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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Luccas Rodor: Hi, welcome to our "Sabbath School Study Hour" 00:38 here at the Granite Bay Hilltop Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:41 We are so happy that you have decided to invest this hour of 00:44 study and of diving into God's Word with us. 00:47 I'd like also to welcome our local community. 00:49 Thank you for being here with us, and we're so glad that you 00:52 are here with us too. 00:54 Today we will be studying the second lesson of our new 00:56 quarterly. 00:57 The title of the entire lesson this quarter is 01:00 "Rest In Christ." 01:02 There are so many beautiful lessons that we need to learn 01:05 about this reality about how to rest in Jesus. 01:08 This week's title is "Restless and Rebellious," and Pastor 01:12 Shawn will be leading out today, and I'm sure that we have a lot 01:15 to learn with him here in our lesson. 01:18 But before I ask him to come out and before our choruses come 01:21 out, I would like to invite you to take advantage 01:24 of our free offer. 01:25 This week's free offer is "Why God Said Remember," and so if 01:29 you want a copy, a physical copy of this, and you live within the 01:33 Continental North America, you can call 866-788-3966, or if you 01:39 want to remember it better, you could call 866-Study-More, and 01:43 then you can ask for the Offer 185, Offer Number 185, or if 01:47 you're in the USA, you can text "SH1292," to the number 40544, 01:53 or if you're outside North America, you can go to 01:57 study.aftv.org, and you could get a digital download of that. 02:03 Now I would like to call our choruses out. 02:05 Sing with confidence. 02:06 Sing because the Lord is here with us, and I'm sure that He 02:08 will be blessing us throughout the praise 02:10 and throughout the teaching. 02:13 ♪♪♪ 02:23 ♪♪♪ 02:25 The Savior is waiting to enter your heart. 02:35 ♪ Why don't you let Him come in? ♪ 02:44 ♪ There's nothing in this world to keep you apart. ♪ 02:53 ♪ What is your answer to Him? ♪ 03:02 ♪ Time after time He has waited before, ♪ 03:11 ♪ and now He is waiting again ♪ 03:18 ♪ to see if you're willing to open the door. ♪ 03:28 ♪ Oh, how He wants to come in. ♪ 03:37 ♪ If you'll take one step toward the Savior, ♪ 03:44 ♪ my friend, you'll find His arms open wide. ♪ 03:55 ♪ Receive Him, and all of your darkness will end. ♪ 04:05 ♪ Within your heart He'll abide. ♪ 04:14 ♪ Time after time He has waited before, ♪ 04:23 ♪ and now He is waiting again ♪ 04:31 ♪ to see if you're willing to open the door. ♪ 04:42 ♪ Oh, how He wants to ♪ 04:48 ♪ come in. ♪♪ 04:53 Luccas Rodor: Dear Lord, we praise You 04:55 for this beautiful day. 04:57 We praise you because you are among us, and we are ready to 05:00 receive Your Word. 05:01 Lord, please imbue Pastor Shawn with your Holy Spirit as he 05:05 teaches us that this quarter's lesson is all about not allowing 05:10 ourselves to go restless, to grow restless or rebellious, and 05:14 allowing You to always touch our hearts and be led by the Spirit. 05:18 I ask You for all the worshipers that are here this day, and I 05:21 ask this in Jesus's name, amen. 05:25 Shawn Brummund: We would all do well to underline the "in," 05:26 in this quarterly's Sabbath School title, "Rest In Christ." 05:32 We want to circle it. 05:34 We want to highlight it. 05:35 We want to underline it. 05:37 We want to make sure that we capitalize it. 05:40 It is the key word in the title and theme of which 05:43 we continue to study as we started last week. 05:46 "Rest In Christ." 05:49 Paul had found the ticket to true rest and peace in his life. 05:53 And that was in the person, the eternal Son of God, 05:56 Jesus Christ Himself. 05:59 We would do well to underline that "in." 06:02 We find there the justification. 06:03 We find the sanctification that is found in the person 06:07 and work of Christ. 06:10 It is the only way that we can find true rest for our souls. 06:15 Jesus summed it up best for us when we come to the book of John 06:18 chapter 14, and verses 13 through 14, where Jesus answered 06:23 and said to the woman at the well as He was having this 06:26 personal encounter with her, and she with Him, and as He was in 06:30 the heart of that conversation, He was working up to the punch 06:33 line when He says, "Whoever drinks of this water 06:35 will thirst again." 06:37 They had their conversation beside Jacob's Well. 06:40 The woman was there to fetch the water that she and/or family and 06:44 household needed for that day. 06:47 Jesus says, "Whoever drinks of this regular water will thirst 06:51 again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him," 06:54 Jesus says, "shall never thirst. 06:57 But the water that I shall give him will become a fountain of 07:00 water springing up into everlasting life." 07:06 Jesus was talking about Himself. 07:09 Jesus is declaring that He is the water of life. 07:14 Not only did He equate himself with water and call Himself 07:17 the water of life, but He also called himself 07:19 the bread of heaven as well. 07:23 The bread of life. 07:24 In John chapter 6, just two chapters later in verse 35, 07:27 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. 07:34 He who comes to Me shall never hunger." 07:37 "He who comes to Me shall never hunger." 07:39 Do you see the parallel between the conversation in John chapter 07:41 4, and the woman at the well, and that in which Jesus is 07:44 having with the crowd that, later, some days or weeks after? 07:49 Jesus says to the woman, "Whoever drinks of this water 07:51 will never thirst again." 07:53 When Jesus speaks to the crowd, some days later, He says, "I am 07:56 the bread of life. 07:57 If you eat of this bread, you will never be hungry again." 08:02 And then He follows up and brings Himself and His crowd 08:04 back to that conversation with the woman, where He says, "He 08:06 who believes in me shall never thirst." 08:12 I can speak my personal experience that, when you have a 08:14 personal relationship with Jesus Christ, there is a satisfaction 08:20 that is beyond compare. 08:24 There is a place in which you can find yourself parked for the 08:26 rest of your life when it concerns to the greatest 08:29 philosophical questions that human beings have always asked 08:33 through the ages. 08:35 We can find ourselves parked there with great and full and 08:38 complete satisfaction concerning the questions of where we have 08:42 come from. 08:44 Why do we exist? 08:45 What is our future? 08:46 What is our purpose in life? 08:49 Where do we find true peace and happiness and joy? 08:52 All of it is found in the person and the package of Jesus Christ, 08:57 in the person of Christ. 09:00 When we come to Christ, we don't need to, we don't have to, we 09:03 don't want to look anywhere else. 09:08 I know some people that are very close to me, very near and dear 09:11 through my life, and many of them have gone from one thing to 09:14 another. 09:16 They've gone from pyramid power, to channeling, to New Age 09:18 meditation, to mind control. 09:22 They've gone from one self-help guru and to another self-help 09:26 guru. 09:27 They've been searching years upon years upon years, always 09:30 thirsty, but never satisfied. 