Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000007
|
00:30 Hello, I'm Lance Wilbur. And I'm Dwayne Lemon.
00:32 And we like to welcome you again to TKS, 00:35 the True Knowledge of Self 00:37 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:41 Now, in our last episode, 00:42 we dealt with a subject of True Knowledge of Self, 00:47 a biblical knowledge of self 00:49 verses other concepts and ideas 00:51 in these ideas of knowledge of self 00:54 in the hip-hop culture and elsewhere. 00:56 And we saw that 00:57 this counterfeit knowledge of self 01:00 is rooted in Lucifer who became Satan. 01:04 And we saw that this theme of self exaltation, 01:07 the idea that created beings 01:10 can become God or greater than God 01:13 is what corrupts us to the very core. 01:15 And we saw in contrast 01:17 that a biblical knowledge of self 01:18 as we saw defined in many verses, 01:20 but specifically John 17:3. 01:23 It says, "And this is life eternal, 01:26 that they might know thee the only true God 01:29 and Jesus Christ who now has sent." 01:31 A knowledge of God 01:33 and his righteousness and his greatness 01:35 and his glory actually gives us 01:37 a true understanding of who we are in contrast 01:41 and shows us a way 01:43 in which we can now become like God 01:45 the way that he intended. 01:46 Now, Dwayne again we're back and we're discussing 01:52 and going to kind of the next transition, 01:54 the next point in our journey, 01:57 and we're ascertaining the cause. 01:59 We're figuring out 02:00 what is the cause of these problems. 02:03 We talked about the problems enough, 02:05 and we saw that the Bible has something 02:06 in contrast to that, 02:07 but we're now looking at what is the cause. 02:10 Does the Bible define 02:12 because it's one thing to say here's a problem 02:14 but then, it's another thing to show you 02:16 how and why the problem exists 02:18 because there's no way essentially 02:20 to reverse the problem or to have a remedy 02:23 without figuring out what caused it 02:25 because God is not just interested 02:27 in providing maintenance or therapy. 02:29 God wants complete restoration, 02:32 total restoration of his image in mankind. 02:37 That's right and you know 02:38 one of the things to think about is 02:40 you know, we all have problems. 02:41 It doesn't matter if we're black or white. 02:43 It doesn't matter if we're male or female, 02:45 young or old. 02:46 If we find that there is one common denominator 02:48 between all humanity is that we all have problems. 02:51 And those problems are manifested 02:53 in different ways. 02:54 Sometimes, the problems 02:55 are manifested through relationships. 02:57 The other times, 02:59 they are manifested through environment. 03:01 Other times, they are manifested 03:02 through health, occupation, and the list goes on. 03:05 We all have problems, 03:07 but the Bible lets us know something. 03:08 Now, the Bible doesn't use the word problem, 03:10 but the word that the Bible uses 03:12 at least in the King James Version 03:14 is a word called, Curse. 03:16 There are many people always say, 03:17 you know our world is cursed, you know this is curse, 03:20 and that is cursed, and so on and sometimes people say, 03:22 our relationships, our homes are cursed 03:24 and the list goes on, 03:25 but the Bible presents a picture 03:28 that we would do well to understand 03:30 is found in the book of Proverbs 26:2. 03:33 It's a type of language, this use is very interesting. 03:36 Solomon says, "As the bird by wandering, 03:41 and as the swallow by flying," 03:43 it says, "so the curse causeless shall not come." 03:49 Now, it's very natural for a bird 03:50 to wander from place to place. 03:52 Is very natural for swallow to fly from place to place, 03:56 so it is that the Bible says is very natural 03:58 that a curse never comes without a cause. 04:01 So when a person identifies a curse, 04:03 whether it's taking place in their home, 04:05 whether it's taking place in their environment, 04:07 when it's taking place in their occupations, 04:09 when it's taking place even with their health. 04:10 In all cases, 04:12 a curse never comes without a cause. 04:14 So therefore, the logical thing to do 04:17 is to ascertain the cause. 04:19 Once you can ascertain the cause, 04:21 it has been found in many respects 04:22 that the cure is typically in the cause. 04:26 Real side note on this, 04:27 but I remember talking with a lady 04:28 she was sick 04:30 and she had specifically high blood pressure, 04:32 and you know, one of the things 04:33 that I was talking with her about as I said, 04:35 you know, "Tell me what you're eating," 04:36 because you know, most people think of salt 04:38 when they think of high blood pressure. 