Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: 13HC
Program Code: 13HC000002
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00:49 You know, David Asscherick is one of the favorites
00:52 of our speakers on 3ABN. 00:56 And the first time I ever saw him was on 3ABN. 01:01 And I'd heard that he had held a meeting 01:04 and people were telling me about him. But then I saw him 01:07 preach. Young... he was young. Oh my goodness! He really was. 01:11 And he was... I immediately said: "This young man 01:16 has been given the gift. 01:19 God has poured out His Spirit upon him. " 01:21 And he has continued to grow 01:24 and his messages are even more edifying today 01:28 than when we first heard him. So we're so happy 01:30 that David can be with us. 01:32 He is the head of a group called ARISE. Um-hmm. 01:35 And they work together with Light Bearers Ministry 01:39 with Ty Gibson... another of our good friends... 01:41 and James Rafferty. Three powerful young ministries 01:47 that work together and praising the name of the Lord 01:51 Jesus Christ and preaching the gospel. 01:53 And it's exciting to have David here with us. 01:57 Absolutely. Then we're going to have some special music 02:00 right before David comes out. 02:01 Right. It's none other than our own pastor: 02:04 Pastor John Lomacang. John is such a blessing. 02:07 Has been to me personally, to our church family, 02:09 to people around the world. And I'm so thankful 02:12 for he and Angie. That they decided to uproot from where 02:15 they were in big cities. And then he went from California 02:18 to St. Louis to down here in a little farming community. 02:21 That's right. And he told me when he first moved here 02:25 he said: "I can't sleep at night. " 02:27 And I'm like: "He's from the city. 02:28 What do you mean you can't sleep? It's quiet. " 02:30 He said: "It's too quiet. " 02:32 Yeah. He said: "I'm used to gunshots. " 02:34 He said: "I'm used to all kinds of stuff. " 02:36 So one of his neighbors... I happen to be one of them 02:38 but I won't say for sure... One of his neighbors 02:40 one night went and shot a gun off outside his window 02:43 so... So he'd feel at home. I didn't want him to... 02:44 I mean whoever it was didn't want him to leave. 02:46 Yeah. So we thought: "Well we want him to feel at home. " 02:49 And so did I just tell on myself? 02:51 I think you did. Maybe I was just kidding. 02:53 OK. But he loves it now. 02:56 Now he says: "I like it when I come back here. " 02:58 Yeah, so Pastor John. And we love John and Angie 03:01 I guarantee you. And they are great ambassadors for this 03:05 ministry around the world. 03:07 Multi-multi talented this guy. In fact I think Garwin McNeilus 03:10 said he'd rather have John with him than have one of us. 03:13 Oh yeah. I was supposed to go to Africa. 03:16 I couldn't go so I asked John. 03:18 So he took John then the next trip he bypassed me 03:21 and just called John. Went directly to John. 03:23 I said: "Well how come you don't want me? " He said: 03:25 "We do want you but we're working with special people 03:28 that we want you to work with. " And I said: "Really? " 03:31 He said: "Yes. They'll appreciate you. " 03:33 I said: "Really? " He said: "Yeah, they're the pygmies. " 03:37 Thank you, Garwin. I love you too, 03:39 all right, if you're watching on here. 03:41 It's good... We can have fun in the Lord, can't we? 03:43 He really said that. But John does such a - you and Angie - 03:47 you have so many gifts and talents. And so we appreciate 03:50 the fact that you have chosen... You could be out in the world 03:53 doing anything you want to do 03:54 but you have chosen to give your life and your ministry 03:57 to the Lord. And thank you for coming here to West Frankfort, 04:00 T'ville, and 3ABN. Praise the Lord. 04:03 You know, I didn't share this very much and a lot of people 04:05 don't know it, but when my wife and I were at a crossroad 04:08 in our ministry I sat at the edge of my bed 04:10 one evening and I said: "Lord, what do You want us to do 04:14 with the rest of our lives? " 04:16 Didn't tell anybody but the Lord, and two days later 04:18 Danny Shelton called me. We didn't really know each other 04:20 that well. And he said: "We're building a new church. 04:23 We'd like to invite you to come to be the pastor here. " 04:26 So I know that we're not here by coincidence 04:28 nor by accident nor by luck. What do you say tonight? 04:31 Amen! That's why I chose this song 04:33 just before David comes and speaks about covenants. 04:35 In the book of Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 9 04:39 there's a text there that says 04:41 that the Lord led the children of Israel out of Egypt 04:44 because of the covenant that He made with their fathers. 04:47 And the reason He said that is because they were not always 04:50 obedient. And even when we are disobedient 04:53 I praise the Lord that when there's a covenant that God 04:56 makes He doesn't stop leading us 04:59 because it's always for the glory of His name. 05:02 He inspired me to write this song. 05:04 So tonight if you want the Lord to revolutionize your life 05:07 simply say: "Lord lead me as I follow the covenant 05:10 You've made with me. " Lead Me Home. 05:30 I welcome the sunrise 05:34 as night turns to day. 05:38 Should I try again 05:41 or turn and walk away? 05:46 The journey to this point 05:49 seems so very hard. 05:53 Yet I'm standing, praying, 05:56 right here in my yard. 06:00 The tears that I've shed don't seem like it's worth it, 06:09 yet I know You're on Your way. 06:16 Lord, lead me home. 06:23 There's no place to run and hide... 06:27 You know what I keep inside. 