Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Molly Steenson, Pr. Tom Ferguson, Pr John Lomacang, Jill Morikone
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000017S
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00:01 The Bible tells us
00:33 Hello and we welcome you to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel 00:37 You know the reason we do this, as much as we love to get 00:41 together and study the Bible, the reason we do this 00:44 is for you and we hope it will be a blessing to you. So we want 00:48 to encourage you to get your Bibles and join us as we 00:51 continue in the 2nd quarter, the Sabbath School Quarterly 00:57 is Feed My Sheep and we're still on the first epistle of 01:00 Peter and I don't know about you all but this has been such 01:04 a good review for me, I forgot how much meat there is in 01:09 the first epistle of Peter. So Peter is writing to people who 01:12 are being persecuted from without, persecuted from within 01:16 when we get into his second epistle. But we want you to 01:22 study along with us. Now if you don't have an adult Bible study 01:30 guide, you can go to absg that stands for adult Bible 01:36 study guide. absg.adventist.org 01:40 and you can download the lesson As we continue in the first 01:45 epistle of Peter, you know since the fall of mankind sin has been 01:51 a very serious problem. And the disciples were well aware of it 01:56 and they were very well aware of what Jesus had to do, the 02:01 suffering that He went through, they were painfully aware of 02:04 the suffering and Him having to die for us to provide a 02:09 solution for this. But you know both Paul and Peter, I remember 02:12 when Paul wrote to Timothy saying, you know this is a 02:16 worthy saying, He's died for us, for sinners, how does he say 02:20 that? He came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the 02:25 chief. So Paul knew that he had a background, as C.A. says 02:30 Paul had stuff, you got stuff, I got stuff, we've all got stuff 02:35 but what I love about both Paul and Peter, we'll see this today 02:40 is that they're both looking at and rejoicing in what Christ has 02:47 done for us and the transformation that it brings 02:50 about because it's the kind of transformation that they say 02:54 people will notice. And let me introduce our panel to you 02:58 since I got off into this with out. Next to me is my dear 03:02 friend Molly Steenson. Molly, thank you so much for being here 03:06 Pr. John Lomacang it's good to have you here. 03:09 Pr. Tom Ferguson is returning with us once again. Tom, we're 03:13 so thankful to you, appreciate your filling in here 03:16 And then we have Jill Morikone So we're very, very thankful 03:21 I need to have someone say a prayer while I clear my throat 03:25 and Tom would you like to pray? Sure. Heavenly Father we count 03:29 it a privilege to come before the throne of grace 03:32 and invite your presence in this study. Lord there are 03:36 souls that are watching and listening just now and we just 03:40 invite your Spirit to minister to them. Meet them where they 03:43 are and take them to Yourself. And Lord as we continue to study 03:47 through the epistle of Peter guide us with Your word 03:51 instruct us, enlighten our minds, show us the way Father, 03:55 in Jesus' precious name, Amen Amen. 03:59 You know the one thing that pervades the epistle, the first 04:05 epistle of Peter is that, that sense of God's very real 04:11 presence of love within us. He even says love covers a 04:14 multitude of sins. But let's read together our memory text 04:19 which is 1 Peter 3:12, and we're going to be reading from the 04:24 New King James version and it says, For the eyes of the Lord 04:29 are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers 04:33 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil 04:39 So what I have is Sunday's lesson, excuse me. 04:44 And that is being of one mind. So why don't we turn to 04:47 1 Peter 3 and we're going to read verses 8 through 12 04:53 I'd like to read them through very quickly and then we'll go 04:56 through and kind of unpack what Peter is saying. 05:02 He says, finally all of you be of one mind, having compassion 05:06 for one another. Love as brothers, be tender hearted 05:10 be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for 05:14 reviling but on the contrary blessing. Knowing that you were 05:18 called to this that you may inherit a blessing. For he who 05:23 would love life, now he's giving a quote here, 05:26 he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his 05:29 tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him 05:33 turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it 05:38 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are 05:42 open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against 05:45 those who is evil. In his former way of life what was 05:51 Peter's personality like? 05:54 Impetuous, impulsive, brash, impatient, proud but after the 06:03 Holy Spirit's baptism there was a total transformation in him. 06:07 And so what Peter is doing here is listing 5 qualities that will 06:12 characterize Christian believers after they've been baptized 06:16 with the Holy Spirit. Let's go over it again. So he says 06:20 in verse 8, 1 Peter 3:8. Finally all of you, that's all of us 06:28 be of one mind. This is the first characteristic 06:31 of Christian believers, that we are united in Spirit. It doesn't 06:35 mean that we think alike in everything but that we're 06:39 united in Spirit and that we have a unified goal, one purpose 06:44 for which we're living and you know when Paul, he gave a really 06:48 good example of this in 1 Corinthians when he talks about 06:51 the body having many different parts. You know you could be 06:56 the head, like at 3ABN, you're I don't know if you're the head 07:00 or the neck that turns the head You're the neck that turns the 07:03 head, aren't you? But Christ is the head we should say 07:09 Christ is the head but we're all part of the body. 07:12 and I might be a little toe, John might be a right arm 07:16 but we all, you know every body part works together or 07:21 it doesn't work at all, does it? 07:23 So let's see what he says. Then he continues in verse 8, so the 07:29 first characteristic is to have one mind. Then he says having 07:33 compassion for one another. Compassion means that you're 07:38 sympathetic, that you're responding to the needs 07:41 of others. And you know Pastor John wouldn't you say that 07:45 if there's one thing that characterizes our local church 07:48 it's compassion. Yes. We do, benevolence is something that's 07:54 very big here. As a matter of fact I've heard in the community 07:58 people say if you need help go to the Seventh-Day Adventist 08:01 Church. It's like disinterested benevolence, doing it without 08:04 expecting anything in return. Absolutely! One time I was privy 08:09 to the information concerning benevolence. It made me so, my 08:14 heart was so warmed for this congregation that they care 08:18 so much for people. They have compassion. Amen. 08:22 Then he continues on in verse 8 he says, love as brothers. 