Salvation in Symbols and Signs

The First Angel’s Message

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Yvonne Lewis, Jason Bradley

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Series Code: SISS

Program Code: SISS000061A


00:29 This is the everlasting gospel, Revelation 14 verse 6
00:33 and we've taken that phrase
00:35 which is unique to the whole Bible
00:37 and we've traced it through the New and the Old Testament
00:39 and we have found...
00:41 the Everlasting Gospel is the only way
00:42 anyone ever has been saved or ever will be saved
00:44 and that's why it's such good news.
00:46 This message has to go to all the world
00:48 we've still... we've...
00:49 we've just begun to understand it.
00:51 Hmmm...
00:52 Under the title of the "Everlasting Gospel"
00:54 comes a number of phrases that we're going to really look into
00:56 and understand, so, we need to have a word of prayer
00:59 for God's Holy Spirit to lead us
01:00 and then we need to jump right into this,
01:02 Jason, you want to pray for us?
01:03 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father,
01:04 we thank you again to afford us this opportunity
01:08 to study your Word
01:09 and as we learn about the everlasting gospel,
01:13 we hope that it excites our Viewers
01:15 and gets everybody wanting
01:17 to share and spread the everlasting gospel,
01:20 we ask for your Holy Spirit to be with us
01:22 as we study, lead and guide us into all truth
01:25 in Jesus' name we pray, amen. "
01:26 All: "Amen. "
01:27 "Everlasting" goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
01:30 Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves...
01:34 God clothed them with animal skins.
01:36 The sacrifice of the animal from the very beginning
01:39 pointed to the Lamb of God
01:40 that takes away the sins of the world.
01:42 Cain and Abel... Cain brought the fruits of his hands...
01:45 the labor of his hands and Abel brought the Lamb
01:47 and the crisis has from that time continued
01:52 all the way through every generation,
01:53 are we going to trust in the Lamb
01:54 or the works of our hands?
01:56 The Lamb... or the works of our hands...
01:58 so this is the consummation in Revelation 14
02:01 of the eternal crisis... when I say, "eternal"
02:03 I mean the crisis that has gone all the way back
02:05 to the very inception of sin...
02:07 it goes all the way back eternally
02:08 to the Plan of Salvation.
02:10 The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
02:13 It is a beautiful picture that we're seeing here
02:16 in the everlasting gospel...
02:17 the good news of how we're saved through the Lamb
02:20 from beginning to end.
02:21 and that's why I think it's so important for us
02:24 to make sure we understand
02:26 this message in its context
02:29 because it's going to produce a people
02:31 in verse 12 that keep the commandments of God.
02:32 Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments. "
02:35 There's no way
02:37 we're going to be able to keep the commandments of God
02:39 if we think that it's through keeping the commandments
02:41 that we're saved... it's just not going to happen.
02:44 The only way we're going to actually be enabled...
02:46 empowered to keep the commandments of God,
02:48 is realizing that we are saved totally a 100 percent
02:51 through the doing and dying of Jesus Christ
02:53 and that grabs the heart.
02:55 He has saved us,
02:57 He has purchased that as a gift that He gives to us,
03:00 and out of the appreciation for that,
03:02 we follow Him wherever He goes,
03:05 we keep His commandments
03:06 because we've fallen in love with Him
03:08 and that's the formula
03:09 that we're seeing here in Revelation 14...
03:10 that's the basic outline of the formula
03:12 now it has details and we want to look at the details,
03:15 the first detail that we see mentioned here
03:18 after the everlasting gospel
03:20 is... and by-the-way,
03:21 the everlasting gospel... Sanctuary...
03:23 like someone would say,
03:25 "Where's the everlasting gospel in the Old Testament?"
03:26 We looked in Exodus...
03:27 we found it there right before the commandments are given
03:29 we have the blood of the Lamb
03:30 that was put on the doorposts... on the lintels...
03:32 but... the sanctuary service... what was that all about?
03:35 Wasn't that a picture of salvation?
03:38 All the way through...
03:40 in the Old Testament you have the sacrifice of the lamb...
03:42 the sacrifice... the sacrifice, the sacrifice...
03:44 pointing people to...
