Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO210036S
|
00:29 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn
00:30 and welcome to 3ABN's Worship Hour. 00:34 Let me ask, 00:35 do you feel like you've lost your equilibrium? 00:38 Equilibrium, I love that word. 00:41 It is a state of emotional, intellectual 00:47 and spiritual balance. 00:51 Balance between opposing forces. 00:54 And you know, this last 13 months, 00:58 I have to admit 01:00 even three months before COVID began, 01:03 I lost my equilibrium 01:05 between the pain and injuries and surgeries 01:08 and everything that happened to me. 01:11 My equilibrium was shocked, 01:15 but God restored my balance. 01:20 Let me ask this also, 01:23 are you overwhelmed? 01:25 Do you feel anxious? 01:27 Do you feel that you are crushed by burdens 01:31 and you're grieving a loss? 01:34 Perhaps you're angry with God? 01:37 Maybe you're not even sure if He exists 01:40 or you may be one of these 01:42 who's at the church every time the doors are open, 01:46 but it's just cultural Christianity. 01:50 The good news is we can all start over. 01:57 God is the God of new beginnings. 02:00 Let me read this scripture. 02:02 Lamentations 3:22-23 says, 02:07 "Through the Lord's mercies, 02:09 we are not consumed 02:10 because his compassions fail not, 02:13 they are new every morning." 02:17 And then the author says, 02:19 "Oh, great is your faithfulness, 02:21 oh God." 02:23 His mercies are new every morning. 02:26 We all get a chance to start over. 02:28 I can't tell you 02:30 how many times I have started over. 02:33 God's given me a first, a second, a third, 02:36 a hundredth opportunity. 02:40 And somebody who's listening to my voice right now 02:43 needs to hear this. 02:45 What you are going through right now is a season. 02:51 It is not a destiny. 02:53 Let me repeat that. 02:54 You are going through a season of life. 02:58 That is not your destiny. 03:00 God has something better. 03:02 He can redeem you. He can redeem your time. 03:06 He will renew you 03:08 and reconcile you and restore you. 03:11 You can have hope and confidence 03:13 in the months and the years ahead 03:16 and experience wholeness and joy and peace 03:22 instead of panic. 03:24 So we hope that you will stay tuned today 03:27 because today's message is starting over. 03:32 Let's pray. 03:33 Heavenly Father, 03:35 we come to You in the name of Jesus. 03:38 Oh Lord, how we praise you? 03:39 How we thank you, Father God, for everything You've done. 03:43 We thank You for Your plan of salvation 03:46 by grace through faith. 03:48 We thank You, oh Lord, that salvation belongs to You 03:53 and that all we can do is accepted it, Father. 03:56 We thank You, Lord, 03:58 for being a God of new beginnings. 04:00 So we ask right now, 04:02 oh Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit, 04:06 by the power of Your Holy Spirit, 04:08 touch every heart that's listening. 04:11 And I ask in the name of Jesus, 04:13 Lord, You'll get me out of the way. 04:15 And, Lord, speak through me is my prayer 04:19 in Jesus' name. 04:20 Amen. 04:22 I was going to... 04:25 Well, we are. 04:26 We're going to talk about 1 Corinthians Chapter 15. 04:30 I think that's one of the most powerful chapters 04:34 in the whole Bible. 04:36 And yet it is one of the most ignored chapters 04:39 in the whole Bible. 04:40 And 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 explains so many things. 04:46 But before I can dive into that, 04:49 I want to lay a little groundwork 04:51 for you who have been in the church a long time. 04:54 This is not an unfamiliar story that we'll talk about, 04:59 but it's important. 05:00 And please listen, no matter how many times you've heard it, 05:03 listen and see if God gives you something new. 05:07 For those of you who don't know the story, 05:10 this will help explain 1 Corinthians Chapter 15. 05:16 You know when God created the earth, 05:20 He created everything. 05:22 And He says, "Oh, it's good." 05:24 Then he created mankind. 05:27 And He said, "Oh, it's very good." 05:31 When God created the world. 05:35 When people talk about the Big Bang theory, 05:37 they ask, do you believe in the Big Bang theory? 05:39 Yeah, I believe God spoke it 05:42 and bang it was there 05:44 'cause that's what the Bible tells us. 05:46 But when God created Adam, 05:51 He didn't speak. 05:53 He got down on His knees and it an intimate act. 05:58 He took dust. 06:00 He made a clay, He formed man. 06:04 Then He breathed into man. 06:07 Man was created. 06:09 Adam was created in the image of God. 06:12 God is love. 06:14 So Adam was created to be a being of love. 06:20 Love cannot be coerced. 06:24 Love by definition must be freely given 06:28 and freely received. 06:30 So what did our Creator do? 06:33 He gave mankind, humanity free will. 06:40 What we think about that sounds a little risky actually, 06:44 but God gave us the choice. 06:49 He gave Adam the choice 06:51 to love Him voluntarily, 06:56 to obey Him 06:58 out of a sense of love and loyalty. 07:01 And with divine self restraint, 07:04 God said, 07:06 "I'm going to restrain myself. 07:10 I'll try to influence you. 07:11 I'll do many good things for you. 07:13 But this is up to you. 07:15 Adam was created as a mortal being. 07:20 In other words, 07:22 he was not immortal, a mortal being. 07:28 He had a lifespan 07:30 and what God did was 07:31 give him access to the tree of life. 07:35 That's what kept Adam's life going. 