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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:22 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Luccas Rodor: Hi, friends. 00:37 Well, thank you so much for being here with us this morning. 00:39 We have a great study. 00:40 I'd like to welcome you to our Sabbath School Study Hour, where 00:43 we will be investing one hour in learning more about God's Word, 00:47 diving deep into the present truth of Deuteronomy. 00:51 That is the title of our quarter, if you've been 00:53 accompanying us so far. 00:55 I'd like to welcome all those that are watching virtually, 00:58 also those who are here in our local church. 01:00 Thank you for being here and spending this time with us. 01:02 Today, we have an incredible study coming from the fifth 01:05 lesson of this quarterly which is about the book of Deuteronomy 01:09 and today's title is "The Stranger Within Your Gates." 01:13 And so Pastor Doug will be diving deep into this lesson, 01:17 bringing us truth for today about how to deal with many 01:21 situations that are relevant for us today but that we learned 01:25 from the Bible so long ago. 01:27 But before we actually invite him to come out and invite our 01:30 choristers to come out, I'd like to tell you that you can take 01:33 advantage of our free offer. 01:35 It's called, "Life in the Spirit." 01:37 So it teaches us how to live through the power of the Holy 01:40 Spirit and how to have that Holy Spirit power 01:42 in our day-to-day life. 01:43 And if you would like that, you could call 866-788-3966 or 01:49 866-Study-More and you could ask for the offer number 155. 01:54 If you live on continental North America you can text "SH047" to 01:59 the number 40544 and you could ask for that digital link. 02:04 But if you live outside of North America, you can also go to 02:06 study.aftv.org/SH047 and you could ask for "Life in the 02:13 Spirit," and I'm sure that'll be a blessing for you. 02:15 I would like to invite our choristers to come out and to 02:18 lead us in worship and I'd like to invite you to also sing along 02:21 with them, praising our God this morning. 02:27 ♪♪♪ 02:37 ♪♪♪ 02:47 ♪♪♪ 02:57 ♪♪♪ 03:07 ♪♪♪ 03:17 ♪♪♪ 03:27 ♪♪♪ 03:37 ♪♪♪ 03:47 ♪♪♪ 03:57 ♪♪♪ 04:07 ♪♪♪ 04:17 ♪♪♪ 04:27 ♪♪♪ 04:37 ♪♪♪ 04:47 ♪♪♪ 04:57 ♪♪♪ 05:07 ♪♪♪ 05:17 ♪♪♪ 05:27 ♪♪♪ 05:33 Doug Batchelor: I want to welcome our friends that are 05:35 studying with us and we know we've got a lot of people 05:38 joining us on Facebook or YouTube or Amazing Facts 05:42 Television or Hope Channel or 3ABN and so we have 05:46 kind of a global class. 05:47 Welcome to you as well as those of you who are here live in our 05:52 Granite Bay Hilltop Church. 05:54 We're continuing with our study guide on the book of 05:56 Deuteronomy, one of my favorite books in the Bible. 06:00 And today's lesson is going to deal mostly with chapter 10. 06:04 Some of chapter 10 has been touched on in other studies. 06:08 But we have a memory verse. 06:09 This is Lesson 5 and the memory verse comes to us from 06:13 Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 19. 06:16 If you have your Bibles open, you can say it along with me. 06:19 Deuteronomy 10, verse 19, ready? 06:22 "Therefore, love the stranger for you were strangers 06:27 in the land of Egypt." 06:29 Have you ever been a stranger in a strange land? 06:34 I'll tell you, it is a lonely feeling when you get off the 06:36 plane in a foreign land where nobody speaks your language. 06:40 You don't know how the systems work and the transportation 06:43 and the person who's supposed to meet you at the 06:47 airport is not there. 06:49 And that is--it's a real empty feeling and when finally someone 06:54 comes along to help you and guide you that speaks your 06:58 language, oh, there's such a relief you just want to cling 07:00 to them because they are your bridge to being able to 07:04 survive in this strange land. 07:07 You know, after you've been a stranger in a strange land, then 07:11 you know how it feels and you can show a lot more love for 07:14 people who are in that situation. 07:16 Well, turn with me in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 10 07:20 and there's a number of passages we're going to consider here. 07:23 We're not going to take time to read every word in the chapter, 07:26 but when you go to the first section, it talks 07:30 about circumcising your heart. 07:33 Circumcising your heart. 07:35 Now, that phrase is found several times in the Bible. 07:37 Let me give you a couple of places where you find that. 07:40 We'll talk about what does that mean. 07:42 For instance, of course, first of all, it's there in 07:44 Deuteronomy 10:16: "Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your 07:48 heart and be stiff-necked no longer." 07:51 It's almost self-explanatory there. 07:53 You look in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6, Moses repeats this 07:57 again: "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and 08:01 the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all 08:05 of your heart and with all of your soul that you may live." 08:08 Well, whatever it is, it's pretty important because he 08:11 marries it with the Great Commandment, "that you might 08:13 love the Lord your God with all your heart and all 08:16 your soul, that you might live." 08:19 Conversely, if you don't understand what that means, 08:21 you might die. 08:24 Romans 2, verse 27 through 29: "And will not the physically--" 08:29 I'm sorry. 08:31 "And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills 08:33 the law, judge you who with your written code and circumcision 08:38 are transgressors of the law." 08:39 So here, Paul is saying in Romans chapter 2 to the Jews, 08:44 "There are people who are not Jews, they're not circumcised, 08:48 but they'll be judging you, even though you've got the law, if 08:51 you don't have circumcision of the heart, basically. 08:55 If you don't love the Lord, what profit is it to you?" 08:58 "For he is a Jew--" 09:00 I'm in verse 28 now of Romans chapter 2. 09:02 "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly," meaning in the body, 09:07 "nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 09:10 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is 09:14 that of the heart, in the Spirit, not of the letter, 09:17 whose praise is not from man but from God." 09:20 So circumcision, of course, was the covenant that God made with 09:22 Abraham and the descendants of Abraham, and it was very 09:26 important to the children of Israel. 09:29 In fact, one of the terms that David used for the Philistines, 09:35 he went to King Saul, speaking of Goliath, and he says, 09:38 "Why should we let this uncircumcised Philistine?" 09:41 It was a phrase they used for people that 09:43 were pagans and lost. 09:45 Unlike the descendants of Moab, Edom, and Ammon, they were all 09:52 related to Abraham through either Ishmael or Keturah. 09:56 They still practiced circumcision. 09:58 But the Philistines, they were considered, you know, heathen 10:02 heathen, and they were into idolatry. 10:05 And so, you know, this is talking about just making a 10:08 complete covenant with the Lord. 10:10 Now let's go to the New Testament and some other 10:12 verses that talk about this. 10:13 You look in Colossians chapter 2, verse 11: "In Him you were 10:19 also circumcised," meaning in Christ, you were circumcised, 10:22 "with a circumcision made without hands," not done by a 10:24 rabbi when you're eight days old, "by putting off the body 10:28 of sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." 