03:45 in fact, if you look at the sanctuary itself,
03:47 you have a white linen wall
03:50 that was about nine feet tall
03:53 couldn't get under it, couldn't get over it,
03:55 "white" representing righteousness,
03:58 purity... there's no way that we can get in
04:01 and have that purity unless we go to the gate,
04:04 unless we go to the door
04:06 then He says, "I am the way, the truth and the life:
04:08 I am the door...
04:10 no man comes to the Father, but by me. "
04:11 You have to come in through the door
04:13 and in order to come in through the door,
04:14 you have to bring with you a lamb...
04:16 you have to have the sacrifice the lamb...
04:18 it's the blood of the lamb that gets us in,
04:20 that gets us back to God,
04:21 it gets us reconnected with God
04:22 so it's always through the blood,
04:24 always through the blood.
04:26 Okay, what's the first phrase of the everlasting gospel?
04:29 Let's read Revelation,
04:30 oh, Yvonne, why don't you read for us
04:32 Revelation 14 verse 7.
04:33 "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
04:39 for the hour of his judgment has come:
04:41 and worship him who made heaven, and earth,
04:44 the sea, and springs of water. "
04:46 Now we touched on this a little bit with the Sabbath,
04:48 we're not going to get to the Sabbath right now,
04:50 though I want to say, from the outset
04:53 that Sabbath is part of the everlasting gospel
04:56 because it causes to rest in Jesus.
04:58 It causes to rest everything Jesus has done for us
05:01 and we'll look at that in more detail.
05:03 Yvonne: And what I just read is
05:04 the first angel's message, correct?
05:06 James: Yes, the first angel's message
05:08 which includes the everlasting gospel.
05:10 So, you can't just read verse 7 without verse 6,
05:14 verse 6 actually tells us what verse 7 means...
05:18 what does it mean to fear God
05:20 in the context of the everlasting gospel.
05:22 Now, we've defined the everlasting gospel
05:24 that's complete trust in Jesus for our salvation.
05:27 So, what does it mean to fear God in that context?
05:30 The word "fear" actually means "to be afraid of"
05:33 but it also means "to revere"
05:35 or to be "in awe" of God,
05:37 okay, so how do we define that
05:39 in the context of the everlasting gospel?
05:41 Let me just give you two verses that we can look at,
05:43 the first one is in Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4
05:48 Jason, if you can look up Psalm 130:3 and 4
05:52 and then Yvonne, the second one is Psalm 147 verses 11.
05:56 Psalm 147 verse 11 and these verses will instruct us
06:01 or tell us what it means to fear God,
06:04 Psalm 130:3 and 4 and then Psalm 147 verse 11.
06:07 Jason: Okay, Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4,
06:11 "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities,
06:15 O LORD, who shall stand?
06:16 But there is forgiveness with thee,
06:19 that thou mayest be feared. "
06:20 James: "Forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. "
06:23 Okay, what does 147:11 say?
06:25 Yvonne: "The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
06:27 in those who hope in his mercy. "
06:29 James: Oh... everlasting gospel,
06:33 hope in the mercy of God...
06:34 everlasting gospel...
06:36 God doesn't count our sins against us
06:37 that's what it means to fear Him...
06:39 to fear God is to know
06:41 that He doesn't count our sins against us
06:43 otherwise we'd be destroyed, it's the hope in His mercy
06:45 so, in the context of the everlasting gospel
06:48 fearing God is to hope in His mercy,
06:50 look at this in relation to Exodus 20,
06:51 Exodus 20... it's really interesting...
06:53 we've looked at this already...
06:54 it's relation to the Ten Commandments
06:56 but have you ever noticed
06:57 that Exodus 20 closes in verse 20
07:01 with this definition of fear,
07:04 Exodus 20 verse 20 says...
07:07 Moses speaks to the people and he says,
07:10 "Fear not... Moses said unto the people,
07:13 Fear not: for God is come to prove you,
07:16 that his fear may be before your faces, that you... "
07:20 Yvonne: "may not sin... "
07:22 Do you notice that there's two mentions of fear in there?
07:25 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm...
07:27 the first one is, "Don't fear... "
07:29 and the second one is, is what? "His fear... "
07:31 there's a fear that you ought to have
07:33 and there's a fear that you're not to have
07:35 you go back to the Garden of Eden
07:37 Adam and Eve sinned and what did they do?
07:39 Jason: They hid.
07:41 James: They hid... and when God came looking for them,
07:43 and he found them, what did they say?
07:44 God said, "Why were you hiding?" And what did they say?