07:39 And I know that Adam was a mortal being 07:42 because 1 Timothy 6:16 says, 07:46 "God alone has immortality at this time. 07:51 You and I are not immortal beings, 07:54 but the God of covenant love when He created Adam, 07:59 this was God's first covenant son. 08:05 The Bible actually says in Luke 3:38, 08:08 Adam, the son of God. 08:11 Now, here's the interesting thing. 08:15 Adam was the representative of all humanity. 08:19 He was set in the Garden of Eden 08:22 which, did you know Eden means pleasure. 08:24 God set His creation, 08:28 His creature in a garden of pleasure. 08:32 God had nothing, but good in mind for him. 08:35 And when He created him, 08:37 He says, oh, everything is very good. 08:40 Now, in Genesis 2:16, 08:43 before Eve was created, by the way, 08:47 God is speaking to Adam and He commands him. 08:51 And He says of every tree of the garden 08:54 you may freely eat. 08:56 Can you imagine this lush garden 08:58 with all of these beautiful fruit trees? 09:01 He said, 09:02 "Of every one of these you may eat, 09:05 but of the tree of the knowledge 09:09 of good and evil, 09:11 you shall not eat." 09:13 Let me just hit the pause button there. 09:16 Why did God give 09:20 Adam this command? 09:23 The tree of the knowledge of good and evil... 09:26 God didn't want Adam to try to decide 09:29 what was good for himself or what was evil. 09:32 He wanted him to trust Him to follow Him. 09:35 And this was a test if it were, 09:37 as it were to see if Adam would be loyal. 09:41 But, so God says, 09:43 "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 09:44 you shall not eat, 09:47 for in the day that you eat of it, 09:49 you shall surely die." 09:52 A test of his freewill. 09:54 Now what happens just very briefly, 09:57 the devil Satan 10:02 is in a creature now, the serpent, 10:07 and he's in the garden. 10:09 And now Eve's been created, Eve's looking upon this tree. 10:14 And the devil says to her, 10:16 "Did God really say that 10:18 you can't eat of any of these trees?" 10:19 Well, he's twisting God's word. 10:22 You know, Satan knows Scripture. 10:25 He knows God's Word. 10:26 And what he will do is 10:29 he will twist it to our destruction. 10:32 He will take Scripture 10:34 and then add just a little tiny twist to it 10:37 that completely changes everything. 10:40 Well, his mission is to get us to doubt God's love, 10:46 to doubt God's Word, 10:49 and to destroy our relationship with God. 10:52 As a matter of fact, 10:53 the accuser started this battle in heaven. 10:57 What he did is 10:58 he came before the heavenly councils 11:02 and he accused God of being selfish, 11:05 unjust, unloving. 11:09 And you know what? 11:10 This is what's so interesting. 11:12 There was a courtroom drama. 11:14 And some people say, 11:15 "Well, why if evil began with Satan, 11:18 why didn't God just cut him out right there? 11:22 Just zap him and get it over with." 11:25 Well, this was a battle that God could not do that 11:30 because if He did, 11:32 He couldn't disprove the slanderous remarks 11:36 that were being made against Him. 11:39 So He could not settle this case 11:43 by His divine power, 11:46 love to flourish involves trust. 11:50 And God had to see 11:53 that all of His created beings, 11:56 all of the angels and the beings of other worlds 11:58 would trust Him. 12:00 So what does God do? 12:02 He had to make a public demonstration 12:05 of His love and His justice. 12:08 So the interesting thing, 12:10 Adam and Eve used their free will. 12:15 I should say misused their free will 12:18 to reject God. 12:19 Now, Eve was deceived. 12:21 She was deceived by the devil. 12:24 And if hadn't gone any farther than Eve, 12:27 we really wouldn't be in trouble. 12:29 But Adam was the representative of humanity. 12:35 And as the representative of humanity, 12:39 he chose not just in a moral lapse, 12:43 but he chose to reject God's command, 12:50 probably because he wanted to hang on to Eve. 12:53 He deliberately turned away from God. 12:56 And what happened? 12:58 A cosmic conflict began, 13:01 the conflict over love 13:04 and God's government of self sacrificing love. 13:09 So this conflict is introduced on earth 13:12 and Adam, basically God had given Adam 13:15 authority to rule over the earth. 13:18 But when Adam chose to follow Satan, 13:21 he handed that authority over to Satan. 13:25 Now it's temporary. 13:28 It's for a set period of time. 13:31 And I don't say that I understand everything, 13:34 but God has to let it play out to prove His character of love. 13:38 And God to do that 13:41 had to confine Himself if you will, 13:46 restrain Himself. 13:47 There's rules of engagement. 13:50 He had to let evil play out to a certain point 13:56 and voluntarily restrain Himself 14:01 and His divine power to intervene. 14:04 Now God could have withdrawn His love. 14:08 He could have just let man die in the garden, 14:13 or He could have ignored the sin 14:16 and let them continue to access the tree of life. 14:20 And then sin would continue going forward, 14:23 but He didn't leave sin unchecked. 14:26 He banished the mortals from the tree of life 14:30 and they would die. 14:32 But here's the good news. 14:34 Genesis 3:15, 14:36 God hits the reset button. 14:40 It's a plan 14:41 that He had before the foundations of the world, 14:45 but it shows us 14:47 that God will win this cosmic conflict over love. 14:51 Genesis 3:15. 