10:33 In the born again experience-- now a baby might be born but he 10:37 wasn't circumcised until the eighth day and I understand the 10:39 reason for this is that on the eighth day the clotting vitamin, 10:45 vitamin K, isn't really released in a newborn. 10:48 Matter of fact, in many hospitals when newborn babies 10:51 are born, they give them an injection of vitamin K to help 10:54 accelerate that clotting factor. 10:56 And it's amazing that God knew this and baby boys were not 11:01 supposed to be circumcised until the eighth day. 11:03 So they were born but it's still a few days later 11:06 before they were circumcised. 11:09 People who are born again, it may take a little while for them 11:13 to experience the sanctification but Christ changes the heart and 11:18 look, for instance, in Philippians 3:3, another New 11:21 Testament example of this principle: "For we are the 11:26 circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ 11:30 Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." 11:34 See, as Paul went from place to place, preaching and teaching, 11:37 he would start first in the synagogue and 11:40 he'd talk to the Jews. 11:41 Bible says: "Go preach the gospel to the Jew first, 11:44 then to the Gentile." 11:45 Why did he go to the Jews first? 11:49 Because when Paul first went preaching to the Jews, he did 11:51 not need to say, "Now, there's only, you know, one God and 11:55 you're not supposed to be eating unclean food and," you know, a 12:00 lot of principles, "you're not supposed to be praying to 12:02 idols," the Jews, they knew all that. 12:04 What was the thing the Jews did not know? 12:06 They didn't know about Jesus. 12:08 So to bring them into the full truth, it was a much shorter 12:11 job when he started at the synagogue: 12:14 "So you know the Messiah we've been looking for? 12:16 Jesus was Him." 12:18 When he went and he talked to the Greeks, he had to explain 12:19 what is a Messiah? 12:21 He had to talk about idolatry, he had to talk about just all 12:24 the other things the Jews already knew. 12:26 When we do public evangelism-- any of you see our 12:29 big statue out front? 12:32 I'm wondering if some of the neighbors are going 12:33 to think we're Buddhist now when they drive-- 12:36 I hope they've read Daniel 2. 12:38 As they drive by, they know and will make the connection, but-- 12:43 how did I get off on that? 12:46 Anyway, what was I talking about? 12:48 I don't remember. 12:50 All right, so you've got the--oh, yeah, now I know it. 12:53 So they were involved in idolatry, the Gentiles. 12:57 And they had so many things they had to learn. 12:59 We're doing an evangelistic meeting this week and when you 13:02 do public evangelism, you know, it is much easier to share the 13:06 three angels' message with people that have some background 13:09 in the Bible, that already believe in Jesus. 13:12 When I go to countries, I did some meetings in Japan, it's one 13:16 of the most atheistic countries in the world. 13:18 Lovely people but just a lot of atheism, a lot of 13:20 suicide too, you might know. 13:23 But it's a lot harder doing evangelism where 13:26 they have no background. 13:27 Karen and I were in China and I remember talking to our cab 13:31 driver and he asked about what we do and 13:32 we mentioned, "An evangelist," and "What's that?" 13:35 I said, "Well, we believe the Bible," "What's that?" 13:39 I said, "Well, we talk about Jesus." 13:40 "Who's Jesus?" 13:42 Well, doing a series of Bible studies in a country 13:44 like that takes a lot more time 'cause you've got 13:47 to lay the foundation. 13:49 So Paul, as he went from place to place and he would go 13:52 from preaching to the Jews and start talking to the 13:54 Gentiles, the Jews were annoyed. 13:57 And sometimes, Paul would take Timothy with him. 13:59 You remember Timothy, he had a Jewish mother 14:02 but a Greek father. 14:04 And Timothy was not circumcised and they would say, "How dare 14:07 you bring this uncircumcised person into our synagogue?" 14:12 And it just became such a point of conflict. 14:16 When you read the book of Galatians, where he talks about 14:19 we're no longer under that yoke of bondage and the law, some 14:22 people try and make that sound like it's the Ten Commandments. 14:24 Has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. 14:27 The big battle was over circumcision. 14:29 And Paul had to keep emphasizing what God wants is the 14:31 circumcision of the heart, meaning that we're born again. 14:36 Circumcision was a rite that was to point to the time of 14:38 Christ and, like the sacrificing of lambs, it ended at the cross. 14:42 Now, you know, nothing wrong medically with the person 14:46 practicing that but it's not a requirement for salvation, and 14:49 it doesn't change the heart. 14:50 What God wants is a change of the heart. 14:52 Look, for instance, in Ezekiel 11, verse 19: "Then I will give 14:56 them one heart and I'll put a new spirit within them, and I'll 15:00 take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a 15:03 heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and 15:07 keep My judgments and do them and they shall be My 15:10 people and I will be their God." 15:12 There you have it, friends. 15:13 That's talking about the new covenant and that's what it 15:16 means, that the circumcision of the heart is taking the hard 15:19 stony heart out and having a heart of flesh that is moved by 15:24 love and touched by the Spirit. 15:26 All right, going on now to the next section under 15:28 "Love the Stranger." 15:30 Now we could spend the rest of the time here because that's 15:32 the title of our study today: "Love the Stranger." 15:35 Look in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 17, and I'll read 15:38 verse--through verse 19. 15:41 "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords." 15:46 And we might add, "King of kings." 15:50 "The great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no 15:53 partiality or takes a bribe." 15:57 The Bible says God is no respecter of persons. 16:00 God--you know, you might be the CEO of your company. 16:05 That does not impress God. 16:08 You might have a proliferation of degrees following your name. 16:12 Do you think God's impressed? 16:15 When God looks down, what does God look for? 16:19 He wants to see the fruits of the Spirit in our life and 16:23 that's the things that matter to Him is the integrity, people who 16:26 are willing to do His will. 16:27 He's no respecter of persons, the way, you know, that we 16:31 categorize importance. 16:34 "He shows no partiality, nor takes a bribe." 16:39 You know, some judges--I guess I can tell you this now 16:44 without incriminating anybody but when I was a kid, my mother 16:46 and father went to court once or twice, fighting over 16:49 custody of my brother and I. 16:51 It's very awkward when you're brought in to talk to a 16:53 judge and a bunch of attorneys and say which parent you 16:55 want to live with. 16:56 And I remember one time, my father flew--my brother and I 17:00 were at a camp up in Maine. 17:02 My father got a private plane. 17:05 He flew, he said to the camp counselors, "I'm the dad. 17:08 I've come to visit with the boys. 17:09 Want to take them to lunch." 