07:47 Yvonne: "We were afraid. "
07:49 There's a natural fear and then there's a supernatural fear
07:52 the natural fear is our human fear
07:54 and the supernatural fear is God's fear...
07:56 so Moses says, "Don't be afraid" natural fear
07:58 God has come to put His fear in you,
08:00 if you're afraid of God, you hide from God...
08:03 if you have God's fear, you obey God... you don't sin.
08:06 Jason: You worship Him.
08:08 James: Yes, God's fear leads you away from sin...
08:11 your fear leads you away from God.
08:13 You got that?
08:15 God's fear leads you away from sin...
08:17 your fear leads you away from God.
08:18 Adam and Eve's fear led them away from God
08:20 but when God's fear is in them, it leads them away from sin,
08:24 so, the everlasting gospel leads us away from sin
08:27 because it puts the fear of God in our hearts
08:29 and that's a "God thing" that's what God wants to do
08:33 He wants to put our fear... excuse me,
08:36 His fear in our hearts and take away our fear
08:38 "perfect loves casts out... " what?
08:40 Yvonne: All fear.
08:41 James: Yeah, 1st John chapter 4 and verse... what? 18...
08:45 "Perfect love casts out all fear... "
08:48 so, how do you correlate that with Revelation 14,
08:52 "Fear God... "
08:54 "Perfect love casts out all fear... "
08:55 it's the two kinds of fear,
08:57 so, Revelation 20:20 gives us the two kinds of fear,
09:00 the one fear that needs to go
09:02 and the other fear that needs to come in.
09:03 Ivor: Yeah, I'm going to add here
09:05 because from our last program,
09:07 we talked about those four things
09:09 right, from the beast,
09:11 there was the worship of the beast
09:13 and to worship means to fear,
09:15 "Fear God and worship Him"
09:16 there's a worship of the beast, there's his image,
09:20 there's his name... and then there's his mark...
09:24 these are the four things he's trying to deceive us on
09:26 well, guess what?
09:28 when you get to the first angel's message,
09:31 you find, four things, fear God... give glory to Him...
09:36 the hour of His judgment is come
09:38 and worship Him that made heaven, the earth, the sea...
09:41 four things... very interesting...
09:42 and when you take those four things,
09:44 you look at those again, fear of the Lord, fear God...
09:47 that's what the first commandment points us to,
09:50 "Don't have... don't worship any other gods before me...
09:53 fear me... "
09:54 Paul talks about it in the book of Romans
09:56 how instead of giving glory to God,
09:59 they give glory to idols...
10:03 that's a direct violation of the second commandment.
10:06 "The hour of His judgment is come... "
10:09 well, what are we judged on?
10:10 God is looking at our characters, right,
10:13 our character is our name and what name are we taking on?
10:18 We're taking on the name of Christ
10:19 so we're being judged...
10:21 in other words... he's saying,
10:23 "Look, as Christians, I don't want you to take my name...
10:24 you take my name upon you, don't take it in vain. "
10:26 So, the hour of His judgment is come,
10:28 He is judging you based on... not just what you say...
10:31 but on your very character
10:33 and then the fourth,
10:35 "Worship Him that made heaven,
10:37 the earth, the sea and the fountains... "
10:38 points us right back to the Sabbath Commandment
10:40 so, what do you have?
10:42 The beast in Revelation 13
10:44 is trying to lead us to break those four commandments,
10:48 first four... the first angel's message comes along and says,
10:51 "Hey, you want to avoid this, you want to avoid this section,
10:54 this is what needs to happen"
10:55 and the interesting thing about the commandments...
10:59 James... is that...
11:00 when people say the commandments are about works,
11:03 and the Sabbath is about works,
11:07 I mean, think about how crazy that sounds,
11:11 so, God says, the Sabbath is about rest,
11:15 what?
11:19 "Because the Sabbath is about rest
11:21 so, how can it be about works?"
11:23 James: Hmmm... Yvonne: Hmmm...
11:25 Ivor: When you obey the Sabbath, He says, "You are resting in me"
11:29 and notice how the commandments begin,
11:31 "Thou shalt not... " you know, "Don't... "
11:34 right, it's not "Do this... " or "Do this... "
11:37 "or do this... " it's rest...
11:39 it's... "Do not... do not... do not"
11:42 it's almost like... after God saves us...
11:44 and we're like, "God... what can we...?"