04:40 This lady said, "I'm not eating any salt," 04:42 but then she said, 04:43 "But I'm eating a lot of black and white pepper." 04:46 She says she uses black and white pepper 04:48 for everything in the food. 04:49 Well, it turns out that scientifically, 04:51 it is proven that black and white pepper 04:54 is actually a stimulus to the blood 04:56 to the point that it can actually be 04:57 a cause for hypertension. 05:00 She didn't know that. 05:01 So therefore, what did she do? 05:02 She started to eliminate the usage 05:04 that high usage of all that black and white pepper, 05:07 she made some lifestyle changes and within a few weeks, 05:10 her blood pressure was regulated. 05:11 That's the idea. 05:13 The cure is typically in the cause. 05:14 Once you understand the cause, 05:16 you can more than likely find your cure 05:18 for that problem. 05:19 And so it is that we all have problems. 05:22 So the question is, what's the cause? 05:24 And then once we can ascertain that cause, 05:26 perhaps by God's grace, he can show us the cure. 05:28 Yeah. 05:29 So therefore, that's the question 05:31 that now I want to pose to you 05:32 is do you have an idea 05:34 of what may be the very cause 05:35 of all these problems that we had. 05:37 You had problems growing up, I had problems growing up. 05:40 People we talk to all the time, they have problems. 05:43 So we know that humanity has problems. 05:45 The question is, 05:46 what is the cause of all these problems? 05:48 Yeah, and I believe that the Bible is very clear, 05:51 again, we don't want to just manufacture 05:53 responses and answers. 05:55 Right. The Bible gives an answer. 05:57 And so, when we're talking about this subject. 05:59 What is the root cause? 06:01 We understood that the war started in heaven, 06:02 we established that in Revelation Chapter 12 06:04 and then, we established the fact 06:06 that it came to the earth and now has affected humanity. 06:09 Well, where do we see that account in the Bible, 06:12 and it begins in Genesis Chapter 3, 06:14 almost at the very beginning and it's best oftentimes, 06:17 when we want to figure out something 06:19 or figure out a principle, 06:20 go to the first place that you see it... 06:22 That's right. 06:24 Come up in the Bible... Deal with the root. 06:25 Right, begin at the beginning as they say. 06:27 So in Genesis Chapter 3, 06:30 this chapter is dealing with the fall of humanity, 06:33 and we're going to just highlight 06:34 a few verses again and focus in on the actual, 06:38 the action of the fall 06:40 because we're talking about the root cause of the problem, 06:42 what happened that brought the problems 06:43 and brought these broken relationships 06:45 and things into our room, 06:48 and we look at verse 6 in Genesis 3, 06:52 and we're just looking at verse 6 and then, 06:54 we're going to go all the way down to verse 9. 06:57 Genesis 3:6-9, and I'm going to read those. 07:02 It said, "And when the woman saw 07:04 that the tree was good for food, 07:07 and that it was pleasant to the eyes, 07:10 and a tree to be desired to make one wise, 07:13 she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, 07:16 and gave also answer her husband with her, 07:18 and he did eat." 07:20 It's talking about Adam and Eve. 07:21 It says, "And the eyes of them both were opened. 07:24 And they knew that they were naked, 07:26 and they sewed fig leaves together, 07:27 and made themselves aprons. 07:29 And they heard the voice of the Lord God 07:31 walking in the garden in the cool of the day: 07:33 And Adam and his wife hid themselves 07:36 from the presence of the Lord God 07:37 amongst the trees of the garden. 07:39 And the Lord God called on to Adam, and said unto him, 07:44 "Where art thou?" 07:46 It is a profound and deep question 07:49 and you can go on and on 07:50 about some of the intricacies of the verse, 07:52 but essentially, as soon as Adam and Eve 07:59 broke their relationship with God 08:01 through breaking their agreement, 08:02 they did exactly the opposite of what God commanded 08:06 to not eat of the tree 08:08 of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 08:10 They ate of it. 08:12 And when they did, everything was broken. 08:16 Everything was shattered, 08:18 and we saw as those things that we highlighted, 08:20 problems in those various areas, 08:22 the relationships were broken. 