17:10 He went to take us to lunch and he took us from 17:12 Maine back to Miami. 17:14 We didn't know what was going on. 17:15 And it got into a big court battle with my mom and we had to 17:21 go and talk to the judge and everything like that and it 17:23 ended up that we went back to Mom. 17:26 And I remember Mom leaning over the front seat in the car and 17:30 we--I was trying to figure out what had happened and she said, 17:33 "We paid the judge more than your father because he's cheap." 17:38 What kind of impression do you think that makes on 17:40 the justice system for a kid? 17:43 That I guess it was a pretty corrupt set-up back then. 17:47 And my father had all this money, but he didn't give 17:49 the judge a big enough bribe. 17:52 So, yeah, they're--not all judges are honest. 17:55 I believe there are a lot of honest ones out there, but 17:57 they're not all honest. 17:59 And even in Bible times, if a judge thought he might get some 18:02 benefit--do you remember what it says about the sons of Samuel? 18:06 Samuel was a good man, godly man, and at the end of Samuel's 18:09 life when they asked for a king, Samuel said, "You know, you've 18:14 sinned a great sin and asked me for a king." 18:15 He said, "Why have you been unhappy with my administration?" 18:18 He said, "Testify." He gathered all of Israel here. 18:21 Says, "Testify to me now. 18:22 Who here have I taken your donkey, have I taken your sheep? 18:27 Did anyone here ever give me a gift or a bribe?" 18:30 When Naaman tried to pay Elisha for his healing, Elisha said, "I 18:35 will accept nothing," but Gehazi, he wanted the money, 18:38 he got leprosy, didn't he? 18:40 And so a principle with God in justice--did Jesus ever give a 18:44 medical bill for anyone He healed? 18:47 Now, it's okay if doctors--you're in the 18:49 profession, you bill people, I understand that. 18:50 I'm just saying. 18:51 He wasn't bribed to do it. 18:53 He didn't heal the rich more than the poor. 18:56 And so, you know, God chose no partiality. 18:59 "Therefore love the stranger for you were strangers 19:02 in the land of Egypt." 19:03 We're going to come back to that phrase again a little later. 19:08 One example you might look at, if you have your Bibles, you 19:10 might turn to the book of Ruth. 19:12 I'd like to highlight a little vignette from the story of 19:15 Ruth that talks about loving and caring for the 19:18 foreigner, the stranger. 19:21 In Ruth chapter 2 and in verse 8, now, you know the first part 19:27 of the story, Naomi's husband dies and Ruth's husband dies and 19:31 Orpah's husband dies while they're in the land of Moab 19:34 during the famine that's in Bethlehem. 19:36 Finally, the famine's over and Naomi says, "I'm coming home," 19:39 and Ruth says, "I'll go with you." 19:41 And they get into town and she moves into maybe part of her old 19:44 house or something, and they have nothing. 19:48 She said, "I went out full, I'm coming back empty." 19:52 And so, the only thing they can do for food is gleaning. 19:54 That's what the poor people did. 19:56 Gleaning is where you kind of go through the field and you're 19:59 just living from hand to mouth. 20:01 When I first landed in Covelo, I hitchhiked into town, had no 20:04 food, and I remember my girlfriend and I were walking 20:08 through cornfields picking corn and eating it raw. 20:11 Ever eat raw corn, off the stalk, when you're hungry? 20:15 And it tasted great, actually. 20:17 But this is how they lived back then and they would go behind 20:19 the people that were harvesting and whatever they missed, they 20:22 were allowed to pick it up. 20:24 Or after they'd harvested the olives or the trees, anything 20:28 left on the trees, the poor would try and go 20:29 get the ones they missed. 20:31 And they lived on the gleaning. 20:32 So, Ruth, who was a little younger and more able, a little 20:37 stronger than Naomi, she goes out to glean. 20:40 Boaz sees her in the field. 20:41 There were other women and poor people gleaning. 20:45 And he says, "Who is that?" to his servants. 20:48 They said, "That is Ruth the Moabitess 20:50 who came back with Naomi. 20:51 She's looking after Naomi." 20:53 And then Boaz says to Ruth, this is Ruth chapter 2, verse 8: 20:57 "You listen, my daughter, will you not? 21:00 Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but 21:04 stay close to my young women. 21:06 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap 21:08 and go after them. 21:10 Have not I commanded the young men not to touch you," 21:13 in other words, you'll be protected. 21:14 Other fields--sometimes the young poor ladies, 21:16 the harvesting men might take advantage of them. 21:19 But Boaz is looking after her 'cause she's a stranger. 21:22 He said, "I've told them not to touch you, not to harass you, 21:26 and to let you glean. 21:27 And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels. 21:29 You can come to our well when we take a break for lunch and you 21:32 can share with us and drink what the young men have drawn." 21:35 You don't have to draw your own. 21:36 "So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground to him and 21:39 said, "Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take 21:42 notice of me since I am a foreigner? 21:45 I am a stranger?" 21:47 Well, Boaz was following the principle, "Show mercy on the 21:50 strangers, the foreigners," because the children of Israel 21:53 were strangers in Egypt, amen? 21:56 So here's one example of that playing out. 21:59 Here's another one about loving the stranger. 22:01 You know this story. 22:03 Luke chapter 10, verse 30. 22:08 Fold my notes here, makes it easier to hold. 22:11 "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell 22:14 among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, 22:17 departed, leaving him half dead. 22:21 Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road and when he 22:23 saw him, he passed by on the other side. 22:26 Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, he came 22:29 and he looked and he passed by on the other side. 22:32 But a certain Samaritan--" 22:34 Samaritans were in foreign land when they were 22:38 down around Jerusalem. 22:39 This was the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. 22:41 Samaritans live up North. 22:43 "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, he came to where he 22:46 was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. 22:49 So he went to him and he bandaged his wounds, pouring in 22:53 the oil and the wine, set him on his own animal, brought him to 22:56 an inn, took care of him. 22:58 On the next day, he departed and took out two denarii and gave 23:01 them to the innkeeper and said to him, "Take care of him and 23:04 whatever more you spend, when I come again I will repay you." 23:08 And now Jesus says, "Which of the two do you think 23:10 was a neighbor to him who fell among thieves?" 23:12 Who is it? 23:14 It's the foreigner who showed mercy on the 23:17 man who fell among thieves. 23:19 And of course, this is the attitude Jesus wants us 23:21 to have, to have mercy. 23:23 Now, right now, oh, do I dare even say this? 23:30 Kind of sets you up, I sort of need to. 23:33 I got to say it carefully. 23:35 There's an immigration crisis in our country. 23:40 And there's two ways I think a Christian needs to look at this. 23:43 Personally and civilly. 