08:26 You are to treat others as your brother and sister in Christ 08:30 and you know he does later on in chapter 4 he'll say love 08:33 covers a multitude of sins, but it's repeatedly forgiving 08:38 there's a proverb that says hatred stirs up strife. But 08:43 love covers all sins. The 4th thing that characterizes 08:48 Christians, be tenderhearted, be sensitive and caring 08:51 and be courteous not returning evil for evil or reviling for 08:55 reviling. Now this requires humility. This means you have 09:00 to turn the other cheek when someone has offended you 09:04 And he goes on, in verse 9 he says, knowing that you were 09:07 called to this that you may inherit a blessing. 09:11 And we know that everything God calls us to, calls us to be 09:16 He will cause us to be, right? He works in us to will and to do 09:21 His good pleasure. And then verse 10 he says, he who would 09:25 love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue 09:29 from evil. From speaking deceit. What does James compare the 09:34 tongue to? Fire. A fire. And when you think about it a lot 09:40 of times an untamed tongue can have the same results of a fire. 09:45 It will do a searing that's irreversible. Irreversible. 09:50 So when we think of an untamed tongue I made a little list here 09:57 fits of anger, berating others, bullying, gossip, back biting 10:02 manipulating, flattering, bragging, exaggerating, 10:06 complaining or lying. Satan uses an untamed tongue to divide 10:13 and conquer, doesn't he? And really what he's doing is to 10:17 destroying, he damages people's feelings. He divides us 10:23 there's no unity. He's just destroying the unity. 10:26 But you can't control your tongue without the power of the 10:30 Holy Spirit. So that's what you need to do every day when you 10:33 get up is pray, Lord put a guard at the doorpost of my 10:37 lips and help me not to speak out of any kind of malice 10:44 There's 3 things you should ask yourself before you speak 10:48 Is that I'm about to say true 10:50 is it necessary and is it kind? 10:53 And if it doesn't meet those 3 don't go there. Then he says 10:57 let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace 11:00 and pursue it. This requires humility and humility is not 11:05 passive, it's active. The humble mind of Christ is supposed to 11:10 be in us. Moses was said to be the most humble man on earth 11:15 So this isn't something you're just passively sitting back 11:19 When he says the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous 11:23 what we have to think about is what Paul says. There's only one 11:28 way we can be like this. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I have 11:33 been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but 11:37 Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh 11:41 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave 11:45 Himself for me. I've got one more Scripture real quickly 11:49 Turn to Romans 8 because we have to see how can we crucify 11:55 our flesh? Because we have to put that old man to death 12:00 and let the new man take over. But let me tell you something 12:06 you cannot crucify your flesh by yourself. I can't nail both 12:10 hands, I might get one up there but I can't without the other 12:13 Look at Romans 8 and verse 13 is where we'll begin. 12:18 If you live according to the flesh, what's gonna happen? 12:22 You're gonna die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the 12:30 misdeeds of the body, you will live. So you see the Spirit's 12:35 not going to, the Holy Spirit won't force Himself upon you. 12:38 He doesn't do it by Himself but it says, if by the Spirit 12:44 you put to death, so there's two working together. You have 12:49 to cooperate, you can't do it by yourself without His power 12:53 He won't do it unless you cooperate with Him. 12:57 Molly, you've got Monday. You've just made a point 13:00 that I'm going to get to and that is that nobody is going 13:06 to crucify this flesh but we ourselves. But we can only do 13:10 it with the help of the Holy Spirit. So what I'm looking at 13:13 on Monday is to Suffer In The Flesh. Oh great, I get to talk 13:17 about the flesh suffering. But I've some amazing good news 13:22 for you. And that, let me give you a fact first. The fact is 13:26 Jesus Christ died for our sins and our hope of salvation 13:31 is found only in Him. Is that a fact? That's a fact. 13:35 Here's some amazing good news. When we accepted Jesus Christ 13:40 as our Savior. When we were born again as Scripture tells us 13:45 the Bible teaches we are accounted righteous. What is 13:50 righteous, in right standing with God. Because of Jesus 13:56 we are accepted before God just as if we had never sinned. 14:03 Now think about that, isn't that amazing? Pr. John it was as 14:08 though we, and why is that? It's because of how God sees us now 14:13 God sees us through something He sees us through the shed 14:20 blood of His Son and I'm going to read to you Hebrews 12:24 14:26 now what does God sees us through? We accept the Lord 14:29 Jesus Christ as our Savior and God sees us differently. 