Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP210008S
|
00:01 Hello, friends,
00:02 here on 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, 00:04 we are about the truth, the truth of God's Word. 00:06 And that's what we do each and every week 00:07 as we study the Word of God in spirit and in truth. 00:10 We worship the Lord 00:11 as we rightly divide His Word of Truth. 00:13 And we're making our way 00:14 through a study of the Book of Isaiah. 00:16 This week, we're on lesson number eight, 00:18 entitled "Comfort My People." 00:20 And you know what, 00:21 you may be new to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, 00:23 we want to make sure that you have a copy of the lesson 00:25 so that you can be able to study with us. 00:27 So there's two ways you can do that, 00:29 of course, we encourage you 00:30 to go to your local Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:32 because there they can provide a free copy of the lesson 00:34 and you have a small group to study with. 00:36 Or you can go to 00:38 www.ABSG.Adventist.org 00:44 and you can access a digital copy of the lesson. 00:46 You can put it on your iPad, your phone, your computer, 00:48 and you can study right along with it. 00:50 So again, this week, 00:52 we're excited about 00:53 what we're going to be studying. 00:54 We don't want you to go anywhere, 00:56 because we're going to come back 00:57 in just a moment. 00:58 And we're going to continue through our study this week. 01:30 Hello, friends, and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 01:33 We're making our way through the Book of Isaiah. 01:35 And we have made it to lesson number eight. 01:37 I think we can say 01:39 we're a little over halfway there. 01:40 What do you guys say? Amen. 01:41 Amen. All right. It's been a wonderful study. 01:43 I've really learned a lot from the Book of Isaiah, 01:45 even though I've read through 01:47 and I've studied the Book of Isaiah over the years, 01:49 there's always something else 01:50 that the Lord will show you along the way. 01:52 And it helps that 01:53 you sit on an incredible panel full of experts. 01:57 And it's a blessing to be with each one of you guys. 01:59 Let me introduce our panel. 02:00 We have Miss Shelley Quinn. 02:02 It's a blessing to have you. 02:03 Wonderful to be here. Praise the Lord. 02:04 And then, Pastor John Lomacang. 02:06 It's always a blessing to have you, Brother. 02:07 Yeah, Isaiah has been an eye opener 02:08 and a reminder. 02:10 Praise God for it. Amen. 02:11 Then, to your left we have Sister... 02:14 I almost called you Shelley, but you're not Shelley, 02:17 you're Jill Morikone. 02:18 How are you, Jill? Doing well. 02:19 We're getting this to my favorite part of Isaiah, 02:21 starting with Chapter 40. 02:23 I love this part. Yeah, absolutely. 02:24 Beautiful chapter. 02:25 And Brother Kenny Shelton, 02:27 you're locked and loaded and ready to go, Brother? 02:28 I'm just praising the Lord 02:30 for the opportunity and privilege. 02:31 That's right. 02:33 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 02:34 Lesson number eight this week is entitled 02:37 "Comfort My People." 02:39 And a little bit different from some of the previous lessons 02:42 where we've all kind of had, 02:44 you know, different chapters, 02:46 you know, taking on multiple chapters, 02:48 we all get to kind of, 02:49 you know, take a piece of this pie 02:51 of Chapter 40 02:53 as we're studying that particular chapter 02:55 in this lesson this week. 02:56 Before we go any further we need to have a prayer, 02:59 and Pastor Lomacang, 03:00 why don't you say a prayer for us, Brother? 03:02 Sure. 03:03 Our loving Father and our God, 03:05 we thank You for the privilege of Your Word, 03:07 truly it is a lamp to our feet and the light of our paths, 03:11 illuminate our minds, Lord, 03:12 that we may communicate light and truth, 03:15 but may all the glory and honor go only to You. 03:17 We pray in Jesus' name. 03:20 Amen. Amen! 03:21 Amen. Praise the Lord. 03:23 Isaiah 40:9 is our memory text for this week's lesson. 03:29 And again, it says, 03:31 "Get up into the high mountain, 03:34 O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, 03:38 lift up your voice with strength, 03:41 lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of Judah, 03:45 'Behold your God!' " 03:48 So that's our memory text and I'm going to open, 03:51 Sabbath afternoon had a wonderful story 03:53 that kind of sets the foundation 03:55 or sets us up for Sunday's lesson 03:57 which is entitled 03:58 "Comfort for the Future." 03:59 But this story says here, it says, 04:01 World War II ended in 1945 04:04 while a Japanese soldier named Shouichi Yokoi 04:09 was hiding out in the jungle on the Island of Guam. 04:14 Leaflets dropped from the US planes 04:16 proclaimed peace of course, 04:18 but Yokoi thought it a trick. 04:21 So he didn't really believe that, 04:23 you know, he thought it's a trick. 04:24 He thought the war was ongoing. 04:25 A loyal patriotic soldier of the Emperor 04:28 he had vowed never to surrender. 04:30 Because he had no contact with civilization 04:33 he lived on what he could find in the jungle, 04:36 a sparse, hard existence indeed. 04:40 In 1972, 04:42 27 years after the end of World War II 04:46 hunters came across Yokoi while he was fishing. 04:51 And he only learned then 04:53 that the message of peace had been true, 04:55 27 years after the war. 04:58 What a life! 04:59 While the rest of his people 05:00 had been enjoying peace for decades, 05:03 Yokoi had been enduring 05:05 decades of probation and stress. 05:09 And, you know, that can be said for a lot of us. 05:12 For a lot of people, 05:14 there may be someone watching today that says, 05:15 "You know what, I just seemed like 05:17 my life has just been full of anxieties 05:18 and stress and depressions, " 05:20 and whatever it is that you may be dealing with. 05:22 But the Lord has a message, He wants to bring comfort, 05:25 He wants us to have peace. 05:27 And that's what Sunday's lesson is all about entitled, 05:30 Comfort for the Future. 05:31 Of course, this is in the context of Judah, 05:34 the nation of Israel at that time, 05:36 the remnant of the Lord, 05:37 who had been through a lot up to this point. 05:39 And our verses that kind of set the foundation 05:42 for what we're going to be studying here this week 05:45 from Isaiah 40. 05:46 I'm going to start in verses 1 and 2. 05:48 And this is what it says, "'Comfort, yes, 05:50 comfort My people!' 05:54 says your God 05:56 'Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, 05:59 that her warfare is ended, 06:01 that her iniquity is pardoned, 06:04 for she has received from the Lord's hand 06:06 double for all her sins.'" 06:10 And so this is an interesting text 06:12 because what we're about to find out 06:14 and studying my lesson for this week and Sunday, 06:17 it's kind of helping to set the foundation 06:18 and understanding 06:20 how to rightly divide these chapters. 06:22 And we've arrived kind of to a turning point 06:24 in the scripture 06:25 in which all the way up to this point, 06:27 you know, and I'm referencing Isaiah Chapters 1 through 39, 06:30 which we've studied so far. 06:32 It emphasizes events 06:33 that are leading up to the deliverance 06:35 from the Assyrians, 06:36 which of course happened in 701 BC. 06:39 But, of course, at the beginning of Chapter 40, 06:41 as the lesson brings out, and I have to agree with it, 06:44 based on the language that we're about to study. 06:47 The book kind of leaps ahead 06:49 about a century and a half 06:51 to the end of the Babylonian captivity, 06:53 where Jerusalem found themselves 06:55 in 70 years of Babylonian captivity. 