09:32 Always hungry, but never satisfied, never full. 09:36 Why? 09:37 Because they haven't found the person of Jesus Christ. 09:40 Rest, true rest can only be found in the person of Christ. 09:47 As the old hymn goes, and it's old now. 09:49 It's been around for about 30 years. 09:51 Many of us have sung it. 09:53 Many of us can sing it from our hearts and by personal 09:55 experience: "You Are My All in All." 10:00 Not only is it a song, it's a prayer. 10:03 "You are my all in all." 10:04 In Christ, He is our all in all. 10:08 In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20, we find that Jesus 10:10 pictures Himself as one who knocks at the door of our heart, 10:15 and He says, "Behold, I knock at the door of your heart. 10:18 I stand at the door, and I knock, and if anyone hears My 10:22 voice and opens the door, I will come to him and he to Me." 10:30 We come back to the text in which we looked at last week in 10:33 Matthew chapter 11, in verses 28 and 29, where Jesus says, "Come 10:36 unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 10:40 you rest. 10:43 Take My yoke upon you," He says, "for I am gentle and lowly in 10:47 heart, and you shall find rest for your souls." 10:49 That is the great theme in which we continue to study, even as 10:54 we've looked at this quarterly's lesson for those of us who have 10:57 gone day by day through this last week as we looked at some 11:00 very deep and interesting and very helpful chapters. 11:03 They're not pleasant chapters. 11:05 They're not happy chapters, for indeed, we find the gray as it 11:10 reflects the actual quarterly lesson which is "Restless and 11:14 Rebellious," and so we find they're not what we should be 11:18 patterning ourselves after but what we should be avoiding. 11:20 We find this sad story that shares with us how this large 11:26 group of people that were the descendants of Abraham, that 11:30 were led by the great prophet Moses, had chosen disobedience 11:35 and disbelief, had chosen to be restless and rebellious rather 11:38 than to find themselves in the rest of Christ that God had 11:41 offered to them from the very moment that they left Egypt. 11:49 Now, it's important for us to know that this is not the first 11:52 time that Christ has offered this rest. 11:54 When we come to Jesus's life on earth in Matthew chapter 11, and 11:58 Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy 12:01 laden, and I will give you rest," this is not the first 12:03 offer, no. 12:04 God had offered it many times in the past. 12:06 He had offered it to the Israelites through the 12:08 generation of Moses. 12:10 We can find that in Exodus chapter 33, and verse 14, 12:15 God says, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you--" 12:21 you guessed it: "rest." 12:24 You see, God had offered rest to that generation. 12:28 Jesus offered, again, when He was in this life on this planet, 12:32 but He had offered at hundreds and hundreds of years beforehand 12:36 through the prophet Moses and to the generation of Moses's day. 12:42 Now, what's interesting. 12:43 In the New Testament book of Hebrews chapters 3 through 4, 12:46 the Bible speaks more extensively on this God-given 12:49 rest than anywhere else. 12:51 If you're looking for the most comprehensive passage on the 12:53 rest that can be found in Christ, it is in these two 12:56 chapters, and so I'd like to spend some time 13:00 reflecting on that. 13:02 Why? 13:03 Because the four chapters that we looked at in this last week's 13:05 study, Numbers chapter 11, 12, 13, and 14, touches on this same 13:11 rest that the ancient Israelites missed out on in Moses's day. 13:17 So, again, we find there what not to do. 13:19 We find there how we can potentially miss out 13:23 on that rest. 13:27 I want to spend some time in the book of Hebrews, learning how 13:29 and why they missed out on God's rest and salvation so far ago 13:35 and how and why we can make sure that we have that rest. 13:40 Many, if not all of you, that are here today have already 13:42 found that rest in Christ. 13:44 Many of you are that are here today are here because you have 13:46 found that rest in Christ, and you want to continue to nurture 13:50 and continue to hold onto and it continued to experience that 13:54 rest that is found in Christ, but perhaps there's one or more 14:01 that is here today, either in person in our Granite Bay 14:04 Seventh-day Adventist Church or watching online or on the 14:07 different television networks that has never found that rest, 14:11 that has never come to say, "Yes, I can say with confidence 14:14 that I have a personal experience with Jesus Christ as 14:17 my Lord and Savior, and He has given me rest and peace in a 14:21 measure that I'd never had before." 14:24 Perhaps this is a day in which Jesus is speaking to you, and 14:27 you are responding, and you're hearing His voice, and you want 14:32 to consider over the next few minutes that we have together to 14:34 study what it means to have that rest and invite it 14:37 into your life. 14:44 The generation of Israelites that escaped to Egypt with Moses 14:47 had blown it. 14:49 And Hebrews, that New Testament book that comes along in the 14:53 days of Paul, tells us not to make the same mistake, and so 14:57 let's spend some time there. 14:59 Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3, and we're going to start with 15:01 verse 7. 15:02 So we're going to that New Testament Gospel book in the New 15:06 Testament called Hebrews. 15:09 Why is it called Hebrews? 15:16 Anybody want to venture a guess? 15:19 Why is it called Hebrews? 15:23 It's called Hebrews because it was written to Hebrews that had 15:25 accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior that were in the 15:27 Christian church, and so God had inspired the apostle Paul 15:32 and said, "Listen, you need to address a very real challenge 15:36 that is existing in the hearts and lives of more than one Jew 15:39 or Hebrew that had accepted the Christian faith," and that is 15:43 that they were tempted to backslide. 15:45 They were tempted to let go of this great experience and rest 15:49 that is found in Christ and go back to the traditional Judaism 15:52 in which they were raised. 15:55 And so they were written to that they might be able to hold on, 15:58 hold fast to that which God had already delivered to them that 16:02 Jesus is the true Messiah, that there is no rest outside of 16:05 Christ, to remind them that the only rest that they have ever 16:09 found in their life is in Christ. 16:12 Don't let that rest go. 16:15 And so, when we come to Hebrews chapter 3, in verse 7, it says, 16:17 "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you will hear 16:24 His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion--" 16:27 friends, does that echo Revelation chapter 3, in verse 16:29 20, in which I quoted earlier in our study today? 16:32 "Behold, I stand at the door, and I knock, and if anyone hears 16:35 My voice and opens the door to your heart--" if you open the 16:40 door, then Jesus comes in. 16:42 Jesus never forces His way into our life. 16:44 He never forces us because then it wouldn't be true rest. 16:49 It is only true rest if we voluntarily open the door to our 16:52 heart and let Jesus in. 16:57 And so we have the same voice. 