hatred and resentment
12:24 ran deep in Tommy's heart,
12:27 and the words resounded in his mind
12:29 over and over again.
12:30 You are a selfish miserable
12:32 little excuse for a human being
12:34 and I wish you were born.
12:36 Tommy you are just like your dad.
12:42 The old man extended his hand to Tommy.
12:44 They're standing in the living room
12:47 and Tommy reluctantly put out his hand
12:51 to just cordially shake the hand
12:53 of this old man who was his father.
12:57 And when the old man got hold of Tommy's hand not quickly,
13:02 not abruptly, but very calmly
13:05 but with great strength the old man pulled
13:08 inch by inch he pulled Tommy too himself
13:13 and wrapped his arms around him
13:15 and began to weep on his shoulder
13:19 my son, my son I am so happy
13:22 to meet you after all these years.
13:24 And Tommy couldn't control himself
13:27 pushed the old man back from him
13:30 and proceeded to unload the heavy emotional burden
13:33 that was resting upon him.
13:36 What do you mean old man he said, to try to imagine
13:41 that everything is okay after all these years.
13:45 How could you abandon mom and myself?
13:49 Now you're trying to pretend like you give a rip,
13:51 like you care, like you actually think
13:54 I am meaningful to you.
13:57 But years have passed by, never a birthday card,
14:01 never a phone call on a holiday.
14:04 Not one letter, nothing.
14:07 I have heard nothing from you.
14:10 And all the sudden out of nowhere
14:12 you want everything to be okay.
14:14 You want me to reciprocate your affection.
14:17 Well, it's not gonna happen.
14:19 How could you possibly claim to be a father
14:23 after what you did to us?
14:27 The old man Tommy said was
14:30 visibly startled by this new information.
14:35 And simply responded to Tommy speechless
14:39 at first pointing over to a photo
14:45 that was propped up
14:48 on the mantle over the fireplace.
14:52 Tommy went close to the photo
14:53 and he looked at it and it was a young woman
14:57 it was a younger woman than Tommy
15:02 presently had impressed upon his mind.
15:06 It was in fact his mother.
15:09 And Mr. McGregor said, I've never loved
15:12 any woman but your mom
15:14 and I have waited here on this farm
15:16 all of these years refusing to relocate
15:20 or move hoping that some day
15:24 may be she would comeback.
15:26 And then when I knew she would never return,
15:28 I stayed here hoping that may be some day
15:32 you would become an adult and that you my son
15:34 would find me because I couldn't find you.
15:38 Why no cards? Why no letters?
15:40 Why no phone calls? I would have relocated
15:43 to live in the same area, so that I can see you
15:46 everyday of my life my son.
15:49 But your mother took you away as a babe.
15:54 And I have no idea where she took you.
15:58 And asked questions and I searched
16:02 but I could never find you.
16:05 And so I have stayed here.
16:06 I have never remarried there was not another woman.
16:09 I don't know why she told you that but she just left
16:15 and I've waited here all these years.
16:21 Tommy then told me with tears in his eyes
16:25 the conclusion of the story.
16:28 Tommy said Ty, it was very difficult
16:32 to meet my father that day and it took me a little while
16:37 to really feel like he was genuine
16:40 in the story he was telling me.
16:44 But he said Ty, he said my conclusion was that
16:49 my dad is the finest old hillbilly gentleman
16:53 I have ever met in my life.
16:57 And I have relocated my family and my children
17:01 are now growing up near the grand dads farm.
17:08 My dad is the finest old hillbilly gentleman
17:11 I have ever met in my life.
17:15 that was a major paradigm shift for Tommy.
17:19 That was a radical reconstruction of an image
17:23 that had been damaged in his mind, in his emotions.
17:28 This was a young man that was raised
17:32 with one lie after another told to him.
17:35 And a youngman who almost uncontrollably
17:40 began to reflect the image of his father,
17:43 though that image that was painted
17:45 before his mind was an ugly image.
17:49 Tommy said, the strangest thing
17:50 that's ever happened to me in my life
17:54 was that I became like the father I hated
18:01 against my better judgment, but I became like that image.
18:06 Why do I share Tommy's story with you?
18:08 because I believe with all my heart
18:11 and I want you to listen very carefully now,
18:13 because if there is one thing that I want to come through
18:17 very clear today it's this.
18:22 That the single most vital issue
18:25 that you and I will ever grapple within our lives
18:29 is the picture we hold in our hearts
18:31 of the character of God.
