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00:13 ♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪ 00:29 ♪♪ 00:35 Jëan Ross: Hello, friends, we'd like to welcome all of 00:37 you to Sabbath School Study Hour here at the Granite Bay 00:40 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:43 We would like to welcome our online members, our Sabbath 00:46 School members across the country and around the world, as 00:49 well as those of you who are joining us on the various 00:51 television networks or on the Internet. 00:54 Very warm welcome to you. 00:55 We'd also like to welcome those who are here in person, our 00:58 regular Sabbath School members. 01:00 It's always a joy to be able to see you, Sabbath after Sabbath, 01:03 ready to study the Word. 01:05 Now, today we have an important lesson. 01:07 It's lesson number two in our new lesson quarterly, talking 01:11 about the covenant, and today is "Covenant Primer." 01:14 That's lesson number two if you follow along with us. 01:17 We'd like to let our friends know about our 01:19 free offer for today: we have a book that 01:21 we'd be happy to make available to 01:22 anyone who calls and asks. 01:25 The book is entitled "The Savior & the Serpent," and if you'd 01:28 like to receive a free copy of the book, the number to call is 01:31 866-788-3966, and you can ask for offer number 798. 01:38 We'll be happy to mail that to you, of course, anywhere 01:40 in North America. 01:42 We also have a digital version of the book that we'll be happy 01:45 to make available to you if you text the code on the screen. 01:49 We'll be able to send that to you as well. 01:52 Well, before we get to our study this morning, we have a special 01:55 musical item that will be brought to you at this time. 02:00 ♪♪ 02:06 ♪♪ 02:15 ♪ I come to the garden alone ♪ 02:22 ♪ while the dew is still on the roses, ♪ 02:30 ♪ and the voice I hear falling on my ear, ♪ 02:38 ♪ the Son of God discloses. ♪ 02:47 ♪ And He walks with me, and He talks with me, ♪ 02:56 ♪ and He tells me I am His own; ♪ 03:03 ♪ and the joy we share as we tarry there, ♪ 03:12 ♪ none other has ever known. ♪ 03:21 ♪ He speaks, and the sound ♪ 03:26 ♪ of His voice is so sweet, ♪ 03:32 ♪ the birds hush their singing, ♪ 03:38 ♪ and the melody that He gave to me ♪ 03:47 ♪ within my heart is ringing. ♪ 03:56 ♪ And He walks with me, and He talks with me, ♪ 04:04 ♪ and He tells me I am His own; ♪ 04:11 ♪ and the joy we share as we tarry there, ♪ 04:19 ♪ none other has ever known. ♪ 04:28 ♪♪ 04:35 ♪ I stay in the garden with Him, ♪ 04:41 ♪ though the night around me be falling. ♪ 04:49 ♪ But He bids me go; through the voice of woe ♪ 04:56 ♪ His voice to me is calling. ♪ 05:05 ♪ And He walks with me, and He talks with me, ♪ 05:13 ♪ and He tells me I am His own; ♪ 05:20 ♪ and the joy we share as we tarry there, ♪ 05:29 ♪ none other ♪ 05:33 ♪ has ever known. ♪ 05:44 Jëan: Well, before we get to our lesson, as we always do, we 05:46 need to ask God's blessing on our time together. 05:49 You know, the Bible is His book and if we're going to rightfully 05:52 understand it, we need the Holy Spirit, right? 05:54 So let's just bow our heads for prayer. 05:56 Dear Father, indeed, we are so grateful that we're able 05:58 to open up Your Word, thank You for giving us Your Word. 06:02 It's quick, it's powerful, it gives us hope and instruction 06:05 and guidance, and so today we invite Your presence. 06:08 Come speak through us and help us to understand this passage-- 06:12 these passages of Scripture that we'll be looking at. 06:14 We commit this time in Your keeping, in Jesus's name, amen. 06:18 I'd like to invite Pastor Doug to come forward and we're going 06:21 to be doing a little bit of a tag team preaching, or teaching 06:25 I should say, this morning, together, and-- 06:28 Doug Batchelor: Here we go. 06:29 Jëan: Yeah, here we go. 06:31 But just before we do that, Pastor Doug, we just want to 06:33 remind our friends about something very exciting that's 06:35 going to be coming up on, actually, the 2nd of April, 06:39 that is a Friday. 06:40 We're going to start a special weekend focusing 06:43 on the Sanctuary. 06:45 It's actually going to be an intensive seminar, starting 06:47 Friday evening at 6:30 right here and it's going to be 06:51 all-day Sabbath. 06:52 So we do have some flyers, they look like this, and you'll be 06:54 able to receive one in the back on your way out this morning. 06:57 For our friends who are joining us online, we're happy to let 07:00 you know that this is also going to be livestreamed and broadcast 07:04 on Amazing Facts TV, so you can go to the Amazing Facts 07:06 website, there's a big banner you can click on 07:09 that'll give you all the details. 07:10 We have a number of great speakers, Pastor Doug, that's 07:12 going to be joining our Amazing Facts team in 07:16 looking at these various themes found in the Sanctuary, 07:19 so you don't want to miss that. 07:21 And that's going to start April 2, 6:30 right here at the 07:24 Granite Bay Church. 07:26 Doug: All right, I didn't hear if Pastor Ross said 07:28 anything just before his prayer, but we're going 07:30 to make a confession here. 07:34 I prepare for the lesson in advance and I start preparing 07:40 for the next week's lesson on Sunday. 07:43 But when you begin a new quarter, you can't download 07:46 the new lesson yet. 07:48 I can't, because we study the lesson three weeks in advance. 07:52 So the church does not put out the new lesson until 07:54 the old one's done. 07:56 But I have kind of a special relationship with the 07:59 translators and they've given me a website where I can download 08:02 the new lesson and I have a digital copy and I study it. 08:06 Well, I don't know what happened, because this 08:08 just came to my attention. 08:10 All week long I've studied the wrong lesson. 08:15 I've got a really good lesson to share that has nothing to do 08:18 with the lesson in your quarterly because I was reading 08:20 it on my computer and a few minutes ago I was opening up the 08:23 hard copy in here and I said, "This doesn't look anything like 08:27 what I studied this week." 08:29 And my little heart went, "Pitter-patter," and I said, 08:31 "We got a problem, Houston." 08:35 So I told Pastor Ross and he said, 08:36 "Well, you want me to help you?" 08:37 I said, "Yes." 08:39 So this is going to be what you call "fresh." 08:44 It's going to be a little extemporaneous and spontaneous 08:46 and cold-turkey, whatever you want to call it, but we're going 08:50 to be teaching the lesson as we read it with you. 08:54 So it is a good lesson. 08:55 I was telling him as I looked and I said, "Boy, 08:57 it's a good lesson, I wish we had more time." 08:59 And we're going to be talking about the covenant. 09:01 It's called "Covenant Primer." 09:03 And I had studied Genesis 3 on the Fall. 09:06 It was the wrong lesson. 09:07 It's called "Covenant Primer," and it's based on the various 09:10 covenants that you find spread through the Bible. 09:13 And the lesson today is sort of an overview, giving the high 09:16 points of a number of the covenants, such as the 09:20 covenants with Abraham, with Moses, with Noah, the new 09:24 covenant, and so forth. 09:26 And we have a memory verse. 09:28 And the memory verse is Exodus 19, verse 5, where we read: "Now 09:33 therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed and keep My 09:37 covenant, then you will be a peculiar treasure unto Me of all 09:43 the people of the--for all the earth is Mine." 09:46 And so this is a promise just before the Lord delivers the Ten 09:50 Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, and it does tell us, if you 09:53 read in Deuteronomy chapter 4, it says: "God delivered unto 09:57 them His covenant which He commanded them to perform 10:00 even Ten Commandments." 