16:58 In this case, it's not the voice of Jesus as He was walking upon 17:02 this earth and says, you know, or shortly after, I should say, 17:05 through John the revelator, when He says, "If anyone hears my 17:08 voice and opens the door--" in this case, it's King David as 17:12 quoted in Psalm 95. 17:14 In his generation, God is crying out through His prophet David, 17:17 where He says, "Today, if you will hear His voice, don't 17:20 harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 17:23 Now, as it turns out, that key word "rebellion" is reflecting 17:28 the very chapters in which we studied this last week, which is 17:30 Numbers chapter 11 through 14, where the Israelites had chosen, 17:34 very sadly, very tragically, to rebel against God and against 17:41 His offer of rest. 17:46 And so, because of that, they ended up spending 40 days of 17:48 restlessness, wandering in the wilderness until a new 17:53 generation was to grow up and take their place. 17:57 "Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion," it tells us, "in 18:00 the days of the trial in the wilderness, where your 18:03 fathers--" now there he doesn't mean your biological first 18:06 fathers but your great, great, great, great, great, great, 18:09 great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfathers-- 18:15 "where your fathers tested Me, and tried Me, and saw My works 18:19 for 40 years." 18:21 And so there's the sentence that we read about if you've read the 18:24 Sabbath School Quarterly. 18:25 Now, of course, we just do not have time to go through and 18:28 read, verse by verse, all of those four chapters or five 18:31 chapters, but let's look at the punch line. 18:35 Let's go to Numbers chapter 14, in verse 32. 18:40 Numbers chapter 14. 18:44 Numbers chapter 14 and verse 32. 18:52 So we're going to pick it up with Numbers chapter 14, 18:54 in verse 32. 18:59 In verse 32, it says, "But as for you, your carcasses shall 19:03 fall in this wilderness." 19:07 And so there's the sentence. 19:08 He's saying, "Listen, you've chosen not to enter 19:10 into the Promised Land. 19:11 You've chosen disobedience and unbelief rather than obedience 19:14 and belief, which is full trust in the promise that I gave to 19:17 you that I will go before you, and I will help you conquer that 19:21 land, and even though they may be twice your size, and even 19:23 though they may have the highest, most fortified cities, 19:26 and even though they may be much more acquainted and trained and 19:30 experienced on the battlefield, you will still win." 19:34 Isn't that what Caleb said in the same chapters? 19:37 Many of us have read it over the last week. 19:38 Some of us have read it in the past. 19:41 Caleb and Joshua stand up and say, "The Lord will deliver us. 19:43 God has removed and departed from the protection of these 19:47 people in the land of Canaan, in the Promised Land, and 19:50 'Therefore I will give you the victory over them.'" 19:57 It reminds us again, "And it's not by might. 19:58 It's not by strength. 20:00 It's by the Spirit of the Living God," that we must not trust in 20:05 chariots and swords, but we must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 20:13 And so, when we come to verse 32, we come to the very punch 20:15 line of the chapters in which we looked at. 20:18 It says, "But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in the 20:21 wilderness." 20:23 "You've made your choice, and now you need to live with it." 20:29 In verse 33, it says, "And your sons shall be shepherds in the 20:31 wilderness 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity--" 20:37 of your--what? 20:39 "Of your infidelity." 20:40 In other words, their unfaithfulness, their decision 20:43 to refuse the rest and the victory and the peace that God 20:46 was offering them that day. 20:48 They chose a disobedience over obedience. 20:50 They chose to not believe rather than to believe. 20:54 They chose to distrust God rather than to trust God, and 20:58 so, because of that, God says that "You and your generation 21:02 that is coming after you will bear the brunt of your 21:04 infidelity--" how tragic is the truth that is revealed here in 21:07 the fact that there are many of us as parents that make 21:11 decisions that cause our sins to be upon our children that they 21:15 may bear the brunt of the consequences that sometimes 21:18 haunt our families for years afterwards. 21:22 Now, the grace of Jesus and the mercy that is offered to us will 21:25 help us to be able to still find that rest and relationship with 21:28 Him. 21:30 We can still be written in the Lamb's book of life, but it is 21:31 reminding us again that the decisions we make is not in a 21:34 vacuum. 21:36 We are not in isolation when we make decisions concerning sin in 21:39 our life but, rather, it affects and can affect those who come up 21:42 after us, "and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your 21:47 carcasses are consumed in the wilderness." 21:49 This is a very sober sentence. 21:53 Verse 34, it says, "According to the number of the days in which 21:55 you spied out the land, 40 days, for each day you shall bear your 22:00 guilt--" your--what? 22:02 "Your guilt for one year," again, God is making it very 22:04 clear, listen, "You are guilty. 22:09 This is the sentence. 22:10 This is like a court scene that we're reading here as God is 22:12 speaking to this nation, this new, potential nation that God 22:18 was establishing and trying to establish through them. 22:21 We're talking two, three million people. 22:25 "You shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you 22:29 shall know My rejection." 22:31 And, of course, verse 34, is one of those key verses in which we 22:34 apply in the prophetic time periods, those symbolic 22:37 prophetic time periods that God had revealed through His prophet 22:40 Daniel, in particular, and that of John the revelator, in which 22:44 Isaac Newton and other great students of the Bible--before us 22:48 as Seventh-day Adventists ever came along, one of the great 22:51 reformers, Isaac Newton, had discovered, indeed, this verse 22:54 and had applied it to that in which Daniel reveals when 22:57 there's 1,260 symbolic days, God is talking about 1,260 literal 23:02 years, calendar years. 23:06 And this is where we pick it up, but God is giving the sentence 23:09 in real life to a real generation in this real time. 23:14 In verse 35, it goes on and says, "and the Lord has spoken 23:16 this--will surely do all this, do so to all this evil 23:21 generation--" again, God has nothing good to say 23:24 about this generation. 23:26 We have to remember that the earlier chapters that we read in 23:28 this week's quarterly study revealed that their heart is so 23:31 hard that, when Caleb and Joshua stand up against the other ten 23:35 spies that are negative and say, "No, we must choose 23:40 disobedience. 23:42 We must not trust in the Lord because we will never be able to 23:44 take these people." 23:46 Caleb and Joshua stand up, as many of us have read, and they 23:48 say, "No, the Lord will deliver us, and He will give us victory 23:51 over these people." 