06:56 Verse 40 carries us 06:58 beyond to the end of that captivity to 539 BC, 07:02 of course, when they're being delivered by Cyrus. 07:04 Cyrus makes the decree, sends the people home. 07:07 And, of course, 07:08 the Jews returned shortly thereafter. 07:10 So Isaiah 40:1-2 is within the context. 07:15 And we're talking about "Comfort My People, " 07:17 it's not coming necessarily 07:19 on the brink of the ending of the, 07:21 you know, oppression 07:22 that Assyrians were placing upon Israel, 07:24 but rather skipping forward to the time 07:26 after the Babylonian captivity. 07:29 And you'll notice there, 07:30 we can clearly prove this 07:32 through the language of the text. 07:34 You'll notice here in verses 1 and 2, 07:37 where it says, 07:38 you know, comfort for Jerusalem and cry out for her, 07:40 that her warfare is ended, okay, 07:42 that her iniquity is pardoned, 07:45 or she has received from the Lord's hand 07:46 double for all her sins. 07:48 And the lesson just simply brings out 07:49 and ask the question, what sins? 07:51 What punishment did she have to endure? 07:53 What is this speaking of? 07:54 This overcoming 07:56 that God has brought them through, 07:57 this endurance that they've had to endure, 07:59 what is it speaking of? 08:01 And so basically, we know that 08:03 there was punishment administered by Assyria, 08:05 of course, Isaiah Chapter 10 refers to it 08:07 as the rod of God's anger. 08:09 He allowed that judgment to come upon Israel, 08:11 because of their lack of commitment 08:13 to the covenant that He had made with them. 08:16 And so from which God delivered Judah 08:18 by destroying Sennacherib, 08:20 which we studied in the previous lessons. 08:22 And, of course, as I said earlier, 08:23 that happened in 701 BC, 08:25 and you can read about that in Isaiah Chapter 37, 08:28 which we studied last week. 08:31 Of course, and there was also the punishment 08:32 administered by other nations, 08:35 against which Isaiah had given proclamations 08:38 against these individual nations. 08:39 And you can read that from Isaiah 14, 08:41 all the way through to Chapter 23. 08:44 And so you go and read, 08:45 you know, chapters 1 through 39, 08:48 and that takes you all the way up to the time 08:50 in which God delivered His people 08:51 from the Assyrian armies. 08:53 But if you jump right into Chapter 40, 08:54 it almost seems like it's talking about, 08:57 God's finally going to bring 08:58 comfort and peace to the people 08:59 after He delivered them from, you know, 09:02 from Sennacherib 09:03 and from what had happened with the Assyrian oppression. 09:05 But yet the language suggests, 09:08 if you go back and kind of put some pieces together, 09:10 that actually, you know, 09:11 we've skipped ahead about a century and a half, 09:13 and God is speaking of a time 09:15 in which Israel would come out of oppression, 09:17 they would come out of that captivity 09:19 in Babylon. 09:20 And only at that point, would God say, 09:22 "Okay, now you can endure a time of peace. 09:25 I'm going to bring comfort to My people." 09:28 So that brings me to the point here where I say 09:30 there was judgment administered by Babylon, 09:33 okay, which even though up to this point, 09:34 the text has not really expounded on that, 09:37 and we haven't been brought up to that historical point yet. 09:40 This is where Babylon comes in, 09:42 the punishment 09:43 that was administered by Babylon 09:45 which would carry away goods and people from Judah 09:47 because for two reasons, 09:48 and I'm going to read a little bit of one reason, 09:50 but we read one last week, 09:52 we studied one of the reasons why 09:54 Israel would be carried away to Babylon 09:56 because Hezekiah made a mistake. 09:57 And he had forgotten what God had done for him. 10:00 And so he, of course, 10:01 displayed his wealth to the messengers 10:03 of those people that had come from Babylon. 10:05 And we read that 10:07 from Isaiah Chapter 39 last week. 10:09 And I agree with you, Jill, what you had said last week, 10:11 we wish that, you know, 10:12 the message of scripture in Isaiah, 10:14 as far as, you know, 10:15 the oppression and all that had happened, 10:17 would have stopped with Chapter 38. 10:18 But, you know, well, there's Chapter 39. 10:21 And so it tells the story of something that is to come 10:24 for the nation of Israel as they would have to endure, 10:27 you know, again, more captivity, 10:29 more oppression, 10:30 more time of havoc because of their own sins, 10:34 and because of the sins of the leadership. 10:36 In fact, I want to read about that right now, 10:38 just to kind of set the context. 10:40 Let's go to 2 Chronicles Chapter 36 10:42 because I said there was two reasons 10:44 why they would have to endure this Babylonian captivity. 10:47 One was based on the part of Hezekiah's bad decision 10:51 to do what he done 10:53 and not recognizing who the Lord was, 10:55 and not giving credit where credit is due. 10:57 He became, you know, obviously selfish 10:59 and was talking about all that he was doing 11:02 and all that the nation of Israel had done 11:04 to gain all this wealth. 11:05 But God has a different message 11:07 also for a second reason as to why 11:09 they would be carried off into Babylonian captivity. 11:11 This is set found in 2 Chronicles 36, 11:13 we're going to read verses 14 through 21. 11:16 Starting with the verse 14, it says, 11:18 "Moreover all the leaders of the priests 11:20 and the people transgressed more and more, 11:23 according to all the abominations 11:24 of the nations, 11:25 and defiled the house of the Lord 11:27 which He had consecrated in Jerusalem." 11:30 So again, this is after Hezekiah, 11:32 Hezekiah did point the people to God. 11:34 He did allow them to worship the Lord. 11:36 And he was, as the Bible said, 11:38 he did right in the sight of the Lord 11:39 for the most part, 11:40 but after him there was a slew, 11:42 a string of kings 11:43 that did horrible things 11:45 and launched Israel into pagan worship into, 11:48 you know, worshipping sun gods 11:49 and completely defiling the house of the Lord. 11:52 And that's what we're seeing here in record. 11:54 It goes on to say in verse 15, 11:55 "And the Lord God of their fathers 11:56 sent warnings to them, 11:58 by His messengers," 11:59 of course, we know this to be the prophets, 12:01 "rising up early and sending them," why? 12:04 "Because He had compassion on His people, " 12:07 even amongst all this apostasy, 12:09 God had compassion on His people, 12:12 "and on His dwelling place." 12:13 Verse 16, 12:15 "But they mocked the messengers of God, 12:16 despised His words, 12:18 and scoffed at His prophets, 12:19 until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, 12:21 till there was no remedy." 12:23 And so what was the response to that? 12:25 Let's read in verse 17 and onwards, it says, 12:27 "Therefore He brought against them 12:29 the king of the Chaldeans, 12:31 who killed their young men with the sword 12:33 in the house of their sanctuary, 12:35 and had no compassion on young man or virgin, 12:38 on the aged or the weak, 12:40 he gave them all into his hand. 12:42 And all the articles of the house of God, 12:44 great and small, 12:45 and the treasures of the house of the Lord 12:47 and the treasures of the king of the leaders, 12:49 all these he took to Babylon." 12:51 So those treasures that Hezekiah was all, 12:54 you know, bragging about, 12:55 "Look, what I've done, look what I have here," 12:57 Babylon came back for it as a judgment on Israel. 