10:01 So the Ten Commandments are a summary of the will of God and 10:04 all the covenants of God are connected with that. 10:07 Jëan: Now, if you get to Sunday's lesson, it's entitled, 10:11 "Covenant Basics," and Sunday kind of deals with 10:13 the concept of a covenant. 10:15 Where does the idea come from? 10:16 What's involved with that? 10:18 There's different words that you can find in the Bible that have 10:21 a reference to the covenant. 10:22 Some that you might be familiar with and not quite know that the 10:25 original root is the same word used for "covenant" and 10:28 that is "testament." 10:29 We have the Old Testament, we have the New Testament, but 10:32 the root word for testament is the same word 10:35 that's used for covenant. 10:36 So when you talk about a covenant, you're talking about 10:38 an agreement that two individuals make. 10:41 And like any covenant, there are certain commitments, the 10:44 covenant that God has with us, the covenant that we 10:47 make with other people. 10:49 We have some examples of covenant. 10:50 Even way back at the very beginning of the Bible, we have 10:53 the covenant of marriage. 10:55 Marriage is a covenant two individuals enter into. 10:58 There are agreements, there are commitments they share together. 11:01 There are benefits and blessings. 11:03 And so it is with the covenant that God wants 11:05 to have with His people. 11:07 There are certain conditions to the covenant. 11:09 And we probably will get into some of those when we 11:10 look at Noah and Abraham and some of the others. 11:12 What are some of the covenant conditions that God has for us? 11:16 What are the benefits that we, as God's people, 11:18 receive through the covenant? 11:20 Of course, the greatest benefit of all is salvation. 11:24 And the first reference that we have of the covenant, sometimes 11:26 called the everlasting covenant, was right after Adam and Eve 11:30 sinned and they were driven from the garden. 11:32 God made a covenant with them, symbolized by those coats of 11:36 skin that God made. 11:37 Those robes of skin, the covenant in essence, was that a 11:41 Messiah or a Savior would come who would pay for the 11:44 penalty--pay the penalty for their sins, and thus give them 11:48 hope of everlasting life. 11:50 But there were certain conditions, one of which was 11:52 faith in God and obedience to His Word. 11:56 Doug: When you say "covenant," some people think 11:58 it's a mystical, biblical word, but we are involved in covenants 12:02 all the time. 12:04 When you go to the market, you're involved in a covenant. 12:07 Someone is offering you some goods and you agree to exchange 12:12 currency for the value of the goods. 12:15 A covenant is an agreement. 12:17 If you're going to buy a house, usually you'll make an offer. 12:22 The other person will make, usually, a counteroffer and you 12:24 say, "Okay, I accept this." 12:26 Then once you get a verbal agreement, then you write 12:28 down the contract, you've gone into covenant. 12:31 You're going to buy this house for this amount and perhaps over 12:34 this much time. 12:35 And so that's called a covenant. 12:37 And all law, all contractual law, is based 12:40 upon understanding covenants. 12:43 There are usually witnesses involved so you can't say, 12:45 "Well, he said this, and there's no witnesses, and 12:48 I said that," so there's witnesses involved. 12:50 Marriage is a covenant. There's always witnesses there. 12:53 And there it's an agreement. 12:55 In the new covenant, man's got a problem. 12:57 We are doomed because of sin. The penalty for sin is death. 13:01 God said, "Look, I love you and I will save you, but 13:05 there are terms. 13:07 Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have 13:10 everlasting life," so one of the terms is, will you have faith? 13:14 And what does it mean to believe? 13:15 Jesus says, "Don't say just, 'Lord, Lord,' but he that does 13:18 the will of My Father in heaven," believing in His 13:21 sacrifice, a willingness to do His will, and accept 13:24 that in your heart, so all covenants have these 13:28 basics involved in them. 13:29 Jëan: Now, we'll probably be looking at more the specifics of 13:31 some of the covenants that we have in the Old Testament but I 13:34 want to begin with one covenant that I think we're all familiar 13:36 with that we don't always think of as a covenant, and that is 13:40 the Ten Commandments. 13:42 You find it in Exodus chapter 20. 13:44 It's interesting that there is an introductory statement prior 13:47 to God actually declaring the Ten Commandments from Mount 13:49 Sinai and, as Pastor Doug mentioned, there were 13:51 witnesses there. 13:53 You had the children of Israel, you had the angels present, God 13:56 was speaking His law, and the law is sometimes referred to 13:59 as God's covenant. 14:01 And notice, in verse 1, it says: "And God spoke all of these 14:04 words, saying, 'I am the Lord your God who brought you out of 14:06 the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 14:09 You shall have no other gods before you--or before Me.'" 14:12 So here before God even gets into the specifics of the Ten 14:16 Commandments, He tells them first what He has done for them. 14:21 When it comes to the covenant relationship between God and His 14:23 people, God is the one that makes the first move. 14:28 In the case of Adam and Eve, after they sinned, it wasn't 14:32 Adam and Eve looking for God, but God came looking 14:34 for them in the garden. 14:36 And God made the covenant first. 14:38 He said, "I will provide a means of salvation." 14:41 Their response was to exercise faith and obedience in God. 14:44 So when God came to the children of Israel and He gave them the 14:47 Ten Commandment law, before He spoke about their 14:50 responsibilities, meaning obedience, keeping the Ten 14:53 Commandments, God reminded them that He's the one that brought 14:56 them out of slavery. 14:58 He brought them out of bondage. 15:00 It's always God that makes the first move. 15:02 Every covenant relationship, we're responding to something 15:06 that God is doing for us. 15:08 Doug: Amen, so there are several covenants in the Bible. 15:11 The lesson isn't covering all of them. 15:14 You have a covenant that God makes with man before 15:15 there was even sin. 15:17 It's called the Edenic Covenant. 15:19 In the garden of Eden, God said, "Eat from this tree, live; 15:22 eat from the wrong tree, die; and here's the agreement, 15:26 you live," and so there's an agreement 15:28 there about what would perpetuate life. 15:31 And then even after the Fall, God makes in Genesis 3 the 15:35 Adamic Covenant, a covenant with Adam, saying that, you know, 15:39 when He covered their sins because of their nakedness, He 15:41 establishes the sacrificial system. 15:43 He said there was going to be a certain curse, but there's a 15:46 promise in Genesis chapter 3:15 that the seed of the woman would 15:51 crush the serpent's head. 15:53 That's a covenant that's being made right there. 15:56 And then what happens, as long as they maintained a difference 15:59 between those who worship God and those who did not. 16:03 We know Cain separated. 16:05 He slew his brother, and the children of Cain began to 16:09 multiply and he built a city quite a ways from Eden, and Adam 16:14 and Seth and their posterity continued to worship God. 16:18 As long as they were separate, then they 16:21 maintained the true worship. 