06:32 Lord, lead me home. 06:38 For I need to find a place to rest 06:42 where life in You is best. 06:45 Lead me home. 06:54 I know I can trust You, 06:57 You've never let me down. 07:00 I know that I need You... 07:05 You keep me off the ground. 07:09 Through disappointments You say 07:14 "It's OK. My child, I really love you. 07:20 There will be a brighter day. " 07:24 So I made up my mind 07:27 to keep on walkin' 07:30 I am pressing on 07:34 the higher way! Oh, oh, oh, 07:40 Lord, lead me home. 07:46 Yes, there's no place to run and hide... 07:51 You know what I keep inside. 07:55 So Lord, lead me home. 08:01 For I need to find a place of rest 08:06 where life in You is best. 08:09 Lead me home. 08:13 I'm going to trust You 08:15 ever more each day. 08:20 And I'm climbing higher 08:23 as I pray. 08:31 Lord, lead me home. 08:38 For there's no place to run and hide... 08:42 You know what I keep inside. 08:47 Lord, just lead me home. 08:53 For I need to find a place of rest 08:57 where life in You is best. 09:00 Lead me home. 09:04 For I need to find a place of rest 09:09 where life in You is best. 09:14 Just lead me home. 09:20 Lord, lead me 09:22 home. 09:33 Amen. 09:40 All right. Good evening, everyone! 09:42 Good evening. 09:43 Beautiful song. Amen? Amen! 09:45 Great to be here at 3ABN's Fall Homecoming. 09:50 Yeah? Doesn't feel very much like Fall, though. 09:53 It's quite warm out still. 09:54 But at least the flowers give it sort of an autumn feel. 09:58 Kinda? Maybe I should have worn more autumn colors 10:01 this evening. Great to be here. 10:03 I had somebody ask me... It's so funny. You get to 3ABN 10:05 and if you look any different than what people are accustomed 10:09 to the first thing they want to ask you about is how you look. 10:11 So like: "Oh, what happened to your hair? " 10:16 Same thing that's been happening all my life: it's growing! 10:19 They're like: "That's interesting. " 10:23 Ha ha. 10:24 Somebody said to me: "Why are you growing your hair out? " 10:27 And the answer is very simple: 10:29 you don't have to be a prophet to see my future. 10:32 I know where this is going 10:34 and while there's still time 10:37 I'm going to grow it out a bit. 10:40 I have seen my future... 10:42 and it looks suspiciously like Jim. 10:47 Did I say that? 10:50 Oh, shame on me. 10:52 Anyway, 41 years old now. Does that make me old or young? 10:57 All right... good. I hope it makes me young. 10:59 I still feel young. They say that you're only 11:01 as old as you feel, and I still feel like a teenager. 11:05 Still act like one most of the timem, too, my wife tells me. 11:08 But it's so awesome to be back here in urban 11:12 West Frankfort. How funny was that story with the gunshot 11:18 outside John's... You know though, Danny Shelton is proof 11:23 that the Lord Jesus has a sense of humor. 11:28 Because if you were going to start - you know - a mega 11:31 global television ministry 11:34 you would say: "OK, who would I least trust 11:37 with a live microphone? " 11:40 And Danny would be like in the top 5 of those people. 11:44 I have heard him say things that I'm just like, "Oh... 11:47 he's really saying that live. 11:49 He really just told people that he shot a gun 11:51 outside of John Lomacang's house. " 11:55 Anyway, God bless him and I praise the Lord 11:58 for him and for Jim and for their ministry. Amen? 12:01 Amen! The fact that people like myself 12:03 and Danny and Jim and the others that are used here, 12:05 the fact that God uses people like us is proof 12:07 that Jesus must be coming soon 'cause we're like down 12:10 at the... we're like scraping the bottom of the barrel. 12:13 Say: "Oh, a punk rock skateboarder? I'll take him. " 12:16 "OK, a builder? I'll take him. " Whatever... 12:18 So great to be here. I'm super looking forward 12:20 to our time together, and I hope you brought your Bibles. 12:23 Yeah? Yeah. Great! Because all summer - 12:26 actually... what month is this? Is this September? - 12:28 So since May of this year... So May, June, July, August, 12:33 September... For the last 5 months almost 6 months 12:35 I have been traveling around. That's typically what I do 12:39 in the Spring and in the Summer because we run a school 12:41 called ARISE in the Fall. 12:43 And so up through the last sort of May, June, July, August, 12:47 September I've been preaching a series on the covenants. 12:51 On the what, everyone? On the covenants. 12:54 And that is exactly what I'm going to be talking about here. 12:56 I just can't be quiet about this. 12:58 I can't stop talking about it; I'm so on fire for it. 13:01 And I can be a little long- winded when the covenants come, 13:04 so when I found out they were giving me 4 or 5 opportunities 13:07 to speak I thought: "Ah, perfect. 13:08 I can say everything I need to say in 5 hours, no problem. " 13:11 So we're going to be talking about the covenants 13:13 over our time together. And I've had the privilege 13:16 of sharing this as I've said all over the world. 13:18 I just returned oh not too long ago 13:20 from the quinquennial youth event that took place 13:23 in So. Africa. There were thousands of young people there. 13:27 I then went up to a youth event - a division-wide youth 13:30 event in Serbia. And I had a unique experience 13:33 in my life and ministry. I've been preaching now for about 13:35 16 years. And that was a very unique experience because 13:39 in two weeks - or just over two weeks, about 2-1/2 weeks - 13:42 between those two events - the quinquennial youth event 13:44 in So. Africa and the division youth event in Serbia - 13:47 I preached to people from 112 countries. 13:51 Live... live. Not just over the television 13:54 which is awesome but people in the congregation 13:57 listening from 112 countries between just those two events. 