23:47 Every country needs to have laws, and you need to be able to 23:52 recognize what your borders are if you're a country. 23:56 That's one aspect to the immigration issues 23:59 in North America. 24:01 The other aspect is when you meet an individual, regardless 24:05 of what your immigration theories and philosophy might 24:07 be, you want to treat them the way Jesus would treat them. 24:11 You see what I'm saying? 24:13 Because it's the one-on-one relationship. 24:16 And you know, I frequently encounter--I pick up hitchhikers 24:19 and meet people in coming and going and doing odd jobs and I 24:23 frequently meet people that--and I speak a little Spanish, 24:27 you know, and they are not legally in the country. 24:32 But I treat them like brothers because whatever those 24:35 issues are, that's, you know, to be dealt with in 24:38 a different jurisdiction. 24:40 As a Christian, you want to treat everybody 24:43 like a brother or a sister. 24:44 How would you want to be treated, is the idea. 24:48 That's the golden rule. 24:49 So, did I--I hope I didn't say anything wrong by saying that. 24:52 Okay, so I've got my views on what the law should be, but 24:55 that's separate from how you treat every individual. 24:59 See what I'm saying? 25:01 All right, so you love the stranger and I 25:03 told you about the good Samaritan. 25:04 Now let's go to Deuteronomy 10:19. 25:08 It's repeating the second half of that verse where it talks 25:12 about "you were strangers in Egypt." 25:15 And he says in Deuteronomy 10:19: "Therefore love the 25:17 stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." 25:21 What is the Lord saying here that should jump out at us? 25:25 There's a principle that we need to remember how God has been 25:32 merciful to us and show other people mercy. 25:36 You know the parable of the unmerciful debtor that you 25:39 find in Matthew chapter 18. 25:42 This man owes the king 10,000 talents and he can't pay. 25:46 The king's going to sell his wife and children, all his stuff 25:49 for--to recompense, and he begs for mercy. 25:53 He's about to lose everything, he's about to go to jail 25:56 and be tormented for his sins, and the king says, 25:59 "Okay, you're forgiven." 26:01 That same servant goes out and finds a fellow servant that owes 26:03 him 100 denarii, a very small sun. 26:07 Takes him by the throat, says, "Pay me what you owe me," and 26:12 throws him in prison, even though he begs for mercy. 26:16 He forgot the mercy that he received and 26:18 he did not pass it on. 26:21 You know, whenever you go through any trial, you're going 26:24 through that trial for one of two reasons, usually both. 26:27 One is God wants to teach you through that trial. 26:31 The other is God wants to help you reach 26:35 others through your trial. 26:37 So it's that we show compassion with others, with the 26:40 compassion that we've received. 26:43 And so, I'll tell you what, since I got sick with COVID a 26:48 few months ago and other people call up and say, "Yeah, I've got 26:51 the plague," boy, I can empathize with them a 26:56 whole lot different, a whole different level of 26:59 empathy now, than before. 27:02 You know what I'm saying? When you've been through it. 27:04 And so if you have been a slave in a foreign land and you know 27:09 what it's like to be mistreated, you show a lot more compassion 27:12 on people that are in your country, hopefully, 27:17 you've learned from it. 27:18 He says, "Don't forget." 27:19 In other words, don't forget what God forgave you. 27:21 Don't forget the mercy God showed you. 27:23 You show mercy to others in the same way. 27:26 And the--it's summed up in Matthew 7, verse 12. 27:31 He said, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do 27:35 also to them for this is the law and the prophet in a nutshell." 27:39 You know, whenever you're in doubt about what to do, they 27:42 call this, what kind of rule? 27:44 The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would 27:47 have them do unto you. 27:49 And Billy complained to Mom. 27:53 She said, "What's the problem?" 27:55 He said, "Sally and I were having a fight. 27:57 I pulled her left braid and I told her she had to let me pull 28:00 the right one," because you turn the other cheek. 28:05 It doesn't say, "Whatever you would--whatever you do 28:08 to men, do back to them." 28:10 Says, "Treat people the way you want to be treated." 28:13 Now, it says: "Don't forget you were strangers 28:15 in the land of Egypt." 28:18 Have you considered that Jesus was a stranger 28:20 in the land of Egypt? 28:22 Do you remember that? 28:24 Look in Matthew chapter 2, verse 14, and this is after the wise 28:30 men went back to the country. 28:32 "When he arose he took the young child and His mother by night 28:36 and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod 28:41 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through 28:44 the prophet saying, 'Out of Egypt I have called My Son.'" 28:48 Now, we don't know exactly how long Joseph and Mary were in 28:53 Egypt, probably around two years because the Child, you know, He 28:59 was about, probably about four when they came back again. 29:02 Herod reigned probably two more years after the slaughter of the 29:06 innocents in Bethlehem. 29:08 Jesus was about two years old because he killed all the 29:11 children two years old and under. 29:14 So we're just speculating. 29:15 We can't be very dogmatic about this but they lived in Egypt. 29:20 Joseph and Mary were strangers in a strange land. 29:24 I mean, by the time a child is three or four, are they talking? 29:27 Yeah, they're jabbering at two, usually. 29:32 And yeah, I remember our daughter Rachel, I took her to 29:36 an auto parts store. 29:38 She was, like, 19 months old. 29:41 The guy at the counter saw this cute little blond girl, he said, 29:43 "And how old is she?" 29:45 And she spoke up and said, "I'll be two, March 23." 29:48 The guy almost fainted. 29:49 She talked really young. 29:51 My mother says I didn't talk until I was four and then I 29:55 didn't stop after that. 29:58 I felt better when I heard Einstein didn't talk 30:00 until he was four either. 30:01 I think I talked, I just didn't say much. 30:04 Anyway, so the reason I said all of that is Jesus probably spoke 30:08 a few Egyptian words, if He was living in Egypt during that time 30:11 in His life because you notice how quick kids learn a language? 30:16 I've seen it before where--I know one particular family that 30:20 came from Mexico and they had three children and-- 30:23 who were attending our church. 30:24 And the mother and father were struggling learning English, 30:28 and in one year the kids were speaking fluently, 30:30 without an accent. 30:31 Have you seen that before? It's amazing. 30:34 Twenty years later, parents still struggling with English. 30:38 There's a time in your life when your language skills 30:40 develop rather quickly. 30:42 Jesus might have spoke a few words of Egyptian. 30:44 There's probably not a lot spiritually edifying in that 30:46 thought but I thought it anyway. 30:48 2 Kings chapter 8, verse 3. 30:51 Another stranger in a strange land. 30:54 "And it came to pass at the end of seven years." 30:57 Now, this is talking about the Shunammite woman. 30:59 I kind of wish we knew what her name was. 31:01 Always just refers to her, of a great woman from Shunaam. 