13:00 Verse 19, 13:01 "Then they burned the house of God, 13:02 broke down the wall of Jerusalem, 13:04 burned all its palaces with fire, 13:06 and destroyed all of its precious possessions. 13:08 And those who escaped the sword he carried away to Babylon, 13:11 where they became servants to him 13:13 and his sons until the rule of the king of Persia, 13:16 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, 13:19 until the land had enjoyed her Sabbath. 13:21 As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, 13:23 to fulfill seventy years." 13:25 Of course, this is speaking 13:27 of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. 13:29 We say all of this, 13:30 because I'm not going to go into 13:32 'cause we don't have enough time. 13:33 But if you go back and read Isaiah 14:1-4, 13:38 there's language connecting this passage 13:40 to the first two verses of Isaiah 40 13:44 that we just read earlier, where God says, 13:45 "Comfort My People, 13:47 tell them that because of all of this, 13:48 you know what, I've forgiven them, 13:49 I've pardoned them. 13:51 Now I'm going to allow them to endure a time of peace." 13:53 So you'll see here, if you go read Isaiah 14:1-4, 13:57 and I'll just read verse 3 here, it says, 13:59 "It shall come to pass in the day of the Lord 14:01 gives you rest from your sorrow," 14:03 there it is, 14:04 "and from your fear and the hard bondage 14:07 of which you have made, you were made to serve, 14:09 that you will take up this proverb 14:10 against the king of Babylon, and say, 14:12 'How the oppressor has ceased, 14:14 the Golden City ceased!' " 14:15 So again, that language 14:17 is almost the exact same language in context, 14:19 what we find in Isaiah 40:1-2, when God says, 14:22 you know what? 14:23 I'm giving you a time of peace, 14:25 all those hardships and all of the hard things 14:28 you've had to endure because of your decisions, 14:30 you have paid for those sins. 14:31 You have paid, you have done your time, 14:33 okay, you've spent your time in prison. 14:35 Now I'm going to have compassion on you once more, 14:38 and I'm going to allow you 14:39 to endure and have a time of peace. 14:41 Praise God for that. 14:42 Don't we need peace in our life? 14:44 Should we be able to also glean from this 14:45 that we need to trust in the promises of God's Word. 14:47 That right now, 14:49 many of us may be dealing with hardships in our lives. 14:51 We may be dealing with stresses and anxiety, 14:53 but God is for His people. 14:55 He says, "Hang in there, trust in My promises, 14:58 because I'm coming back. 14:59 And when I come back, 15:01 I'm going to give you a never ending time of peace." 15:04 Hallelujah! 15:05 Thank you for that! 15:07 Oops. 15:08 My assignment is Monday 15:12 and it is called God's Presence, 15:15 or it says, 15:16 "Presence, Word, and Roadwork." 15:17 So let me just, 15:19 I'm going to get to the cut to the chase here. 15:22 God's presence and God's Word 15:26 are covenant promises. 15:30 God's presence, God's Word was delivered to the people 15:34 at Mount Sinai. 15:35 But guess what? 15:37 They rejected it. 15:38 They rejected His Word. 15:39 They rejected Him, all throughout their apostasy. 15:43 So sin had broken this covenant between God and His people 15:49 and the road work 15:51 we're going to see is repentance. 15:54 It is a turning away from sin 15:57 in order to receive 16:00 the comfort of God's forgiveness and peace. 16:02 So once again, Isaiah 40, verse what? 16:06 Verse 1, 16:07 "Comfort, yes, comfort My people," 16:11 says your God. 16:13 So Isaiah is instructed to prophesy 16:17 as though the Babylonian captivity 16:20 were already a present reality. 16:23 You know, this is a dramatic shift, 16:25 instead of proclaiming the judgment and the doom, 16:30 he's talking about the exile, 16:32 but it's still 100 years in the future 16:35 before Jerusalem's fall, 16:37 then they were going to spend 70 years in captivity. 16:41 But Isaiah, God says, speak to my people, 16:45 tenderly bring words of comfort to them, 16:49 a hope of a blessed future. 16:51 So we always have to remember 16:53 that God has this plan for His covenant people. 16:57 So verse 2, He says, 16:58 "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, cry out to her, 17:01 that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, 17:05 for she is received from the Lord's hand 17:09 double for all of her sins." 17:12 Now, the cruel assault 17:14 and the captivity of the Babylonians 17:16 was the double payment. 17:19 And that mean that all of their sins... 17:22 And it's so amazing 17:23 how God would rescue His people, 17:25 they turn away from Him. 17:26 God would rescue His people, they turn away from Him. 17:29 I think that happens too much today as well. 17:32 But you know what this reminds me of, 17:34 here's God, He's anticipating their questions. 17:40 And He's giving them hope for a future. 17:43 It reminds me of Isaiah 65:24, 17:46 "Before they call, I will answer." 17:50 So God is prophesying through Isaiah, 17:54 before it ever happens, 17:55 so that the people will know in advance 17:59 that they have reason for hope. 18:02 And actually, 18:03 this is not just the deliverance 18:06 from Babylonian captivity, or by Cyrus, 18:10 it's also the future, 18:14 deliverance from the future system of Babylon 18:18 that we read about in Revelation, 18:21 because the ultimate fulfillment 18:23 we're going to see 18:24 is the ultimate fulfillment of this deliverance 18:27 comes in Jesus Christ. 18:29 So Isaiah 40:3, 18:32 "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, " 18:35 so here's an unnamed herald, 18:37 "prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert, 18:39 a highway for our God. 18:41 Every valley shall be exalted, 18:44 every mountain and hill brought low, 18:46 then crooked places shall be made straight, 18:49 and the rough places made smooth." 18:52 You know, it was customary for Eastern monarchs, 18:56 they would send their heralds out before them 19:00 to clear the path, 19:01 to make it a level road for them. 19:04 But we know that 19:07 this prophecy is not speaking of the physical realm, 19:11 because if you look at Israel in the wilderness 19:15 and their deep bodies, and their high mountains, 19:18 boy, I mean, you'd have to have a bulldozer and dynamite, 19:21 and it still would be a daunting task, 19:23 wouldn't it? 19:25 So he's speaking of the spiritual realm. 19:27 And actually Isaiah 42:16 tells us, 19:32 only God can achieve this true roadwork. 19:35 Listen to what He says, 19:37 "I will bring the blind by a way they did not know. 19:40 I will lead them in paths they have not known. 19:43 I will make darkness light before them, 19:47 and crooked places straight. 19:50 These things I will do for them and not forsake them." 19:54 So God is the one 19:57 as I believe it's Acts 5:32 that says, 19:59 He grants us repentance through Jesus Christ. 20:04 But what God was telling His people is, 20:07 "Watch for My restoration." 20:09 There's going to come a day that you will repent. 20:13 And the New Testament 20:15 explicitly applies this to repentance. 20:18 So let's look at that, 20:20 John the Baptist, Matthew 3:1-3. 20:25 I think of him as the last Old Testament prophet, 20:28 even though he didn't show up till the New Testament. 20:31 I mean, he's the one that is preparing the way, 20:33 he's the ordained forerunner for the Messiah. 20:37 So He challenges the people through repentance. 20:40 Matthew 3, 20:41 "In those days, 20:43 John the Baptist came preaching 20:44 in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 20:46 'Repent.'" 20:49 I can hear that echoing, can you not? 20:53 From all those years back 20:55 when he said this, I hear that echo. 20:58 And I hope that resonates with your heart, 21:02 that God is always calling us to repentance. 