14:54 He's speaking to the serpent, 14:56 to the tempter 14:57 that's disguised as a serpent. 14:58 He says, 15:00 "I will put enmity, 15:01 a hatred between you and the woman, 15:04 and between your seed and her seed. 15:09 He shall bruise your head, the Seed of the woman, " 15:13 which is a capital S "He," 15:18 God tells the serpent 15:20 "will bruise your head. 15:22 You will bruise his heel." 15:24 The Seed of the woman, it was not seed of a man. 15:29 God would father this child. 15:31 And that's what's seed means is He's talking about a child 15:34 that He is promising, 15:37 but this seed 15:38 actually it's God Himself is going to become a man. 15:44 And this is actually the everlasting gospel. 15:50 He's talking about becoming a man 15:52 so that He can become our substitute sacrifice, 15:58 the lamb who was slain 16:00 from the foundation of the world. 16:03 And He would win this cosmic conflict of love. 16:07 But now what happens? 16:09 Adam procreates in his own image. 16:13 Genesis 5:3 says, 16:14 Adam lived 130 years 16:17 and he begot a son in his own likeness 16:22 after his image. 16:24 And he named him Seth. 16:27 Sin's entrance brought 16:30 about a sinful or a fallen nature in all. 16:37 Through Adam, 16:38 all humanity inherit this fallen nature. 16:41 And we have a propensity towards sin 16:45 and sin negatively affects our desires and our actions. 16:51 Here's Adam, 16:53 the representative of the whole human race 16:58 and he brings sin into the world, 17:02 into his lineage. 17:03 And he brings in physical death and decay, 17:08 spiritual death and spiritual slavery to sin 17:12 because Jesus said, 17:14 "All who sin are a slave to sin." 17:18 So what was the penalty? 17:20 What is the penalty for sin? 17:23 God said, 17:25 "In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die." 17:28 Ezekiel 18:20. 17:30 Ezekiel 18:20 says this, 17:33 "The soul who sins shall die. 17:34 The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, 17:37 nor the father bear the guilt of the son. 17:39 The righteousness of the righteous 17:41 shall be upon himself. 17:43 And the wickedness of the wicked 17:46 shall be upon himself. 17:48 But the soul who sins shall die." 17:52 We know Romans, 17:53 Paul wrote to the Romans in 3:23, 17:56 he says, 17:57 "Hey, we're all sinners. 17:59 All of us have fallen short of the glory of God." 18:03 And then in Romans 6:23, 18:05 he reiterates in the New Testament 18:07 that the wages of sin is death. 18:12 Do you realize that 18:13 if we had to pay our own penalty for sin, 18:17 we would suffer the second death, 18:20 that Revelation speaks up four times 18:23 and we're going to look at in just a moment, 18:25 the second eternal death. 18:28 So how does God reverse this situation 18:32 and rescue us? 18:33 How does he rescue us from that penalty? 18:38 He hits the reset button and provides a new beginning. 18:44 In Romans 5:8, Paul says, 18:47 "God demonstrates his own love toward us 18:51 and that while we were still sinners, 18:53 Christ died for us. 18:55 God became a man." 18:59 I don't know about you. 19:01 But to me, that's a greater sacrifice 19:04 than the sacrifice He made on the cross. 19:06 He became a man. 19:09 He permanently took on the nature of humanity. 19:13 He was the Son of man 19:16 and He became the covenant Son of God. 19:20 He had to be human too. 19:23 He had to be fully human 19:25 to take on the penalty 19:27 and stand in as our substitute for a sacrifice for mankind. 19:33 Let me ask you this. 19:36 Has anybody ever said to you in your life, 19:39 you are so worthless, 19:42 you're not worth anything. 19:44 Well, let me tell you something. 19:46 Here's the truth. 19:48 You are worth nothing less 19:50 than the price that God paid to save you 19:53 with His own life blood. 19:57 You are precious to God. 20:00 So finally now having laid that groundwork, 20:03 we have arrived at 1 Corinthians Chapter 15. 20:07 I love this chapter 20:11 because this is where God starts over. 20:17 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 is introducing. 20:21 We had the first man, Adam, who God created from the dust, 20:27 but now there is going to be a last Adam. 20:33 He's not just a second Adam, 20:36 the Bible never calls him second Adam. 20:39 The last Adam was God Himself. 20:43 In the person of Jesus Christ, 20:45 He became a human 20:47 and He is going to be the new representative 20:52 of the human race. 20:54 Hallelujah! 20:55 Let's look, 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, 21:01 "And so it is written the first man, Adam 21:05 became a living being, the last Adam, " 21:11 which is Jesus Christ, 21:13 became a life giving spirit, 21:16 through one man through Adam, 21:19 who was the initial representative 21:21 of all humanity, 21:23 death came to all. 21:26 So to reverse this God comes down. 21:28 He becomes a man in the person of Jesus Christ. 21:32 And He becomes 21:34 where as Adam was the covenant son of God. 21:37 Jesus Christ becomes this covenant Son of God. 21:42 The new representative of humanity. 21:45 I think that's so exciting. 21:47 And He lives in complete loyalty to God 21:50 and complete dependence upon God 21:52 with unfailing love toward God. 21:57 And then He offers us redemption and pardon, 22:01 and to justify us by grace. 22:03 Let's look at Romans 3:23. 