14:33 He sees us through the blood of His Son. Hebrews 12:24 14:39 says, To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the 14:45 blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel 14:51 That is saying that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to 14:55 do you all know that blood speaks? This says it speaks 14:58 better things than that of the blood of Abel. What did Abel's 15:02 blood, remember it cried out from the ground the Word says 15:06 what did the blood of Abel speak think about that. It cried out 15:09 for vengeance, justice. What's the blood of Jesus, now think 15:15 about the blood of Jesus, what does, the Scriptures say that 15:20 happened to the blood of Jesus. Did He not take it up into the 15:24 portals of the heavenly sanctuary and He put it some 15:30 mercy seat, remember He sprinkled it on the mercy seat 15:36 Now when God looks at us, when He looks at Jill Morikone 15:42 He looks at her through the mercy seat and what is the blood 15:48 of Jesus crying out? Amazing good news Jill, it's crying out 15:53 for mercy. So when God looks at us now, He looks at us 15:59 through the blood of Jesus that is saying oh God have mercy on 16:03 John. Oh God have mercy on Shelley. He sees us through the 16:08 blood of His Son. But when you think about this, God's grace 16:15 doesn't just end with our salvation did you know that? 16:21 He declares us righteous, in right relationship. He sees us 16:26 through the blood of His Son but He also gives us the power 16:32 to overcome sin. Now we've been forgiven, if we confess our sins 16:37 and I bet you I'll end this study with that Scripture 16:40 1 John 1:9, always gonna get that in there. 16:43 But He doesn't just forgive us of our sins, what's the other 16:48 the rest of that Scripture? He also cleanses us from all 16:52 unrighteousness. So when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives 16:56 remember, let me take you back to that time when you asked 16:59 Jesus Christ, you surrendered to Him, He became your Lord 17:03 and your Savior. Remember, I don't know some of us got up 17:06 from an altar, I know it doesn't happen the same for everybody 17:10 but you get up from the altar and the burdens of your sin 17:15 are rolled away and you feel fresh and clean and pure 17:18 and you know you're standing before God pure and clean 17:22 However, within us there is a propensity, y'all know what that 17:27 word means? There is a propensity, a leaning to sin 17:33 and so we can't overcome by ourselves. We can't not sin by 17:39 ourselves. We've got to have help. God has given us a helper 17:47 of course the Holy Spirit. But let's see what Jesus has done 17:53 for us. I want you to go to 1 Peter. You knew I'd get you 17:56 in 1 Peter sooner or later. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18 18:01 For Christ also suffered, that word is sacrificed, once for our 18:10 sins. The word sacrifice, Greek word is Hapax. That's as close 18:17 as I can get and it means once and once for all. He suffered 18:26 He sacrificed for everyone of us. The just, was He just? 18:32 He's just, for the unjust. He suffered once and once for all 18:39 and didn't have to do it again for every one of us. We're the 18:43 unjust, He's the just. But you know what He did, He justified 18:48 us. He gave us His justification that He, and here's the reason 18:53 He did, that He might bring us to God being put to death in 18:59 the flesh. Who was put to death in the flesh? He suffered the 19:03 death that we should suffer, that we might live the life 19:09 that we don't deserve. But He suffered that. But it goes on 19:14 to say that He was put to death in the flesh but made alive 19:22 in the Spirit. Ok, Peter points out that Christ suffered for 19:27 our sins in order that He might bring us to God. Ok let's look 19:33 at 1 Peter 4:1. There's a therefore and you know what 19:36 if there's a therefore you wanna see what is therefore 19:39 so 1 Peter 4:1. Forasmuch then Christ has suffered for us in 19:47 the flesh, arm yourselves like wise, do what? Says something 19:53 about we're to arm ourselves likewise meaning we're gonna 19:57 be in a like example, 1 Peter 4:1, with the same mind for He 20:02 that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now I 20:07 don't know about you but I know that this ceasing from sin 20:12 is something I need help with. Let's look at verse 2 20:15 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the 20:20 flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God. Telling us 20:24 we are to live for the will of God. Now you make Jesus Christ 20:30 the Lord of your life and what is the next step that needs to 20:35 happen after you come to the Lord? You need to be baptized 20:39 do you not? Follow the Lord in the believer's baptism. When we 20:45 follow the Lord in believer's baptism what does our baptism 20:50 signify? Here's what happens. Pr. Lomacang we've got a 20:54 baptistery in our sanctuary, do we not? So we fill it up with 20:58 water, we always put a little heater in it I think to heat 21:02 that water up. So we have this sinner that's made Jesus the 21:08 Lord of their life but they still have that propensity to 21:10 sin and so Pr. Lomacang takes that believer and they follow 21:17 the Lord in the believer's baptism. The pastor places them 21:22 in the watery grave. Now what is supposed to happen in that water 21:26 grave? What becomes of that old man? Oh that old man is 21:30 supposed to stay in that watery grave and you come up into 21:34 newness of life. So you've crucified that flesh, that flesh 21:41 should be left in the baptismal tank. You're resurrected 21:45 to newness of life. But I've got news for you. Sometimes that 21:49 old man resurrects his ugly head have you ever seen that? 21:56 That can happen and so we thank God for the Scriptures that 22:02 tell us, I'm just going to read you Galatians 5:24. 22:06 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the 22:12 passions and desire. So some thing Shelley made so clear and 22:16 I wanted to reiterate, what is it? Tell them what you're gonna 22:19 teach them, then teach them tell them what you taught them 22:21 then we'll get it. That's what we want to do today. When you 22:26 make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life then we start the 22:30 sanctification process and that propensity to sin is there 22:34 and this Scripture tells us that we're the ones to put to death 22:39 the misdeeds of our flesh but we can only do it through the power 22:43 of the Holy Spirit. And we're forgiven but we can't continue 22:49 in sin. The old man was put in a watery grave and you know 22:53 that God is going to help us to leave that old man in the watery 22:56 grave. But if we sin, what does the Scripture say? We've got 23:01 I thank God for the advocate with our Father. I'm going to 23:05 quote 1 John 1:9 one more time because this is what we have to 23:09 live by on a daily basis. If we confess our sins, He is faithful 23:14 and just to, step number 1 forgive us of our sins and thank 23:18 God for step number 2, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 23:23 Wow, thank you Molly. This is a topic that needs maybe 3 or 4 23:27 programs. Oh absolutely. And I have the joy of talking about 23:32 the one about being born again. 