11:46 He says, "Don't... don't do anything,
11:47 just rest in me... " okay?
11:50 "Just rest in me... "
11:52 the commandments are really about resting in Christ,
11:57 not allowing our works, right,
12:01 to overpower what Christ is trying to do in us,
12:04 so the "work" for the Christian is really...
12:08 in resting in Christ.
12:09 He said, "When you rest in me... I do the work through you. "
12:13 Right, "I'm the One that enables you to follow my commandments,
12:17 to do these things... it's not you...
12:19 it's Christ in you. "
12:21 But in order for us to have that,
12:23 we have to learn how to "rest in Him. "
12:26 And that's basically what He's calling us to...
12:28 so when it goes back to Cain and Abel,
12:32 one trusting in the works of his hands,
12:36 the other trusting in the blood of the Lamb,
12:38 it's the same battle that comes right back
12:41 to the very end of time.
12:43 Right, it's interesting because Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 12,
12:46 where God says, "I want you to keep my Sabbath
12:49 that you might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies you. "
12:52 Right, and that verse is very powerful because
12:55 remember what Lucifer wanted to do in heaven?
12:59 Lucifer wanted to push this concept of self-sanctification.
13:03 "I can sanctify... I don't need you to sanctify me,
13:06 I can determine for myself what is holy. "
13:09 So God gives man the Sabbath and says,
13:11 "Listen, the Sabbath is to be a sign that you remember
13:15 that you don't sanctify yourself...
13:17 I sanctify you... your works can't fix you...
13:21 the things you do can't... "
13:23 so, I want you to remember in resting...
13:26 that it's not your works, I sanctify you...
13:29 anything else is self-sanctification
13:33 which means I'm going to take righteousness into my own hands
13:37 and I'm going to determine for myself
13:38 what is right and what is wrong.
13:40 Jason: Which is scary because today you see...
13:43 I've heard and I've seen different posts and stuff,
13:46 where people say... "Determine your truth... "
13:50 or something... "Live by your truth... "
13:53 like, if you're living by your own truth,
13:55 you're not living by the Word of God,
13:58 you're... how can you have all these different...
14:03 your own variation of truth?
14:04 Would this... needs to be the standard... the Bible...
14:09 the Word of God needs to be the standard,
14:11 it can determine your truth
14:12 and that's along the lines of that self-sanctification.
14:16 Ivor: That's right, yeah, "I sanctify myself. "
14:19 James: That's why Jesus said,
14:21 "Except your righteousness exceeds
14:23 the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
14:25 you can no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. "
14:27 He wasn't trying to lay the standard higher,
14:29 in the sense of... "You need to do more than them
14:32 they're not doing enough... you need to do more than them,
14:34 you got to exceed their righteousness... "
14:36 He was setting the standard so high that it was unattainable
14:40 and He's basically saying,
14:42 "Unless you have my righteousness...
14:43 which is perfect righteousness,
14:45 you're not going to make it to the kingdom of heaven. "
14:46 Because their righteousness is just outward...
14:48 it's their own standard...
14:50 they've set a certain standard up
14:52 and that's the standard that they are laying out to attain to
14:55 and that standard is not going to make it...
14:57 the only standard that's going to make it
14:58 is the perfect standard... and only Christ has that to offer.
15:00 Jason: Yeah. Yvonne: Right.
15:01 Ivor: So, it's... it's...
15:03 we have to remember that we're not saved by our works...
15:09 "Okay, I kept the commandments really good
15:12 so, God's going to save me... "
15:13 no, we are only saved by mercy, right,
15:16 and you go into the Sanctuary and what do you find
15:19 in the Most Holy Place, you find a Mercy Seat...
15:22 that is the Mercy Seat...
15:24 the throne of grace, if you will,
15:26 so, guess what? I want to be under mercy
15:29 right, and Satan knows that those who are under mercy
15:33 are the ones that are going to be saved,
15:34 so, in order for me to be under the Mercy Seat,
15:38 guess where I'm standing?
15:40 Right in the midst of His law, because His law is right there
15:45 under the Mercy Seat,
15:46 if I'm standing in... under Mercy...
15:49 that means, I'm standing in His law
15:52 and what does he say,
15:53 "Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me
15:58 and keep my commandments. "
16:00 So we're not saved because we keep the commandments,
16:02 we're saved because we're under His mercy,
16:04 but being under His mercy...
16:05 we're walking in His commandments.