08:24 God's relationship with man was broken 08:26 because now when he came, 08:27 they fled and hid themselves from God. 08:30 That's right. 08:31 Their relationship with each other was broken 08:33 and when you see that later on 08:35 as there is now disagreement and contention 08:40 and strife and insecurity... 08:42 Even brothers killing brothers. Right. 08:44 Genesis Chapter 4, goes right into that fact, 08:46 human relationships are now broken. 08:48 Man's relationship with his environment is broken 08:51 and the rest of God's creation, remember, 08:54 God commanded mankind to have dominion over the earth 08:59 to subdue it not to persecute it 09:03 or to abuse it, 09:04 but to live harmoniously with his creation... 09:07 As a faithful student. 09:08 That's right, a caretaker and one sin comes in, 09:12 that relationship is affected and broken. 09:14 We see that man is now fleeing, is cast out of his home 09:20 as you go on to see in Genesis Chapter 3, 09:23 and there's all kinds of problems 09:25 and degrading in every level. 09:28 Man's health degrades. 09:29 Remember the word of God was that, 09:31 "If you eat it in the day that thou eat there of, 09:34 you will surely die." 09:37 Death was not in existence on the earth. 09:39 Now, that sin comes into the earth, 09:41 this transgression if you will this, this cause, this curse, 09:46 death is the result. 09:47 The human body, the human mind 09:50 now has the capacity not to grow. 09:53 Well, I still have the capacity to grow 09:54 but not to perpetually grow, 09:56 but to degrade into the point of actual physical death. 10:00 So every aspect of man's existence now 10:03 is affected negatively by sin. 10:05 And again, we talked about this idea of mental slavery 10:09 that if I follow a religion of God in heaven 10:13 and follow the religion of the Bible 10:14 that this is a form of slavery, it's a form of the deception, 10:19 and I am the one 10:20 that is going to control my own destiny, 10:22 and I am God in myself. 10:24 Well, it's really a greater deception. 10:28 We saw it in the case of Lucifer. 10:30 We saw it in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, 10:32 we saw in the case of Herod. 10:35 The Bible comments on kind of this fundamental principle 10:38 in the book of Romans. 10:39 So I actually want to turn there now 10:41 in direct our attention to Romans 6, 10:44 Romans 6 in the New Testament, 10:46 and we're looking at verse 16, and I'm going to read that. 10:52 Romans 6:16. 10:54 It says, "Know ye not, 10:56 that whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, 11:00 his servants ye are to whom you obey, 11:04 whether of sin unto death, 11:06 or of obedience unto righteousness?" 11:09 Notice, there's simply two options, sin, 11:14 following sin which will lead to death, 11:16 slavery or bondage to sin which will lead to death 11:19 or service to God, obedience which leads to righteousness. 11:24 It's an automatic cause and effect. 11:27 If I follow transgression or sin, 11:29 then it will lead to death. 11:31 If I follow obedience, 11:32 it will automatically lead to righteousness, 11:35 and God is putting before us this very choice. 11:37 Now, I keep using these words sin, transgression 11:41 and looking at this is the curse in the cause, 11:43 thus the Bible gives a definition, 11:47 a basic clear definition of what sin is 11:49 when we talk about sin. 11:51 What is sin? 11:52 Okay, now, I'm glad you asked that question 11:53 because thus far, what I'm seeing 11:55 you bring out in your point 11:56 is really, really important for our viewers to understand 11:59 is that when we look at this issue of sin 12:03 being the cause root of A, B, C problems in life. 12:06 It's amazing how truth by default eliminates lies. 12:10 Right. 12:12 Because there are individuals who try to say 12:13 the white man is the cause of our problems, 12:16 especially in aspects of hip-hop culture. 12:18 There are some who say the black man or the Indian man 12:20 and they point at races and different creeds 12:23 and so on to say these are the reasons 12:24 why we're going through oppression, 12:26 slavery, and bondage, but the Bible says, "No." 12:28 The Bible deals with the issue of sin, sin is the problem. 12:31 And until, we deal with the sin problem, 12:33 these other problems are not going to go away. 12:35 They're just going to shape shift 12:36 and that's why the most important thing 12:39 whenever someone wants to make a nation better, 12:41 when they want to make a church better, 12:42 when they want to make a community better 12:44 or a home better, we have to deal with the things 12:46 that cause them not to be better 12:48 and when we clearly understand that 12:49 and that is sin, then now we know where our battle is. 12:53 Our battle is not with white, black and this that, the other 12:56 'cause it's not dealing with pigmentation of skin. 12:58 Our issue is with the issue of sin, sin is the problem. 