23:35 When you talk about the new birth it may be surprising to us 23:39 when you think of the word born again well the phrase born again 23:42 it only appears two times in the Bible. And both times in 23:46 the book of John chapter 3. That John chapter 3 verse 16 23:50 where we so often quote, it is in fact a statement, it's a 23:55 conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. He's saying in 23:59 John 3:3, Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I 24:05 say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom 24:10 of God. Now this is very interesting because what would 24:13 happen is according to 1 Corinthians 15:22, as in Adam 24:18 all die, you know we're all born with the nature of our 24:21 father, we have our father's nature. Many years ago Amy 24:25 Grant, you may remember she sang a song called My Father's Eyes 24:29 Well we do have our father's eyes. When we're in Adam we see 24:33 all the bad in everybody. Our eyes see all the evil in 24:37 everyone. When we're in Christ we see the good in others. 24:40 It affects the way we see. And that is true in Revelation 24:43 when it says buy of me eye salve that you may see. So one of the 24:48 first things that is affected because Satan appealed to Eve 24:52 on the basis of what she saw. She saw the tree was good for 24:56 food, pleasant to the eyes. A tree desirable to make one 25:00 wise. He appealed to her based on what she saw, the very tree 25:04 that the Lord said to avoid. And so one of the first things 25:08 that I thought was amazing that Jesus brought out, the very 25:11 thing that Satan used to deceive Eve is the very thing Jesus 25:15 says is affected when you are born again, your sight. You 25:18 cannot see. So when people say I can't see the Sabbath 25:22 Well I agree with that, you're not born again. I can't see 25:26 this and I can't see that. I really question where a person 25:30 stands when the truth of God is screaming at them and they 25:33 can't see it. It does say that some new birth needs to take 25:38 place. So let's talk about this new birth. 25:44 When Jesus, another parallel that came to me, when Jesus 25:48 began His ministry, by the way we can't begin ministry of any 25:51 kind unless we're born again, it's not possible. You could be 25:55 a person that's mimicking ministry but unless you're born 25:58 again you can't be involved in ministry. Because the first 26:02 thing that even Jesus the perfect one did was He was 26:05 baptized. You talked about baptism. That was the anointing 26:09 that was the approval of the Father putting to death that 26:12 flesh that He took on Himself. The flesh was in stages. Jesus 26:16 was always dealing with human flesh because He didn't need 26:18 to get baptized. So why did He get baptized? Not just to set 26:22 an example but to establish a righteousness that could not 26:26 have been established prior to Him being baptized. 26:29 That's why He said to John, allow it, King James version 26:33 suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh to fulfill 26:36 all righteousness. I'm doing something here John that you 26:38 won't understand until later on when I meet a guy on the cross 26:41 who can't get baptized. I'll impute and impart to him my 26:45 righteousness. If Jesus had not been baptized He was incapable 26:49 of imputing to the thief on the cross what He did not have, 26:52 because He took on human flesh. The other thing though is 26:55 when we're baptized, I always say this to everyone that's 26:59 baptized because this happened to Jesus right after His baptism 27:01 go to Matthew 4, look at this. 27:05 This born again, I'm gonna talk about born again but I wanna 27:07 talk about some of the things that happen when you're born 27:10 again. Matthew 4, look at what happened. And then we're gonna 27:16 go to Romans 8. Shelley when you went there it opened the door 27:20 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit, Matthew 4:1 27:29 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness 27:34 to be tempted by the devil. Now go to Romans 8 27:40 This is amazing. 27:43 Which shows the validity of the Bible 27:46 Ok Romans 8, I'm going to read verse 14. Now where was Jesus 27:52 led? Tell me where was Jesus led Wilderness. For what purpose? 27:57 To be tempted. Ok check this out verse 14, For as many as are led 28:02 by the Spirit of God these are sons of God, now let me make 28:06 the connection. You'll never know your need of God 28:10 unless led by the Spirit through moments of temptation. Now why 28:15 did Jesus, why did the Spirit lead Him there? Because the very 28:18 three areas that Eve and Adam failed Jesus had to succeed 28:23 And He points out all sin is in only 3 categories. 28:28 Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. 28:31 Pr. Tom will be dealing with that one about the sins of the 28:35 flesh. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. 28:38 3 areas where Adam failed, where Eve was deceived 28:41 Jesus was also tempted in all points as the writer of Hebrews 28:45 says, all points as we are. Some people say what about 28:48 marijuana, what about drugs, what about movies, what about 28:50 all points, they all fall into one of the three categories 28:53 But I thought it was amazing that it says, led by the Spirit 28:57 You'll never know your need of Christ unless you're led by the 29:01 Spirit. Well how does the Spirit lead? One, being born again 29:05 that's justification. That is just as if I had not sinned 29:10 That is salvation from the penalty of sin. But as we all 29:14 know, as pastors and those who are Bible students, 29:18 deep students of the word, we all know that's just the 29:21 beginning of the journey. That is salvation from the penalty 29:24 of sin. In other words we're taken off death row. That's the 29:27 birth that Peter was talking about. In 1 Peter 4 notice what 29:30 he talks about, 1 Peter 4:3 he talks about the very things 29:34 that we have to be saved from these sins, these are the 29:38 penalties that are showing up. 29:42 Do you have that Shelley? For we have spent enough of our 29:47 past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked 29:50 in lewdness, lust, drunkenness revelries, drinking parties 29:54 and abominable idolatries. And Molly, verse 4. Wherein they 30:00 think it strange that you are not with them to the same excess 30:04 of riots, speaking evil of you. In other words, when you're 30:08 born again people say, why is it that you don't wanna party 30:11 anymore? You don't wanna drink with me anymore. The things 30:14 that you used to do, you think you're better than me now? 30:16 One of the great tasks as you're being led by the Spirit is when 30:20 you come in contact with fellow associates who are in that 30:24 wilderness part of your life, you're still being led by the 30:28 Spirit but Israel was led by God out of Egypt through what? 30:32 The wilderness. The woman through 1260 years of 30:36 persecution was led into the wilderness and the woman 30:41 led in purely came out corrupt. 