16:08 Why? Because He says, "If you love me... "
16:11 right, "If you are grateful for what I have done in your life,
16:15 then, this is the appropriate response. "
16:17 James: And if we're walking in the law
16:20 and we're standing in the law, we need His mercy.
16:21 Ivor: That's right.
16:22 James: It's when we discard the law
16:24 that we no longer really need the mercy of God
16:25 because there's no standard by which we're judged,
16:28 there's no feeling of guilt,
16:29 there's no... there's no sense
16:30 in which we feel a need for mercy we've attained
16:34 so, when we're standing in the law...
16:36 we are feeling a need of mercy
16:38 because that law magnifies who we are
16:41 and our weakness and our failures
16:43 and when we're standing under mercy, we're standing in the law
16:45 so it works both ways.
16:47 Under mercy, we stand in the law...
16:49 saying, "law... we need mercy"
16:50 it's... it's this circle of beneficence.
16:53 Ivor: That's right. James: Good will...
16:55 and that's why the law is so vital,
16:57 Paul says, "Without the law, I didn't know sin...
16:59 it was the law that showed me how sinful I was...
17:02 and that law that showed me how sinful I was,
17:05 drove me to the Messiah... drove me to Jesus. "
17:07 When Paul had his own standard, he wasn't driven to Christ
17:10 but when he realized the standard of the law,
17:12 it drove him to put his dependence on Jesus Christ.
17:15 Ivor: So, what's important about that?
17:16 Is that the law is what drives us to Christ
17:19 okay, if we don't have the law or we have a counterfeit law,
17:24 it's going to drive us to the wrong "Christ"
17:26 and remember the context of the three angels' messages,
17:29 is preparing us
17:31 for that delusion that's coming up on the world, right,
17:35 so, if I'm thinking one thing, "I can sanctify myself...
17:39 I don't need a law in order to be holy... "
17:41 because remember, that was his argument in heaven, right,
17:43 "I don't need a law to be like God... I can be holy by myself,
17:46 I don't need some written thing
17:49 telling me what is right and what is wrong... "
17:52 that argument actually leads us
17:55 to reject the righteousness of Christ
17:57 and prepares us to be deceived by the unrighteousness of Satan
18:03 and so that is what the importance of this...
18:08 three angels' messages... is again designed to shield us
18:11 from the delusion coming upon the world
18:13 that's why the 2nd angels' message
18:15 comes right after the first,
18:17 right, "Hey, beware of Babylon, it has a false gospel,
18:20 false covenant... " we talked about the wine
18:24 these things are a counterfeit of the genuine,
18:28 and so, the first angel's message
18:30 opens our eyes... not only to the truth
18:32 but also to the counterfeit.
18:34 James: Okay, two verses... someone has... no... yeah... no,
18:38 two verses, "Fear God and give glory to Him"
18:42 what does it mean to give glory to God
18:44 in the context of the everlasting gospel,
18:45 now we've defined the everlasting gospel as salvation,
18:48 Old and New Testament... in Christ...
18:50 the doing and dying of Jesus Christ
18:51 so what does it mean to give glory to him in that context?
18:53 Ephesians 2 verse 8... Ephesians 2 verse 8
18:58 and Yvonne, 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 30 and 31
19:06 I think it might be 29... but I'm going to say,
19:09 Ephesians 2 verse 8
19:10 and then 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30.
19:13 When I get there, I'll see if it's verse 29
19:16 but I think it's verse 30.
19:17 Jason: Ephesians 2 verse 8 reads,
19:20 "For by grace are ye saved through faith;
19:22 and that not of yourselves... "
19:24 let me start over...
19:25 "For by grace are ye saved through faith;
19:27 and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God... "
19:30 James: Read verse 9... sorry...
19:33 Jason: Nine... "Not of works, lest any man should boast. "
19:37 James: Okay, you know what that word, "boast" means
19:38 in the Greek?
19:40 It means to glory... to boast... to glory...
19:43 so, this is the... this is the key verse
19:46 in the New Testament that most people turn to
19:49 when they say that we're saved by grace...
19:52 we're not under the Old Testament...
19:53 we're not under the law...
19:55 we don't have to keep the law anymore,
19:56 right here, Ephesians says, we're saved by grace...
19:57 well, yeah, that's true,
19:59 we're saved by grace through faith...
20:00 and not of ourselves... it's the gift of God...