22:05 I quoted half of it before, where Paul says, 22:09 "All have sinned 22:10 and fallen short of the glory of God." 22:12 Well, that sounds bad, doesn't it? 22:16 But you can't stop there because Romans 3:24 says, 22:21 "Being justified freely by His grace 22:26 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 22:30 Yes, we've sinned, 22:31 but God is gonna give us a starting over, 22:35 a new beginning. 22:37 And you know, when you look at this justice, 22:41 some people say, 22:42 "Oh, I want justice." 22:43 Well, I don't want justice 22:45 because justice would mean, 22:48 I'm gonna get what I deserve. 22:50 I'm a sinner, I deserve to die. 22:53 Mercy, I do like mercy. 22:57 Mercy means not to get what you deserve, 23:03 but the word here that I love in Romans 3:24, 23:08 probably my favorite word in all the world is grace 23:12 being justified freely by His grace. 23:16 Grace means to get what you don't deserve. 23:22 So justice is to get what you deserve. 23:27 Mercy is not to get what you deserve, 23:31 but grace means you get what you don't deserve. 23:37 And you know what? 23:39 I don't deserve to be saved, neither do you. 23:42 But that's what grace is all about. 23:45 We are all, as sinners 23:48 we actually have become spiritual slaves to sin, 23:53 but Christ came down to pay the price to redeem us 23:59 from Satan's slave market, 24:01 and anyone who is in Christ, 24:04 anyone who has accepted Christ as his savior 24:07 has been born again 24:08 and filled with the Holy Spirit is justified by faith. 24:12 You know what that word justified means? 24:15 It's a legal term. 24:16 And it means 24:18 that all of the evidence against us is covered over 24:22 and we're declared pardoned. 24:25 God declares us pardoned. 24:28 By grace we get what we don't deserve. 24:32 We're not guilty any longer. 24:35 And then not only are we no longer a slave to sin, 24:39 but He adopts us as His child and gives us a new chance, 24:44 a chance to start over. 24:46 Romans 6:23, 24:48 "The wages of sin is death." 24:50 But, oh, I love that word because it reverses this. 24:56 "The wages of sin is death, 24:57 but the gift of God is eternal life 25:00 in Christ Jesus, our Lord." 25:04 He died to pay the penalty for your sin, for my sin. 25:10 And He gives us the gift of eternal life. 25:17 Why would we want to die for our sins 25:23 when the penalty has already been paid? 25:26 Jesus Christ paid that penalty. 25:28 So let's focus in on the new representative 25:31 of human kind. 25:32 In 1 Corinthians 15, 25:35 I'm looking at verses 21 and 22. 25:37 1 Corinthians 15, for since by man. 25:41 That's a lowercase M, for since by man came death, 25:45 he's referring to Adam. 25:47 By Man, uppercase, 25:50 also came the resurrection of the dead, 25:53 for in as an Adam, all die, 25:56 even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. 26:01 The first Adam brought death to humanity, 26:03 but the last Adam, 26:05 God in the person of Jesus Christ 26:08 brings life to all who will believe upon Him. 26:13 And then it goes on in verse 45. 26:16 We're going to skip down, 1 Corinthians 15:45. 26:21 So what it is written, the first man, Adam, 26:24 the man from the dust became a living being, 26:28 but the last Adam who is that? 26:30 The person of Jesus Christ became a life giving spirit. 26:35 So the first Adam became a living being when God, 26:42 he received breath of life from God. 26:46 But the last Adam is the one 26:49 who imparts the breath of life. 26:53 Now verse 47. 26:54 1 Corinthians 15:47, 26:58 "The first man was of the earth made of dust. 27:01 The second man is of Lord from heaven." 27:04 The first Adam had a corruptible body. 27:07 It was a perishable body. 27:09 He was mortal. He was made of the dust. 27:13 But the last Adam 27:15 who Paul says is the Lord from heaven. 27:19 When He was resurrected, 27:20 He had an incorruptible, imperishable, eternal body. 27:27 So let's look at verse 48. 27:29 1 Corinthians 15:48, 27:33 "As was the man of dust, " 27:36 this would be the first Adam, the created Adam, 27:40 "so also are those who are made of dust," 27:43 that's us. 27:44 "And as is the heavenly man Jesus, 27:49 so also are those who are heavenly." 27:53 And once we accept Christ as their savior, 27:56 we are blessed with every spiritual blessing 27:59 in the heavenly realms is what it says. 28:02 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, 28:06 we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. 28:11 Do you realize what he's saying? 28:13 When we're born, we're born with mortal bodies. 28:17 Just like Adam, we bear his image. 28:20 We've got a fallen nature. 28:22 But when we accept Christ as our savior, 28:27 we bear the image of our savior 28:31 in character now, 28:34 but we're even going to get an imperishable body like His 28:40 when we don't have that now, 28:46 but you talk about starting over. 28:48 And, boy, am I glad after everything I've been through 28:51 for the last 13 months. 28:52 How glad I am 28:54 that we're gonna get a new body 28:57 when we're resurrected. 28:59 And let's look at that, 1 Corinthians 15:51. 29:05 Paul says, 29:07 "Behold, I tell you a mystery. 29:10 We shall not all sleep." 29:11 If you do a study in the Bible, 29:13 you will see that 29:15 sleep is a word Jesus used for death. 29:17 That is all through the Bible. 29:19 I mean, there is a natural sleep, 29:21 but death is referred to as a sleep. 