13:00 Right. 13:01 And you clearly pointed that out. 13:02 So naturally, like you said, it now puts us in a position, 13:05 we need to define, what is sin. 13:07 Yeah. We have to define it. 13:09 Now, there are some beautiful ways to do this. 13:11 The Bible spells it out in 1 John 3:4. 13:14 This is the clearest biblical explanation 13:17 on what sin is. 13:19 You can go to people, you ask them, 13:20 "Hey, what is sin." 13:21 They say, "Well, you know, it's not doing God's will 13:23 or it's doing this bad thing or that thing." 13:25 Right. 13:27 I believe, let's go to the horse's mouth, 13:28 let's find out from God what did he say sin was. 13:30 The Bible says in 1 John 3:4. 13:33 It says, "Whosoever committed sin 13:36 transgresseth also the law: 13:39 For sin is the transgression of the law." 13:42 It's the breaking of the law of God. 13:44 Yeah. 13:45 Now, there was approximately 613 laws in all the Bible. 13:48 So, some of them were ceremonial, 13:49 some of them were hygienic, some of them were health laws, 13:52 some of them were moral laws and sacrificial laws. 13:55 So the question is well, which one? 13:57 How do you know which law it is that if we break it, it is sin. 14:01 Well, the Bible tells us in Romans 7 Chapter which one. 14:04 When you go to Romans the 7 Chapter, 14:06 you find that Paul, 14:08 he expresses it very, very clearly 14:09 so that we don't have to miss it. 14:11 In Romans the 7:7, here is what it says, 14:14 "What shall we say then? 14:16 Is the law sin? God forbid. 14:19 Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: 14:22 For I had not known lust. 14:24 Except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'" 14:28 So whatever law that says, "Thou shalt not covet," 14:32 is the same law that if we break it, it is sin. 14:35 Now, anybody can go to Exodus 20 and of course, 14:37 when you look at verse 17, the Tenth Commandment, 14:40 that's the command that says, "Thou shalt not covet." 14:42 Now, James Chapter 2 introduces a thought about this 14:46 that becomes very important to us. 14:48 In James 2, it tells us this, and these are the key things 14:52 because remember, we have problems, 14:55 we want our problems to go away, 14:56 our problems can't go away by smoking weed. 14:59 Our problems can't go away 15:00 by blinking our minds off from the world 15:01 and trying to go to a club so we can zoom out for a minute 15:04 as we dance on the dance floor and once the club is over, 15:06 you're going to go right back home to your... 15:07 It's misery. Yeah. 15:09 And our problems cannot be found in sex. 15:11 Sex is pleasure for a moment, but then after that, 15:13 there's still a down spiral. 15:15 Pleasures can't even be found in money. 15:17 Ask any millionaire who killed himself. 15:19 You can you can look at the issues of life 15:21 and money is not answering the questions. 15:23 Sex is not answering the question. 15:24 All these things are not answering it. 15:25 Yeah. 15:27 So therefore, we ascertain the cause, 15:28 the issue is sin, 15:29 but we need to define what sin is so that hopefully, 15:31 we can know how we can get victory over it. 15:33 That's going to be the key. Right. 15:35 So we look at 1 John 3:4, 15:36 sin is the breaking of God's law. 15:39 Which law? 15:40 There is a whole bunch of them in the Bible. 15:41 Well, we go to Romans 7:7. 15:43 It says, "That I had not known lust, 15:45 except the law," 15:47 that if I break it a sin said, "Thou shalt not covet." 15:50 What law is that? You go to Exodus 20. 15:53 You look at verse 17, "Thou shalt not covet." 15:55 That's the Ten Commandments. 15:57 Oh, so the law that if I break it 15:59 the Bible calls it sin are the Ten Commandments. 16:03 Now, we're going to the Book of James 16:04 because James tells us something 16:06 in relation to those Ten Commandments. 16:08 It's says in James 2, right here at verse 8, it says, 16:12 and we're going to look at verses 8-11. 