21:06 And we need to say, 21:07 "Lord, not only am I confessing my sins, 21:10 but grant me repentance, turn me around, 21:14 turn me away from this sin, Lord." 21:17 Okay. 21:18 So Matthew 3:2, 21:20 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven 21:22 is at hand." 21:23 And then verse 3 says, 21:25 "This is he 21:26 who is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, 21:28 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 21:31 prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straight.'" 21:36 So that's the roadwork, 21:39 the remnant of Israel. 21:43 It says in Mark 1 21:44 that John kept baptizing in the wilderness, 21:46 preaching a baptism of repentance 21:51 for the remission of sins. 21:53 This is the only way 21:54 that he could get their attention 21:56 and prepare their hearts, clearing the way for an end. 22:01 You know, I think of confession, 22:04 as the clearing house of the conscience. 22:07 You know, when you are feeling guilty, 22:13 just go before the Lord and confess your sin. 22:16 And you know what? 22:18 He takes all that guilt and condemnation away from you. 22:21 And you know that when you confess your sin, 22:24 He's faithful and just, 22:26 1 John 1:9 says, 22:27 to cleanse, I mean, not only to forgive you 22:30 but to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. 22:33 Hallelujah! 22:34 So what happens? 22:36 Isaiah 40:5, 22:38 "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 22:41 all flesh shall see it together, 22:44 for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 22:48 So this prophecy is looking beyond their punishment. 22:53 It's looking to the return of God's glory, 22:57 when He would bring them 22:58 comfort and deliverance and hope. 23:01 And their misery, 23:04 God's going to wipe it away 23:05 and His glory is going to replace it. 23:07 So what happens is, 23:10 they're going to receive the favor 23:12 that they rejected for all of those years, 23:14 isn't that amazing? 23:15 So His presence and His Word would be restored. 23:19 Isaiah 40:6, another voice proclaims, 23:24 "This voice said, 'Cry out!' 23:26 And he said, 'What shall I cry?' 23:29 'All flesh is grass 23:31 and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 23:35 The grass withers, the flower fades, 23:38 because the breath the Lord blows upon it. 23:41 Surely the people are grass.'" 23:44 But and then it says, I love verse 8, 23:47 "The grass withers, the flower fades, 23:52 but the word of our Lord stands forever." 23:59 We are like the flower and the grass. 24:03 Short-lived. 24:05 We fade. 24:06 We're here today and gone tomorrow. 24:08 You know, humanity is mortal. 24:12 Yeah, 1 Timothy 6:16, Paul explains, 24:16 right now only God is immortal. 24:18 And in 1 Corinthians 15: 52-54 tells us that 24:25 we don't put on immortality 24:27 until the last trumpet when Christ returns. 24:30 So we're just grass, 24:32 but God's Word is permanent 24:36 and it guarantees that 24:39 there'll be no deviation from His plan. 24:43 The eternal word is dependable. 24:46 It brings comfort, encouragement, 24:49 even in the face of adversity. 24:53 I just want to encourage you. 24:55 God wrote this word 24:57 to give you a hope for the future. 25:01 Get into the Bible today, 25:03 ask for God's presence in His Word 25:05 to be restored in your life. 25:08 Amen. 25:10 Praise the Lord. I love that. 25:11 Praise the Lord for forgiveness, right? 25:13 And I love that scripture in Acts that you quoted, 25:16 I think it's Acts 5:31, 25:17 which says, you know, 25:19 God has given us Christ 25:20 so that we might have forgiveness of sins. 25:23 We're going to take a short break 25:24 and we'll be right back in a moment. 25:26 Amen. 25:31 Ever wish you could watch 25:32 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again, 25:35 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 25:38 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com. 25:42 A clean design makes it easy 25:45 to find the program you're looking for. 25:47 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 25:51 so you can follow along. 25:52 Sharing is easy. 25:54 Just click share 25:55 and choose your favorite social media. 25:57 Share a link, save a life for eternity. 26:01 Welcome back, friends, to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 26:04 We're going to toss it over to Pastor John Lomacang 26:06 for Tuesday's lesson. 26:08 I like the title of Tuesday, "The Birth of Evangelism." 26:12 The Birth of Evangelism, 26:14 would God be so kind to give me that title? 26:17 There you go. The Birth of Evangelism. 26:19 You know, when we read Isaiah 40:9-11, 26:23 I like to begin there. 26:25 And the writer, I love the transition, Jill. 26:28 We're now starting to get into the lighter side of Isaiah, 26:32 the side which has chapters and prophecies 26:37 that bring brighter news. 26:39 You know, we saw the carnage 26:40 and the military exploits in the wars. 26:44 And just a number of, 26:48 I would say depressing pictures. 26:50 But the good news out of all of that depression is that 26:52 God still sustains His people. 26:56 He's still the one that's in charge 26:57 of the outcome of the story. 26:59 So we have all that bad news behind us. 27:02 And the Lord now through the Prophet Isaiah 27:05 starts to forecast the perpetuity of good news. 27:08 Look at Isaiah 40:9-11, we'll begin there. 27:13 "O Zion, you who bring good tidings, 27:19 get up into the high mountains, O Jerusalem, " 27:22 that's the place of proclamation 27:23 where the message can resonate over the hillsides, 27:27 "you who bring good tidings, 27:29 lift up your voice with strength," 27:33 it sound three angels' messages with a loud voice, 27:36 "lift it up, be not afraid, 27:38 say to the cities of Judah, 27:41 'Behold your God!' " 27:44 Verse 10, 27:45 "Behold, the Lord shall come with a strong hand, 27:49 and His arm shall rule for Him. 27:52 Behold, His reward is with Him," 27:55 Revelation 22:12, so much in there, 27:58 "and his work before him. 28:00 He will feed His flock like a shepherd." 28:03 John Chapter 10, 28:05 all this imagery is in there, 28:07 "He will gather the lambs with His arm, 28:09 and carry them in His bosom," 28:11 the lost sheep, 28:13 "and gently lead those who are with young." 28:18 There's so much imagery in that passage, 28:21 that we begin to find that Isaiah the prophet, 28:24 what I love about the Bible, 28:26 which is showing the deep inspiration of it, 28:28 is what's forecasted 700 years before 28:32 starts to be metered 28:34 into the lives of the writers of the New Testament, 28:37 which shows that there's no way, 28:38 they were not even around. 28:40 And these records were not freely proliferated among them. 28:44 So God, the same inspiration 28:46 that spoke to Isaiah the Prophet, 28:48 and Ezekiel and Jeremiah 28:49 is the same one that begins to inspire the minds of those 28:53 who begin to lay the foundation of evangelism. 28:56 And I find also, 28:57 when we talk about the mission of Christ, 28:59 because clearly, 29:00 the ultimate evangelist is Jesus. 29:02 But I want to just make a few points about evangelism, 29:05 because the mission of Christ 29:06 is being revealed in these two verses. 29:09 But there are those who are forerunners of Christ 29:12 that are also going to be revealed. 29:13 We'll talk about that in a moment. 29:15 But four very quick points about the mission of Jesus, 29:18 that is foretold in the verses. 29:19 A Jesus based evangelism, 29:22 there should be no other kind of evangelism. 