18:34 Who is God in your minds eye?
18:40 What kind of picture of God
18:42 has been constructed in your emotions?
18:47 Who is your heavenly Father?
18:53 Well, I would venture to say
18:56 that you like the whole human race to one degree
18:59 or other, you and I we've been lied to.
19:02 We've been told things about God
19:04 that are entirely untrue as a legacy
19:08 from the fall of mankind from our first parents
19:11 Adam and Eve, we have received pictures
19:14 and images and angles on the person of God
19:18 that are in fact forced images masquerading in our minds
19:23 as the true image of God.
19:26 And so when we fail, we tremble because we assume
19:32 that God is standing toward us in an attitude of condemnation.
19:36 And when other people fail, we stand toward them
19:40 in an attitude of condemnation and can't accept
19:43 and forgive others, because in fact we can't see
19:46 God accepting and forgiving us
19:50 We're deeply hurt and we're damaged inside,
19:54 and we're in need of deep and lasting healing.
19:57 We're in need every one of us
20:00 of radical and permanent paradigm shift
20:03 regarding our picture of God.
20:07 There's no question in my mind
20:09 and I'd like to persuade you of the same today.
20:13 That the single most vital issue that you will ever,
20:16 ever struggle within your life is the picture
20:21 you hold in your heart of the character of God.
20:24 And the reason it's so vital that this issue be dealt
20:28 with is because of a basic foundational principle
20:33 that operates in the psyche and in the emotional
20:36 make up of every human being.
20:37 You're no exception, I am no exception,
20:40 every human being without exception
20:44 is governed by an internal principle
20:48 that the Bible calls the law of beholding.
20:52 Translated into may be some more modern
20:55 and understandable terms every single one of us
20:58 without exception, you and me
21:01 and every person that we every meet
21:03 all of us ultimately under pressure
21:06 act out our picture of God.
21:10 Doesn't matter who you are?
21:12 It doesn't matter how strong your willpower is.
21:15 It doesn't matter even on the surface
21:19 what you think you believe about God.
21:22 On an emotional level what you do in fact believe about God
21:27 ultimately will come out in the way you treat other people.
21:31 And ultimately it will come out in the way you treat yourself
21:35 which becomes a very serious issue,
21:38 because ultimately the Bible teaches
21:40 that every person will stand in what is called the judgment.
21:45 I like to explore this principle
21:49 with you in greater detail.
21:50 If you brought a Bible with you
21:51 turn to John Chapter 5 and verse 19.
21:53 I am going to move in rapid fire succession
21:55 through three scriptures in the gospel of John.
22:00 John 5:19 states the principle in the clearest possible terms
22:05 as Jesus talks about His own relationship to the father
22:10 and how this principle plays out in his own life.
22:13 Listen to these simple words as Jesus speaks about Himself.
22:19 Verse 19, of John 5, "Then Jesus answered
22:22 and said to them, "Most assuredly,
22:25 I say to you, that the Son can do nothing of Himself,
22:31 but what He sees the Father do,
22:35 for whatever the Father does,
22:38 the Son does in like manner."
22:42 We're familiar with the common statement
22:45 in our culture "like father like son."
22:49 Well, Jesus states the principle here
22:52 as a very serious psychological reality
22:58 for humanity and for himself.
23:01 I want you to notice particularly in this verse
23:04 that Jesus says "what I see, I do."
23:08 Notice the words 'see' and notice the word 'do'.
23:12 Jesus says, "whatever I see the Father doing"
23:17 "I also do in like manner."
23:20 Do you remember when Jesus was healing
23:22 on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees
23:24 and Sadducees wanted to condemn Him.
23:27 And on one occasion His answer
23:30 to their condemnation was simply this.
23:32 He said, "my Father has not stopped working
23:36 and so I won't stop working, I will continue to do good,
23:39 because I see that my Father never stops doing good.
23:43 In other words Jesus clearly points out here.
23:47 Jesus says, "of My own self in and of Myself I can do"
23:53 what did he say, how much?
23:55 Nothing, I can't do anything of myself.
23:58 In another words, my behavior does not
24:01 have its spring of origin in Myself.
24:06 My behavior is the outworking of the picture of God
24:10 that I hold in my heart.
24:11 I believe that God is love therefore I love.
24:16 I believe that God is merciful therefore I extend mercy.
24:20 I believe that God is accepting therefore I accept others.
24:26 I see and so I do.