23:55 And the nation became so upset with Caleb and Joshua for being 23:58 able to challenge their choice of rebelliousness and 24:01 restlessness that they begin to pick up the biggest rocks they 24:04 can possibly find that they might throw them at those two as 24:08 well as Moses and Aaron and take their lives that very day. 24:12 If it were not for the fact that God Himself intervened by a 24:15 period in a glorious fashion at the meeting--at the tabernacle 24:19 of meeting, to be able to bring a stop to that attempt on the 24:22 lives of these four men, those men would've died that same day. 24:28 And so, when God calls this generation a evil generation, 24:32 He really means it. 24:36 They've made their choice. 24:38 Don't feel sorry for them. 24:42 God loves them. 24:44 He didn't want it this way, but they have made their choice to 24:47 do-- "this evil generation, this evil congregation who are 24:50 gathered together against Me in this wilderness, and they shall 24:54 be consumed, and there they shall die. 25:00 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned 25:03 and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing 25:05 a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil 25:09 report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord." 25:15 And so God's immediate judgment upon those who were the most 25:18 guilty and led out in this rebellion and had helped 25:22 influence and convince the rest of the nation to rebel against 25:25 God, indeed, found themselves dying first, "But Joshua, the 25:30 son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the 25:35 men who went out to spy out the land." 25:39 And so Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 of the 12 original spies 25:42 that lived. 25:44 Not only did they live, but they outlived that entire generation 25:46 that did die in the wilderness over the next 40 years, and then 25:48 Joshua and Caleb, in great health, advanced years, yes, but 25:52 in perfect health, entered into the Promised Land and set up 25:55 their cities and their houses and their families. 26:00 Why? 26:01 Because God blesses faith. 26:03 God blesses belief. 26:05 Do you believe that? 26:07 When you trust Him and you surrender to Him and you obey 26:09 Him, God blesses you. 26:12 He blesses you with strength and with health and with rest, 26:15 true peace. 26:17 After all, this is not the rest of it. 26:19 You know, last week, the first quarterly study, in the first 26:21 week, we looked at was that concerning physical rest, 26:24 emotional rest, mental rest. 26:26 This is concerning, more than anything, mental and spiritual 26:30 rest that is found in Christ. 26:34 That's what God is talking about here. 26:40 And so we return back to Hebrews chapter 3. 26:44 Hebrews chapter 3. 26:45 Where were we in Hebrews 3? 26:48 We're back in Hebrews 3, and we were reading about the sentence. 26:54 Oh, yeah, verse 9 is where we last left off: "Where your 26:56 fathers tested Me and tried Me, and saw My works 40 years. 27:01 Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, 'They 27:04 always go astray in their heart, and they have 27:06 not known My ways.' 27:08 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" 27:14 You see, the rest that is found in Christ is conditional. 27:17 The rest that is found in eternal life, written in the 27:20 Lamb's book of life, the rest that is found in God and knowing 27:23 that we are part of the eternal family of God 27:26 comes with conditions. 27:29 And those conditions are faith, which includes trust, as well as 27:36 obedience, which is our surrender to God. 27:39 And when we are willing to make that choice to meet those 27:42 conditions, then God offers us rest in Christ. 27:47 God offers us the Gospel. 27:48 That is the Gospel. 27:51 Hebrews chapter 3, and we are now in verse 12. 27:57 Verse 12, it says, "Beware, brethren, lest there be 28:00 in any of you any evil heart of unbelief." 28:02 There it is. 28:04 God had called the generation of Moses an evil generation, an 28:08 evil congregation, and here we find that Paul, in reflection of 28:13 that, is saying to the present Jewish believers that had found 28:17 that rest in Christ, and he says, "Beware, brethren, lest in 28:19 any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the 28:25 living God--" and so, friends, as we go through these passages 28:28 and the highlights of chapter 3 and 4, we're going to find that 28:31 unbelief and obedience or disobedience or disbelief are 28:35 the key words. 28:36 So we have obedience and faith or disobedience and unbelief. 28:41 Those are the key words that keep repeating itself. 28:44 In verse 13, it says, "But exhort one another daily, while 28:48 it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened through 28:51 the deceitfulness of sin. 28:57 For we have become partakers of Christ--" now, we want to pick 29:01 that up again. 29:02 Now, maybe I sound like a broken record, but I think it's too 29:04 easy for us to forget that the Christian religion is based not 29:09 on a theory and philosophy first. 29:13 It is based on a person. 29:16 It is based on the person, the eternal, living Jesus Christ, 29:22 and that's why Paul says over and over in different ways, 29:24 "I've been crucified with Christ," "I am in Christ." 29:27 In this case, he says, "We have become partakers of Christ," of 29:31 the person, "if we hold from the beginning our confidence 29:35 steadfast to the end--" that's why Paul says in other places in 29:38 his letters, "listen, we need to fight the good fight. 29:41 We need to run the race as if we are out to win that race. 29:44 We need to finish the race." 29:47 That's why, when he came to the end of his life, he said, 29:49 "I have fought the good fight. 29:50 I have finished the race, and now there is laid up for a 29:52 prize, a crown on that day, and not only for me only, but 29:56 for all who have loved His appearing." 30:02 And so there's great encouragement as well as warning 30:06 that is found in this chapter concerning the rest that God so 30:08 much wants us to be able to have. 30:10 We skip down now to verses 18 and 19 of the same chapter in 30:12 Hebrews. 30:14 In Hebrews 3, in verse 18, it says, "To whom did he swear that 30:18 they would not enter His rest, but to those 30:22 who did not--" what? 30:24 "To those who did not obey?" 30:26 So there's the other key word. 30:27 Remember I said again and again, we find those key words 30:29 "unbelief" and "disobedience." 30:35 "So they could not enter in," speaking of that rest in Christ, 30:39 "because of unbelief." 30:41 And then we come to chapter 4. 30:43 Chapter 4, verse 1, he goes on and says, "Therefore, since a 30:46 promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of 30:51 you seem to have come short of it." 30:53 And so, very clear, even as we stop here and reflect on these 30:55 verses that we looked at so far, very clearly it was unbelief and 30:59 disobedience that were the two factors that kept that 31:02 generation of Moses from entering into the rest 31:04 of Christ. 