16:22 But you read in Genesis chapter 6: "It came to pass that when 16:26 men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters 16:28 were born to them," the word "men" there means Enos, carnal 16:31 men, the children of Cain. 16:34 "Daughters were born to them, that the sons of God," 16:38 the descendants of Adam and Eve and Seth that 16:41 were still worshiping God. 16:42 How do we know that these sons of God are humans? 16:46 You read in 1 John chapter 3, verse 1: "Behold, what manner of 16:50 love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be 16:53 called sons of God." 16:54 Believers are sons of God. 16:56 "When the children of Seth saw the daughters of Cain, that they 17:01 were fair; and they took them wives of all they chose," should 17:03 believers marry with unbelievers? 17:06 When that happens, then wickedness filled the earth 17:09 and then God told Noah, "I am going to destroy 17:12 everything on the earth." 17:13 Now here's the first covenant with Noah, Genesis 6, verse 18. 17:17 Well, I can read verse 17: "I, myself, am bringing floodwaters 17:20 on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh," why? 17:24 Because it says: "The thoughts of men's hearts 17:26 were only evil continually. 17:28 Violence filled the earth because the believers had 17:31 intermarried with the unbelievers and they lost 17:33 their distinct identity. 17:35 But, verse 18, "I will establish my covenant with you; and you 17:40 shall go in the ark, you, and your sons, and your wives, and 17:43 your sons' wives, and every living thing of all flesh, you 17:47 shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive 17:50 with you; they shall be male and female." 17:54 Then it goes on, he elaborates on this. 17:55 "Thus Noah did." Noah accepted the terms. 17:58 "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." 18:00 He obeyed and began to build an ark. 18:03 Jëan: Now again, you see the two parts of the covenant 18:05 illustrated here. 18:06 First you see God making the first move. 18:09 There in verse 18, God says, "But with thee I will establish 18:14 My covenant." 18:15 So God is saying, "I'm going to make a covenant with you," but 18:17 then there's a condition that Noah and his family 18:19 have to fulfill, and what was that condition? 18:21 Well, they had to go into the ark. 18:23 Now, the principle that we find in this very first 18:26 covenant here, the one God makes with Noah, we 18:28 find an important principle. 18:30 God will deliver those who enter into the ark. 18:35 Now, of course, in this case, it was an ark of gopher wood, but 18:38 there is an ark of safety that God has prepared for those who 18:42 believe in Him and that ark is Jesus. 18:45 We enter into Christ, we have hope, we have 18:47 forgiveness, we have safety. 18:49 There is a judgment coming upon the world, a judgment that's 18:52 going to be as detrimental as was the flood. 18:56 And not a flood of water, but a flood of fire. 18:59 Those who lay hold of God's covenant, entering into Christ, 19:04 our safety, our ark, will be preserved. 19:07 So the principle of this covenant is found right at the 19:10 very beginning, even before the flood came. 19:13 Doug: Amen, and in the same way that there was an opening 19:16 made in the side of Christ from which came the blood and the 19:19 water, there was an opening in the ark. 19:22 How many doors to the ark? 19:24 One door. How many ways of salvation? 19:27 Who does the Bible say the door is? 19:30 Christ said, "I am the door, I am the way, all others are 19:33 thieves and robbers," so the ark is a type of Christ. 19:36 So after Adam and his family, they survive the flood, and 19:40 the animals survive with them, you read about another 19:43 covenant God makes. 19:44 If you go to Genesis 9, verse 15, remember after the flood, 19:49 I'm sure there was a lot of mist that was evaporating 19:52 from the earth as the clouds were constituting 19:54 the whole new atmosphere. 19:57 And there was a majestic rainbow. 20:00 They had never seen this before. It had never rained before. 20:03 And God said, "This is a sign of the covenant that I make between 20:06 Me and you," starting with verse 12, "and with every living 20:11 creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set my 20:15 rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of the 20:18 covenant between Me and the earth." 20:20 Not just with Noah, but with all the creatures. 20:23 "And it will be when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the 20:25 rainbow will be seen in the cloud: and I will remember My 20:29 covenant, which is between Me and you and every living 20:31 creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become 20:35 a flood to destroy all flesh." 20:37 Now have there been big floods? 20:40 Yeah, but He says there'll never be a global flood to 20:43 destroy all flesh. 20:45 All the other floods since the days of Noah have been local. 20:47 You can look and see the rainbow and say, 20:49 "Ah, it won't last forever." 20:51 Karen and I went on vacation one time. 20:52 You know, usually when we go on vacation, we kind of mix a 20:55 little ministry with our vacation. 20:57 We just came back from Mexico and we did some preaching there 20:59 and we also had some vacation. 21:01 Finally, we said, "We're going to take a vacation and not have 21:04 any other responsibilities, just take a vacation." 21:07 And we went to Hawaii. 21:09 And it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. 21:13 It really did. It rained. 21:16 Now, we weren't there 40 days and 40 nights. 21:17 We were there for a week of that 40 days and 40 nights, 21:19 but it rained every single day we were there. 21:22 And they did have a flood. They had a dam that broke. 21:26 Some of you may remember that time. 21:28 But I knew--I saw a few rainbows and I said, "No, 21:32 it won't last forever." 21:34 It got sunny after we came home. 21:36 Jëan: Now, if you read on a little bit, you've 21:38 got the story of Noah. 21:39 Of course, God delivers Noah and his family. 21:41 His descendants begin to multiply upon the earth, and 21:43 then we find God making another covenant with a very important 21:47 Bible figure and that is Abraham. 21:49 And you actually find that in chapter 12 of Genesis. 21:53 Genesis chapter 12 and beginning in verse 1, you read about God 21:58 calling Abraham to come to-- or come out of his country 22:01 to the Promised Land. 22:02 Verse 1 says: "Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your 22:05 country, from your family, and from your father's house, to the 22:08 land that I will show you: and I will make of you a great nation, 22:12 I will bless you, and I'll make your name great; and you shall 22:14 be a blessing." 22:16 Verse 3: "And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse 22:19 those who curse you," and here's the key part of the promise: 22:23 "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 22:28 So there are several parts to this covenant, 22:29 this promise that God makes. 22:31 First of all, notice who makes the first move. 22:34 Once again, it's God, it's God speaking to Abraham, 22:36 and God says, "I will do these things," but there 22:39 was a condition that Abraham had to meet. 22:41 Could God bless Abraham and multiply his seed exceedingly, 22:45 and through Abraham have the Messiah come if Abraham 22:49 stubbornly refused to move and leave Ur the Chaldees, 22:52 wanted to stay behind? 