31:05 And Shunaam was a territory in northern Israel. 31:09 They were not Jews but they accepted the God of the Bible, 31:13 many of them did. 31:14 You remember in the Song of Solomon, Solomon falls 31:16 in love with a Shunammite. 31:19 We're assuming it's Solomon that is in the story. 31:21 You remember when David was old and he needed someone to keep 31:24 him warm as he was dying, probably from congestive heart 31:27 failure that they found Abishag, the Shunammite. 31:31 And while there is a great woman of Shunaam, 31:34 Elisha resurrects her son. 31:35 You remember the story? 31:37 She makes an upper room for Elisha in the roof of her house 31:39 and he then prays for her and she has a miracle baby boy. 31:44 Boy later dies, working in the field with his father. 31:48 Elisha resurrects the boy, tells one more story about her. 31:52 "Came to pass that Elisha tells her, 'You better go 31:55 wherever you can dwell because there's going to be a famine 31:57 in the land for seven years.'" 32:00 It's interesting, that's also what Ruth did. 32:03 Famine for seven years. 32:04 And so the Shunammite woman, she goes and she dwells in the land 32:07 of the Philistines and then at the end of the famine she comes 32:10 back but while she was gone during that seven years, she 32:13 being a stranger in the land of Israel, other 32:16 people had moved into her house. 32:19 They'd taken over, you know? 32:21 Often happens. 32:23 Had a place up in Covelo, we still have that place. 32:26 I had to go to Texas for over a year to help a family, had a 32:31 heart attack and they were building a house. 32:33 And while I was gone, someone moved into my house. 32:37 And I actually had to drive back and get the police and chase 32:40 them out of my house. 32:42 And I knew, as soon as they knew I was going back to Texas, 32:45 they'd move back in again. 32:46 It's the Wild West up here in Mendocino County. 32:49 And so I stayed one more day and I went back to the house 32:53 after they'd been evicted. 32:55 They had moved back in, just like I thought. 32:58 So you know what I did? 33:00 With the help of a friend, I snuck down to the house at night 33:05 while they're in the house, I took some pebbles and I screwed 33:10 some pebbles into the valve stem on their truck so it would 33:13 slowly let the air out on several tires and while 33:18 I was doing that, they came out of the house. 33:21 I had to roll underneath the truck and hide. 33:23 My own place. 33:26 Then they went back in the house. 33:27 I went back and I got the sheriff and I said, 33:28 "They moved back again." 33:30 He said, "No, they wouldn't do that." 33:31 I said, "I can guarantee they're still there," 33:33 because the truck was flat. 33:36 They were loading up my stuff in their truck to take with them. 33:39 So, she's been gone seven years. 33:42 I mean, she has this nice house. 33:44 She actually built a--she built a special room for Elisha. 33:47 People had moved in. 33:49 They'd taken over. 33:50 And so she's appealing that she can get her 33:52 place back to the king. 33:53 She's a stranger, she's a foreigner, and the king could 33:55 have said, "Well, tough, you're a Shunammite. 33:57 Israel's going to get first choice." 34:00 She went to make an appeal to the king. 34:03 At that very time--isn't God's providence wonderful? 34:06 "At that very time that she goes to appeal to the king between 34:10 court cases, the king is talking to Gehazi, Elisha's servant. 34:13 Says, "Tell me the story about the boy that was raised from the 34:19 dead," and so Gehazi tells the story about how Elisha 34:22 resurrected this boy that was stone dead, and while he's 34:26 telling the story, they said, "Okay, next case," and there is 34:30 this woman and she's with the son who's now a teenager. 34:33 And Gehazi says, "My Lord, the king. 34:36 That's the woman. 34:37 There's her boy." 34:39 How providential that something like that would happen. 34:42 And it happened as the king was telling--that Elisha was telling 34:46 the king how she had been restored--or the boy had been 34:49 restored to life, there was the woman whose son he had restored, 34:52 appealing to the king for her house and her land. 34:55 And Gehazi said, "Oh my Lord, this is the woman and that's her 34:58 son that was--Elisha restored the life." 35:01 And the King asked the woman--she told him. 35:04 So the king appointed a certain officer. 35:06 He said, "I'm sending a policeman with you," saying, 35:07 "Restore everything that was hers and all the proceeds of the 35:12 field from the day she left until now. 35:14 Not only that, you're to give interest for all the--her crops 35:16 that you took while she was gone, you're to restore." 35:20 And so, and the Bible talks about can God restore the 35:24 locust--what the locust has eaten? 35:26 God restored everything to that woman. 35:28 She's a type of the church. 35:29 This world is going to be restored after 35:31 these 7000 years, amen? 35:33 He's going to make a new heaven and a new earth. 35:35 So she was a stranger. 35:37 The king--that king of Israel was not always good, but he did 35:40 the right thing here, showing mercy to the foreigner, okay? 35:45 Judge righteously. 35:47 Deuteronomy 10, verse 17: "For the Lord your God is God of gods 35:52 and Lord of lords, great, mighty, and awesome, who shows 35:56 no partiality nor takes a bribe." 36:01 You know, it's--people are always tempted to show 36:05 partiality and you really need to examine your heart to make 36:09 sure that you're being fair with everybody and not giving 36:12 anybody preferential treatment. 36:14 James says in his book: "If there comes into your assembly a 36:17 poor man and you say to him, 'Yeah, there's a seat over there 36:21 on that log or the rag there on the floor, you can go sit over 36:25 there,' and then a rich man comes in, in fine apparel, 36:28 you go, 'Oh, we've got the throne for you.' 36:31 And James says, "Are you not showing yourself partial, 36:34 judges of evil thoughts?" 36:36 That effect, that's in James chapter 2, verse 1. 36:38 Let me read it to you. 36:40 "Brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 36:42 Lord of glory, with partiality." 36:44 He's talking about don't be partial, give people 36:46 preferential treatment. 36:48 Treat everybody as a child of God. 36:50 "For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold 36:52 rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor 36:55 man in filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing 36:58 the fine clothes and you say to him, 'You sit here in a 37:01 good place,' and say to the poor man, 'You stand there,'" 37:04 don't even give him a chair, "or 'Sit here at my footstool,' 37:07 have not you shown partiality among yourselves and become 37:10 judges of evil thoughts?'" 37:13 Then go to James chapter 2, verse 8: "If you really 37:16 fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 37:18 you will love your neighbor as yourself. 37:20 You do well. 37:21 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convinced by 37:25 the law as transgressors." 37:27 I'll tell you a little story from history. 37:30 How many of you remember when you were in school, 37:32 probably about fourth or fifth grade, hearing 37:34 about the Boston Massacre? 