20:02 not of works... that's the way man showeth glory...
20:04 "Fear God and you give glory to Him... " means...
20:06 to believe that we're saved by grace.
20:08 We can own this verse...
20:10 as commandment-keepers, we can own this verse.
20:13 This is a good verse for us
20:15 because it shows us what it means to give glory to God,
20:18 what it means, "to give glory to God"
20:20 is to believe we're saved completely by grace.
20:21 We are saved completely by grace,
20:23 okay, 1st Corinthians chapter 1 beginning with verse 29,
20:26 "That no flesh should glory in his presence... "
20:30 start there? James: Hmmm... hmmm...
20:32 "But of him you are in Christ Jesus
20:33 who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness,
20:37 and sanctification, and redemption:
20:39 That, as it is written,
20:41 He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. "
20:43 James: Christ is everything, He's our wisdom...
20:47 He's our righteousness, He's our sanctification,
20:51 and He's our redemption.
20:53 Justification, sanctification, glorification.
20:56 He's everything, why? So that we don't glory.
20:59 So that we give glory to God,
21:01 we're saved by grace so we can give glory to God,
21:03 Jesus is everything, so we can give glory to God,
21:06 we don't get any glory, we get zero glory...
21:09 you remember when the Jews came to Jesus
21:11 and they said, "Hey... " they said...
21:14 "there's a centurion who has a servant who's sick
21:18 and he's worthy because he's built us a synagogue
21:22 could you go and heal his servant... he's worthy... "
21:25 that's when the Jews said,
21:26 "he's worthy... he's built us a synagogue...
21:27 see what he's done for us, he's worthy. "
21:29 Do you remember what the centurion said,
21:30 when the centurion... who wouldn't even go to Jesus,
21:32 when the centurion heard that Jesus was coming to his place,
21:35 do you know what he said?
21:36 Yvonne: He wasn't worthy.
21:38 James: He said, "I'm not worthy... "
21:39 now, I want to ask you a question,
21:41 who is telling the truth?
21:42 Because think about this, the Pharisees said he was worthy
21:44 the Jews said he was worthy
21:46 and the centurion said... he wasn't worthy.
21:48 They were religious,
21:49 he was a centurion... he was a soldier.
21:51 Who was telling the truth on a religious basis?
21:53 The centurion was telling the truth.
21:56 The religious leaders were off, the church guys were off,
22:00 "he built us a church... but we don't even know the gospel"
22:04 but the centurion knows the gospel...
22:06 the gospel is, "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy... "
22:08 "But he built you a church... "
22:10 "But that doesn't make me worthy... "
22:11 it doesn't matter how much money you give to the church,
22:14 it doesn't matter if you build churches,
22:16 you can build churches for God and you're still not worthy.
22:18 Jason: Another thing is... I mean...
22:20 you can do great things with the wrong motives...
22:24 if you don't have pure motives behind it...
22:28 if you're doing it for... if you have ulterior motives...
22:32 basically... those good works...
22:34 I mean... it doesn't mean anything.
22:36 James: It doesn't but now, Jason,
22:38 I want to take you one step further than that...
22:40 let's say you do good things for the right motives...
22:42 Jason: Still not saved by your...
22:45 James: It's not going to save you, is it?
22:46 Yeah... See that?
22:48 Even if you do good things... now... good works are good
22:51 they're great... they're fantastic...
22:53 but they don't save you,
22:54 you never move into "savable character"
22:56 because of your works.
22:57 "Savable" is always Christ... always ever will be Christ...
23:01 now your works testified you're trusting in Him.
23:03 Yvonne: Isn't Christianity the only religion that teaches that?
23:07 James: Yes.
23:08 Yvonne: Because most other religions... it's what you do...
23:12 be a good person... I heard so many people say,
23:14 "I'm a good person... why wouldn't I be saved?
23:17 I'm a good person... "
23:18 Well, it's not about how "good" we are...
23:22 we can do X, Y, Z's for people
23:24 and all that stuff... it's about what Jesus did...
23:27 James: Right... you just nailed it...
23:29 you just nailed it... yeah...
23:31 C.S. Lewis talked about this,
23:33 he once walked into a room
23:35 where they were all trying to figure out...
23:36 where these theologians were trying to figure out
23:38 what unique contribution
23:40 Christianity gave to the world religions?
23:42 And they were saying, "Well, no, you know,
23:44 Judaism offers this... that's just what Christianity...