14:02 That's more than half of the countries that are in the world. 14:05 And I tell you: that is a translational nightmare. 14:09 Right? Can you imagine? Every night I would go back 14:12 and visit with my translators. And there was just a battery 14:16 of translators. And I thought: "God have mercy 14:18 on these people. " 'Cause I was preaching night after night 14:21 and I was thinking: "How do you translate David 14:23 Asscherick into Swahili? " 14:27 You know? So I would go back there and say: "Lord Jesus, 14:30 please give these men and women the gift of the Spirit. 14:32 Please pour out the gift of tongues upon them, 14:34 the gift of interpretation or any other gift they need 14:37 so that they can communicate the message. " 14:38 But it was really awesome because as I was looking out 14:40 there were probably... oh, there were several thousand 14:41 people there... about 4,000. And when I asked how many 14:45 would understand English probably 1,200 to 1,400 hands 14:48 would go up. So that meant that you know the other 2,500ish 14:51 people are just getting it through the little headphones. 14:54 And let me tell you: that's a nerve-wracking thing 14:57 to just be speaking and it's going in to the translators 15:00 and then out into those head- phones. And you're just hoping 15:02 that somehow the Spirit is making connection. 15:05 But I can testify that God is still alive 15:09 and His Spirit still gives gifts. 15:11 Because I was seeing people - not only those who understand 15:13 English as a 1st or 2nd language but those who didn't understand 15:16 a word of English - were getting the message. 15:19 And it just thrilled my soul as a representation 15:22 and as a symbol that this message - the Biblical message - 15:26 is not a message for any one country, any one group, 15:29 any one culture. This is a world-wide message 15:32 because God loves all people. 15:34 Amen? And it was just a beautiful opportunity for me. 15:37 And over the course of these sort of 4, 5, 6 months now 15:40 that I've been preaching this particular set of sermons 15:42 I've been pulling in new ideas and new truths. 15:45 And I cannot tell you just how "on fire" I am 15:49 for what I'm going to be talking about over the course 15:51 of our Camp Meeting. I hope it will be 15:54 as revelatory and as revolutionary for you 15:58 in your understanding of the gospel as it has been for me. 16:01 And I'm going to actually start with a bit of a provocative 16:05 and risky illustration. 16:07 But before we get right into that illustration I want to just 16:09 have a quick word of prayer. I know we've already prayed 16:11 but I want to pray again and just ask Jesus 16:14 to come and be with us in the person of His Spirit. 16:16 So let's pray together. Father in heaven, 16:20 we just want to thank you for the honor that is ours: 16:23 the honor to be Your sons and daughters. 16:27 We come to You tonight, and we're praying in Jesus' name. 16:30 And we believe that as we come in His name that You hear us. 16:34 We think of that text there in the New Testament that says 16:36 "the effectual fervent prayer 16:38 of a righteous man availeth much. " 16:40 And yet we lay no claim to righteousness... no such claim. 16:45 But we come in the name of Him who is altogether righteous. 16:48 And Father, we believe that You will hear us 16:50 as if Jesus Himself were praying. 16:52 And Father, tonight we're pray- ing for a very specific thing. 16:55 I'm praying for a very specific thing 16:57 and that is that You will send the Spirit of Truth 16:59 as You promised to do... as Jesus promised: 17:02 "The Spirit of Truth will come and guide you into all truth. " 17:05 And over the course of our time here - my time here, Lord - 17:08 we're going to be talking about the covenants. 17:10 And my prayer is that the Spirit would come and lead us 17:13 into truth. For some old truth perhaps in a new way 17:17 and for other perhaps new truth... a whole new way 17:20 of viewing the grand Biblical theater... 17:24 the grand Biblical perspective. 17:27 And so be with me tonight. May I communicate clearly. 17:30 May ears be in tuned. 17:32 May hearts be in tuned. 17:33 And may Your Spirit be not only in these halls 17:37 and in this room but may Your Spirit be 17:40 within the walls of our hearts. 17:42 Not just those that are here but those that are listening, 17:44 those that are tuning in. May Your Spirit come and do 17:48 something that a preacher, a human, could never do. 17:51 Do something supernatural is our prayer. 17:53 In Jesus' name let everyone say: Amen. 17:57 All right. Let me start with an illustration that I've 17:59 been using all summer. And it's a little bit provocative 18:03 and I hope you'll appreciate it. 18:05 It's going to require you to do a little bit of thinking. 18:08 In fact, actually a lot of thinking. 18:10 Let me sort of set the table this way: 18:12 what we're going to try and do tonight if possible... 18:14 If we can only get the table set, that'll be fine. 18:17 We'll still have plenty of time in the rest of our meetings 18:18 to continue to unpack the covenants. 18:20 But our goal tonight if possible is to sort of walk 18:24 through this illustration that I'm going to explain here 18:26 in just a bit and then to begin on the covenants. 18:28 So if we can do those two things: sort of move through 18:30 this illustration and then begin on the covenants 18:33 we'll be set. If we only get through the illustration 18:35 and I get off a little bit - we spend time on that - 18:37 that'll be time well spent as well. 18:39 I have been a believer now for about 17 years 18:43 and it has been a journey and a joy to become 18:48 and to learn to grow into being 18:50 a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 18:52 Can you say "Amen" to that? Amen! 18:54 I tell you, it's a really awesome privilege. 