24:30 That's what Jesus says in this verse.
24:33 It's an inescapable reality, even for Jesus in his humanity.
24:40 I do what I see.
24:41 Now the principle also applies to you and me.
24:44 Look at John, Chapter 8 now.
24:46 You're in the gospel of John
24:47 look at Chapter 8 and verse 38,
24:51 Jesus states the same exact principle,
24:53 but now He's not talking about Himself.
24:55 He's talking about you and me and every other human being.
24:58 He says in Verse 38 of John 8,
25:02 "I speak what I have seen with my Father,
25:06 and you do what you have seen with your father."
25:11 Look at verse 41, "You do the deeds of your father."
25:16 Look at verse 44, "You are of your father the devil,
25:20 and the desires of your father you will do."
25:26 Isn't that exactly what He just stated.
25:28 In John 5:19, with regards to Himself.
25:31 "He said I can do nothing of Myself
25:33 whatever I see the Father doing I do likewise."
25:37 Now Jesus comes to you and me
25:39 and He says, you do whatever you see.
25:44 The same principle operates in your mind and in your heart.
25:47 Whatever you see that's what you do.
25:50 And you're acting out the image of your Father
25:55 who just happens to be the devil,
25:58 which is a very, very serious thing to say,
26:01 because they believe that their Father is who?
26:06 God, so these people are acting out an image, aren't they?
26:13 They're acting out a picture.
26:16 And if they were to label that picture
26:18 that the hold in their hearts,
26:19 they would call that picture God, the heavenly Father.
26:25 Jesus comes along and He says,
26:27 you're not worshipping God at all.
26:29 You think you're worshipping God,
26:31 but your image looks more like the devil.
26:35 You call it God but the attributes
26:37 and characteristics that you have pulled
26:40 together to compose this picture.
26:44 If I would ask you to explain your God to me,
26:48 to define your God to me, to portray in words,
26:53 what kind of character God has?
26:56 You would be describing the devil and not God at all.
27:00 And so you will do the deeds of your Father.
27:07 Every one of us operate under this principle.
27:11 Whatever we believe about God
27:14 will come out in the way we live,
27:16 in the way we behave.
27:19 Think of the Dark Ages for a moment.
27:22 You know the history of those Dark Ages, don't you?
27:25 You remember, what happened there?
27:26 Somewhere upwards towards 50 to 60 million people
27:33 were put to death in the name
27:36 of the devil to promote atheism.
27:43 Now 50 to 60 million people put to death
27:46 in the name of Jesus, in the name of God.
27:51 They were burning them in the city squares
27:55 right there for everyone to see.
27:59 And we say that make no sense.
28:01 How could you burn people at the stake for God.
28:04 Will it make perfect sense if you have a theology
28:07 that tells you that God burns people for ever and ever?
28:12 If you believe in a eternally burning hell and a God
28:16 who in His core character is a tormentor,
28:21 who would torture people.
28:25 Well it makes perfect sense to torture
28:26 some people to try to save their souls.
28:29 Like the priests said, I don't know
28:31 if you're that familiar with the story
28:33 of the reformer, William Tyndale.
28:37 But there is one episode of his story
28:39 that is very fascinating, because Tyndale as a young man
28:42 was translating the scriptures
28:44 into the common language of the people.
28:47 And Tyndale sat at his table one evening
28:50 as dinner was being served in his own home
28:53 as some priests were visiting on this occasion
28:57 to issue a warning to Tyndale.
29:00 And as the meal was prepared and served
29:03 and they began to eat, the priest looked
29:05 across the table at William Tyndale and said,
29:09 young Tyndale be sure that you understand one thing.
29:14 Tyndale said, what is that?
29:17 And the priest said, there are fires in hell
29:21 and there are fires on earth.
29:24 Be sure that the one is not needful to spare the other.
29:30 Loosely translated, if you don't start translated
29:34 the Bible into English, we're gonna burn you
29:36 at the stake in an effort to save your soul
29:38 from eternally burning hell.
29:42 Now how could they do that?
29:44 How could they actually torture people,
29:48 execute people, and think they were doing God a favor.
29:52 Well there's only one way that a human being
29:54 could ever do something like that.
29:56 You must first have a theological construct
30:01 that allows you to do
30:03 that kind of thing in the name of God,
30:05 because you believe God himself is that kind of person
30:08 and will be happy with you for doing those things for him.
30:14 When you come to the book of Revelation at the end of time.