31:10 So we want to be aware of those two great enemies because these 31:13 are the greatest enemies of rest and peace and joy and eternal 31:16 life that could be found in our lives if we only agree, if we 31:20 only surrender to Jesus. 31:22 In verse 2, it says, "For indeed the gospel was preached to us 31:25 as well as to them." 31:27 I've always been intrigued ever since I first came to this 31:29 verse, and I stopped, and I paused, "Wait a minute, 31:31 I thought the Gospel was only preached from Pentecost on." 31:35 I thought the Gospel was only preached from the life of Jesus, 31:38 perhaps on, if you want to back up to the life 31:39 and ministry and Christ. 31:41 No, it tells us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been 31:43 preached to every generation of every human beings, and indeed, 31:47 we find it even in Moses's day. 31:53 And I started to ask myself, "Where in the Bible does it say 31:55 that the Gospel was preached to that generation?" 31:57 Well, we find it in the sacrificial system, for sure. 32:00 That's the Gospel in 3D. 32:02 We find the sanctuary, the holy place, the most holy place, the 32:05 symbolic throne of God, the government of which his 32:08 government is ruled, and the Ten Commandments. 32:10 We have the mercy seat. 32:11 We have the cherubim that are worshiping, 32:13 these exalted angels. 32:14 We have the Shekinah glory of God, hovering above that ark in 32:18 the most holy place. 32:20 We have the altar of sacrifice which is proclaiming that only 32:24 through the shedding of blood is the remission and complete 32:26 erasement of our sins. 32:29 We find all of that great symbolism that was given 32:32 to the Israelites. 32:34 Now, do they have to put two and two together? 32:35 Yes, they did, but did they have the writings of Moses? 32:39 Yes, they had the person and the writings and teachings of Moses. 32:41 We have to remember, as I took my mind back to Genesis chapter 32:45 3, in verse 15, in that 3rd chapter of Genesis in which 32:47 Moses not only wrote in the Bible but surely had preached to 32:51 his generation that God had promised to mankind, right from 32:55 the beginning, from the moment and the same day that they had 32:58 sinned, that there would come a seed of the woman, and that 33:03 singular seed was a man, and that man was none other than 33:06 Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, and He would crush the head 33:09 of the serpent one day. 33:12 And then that same chapter in--no, Genesis chapter 3, as we 33:16 find that God then clothed them with skins of animals in which 33:20 only can come from a sacrifice and the death of an animal, and 33:22 then when we come to Genesis chapter 4, which Moses wrote and 33:25 surely preached to his generation that, indeed, God had 33:28 instructed Adam and Eve, who then instructed Cain and Abel 33:31 that they must bring to the altar a sacrificial animal that 33:34 they sacrificed after they confessed their sins, teaching 33:39 them right from the very beginning of mankind that, 33:42 indeed, only by the shedding of blood will there be the 33:45 remission of sins. 33:46 And so the Gospel of Jesus Christ was written about and 33:49 preached about and talked about by the very prophet and person 33:52 Moses, to his generation, and, yet they refused to believe. 33:58 And that's why Paul can confidently write under the 34:00 inspiration, in verse 2, he says, "For indeed the gospel was 34:02 preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they 34:08 heard did not profit them--" what word is that, friends? 34:12 The Word of God. 34:14 In this case, it is the word of Moses, the prophet of God that 34:19 is giving direct, divine messages of truth to that 34:22 generation, starting with Genesis chapter 3, in verse 15. 34:27 Indeed, we find here some great and deep truth that says to 34:31 them, "but the word," the Word of God, "which they heard 34:34 did not profit them, not being mixed with faith 34:38 in those who heard it." 34:42 You see, we can hear the truth of God. 34:43 Many of us have heard it more than once, but there's more than 34:45 one of us--I know, as a pastor and evangelist, there's more 34:47 than one of us that hear the Word of God, but we continue to 34:51 choose against it even as Moses's generation did. 34:57 And so faith, yes, as it says in Romans, "Faith comes by hearing, 34:59 and hearing by the Word of God." 35:01 We have the potential to grow in faith when we hear the Word of 35:03 God, but we also have the potential to harden our hearts 35:06 against the Word of God. 35:09 That's why this great, deep passage on the rest of Christ is 35:12 telling us that we must respond with faith. 35:17 We must respond with belief. 35:19 I believe the Word of God, and I surrender to it by giving my 35:22 obedience to Jesus Christ. 35:24 In verse 3, it goes on and says, "For we who have believed do 35:28 enter that rest--" and, again, there's a direct equation. 35:31 If we choose belief, which is faith, then we enter 35:34 into the rest. 35:35 If we choose disbelief, then we are rejected from that rest. 35:41 We are exempt from that rest, that peace and the joy 35:44 that is found in Christ. 35:48 And so in verse 3, it says, "For we who have believed do enter 35:54 that rest, 'So I swore in My wrath, 35:55 "They shall not enter My rest,"'" 35:57 as He again reflects upon those who had rejected Him, 35:59 "although the works were finished from the foundation 36:01 of the world." 36:03 Now, where is Paul going with this? 36:04 "Although the works were finished from the foundation of 36:06 the world," he's talkin' about justification. 36:08 He's reflecting upon the fact that God worked, worked, worked, 36:11 worked, worked, worked, worked, worked, worked, worked 36:12 for six days. 36:14 As He came to the end of the sixth day, as the sun set, He 36:16 says, "Now I'm entering into the seventh day of the week, 36:18 the Holy Sabbath. 36:19 I'm going to rest on it. 36:22 I'm going to bless it," which He actively did, and then He 36:26 declared it a holy day. 36:30 Now He's using that first week of this earth's history to be 36:33 able to demonstrate the justification that is found in 36:36 the person and the work of Christ. 36:44 "Although the works were finished from the foundation of 36:46 the world," friends, that's why Paul could also say in other 36:48 places, Ephesians chapter 2, in verses 8 and 9, "For by grace 36:52 you have been saved through faith. 36:53 It is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God." 36:55 It is not of your works--" why? 36:57 "Lest anyone should boast. 36:59 For we are His workmanship, created for good works 37:02 in Christ Jesus." 37:07 And so Paul, he is reflecting on the great truth and rest that is 37:10 found in the justification that comes from Christ, in the person 37:13 and work of Christ, when we give our obedience and surrender to 37:16 Him and we choose to believe. 37:18 In verse 4, he says, "For He has spoken in a certain place of the 37:21 seventh day in this way: 'And God rested on the seventh day 37:25 from all His works.'" 37:28 He's reflecting upon the completed works, 37:31 even as Christ calls us to reflect upon the completed 37:34 works of Christ that covers our imperfect life, that we might be 37:39 justified before our Holy God. 37:42 "And again in this place: 'They shall not enter My rest.'" 37:45 God is contrasting what they refused. 