37:37 Before the Revolutionary War, one of the things that fomented 37:40 it into being a revolution is the colonists, the people that 37:44 were colonizing North America in Boston, had become very upset 37:48 about the taxes that the British Empire was imposing, unfair 37:52 taxes with no representation, just arbitrary, to pay for other 37:56 wars that they fought, and the colonists were getting fed up 37:59 with it and when they started to complain, Britain sent more and 38:03 more soldiers into Boston to help settle everybody down. 38:08 And finally, there was a confrontation between the 38:10 citizens and some soldiers and someone threw something or 38:14 someone fired a shot when they fell down, and all the other 38:17 soldiers fired into the crowd. 38:18 Several people were killed. 38:20 And it turned out that-- and the whole thing 38:22 was just a mob gone bad. 38:24 Well, they were going to hang all the soldiers 38:27 and the British loyalists. 38:29 "Following the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, Captain Thomas 38:33 Preston, eight British soldiers and five British civilians were 38:36 indicted for murder, thus facing possible execution. 38:40 Obviously, it was very difficult to find a defense team that 38:43 would agree to defend them." 38:45 I mean, if you're a defense lawyer and you've got somebody 38:49 who's been a traitor in the US and the media has painted them 38:54 as the devil, as soon as you as an attorney say, "I will defend 38:59 the devil," you're going to be hated and you're going 39:01 to be threatened, right? 39:03 Do you know who defended them? 39:06 John Adams, attorney, future to be president 39:10 of the United States. 39:11 "Obviously, it was very difficult to find a defense 39:14 team that would agree to defend them in a very anti-British 39:17 city of Boston. 39:19 John Adams realized that much was on the line for 39:22 colonial America, not the least of which was the 39:24 international reputation. 39:26 He realized it was critical for the accused to have a fair 39:30 trial, lest other nations view colonial America as 39:34 a place where justice and due process were not 39:36 respected or applied to all." 39:38 You know, I've seen a couple of cases in our country in the 39:41 last year and a half or two years where the media tried 39:45 people before they declared them guilty, before 39:48 they were ever tried. 39:50 And they were denied due process. 39:52 And someone says, "We don't need a court case, 39:54 we've got video on our phone." 39:56 Several cases like that. Have you noticed? 39:58 People were treated as though they were guilty before they 40:00 ever went to court and that's when you start drifting away 40:04 from due process and fairness. 40:08 So, he realized what's the world's going to say that 40:11 America's a wild country with no due process. 40:14 A fair trial might also prevent retaliation from the British. 40:18 Furthermore, Adams had gained the reputation 40:20 as being incorruptible. 40:22 You could not bribe John Adams. 40:25 He had his faults. 40:26 I read a whole massive book on him. 40:28 It took me a year. 40:30 He had his faults but I'll tell you, the guy had integrity. 40:33 He was a very honest man. 40:35 He was incorruptible and everybody knew that, and they 40:38 firmly believed the accused had a right to a fair trial 40:40 and all of the neighbors were upset when he 40:44 defended the British soldiers. 40:45 They finally got over it because they realized that he 40:48 was being honest and I think that they were acquitted 40:51 of deliberate murder. 40:53 The whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding. 40:56 And so the idea was do not show partiality. 41:01 Give justice to everybody, amen? 41:04 So, I think I got another verse on that. 41:08 Exodus 23, verse 3: "You shall not show partiality to 41:11 the poor man in his dispute." 41:13 Now, I put that in there because everybody automatically thinks 41:17 like what James said that we tend to show partiality to the 41:22 rich and we've got to bury-- 41:24 because the rich can bribe more, and they can give you favors. 41:29 But, you know, sometimes in society, they can hate the rich 41:35 and show partiality to the poor when the 41:37 rich are really not guilty. 41:38 Rich person might be--have done everything perfectly fine, but 41:44 people wanting to get poor votes will show partiality to the poor 41:48 and they'll villainize the rich. 41:50 So what Moses is saying, it doesn't matter if they're poor 41:53 or rich, you treat everybody equally, right, amen? 41:59 You with me on that? 42:00 Okay, so Moses does it both ways. 42:02 He says, "Don't show partiality to the rich. 42:05 Do not show partiality to the poor." 42:08 And everyone should get fairness before God. 42:13 God is no respecter of persons. 42:15 Doesn't matter what your race is, the Bible says: "God has 42:18 made of one blood, all people." 42:21 It doesn't matter whether you're a foreigner, a native." 42:23 The Bible often, Moses said, the same law will apply 42:27 to the native and the foreigner, and everyone 42:30 was to be treated equally. 42:32 All right, and then in the last section, 42:34 pure religion before God. 42:37 This also comes from James but, well, let me see. 42:41 I'm going to start with Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse 42:43 10: "When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into 42:47 his house to get his pledge. 42:49 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall 42:52 bring the pledge out to you." 42:53 A person's home was their sanctuary. 42:56 You were not to barge into a person's home and collect. 42:59 And God knew that if that was allowed, it 43:03 could easily be abused. 43:05 If you said, "Look, you owe me something, there's a pledge, 43:07 you've got to pay me," you could stand at the 43:08 door, you can't go in their house. 43:10 They've got to bring it out to you. 43:12 "And the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge to you." 43:16 Don't they--we have a law in our country, the police cannot enter 43:18 your house without a warrant. 43:20 Your house is supposed to be sanctuary. 43:22 And you see this in the Bible. 43:25 I can think of at least three examples. 43:27 They're not always the best. 43:29 The mob in Sodom, they banged on the door of Lot and they said, 43:33 "Bring the men out to us." 43:36 They didn't say, "We're coming in." 43:38 That also happens in a similar story in the book Judges, where 43:41 they didn't go in. 43:43 They said, you know, "Bring the woman out to us." 43:46 And then when Sisera went into the tent of Jael, they came to 43:49 the door and she had to invite them in. 43:53 You always stopped at someone's door. 43:55 You did not go into their house. 43:57 Their house was sanctuary. 44:00 "And he'll bring it out to you. 44:01 If the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight." 44:03 Now, what does that mean? 44:05 Sometimes, as the pledge of an agreement, a person 44:07 might give their garment. 44:09 They might say, "All right, here's my robe. 44:11 This is my guarantee that I will pay you back." 44:14 I don't know if you've ever gone to a pawn 44:16 shop to pawn something. 44:18 Once, I was so short on money I had to pawn my clarinet. 44:21 You're shocked to know that I owned a clarinet. 44:23 I could sort of play it. 44:25 But I really needed money. 44:26 And it was, like, you know, a $100 clarinet. 44:28 The guy gave me $10, but I needed that $10. 