30:17 That's really what the final issue is all about.
30:20 You got the whole world divided into two camps.
30:23 Those who persecute, coheres and force
30:26 and those who are the objects of that force
30:29 in that wrath and that murder.
30:32 And guess what, the biblical picture
30:35 is not of all the atheists in the world
30:37 ganging up against all the Christians.
30:40 It's of Christianity itself being divided
30:43 and one group of Christians acting out their theology
30:47 by forcing the conscience and threatening
30:50 with economic boycott and death, if you don't comply.
30:55 That's Revelation 13 in a nutshell.
30:57 You comply with this image of the beast, this image of God.
31:04 You come into harmony with this picture of God
31:09 or we will execute you.
31:11 And then you have the others,
31:13 who are receiving that persecution in the name of God,
31:17 but they have a different picture of God.
31:19 The gospel of Jesus Christ has deeply healed their hearts
31:24 and their souls and they believe that God is love.
31:29 And that his love led him not to condemn,
31:33 but to give Himself for the salvation of all mankind.
31:38 They have a picture of God in which they believe
31:41 that God went to great lengths
31:43 even to the giving of his own life
31:45 to preserve human freedom and never to coheres it,
31:50 never to force the will, or to force worship.
31:55 They have a totally different picture of God.
31:57 They believe that only by love is love awakened.
32:04 They believe that God is truly powerful.
32:08 but that the power that God uses to win
32:12 the loyalty of his subjects
32:13 is the power of His self sacrificing love,
32:16 and that God never resorts
32:18 to force in order to get His way.
32:22 And because they believe that God's whole universe
32:24 operates on the foundation of love,
32:28 because they believe that God preserves freedom.
32:34 They could never join in persecuting others
32:37 who don't believe like they believe.
32:39 They could never join in condemning others
32:42 for what they believe.
32:44 They could never join in a movement of condemnation
32:48 or corrosion because why.
32:50 Why can't they join the persecuting movement?
32:54 Because they hold dear in their hearts
32:58 a picture of the character of God
33:01 that is now coming out under pressure in their behavior,
33:04 and they find themselves like Steven under the rocks
33:09 saying Father, lay not the sin to their charge
33:12 as the persecution is happening.
33:14 They find themselves like Jesus praying
33:19 at the hand of their persecutors.
33:22 Father, forgive them.
33:24 They don't know what they're doing.
33:27 They find themselves exemplifying
33:30 the spirit and character of Moses.
33:32 When Moses said to the Lord,
33:34 Lord forgive these rebellious stiff necked people
33:39 or blot my name out of the book of life
33:41 which you've written. Lord,
33:42 I would rather be lost with them
33:45 than to be saved without them.
33:47 What an incredible level of love
33:50 level of love that Moses had for those people.
33:52 It was the very love of God coursing through his emotional
33:55 veins toward those people.
33:56 It was the very love of Jesus acted out toward those people,
34:01 because Moses had earlier said Lord show me Your glory.
34:07 And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness to pass
34:09 before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
34:12 I will be merciful and kind to sinners and offenders.
34:18 And Moses having received that picture of God,
34:22 Moses having received deep into his inner psyche
34:25 and into his emotions that beautiful picture
34:28 of God of love and pardon and mercy.
34:31 Moses, when the people were stiff necked
34:34 and rebellious found that in his heart
34:38 he would rather be lost with them
34:40 than to be saved without them.
34:44 And those in time people they will act out
34:47 the same spirit that actuated
34:49 Paul in Romans Chapters 9 and 10.
34:51 When Paul prayed Lord,
34:54 "I wish that I myself could be a curse
34:58 eternally lost for my kinsmen according to the flesh.
35:03 My fellow Israelites." The only way that Paul
35:07 could love his rebellious people with that kind of love
35:11 is because Paul had received insights
35:15 into the love of Jesus for his own soul.
35:19 And that love of God that had so permeated his heart
35:24 and his mind now came out in his attitude
35:29 and his spirit toward those most unworthy
35:34 of that love and forgiveness.
35:37 You see, that's really what it's all about.
35:41 Everything in your life and mine hinges on the picture
35:46 we hold in our hearts of the character of God.
35:49 Do you find it in your heart difficult
35:52 to forgive those who sin against you?
35:55 Do you find in your heart that you just cannot get over
35:59 what so and so did to you so many years ago?