30:45 Follow that carefully. Say that again. The woman in Revelation 30:48 12 when she was led into the wilderness, she was led in as a 30:52 commandment keeping people but when you go to Revelation 17 30:56 you find the woman, it took 1260 years to corrupt her 31:02 a completely different church came out. That's why the Lord 31:06 began a movement back to the Bible. That's why the Protestant 31:09 reformation was necessary to get the woman back to where she 31:11 used to be. So you don't have two women, you only have one 31:15 And they're both of them, one being led in there, one being 31:18 seen in there. Look at that in Revelation 12:17 31:21 Two different conditions but one woman. There are no two women 31:24 in the Bible, there's only one. It's a revelation. 31:29 So God sees us, get this now, let's make the application 31:32 He sees us as we are led into the relationship with Him 31:35 corrupt as all get out, but He keeps us in the wilderness 31:39 because He's preparing us for the promised land. 31:42 And He's beginning a work in us. Very quickly, let's talk about 31:44 that work. Let's talk about that work. 31:46 First of all salvation from the penalty of sin. 31:50 That's what justification is. But what about daily? 31:53 Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:31 31:57 I affirm by the boasting in you which I have in Jesus Christ 32:01 our Lord, the next 3 words, I die daily. 32:08 You gotta die not just once. But you gotta die everyday 32:11 because we still have something I think Molly you alluded to 32:13 this, we still got this flesh. The one thing that the Lord is 32:17 gonna replace is our flesh. He's gonna transform us into His 32:22 glorious body but until that happens we've got this flesh 32:26 that's a daily battle. Our mind that remembers the past 32:29 our skin that becomes habitual in picking up the cigarette, 32:32 picking up the alcohol, doing all the things that sinful 32:35 flesh controls, as the Bible says, Paul says it's no longer 32:38 I who do it but the sin that dwells in me. 32:40 We have to die every day and maintain that relationship 32:44 but the good news is that sanctification, that daily dying 32:47 but that sanctification is not something we do, but Paul says 32:51 in Philippians 2:13, it is God who works in you both to will 32:55 and to do of His good pleasure. So even the sanctifying process 32:58 is not us. Born again is not us we're born of the Spirit. 33:01 The daily walk is not us, we have to decide to die so that 33:05 Christ can continue the work but then the glorification process 33:09 of the whole birth process of being born again 33:11 You know I just have to say this because when Peter talks 33:14 about being born again what is he, he uses that term, he says 33:18 you've been born again not of corruptible but incorruptible 33:24 and I just want people to know that he says you've been born 33:27 again by the incorruptible word of God, and when you think 33:32 about it that is the seed that gets planted. That's what we're 33:36 doing here. We plant seeds and the potential of the harvest 33:42 is in the seed. You plant corn you get corn. You plant wheat 33:46 you're gonna get wheat. You plant. When the implanted Word 33:50 James said is in our hearts, it has the power to save our souls 33:53 That's why this Bible study is so important. 33:57 Let me transition to Pr. Tom here. One plants though 34:01 another waters. But God gives the increase. That's the whole 34:06 key and lastly to be encouraged when you look at yourself in 34:10 the journey, in the wilderness don't be discouraged because 34:12 being confident of this very thing that He who has begun 34:16 a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ 34:20 Amen. So desire being born again but remember it's always 34:23 about Christ. Once, every day and eternally. 34:26 Amen. Pr. Tom 34:28 You know when I think about 1 Peter chapter 4 you went to 34:31 verse 3 where it talked about the lust, lewdness, lust 34:35 drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and the abominable 34:38 idolatries. You know when you're born again you do have to change 34:43 your close friends need to become acquaintances 34:48 I say that from experience. Ok And hopefully you'll have a 34:53 positive influence on them as they're an acquaintance but 34:55 often times the sins of the flesh, when you're around them 35:00 it sets you up for weakness, by beholding you become changed 35:03 You know we're living in a world today where anything goes 35:07 and I mentioned this before. But I want to focus mostly on 35:10 there's a term I had to learn as of late, LGBT. 35:16 OK? Now when I think of this God created us to procreate 35:22 as a matter of fact I think that is one of the things the enemy 35:24 is very angry about is the fact that Christians can have 35:27 Christians. And he works against that in any form. And also 35:33 one of the two institutions from creation is marriage 35:37 is one of them. And the marriage bed is sacred. God has made 35:43 and created us to have that intimate experience in a 35:47 wholesome, healthy way that glorifies Him and is an 35:53 experience that is positive for both parties. So what the enemy 35:58 has done is he has attacked something that God had made 36:02 was beautiful, with beautiful intent. And so today what I'm 36:07 discovering is our young people are very confused. They're being 36:10 where the LGBT is the norm and anyone that doesn't agree 36:17 with that is a bigot. There's no love in their hearts, they're 36:22 not accepting of people and this is a brand new thing 36:26 in this generation. It has fully blossomed into something that 36:30 wars against Christian values and what the Bible teaches. 