16:15 It says, "If ye fulfill the royal law 16:18 according to the scripture, 16:19 thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, 16:21 ye do well: 16:22 But if you have respect to persons, ye commit sin, 16:26 and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 16:28 For whoever shall keep the whole law, 16:31 and yet offend in one point," it says, "he is guilty of all. 16:38 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, 16:40 said also, Do not kill. 16:41 Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, 16:43 thou art become a transgressor of the law." 16:46 So the standard is high. The standard is very high. 16:49 God says that he is trying to establish a people 16:52 that will be in total harmony with his law 16:55 and when you and I look back at our lives, 16:56 we may say, "Oh, I never murdered." 16:58 But here it is, we may have committed adultery. 17:00 The adultery, the person says, 17:01 "Well, I've never murdered or committed adultery," 17:03 but may be they told a lie and they bear false witness. 17:05 So we all can find ourselves guilty of this, 17:08 and this is why the Bible tells us 17:10 in Romans 3:23 that, 17:12 "All have sinned, 17:15 and come short of the glory of God." 17:16 That's a problem. Yes. 17:18 That's a problem because all of us have sinned 17:21 which means all of us has violated God's law 17:23 at some point in our lives, and therefore, 17:26 we are now under the death penalty. 17:28 Because the Bible says that once we have sinned 17:30 and come short of the glory of God, the Roman 6:23 says, 17:33 "The wage of sin is death." 17:35 The payment for sin is death. 17:36 Right, as it was at the beginning, 17:38 that still stands. 17:39 I can't...I can walk as many people 17:40 across the street 17:42 as I want who cannot walk themselves, 17:43 it is a good deed, but it cannot pay the debt. 17:46 I can go ahead and I can help 17:47 as many homeless people as possible, 17:49 it's a good deed, but it cannot pay the debt. 17:51 So I can do all sorts of great things, good actions, 17:54 wonderful deeds, but at the end of the day, 17:56 it doesn't pay the debt. 17:58 The Bible says, "The payment for sin is death. 18:00 You've got to die." 18:02 And this is why the story of the Gospel 18:04 becomes so powerful because it says, 18:06 "For God so loved the world 18:08 that He gave His only begotten Son 18:11 that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, 18:14 but have everlasting life." 18:16 So seeing that we can't... we have the death penalty. 18:20 Yes sir. 18:21 The standard is set high 18:23 in fact, God sets Himself up as the standard, 18:25 and He shows us in contrast to Him 18:28 that we do not need it and therefore, 18:32 we require the penalty of death. 18:34 That's right. 18:35 So then, the natural question is, 18:37 does God give a way to escape? 18:39 And you just highlighted the point, and I think, 18:41 we're going to spend a whole entire program 18:44 dealing with this solution for the great problem of sin 18:48 because that is the ultimate problem. 18:50 All these things that you talked about 18:52 in the materialism and the material things 18:54 and let's not be confused, 18:56 there's nothing wrong with being happy... 18:59 Absolutely. ..or pleasure... 19:00 That's right. 19:01 ..or God doesn't mean, to follow God, 19:03 you have to be poor. 19:04 You know, some certain things, 19:06 there's nothing inherently wrong with them. 19:08 But as they become corrupted through the human mind 19:11 and we begin to abuse these things, 19:14 it leads to destruction and it leads to death. 19:16 Now, one of the things I really like about 19:19 what you just said and also how you know 19:21 we're trying to emphasize is in this program, 19:23 we know that there's something called fanaticism. 19:25 You know, extremes where people go too far 19:28 on one side or the other, 19:30 it's very clear, that's not our mission. 19:32 Our mission is not to try to tell people 19:34 you cannot be happy 19:36 or you cannot enjoy some things in life, 19:38 have "fun," by no means are we saying that, 19:41 by any means or any stretch of the imagination. 19:43 In fact, think of the words of Jesus, you know, 19:45 most people don't consider 19:47 why does Jesus even give us the commands that he gives us. 19:50 You ever think about that? What about... 19:51 Why does he give us these commands? 19:53 Watch this, John 15 chapter. 19:55 This is just to prove that God is not on a mission 19:58 to make us unhappy 19:59 when he gives us commands and instructions 20:01 and all these things 20:02 because notice what the Bible says 20:04 in John the 15 Chapter, talking about Jesus. 20:06 In John 15:11. 20:08 This is Jesus, this is Him speaking 20:10 and all these teachings, all these concepts, 20:13 all these ideas 20:14 that He is presenting these commands 20:16 to His disciples, 20:17 here is the reason why He did it. 20:19 Okay. 20:20 John 15:11, "These things have I spoken unto you. 20:24 That my joy may remain in you, 20:28 and that your joy might be full." 20:32 Have you ever wonder what a person looks like 20:33 when their joy is full. 20:35 Yes. They're joyful. 