36:05 Well I read on a bathroom wall one time some wisdom
36:09 and I don't recommend reading things on bathroom walls,
36:11 but sometimes there is something
36:14 that seems to have come from someone like Solomon there.
36:18 And on this particular bathroom wall it said this.
36:22 It said, if you refuse to forgive others,
36:27 you burn the bridge over
36:29 which you yourself must pass some day.
36:34 In other words, do you see how this works
36:38 on a psychological and emotional level?
36:41 By refusing to love others you set yourself up
36:47 to be incapable of perceiving God's love for you.
36:52 A refusal to forgive others sets you up
36:57 psychologically and emotionally,
36:59 so that you can see God's forgiveness for you.
37:04 This is really what Jesus meant
37:06 in that very strange statement that He made.
37:11 In Luke, Chapter 6, when He said,
37:13 "Judge not that you be not judged."
37:17 Do not condemn so that you're not condemned.
37:21 Now you can read that scripture one of two ways.
37:24 You can either, read Jesus saying,
37:26 listen if you judge other people,
37:28 if you condemn other people God will judge and condemn you.
37:33 Which means that if we are ugly and mean and cruel,
37:36 God reflects our ugly image back to us.
37:39 That if we are condemnatory, God's condemnatory.
37:42 If we are judgmental, God's judgmental.
37:45 You can interpret it that way if you want,
37:46 and most Christianity interprets it that way.
37:51 Don't judge people or God will judge you.
37:52 Don't condemn people or God will condemn you.
37:55 But you know what the previous verse says.
37:57 The previous verse says or previous verses
38:00 say things like this, love your enemies.
38:04 Do good to those who despitefully use and abuse you.
38:06 Pray for your enemies.
38:07 If someone takes something from you,
38:11 don't require it back.
38:14 Forgive those who offend you
38:16 and then you know what Jesus says,
38:18 Jesus then says then you will be like your Father
38:22 which is in heaven. You will be sons
38:24 and daughters of the Most High God if you live like that.
38:27 If you treat people like that,
38:29 you will be like your Father in heaven.
38:32 Then He says this, just before those words
38:34 about judging and condemning.
38:36 Jesus says "Be merciful just as your Father in heaven
38:42 is merciful for he is kind to the evil and unjust."
38:50 Judge not that you be not judged.
38:52 Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
38:55 Then first verse 38 unravels the mystery of this text.
39:00 Verse 38 Jesus says, give and it shall be given unto you.
39:05 Press down shaken together and running over
39:09 shall be given into your bosom
39:11 for with what measure you measure others,
39:14 it shall be measured back to you again.
39:18 Do you hear what Jesus is really saying here?
39:20 He is not saying, be nice to other people
39:25 or God won't be nice to you.
39:28 He is not saying, don't condemn
39:30 or God's going to change His attitude
39:32 and become condemnatory toward you.
39:34 He is not saying God's being so merciful all along,
39:37 but if you don't become merciful,
39:39 He's gonna start being merciful.
39:40 No, God never changes to reflect
39:43 our ugly image back to us.
39:45 Yeah. When we're unkind,
39:46 God doesn't become unkind to us.
39:48 God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.
39:52 With him there is no variableness,
39:54 not even a shadow of turning. Amen.
39:56 I am the Lord, I change not He declares through Malachi.
40:01 God doesn't change to reflect our image back to us, never.
40:05 What Jesus is defining here
40:07 is a deep and serious psychological
40:10 and emotional law of our being and that law is this.
40:15 That by our condemnation of others,
40:20 we set up a psychological paradigm,
40:24 a lens through which we then see
40:27 what we think to be the character of God.
40:30 In other words when we live in condemnation
40:34 and a lack of mercy toward others,
40:36 we can't help but believe
40:37 that that's the way God relates to us.
40:40 We can't help but believe, that God relates to us
40:43 the way we relate to others.
40:47 Have you read the book Pilgrim's Progress.
40:51 Do you remember in the book
40:53 when Christian comes to the house of the interpreter
40:56 which is a symbol in the book for the Holy Spirit.
41:00 Christian comes to the house of the interpreter
41:03 and the interpreter shows him many different symbols
41:06 and wonders that Christian is very interested to learn about.
41:10 And Christian comes upon
41:12 one particular sight that shakes him.
41:17 It's the man in the iron cage.
41:19 Do you remember him?
41:20 If you haven't read Pilgrim's Progress,
41:22 I highly recommend it.
41:24 You will learn much from that book.