22:54 No, in obedience to God's promise, Abraham had to leave, 22:58 which, of course, you know he did. 23:00 And the key promise here, not only would Abraham have many 23:03 descendants as the sand of the seas and the stars of the 23:05 heavens, but through his descendants, the 23:08 Messiah would come. 23:10 Now, the Messiah part, or the covenant made with Abraham, is a 23:12 reflection back to the covenant promise made to Adam and Eve, 23:16 right after the garden of Eden, after they sinned, where it 23:19 talks about the seed of the woman crushing the 23:20 serpent's head. 23:22 Now, here that promise is being amplified in the experience of 23:26 Abraham and his descendants. 23:28 Doug: Amen, and a little later, if you go to Genesis 15, 23:31 God reaffirms the covenant that He makes with Abraham. 23:35 If you've got your Bibles you can start with-- 23:37 oh, let's see here, go to Genesis 15 23:40 and it says, verse 4: "Behold, the Word of 23:43 the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall 23:46 not be your heir; but the one who will come 23:48 from your own body shall be your heir. 23:50 And He brought him outside, and said, Look now towards the 23:52 heaven, and count the stars, if you're able to number them: and 23:55 He said to him, So shall your descendants be. 23:58 And he believed the Lord; and He counted it 24:02 to him for righteousness." 24:03 Now, this is a very important verse in the Bible because 24:06 Abraham was declared righteous because he believed. 24:09 That's called what? 24:11 Righteousness by faith. 24:13 He was declared righteous because he believed. 24:16 And so when he accepted the promise of God, you go on to 24:19 read the rest of the chapter, he makes a sacrifice. 24:24 Covenants were often sealed, these kind of biblical 24:27 covenants, with a sacrifice. 24:28 Hopefully, if you're buying a house, you don't have to 24:30 sacrifice an animal, but I talked about that earlier, 24:34 with a contract. 24:35 But--so this is a biblical sacrifice that 24:37 is sealed with blood. 24:39 And we are cleansed because of a sacrifice that is made. 24:44 We are saved by faith. 24:45 Then at the end of chapter 15, something 24:47 interesting happens here. 24:48 He gives him a prophecy. 24:51 That night after the sacrifice is made, verse 17, "it came to 24:55 pass, that, when the sun came down," Genesis 15:17, "and it 24:59 was dark, behold there appeared a smoking oven, and a burning 25:04 torch that passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. 25:08 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, 25:11 To your descendants I have given the land, from the River 25:15 Euphrates to the great river: to the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the 25:19 Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaims, the 25:22 Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites," 25:25 and I always want to say, "and the termites." 25:27 But--so, but there's something else I want 25:30 to insert here: he makes a prophecy. 25:32 So here's a covenant that He makes and He seals it. 25:35 Notice there's a burning pillar of fire that goes between it. 25:39 And go to verse 12. 25:42 "Now when the sun was going down," this is Genesis 15:12, "a 25:45 deep sleep fell upon Abraham; behold, a horror of great 25:48 darkness fell upon him. 25:50 Then He," God, "said to Abraham, Know certainly," 25:53 it's like a dream now, "that your descendants 25:55 will be strangers in a land that is not theirs." 25:57 Where was that? Egypt. 26:00 He said, "I'm going to keep My covenant, I'm going 26:02 to give you this land, but they're going to be 26:04 in another land for a while." 26:06 "They'll be strangers in a land that is not theirs. 26:08 They will serve them; and they will afflict them 400 years," 26:11 meaning from the time of Abraham. 26:13 "And also that nation, whom they serve, I will judge afterwards 26:17 and they will come out with great possessions." 26:19 It says they spoiled the Egyptians when they came out. 26:22 And did the children of Israel go through a fiery 26:24 trial as slaves in Egypt? 26:27 So this is--God says, "I'm making a covenant. 26:29 Because I make a covenant doesn't mean 26:30 there won't be trials." 26:32 That's an important point to remember. 26:33 Jëan: Likewise, do we go through trials, the believers in Christ, 26:36 do we go through trials before our deliverance comes? 26:39 Before the children of Israel were to go up out of Egypt, we 26:42 had plagues, they came upon Egypt. 26:44 Of course, there were ten plagues, but it is interesting 26:46 to note that only three of the plagues, the first three of the 26:50 plagues, tested the faith of the Israelites. 26:53 In other words, they experienced those first three, but the last 26:56 seven plagues only fell on the Egyptians. 26:59 Their faith was tested, the judgments came, the 27:02 last seven plagues, but then after the 27:04 plagues came, then came deliverance. 27:06 Well, if you parallel that with the experience of spiritual 27:09 Israel, or the Israel of God in the last days, according to 27:13 Revelation, we know that before our deliverance comes, Jesus 27:17 comes to take us to our heavenly Canaan. 27:20 There is also going to be a time where our faith will be tested 27:23 and tried, as was the faith of the children of Israel. 27:26 There will be judgment that will come upon the wicked. 27:29 Revelation talks about the seven last plagues. 27:32 God did not deliver Israel from the plagues; He delivered them 27:35 through the plagues. 27:37 So even though the world might experience plagues, those who 27:41 have faith in God, God'll take care of them. 27:43 God will protect them. 27:44 That doesn't mean they won't be free from suffering. 27:47 They will experience at least some of the heat, because it 27:50 talks about in Revelation, one of the plagues is 27:51 an intense heat. 27:53 Revelation speaks about in Revelation 7, says that "they 27:57 don't hunger anymore, neither thirst, neither shall the sun 28:00 light upon them nor any heat." 28:02 So to some degree, God's people experience heat. 28:05 Nevertheless, God deals with them. 28:07 He provides for them. He sees them through. 28:10 We have nothing to fear for the future, all right? 28:13 Unless we forget how God has led not only us but His people 28:16 throughout all of the Bible history. 28:20 Doug: Yes. 28:21 Jëan: Oh, Pastor, one more thing before 28:22 we move to the next topic. 28:24 You know, you mentioned here, reading about this covenant that 28:25 God made with Abraham, that God said to him, this is chapter 15, 28:30 that he was to take some animals and he was to cut these animals 28:34 into pieces and set them on either side. 28:36 It was part of the sacrifice. 28:38 And probably the blood of the animals ran down into some sort 28:41 of a little trench in the middle but all day long it says, 28:46 Abraham was there flapping his arms, scaring off the birds of 28:49 prey until nighttime came and then there was this deep sleep 28:54 that came upon Abraham and then he say this fiery pillar come 28:58 and pass through the very midst of the animals. 29:03 And of course, that fiery pillar represents Christ. 29:07 And the interesting thing about that is I did some research on 29:10 the significance of that covenant and, if you made a 29:13 covenant back in Bible times, with somebody, and you split the 29:16 animal, you would pass through the midst of that animal, 29:20 signifying that if you broke your side of the covenant, you 29:24 could be treated as those animals. 29:27 And it's interesting to note that God enters in through the 29:30 midst of those sacrifices saying, "If I am not faithful, 29:35 you can treat Me like one of these animals." 29:38 But amazingly enough, in order for us to receive salvation, He 29:41 had to be the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. 