37:47 In verse 6, it goes on. 37:49 It says, "Since therefore it remains that some must enter 37:51 in," that is, to the rest, "and those to whom it was first 37:55 preached did not enter it because of disobedience." 38:00 There it is. You see the pattern there. 38:01 Again, He designates a certain day, same in David, "today." 38:06 So now he's saying, "Listen, now we go from Genesis, and we come 38:09 some 2,500 years or even more. 38:12 We come some 3,000 years into the future, and we find the 38:16 generation of David as David cries out, "Today, today if 38:20 you'll hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." 38:22 And then, in verse 8, "For if Joshua had given them rest, then 38:26 they would not have afterward have spoken of another day," 38:31 reflecting, again, that so many generations of God's people have 38:34 rejected the rest that is offered in Christ. 38:37 In verse 9, it says, "Therefore there remains a rest 38:39 for the people of God. 38:41 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his 38:44 works as God did from His." 38:47 Again, it is reflecting justification. 38:49 We are to reflect and rest in the works of Christ, to know 38:55 that we are acquitted before a holy God, not because of 38:57 anything that we can do in of ourselves in 39:00 concern to doing good. 39:03 Even though God has called us to be His workmanship and to do 39:06 good, that good is not what saves us or justifies or acquits 39:10 us before a holy God. 39:11 Only through the person and the work of Christ are we acquitted 39:15 before a holy God. 39:18 Verse 11, it goes there that "Let us therefore be diligent to 39:21 enter that rest, lest anyone should fall according to the 39:25 same example of disobedience." 39:28 And so here we have some very powerful verses, two of the most 39:31 powerful chapters concerning that spiritual and then an 39:34 extension of that mental and emotional rest that we could be 39:39 found in Christ. 39:44 We discovered that the Israelites of Moses chose 39:46 disbelief and disobedience, and that was expressed, and it was 39:51 demonstrated in some very ugly ways as we made our way through 39:54 those four chapters or five chapters. 40:00 The opposite is to choose belief and obedience. 40:03 That's what God is trying to tell us here as Hebrews has 40:05 reflected upon the numbers--chapters. 40:10 And so, when we choose the second option of belief and 40:12 obedience, then what takes place? 40:16 Well, there's two aspects of this rest, this peace that God 40:18 offers to each and every one of us if we have not already found 40:21 Him, and the first one is called justification. 40:24 We started to reflect upon that in the actual last text that we 40:27 read in Hebrews chapter 4. 40:29 What is justification? 40:32 Well, I started to give a hint. 40:33 It's being acquitted before a holy and perfect God as we come 40:37 to Him as very imperfect people. 40:41 But justification ultimately can be summarized in the fact that 40:45 it is the perfect and complete works of Christ that covers our 40:49 imperfect lives. 40:52 That's why Paul can also write in the same book of Hebrews, in 40:55 which we have been looking at in chapter 10, and verse 14, when 40:58 he says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who 41:03 are being sanctified." 41:06 Through that one offering and the work that God applies 41:09 through His Son Jesus Christ in the most holy place or now and 41:13 before that, in the holy place, in the holy heavenly sanctuary, 41:16 that work of priestly intercession that Jesus does for 41:18 us, because of all of that, we have been perfected forever. 41:26 Now, what are the benefits of knowing and experiencing and 41:28 accepting and having justification as a real part 41:32 of our life experience? 41:35 Well, there's a long list. 41:37 I'm sure it's not exhaustive as I reflected upon myself, but one 41:39 is for certain that we have found forgiveness of the most 41:42 vile and shameful sins in which we have ever committed. 41:47 Friends, it doesn't matter what you've done. 41:48 There's too many people that are walking around the devil has 41:50 convinced and continues to convince that the sins or sin 41:53 that you have committed in the past is one that is beyond God's 41:55 forgiveness, and I'm here to tell you that God has made it 41:59 very clear through the works and the teachings of Christ, as well 42:02 as His apostles, that there is no sin in which God cannot 42:05 forgive except the sin in which we refuse the voice of God. 42:14 And so we can experience the forgiveness of our most vile and 42:17 shameful sins that we have ever committed. 42:19 And then, finally, God offers us a clean slate. 42:26 We come to 1 John chapter 1, verse 9. 42:28 Many of us know by memory. 42:30 Many of us have come to memorize it and write it upon our hearts 42:33 and our minds and our life experience: "If we confess our 42:35 sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse 42:40 us from--" how many of those sins? 42:43 "From all of our unrighteousness." 42:46 Now, friends, that's pretty comprehensive. 42:48 "But, Pastor, you don't know what I've done. 42:50 You have no idea the shame. 42:52 I'm embarrassed, and I'm fearful to even share it with you the 42:56 things that I have done in the past." 43:00 Jesus says, Through My blood, My sacrifice is sufficient. 43:03 I will cleanse you of all your sins." 43:09 Because of the perfect life and death of Jesus that covers us, 43:11 the other benefit that comes in experiencing justification, 43:14 that part of that rest that God offers to us is that we have 43:17 room to grow in His grace through the years that we give 43:22 our faith and our surrender and our willing obedience to Him, 43:25 because, friends, I don't know about you, but one thing I've 43:27 learned is that, even though I accepted Christ as my Lord and 43:30 Savior, and I give him my sincere belief each and every 43:33 single day, and I give him my willing obedience and say, 43:37 "Lord, write your law upon my heart," there are times 43:40 throughout the days in which I find myself still falling 43:42 short of God. 43:47 There are times when I have to come to Christ at the end of my 43:49 day or throughout the day and say, "Lord, please forgive me 43:51 for which I have fallen short of Your holiness and Your great 43:54 standard in which You have set before me." 44:00 That's why Jesus says, "When you pray on a regular basis, 44:03 'Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy 44:07 kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 44:10 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, 44:15 our trespasses, our debts, even as we forgive those who sinned 44:19 against us--" Jesus knew that you would need to pray that on a 44:22 regular basis because He knew you would be to grow under the 44:26 umbrella of the justification that God offers to you, that 44:29 Christ covers you with a perfect light, so now, when God looks 44:31 down upon you, He only sees a perfect child, a perfect 44:34 daughter, a person son, not because you are perfect. 