18:57 Not long after my conversion I had a gentleman come up to me. 19:01 He was a godly man - he was a minister - and he 19:02 said to me: "David, I can tell you have a lot of enthusiasm, 19:05 you have a lot of energy. " He said: "But never forget this" 19:08 He said: "The Christian walk is not a sprint it's a marathon. " 19:13 Now at the time I had never run a marathon. 19:15 I have subsequently run a marathon. 19:16 Has anyone here run a marathon? 19:18 I can assure you they're very long... 19:21 26.2 miles long. 19:23 And he said: "Don't ever forget that the Christian walk 19:26 is not a sprint. It's not over in a moment. 19:28 It's a marathon. " In other words, 19:30 you set yourself, you pace yourself. 19:33 You don't have to have a diminishment of enthusiasm 19:35 or of passion, but you need to be thinking in terms of the 19:38 big picture and in terms of long term. 19:41 Not just over the next month of year or even five years 19:44 but this is how I want to live the rest of my life. 19:47 Can you say "Amen" to that? Amen. 19:49 And I can tell you that as a believer now of about 19:52 16, 17 years I have grown in my understanding. 19:56 I have grown in my appreciation for God 20:00 and my understanding of His Word. 20:01 And yet I have noticed that in Christendom at large - 20:05 also within Seventh-day Adventism which happens to be 20:07 my own personal church - there is a danger... 20:12 There is a what? 20:14 There is a danger. And let me try and communicate this danger 20:17 here with an illustration. And this is the illustration. 20:20 The illustration is what I call "The Table of Truth. " 20:24 OK, the table of truth. 20:26 Now typically I would have a table here, which I don't. 20:28 Which is fine... you can just imagine. 20:30 It's not a difficult thing to imagine. We're going to have 20:31 a table here. And on that table... It's not 20:34 just an ordinary table. It's not a coffee table; 20:36 it's not a dinner table. 20:38 It's a table of... truth. OK. 20:41 And in that sense what it has on it are all of the things that 20:45 you personally think are true. 20:47 Now of course there are a great many things that you think 20:49 are true about everything. 20:51 There are things you think are true about gardening 20:53 and about driving and about the United States 20:55 and about politics. Those are not the things 20:56 we are talking about. With regards to our table of truth 20:59 here we're going to be talking about truths that are 21:02 related to scripture. 21:04 Related to God, related to Christ, related to the church. 21:07 So far so good? 21:08 So on this table of truth 21:10 over the 17 years that I've been a believer 21:12 and those of you that have been believers for 1, 2, 3, 4, 21:14 5, 10, 20, 30, 40... whatever-it-is years... 21:17 on top of that table of truth when we come across something 21:21 whether in scripture or someone has preached 21:23 or we've read a book we will grab onto that. 21:25 We think: "Man, that's right! 21:27 That's true. I believe that. " 21:29 And then we'll take that and we'll set it 21:31 figuratively, metaphorically, symbolically 21:33 on the table of truth. And that's an appropriate thing. 21:37 By the way, everyone - by way of my analogy here 21:40 at least as far as my analogy goes - 21:42 everyone has a table of truth. Not just Christians 21:45 but everyone: Muslims and non-believers 21:47 and Hindus. In other words, a basic set of beliefs 21:50 that they have about the world, about God if they believe 21:53 in a God, about whatever their religious book happens to be. 21:57 And as Christians and as Seventh-day Adventists 21:58 we have... Not all of us, of course, are Seventh-day 22:01 Adventists... But those of us that are, I'm one of them. 22:03 But just even Christians in general, we have a table. 22:05 And on that table over time cumulatively 22:09 we begin to put things onto that table 22:12 and those are the things that we regard as true. 22:15 So far so good? 22:17 And for some of us particularly, let's say we came in 22:19 from outside... like I came in from the outside. 22:23 I wasn't raised a believer. Others have maybe come in 22:25 through another denomination or even another religion. 22:27 At times, things have to come off the table of truth 22:30 to make room for other things that are going on. 22:32 So far so good? So you can just imagine 22:34 that in your own personal experience you have a table 22:38 of truth. And these are things that you believe about God, 22:41 about the world, about Christ, about the church, etc. 22:44 And what I would like to suggest here 22:47 is that there is a danger. And I know there is a danger 22:50 because I have experienced it in my own life and I have 22:53 seen it with the privilege that I have of traveling all over 22:56 the world. And this is part of the danger: 22:58 the danger is that things just get cobbled 23:01 just kind of serendipitously 23:05 and sometimes recklessly 23:07 and just sort of piled onto the table of truth 23:12 without a clear distinction of where they sort of fit 23:15 with regards to the most important truths 23:18 or the most important truth. 23:20 And so we put things on there and that table of truth can have 23:23 things as important as Jesus died for me. 23:26 Is that a truth? 23:28 Is that an important truth? Yes. 23:30 And yet that can also be right up there with 23:33 I need to be to church at 11 o'clock on Saturday morning 23:37 or Sunday morning as the case may be 23:39 and I need to wear a suit and tie. 23:41 Now some of you will regard that as true. 23:42 I don't really regard that as true particularly. 