29:45 Wonderful imagery that we find in this first covenant promise 29:48 that God makes with Abraham. 29:50 Doug: Yes, and when the children of Israel went through 29:53 their fiery trials, God went with them. 29:55 That's the promise. 29:57 A pillar of fire was with them through the wilderness. 29:59 You know, now we're going to look at the covenant of Moses. 30:03 Now, Jesus did not come through the line of Moses. 30:06 Jesus does descend from Adam. 30:08 Jesus descends from Noah. 30:09 Jesus descends from Abraham, from Isaac, from Jacob. 30:13 But when you get to Moses, Moses is from the tribe of Levi. 30:16 He is sort of a spur on the family tree of Jesus, but Jesus 30:19 is not directly descended from Moses or from Levi. 30:23 But He makes a covenant with Moses that "through you, I am 30:27 going to lead the people out of Egypt." 30:29 You read in Exodus chapter 6, it says: "The Lord said to Moses, 30:34 Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong 30:37 hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive 30:41 them out of his land. 30:43 And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the Lord: I 30:47 appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, 30:51 by my name the Lord I was not known to them," meaning Jehovah. 30:56 "I have also established My covenant with them, to give them 30:59 the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they 31:02 were strangers. 31:04 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of 31:06 Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; I have 31:09 remembered My covenant. 31:11 Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will 31:14 bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt, I will rescue 31:18 you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an 31:21 outstretched arm, and with great judgments: I will take you as My 31:25 people, and I will be your God: then you'll know that I am the 31:28 Lord your God, who brings you up from under the 31:31 burdens of the Egyptians. 31:32 And I'll bring you into the land, which I swore to give 31:34 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; and I will give it you as a heritage: 31:39 I am the Lord." 31:40 So what God is doing here, He's saying even though time may go 31:44 by, and you think that God's forgot His promise, it's like 31:48 Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but 31:50 My word will not pass away." 31:51 When God makes a promise, He's going to keep it. 31:54 He said, "I remember what I promised to 31:55 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 31:57 The children of Israel may think I've forgotten. 31:59 I remember and now I'm going to act on that promise and they're 32:03 going to see that I will bring them out of the 32:05 land of their captivity." 32:06 So He has Moses, of course, as the vehicle for this. 32:10 Moses is a type of Christ. 32:12 He goes to the Pharaoh, says, "Let my people go." 32:15 The Pharaoh's a type of the devil. 32:17 The Pharaoh does not want to let go and, through Moses, who is 32:21 born from slaves but he is not a slave. 32:25 Jesus was born as a human but He never sinned. 32:29 He's never a slave to the devil. 32:31 And through Moses, this deliverance comes. 32:33 Jëan: The deliverance that God had in mind for Israel was 32:35 quite different than the deliverance that Moses had, at 32:38 least in the first 40 years of his life when in Egypt. 32:42 I think he believed at an early age, probably through the 32:45 instruction from his mother, that he was going to play a role 32:49 in God delivering Israel from Egypt. 32:52 And he thought, "Well, I'm going to have to do it on my terms." 32:56 And you know the story, how that he killed the Egyptian and then 32:58 he ended up having to go into the wilderness. 33:00 You see, God's ways are not man's ways. 33:03 The Bible says: "It's not by might nor by power, but by My 33:07 Spirit, saith the Lord." 33:09 So, you know, you'd think-- this great controversy 33:11 occurs, the devil rebels against God in 33:13 heaven, he's cast unto the earth. 33:15 You'd think God's way of dealing with this problem is with power 33:19 and force and immediately destroying His adversary. 33:23 But God's solution to the sin problem is sending His Son, 33:27 Jesus coming to bear our sins and die in our place. 33:30 It's quite different than the worldly ambition 33:32 or the worldly mind. 33:33 And Moses had to learn that, that God's way of deliverance 33:36 was different than at least what he had thought 33:38 or what most people would think. 33:39 And for 40 years, he wandered there in the wilderness until he 33:42 came to the burning bush and you read about this in the previous 33:44 chapter where God appears to Moses in the burning bush and 33:48 God says, "I've chosen you, Moses, to go and bring My people 33:51 up out of Egypt," and suddenly Moses's attitude is different. 33:54 He realizes in his own strength he can't do it, and even though 33:57 God had promised to be with him, he's still reluctant. 34:00 He says, "Lord, I can't go, they're going to ask, 34:02 well, who sent me?" 34:04 And I love that response. 34:05 God says, "Tell them that the I Am that I Am has sent you." 34:10 In God's promise, in God's covenant, He's always 34:14 promising to be with us. 34:15 He doesn't expect us to do it alone. 34:17 He says, "I am with you. 34:18 I am with you. Trust in Me." 34:20 And of course, you know what happened: as God 34:22 sent Moses, great plagues came upon Egypt. 34:25 God delivered the children up out of Egypt. 34:28 Again, before He even gave them His law from Mount Sinai, He 34:31 brought them deliverance from their enemy. 34:34 In order for us to receive deliverance from our enemy, sin 34:37 and Satan, we need to come to Jesus just the way that we are. 34:41 We can't work our way into heaven. 34:44 It's not based upon our righteousness, but we come 34:47 humbly to Jesus, confess our sins. 34:49 He will forgive us, He will cleanse us, and then He will 34:52 empower us to do that which we couldn't do in and of ourself. 34:57 Because God is the I Am. 34:59 He's not at the--only the beginning of our experience but 35:02 He's with us every step of the way. 35:04 So we can trust in God. 35:06 Doug: Hm, amen, yeah, Jesus-- if you look in the Gospel of 35:08 John, Jesus says, "I am" more than any other Gospel, 35:12 and it's the Greek wording of what God said to Moses. 35:16 He said, "Before Abraham was, I Am." 35:20 And when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden, they said, 35:22 "We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth." 35:24 He says, "I am he," and they all fell down. 35:27 And over and over, Jesus said, "I am the door, I am the way, I 35:30 am the Good Shepherd, I am." 35:32 He's introducing Himself as the great I Am many times. 35:35 Now, the lesson goes now on to the new covenant but, you know, 35:39 before we do that, I think we ought to--yeah, I think if there 35:42 was time, the lesson would want to put in the Davidic Covenant 35:46 is a very important covenant. 35:47 Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 17. 35:52 Just going to talk briefly about that because Christ is always 35:55 referred to as the Son of David, and it's based upon 35:57 this Davidic Covenant. 35:59 After David conquered all of his enemies, he's sitting in his 36:03 house, he's brought the ark up to Jerusalem, and, you know, he 36:08 can look out his window and see the ark is still in a tattered 36:10 tabernacle that had been built in the days of Moses. 