41:26 He comes to the man in the iron cage
41:29 and Christian says to the interpreter,
41:31 he says my good sir,
41:33 why is this man shut up in this iron cage?
41:38 And then the interpreter says to Christian,
41:40 ask him he will tell you.
41:43 And so Christian runs over to the iron cage
41:45 and he says good sir,
41:47 why are you shut up in this iron cage?
41:50 To which the man in the iron cage responds
41:52 and says ah God have shut me up in this iron cage.
41:57 Christian runs back to the interpreter
41:58 and says interpreter,
42:00 why has God shut this man up in this iron cage?
42:06 And the interpreter says, God be not the builder of cages.
42:11 So Christian runs back to the man in the iron cage
42:14 and says, God doesn't build cages.
42:16 God didn't shut up in this iron cage.
42:19 To which the man in the iron cage says,
42:23 God can never forgive me after what I have done.
42:31 Christian runs to the interpreter
42:34 and says, dear interpreter,
42:37 why will God not forgive him
42:40 and set him free from the cage.
42:43 To which the interpreter says,
42:47 God cannot achieve what man cannot believe
42:53 and there in lies the secret of this truth
42:56 that we're exploring right now.
43:00 God is eager and always standing toward us
43:04 in an attitude of forgiveness
43:05 and love and mercy and pardon.
43:08 God doesn't turn on compassion, God is compassionate.
43:12 God doesn't become loving as some part of the day
43:15 or some part of your experience and then turn his love off
43:18 at some other part of your experience.
43:20 The Bible doesn't say God is loving.
43:23 The Bible says God is love, it is the very essence
43:27 and core of His being and His character.
43:31 It is the most unique statement in scripture
43:33 about God the statement God is love.
43:36 The Bible makes no other statement
43:37 to define the character of God like this.
43:39 The Bible never says for example God is justice.
43:43 Only God is just. The Bible never says God
43:47 is kindness itself but kind.
43:52 The Bible never says God is patience, but God is patient.
43:58 This is the only statement about God in all of scripture
44:02 that points to what seems to be an attribute of character
44:06 and says God is love not loving, but love itself.
44:11 And all the other attributes patience,
44:14 kindness, justice, mercy everything else
44:17 that you can say about God comes under
44:19 that one over arching attribute
44:22 God is love therefore He's patient.
44:24 God is love therefore He's merciful.
44:27 God is love therefore He's just
44:30 and so on with every other good attribute.
44:34 God is love and God stand toward you and me
44:39 with a attitude of love and mercy
44:43 that is constantly at 1000 percent strength
44:49 and never ever fluctuates or changes.
44:53 God is love full throttled paddle to the metal
44:57 loves toward you and me all the time.
44:59 He never lets up on the gas touches the brake--
45:03 God's love is a constant static reality always
45:09 at its zenith point toward you and me,
45:13 and it never dims in its brightness or its intensity.
45:19 God is love and the man in the iron cage
45:25 has failed to understand that reality.
45:30 The man in the iron cage is not in the iron cage
45:32 because God put him there.
45:34 God be not the builder of cages as the interpreter said.
45:39 The man has build this cage out of his own sin
45:43 and has convinced his own mind
45:45 that God cannot forgive him
45:47 when in fact reality is that God
45:50 is as eager to forgive him now as he as ever been. Amen.
45:56 The only time that a human being ever comes to the place
46:00 when forgiveness is out of reach
46:04 is when that human being cannot believe that God forgives.
46:10 But God never turns it off toward him.
46:12 God never changes toward the individual,
46:15 but change occurs in the person not in God.
46:19 And so when Jesus says, judge not that you be not judge,
46:24 condemn not that you be not condemned,
46:26 He is simply saying with what measure you measure,
46:30 it shall be measured back to you.
46:32 You by refusing to love and forgive others,
46:36 you set up a psychological parameter
46:40 in your mind beyond which you can't see.
46:44 God still loves you, but you can't see it anymore.
46:47 God is still forgiving and merciful,
46:49 but you can't believe it anymore.
46:53 That's the dangerous thing about sin by the way.
46:57 That's the serious thing about sin.
46:59 Not that God can't forgive, but that eventually
47:03 we come to the place if we persist in sin
47:10 where we can't believe in God's love anymore.
47:15 And so this principle holds true
47:17 for every one of us without exception.
47:20 You see it everywhere people saying, no it's not true
47:24 but it's true by beholding we do become changed.