23:45 This is the first time I've preached in a suit in 2 years 23:48 and I'm doing it just because I wanted to try it... 23:50 see what it felt like again. 23:52 And it feels just about exactly like preaching without a suit. 23:56 But people have my... I use that as an illustration 23:59 here to say that when we start piling sort of religious 24:02 things onto our table of truth whether we're reading a book 24:05 or hearing a sermon or whatever it is 24:06 we're not always perfectly systematic in our evaluation 24:12 of where those truths should be in orientation 24:15 and in relationship to others. 24:16 And so as Christians and as Seventh-day Adventists 24:19 we have a variety of things - a vast panoply of things - 24:23 that we believe are true 24:24 but they're just piled kind of onto the table 24:26 with lots of other things that are true. 24:28 And there should be a hierarchy of the most important thing, 24:33 things that are important but not the most, 24:35 and then things that are frankly just your own personal 24:37 preference. Now let me try and unpack this here. 24:41 The danger is that we would take and regard 24:45 that whole table of truth as the message... 24:48 the message that God has called us to preach. 24:50 But I would like to suggest that the real message that God 24:53 has called us to preach centers and orbits around 24:56 some central truths and one central Truth. 25:02 There are other things that are also around the periphery 25:04 that are very important, but many of these are personal 25:07 convictions or cultural persuasions. 25:10 Things that we think are right. 25:12 But what ends up happening is we travel to another town, 25:15 to another country, to another situation, 25:17 to another family and we can - doesn't have to 25:21 happen - but we can lose track and think 25:24 that our calling now is to get them to accept 25:27 this whole cobbled pile amassed table of truth 25:33 when in reality it might have taken us 25:34 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years to have accumulated 25:38 those various things that we regard as true. 25:41 Are you with me? And so I'm going to suggest... 25:44 I'm going to suggest that there is a danger - 25:46 even for those of us that are Bible-believing, Spirit-filled 25:48 Christians - that we could actually be supplanting 25:53 the most important truths and the most important Truth 25:57 which we are going to get to with other things 25:59 that are important but are not the most important thing. 26:03 And so here's my kind of wild and provocative suggestion: 26:07 I'm going to suggest - and I know that this is 26:10 not entirely possible, I freely recognize that, 26:13 it's a thought experiment - but inasmuch as it's possible 26:16 I'm going to suggest, radical though it be, 26:20 that we... Can you guess what it might be? 26:23 Oh it's crazy... it's just completely crazy - 26:26 especially for those of us that have accumulating... 26:28 You know, we've read books and we've read theological 26:30 journals and we've listened to hours of 3ABN 26:33 and we know lots of things that are true. 26:37 So what I'm going to suggest here is going to sound wild, 26:39 it's going to sound wacky, it's going to sound crazy, 26:41 but I would like to suggest that there is a great good 26:45 to be gained and a great evil to be avoided 26:47 in doing this truth. It's a personal exercise. 26:50 And the illustration - the thought experiment - looks 26:53 something like this... 26:58 What did we just do? 27:00 We cleared the table. 27:02 Now some of you are saying: "Wow, this guy's lost his mind. 27:04 He just told us to take all these truths off of the table. " 27:07 Yeah. Now we're not taking them off permanently. 27:09 Whew! We're taking them off temporarily and intentionally 27:13 so that for the purpose of... Not for taking them off 27:16 forever but sort of clearing the slate so to speak. 27:20 The ancients would speak of what they called 27:22 a "tabula rasa. " You know what that means? 27:26 A clean slate. It means a razed tablet. 27:28 Where they would have a slate tablet or some you know igneous 27:31 stone that they had written on. And then they would have another 27:33 stone - a harder stone - and they would... 27:35 they would raze the tablet. A bit like an Etch-a-Sketch. 27:38 You kind of shake that thing and you have a... And my kid's 27:40 really into Etch-a-Sketches right now - my youngest. 27:42 He just loves them. And it really bums him out 27:44 that he can't - you know - keep the design. 27:46 And so what he does is he makes these really intricate 27:49 and beautiful Etch-a-Sketch things and then he takes 27:50 pictures of it. Then he shakes it up... makes another one. 27:53 Brilliant idea, really. 27:54 And so the ancients would speak of a tabula rasa... 27:57 a clean slate. 27:58 And I'm suggesting here that a clean slate 28:02 will actually be in many of our best interests. 28:06 Because what it will enable us to do is actually 28:09 for those of us who have grown, and don't be insulted by this, 28:13 some of us have such a familiarity... such a... 28:18 What's the word I'm looking for here? 28:19 We are so associated, we are so familiar with 28:22 the truths that we have heard since we were a little kid 28:25 that we regard them almost as blasé. 28:29 Beloved, the things that we are advocating and saying 28:33 and teaching and preaching are earth-shattering 28:35 tectonically huge - you know - monumentally large, significant 28:41 truths, yeah? We should never regard them with any sort of 28:44 ambivalence or indifference or apathy. 28:46 "Oh yeah, that's nice. " No, no, no, no. 28:48 We need to reorient ourselves to just how beautiful 28:51 and awesome the message of scripture is. 28:54 And I think this exercise might help some of us to do that. 28:57 Well anyway... back to the point. 