29:24 So Paul says, 29:26 "Hey, here's the mystery. 29:27 Not all of us are going to sleep. 29:29 We're not all going to die, 29:30 but we all shall be changed in a moment 29:33 in a twinkling of the eye, when? 29:36 At the last trumpet. 29:38 And the last trumpet is when Jesus returns. 29:43 It is the second coming of Jesus. 29:47 And He says, 29:49 "The trumpet will sound. 29:50 The dead will be raised incorruptible." 29:53 That means we can't perish anymore. 29:56 And we shall be changed, 29:58 for this corruptible must put on incorruption. 30:03 And get this, 30:05 1 Corinthians 15:53. 30:11 This mortal must put on immortality. 30:16 Do you realize 30:18 there's so many people 30:20 who have us, as soon as we die, 30:21 we're not sleeping in the ground 30:23 waiting for the resurrection. 30:25 No, they've got us up there in heaven 30:27 because they're saying, 30:29 "Oh, well, we're immortal." 30:30 No, we're not. 30:31 When does Paul say that we put on immortality? 30:35 1 Corinthians 15:53. 30:40 He's saying, 30:41 "This mortal must put on immortality." 30:45 And it happens at the last trumpet. 30:49 The last Adam, the Lord from heaven, 30:52 the new representative of the human race, 30:55 who stands at the throne of God, 30:59 who intercedes on our behalf. 31:01 He's our advocate. 31:03 When He returns, 31:05 He's gonna give us an incorruptible, 31:08 imperishable, eternal body, 31:12 just like His own. 31:13 Now 1 Corinthians 15:54. 31:18 So, this is a continuation. 31:22 He's saying at the last trumpet at Christ's second coming. 31:25 "So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, 31:30 and this mortal has put on immortality 31:34 at the last trumpet, 31:36 then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. 31:42 Death is swallowed up in victory. 31:45 Oh, death, where is your sting? 31:48 Oh, Hades, where is your victory?" 31:53 Hallelujah! 31:55 How we look forward to that day when Christ returns? 31:59 God hit the reset button when He sent Jesus 32:03 to be the new human representative 32:06 and God became a person in the body of Jesus Christ, 32:13 and you know what? 32:14 He took that flesh back to heaven. 32:18 Son of man 32:19 is Christ's favorite title for Himself. 32:23 He uses it more often than anything else, 32:26 but He took that flesh back to heaven 32:28 and He stands 32:29 or sits at the right hand of the throne of the Father 32:32 representing us even now talk about starting over. 32:37 But then what a thing, 32:40 when we get to come up out of the grave 32:42 and put on immortality at the last trumpet. 32:46 Hallelujah. 32:48 So how can we start over and receive a new beginning? 32:53 You may not even know the Lord. 32:56 This may all be new to you, 32:59 or you may believe, but you've never surrendered, 33:01 yielded, submitted, surrendered, 33:03 whatever word we want to use. 33:06 To surrender is simply to submit to God's will, 33:09 to yield to His plan for your life. 33:14 So you may be saying, 33:17 and by the way, 33:19 you may have been in church for 50 years. 33:22 You may be a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist, 33:27 but you've never truly been born again. 33:31 How do we start over? 33:33 We accept by faith 33:37 and we pray and acknowledge saying, 33:40 "Lord, I'm a sinner in need of a savior." 33:44 Then we ask Christ to come into our heart 33:47 and fill us with His Holy Spirit. 33:49 And we ask Him to give us the power by His Holy Spirit, 33:56 the power to turn away from sin and toward Him in repentance. 34:01 You know Jesus said in John 3:5-6, 34:06 "If you wanna be a child of God, 34:08 you must be born again." 34:11 Listen, Jesus, Jesus. 34:14 John 3:5-6, 34:17 "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly I say to you, 34:20 unless one is born of water and the spirit, 34:22 he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 34:24 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 34:27 And that which is born of the spirit is spirit." 34:31 Are you born again? 34:33 You know, we have something 34:36 that has kind of even crept into the church 34:38 is people will say, 34:40 well, we're all children of God. 34:43 Like all of humanity are children of God. 34:46 That is not true. 34:49 Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:42. 34:53 He said, "If God," 34:56 notice, if, 34:57 "If God were your father, you would love Me." 35:01 And then He goes on and tells them 35:03 in verse 44, John 8:44, 35:06 "You are of your father, the devil, 35:10 and the desires of your father you want to do." 35:14 So God's not their father, the devil is their father. 35:16 And he says, 35:17 "He was a murderer from the beginning 35:19 and does not stand in the truth 35:20 because there is no truth in him." 35:22 When he speaks a lie, 35:23 he speaks from his own resources, 35:26 for he is a liar and the father of it. 35:31 In Matthew 13:36-39, 35:34 Jesus is explaining to His disciples, 35:38 the parables of the wheat and the tares. 35:41 And He says, 35:42 "He who sows the good seed, the wheat, 35:45 is the son of man. 35:46 The field is the world. 35:49 The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, 35:54 but the tares are the sons of the wicked one." 36:00 Wow. 36:01 The enemy who sowed amidst the devil, 36:03 the harvest is the end of the age 36:07 and the reapers are the angels. 36:10 Are you a child of God? 36:13 If you're not, 36:15 by default you're a child of the devil. 