36:34 And that's God's created order. Yes, God's created order, it's 36:39 an attempt to destroy the apple of God's eye and when I think 36:43 of that I think about Romans chapter 1 being lived out in 36:46 society where you take God out of the picture, you reject Him 36:50 and you'll find that even unnatural affections are the 36:54 result of that. And I wasn't so much going to read from 36:58 chapter 1 of Romans but I just wanted to mention it because 37:01 that would be a good chapter for the audience to actually 37:04 read through and just see how we got where we are as a society 37:08 but it's not where God is calling us to, He's calling us 37:10 to the very place that He started things. I invite us all 37:14 let's turn to Galatians chapter 5, and we see here 37:21 is a list that isn't complete but it does cover all the 37:26 parameters. As a matter of fact in Galatians 5 you'll see 37:29 as the Galatians forsook the Holy Spirit's guidance in their 37:33 lives, they entered these things entered in the church. 37:35 Sensuality, superstition. What verse are you in? Not into verse 37:40 yet. You'll see selfishness, and intemperance that are covered 37:45 in this list as we go through Let's begin with verse, I want 37:49 to just read verse 16 to begin with. I say then, walk in the 37:53 Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 37:57 And I really think that that is so important for a Christian 38:01 because one of the things when you're born again you mentioned 38:04 there is this flesh and if we're not born again, if we're not 38:07 this isn't a recommitment on a daily basis, that's all we've 38:10 got that is warring against the Spirit throughout our walk 38:13 our journey here and so we receive the final phase of 38:17 salvation, the glorification. I'd like for us to drop down 38:21 to verse 19 as we start to look into the works of the 38:24 flesh which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness 38:30 and lewdness which is lust. When I think of the word lust 38:34 it doesn't necessarily mean sexual but lust is something 38:39 that the flesh lusts after things. We might lust after food 38:43 that's not good for us. We might after a soap opera 38:46 we might lust after things that are just that the flesh is 38:50 craving. Relationships. Often times lust is, we're lusting 38:55 out of our damage, we're trying to find a way to medicate 39:00 through this lustful journey that the flesh is on. And it is 39:05 warring against the Spirit. So we are to walk in the Spirit 39:09 and don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh when that happens. 39:14 So here we have the first few that are mentioned is adultery 39:17 fornication, uncleanness and lewdness which really is dealing 39:20 with immorality and I think about, my mind just went to 39:28 there was a time where a young man said he wanted to be 39:31 baptized but he and his girl friend were living together 39:34 and I said I'd love to baptize but I shared why I couldn't 39:39 at this very point in time. And he really was sincere, but 39:43 he came out of a society where this is what you do 39:46 it's acceptable, yeah when you have a girlfriend this is what 39:49 you do. So I just prayed for him. And what happened was 39:55 within 30 days she had moved out. They were never going to 40:01 separate, everything was wonderful but things had turned 40:04 and they ended up separated and she ended up moving out 40:09 And what happened was eventually I did end up baptizing him 40:14 what happened to her was she ran into the arms of another man 40:18 ended up getting pregnant and ended up being alone. 40:24 And you know when someone doesn't have the guidance of 40:27 the Word and the fellowship of believers, all they've got is 40:32 what the world is telling them to operate on. So the role of 40:35 the church in a situation like this, you know it's not a time 40:39 to, it's a time for compassion. Amen. It's a time to reach out 40:43 to those who are in need. Well the long and the short of it 40:45 I ended up baptizing both of them. Praise God. Amen 40:51 That's a better ending. Yes, yes and the church family really 40:56 welcomed them in and I just see the sins of the flesh. This is 41:00 something that as Christians we need to be not only examples in 41:03 but also be reaching out to those that are caught up into 41:07 what the society is telling them Idolatry is another one 41:11 You know anything that takes the place of God in your 41:15 is your first and foremost thinking is becoming a god 41:18 to you and needs to be dealt with. The other thing is sorcery 41:23 that I want to talk about. Has anyone here noticed 41:28 that everything in the media now, like Halloween, all the 41:32 time. We're getting into the supernatural just as prophesied 41:38 In the heaviest does that I've ever seen in my life. 41:41 Yes. And I'm very concerned for this generation that is dealing 41:46 with that but there's many false spirits out there claiming 41:51 you know that when you die you don't really die. It's in the 41:54 church and it's out of the church. That's true spiritualism 41:56 funerals. I'm glad you brought that out because sometimes 42:00 it doesn't have to be a show. Right. Somebody could just make 42:04 a comment on the news, well they're in heaven now or they're 42:06 with my mother now or they're in a better place. I understand 42:10 that. It's constant spiritualism Spiritualism is in and outside 42:13 of the church. And it's ramped up like I've never seen before 42:17 outside of the church. So now you're continuing in verse 20 42:20 Uh yeah, I guess I am. Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions 42:26 jealousies, outbursts of wrath selfish ambitions, dissensions 42:30 heresies, we kinda talked about this. We talked about this 42:34 before, these are all sins of the flesh. And it's an attempt 42:37 to be number 1, we want worship 42:41 That's good. We want to be worshipped. And we'll go to any 42:45 length to do it. 42:48 You know one of the, we sin the most when we're right and right 42:51 is not happening for us. 42:54 Say that again. We sin the most when we're right and right is 42:58 not happening for us. Think about a church setting that you 43:01 might remember where that's the case. It is uh Christians 43:06 can fall prey to this very easily. Then there's envy 43:09 murders, drunkenness, revelry you know when it comes to 43:13 adultery, when it comes to murder it's not the action 43:16 it's the heart. Are you hating, the seed of murder, are you 43:22 hating someone, why? Are they getting in your way? 43:25 That is not of God. And that needs to be, well the problem 43:31 with a living sacrifice is it can get up off the altar anytime 43:33 it wants. Amen. In an instant. In a heartbeat it'll be off 43:39 that altar. And it is so important. Our, my job is to 43:44 behold my Savior and drink in what He has to give me so that 43:50 I don't look at, this doesn't control my life. And if we 43:53 stumble, and we do, then we have a Savior that is reaching 43:58 out, is ready to rescue us every step of the way. 44:02 Just recently I was watching a prison ministry program 44:09 these are people that had gone through the lusts of the flesh 44:12 ended up in prison as a result and all I heard them saying 44:16 over and over again is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They were singing 44:20 it, they were talking His name, they found their hope in Christ 44:24 and that's the only place any of us can XXXX. Absolutely! 