29:25 You know, evangelists, we know, I mean, 29:29 those of us who love studying Revelation, 29:31 we all love the depth of the book. 29:34 But sometimes we get so locked into the imagery, 29:36 that we forget 29:38 it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 29:39 And people are not going to be converted 29:41 on the veracity of the viciousness of a beast, 29:46 but they will be converted on the goodness of God. 29:49 And the beautiful news of Revelation 29:51 is Jesus based evangelism is not based on information, 29:55 but it's focused on transformation. 29:57 So that's what the prophet is talking about here. 30:00 Jesus centered evangelism is not a new thought, 30:03 but a new life. 30:05 The focus never needs to be changed. 30:07 Jesus driven evangelism is not aimed at membership 30:12 but discipleship. 30:14 Members, I said so many, 30:15 you could do whatever you want as a member, 30:17 but you can't do whatever you want as a disciple, 30:19 because it requires denial of oneself. 30:21 So you might think about, 30:22 "Well, what does it take..." 30:24 And people have asked me, 30:25 "What does it take to be a member of your church?" 30:26 I've changed my answer. 30:28 I said, "I don't want members. I want disciples." 30:33 Because the Lord never said, 30:34 Go therefore to make members of all nations. 30:36 He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." 30:40 We've got too much membership and not enough disciples. 30:43 Can I touch you? 30:44 We just broke our COVID-19 protocol. 30:45 Oh, yeah, but that's too good. 30:47 We got too much members and not enough disciples. 30:51 So Jesus based evangelism is, go make disciples, 30:55 stop settling for membership. 30:57 Membership dries up the pews, discipleship fills up the pews. 31:03 And so we have to be Jesus motivated. 31:05 Jesus motivated evangelism is not group, 31:09 but individual focus. 31:10 And so when you look at the message of Jesus, 31:13 His message was so powerful. 31:14 Look at all the individual stories in evangelism. 31:17 Most of the outreach of Jesus was not to groups, 31:20 it was to individuals. 31:21 The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, 31:24 the woman at the well, 31:26 the man at the pool of Bethesda, 31:27 the demoniac. 31:29 Jesus focused on the individual, 31:31 the woman with an issue of blood, 31:33 blind Bartimaeus, 31:34 Jesus focused on the individual. 31:36 And so often, we get excited when we have crowds. 31:39 But I remember the story about a person who was preaching, 31:42 I forgot where it was, 31:43 but the story is nonetheless valid. 31:46 He was in South America, 31:48 in a town where Catholicism was so strong 31:51 that the priests sent out a letter 31:53 prohibiting anyone to go to his evangelism. 31:57 On the night that the meetings open, 31:58 there was not a single person sitting in that church. 32:01 He preached for the whole week. 32:03 He just decided, 32:04 "Well, nobody here I'm just going to do." 32:07 And he opened the windows. 32:09 And he preached for whole week. 32:11 And at the end of the week, he said, 32:12 "You know, this is ridiculous. Nobody's showing up." 32:15 And he heard somebody outside in the trees, said, 32:18 "Keep preaching, we're listening." 32:20 They didn't want the priests to let them know 32:22 that they were in the building, 32:24 but they were hiding in the trees 32:26 outside of the church. 32:28 So we have to be evangelism focused, 32:32 never worry about the numbers. 32:35 Jesus always tell, one waters, one plants another waters, 32:38 but God gives the increase. 32:40 So evangelism is not just a presentation of good message, 32:44 but the presentation of a good God. 32:47 Romans 2:4, 32:49 "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, 32:51 forbearance, and long suffering, 32:53 not knowing that 32:55 the goodness of God leads to repentance?" 32:57 And I know, I mean, 32:59 I've been rebuked in this particular way, 33:00 in my own self, 33:01 because I've become so wrapped up in my early days, 33:05 you know, defining the horns. 33:08 And not that any of that is irrelevant, 33:09 it's so extremely irrelevant. 33:12 But don't let the horns eclipse the Christ. 33:16 Don't let the beast eclipse the lamb. 33:19 And so that's why Jesus said in John 12:32, 33:21 "If I am lifted up, 33:23 I will draw all people to Myself." 33:25 So let's go ahead and talk about evangelism. 33:27 How did evangelism get started? 33:29 Now, Shelley, you took Matthew Chapter 3, 33:31 so I'm going to leave that, 33:33 how John the Baptist was a forerunner. 33:35 But the birth of Evangelism is the focus of our story. 33:39 Let's go to the Book of Luke 2:34-35, 33:43 the birth of Evangelism. 33:44 You know, John was the forerunner, 33:47 he had a responsibility, his life was short lived, 33:50 but his life was fulfilled. 33:52 The length of the life 33:53 is not the thing that we should gripe about, 33:56 but the fulfillment of our purpose 33:58 is the major focus. 34:00 John's life was short, but he fulfilled the purpose. 34:02 Let's look at two very powerful stories. 34:05 The confirmation of John the Baptist 34:06 and his mission. 34:08 Verse 34, 34:09 "Then Simeon blessed them, " 34:11 this is now the child being... 34:14 Where are we, Luke 3? 34:15 Luke 2:34. 34:17 2:34. Okay. 34:19 "Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, 34:23 'Behold, this child is destined 34:25 for the fall and rising of many in Israel,'" 34:27 speaking about Christ, 34:28 "'and for a sign which will be spoken against. 34:32 Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also, '" 34:36 that is when Jesus is crucified, 34:38 "'that the thoughts of many hearts 34:41 may be revealed.'" 34:42 Now let's look at verse 36 and 38. 34:44 Let's see where public evangelism started. 34:48 "Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, 34:51 the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. 34:55 She was of great age 34:58 and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, 35:02 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, 35:06 who did not depart from the temple, 35:08 but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. 35:12 And coming in that instance she gave thanks to the Lord, 35:17 and spoke of him to all those 35:19 who looked for redemption in Jerusalem." 35:21 Public evangelism 35:23 was first proclaimed through a woman. 35:26 Amen, Shelley? Amen. 35:27 Praise the Lord. 35:28 And then it continued, 35:30 public evangelism continued through a woman. 35:32 John 20:17, 35:34 "Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, 35:36 for I have not yet ascended,'" 35:38 this is Mary in the garden, 35:39 "'but go to My brethren and I say to them, 35:41 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, 35:44 and to My God and your God.' 35:46 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples 35:48 that she had seen the Lord 35:50 and that she had spoken of these things.'" 35:52 And then finally, the Lord said. 35:54 1, Matthew 26:13, 35:56 "Assuredly, I say to you, 35:58 wherever this gospel is preached 36:00 in the whole world, 36:01 what this woman has done 36:03 will also be told as a memorial to her." 36:06 Evangelism publicly began with a woman. 36:11 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor John. 36:13 We're having church. 36:16 You're on fire. That's powerful. I love that. 36:19 We got to Wednesday's lesson, which is "Merciful Creator." 36:22 So turn from the New Testament, back to Isaiah Chapter 40. 36:26 And we'll look at a few verses there in Isaiah Chapter 40. 36:29 The theme of this passage, Isaiah 40, is the mercy of God, 36:34 the power of God, the deliverance of God. 36:38 We see the mercy of God, 36:39 God wants to save His people because He is mercy, merciful. 