44:38 No, He knows all about you, but because His Son covers you 44:44 and is in between you and the Father. 44:47 Because He sees you through Christ, He sees a perfect life. 44:53 That's justification so-- 44:54 [deep breath] 44:56 --ahhh, I don't know about you, but I just--not so I can have a 44:59 license to sin. 45:00 Paul went on extensively in inspiration to be able to tell 45:02 us "Don't run with it in the wrong direction," but 45:06 nonetheless, don't be robbed about that experience either and 45:10 tippy-toeing through each day, hoping that you've been perfect 45:14 enough to be accepted by a holy God. 45:17 No, Christ accepts you even as you are growing and you're 45:19 failing and you disappointed Himself and yourself in 45:23 different ways. 45:26 So you have room to grow and just be able to take a deep 45:29 breath and say, "Lord, thank You for taking that burden 45:31 off my heart that I can know that Christ has done it for me, 45:34 and now I can grow and learn what it is to be like Christ." 45:39 That's justification. 45:40 Well, what about sanctification, in the last few 45:41 moments together? 45:43 Sanctification is the other part of the rest that God gives to us 45:46 through Christ, the person and work of Christ, and that 45:49 sanctification is found in our obedience and in the fruits of 45:52 the Spirit, our character. 45:53 And so there's a two part to sanctification. 45:55 Yes, obedience to His law, yes, the Ten Commandments, the other 45:58 commandments and councils and statutes that He gives to us, 46:01 directives, yes. 46:03 But the second one is just as important, and that is the 46:05 fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness, long-suffering, 46:10 self-control, mercy. 46:14 Sometimes we call that our character. 46:17 God forms our character so that we're not only obeying the moral 46:22 law of God, but our character is developing 46:25 with these fruits of the Spirit. 46:30 What are the benefits that lead to rest and peace through 46:32 sanctification? 46:34 Well, one of the first ones is that Christ works in us with His 46:37 goodness when we are to surrender to Him. 46:40 When we surrender to Him, it is His goodness that works in us. 46:45 Isn't it good to know that we aren't called to obey and form 46:47 our character in our own strength? 46:50 There's too many religious people, including those who call 46:52 themselves "Christian," that are trying to make their way through 46:54 the day, and they're gritting their teeth, and they're saying, 46:56 "Lord, I'm going to be a good person whether I like it or 46:58 not." 47:01 But that's not the experience that God wants us to have. 47:04 He wants us to come before Christ in the morning and say, 47:06 "Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner," again. 47:09 "I die to myself," even as Paul died daily, "and I accept You 47:13 into my heart, and I say, 'Lord, please write Your law upon my 47:15 heart that I might not sin against You." 47:19 We become a blessing to many other people. 47:21 We become appreciated and trusted by others, and best of 47:24 all, as I've come to experience, coming from a very sinful 47:27 background at 20 years of age, we have a clear conscience. 47:32 In justification and the rest of Christ, I know that, my 47:34 conscience is clear because I am obeying Him to the very best of 47:37 my ability as He works in me. 47:41 And so, friends, that's our study for this week, and I want 47:44 to invite you to please take advantage of our free offer, 47:47 which is "Why God Said Remember," which is written by 47:50 Joe Crews, the founder of Amazing Facts Ministries. 47:53 Please take advantage of that and dial in for that because 47:56 this will give you more study. 47:58 Now, of course, this particular booklet is reflecting upon the 48:02 rest that is found in the seventh day of the Sabbath in 48:04 Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, and so, please, if 48:12 you want to study more about the Sabbath, please take advantage 48:14 of this. 48:15 Go ahead and dial 1-866-788-3966, 48:19 and that's 1-866-Study-More, and ask for Offer 185. 48:23 And if you're in the U.S., you can also text "SH129," and you 48:29 want to text that and dial it to the number 40544. 48:34 For those who are outside of North America and would like to 48:36 receive either of these free gifts, you can--well, actually, 48:40 the digital gift, you can go ahead and go to 48:42 study.aftv.org/SH129, and you can find that in the Internet, a 48:49 free download of this same free gift offer. 48:51 So continue to study, continue to grow, and, again, if you 48:54 haven't accepted the rest that is found in Christ, I want to 48:56 invite you to do that even now. 48:59 Thank you for joining us, and we look forward 49:00 to seeing you next week. 49:04 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 49:06 free resource. 49:08 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 49:10 download a digital copy straight to your computer 49:12 or mobile device. 49:14 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 49:17 the key word on your screen to 40544, or visit the web address 49:22 shown on your screen, and be sure to select the digital 49:25 download option on the request page. 49:27 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 49:30 "Amazing Facts," wherever and whenever you want and, most 49:34 important, to share it with others. 49:39 ♪♪♪ 49:42 announcer: Amazing Facts changed lives. 49:50 ♪♪♪ 49:53 Scarlet Varley: I'm Scarlet Varley. 49:56 I grew up in a military home. 49:58 Both my parents were in the Navy, and my mom left fairly 50:01 early, and then my dad stayed for 15 years, and so he was 50:05 deployed a lot. 50:07 We would read the Bible every night together as a family, and, 50:10 I mean, I knew, like, that God was there, and, like, I knew 50:13 that He, like, died for me, but it wasn't something that, like, 50:16 you know, stuck in my head. 50:18 Any time I went to church, I never got enough information. 50:21 You know, you're there for just like an hour. 50:24 I was super, super hungry for knowledge, and 50:25 I wasn't being given it. 50:28 Even though I accepted Christ, my faith, like, really wasn't 50:31 all that strong. 50:34 I mean, I lost my first friend in high school, you know, my 50:36 first boyfriend, to suicide, and that was really hard, and I 50:39 didn't understand it, and I was just really, really depressed. 50:46 I was also, like, abused, and so I was just really confused, and 50:50 I was like, "Lord, why was I put in that situation where I had no 50:53 control over anything?" 50:56 I was suicidal. 50:58 I was developing an eating disorder, so, like, all these 51:00 things were just coming into play. 51:04 You know, I don't feel loved. 51:05 I knew that's not something that would happen if I was loved, or 51:07 that's not something that happened if--maybe I must've 51:10 done something wrong if I went through that, and I just blamed 51:12 myself for everything. 51:15 On the outside, I was sort of, like, super-happy and outgoing, 51:18 and I'd give everyone a hug and compliment them and try to put 51:21 the attention on other people, and so people didn't know what I 51:24 was going through. 