44:27 Amen, that was wonderful. That's powerful. You think 44:31 as we look at those lusts of the flesh, the sins of the flesh 44:34 that you talked about Pr. Tom it reminds me that we're living 44:37 in the end of time because we know at the end of time iniquity 44:42 will abound even greater and that transitions us into 44:45 Thursday. Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 4, going to 1 Peter 4 44:53 we're going to start with verse 7. Now Thursday's is actually 44:57 Love Covers All but we're gonna get to that. First we look at 45:01 the end of all things. 1 Peter 4:7 45:05 Peter's writing, But the end of all things is at hand 45:10 Now when was 1 Peter written? Early 60s, would we say that's 45:16 accurate? AD 60s. He probably was killed AD 65, 66 would that 45:22 be accurate, something like that So this is written shortly 45:26 before his death. Now when I read that he says, the end of 45:30 all things is at hand. Now we're in the 21st century, I look back 45:36 I can think he thought in AD 60 whatever the end of all things 45:43 is at hand. You know today as SDA Christians we live with the 45:49 expectation, the hope that Jesus is coming again soon 45:54 Greg's grandfather is, I think he's 94, I think he just turned 45:59 94 and grandpa and grandma, they were raised SDAs and 46:05 they were counseled when they got married, do not have 46:10 children, Jesus is coming so soon. The world is so bad 46:17 you don't want children in this day and age. That was years ago 46:23 and yet time goes on. So we're in this waiting time. I believe 46:27 we live as if Jesus is gonna come tomorrow. But yet we plan 46:32 as though it were sometime in our lifetime. But we have to 46:37 be prepared and ready and expectant as if His coming is 46:42 tomorrow. Remember William Miller, he said I'm gonna live 46:45 today, today, today until He comes. So the end of all things 46:51 is at hand. So as we're living at the end of time what are we 46:54 to do as Christians in the end of time? He says be serious 46:58 and watchful in your prayers or King James, be sober 47:02 and watch unto prayer. Live with expectancy of the soon 47:09 return of Jesus. You know Greg went on a trip and usually when 47:14 he travels I get to go with him which is a blessing, but this 47:18 particular time I didn't go with him and it was a short trip 47:21 just overnight one or two days and so I lived while he was gone 47:26 with expectancy, eager for him to return. What's gonna be his 47:33 favorite meal? I gotta make sure I have that fixed and on the 47:35 table when he comes home. When you go to bed at night and 47:39 praying for him and God bring him back safely to me. I think 47:43 as Christians at the end of time we keep our mind, our thought 47:47 I love what you said Pr. Tom, focus Jesus, Jesus, Jesus 47:51 our mind, our thoughts focused on Jesus. But it doesn't stop 47:56 there. Verse 8, and above all things, now this gives the 48:00 Thursday's nut and bolt of the lesson, love covers all 48:03 Above all things have fervent love for one another. 48:07 For love will cover a multitude of sins. Let's turn back to 48:13 Proverbs because how does love cover sin? And Shelley alluded 48:17 to this at the beginning of the lesson here. Proverbs 10 48:24 Proverbs 10:12, Molly you have that? Proverbs 10:12 48:30 Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins. 48:35 Yes. When we love each other as from the heart, the love that 48:40 only God can put in our hearts and lives for each other 48:44 when we have that we more readily forgive those who hurt 48:50 us, those who offend us we more readily forgive. And so how do I 48:56 forgive you may be asking yourself, how can I forgive? 48:59 How can I forgive someone, they've hurt me I don't know 49:03 how to forgive them. I've tried and I can't pull that out. In my 49:07 own experience there's five steps to forgiveness. 49:11 First ask for God's forgiveness 1 John 1:9, Molly you mentioned 49:17 it but I love it, if we confess our sin He is faithful and just 49:21 to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 49:25 We ask God for forgiveness for ourselves. First of all, I need 49:29 to be forgiven. Then we ask for His forgiveness for someone else 49:34 Remember Jesus on the cross? To me that's the ultimate 49:36 expression of forgiveness for someone else. He went to the 49:41 cross through no fault of His own, bearing the sins, my sins 49:46 your sins, the sins of the world on His shoulders and while they 49:51 drove those nails in, He said Father forgive them for they 49:58 do not know what they're doing. So first we just ask God for His 50:02 forgiveness for ourselves and other people. Second, we choose 50:06 to pray for that person. Maybe Pr. John has offended me 50:11 I'm just making this up, hypothetical, and I can every 50:15 morning get down on my knees, throughout the day pray for 50:20 Pr. John. I have done this in my own experience I said 50:24 sometimes myself when I got my cell phone here, sometimes 50:27 I'll set my cell phone for an alarm. God you know right now 50:31 I'm struggling with Sister Jane and I need to pray for her 50:36 so every hour on the hour, ting Lord Jesus I ask that you bless 50:44 Sister Jane right now in her walk with you, in what she's 50:47 doing. As we focus our mind on God and pray for other people 50:51 God works to put His forgiveness and His love in our hearts 50:56 for other people so we ask for His forgiveness, we pray for the 51:00 person, we surrender the desire for revenge. Wow! 51:05 Trust God. Romans 8:28. All