47:27 Whatever we believe about God
47:29 and whatever we believe about many other things
47:31 in life is reflected in our behavior.
47:33 Some of you saw Finding Nemo.
47:36 How many of you saw Finding Nemo?
47:37 Be honest come on some of you saw Finding Nemo.
47:41 Not one of you saw that cartoon
47:42 that just came out Finding Nemo.
47:45 Well in the cartoon Finding Nemo,
47:50 there was a little baby fish that got lost at sea
47:53 and his father and a bunch of other fish went looking for him
47:59 and somewhere in the story Nemo
48:01 finds his way back into the ocean through--
48:05 I hate to say getting flushed down a toilet.
48:09 So now there is an epidemic of calls
48:11 through out the United States,
48:13 the Roto Rooter, because little kids
48:15 across the nation are flushing their houses
48:18 aquarium fish down the toilet in hopes
48:21 that those fish will find their way back
48:23 to the ocean to help in search for Nemo.
48:27 By beholding we do become changed.
48:30 Back in the 1950s when Gone
48:32 with the Wind was the in vogue movie.
48:39 The star of that particular movie did something
48:44 that was never done on the silver screen before.
48:47 He unbuttoned three buttons and it was clear
48:50 he was not wearing an undershirt.
48:54 And at that point in American history
48:57 as Gone with the Wind aired over and over again
49:00 and theatres were flooded with people.
49:03 This is a fact that t-shirts sales
49:05 for Fruit Of The Loom, and Hanes dropped
49:08 so drastically in the United States,
49:10 men stopped wearing t-shirts to look as cool
49:13 and suave as that guy on the screen.
49:16 T-shirts dropped in America
49:20 and for a while there it was thought
49:22 that this United States could only
49:24 support one t-shirt company.
49:28 By beholding we do become changed.
49:32 Television companies, movie making companies
49:35 have argued for years that people's behavior
49:38 is not affected by what they see on television
49:41 in order to not take responsibility
49:44 for some of the behavior
49:46 that is evident throughout society.
49:49 In the one breadth they have said
49:51 what people see does not affect their behavior
49:53 and in the next breadth
49:54 they are making multimillion dollar
49:56 deals with advertising companies,
49:58 because for 30 seconds we'll sell more Budweiser
50:03 than you can ever sell any other way
50:05 and people will pay millions of dollars
50:07 for 30 second commercial while they're also saying
50:10 that it doesn't affect what anybody does.
50:15 Well my topic today has nothing to do with television,
50:18 because I did see Finding Nemo.
50:22 But my point is this that the Bible clearly teaches
50:28 that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he
50:33 and the most vital thing that we need to get clear
50:36 in our minds and in our hearts is the picture
50:39 we hold in our hearts of the character of God.
50:42 Every one of us to varying degrees
50:45 when we come under the pressure,
50:47 we act out of picture of God.
50:50 It is absolutely vital that we allow
50:53 the beautiful image of Jesus to inform our minds
50:58 and our emotions as to the truth about God.
51:02 Jesus alone is the definitive revelation of who God is.
51:06 How God thinks? How God feels?
51:09 And how God behaves?
51:11 Jesus according to Hebrews Chapter 1
51:13 is the express image of God's person
51:16 and the brightness of His glory.
51:18 Jesus by His own testimony in John 14:9 said,
51:22 "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."
51:26 He's just like Me I am just like Him.
51:28 There is no difference between the two of us.
51:31 The character of Jesus
51:33 is in fact the character of the Father.
51:38 And so all that we see in his life and ultimately
51:41 all that we see on that hill faraway
51:46 as he hung on an old rugged cross,
51:48 crying out from the depths of his agony,
51:50 "Father forgive them."
51:53 Because they don't know what they're doing,
51:56 all that we see in Jesus
51:57 hanging on the cross is a true and accurate
52:02 and beautiful revelation of the character of God.
52:05 And as we look to the cross
52:07 we are persuaded that God is love,
52:12 unselfish other centered love toward
52:16 every member of the human family, all the time.
52:21 And if you believe that picture of God,
52:25 if you believe that God is just like Jesus.
52:31 Then you will begin out of that wellspring of life
52:35 and that belief system you will begin to love
52:38 other people the way God loves people.
52:40 You will begin to forgive other people
52:43 the way God has forgiven you.
52:46 You will begin to extend your heart and your life
52:50 and expand your energy to bring others to the Savior.


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Revised 2014-12-17