51:27 I was just super-confused about life and "Why am I here? 51:30 Like, I don't think I have a reason to even be alive." 51:34 And I was really confused with God. 51:36 Like, why would You let this happen? 51:37 Like, why wouldn't You intervene?" 51:40 I just wanted to change it. 51:41 I wanted to change it so bad, and there was nothing 51:44 I could do. 51:46 I quit choir because I was around too many people. 51:51 Choir was a big thing. 51:53 I just isolated myself because I couldn't stand being around 51:56 people, and I was like, "Oh, well, if I don't have any 51:59 friends and something happens to them, well, then it won't affect 52:02 me because I'm not part of their lives." 52:05 And so I was just really scared of just losing people, and so I 52:08 thought if the more I pushed them away, the easier it would 52:11 be to just go through life. 52:13 The problem was I didn't turn to God, and that's when 52:15 I needed Him most. 52:17 My sophomore year in high school, we went on this thing 52:20 called Fall Weekend, we went on a retreat for, like, the 52:22 weekend, and they showed this clip of Jesus Christ on the 52:26 cross, and that broke me. 52:29 I mean, I was crying, crying so much, and after they showed the 52:34 clip, you know, everyone's just super-quiet, and they're like, 52:36 "All right, go out on the campus, and we're going to do 52:39 this thing called 'Twenty Minutes.'" 52:41 And so I'm sitting out there, and I'm just, like, praying. 52:46 I gave my life to Christ, and it was just such, like, 52:48 a beautiful moment. 52:51 Right around that time, my dad found Doug Batchelor on the TV, 52:57 and so he's like, "Scarlet, come watch this." 52:59 And I'm like, "All right, like, I watch it." 53:01 And so we started watching it, like, all the time, and he's 53:05 like, "You know, this is like the Bible truth." 53:07 I was like, "It definitely is." 53:08 He's like, "Scarlet, you should go to AFCOE." 53:11 And I was like, "That's not really my cup of tea." 53:15 I was a very spirited person, and AFCOE was structured, 53:22 and I knew, as a person, I wasn't too structured. 53:25 But, you know, the more I thought about AFCOE, the happier 53:28 I got, and it was like a two weeks' notice 53:29 before AFCOE started. 53:31 She's like, "You got accepted." 53:32 Like, we e-mailed you your letter," and all this stuff. 53:34 And I was like, "Oh, no, oh, no, I have to pack up 53:37 my entire life." 53:38 And so I'm, like, frantically packing up everything, and me 53:41 and my dad, like drive cross-country. 53:43 And AFCOE was not what I expected at all. 53:47 They've definitely loved me and helped me and talked to me and 53:50 taught me and, just, loved me and accepted me as who I was and 53:54 just helped me grow as a person. 53:56 It showed me different ways of life and just how to live like a 53:58 better life in all sorts of areas. 54:03 Without the help of the Lord and without, like, people who love 54:05 the Lord and love me, I wouldn't be where I am today. 54:10 Even when I didn't want him, you know, I kind of shoved Him away, 54:13 He didn't let go, and so I'm super-grateful. 54:16 ♪♪♪ 54:23 announcer: Amazing Facts changed lives. 54:25 ♪♪♪ 54:31 male: I met my ex-wife, and her family were real big into 54:33 drugs, and it started out with them wanting me to go to the 54:37 doctor to help get them drugs, and, you know, I'm noticing 54:41 they're going to the doctor. 54:42 They're coming back with, like, 60 pills, and they're selling 54:44 these pills for, like, a thousand bucks, and I'm 54:47 thinking, "Wow, this is a lot of money I'm giving these people, 54:51 so I'm just going to start selling it myself." 54:53 My problem with that was that we had all this money, but we was 54:57 absolutely miserable as she would go out and sleep with 55:01 other guys to get drugs, and that ended my marriage. 55:05 But during this time, I have to get a job to build back up to 55:08 where I was at, to open my shop again, so I get a job 55:11 at Food City, and when I get this job at Food City, 55:15 there's my wife now, Rebecca. 55:17 She's a cashier there, and when I walk in, she's the most 55:20 beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life. 55:22 I was like, "Man, I could never have a girl like that. 55:26 Wow, she's so beautiful," but as I'm workin' with her, she's 55:30 actually kind of mean to me, and she's saying, "I don't want 55:33 anything to do with you. 55:35 Get away from me," stuff like that. 55:37 But, you know, I just keep being nice to her and keep trying to 55:39 give her my phone number. 55:41 And it's around Christmas Eve. 55:43 We've just been dating for a little while 55:45 and moved in together. 55:47 My ex-wife shows up with my three children that I had by 55:50 her, and she's like, "Here's your kids. 55:52 Here's their birth certificates. 55:54 Here's their social security cards. 55:56 I'm done." 55:57 And we were starting a family. 55:59 We have--already have three kids. 56:01 During this time, we spent the next year watching nothing but 56:04 "Amazing Facts" on YouTube. 56:06 I didn't even know they even had a website at this time. 56:08 I just knew that this little guy on YouTube was super-smart, 56:12 was teaching Bible, and I wanted to follow him. 56:15 I wanted to be a Christian. 56:17 I gave my life to God now because of these truths that I'm 56:20 learning from Doug Batchelor. 56:22 Just because Doug taught it didn't make me real sure about 56:25 going to this church, and I really didn't want anything to 56:28 do with it, but I called the guy, and I'm telling him--and 56:31 I'm not very nice about it, actually. 56:33 I'm telling him, "Look, we was thinking about coming to your 56:35 church." 56:36 And he's really nice. 56:38 He's like, "Well, you're more than welcome to. 56:40 We'd like to have you come." 56:41 And I'm like, "Well, hold on. 56:43 I'm going to lay down some ground rules." 56:45 I'm telling him, I said, "Look here, I'm covered in tattoos, 56:47 and I'm a tattoo artist." 56:49 And he don't say, "Well, you know, wow, 56:51 I didn't know all that. 56:52 Don't come to my church." 56:54 He says, "You're more than welcome. 56:55 We would love to have you. Please come." 56:59 He asked me what I want to do, and I said, 57:00 "Well, I want to preach." 57:03 I said, "I have all these truths. 57:04 I have all this knowledge that I've never known before, stuff 57:07 that, if I'd have had when I was younger, that would've been 57:10 life-changing to me." 57:12 I said, "I've got to share this with the world." 57:14 I said, "I want to preach. I want to teach." 57:17 He gives me the book, says, "Study that." 57:20 Well, now that I'm a Bible worker, I'm able to go reach 57:22 people that most of the normal churches wouldn't even bother 57:26 to even speak to. 57:27 I'm able to go out and reach the people who have lived the life 57:31 that I've lived. 57:32 I'm able to let them know that "I am like you. 57:35 I've been there. I've done that. 57:38 I want to show you what my life is like now. 57:40 I want to teach you this Bible. 57:42 I want to show you what Jesus can do for you. 57:44 It's not too late." 57:46 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-07-02