20:37 You know, what I'm saying? 20:39 In other words, this is what God was doing. 20:41 So when God gives a command, 20:43 it is not that it should be received as grievous, 20:45 but it should be understood. 20:47 God is saying, "I'm trying to look out for you. 20:49 I'm trying to extend mercy to you." 20:51 I mean think about it, sexually transmitted diseases, 20:54 broken relationships, parenting over children 20:57 that we were not ready to be parents to 21:00 and a lot of these problems 21:01 that affect society, affect us in urban youth, 21:04 affect us even in the hip-hop culture, 21:06 do you know one commandment 21:07 could help protect us from that, 21:09 is called, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 21:12 I mean if you think about that to a very large degree... 21:15 Yes. 21:16 ..sexually transmitted diseases 21:18 to...you know, 21:19 a lot of these problems that we see 21:21 broken relationships, broken homes, 21:22 the children being born, no father, no mother, 21:24 you know, and all this other stuff, 21:26 to a very large degree, 21:27 these things would be diminished 21:29 if we simply kept that commandment, 21:31 "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 21:33 So they are our benefit. They are for our benefit. 21:35 It's not that God is like, 21:36 "I'm trying to make your life miserable. 21:38 I want to punish you." 21:39 That's the last thing that's on God's mind. 21:41 God's saying, "Look, somebody is out to steal your joy. 21:43 I'm giving you these commands 21:44 because I want My joy to remain in you 21:46 and that your joy would be full." 21:48 God is terribly interested in our happiness, 21:52 but he understands that happiness never comes 21:54 when we live a rule-free life. 21:58 You go to any country where there's no rules 21:59 and you see chaos. 22:01 In the book of Judges, 22:02 the very last verse in the book of Judges. 22:05 It says, "Every man did 22:06 what was right in his own eyes." 22:08 And when you look at the condition of Israel, 22:10 they were in total absolute chaos. 22:13 So the idea that the less rules that I have in my life, 22:16 the less things that govern my life, 22:18 supposedly makes me a happier person 22:20 is an absolute lie. 22:22 Right. 22:23 And now, in contrast, 22:24 we're not talking about millions of rules. 22:26 Right. 22:27 God has very simple principles that are designed to follow, 22:29 and it's kind of like having children. 22:32 I have children, you have children, 22:34 we both have many children. 22:36 But all through one wife. That's right. 22:38 Amen. Amen. 22:39 All right. Keep going. 22:40 So little children when they're babies, infants or toddlers, 22:43 they begin to walk, crawl, 22:45 the level of hazard and danger increases, right? 22:48 When they're little infants, they can... 22:49 you can sit them down in a rocker 22:51 or a chair or something and they just sit there 22:53 and all you need to do is change them, feed them, 22:55 you know, comfort them once in a while, 22:57 but they're perfectly content, you know, 22:59 sitting there for the most part. 23:00 Yeah. 23:01 But as they start moving around and getting into things, 23:05 now there's a whole industry selling gates and locks and, 23:09 you know, protector, outlet covers 23:10 and all these things 23:12 because there's hazards, 23:13 they are ignorant to many things 23:15 and so you have to say, "Don't touch that. 23:17 Don't do that. 23:18 Don't put your hand to the fire. 23:20 Don't do this, don't do that," 23:21 and so there's a lot of don't do's. 23:22 And there's a lot of no, no, 23:25 but it's not designed to punish or to create misery, 23:28 it's actually designed to protect 23:29 and to strengthen and as you get older, 23:33 I don't have to be told, 23:34 "Hey, don't put your hand on the hot burner, 23:36 don't stick your hand inside the toaster." 23:39 You know, I don't have to be told that. 23:41 I know that you shouldn't do it and if I want to be happy, 23:45 then I'm going to keep my hand off of the flame. 23:47 That's right. 23:48 So the rules, we are not saying this, 23:51 you know, bludgeoning of rules and regulations, 23:54 as you mature, the rules become second nature. 