44:32 Well, there was a period of time if I didn't 44:33 come back, he could sell it. 44:36 And I did come back and got my clarinet back. 44:39 But I had to pay it with interest to get it back again. 44:43 You didn't know all this, have you? 44:45 That's how a lot of people get by. 44:47 So, they used to have a process where maybe you needed to borrow 44:51 some money and you'd offer something as pledge, 44:53 and they'd lend it to you. 44:54 But they said, "If the pledge is their garment, 44:57 give it back to them. 44:59 They've shown you it in sincerity." 45:01 "They might need it to stay warm at night," 45:03 is what he's really saying. 45:04 "You shall not keep his pledge overnight. 45:06 You shall in any case return his pledge to him again when the sun 45:09 goes down that he might sleep in his own garment and bless you, 45:13 and it will be righteousness to you before the Lord your God. 45:16 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, 45:20 whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is 45:22 in your land with you, whether he's a native 45:24 or whether he's a stranger. 45:25 Each day you shall give him his wages and do not let the sun go 45:30 down on it for he is poor and he has set his heart on it, lest he 45:33 cry against you to the Lord and it be sin to you." 45:36 Back then, you would hire harvesters. 45:38 You remember the parable that Jesus told about the 45:40 workers in the vineyard? 45:41 At the end of the day, he paid them. 45:44 And basically, those people often live from hand to mouth. 45:47 They'd take the pay from that day, they'd go and they'd buy 45:49 food to feed their family. 45:51 They didn't say, "Okay, you'll get your paycheck in two weeks." 45:54 They said, "When someone does contract labor, unless you've 45:57 got a prearranged agreement, you pay them at the end of every day 46:01 because some of these people were living--they're poor, 46:03 they're living from day to day. 46:04 Now, most of us, you know, we've got bank accounts and we 46:06 can float a couple of weeks and it's actually 46:08 more convenient that way. 46:09 But back then, that was so important. 46:12 So what is pure religion before God? 46:14 In concluding, I want you to turn with me to the book of 46:18 Matthew, Matthew chapter 25, and this is an interesting passage 46:24 because it comes on the heels--if you've got a Red 46:27 Letter Edition Bible, if you look in your Bible, if you've 46:32 got a Red Letter Edition, you will notice that Matthew 24, 46:36 Jesus begins his discourse on the Second Coming. 46:41 It stays red letter all the way through Matthew 24, through 46:46 Matthew 25, and then you get to Matthew 25, verse 31. 46:51 This is the conclusion of Jesus's sermon 46:53 on the Second Coming. 46:55 And this is a picture of what we would call the Great Judgment, 46:59 talking about how important it is to love the stranger. 47:04 "When the Son of Man comes," Matthew 25, verse 31. 47:07 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels 47:10 with Him," that's going to be a lot of angels, "He will sit 47:15 on the throne of His glory. 47:17 And all nations will be gathered before Him, and He 47:21 will separate them one from another, as a shepherd 47:23 divides his sheep from the goats." 47:25 There's going to be a day, we'll be talking about this in our 47:28 study of the Millennium during our Panorama Prophecy series. 47:31 But there's a day, there's a judgment, when God separates all 47:34 the saved from all the lost, the sheep from the goats. 47:37 And everybody's going to meet again in eternity. 47:43 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand," a position of 47:45 favor, "but the goats on His left hand. 47:49 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you 47:52 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 47:55 for you from the foundation of the world. 47:58 For I was--'" by the way, it talks about 47:59 the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world 48:02 and from the sacrifice of Christ. 48:05 This is how these people were able to find their salvation. 48:11 "'For I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, 48:15 and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; 48:19 I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; 48:24 I was in prison, and you came to Me.'" 48:26 Notice that part: "I was a stranger, and you took Me in," 48:30 showing love for the stranger, love for 48:33 the poor, equality, mercy. 48:37 "And then the righteous," the sheep, they say to the King, 48:42 "'When did we see You? 48:44 We forgot that. 48:45 When did we see You as stranger and take You in, 48:47 or naked and clothe You? 48:48 Or when did we see You sick or in prison, and come to You?' 48:52 And the King will answer and say, 'Assuredly, 48:54 I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the 48:56 least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" 49:00 Whether they were great or whether they were small, 49:02 He says, "Anything you do in showing love to your fellow 49:05 man, you are in turn doing for Jesus." 49:10 And then, He continues. 49:12 "Then He'll say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, 49:16 ye cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared 49:20 for the devil and his angels. 49:22 For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, 49:25 and You gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and You did 49:27 not take Me in; and naked, and you did not clothe Me; 49:30 sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 49:34 And then they'll answer, and say to him, 'Lord, 49:36 when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, 49:38 or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?'" 49:41 They were aghast, they said, 49:43 "If course we would have done that for You." 49:45 "And He'll answer and say to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, 49:48 inasmuch as you did not do this to one of the least of 49:50 these, you did not do it to Me.' 49:52 And these," the goats, "they go away into everlasting 49:56 punishment; but the righteous into eternal life." 49:59 Now, first thing I want to draw to your attention in this 50:02 passage: so often when we think about what's going to separate 50:05 the saved from the lost, we think about, "Well, the lost, 50:10 they committed sins so they're lost. 50:13 They stole, they lied, they committed adultery. 50:19 They murdered, they worshiped idols, they did all these bad 50:23 things, they were bad people and so they were lost." 50:27 This parable is rather stunning in that the ones 50:31 who were lost do nothing bad. 50:34 What they do bad is they omit to do good. 50:38 You've got two kind of categories of sins. 50:41 One are called the sins of commission. 50:43 That's where you commit a sin. 50:45 If you kill someone, you commit murder. 50:47 If you lie, you commit perjury. 50:49 And so they're sins of commission, you're 50:51 doing something wrong. 50:53 But there's a whole 'nother category people don't think 50:54 about and they're called sins of omission. 50:57 That means you are omitting or neglecting to do something good. 51:01 In this Great Judgment that is depicted here, it's only talking 51:05 about sins of omission because, in reality, those who are guilty 51:11 of sins of omission are almost also guilty of 51:14 the sins of commission. 51:16 But they're being judged here solely upon, 51:19 "Did you love your brother? 