36:13 It's probably looking pretty patchy. 36:15 And he's thinking, Hiram had just built this beautiful house 36:18 of cedar for him, Hiram the king of Tyre, and David is saying, 36:22 "It's not right that here I am in a house of cedar and the ark 36:24 of God is in a tent." 36:26 And he's thinking about building a temple for the Lord. 36:30 So Nathan the prophet comes to him and he sends him a message 36:33 from the Lord. 36:36 And you go to verse 7, this is 1 Chronicles 17. 36:38 You can start with 7: "Now therefore thus shall you say to 36:42 my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from 36:45 the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My 36:49 people Israel: and I have been with you wherever you have gone, 36:53 and have cut off all of your enemies from before you, and 36:56 I've made you a name like the great men of the earth. 36:59 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people, and will plant 37:02 them, that they may dwell in their place of their own, and 37:05 move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them 37:09 anymore, as previously." 37:11 That's obviously not talking about in the world 'cause God's 37:15 people, the Jews and Christians have been oppressed by the 37:17 wicked through history. 37:18 So He's looking beyond here. 37:21 He's talking about a spiritual promise. 37:23 "Since that time I commanded the judges to be 37:25 over My people Israel. 37:27 I will also subdue all your enemies. 37:29 Furthermore I will tell you that the Lord will 37:31 build you a house," here's the promise. 37:34 "The Lord will build you a house and it shall be that when your 37:37 days are fulfilled when you must go to be with your fathers, that 37:41 I will set up your seed after you, and--who will be of your 37:45 sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 37:49 He will build Me a house, and I will establish 37:52 his throne forever." 37:55 Is He talking about Solomon or is He talking about Jesus? 38:00 Yeah, I don't think He's talking about Solomon. 38:02 This is what you call a dual prophecy in the Bible, 'cause, 38:04 yes, He did establish Solomon who built a temple. 38:07 That temple's been destroyed. 38:09 And the house of David after Solomon, there was a civil war 38:13 and the kingdom was divided. 38:15 He's saying, "I will set up your house, your son. 38:18 He will build Me a house that will last forever." 38:20 What did Jesus say in the Gospel of John? 38:23 "Destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three 38:25 days I will make one without hands." 38:27 And they thought, well, it's taken 42 years to renovate 38:29 the temple, you're going to raise it up in three days? 38:32 But He spoke of His body. 38:34 So in the Resurrection, Christ established a house. 38:37 The church is called the body of Christ. 38:40 And in the new earth, it's going to be established or it's going 38:44 to be inhabited by the redeemed. 38:48 So when He says, "Of your sons I will establish His kingdom, He 38:52 will build Me a house and I will establish His throne forever. 38:56 I will not take My mercy away from Him as I took it away from 38:59 him," King Saul, "who is before you. 39:02 And I will establish Him in My house and in My kingdom forever. 39:06 His throne shall be established forever." 39:09 Now do we know who it's talking about? 39:10 Jesus the son of David. 39:12 So this is called the Davidic Covenant that the Messiah would 39:15 come through the house of David and it's talking about the 39:17 Christ, the kingdom of Christ, really. 39:20 Jëan: And--Pastor Doug, it mentions there, talks 39:22 about establishing or He'll build a house, Jesus, speaking 39:26 of the temple in Jerusalem, He said, "Destroy this house or 39:29 this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up again." 39:33 Well, He wasn't talking about the physical building in 39:35 Jerusalem, but He was talking about the spiritual house, 39:38 meaning the church, the sanctuary, the spiritual 39:41 sanctuary that was referenced way back even to David so here 39:46 we find Jesus the builder of a new house. 39:49 Now, of course, the Bible tells us God's way is in the sanctuary 39:53 and if we want to understand our part of that covenant 39:56 relationship with God, we need to look at the sanctuary and the 40:00 services that we find presented there. 40:02 Remember, God brought the children of Israel up out of 40:04 Egypt, He delivered them from slavery, and then He 40:07 gave them the sanctuary. 40:09 Now, the sanctuary, as you know, it's divided 40:11 up into three parts. 40:12 You have the courtyard that's got two articles of furniture. 40:15 You've got the altar of burnt sacrifice. 40:17 That represents Jesus. 40:19 Justification is the theological term you can use for that. 40:23 When we come, repenting our sins, we receive Jesus as our 40:27 personal Savior, we are justified. 40:29 We are forgiven of our sins. 40:32 And then as you move closer towards the actual tent part of 40:35 the sanctuary, you have a big basin called the laver filled 40:39 with water and prior to the priest entering into the 40:42 sanctuary, he'd have to wash his hands and his feet. 40:45 Now you might be wondering, "Well, why is the priest the 40:47 only one that washes his hands and his feet 40:50 symbolizing baptism? 40:51 What about the children of Israel?" 40:53 It's interesting to note that Paul says the children of Israel 40:56 were all baptized through the Red Sea. 40:59 So they did experience some type of baptism, at least 41:01 in shadow or in type. 41:03 So we receive Jesus as our personal Savior. 41:05 We make that public profession of our faith. 41:07 We are baptized, and then we enter into the first 41:10 compartment of that sanctuary, and there were 41:13 three articles of furniture in that first compartment. 41:16 And I think this is key for us, even today. 41:19 What is it that we need to do in order to be faithful to our part 41:23 of the covenant that God has made with us? 41:26 Well, the table of showbread represents the Word of God. 41:29 We need to feast upon the Word of God. 41:33 The altar of incense represents prayer. 41:36 If we want to be faithful to our side of the covenant, we need to 41:39 read the Word, we need to spend time in earnest, fervent, 41:43 prayer, and the candlestick or the light represents 41:46 sharing our faith. 41:48 We need to be witnesses of what God has done for us. 41:51 That's our work in this covenant relationship: feeding the Word, 41:56 time in prayer, shining forth the light or the gospel, and 42:00 then you enter into the most holy place. 42:03 By the way, the first compartment is called 42:05 sanctification, the court's justification. 42:07 The first compartment is sanctification. 42:09 You enter into the most holy place and that's a reference 42:12 to glorification in the very presence of God and, 42:16 of course, that reaches its fullness when Jesus comes 42:18 again and the dead are resurrected and we are called 42:21 up to meet the Lord in the air. 42:23 So, frankly speaking, what is our part of the covenant? 42:26 Yes, we need to believe in Jesus, we need to receive Him as 42:28 our personal Savior, but we also need to make a commitment daily 42:32 to feast upon the living bread and to spend time in prayer if 42:36 we want to grow and be spiritually healthy. 42:40 Doug: Amen, well, we got six minutes to talk about 42:43 the new covenant. 42:45 Where do you first find the new covenant? 42:48 In the New Testament? 42:50 It's in the Old Testament. 42:51 If you look in Jeremiah chapter 31:31, that's easy to remember: 42:57 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord," by the way, this 43:00 is quoted verbatim in Hebrews chapter 8. 