36:44 The power of God, 36:46 He's able to save them because He is powerful. 36:49 And the deliverance of God, 36:51 God is able to deliver them from their enemies, 36:54 from the gods of their enemies. 36:59 We look at the main argument here is that God can do it. 37:03 He can make the second Exodus happen, 37:05 which is that deliverance from the Babylonian captivity. 37:10 He can end the exile. He can defeat the oppressors. 37:13 He can liberate His people. 37:16 We see this blending of God's mercy and power. 37:18 The lesson brought it out. 37:20 It was really neat before we get into my verses. 37:22 We see God's mercy in verses 1 and 2. 37:25 Ryan already covered that, 37:26 "Comfort My People' says your God, 37:28 'Speak comfort to Jerusalem, cry out to her, 37:31 her warfare is ended.'" 37:33 That is God's mercy. 37:34 We see His deliverance and power 37:36 in verses 3 through 5 that Shelley covered. 37:39 "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 37:42 'Prepare the way of the Lord, 37:43 make straight in the desert, a highway for our God.'" 37:48 We see God's mercy in verse 9, 37:50 Pastor John, that you read, 37:51 "O Zion, you who bring good tidings, 37:53 lift up your voice with strength, 37:55 lifted up, be not afraid." 37:58 We see God's deliverance and power in verse 10. 38:01 "Behold, the Lord God comes with a strong hand, 38:05 and His arm shall rule for Him." 38:07 We see God's mercy again in verse 11 38:10 as He feeds the flock like a shepherd, 38:13 and gathers the lambs with His arms. 38:16 We see God's deliverance and power in verses 12 38:20 all the way through verse 26. 38:22 As we talk about who this God is, 38:25 and that He is the incomparable creator, 38:29 and then it ends with the mercy of God again. 38:32 The very last verse is verse 27 through 31 of the chapter. 38:36 As our Creator, He gives power to the weak, 38:39 to the downtrodden, to those who are faint, 38:42 He increases their strength. 38:45 So let's look at who is this God. 38:48 As we see this, this God, our God is omnipotent. 38:52 Verse 12, we're in Isaiah 40:12. 38:55 Omnipotent just simply means He is all powerful. 38:59 His power, it's limitless. 39:01 Verse 12, 39:02 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand," 39:05 can you imagine the oceans 39:07 and everything God just measures it? 39:09 "And the hollow of His hand, 39:11 measures that heaven with a span 39:14 and calculated the dust of the earth 39:16 in a measure?" 39:17 The dust of the entire earth 39:19 just calculated it in a measure. 39:21 "Weighted the mountains in scales 39:23 and the hills in a balance?" 39:25 What is he saying? 39:27 God is omnipotent. 39:28 He is all powerful. 39:30 God is omniscient, 39:32 that just means He is all knowing. 39:36 The next verse, verse 13 and 14, 39:39 "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, 39:41 or as His counselor has taught Him?" 39:44 He knows. 39:45 "With whom did He take counsel, 39:46 and who instructed Him 39:48 and taught Him in the path of justice? 39:50 Who taught Him knowledge 39:51 and showed Him the way of understanding?" 39:53 God knows everything. 39:56 He is omniscient. He is all knowing. 39:59 We're the students, 40:01 we're the ones who learn from Him. 40:03 God is sovereign. 40:06 His authority is absolute. 40:09 Let's read verses 15 through 17, 40:11 "Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, 40:15 and are counted as the small dust on the scales. 40:18 Look, He lifts up the isles is a very little thing. 40:22 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn 40:24 nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 40:27 All nations before Him are," what? 40:30 "Nothing. 40:31 They are counted by Him 40:32 less than nothing and worthless." 40:36 If you jumped down to verse 23, it says, 40:38 "He brings the princes to nothing. 40:41 He makes the judges of the earth useless." 40:45 What does that say? 40:46 God's authority is absolute over this entire earth. 40:51 We see in verses 18 through 20, 40:53 that he is, Pastor Kenny, without compare. 40:57 "To whom then will you liken God?" 40:59 We've just gone through this, God is omnipotent, 41:01 and He is omniscient and He is sovereign, 41:03 and His power is limitless. 41:07 Who will you compare God to? 41:08 The answer is nobody. 41:09 Nobody! 41:11 No one compares to God. 41:13 "Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 41:16 The workman molds an image," 41:18 this is talking about idols, 41:19 "the goldsmith over spreads it with gold, " 41:22 or those who do work with their hands, 41:25 "the silversmith casts silver chains. 41:27 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution 41:29 chooses a tree that will not rot. 41:31 He seeks for himself a skillful workman 41:34 to prepare a carved image that will not totter." 41:38 But who will you liken God to? 41:40 God is without compare. 41:43 Not only that, not only is God omnipotent 41:46 and omniscient and sovereign 41:47 and without compare, He is our Creator. 41:51 Let's see verse 21 and 22, 41:54 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? 41:58 Has it not been told you from the beginning?" 42:01 Where have you been? Where have you not known? 42:05 "Have you not understood 42:06 from the foundations of the earth? 42:08 It is He," 42:10 that's God, our omnipotent, omniscient God, 42:12 "who sits above the circle of the earth, 42:15 and its inhabitants, they're like grasshoppers, 42:18 who stretches out the heavens like a curtain 42:20 and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in." 42:24 Verse 24, 42:25 "Scarcely shall they be planted, 42:27 scarcely shall they be sown, 42:28 scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, 42:31 when he will also blow on them, and they will wither, 42:34 and the whirlwind 42:36 will take them away like stubble. 42:38 'To whom then will you liken Me, 42:40 or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One." 42:44 It's amazing. 42:46 Lessons learned in our remaining moments, 42:49 four lessons that I take away. 42:51 Look at your problems 42:52 against the backdrop of your incomparable God, 42:56 not the other way around. 42:59 How often we look at our problems, 43:00 we put our back to God? 43:01 Our God who's omnipotent, our God who's omniscient, 43:04 our God, who is the Creator, 43:06 our God, nobody can compare with Him, 43:08 and we put our back to Him. 43:09 Now all we do is we focus on the problem. 43:11 And we say, "Wow, that's huge!" 43:14 But if you turned around, and you look at the problem, 43:17 in focus of God behind that problem, 43:19 that problem is nothing in response to Him. 43:23 Look at your problems 43:24 against the backdrop of who your God is. 43:28 Lesson number two, 43:29 change your focus to God, 43:32 instead of complaining about the present. 43:37 Isaiah 40:27, 43:39 jumped down to verse 27, 43:41 "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 43:44 'My way is hidden from the Lord, 43:47 and my just claim is passed over by my God?' " 43:52 Why do we complain about the present? 43:54 Instead, we should change our focus to God. 43:57 Job did this in Job 19: 7, he said, 44:00 "I cry out help but no one answers me. 44:03 I protest, but there is no justice." 44:06 Instead of complaining 44:07 about what is going on in our lives right now, 44:11 change your focus to God. 44:13 Lesson number three, 44:15 our almighty omnipotent God 44:18 reaches down to equip, to empower, 44:22 and to strengthen us. 44:23 The God who rules the universe, the God who knows everything, 44:28 the God who sees everything, 44:30 the God who holds this world is like a speck 44:34 in the palm of His hand. 44:35 He reaches down 44:37 because He knows we are but dust. 44:40 He knows our frame. 