36:18 But here's the good news. 36:20 Oh, when we are born again, 36:23 God adopts us into His family by the spirit. 36:28 He says, 36:29 "Hey, I'm gonna let you start over. 36:32 We're gonna hit the reset button in your life. 36:34 I'm gonna give you a new beginning, 36:36 a spiritual rebirth, 36:38 a new life in the spirit." 36:40 And John 1:12 says, 36:42 "As many as received Him, 36:44 as many as received Christ as his savior, 36:48 to them He gave the right 36:51 to become the children of God. 36:53 You no longer have to be a child of the devil. 36:55 You can be a child of God 36:57 to those who believe in His name. 37:00 Galatians 4:4, Paul said, 37:03 "God sent forth His Son, 37:05 born of a woman to redeem us 37:07 that we might receive adoption as sons. 37:13 And because you are his sons," 37:15 and this is a legal term, it's a Roman term. 37:20 Sons means man and women. 37:22 But because you are His sons, 37:24 God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son 37:26 into your hearts, crying, 37:29 Abba, A-B-B-A Father. 37:35 You know, that's an intimate word for father. 37:39 It's like, Oh, Papa. 37:42 We would say in the United States, daddy. 37:45 So the spirit comes into our hearts 37:47 that we can cry out in this intimate voice. 37:49 And he says, therefore, you are no longer a slave. 37:53 You're not in that sin slave market, but a son. 37:56 And if a son, 37:58 then an heir of God through Christ, 38:02 talk about starting over. 38:05 1 John 3:7. 38:07 And I'm proving this point 38:09 because I'm gonna tell you 38:10 a lot of people take me to task 38:12 if I say that we're not all children of God. 38:15 We are in the sense that He is our creator, 38:18 but we are not children of God unless we are adopted, 38:23 accepting Christ receiving the Holy Spirit 38:27 so that we become children of God. 38:29 Listen to what John writes in 1 John 3:7, 38:33 "Little children, let no one deceive you. 38:36 He who practices righteousness is righteous 38:38 just as he is righteous. 38:40 He who sins is of the devil, 38:45 for the devil is sin from the beginning. 38:47 And for this purpose, 38:48 the Son of God was manifested 38:52 that He might destroy the works of the devil." 38:58 Oh, then he goes down. 39:00 If we look down to verse 10, 1 John 3:10, 39:03 in this the children of God 39:05 and the children of the devil are manifest. 39:08 And now he's going to tell us how we're manifest. 39:11 In other words, 39:12 how do we prove if we're a child of God 39:14 or a child of the devil? 39:17 Whoever does not practice righteousness 39:21 is not of God. 39:22 Righteousness means to do the right thing, 39:26 to follow God's will. 39:30 If we don't practice God's will, 39:35 we're not of God, 39:36 nor is he who does not love his brother. 39:41 So whether we are a child of God 39:43 or a child of the devil 39:45 is based on our conduct. 39:47 It's based on our motives and our actions. 39:51 When we are born again, 39:52 we will manifest the character of our Father 39:59 and His characteristics of righteousness and love. 40:03 Now, those were the negatives, let's get on to the positives. 40:06 Ephesians 2:1, Oh, I love this. 40:10 He says, 40:11 "You he made alive, 40:12 who were dead in the trespasses and sins 40:15 in which you once walked 40:17 according to the course of this world, 40:19 according to the prince of the power of the air, 40:22 the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. 40:27 I was there once, 40:29 I was among the children of the sons of disobedience. 40:33 And then he says, 40:35 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves 40:39 in the lust of our flesh, 40:40 fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, 40:43 and were by nature, 40:45 children of wrath, just as the other. 40:49 So the sons of disobedience 40:51 are the ones who are going to receive God's wrath 40:54 at the end when He destroys sin. 40:57 But God, this is verse 4, Ephesians 2:4. 41:03 Oh, listen to this, 41:05 let it soak into your heart 41:08 because you start to talk about starting over. 41:11 "But God who is rich in mercy 41:15 because of His great love with which He loved us. 41:19 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, 41:22 made us alive together with Christ, 41:26 by grace you have been saved." 41:31 What a contrast? 41:34 The new life here we were dead, now we're alive. 41:38 We were objects of wrath. 41:40 Now we're under God's grace. 41:43 We walked among the disobedient under Satan's dominion. 41:48 Now we walk with Christ, 41:50 and we're in union with Him 41:53 doing something that Adam refused to do. 41:56 We voluntarily say, yes, Lord, I love you. 41:59 And I will follow You. 42:01 And I will walk in obedience. 42:04 So the question is, 42:05 how does God change us when we are born again? 42:10 You know, I mean, 42:11 this all sounds wonderful in theory, 42:13 Oh, we get to start over. 42:16 But how, how does that work? 42:18 In 2 Corinthians 5:17. 42:20 Paul says that if anyone is renewed Christ, 42:23 he is a new creation. 42:25 The old is, everything old is passed away. 42:29 All things have become new. 42:32 Well, I don't always feel like a new creation. 42:34 I have to accept it by faith 42:36 because sometimes 42:38 I think the devil will try to point out your mistakes 42:42 and make you feel under condemnation. 