28:59 As we clear the table of truth... 29:01 Again, we're not clearing everything off of it for the 29:04 purpose of leaving it off. But let me say this word: 29:06 truth stands nothing to fear from investigation or scrutiny. 29:12 Amen! We good on that? 29:14 If there is anything that I believe that's not true, 29:18 I would want to know. 29:19 As someone once famously said: "If Christianity is not true, 29:23 I would want to know. 29:24 But if it is true, I would want everybody else to know. " 29:28 You hear the difference? 29:29 So evaluating anything that I believe - whether it's 29:32 the divinity of Christ or the death of Christ 29:34 or the sanctity of the Sabbath or the high-priestly ministry 29:36 of Jesus... every single thing that I believe and I hold as 29:39 dear and central and even fundamental 29:42 I am fully willing to put that up for evaluation, 29:45 for discussion, and for complete scrutiny. 29:48 And if it's true, it will find its way 29:51 back on to the table of truth. 29:54 But maybe I allow some of my own personal preferences 29:58 and ideas, maybe my own cultural leanings or idiosyncrasies, 30:02 to make their way onto the table of truth 30:04 and I regarded them as sacred when in reality they were just 30:07 my own personal preferences. 30:09 Does that happen? 30:11 It happens in churches all over the world. 30:12 It happens in families all over the world. 30:14 So here's what I'm suggesting: 30:15 we are not going to be able... Obviously, the time... 30:18 The time allotment makes it very clear. We only have 30:21 4 or 5 sessions together. There's going to be no way that 30:24 we'll be able to completely sweep that table clean 30:29 and then cumulatively over the next 4 or 5 hours 30:31 put everything... That's not going to happen. 30:33 But what I would like to do is suggest a methodology. 30:38 That's a big long word but what's the root word 30:41 of methodology? 30:42 A method. I would like to suggest a method. 30:44 And not just any old method. In fact, not even the Asscherick 30:48 method. I would like to suggest a Biblical or a textual 30:53 methodology as to how to begin to build our own 30:57 truth table - our own faith - back up. 30:59 Because some of us... we just came into the truth. 31:01 I was that way. I came into the truth and I was not - 31:04 you know - methodically or systematically going through 31:07 and orienting things and putting them into their right 31:09 orientation. No, stuff was just... "Oh really? We don't eat 31:12 cheese? " OK, put that on the table. 31:14 And "Oh, Jesus... He's the high priest in the heavenly... " 31:16 Put that on there. 31:17 And "Oh, I've got to be to church at 11:00 AM. " 31:19 Put that on there. And I just... 31:22 And before you know it I'm walking around with this big 31:24 as it were table of truth. And when I go to talk to my 31:27 punk rock friends I'm like "Here, this is the truth. " 31:31 And they're like: "You are crazy! " 31:34 "You have lost your mind... you're completely insane. " 31:38 'Cause I was trying to dump a bunch of stuff that I had 31:40 cobbled together - all of which was important. 31:44 What did I say? 31:46 All of which was important but it lacked the symmetry 31:50 and it lacked the textual centrality of who God is. 31:56 I should have handed them one truth. 31:58 "Now this, this is the thing. This is what it's all about. " 32:02 Are we together everyone? OK. 32:05 So... do you understand the basic illustration? 32:08 It's a little scary because any time you take something 32:10 off the table you think: "Ooh... did he just take 32:14 the Sabbath off the table? " Of course we're going to take 32:16 the Sabbath off the table because if it's really what 32:18 the scripture teaches it'll make its way back on. 32:21 Yeah? So we're going to start as it were 32:24 over the course of our time here from basically ground zero. 32:28 We're going to try and rebuild the table of truth 32:30 in a textual, Biblical, systematic and methodical way. 32:34 And for our purposes here I'm going to suggest that 32:38 at the center... at the very center of the first block, 32:44 the first truth that we set on that table... 32:46 is this idea of the covenants and the covenant in singular. 32:52 OK, now that we've got the illustration kind of nailed down 32:54 let me just sort of share with you why this might be 32:57 important. A little bit more on this. 32:59 In Jesus' own day 33:02 the religious leaders and instructors of His day 33:05 had been so accustomed to the text... now watch this... 33:09 they had become so familiar with the text you couldn't 33:12 teach them anything new. They knew it. 33:14 In fact, they knew it so well - watch this - 33:16 they knew it so well they knew that Jesus wasn't the Messiah. 33:22 You see how that works? 33:23 When you get to know something so well 33:26 that you actually end up not knowing the way that it was 33:29 originally written and originally intentioned, 33:30 something has gone wrong. And frankly - 33:32 I'll just put the cards on the table here, so to speak... 33:34 This is a different table, by the way... this isn't 33:36 the table of truth. 33:37 Let me put the cards on my kitchen table: 33:39 many of us have missed the point. 33:44 We have missed the point. 33:47 Jesus did not call us to make people like ourselves. 33:51 He didn't say: "Go make Westerners of the world. " 33:54 He didn't even say: "Go make people members 33:56 of your denomination. " 33:58 He said: "Go preach Me; Go preach My commandments; 34:01 Go preach My person and My life, My death, My resurrection. 34:06 You go preach that. " Yeah? And some of us have got 34:08 the cart well in front of the horse. 