51:23 Do you love your sister? Do you love your neighbor?" 51:25 Isn't that right? 51:26 He's saying--He's not saying you did anything bad to the poor. 51:30 You didn't steal the clothes and make that person naked. 51:32 You didn't falsely accuse them and put them in prison. 51:35 You're not responsible for their suffering. 51:37 What you're responsible for is not caring 51:40 to relieve their suffering. 51:42 And so they are guilty of the sins of omission. 51:45 Now look at what the categories are that 51:47 are being mentioned here. 51:50 I know that when I first studied this, it kind of shocked me. 51:53 I thought, "Wow, in the Great Judgment, I've always thought, 51:56 you know, I've got to stop doing bad things." 51:58 And I thought, it's not just-- I mean, theoretically, 52:02 you could lock yourself in a room with 72 degrees 52:05 and never do anything wrong. 52:06 But you never do anything right either. 52:10 And God is not calling Christians to just go through 52:12 the day and trying not to do something wrong. 52:15 He wants us to be doing what is right. 52:17 And so, these people who are going into everlasting 52:21 punishment, they could have said, "We didn't--we never would 52:24 have done that to You, Jesus, we would have never--" 52:26 He said, "It's what you didn't do that's what's condemning you. 52:30 You didn't care, you didn't love your neighbor." 52:33 There are six things that are mentioned 52:35 here as specific things. 52:38 He said, notice, go to, you know, Matthew chapter 25, He 52:43 says, "I was hungry and you gave Me food." 52:46 Should Christians feed the hungry? 52:49 Yeah, oh, we can't feed the whole world but we ought to do 52:51 what we can to feed those that are hungry. 52:53 Fortunately, right now, we're in a country that has relative 52:57 abundance and we are able to help to a great extent do that. 53:03 But Christians are not just supposed to give out, 53:06 you know, baked beans. 53:10 What is the bread that we're supposed to be giving? 53:13 Jesus said, "Man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word 53:16 that proceeds from the mouth of God." 53:18 Not only should we feed the hungry, we should be 53:20 giving them the bread of life, see what I'm saying? 53:22 "I was thirsty, you gave Me drink." 53:24 If you see someone thirsty, Jesus asked the woman at the 53:27 well for a drink of water. 53:28 I think she may have forgotten to give it to 53:30 Him, she was so amazed. 53:31 But should we care and be providing living water for 53:34 people that need Jesus? 53:37 He says, "I was a stranger and you took Me in." 53:40 One of the jobs for Christians: people are separated from God. 53:43 We are to make atonement. 53:45 That means "at one-ment." 53:47 We are to become a bridge between them and the God that 53:50 they're alienated from. 53:51 So we're to care about those who are strangers to God and 53:54 introduce them to their Savior. 53:56 You see, there's a spiritual analogy. 53:58 "I was naked." What does clothing represent? 54:01 Character, and naked would be no character. 54:05 We need to give them Christ's righteousness. 54:07 What happened to Adam and Eve after the 54:08 devil got done with them? 54:10 They were naked. Did God clothe them? 54:13 Are you with me? 54:15 When the man fell among thieves, it says they beat him and left 54:18 him naked and half dead. 54:20 Did he help clothe him? 54:22 He did. 54:24 But they should be provided with Christ's righteousness. 54:27 "I was sick." 54:28 Now we Christians should care for the sick and I'm so glad we 54:31 have health ministry and we've got hospital systems and things 54:34 that minister to people's practical physical needs, but 54:39 way beyond that, people are sick with sin. 54:42 The Bible describes those who are lost. 54:44 It says: "From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, 54:46 there's nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. 54:49 They're sick in sin, and we ought to help them 54:52 find that balm in Gilead." 54:54 You with me? 54:55 "I was in prison." 54:57 Some people are in literal prison and I'm thankful for 55:00 Christians that have prison ministry. 55:02 And we've got folks in our own congregation that 55:05 care about those in prison. 55:06 But there's another kind of prison. 55:08 Those who are imprisoned by sin. 55:09 See what I'm saying? 55:11 So we're to be giving the bread of life and the living water and 55:14 one last thought before I run out of time. 55:17 These six things that are described: hungry, thirsty, 55:23 naked, stranger, sick, in prison. 55:26 Did Jesus experience all of those things in the cross? 55:30 They represent all the suffering of humanity. 55:33 Do you know you cannot hardly describe any suffering in the 55:36 human race that doesn't fit in one of those categories. 55:39 So when Jesus died on the cross, He literally took all of that 55:44 pain and suffering of humanity when He was hanging there. 55:48 God is not only omnipotent and all-powerful and all-knowing, 55:53 He's omnipathic, meaning that God feels everything. 55:56 Does God feel when a person's hungry? 55:59 Does He feel when they're thirsty or naked or sick? 56:01 Anything you do to relieve the suffering of any 56:04 creature, not just man. 56:07 "Righteous man regards the life of his beast." 56:09 Anything you do to relieve the suffering of any creature, does 56:11 Jesus feel the relief? 56:13 So you are literally making God feel better when you show 56:18 love for the stranger, amen? 56:23 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's 56:24 life-changing free resource. 56:26 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, you can 56:29 download a digital copy straight to your computer 56:31 or mobile device. 56:32 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, simply text 56:36 the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web address 56:41 shown on your screen and be sure to select the digital download 56:44 option on the request page. 56:46 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 56:49 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want. 56:52 And most important, to share it with others. 56:58 Brian: I normally do 15 to 20 yards a day by myself. 57:01 I have a lawn service. 57:02 And it was a long day. 57:04 I'm coming home, so I'm just-- hit scan on the radio, and it 57:07 stopped on a staticky station and I heard Doug say, 57:11 "Hello, friends, would you like to hear an amazing fact?" 57:15 And I actually looked at the radio and answered. 57:16 I'm like, "Yeah, I sure do." 57:18 After it was over with, I wanted to make sure to find the program 57:21 again because it was starting to static in and out. 57:23 I went and started to find the podcast of "Bible Answers Live," 57:27 and that's really what got me with "Amazing Facts," is their 57:30 vast library of the podcast. 57:31 Once I seen all that, I got to hear his testimony. 57:35 So I got on YouTube. 57:36 I have to see this man's testimony, and his testimony, 57:39 like, I was looking at me. 57:41 It's like, you know, I can understand this guy. 57:44 He's been through what I've been through. 57:45 There's no coincidence in this. 57:47 There's a reason that station stopped that day. 57:50 Thank you for changing my life. 57:53 ♪♪♪ 57:58 ♪♪♪ 58:08 ♪♪♪ 58:18 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-10-21