things, even if it's painful now 51:09 but God can work this out for good to those who love Him 51:12 to those who are called according to His purpose 51:14 Romans 12:19, we trust Jesus Vengeance is mine I will repay 51:20 says the Lord. You know my sister lives in North Carolina 51:23 and her husband is a charge nurse at a hospital, he works 51:27 nights. So she's usually alone in the evening. Now, she at this 51:31 time she had 3 boys. And all of a sudden, at the middle of the 51:35 night the siren goes off, beep beep, beep. Now here we'd say 51:40 the national weather service in Paducah, Kentucky has issued a 51:43 in this case it was a tornado warning. Now in Thompsonville 51:47 the siren goes off you know. When a tornado happens the siren 51:51 goes off that does not mean there's dangerous weather 51:53 coming, it means funnel cloud activity has been spotted 51:56 And so she jumps out of bed waking out of sleep through 52:00 tornado warning, I gotta get my boys to safety. 52:04 Her husband's at work, what am I supposed to do? 52:06 And so she grabbed the oldest picked him up, he's sleeping now 52:10 in his bed, picked him up, ran through the kitchen into the 52:13 garage and underneath the house and put him, they have a crawl 52:17 space under the house. She thought this is the safest place 52:20 for him under the house in a tornado. She runs back upstairs 52:24 grabs the second child, picks him up carries him underneath 52:28 the house. The third child, the same thing. Now you know what 52:32 the amazing thing to me is, they never woke up. 52:34 Now those boys sleep hard. They didn't hear the sound, they 52:40 didn't wake up when their mom picked them up and rushed them 52:43 underneath the house. She had them underneath the house and 52:46 they're still sleeping. To me that's what true surrender 52:50 is all about. Amen. Completely at rest. Completely trusting 52:56 that my Father knows what He's doing and I can trust Him with 53:00 that. No. 4, we choose surrender forgiveness is a process so we 53:06 choose to pray for that person and to surrender and 53:10 re-surrender and surrender again until God changes our 53:14 heart. It's not a once is a life time surrender, it takes time 53:17 Let's go back quickly here. We'll do the last couple verses 53:21 We know the end of all things is at hand. We are to be sober 53:26 and watch to prayer, that's verse 7, verse 8 we forgive 53:30 others for love covers a multitude of sins 53:33 verse 9, we are hospitable. Be hospitable to one another 53:38 without grumbling. As the second coming is near we're called to 53:42 stay connected with our brothers and sisters. Not just staying 53:46 some sort of monastic seclusion but to associate and be 53:50 in community with our brothers and sisters. Verse 10, we are to 53:55 speak and minister for God. As each one has received a gift 53:59 minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold 54:04 grace of God. If anyone speaks let him speak as the oracles 54:08 of God, if anyone ministers let him do it as with the ability 54:11 which God supplies that in all things God may be glorified 54:15 through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory, the dominion 54:19 forever and ever Amen. With the full knowledge of the 54:22 shortness and the seriousness of the time we are to communicate 54:27 spiritual truths with a lost and dying world. Amen. 54:31 Praise the Lord. Thank you Jill. You know, I don't know 54:34 about you, but as we've been going through in reviewing 54:37 this first epistle of Peter I'm struck by how many things 54:42 he says that echoes what Paul says. I've never really seen it 54:47 as much as I'm seeing it this time. But we've been talking 54:50 today about living for God and if we are children of God 54:55 born again, we should be bearing a family resemblance to our 55:00 Heavenly Father. If you think about it this way, we talk about 55:05 the flesh, sometimes I think that's confusing to people 55:08 what is the flesh? The flesh is just our own nature without 55:14 the leading of the Holy Spirit. That's the flesh, that old 55:18 nature and yes we can resist and grieve the Holy Spirit 55:23 we can even quench the Holy Spirit, so the whole thing about 55:28 it is that just day by day we submit and commit our life to 55:32 the Lord and ask Him fill us afresh with the Holy Spirit 55:36 so that we can live for you Father. One of my favorite 55:40 quotes of Ellen White is that she would pray, Father take 55:45 my heart for I can't give it You know we can't even 55:48 surrender to God without the help of the Holy Spirit 55:53 So we just want to encourage you to get into the Word 55:58 bring your prayers before the Lord, He knows everything 56:02 that's going on. Confess your sin, He's faithful and just to 56:06 forgive us our sin and as you can put away by the power of 56:12 the Spirit those sins of the flesh and learn to love 56:16 just open your heart up, see we can't even, I shouldn't 56:19 say learn to love, that's even from the Holy Spirit because 56:22 Romans 5:5 says it is God who will pour His love into our 56:26 hearts by the power of His Spirit. So we can even only 56:30 love others by that. So Jesus wants His disciples His children 56:38 to look like Him and I want to read something real quick 56:40 I'm glad I have time. As you all were talking, I think we 56:45 were talking about how often the flesh rears its ugly head 56:50 but I want to read to you from Micah chapter 7, verses 8 and 9 56:55 I love these Scriptures. So Micah writes, Do not rejoice 57:01 over me my enemy, when I fall I will arise, when I sit in 57:05 darkness the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the 57:10 indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him 57:13 until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will 57:19 bring me forth to the light I will see His righteousness 57:24 So no matter how many times you fall, just know that 57:29 He will lift you back up. Thank you so much for joining us 57:32 thank you Panel members for all your wonderful insights 57:35 Our prayer for you is that the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ 57:40 the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 57:43 will be yours always. Join us again next week as we continue 57:48 what is our study next week? Suffering for Christ. 57:52 Doesn't sound like something we want to talk about, but 57:56 it's gonna be good. So join us again next week. God bless. |
Revised 2024-05-31