44:42 And He wants to equip and empower us. 44:44 Verse 28, 44:46 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? 44:50 The everlasting God, 44:51 the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 44:55 He neither faints nor is weary. 44:57 His understanding, it is unsearchable." 45:01 Here it comes. 45:03 "He gives power to the weak, 45:05 and to those who have no might He increases strength." 45:11 You need strength. 45:12 Do you need bite? 45:13 Do you need victory? 45:15 Do you need deliverance in your life today? 45:18 Turn your eyes to your Almighty omnipotent Creator God 45:23 who's reaching down just now and says, 45:26 "I will equip you, I will stand you up, 45:29 I will give you strength." 45:31 Finally, lesson number four, 45:33 waiting on God 45:34 increases your power and strength. 45:37 Verse 30, 45:38 "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 45:42 the young men, they're going to fall. 45:44 But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. 45:50 They will mount up with wings like eagles, 45:53 they shall run and not be weary, 45:55 they shall walk and not faint." 45:58 Today, I want to encourage you 45:59 to turn your attention 46:01 to your omnipotent creator, God, 46:04 your omniscient God 46:06 who knows and sees and who can do everything. 46:09 And He will lift you up from the dust 46:11 and set you up and strengthen you 46:13 for what He's called you to do. 46:16 Amen. Well, praise the Lord! 46:17 I feel like I've had church, 46:19 and this way we should when we study the Word of God. 46:21 So that's certainly an encouragement 46:22 for each and every one of you. 46:24 Thank you. 46:25 And we need to continue on with Thursday's lesson. 46:29 And again, 46:30 all the beauty of building up and lifting up Jesus, 46:32 it's wonderful. 46:34 But sometime we go back to the... 46:35 It's caused by the problem with idolatry. 46:37 There's these lessons. 46:39 So there is a problem here that we have to deal with. 46:41 I see a God in this lesson, I see a God of justice, 46:43 I see a God of judgment, I see a God of mercy. 46:46 I'm hearing God of love and a God, you know, 46:48 teachings and rebukes and counsel, 46:50 but also idolatry ruins our relationship with Christ. 46:54 So it's something, sometime that we have to, you know, 46:56 you stick in there 46:58 among all this beautiful evangelism 46:59 and winning souls for Christ 47:01 and the love of God is wonderful. 47:02 But we need to realize idolatry, 47:04 because it's prevalent today. 47:06 And it's in and around and among God's people. 47:09 It's Thursday's lesson, What is idolatry? 47:11 I looked in Webster's just simply said, 47:13 to worship of idol, excessive devotion, 47:17 or reverence to some person or thing. 47:21 Now notice what is an idol? 47:23 An image of something, even of a God, notice this, 47:26 used as an object of worship, applied to any heathen deity, 47:32 something given excessive devotion. 47:35 And so certainly we go back, where does all this come from, 47:38 we come back to Exodus 20:4-5. 47:40 Notice what the Bible says, 47:42 "Thou shall not make into the, " what? 47:44 "Any graven image, or any likeness of anything 47:47 that is in heaven above, 47:48 that is in the earth beneath 47:50 or that is in the water underneath the earth." 47:52 Verse 5, 47:54 "Thou shall not bow down thyself to them." 47:57 Here's where it gets in. Now it gets heavy. 47:59 "Nor serve them, for I the Lord God, 48:01 am a jealous God, 48:04 visiting the iniquity of the fathers," 48:06 notice this, 48:07 "upon the children 48:08 and the third and the fourth generation 48:10 that hate me." 48:11 Now remember, idolatry does what? 48:13 It destroys our personal relationship 48:15 or intimate relationship with God 48:18 that's been established here 48:20 that we need an intimate relationship with Him. 48:22 But by idol worship, 48:24 then we're trying to replace God 48:26 with something else. 48:27 The prophet, you know, 48:29 we talked about that referred to idol 48:30 as spiritual adultery. 48:33 This is pretty heavy duty, is it not? 48:34 Jeremiah 3:6-9, 48:36 and we'll just kind of hit the highlights of this 48:38 because of our time. 48:39 Jeremiah 3:6-9, the Bible says, 48:42 "Thou has seen that 48:43 which backsliding Israel hath done?" 48:46 Remember, we're not just talking about, 48:47 not just I put this in, 48:49 we're not just talking about the world 48:50 and the things that are in the world 48:52 and what the world is doing. 48:53 We're talking about daughters of Zion. 48:55 We're talking about God's people. 48:57 These things are in prevalent among us, 48:58 we might do all the other things 49:00 you're saying is wonderful and good, 49:01 but we have to follow up. 49:02 We have to get ourselves in line 49:04 with the Word of God 49:05 even in things as little may be distasteful to someone. 49:07 We don't want to hear it. 49:09 Notice backsliding Israel. 49:10 She played, notice it, Israel played the harlot. 49:13 She committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 49:16 Interesting. 49:17 Ezekiel comes by. 49:19 Ezekiel 16:15-19 49:21 simply put it this way, simply put. 49:23 God's people played, once again the harlot, 49:25 she decked herself, notice this, 49:27 with colors, with jewels, and with gold, 49:31 and made images of what? 49:33 Of man 49:34 and this commit whoredom with them. 49:36 That sounds heavy duty to me. 49:38 Isaiah 41:29 says, 49:40 "Behold, they are all vanity, 49:43 their works are nothing, their molted images are, " 49:47 notice this, "wind of confusion." 49:50 To worship an idol is to break the what? 49:52 The first commandment, is that not right? 49:55 "Thou shall have no other gods before Me." 49:59 So if an idol is intended to represent the true God. 50:03 And let's think back like, let's say the golden calf, 50:06 you remember that in Exodus 32:4-5. 50:09 Said the Lord rejects it as a likeness of himself. 50:13 Deuteronomy 4:15-19 tells us these verses. 50:17 Now don't corrupt yourself, 50:19 don't get involved in this by making it graven images. 50:23 Notice this, not of God, 50:24 men and women, beast, the Bible says, 50:27 or fowl, fish, 50:29 anything that creepeth upon the ground, 50:31 this gets pretty personal, we'll get, hopefully, 50:33 a little bit clearer here in just a moment. 50:35 Notice, of the sun or the moon, or the stars 50:37 don't do any of that kind of stuff. 50:40 The problem God says is be careful that 50:42 you do not worship them, or you do not what? 50:46 Serve them. Deuteronomy 4:19. 50:49 So what kind of idolatry we could say do we face in, 50:53 maybe, in our church today or do we? 50:56 I think it's a legitimate question. 50:58 Signs of the Times 126, in 1882 makes this statement, 51:03 "Many who bear the name of Christians 51:05 are serving other gods. 51:07 Besides the Lord, 51:08 our Creator demands our supreme devotion, 51:12 and our first allegiance. 51:14 Anything thus trends to abate our love for God 51:18 or to interfere with His service due him, 51:22 oh, my, notice it, becomes therefore an idol. 51:26 It's just that simple. 51:27 We know that it's simple, 51:29 but you know, you have to have milk 51:30 and then you'll be able to chew on the meat. 51:32 So we got to get to it so we can understand it. 51:34 Several forms of idolatry, and then, you know what? 51:38 It could be money, houses and land 51:39 or anything we put before God, 51:40 we've got that 51:42 and the council's on stewardship. 