23:59 They become natural to you. 24:01 So this is what God is looking for. 24:02 He's offering a situation and an agreement 24:05 as He gives us instruction, 24:09 He gives supernatural power now 24:11 where these things become natural 24:13 and we will be talking about God's grace and His mercy 24:16 and His love and His righteousness, 24:18 all these things. 24:19 Absolutely. 24:20 And this is why it gets very sweet man 24:22 because God was really trying to protect us 24:25 and to keep us 24:26 so that we don't fall into the tricks 24:28 and the traps of the devil, 24:29 so that we can have that happier life. 24:31 This is in contrast to what is taught primarily 24:34 through hip-hop culture. 24:36 It's, "Do what you want, do what you feel, 24:38 you are God at the end of the day, 24:39 so you get to call the shots, new age, 24:41 that's the same principle. 24:42 I mean it's all throughout the world, 24:44 this teaching, "Do what you want, 24:45 do what thou wilt, do what you feel," 24:47 and so on where God says, "No, there are laws, 24:49 there are governing powers that I've given to men," 24:53 and this is why the solution to all of these things 24:55 is in Matthew 24:14. 24:57 Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom 25:02 shall be preached in all the world 25:04 for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." 25:09 And you know, one of the things that comes to an end 25:10 when the Gospel is rightly given 25:12 and rightly receive? 25:13 What? Problems. 25:15 And that's the issue. We all have problems. 25:18 The root cause is sin. 25:19 God gave a solution called The Gospel 25:21 that can bring an end to the problems. 25:24 So therefore, God brings the gospel 25:26 because he says the gospel brings an end to sin 25:27 and when it brings an end to sin, 25:29 it brings an end to problems. 25:31 And this is why Satan is mad at the Gospel, 25:34 and he will create anything to try to shut it down. 25:36 And this is in the Bible. This is in the Bible, brother. 25:39 So we're not talking about just abstract, 25:41 we're not just here building and just making up stuff 25:44 as we go along, 25:45 we're not taking books from this person 25:47 or that man or this, this is from the Bible. 25:49 This is a faithful study of the scripture. 25:51 All right. 25:53 So we're using... 25:54 we're using the term the Gospel. 25:55 We know that essentially, basically in the Greek, 25:57 the word Gospel means good news, 25:59 if you will as people say, good news, 26:01 the delivering of the good news is the verb of that now. 26:04 So when we talk about the Gospel, 26:07 I believe we have to take the time 26:11 to identify which Gospel 26:14 because there's many gospels out there. 26:15 In fact, we were looking at some things, 26:17 and we saw that now 26:18 there's a 600-page book called the Gospel of Hip Hop. 26:21 That's correct. 26:22 That's authored by KRS One for the temple of hip-hop. 26:25 So there's the gospel of hip-hop, 26:27 there's the gospel of this, the gospel of that, 26:29 and we have to differentiate 26:32 between just the idea of a gospel, 26:34 the concept of gospel and the Biblical Gospel. 26:38 That's right. 26:39 And you know, it's a hard thing I'm sure because let's face it, 26:41 look, we are called to love and to respect all men 26:47 whether they hold the same religious views 26:49 that we do or not, but all religions, all men, 26:56 all churches cannot be right. 26:58 And this is why we have to ask because you go to them, 27:01 there's the gospel of hip-hop. 27:02 Then, there's the gospel of this, 27:04 there is a gospel of that, lots of gospels, 27:06 lots of good news messages, but they have to be qualified, 27:10 and this is why you're asking that question, which gospel? 27:12 Right. 27:13 Because we know that Jesus spoke about a gospel 27:15 that definitely can bring an end to problems 27:17 and an end to sin, but the question is, 27:19 does the gospel of hip-hop do it? 27:20 Does a gospel of this do it? 27:22 Or does the Gospel of the other do it? 27:23 So I think in our next session, 27:25 we are gonna have to really build on this idea 27:26 which gospel is it 27:28 that's designed to bring the end 27:30 not only to sin but to life's problems. 27:33 Absolutely amazing. 27:35 We're going to see what the Bible has to say, 27:37 which gospel are we to follow, 27:39 which Gospel are we talking about. 27:41 We thank you for joining us at TKS, 27:43 a True Knowledge of Self, 27:44 and we invite you to come back, invite a friend 27:48 and remind you Proverbs 2:6, it says, 27:52 "The Lord gives wisdom and out of His mouth 27:56 comes knowledge and understanding." 27:58 God bless you and hope you come and visit us again. |
Revised 2017-01-12