42:44 That's not God's way. 42:45 He'll convict you of sin, 42:47 but He will through His love bring you to repentance 42:51 when you're in Christ. 42:52 When He says, "All things have become new." 42:56 You got a new record in heaven. 42:59 All those old sins are blotted out. 43:01 You've got a new heart, a new perspective, 43:05 a new value system, 43:07 new desires and new priorities in your life. 43:12 Ezekiel 36:26-27. 43:17 This is based on the promise of the new covenant 43:20 that was ultimately fulfilled in Christ. 43:23 Here's what God says, 43:24 "I will give you a new heart. Oh, do you want a new heart? 43:28 He says, "I'll put a new spirit in you." 43:30 Don't you want a new spirit? 43:33 He says, I will take the heart of stone, 43:35 that old hardened heart out of your flesh. 43:38 I will give you a heart of flesh, 43:40 a heart that is sensitive 43:43 and responsive to my leading. 43:48 He says, I will put My Spirit within you 43:53 and cause you to walk in My statutes 43:56 and you will keep My judgments and do them. 43:59 You talk about a radical transformation. 44:03 You talk about starting over. 44:07 God will give us a new heart 44:10 that is responsive 44:11 to the influence of the Holy Spirit. 44:13 And then He will cause us to be, 44:17 listen to me. 44:19 God will cause us to be what He calls us to be. 44:26 Let me read verse 27 again, Ezekiel 36:27, 44:30 "I will put My Spirit within you 44:33 and I will cause you 44:37 to walk in obedience to Me." 44:40 We just have to accept that promise by faith. 44:43 You just have to say, 44:45 "Oh Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm in need of the savior. 44:47 Oh Lord. 44:49 I thank You that Jesus died for my sins. 44:51 Oh, Father, fill me with Your Holy Spirit. 44:53 Give me a new heart, put a new spirit in me. 44:56 And I thank You that You have, 44:59 no matter how impure your heart is right now, 45:01 accept it by faith. 45:03 So what is the Holy Spirit's work 45:05 in our life? 45:06 John 14:15 is where we'll begin. 45:11 John 14:15. 45:13 Jesus says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 45:16 You don't keep His commandments to be saved. 45:21 Jesus didn't keep the commandments of God 45:23 to become the Son of God. 45:26 He kept the commandments of God 45:28 because He was the Son of God. 45:31 And the same for us, 45:32 we don't keep His commandments to be saved. 45:36 We keep His commandments 45:37 because we love Him and we're loyal to Him. 45:41 And Jesus says, 45:43 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." 45:45 And here's a condition. 45:47 "I will pray to Father, 45:49 and He will give you another helper." 45:52 In the Greek This is allos parakletos. 45:56 And it's a paraklete is a person. 45:59 Allos means one exactly the same. 46:02 So he says, 46:03 I'm going to give you another person, 46:06 just like Me to be your helper, the spirit of truth. 46:10 He's speaking of the Holy Spirit. 46:13 He says that He may abide with you forever. 46:15 The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive 46:18 because it never sees him nor knows him. 46:20 But you know Him, 46:22 for he dwells in you and will be in you. 46:25 And the Holy Spirit will guide our new life. 46:29 He will transform us. 46:32 He will empower us 46:35 to do His will and overcome sin. 46:38 He will change our motives. 46:42 He will change our heart. 46:46 And, of course, Philippians 2:13 says, 46:50 "It is God who works in you to will 46:53 and to do His good purpose." 46:56 You know, this is God causing us 47:00 to be what He will cause us, calls us to be. 47:05 But let me tell you, 47:06 that's two different steps there. 47:09 God works in you to will. 47:11 Remember, you're a creature of free will, 47:14 but He works in you 47:15 through the influence of the Holy Spirit, by His love 47:19 to change what you desire, to change your will, 47:22 to line your will up with His. 47:26 And then he says he will also, 47:32 he works in you both to will and to do. 47:35 Well, there is a step 47:38 between God changing the desires of your heart 47:41 and a step for Him 47:43 working in you to put it into action, 47:44 to put it into practice. 47:46 And you know what that step is? 47:48 God's not going to force you. 47:50 Sometimes, I remember 47:51 I used to watch this exercise program on 3ABN, 47:54 and I'd sit back and think, 47:56 yeah, I really ought to exercise more. 47:58 Yeah, God's really putting that desire in my heart. 48:01 But as long as I didn't get up off the couch, 48:05 God's not going to force me. 48:07 He's not going to stick a pin in my behind and say, 48:12 get up off the couch and do it. 48:14 What happened was you have to, 48:18 when God changes your will 48:20 and lines your will up with His, 48:22 you have to take a step of faith 48:25 to exercise your free will. 48:27 And then when you do 48:29 the power of the Holy Spirit shows up, 48:31 and God works in you to do. 48:35 He will cause you to be all He calls you to be. 48:39 He says also in John 16:13, "When He, " 48:43 the spirit of truth is come, 48:45 "He will guide you into all truth. 48:49 The Holy Spirit makes scripture 48:52 understandable to our sinful finite minds. 48:55 Oh, please, don't try to read the Bible 48:58 unless you pray for the Holy Spirit 49:00 to explain it to you. 49:02 It's so important. 49:04 And then, Romans 8:13. 49:09 We're going to read 13 through 17. 