34:12 So, with that sort of in mind in the days of Jesus 34:15 the religious leaders of Jesus' day had become so accustomed 34:19 to scripture, so familiar with scripture, 34:21 so aware of scripture that they had actually gotten 34:24 to the point... now watch this subtle deception here... 34:26 they had gotten to the point where they thought that the text 34:29 was the point. They thought the scripture was the point. 34:35 And so Jesus shows up and He has to start saying 34:37 really audacious things... things like this: 34:40 "Hey fellows... " John 5:39... 34:42 "you search the scriptures 34:45 because in them you think you have eternal life. " 34:48 You think the value is in the text itself. 34:52 He said: "But you missed the point because... " Finish this 34:55 with me... "because these are they that testify of Me. " 35:00 Let me translate that for you. "You're reading the text, 35:03 you're reading the words of the story, 35:04 and you missed the story. 35:07 You missed the point: I'M THE POINT! " 35:10 The story is about something or more precisely it's about 35:13 someone. And we as Christians 35:16 and particularly my brothers and sisters as Seventh-day 35:18 Adventist Christians and others 35:20 but I feel really comfortable speaking to my Seventh-day 35:23 Adventist brothers and sisters 'cause I'm one of you 35:25 the danger is that we could become so familiar with and so 35:30 happy with and so safely ensconced in our doctrinal 35:34 package - yeah - we might miss the point. 35:41 There's a point. 35:43 And the point... just like the religious leaders in Jesus day 35:46 the point was not the text. 35:48 The point was what the text was pointing to 35:50 and the text was pointing to Jesus. 35:53 And all of these beautiful doctrinal truths that we have 35:55 whether you want to put the Sabbath or the state of the dead 35:57 or the sanctuary or the soon second coming... 36:00 you put all of those things on there. Those things? 36:04 Are they important? Yes or no? 36:06 But here's the point: in and of themselves 36:09 they're not the point. 36:11 They're about something. 36:13 In fact, they're about someone and that someone is Jesus. 36:17 Now I have a confession to make here: I told you 36:18 I've been preaching for like 15, 16 years now. 36:20 I can tell you with complete honesty and complete 36:26 transparency and a little bit of shame, 36:28 but I think the Lord winks in times of our ignorance 36:31 and immaturity, that many of my earliest evangelistic sermons 36:36 were basically geared around getting people to see 36:40 that what I was saying was right and to convince them that 36:43 they should believe the right thing too. 36:47 Are you with me so far? 36:48 Now you might be sitting there thinking: "Well what do you 36:49 want? People to believe the wrong thing? " No of course not. 36:52 But when I go back and I listen to some of my early 36:56 presentations, to be honest with you I find myself cringing 36:59 not because of what I am saying 37:02 but because of what I'm NOT saying. 37:04 There's a whole lot of truth in there and there's a whole lot 37:06 of persuasion in there and there's a whole lot of 37:08 doctrine in there and there's a whole lot of 37:09 apologetics in there, but there's not enough of the point! 37:14 Are you with me? 37:15 As if God is saving smart people. 37:21 Right? As if that's the point. 37:23 It's as if God said: "David, all of these people 37:26 believe wrong things. But you go to their town, 37:28 you teach them to believe right things, 37:30 and when they believe right things... when they're smart 37:33 enough, educated enough, and informed enough... 37:34 then I'll save them. " 37:36 Now I would have never never never said this, and I didn't 37:39 even believe it, but looking back through my... 37:42 What did Paul say? "When I was a 37:44 child I spoke as a child and I thought as a child. " 37:47 Looking back through my childish ways, my immature ways, 37:50 was I sincere? Yes. Was I earnest? Yes. 37:52 Was I passionate about Jesus? Yes. 37:54 But my modality of communicating it was basically this: 37:58 this is what... Saturday is the Sabbath. 38:01 And people would say: "Yeah, you're right. 38:02 I see the textual argumentation. " 38:04 And then I would say: "When you die you sleep 38:06 the sleep of death and you will awake in the resurrection. 38:08 You see that right there? 'The dead know not anything. ' " 38:10 "Well you're right! That is what the text says. " 38:13 And after they became persuaded about enough things... 38:15 By the way, one of those things was: "By the way, 38:18 Jesus died for your sins. " 38:20 It was sort of in there with the other stuff. 38:23 And when people had come through a sufficient... I wouldn't say 38:26 indoctrinization... but when people had come through 38:28 a sufficient amount of education about what was true 38:32 we would baptize them and we'd say: "Now you're a member. " 38:35 And it wasn't ever communicated this way 38:36 but it was often... the idea was: "Now you know 38:40 what's right and your job is to go find others 38:44 who are believing wrong things and to help them believe... " 38:46 What? "right things. " 38:48 Now, is there anything wrong in this? 38:51 Well, there's something kind of "wrongish" in it. 38:54 Not in what it is but in what it isn't. 38:58 Beloved I just want to sort of open my heart here to you. 39:01 I have no regrets about any of my past preaching 39:03 except not in what I did say but in what I didn't say. 39:08 There should have been more of the point. 39:11 More of... OK, so what? 39:16 That's what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day. 39:18 "You guys, you love the text. You love the Torah. 