43:04 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I'll make a 43:06 new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah." 43:09 I want to pause here. 43:11 When the new covenant is quoted in the New Testament, it quotes 43:15 it here from the Old Testament, He says, "I'll make a new 43:18 covenant with the Gentiles." 43:20 Is that what it says? 43:22 Do you find anywhere in the Bible where it says, "I will 43:24 make a new covenant with the Gentiles"? 43:26 There is no covenant with the Gentiles. 43:29 I always like to remind people that if you want to get to 43:31 heaven, you've got to be a Jew. 43:33 You become spiritual Jews. 43:36 That's right, we're grafted into the stock of Israel. 43:38 It says, "I make a new covenant with the house 43:40 of Israel and the house of Judah." 43:41 Remember those two kingdoms were divided: southern kingdom, 43:44 Judah, and northern kingdom, Israel. 43:45 But both of them could be saved in this new covenant. 43:49 "Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the 43:51 day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt." 43:54 It's not like the covenant of Moses. 43:57 "My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, 44:00 says the Lord: but this is the covenant that I'll make with 44:02 them and with the house of Israel after those days. 44:05 I will put My law in their minds, and write 44:08 them on their hearts." 44:09 Now, does the new covenant--does it demolish or delete the law? 44:14 Or does it change the place the law is written? 44:16 Ten Commandments are still part of that. 44:19 "I'll put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; 44:21 I'll be their God, and they will be My people. 44:23 No more shall they--every man teach his neighbor, and every 44:26 man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they will all know 44:28 Me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I will forgive 44:32 their iniquity, and their sin I'll remember no more." 44:35 So believing in that forgiveness. 44:37 Now, just real quick before we get to the New Testament, if you 44:41 look in Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 19: "And the Word of the 44:47 Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Thus says the Lord; If you can 44:52 break My covenant with the day," day and night, "and My covenant 44:56 with the night, so that there's no more day and night in their 44:59 season; then My covenant may be broken with David." 45:02 And you notice He's referring now to what covenant? 45:05 Covenant that the Messiah would come through David. 45:07 He says, "I'm not going to break My 45:09 covenant with David, My servant." 45:10 "So that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne." 45:13 See, when Jeremiah writes there's no--the Babylonians are 45:17 getting ready to destroy them and there's going to be no Son 45:20 of David, saying, "I've made a promise that Son of David will 45:23 reign forever and I'm going to keep that promise." 45:26 That's got to be Jesus, okay. 45:28 Jëan: Now, the new covenant, of course, is God writing 45:30 His law where? In the heart. 45:32 He wrote on tables of stone and it's interesting you read the 45:35 account in Deuteronomy where Moses is talking to the children 45:38 of Israel, recounting their experience. 45:41 He again talks about the Ten Commandments and he 45:43 goes through the Ten Commandments, then 45:45 he gives some additional information. 45:46 He says, "After God gave the Ten Commandments, the children of 45:49 Israel said, 'Everything that God has said, we will do.'" 45:52 And then Moses in communicating with God, takes the message back 45:55 and says, "Yeah, all the children of Israel said they're 45:57 going to do everything You've told them to do." 45:59 God responded to Moses and said, "Oh, that there was a heart 46:02 within them that they would love Me and keep My commands--or fear 46:07 Me and keep My commands." 46:09 So right after the children of Israel said, "Yes, Lord, we'll 46:11 do everything You want us to do," God recognized that there 46:13 had to be a change of heart and that's the thing that the 46:16 children of Israel were so reluctant to do. 46:19 They failed to surrender their all to God. 46:22 And that's why God couldn't bless them the way He wanted to. 46:25 Doug: Yeah, in Ezekiel, He words it a little differently. 46:28 He said that "I'll take the stony heart out of their flesh 46:31 and give them a heart of flesh." 46:33 And, you know, God wants to soften our hearts where we're 46:35 motivated by love instead of selfishness. 46:38 Now, we've probably all heard somebody say, "Well, the old 46:42 covenant is based on the Ten Commandments but the new 46:44 covenant is just based on the Spirit and loving the Lord and 46:47 it's based on Jesus, and--" 46:50 Both covenants are based on the Ten 46:51 Commandments, meaning that one is the law. 46:57 It's kind of on the outside based on the 46:58 promises of the people. 47:00 The people were making a promise. 47:02 "All the Lord has said, we will do it." 47:04 It's based on what they will do. 47:06 New covenant said, "I will do it." 47:09 It's based on His promise, not the promise of the people. 47:12 "I will put My law in their hearts. 47:15 I will remember their sins no more." 47:17 And when we have faith in what God will do, it becomes reality 47:21 and we can experience that new heart. 47:24 Jëan: And, of course, that is the essence of the new covenant. 47:27 It's not doing away with the Ten Commandments. 47:29 He maybe--Pastor Doug referenced that some Christians today say, 47:32 "Well, we don't have to keep the Ten Commandments. 47:33 We don't have to keep the law because that's part 47:35 of the old covenant, it's done away with." 47:37 No, rather, Paul makes it very clear that if we love God and we 47:40 receive the grace of God, we will keep His commandments. 47:43 Jesus said, "If you love Me," do what? 47:46 "Keep My commandments." 47:47 But the motivation is different. 47:49 You see, the Jews in the time of Christ would try to keep the Ten 47:52 Commandments to earn their way into heaven. 47:54 Those who received Christ kept the commandments 47:56 because they loved Jesus, they were motivated by love. 47:59 That's the kind of motivation that God wants to see in His 48:02 people who are experiencing this new covenant experience. 48:05 Doug: Yeah, and then you get to the end of the Bible, 48:08 Revelation chapter 22:14: "Blessed are those that do His 48:12 commandments that they might have a right to enter through 48:15 the gates of the city and eat from the tree of life." 48:18 It's pretty clear that God--what the purpose of the covenant is, 48:21 to change our hearts and give us hearts that are 48:23 willing to obey, amen? 48:27 Well, I think we've got a minute left. 48:28 You got anything else to say? 48:29 Jëan: Well, we want to remind those who are joining us about 48:31 our free book that we have, it's called "The Savior 48:33 & The Serpent," and we'll be happy to send this to anyone 48:35 who calls and asks if you're in North America. 48:38 The number to call for that is 866-788-3966 and you can just 48:43 ask for offer number 798. 48:46 We'll get it in the mail. We'll send it to you. 48:48 If you're outside of North America, you can also go to the 48:52 website, just amazingfacts.org or .com and you'll be able to 48:55 read the book at our free library. 48:58 Doug: And one more time, if you missed it earlier, in 49:01 just a couple of weeks we're going to have a very special 49:03 series called "Amazing Sanctuary," bringing in 49:06 some great guest speakers. 