49:11 If you live according to the flesh, 49:14 you're gonna die. 49:17 What are the wages of sin? Death. 49:20 But if by the spirit you put to death, 49:22 the deeds of the body, you will live. 49:24 Now, let me slow that down. 49:26 If you live according to your flesh, 49:29 the wages of sin is death, you're going to die. 49:32 But if by the spirit, 49:37 you put to death the deeds of the body, 49:40 you're going to live eternally. 49:42 So it is a cooperative effort. 49:45 The spirit's not gonna force you. 49:48 God made you a creature of free will. 49:50 You can't put to death 49:51 the misdeeds of your body by yourself. 49:54 You've got to have His power. 49:55 So by the spirit working in you and you cooperating with Him, 50:01 you put to death the misdeeds of the flesh 50:04 and stop doing the wrong things. 50:08 See, we can overcome sin. 50:11 With God, we're starting over here. 50:14 You can have an abundant life here now, 50:17 an eternal life forever. 50:19 And then continuing on in verse 14, 50:22 He says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, 50:25 these are the sons of God. 50:27 The spirit leads us through our circumstances. 50:31 God knows the end from the beginning 50:34 and He knows how to lead us. 50:36 And His leading is not mystical. 50:41 Don't get the idea 50:42 that the Holy Spirit 50:43 is this mystical floating presence. 50:48 No, His leading is empowerment over sin. 50:53 And as I said before, sons of God, 50:55 if we're led by the spirit, we're sons of God, 50:57 that's a legal term for adoption. 51:01 And it means both male and female. 51:04 So continuing on in verse 15, 51:06 he said, 51:07 "You did not receive the spirit of bondage 51:10 again to fear, 51:11 but you received the spirit of adoption 51:16 by whom we cry out. 51:17 Abba Father." 51:19 See, maybe your idea of God is that 51:21 He's been up there watching you ready to zap you. 51:24 But when the Holy Spirit is in you, 51:26 God pours His love into your heart 51:27 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 51:29 All of a sudden you're crying out, 51:31 "oh, Papa, thank you for loving me." 51:34 You realize that you've been adopted by God. 51:38 And then verse 16, Romans 8:16, 51:40 "The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit 51:43 that we are children of God. 51:44 And if children, " 51:46 now here's a big starting over, 51:48 "then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 51:54 If indeed we suffer with Him 51:56 that we may also be glorified together." 51:59 See, the Holy Spirit gives us assurance of our salvation. 52:03 And although God is the creator of all, 52:07 and He loves all, 52:10 God loves everyone, 52:12 whether you're a child of His by adoption 52:15 or a child of the devil, 52:16 but only His covenant children, 52:20 those who are born again will inherit eternal life. 52:24 And you know what's interesting. 52:27 The law of inheritance in Rome 52:31 was that even adopted children 52:34 and Paul's writing to the Romans, 52:36 he's writing in the language they'll understand, 52:38 even the adopted children. 52:42 The inheritance is divided equally among them. 52:47 So we can be co-heirs of God. 52:50 I see that I'm not gonna get to all of this, 52:54 but here's what I want to tell you. 52:57 God loves you. 53:00 God wants to give you a new beginning. 53:03 God wants you to start over and you can. 53:10 His mercies are new every morning. 53:12 Tim is now going to come for us and sing a beautiful song. 53:18 Tim. 53:24 Take my life and let it be 53:30 Consecrated Lord to thee 53:36 Take my moments and my days 53:43 Let them flow in ceaseless praise 53:50 Let them flow in ceaseless praise 54:02 Take my will and make it die 54:09 It shall be no longer mine 54:16 Take my heart it is your own 54:23 It shall be your royal throne 54:30 It shall be your royal throne 54:42 Lord I offer my life to you 54:47 Everything I've been through 54:52 Use it for your glory 54:56 Lord, I offer my days to you 55:01 Lifting my praise to you 55:06 As a pleasing sacrifice 55:13 Lord, I offer you my life 55:29 And every breath that I take 55:33 Every moment I'm awake 55:38 Lord have your way in me 55:53 Amazing. Thank you, Tim. 55:56 You know, I mentioned the second death of Revelation 56:00 and I want to just focus on that 56:03 for just a moment. 56:06 Revelation 2:11 tells us that in Christ we overcome sin, 56:11 and we will in no way be injured 56:15 by the second death. 56:17 In Revelation 26, 56:19 it says it's talking of the first resurrection. 56:22 And it says 56:23 those who are in that first resurrection of righteousness. 56:27 Second death exerts no power over us. 56:29 And in Revelation 20:14, it says, 56:33 "Second death is the lake of fire." 56:36 Listen, Revelation 21:8. 56:40 Well, I'm gonna start with verse 1. 56:44 You talk about starting over. 56:47 This is starting over. 56:48 "I saw a new heaven and a new earth 56:53 because the first heaven 56:54 and the first earth had passed away 56:56 and he says, 56:58 it's coming down from heaven, the New Jerusalem. 57:00 There'll be no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow." 57:06 Will you accept the gift of eternal life today? 57:11 You don't wanna be in that second death group 57:15 because Revelation 21:8, it says, 57:17 "The second death is the lake of fire 57:19 that burns with fire brimstone." 57:22 Accept God's gift of a new beginning today. |
Revised 2021-02-18