Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Yvonne Lewis, Jason Bradley
Series Code: SISS
Program Code: SISS000061A
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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. |
Revised 2017-07-13