51:45 Notice this, it says, 2:23, 51:47 just make some statements here talking about, 51:49 notice this, demon worship, 51:51 so we're looking at several things that could be, 51:53 demon what? 51:55 Demon worship. 51:56 It's in here is very, very important, 51:57 that we look at and say, 51:59 "You know what? 52:00 We don't want anything to do with that at all." 52:02 Covetousness is a form of what? 52:04 Of idolatry. 52:07 We're talking about demon worship, 52:09 and we're talking about, you know, we're thinking, 52:10 we're communicating with the dead. 52:12 We have to be very careful with that. 52:14 Disregarding the fourth precept of the Decalogue results in 52:19 and you read that in prophecy, Kings 182. 52:22 This gets to things people don't want to hear. 52:24 It's about, we gamble, we do horse racing 52:27 and different things like that, 52:28 it says right here 52:29 is a species of Fundamental of Education 312, 52:35 and goes on to say, 52:37 much more importance is placed on holidays. 52:39 Now we were entering that season so, you know, 52:41 importance of holidays here 52:42 Fundamental of Education says here, 52:44 we have to be... 52:45 Now remember, it's not saying holiday, 52:47 it said too much importance upon that. 52:49 Ornaments, as a species. 52:51 That's kind of, 52:52 you don't think about ornaments as a species of it, 52:55 and we're talking about jewelry, 52:56 and we're talking about idols, we're talking... 52:58 You know, in fact, the Bible talks about jewelry, 53:00 it talks about, it says it calls it filth. 53:03 Now most people don't want to hear that, 53:05 but I just say it, well, we need to hear it 53:06 because we have to make a decision. 53:08 If the Bible says it's filth, then it's filth. 53:10 The Bible says that it's an idol, 53:12 then it's an idol. 53:13 If it's called a strange God in the Word of God, 53:15 Isaiah Chapter 3, 53:17 you can look at that for sure, 3 and 4. 53:18 You can look at it in Jeremiah Chapter 4, read it. 53:21 Hosea 2:13, 53:23 you can read about it there also. 53:24 Revelation 17:4, you can read about there. 53:27 You can read about it in 1 Timothy, 53:29 what is it, 2:9-10, you can read it there. 53:31 You can read in 1 Peter 3:1-4. 53:33 I know that's a lot. 53:34 So I hope you're jotting it down. 53:36 It has a lot to say about these things. 53:37 And I'll go a little bit deeper with it, 53:39 because we're talking about... 53:41 And I'm glad everybody built up. 53:42 And we looked at name of Jesus, 53:44 but we're looking at something here. 53:45 Sunday observance, 53:46 after light has come on the true Sabbath, 53:50 it's a form of idolatry. 53:51 Fundamentals of Education 287. 53:54 Now quickly, picture taking, 53:55 I hear about a lot about that picture taking, 53:59 it's a species of 54:00 and that's the Council's Stewardship, 54:03 Message to Young People, 316. 54:06 Picture taking is carried to extravagant. 54:08 Now here, length and encourages a species of idolatry. 54:12 I know anybody don't want to hear that 54:13 because that's all we do. 54:15 A lot of time we go around, we're taking pictures. 54:16 We're letting saying, you know, blah-blah... 54:18 Didn't say anything was wrong with that, 54:20 it's talking about overdone. 54:21 Is that okay to say that? 54:22 When it's overdone, it's a species of idolatry. 54:25 Whether we say that is or not God's Word has said, 54:27 and Spirit of Prophecy makes it very, very clear. 54:30 All this means 54:31 that we are invested in publications, 54:33 notice this, which would direct the souls of Christ 54:37 and away from Him. 54:39 We don't want to do that. 54:40 I know we don't. 54:42 Our time's running out now here. 54:43 But let's just, a couple more here real quick 54:45 'cause I want you to study these things 54:46 because it's very important. 54:48 It'd be nice, Pastor John mentioned lot of times, 54:50 it's nice to know about the horns. 54:51 It's nice to know about the beast. 54:52 It's nice to know about the mark of the beast. 54:54 It's nice to know about the image of the beast 54:55 and all these things here. 54:56 But if we don't understand this, 54:58 is it possible we could be lost, 55:00 any truth that's in the Word of God 55:02 once we understand, 55:03 what the Bible has to say about? 55:05 Absolutely, it's a testing truth, 55:06 there's no doubt about it. 55:08 Self-dependence is idolatry. 55:11 Trusting in self for salvation is idolatry. 55:14 A false concept of God is what? 55:17 Is idolatry. 55:20 If we worship Jehovah or Baal, the living God, 55:23 or would you worship an idol? 55:25 Millions know 55:26 and we need to know the attributes of God. 55:28 And we've been learning this on this panel. 55:31 This quote quickly deals 55:32 with the second commandment and pictures, 55:34 Historical Sketches of SDA Missions, it says, 55:37 "A few condemned pictures 55:38 urging that they are prohibited by the second commandment." 55:41 I hear a lot of this going on all the time. 55:43 But notice, what it says here is, 55:45 "The second commandment prohibits image worship, " 55:47 example, but, notice this, Ellen White said, 55:50 "But God Himself employed pictures and symbols 55:53 to represent to the prophets lessons, 55:55 which he would have them to give 55:57 to the people, which then," 55:59 notice this, 56:00 "could be better understood 56:01 than if given in any other way." 56:04 I want to balance it. 56:05 I like to bounce in the Word of God here, 56:07 example, quickly, said, 56:09 prophetic history presented by Daniel and John, 56:12 they did it in symbols 56:14 that we who read might understand it. 56:16 And I think that's what we need a little bit today. 56:18 Dig in the Word of God. 56:20 Amen. 56:21 Praise the Lord. 56:23 Got to be careful about the selfies. 56:24 We got to watch out from the selfies, right? 56:27 Let's get some final thoughts as we're preparing to close. 56:31 I don't even think about that I was engrossed. 56:34 I guess that 56:35 what I just want to think about is God's presence, God's Word 56:40 is part of His covenant promises to us. 56:44 So do your roadwork. 56:47 That's repentance. 56:48 And God will be restored in your life. 56:51 I think the heart of evangelism is Romans 10:14-17. 56:55 I love the way that Paul says it. 56:57 "How then shall they call on Him 56:59 in whom they have not believed? 57:00 And how shall they believe in Him 57:02 of whom they have not heard? 57:03 And how shall they hear without a preacher? 57:05 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? 57:07 As it is written, 57:09 'How beautiful are the feet of those 57:10 who preach the gospel of peace, 57:12 who bring glad tidings of good news!' 57:15 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. 57:17 For Isaiah says, 57:19 'The Lord, who has believed our report?' " 57:23 So then faith comes by hearing, 57:25 and hearing by the word of God. 57:26 Amen. 57:28 Isaiah 41:10, 57:29 "Fear not, I am with you. 57:30 Be not dismayed, I am your God." 57:32 God wants to strengthen and help you just now. 57:35 Quickly. 57:36 It says our choice will be the same 57:38 as it was in the days of Israel, 57:39 for in the end, we always worship something. 57:43 Praise the Lord! 57:44 I have to call the fire department. 57:46 Getting hot on this panel. Praise the Lord. 57:48 We hope that you have enjoyed this study today. 57:50 I know I have. 57:51 And I can't wait to, 57:53 we mount up like eagle's wings, right, 57:55 and fly off into the comfort of Jesus Christ. 57:58 We thank you all so much for joining us 57:59 each and every week. 58:01 Come back next week, 58:02 we're going to be diving into lesson number nine. 58:06 We'll see you right back here again. 58:07 God bless. |
Revised 2021-02-18