23:46 you know... the Muslims offer...
23:49 that's just Christianity... oh, what's unique?
23:51 And C.S. Lewis said, "That's easy... grace... "
23:54 Christianity is the only religion
23:56 that offers salvation through grace... "
23:59 No creature merit whatsoever...
24:02 every other religions has the... the "works" mentality
24:05 it's built into the System...
24:07 Christianity is the only religion
24:09 that you're saved totally by grace.
24:11 Yvonne: Hmmm...
24:12 Ivor: This statement, "Give glory to Him... "
24:15 is... in an end-time context... absolutely crucial...
24:20 because what God is saying is,
24:22 "I don't want you to glorify yourself...
24:26 I don't want you to glorify anybody else
24:29 I want you to give glory to me. "
24:32 And the reason He's saying is because...
24:34 to glorify, of course, means to lift up,
24:37 we're into glorifying self or others
24:40 because as humans we like glory,
24:42 we like glory... and if we don't see glory,
24:47 we're not attracted to glory,
24:49 that's why Jesus was rejected because he did not come in glory
24:53 He came and those who liked glory were like... "Hmmm... "
24:59 when they saw Him there was nothing
25:01 that they should desire Him
25:02 so it was like, "Hmmm... "
25:03 and the reason Jesus is giving us this message at this time
25:07 is because He knows that there is One coming
25:11 who is going to look full of glory
25:14 and those who are into glorifying self,
25:17 and glorifying other... "Oh! glory...
25:20 look at that glory...
25:22 ooooh... Man!"
25:23 So Jesus is like,
25:24 "Look, you need to be prepared for this
25:28 so I want you to learn how to give glory to me.
25:32 don't glorify others... don't... "
25:35 and I think that's what Satan is doing today,
25:37 he's training us how to love
25:41 glorifying self and glorifying others
25:44 and the more we get into glory,
25:46 yeah, glory... you know...
25:48 what? look... the more we get into glory...
25:51 the more we are being set up to receive the one
25:54 who will counterfeit the glory of Christ
25:58 as he is described in Revelation chapter 1 verse 10
26:02 because that will be one of the most "glorious" things
26:06 that human eyes behold
26:08 and if we're not used to shunning glory,
26:10 you see, so again when the Jews...
26:13 when Christ came... they weren't...
26:15 they were like, "Where is the glory?"
26:16 Well, you know, He was like,
26:20 "Do you want to know what glory is?
26:21 The glory is in my death, burial and resurrection
26:24 and if that's not glory enough for you,
26:26 the sign of Jonah is not good enough for you,
26:30 you're not going to be given any other signs... "
26:31 a wicked generation looks for a sign
26:36 looks for glory... and guess what they're going to get,
26:38 they're going to get the sign
26:40 but it's not going to be God's sign,
26:42 that's the importance of giving glory to God.
26:45 Jason: That's crazy because
26:47 the devil has just been doing the same thing
26:49 over and over again, self-exaltation in heaven...
26:53 self-exaltation in the Garden... "You eat this fruit...
26:56 and you will be like gods knowing good from evil... "
27:00 I mean, he just repeats the same thing over and over
27:03 and maybe packages it a little bit differently...
27:06 James: Yeah, for every age...
27:07 Jason: And people buy it.
27:09 Ivor: Yeah. James: Yeah.
27:10 Why? because our fallen nature, like Ivor was saying,
27:12 we naturally tend to want to glorify self,
27:15 we naturally tend to want to do that
27:18 and Christ came to reveal the Father
27:20 it wasn't... He was putting on an act...
27:23 He was revealing what God is really like
27:25 and retrospectively, He was revealing what...
27:28 the image we were created in
27:30 how we were actually created.
27:31 Ivor: He didn't exalt Himself, He humbled Himself
27:34 and became...
27:35 "Let this mind be in you. "
27:37 James: This is the way we were created...
27:38 this is what we were created to reveal
27:40 in that sense, we're giving glory...
27:42 that is glorious...
27:43 but it's a glory that's totally different...
27:46 reversal from the way we think naturally,
27:47 our human tendency isn't that way
27:49 when you see a person you like,
27:51 "Wow! that's cool... that's glorious... "
27:54 so that's it...
27:56 we're out of time... but we're going to continue with this
27:58 in our next session together.


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Revised 2017-07-13