49:07 We're going to have Carlos Muñoz, Daniel Hudgens, Don 49:10 Mackintosh, Steven Bohr, James Rafferty, and yours truly, and 49:14 we're going to be talking about how you find some of the secrets 49:17 of salvation in the ancient sanctuary tabernacle, sometimes 49:22 called the temple. 49:25 And so we think that you'll really be blessed by that. 49:29 Well, thank you very much, how did we do, 49:30 considering we didn't have a chance to study? 49:33 Oh, no, we don't want applause. 49:35 No, just an "Amen" will work. 49:37 Anyway, well, thank you, praise the Lord, 49:38 and we just pray the Holy Spirit would bring our 49:40 Scriptures back to our mind again and we look forward to 49:44 studying God's Word with you again next week. 49:49 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 49:50 life-changing free resource. 49:52 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 49:55 download a digital copy straight to your computer 49:57 or mobile device. 49:58 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 50:02 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 50:07 shown on your screen and be sure to select the digital download 50:10 option on the request page. 50:12 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 50:15 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 50:18 And most important, to share it with others. 50:26 announcer: "Amazing Facts" Changed Lives. 50:34 Peggy Toolen: My name is Peggy Toolen. 50:35 I'm originally from Houston, Texas. 50:39 We lived in Midland for about 14, 15 years. 50:41 When my husband had a job offer to move to Detroit, we went, you 50:46 know, expecting things to be easier as far as financial 50:51 situations go, and, you know, once we got there we realized 50:55 the cost of living there was actually worse than it was here. 50:58 And so, he was working more, he was out of town a lot because he 51:01 was a truck driver, and there was a time when I felt 51:04 like I was taking care of my girls on my own and any 51:07 situation that would come up, he wasn't there, you 51:09 know, it was just me trying to take care of everything. 51:14 And I felt kind of angry towards God for that. 51:18 Felt kind of angry toward my husband for that, you know? 51:20 And at that point, I was already kind of angry with God because 51:24 He hadn't been answering my prayers. 51:26 'Course, my prayers back then were really 51:28 selfish-type prayers. 51:29 They were more, you know, "God, we need more money. 51:33 We've got, you know, we need financial help," and I just 51:37 thought, "What's the point? 51:38 God's not listening to me. 51:40 I don't even want--I don't even want to have anything 51:42 to do with Him anymore." 51:47 There was one night I had been reading Revelation and I'd read 51:51 through the whole thing and it made no sense whatsoever to me. 51:54 And I, after I finished it, I said--I prayed, 51:57 "Lord, help me to understand what this means. 51:59 You must want me to understand, it's in your Word. 52:02 I must--I need to know what it means." 52:05 And so I went on to bed and couple of days later, we got a 52:09 flyer in the mail that said, "Amazing Facts presents 52:14 Revelations Prophecy Seminar." 52:16 And I was, like, "Wow, that's answered a prayer." 52:19 You know, I was so excited. My husband was too. 52:21 And so we decided we were going to go to that seminar. 52:24 And I just knew when I got through the whole seminar, I 52:28 just knew that's where I was going to be. 52:33 With Amazing Facts, I have learned so much about the Bible 52:37 and about how to study the Bible, which was what I needed 52:40 before because without knowing how to study the Bible, you 52:44 can't get to know Jesus. 52:46 And that's the most amazing thing to me is that I--God has 52:50 led me to the place where I am now, to where I can learn every 52:55 day more and more about His character and how much He 52:58 really does love us. 53:05 Looking back, I'm just happy that He led me the way He 53:09 did, even though I wasn't really listening. 53:13 God has a way to just lead you where you need to be and take 53:17 you down the right path but I looked at my life now and I 53:21 think, "Wow, if it could have been that way before, and I 53:24 would have had Him in my life this way all along, you know-- 53:30 I don't know, I'm just--I'm just happy now, you know? 53:33 It doesn't matter what's going on in my life, I am-- 53:35 I'm happy with God. 53:37 ♪ God's Word is life to me. ♪ 53:48 ♪♪ 54:02 announcer: "Amazing Facts" 54:05 Changed Lives. 54:10 female: Well, my conversion story is when I was in the 54:14 Philippines, I just graduated as a nurse and afterwards I did not 54:20 have any religion and one time I found myself inside a small 54:26 church, Catholic church, in Manila, and before a big cross. 54:33 And I was kneeling before and I could hear Jesus telling me to 54:39 enter the convent, save myself and also my family. 54:43 And I said, "Lord, I would like to follow You all the way." 54:46 At that point, I seemed to be happy externally, but because 54:51 inside the convent we don't read the Bible, we don't study about 54:55 the Word of God. 54:57 We prayed the rosaries, we also at the same time studied the 55:01 lives of the saints and also our founders, and the encyclicals of 55:06 the Pope and the Virgin Mary. 55:09 And so I do not know the truth and I had this torture of 55:13 conscience, the guilty feelings that cannot be resolved. 55:17 So I would confess to the priest in the confessional box, saying, 55:21 "Father, forgive me, since my last confession was last week. 55:26 Since then I have committed the following 55:28 sin," including the root cause. 55:31 Why am I falling and falling in that same 55:34 sin over and over again? 55:36 And still for 21 long years, I struggle and I 55:41 struggle and I struggle. 55:43 I realized that I was totally empty, I was totally 55:48 helpless and hopeless. 55:50 And so depressed and so desperate that I would like 55:54 already to end my life. 55:56 I was working for five years as dean of the University of San 56:01 Agustin College of Nursing in Iloilo City, one of the islands 56:06 in the Philippines. 56:07 After five years I received a commission from my parents to 56:13 help my sister who is being a battered woman. 56:17 This is one of the reasons why I came over to United States. 56:22 It is because my sister needs my help. 56:26 As I was working in the hospital in New York, my boss-- 56:30 he was so gracious enough to give me an invitation 56:34 to the Millennium Prophecy. 56:36 As I was listening to Pastor Doug Batchelor's presentation, 56:41 my heart really was beating so fast, and my mind, I'm able to 56:46 grasp the truth, that this is the truth that I've been longing 56:51 to hear all my life, that I have been seeking for so long. 56:57 My personal relationship with Jesus, I can see Jesus 57:01 as my personal Savior. 57:04 He is not only the Savior of the whole world but He is my 57:08 personal Savior. 57:10 He was the one who delivered me mightily from the depths of sin, 57:16 from the mighty clay. 57:17 Pastor Doug Batchelor has been used by the Lord 57:21 in my conversion. 57:23 The Amazing Facts, I owe to them. 57:26 The Lord really blessed this ministry and I'm so proud I was 57:31 able to attend this Millennium Prophecy. 57:35 My life has never been the same. 57:37 It has given me the peace, the joy, that never--I have never 57:44 tasted in my life, and now I am set free to be able 57:49 to work for Him and to follow Him. 57:52 ♪♪ 58:03 ♪♪ 58:12 ♪♪ 58:20 ♪♪ |
Revised 2021-04-02