39:21 You love all of the various minutia of the... 39:24 You know this so well that you've made phylacteries. 39:27 You've bound them to your hands and you've put them on your 39:29 foreheads. You know the text of scripture... 39:33 but they're about Me. " 39:36 Open your Bibles to II Corinthians chapter 3. 39:39 You think I'm strong on this...the apostle Paul 39:41 was so grieved by this basic idea that I'm communicating 39:46 to you here, that on one occasion in the book of Romans 39:48 he said: "I could wish that I was accursed from Christ 39:52 for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. " 39:54 In other words, "I could wish I was cut off so that Israel 39:57 could be saved. " Because he saw that there was 40:00 a fundamental blindness... A fundamental what? 40:04 a fundamental blindness in the way that Israel was 40:08 reading... not watch this... their own text. 40:13 II Corinthians chapter 3. Are we there everyone? 40:15 II Corinthians chapter 3. 40:16 Pick it up in verse 14. Paul has just finished telling 40:18 the story about how Moses went to the top of the mountain 40:20 and he was there for 40 days and he was in the very presence 40:23 of God - the immediate presence of God - and he was up there 40:25 for so long that his face began to glow. 40:28 So when he comes down from the mountain the Israelites 40:30 who see his face aglow they say what? 40:33 Remember the story? 40:34 They said what? "Put a veil over your face 40:37 because we can't bear to look at you. You've been in the 40:39 immediate, undiluted, presence of God. We can't look at that. " 40:45 Now, Paul then takes this historical event and he makes 40:49 a profound theological point. 40:52 We'll pick it up in verse 14. 40:54 He says: "But their minds were blinded for until this day 40:57 the same veil... " There using the illustration 41:00 metaphorically, symbolically but profoundly... 41:02 "the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the 41:06 Old Testament.. " he says... "because that veil is taken away 41:10 in Christ. " Now what he's done is a stroke 41:13 of absolute poetic and theological and pastoral 41:16 brilliance. He's taken this story from Israel's own history 41:19 of Moses going up the mountain and coming down 41:20 with the incandescent face and the veil over it 41:23 and he said: "That is just exactly what's happening 41:26 in the synagogues today! " 41:28 He said: "When Moses is read... " And of course 41:31 Moses is the one who came down from the mountain 41:32 and Moses wrote the Torah - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 41:35 Numbers, Deuteronomy - he says: "When the Israelites 41:38 come to Moses there's a veil. " 41:41 And he said: "That veil is preventing them from seeing 41:44 the point of their own book. " 41:48 And he says: "That veil will remain there until it's taken 41:51 away. " You've got to get that veil out of the way 41:54 and then what does he say there at the end of verse 14? 41:56 How is the veil taken away? 41:58 He says: "That veil is taken away in Christ. " 42:01 Look at verse 15: "But even to this day... " he says... 42:05 "when Moses is read a veil lies over their heart. 42:10 Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord... " 42:13 What happens to the veil? 42:14 It's taken away. I love this... verse 17: 42:18 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the 42:21 Lord is there is liberty. " 42:23 And there's all kinds of liberty there and I'm not going 42:25 to get into the various liberties that Paul is speaking 42:27 about here. But don't miss this point. 42:29 His point is that of course he would know this, he would 42:32 know this, any reader of scripture would know this: 42:34 that most of scripture is built around the story of Abraham 42:38 and the descendants of Abraham - the nation of Israel. 42:41 Yes or no? So far so good? 42:43 We're going to spend a lot of time talking about that 42:44 over the rest of our presentation. 42:46 And so Paul basically takes this story, this cornerstone, 42:50 essential, foundational and fundamental story 42:53 to Israel, and he basically takes that story 42:56 and he uses it as an illustration that they are 42:58 reading their own book - their own Hebrew scriptures, 43:01 their own text - and he says when they 43:04 read their own book a veil is over their face. 43:06 'Cause you have to read the right book in the right way. 43:11 Now let me just bring the text back to your mind... 43:13 the one that we have already mentioned. Jesus said to the... 43:15 to the religious leaders of His day: 'You're searching the 43:17 scriptures because in them you think you have... " 43:20 "You think that the text itself is the point 43:23 but these are they that testify of Me. " That's Paul's point. 43:28 You read the Old Testament without a radical of what the 43:30 theologians would call "Christocentricity. " 43:34 Wow, that's a multisyllabic word. What does that mean? 43:36 Christocentricity. What does it sound like? 43:39 A radical Christcenteredness. 43:42 He says: "You go back and you read your... you read your own 43:45 text without a radical riveting to the Messiah 43:49 and you're going to read your own scriptures wrong. " 43:52 We cannot look down our own long noses 43:55 at first-century Judaism and think: 'Man, what a bunch of 43:58 fools. How could they miss it? " 44:00 When many of us 44:02 right in the own living room the mental landscape of our 44:06 lives we have tables of truth 44:09 cobbled with all kinds of things 44:11 and we ourselves have thought "That's the point! " 44:15 That's... Oh no, no, no, no, no. 44:17 Those things are important. Yes or no? 44:19 But there are some things as we dig through and come 44:23 through all of these various things that we have accumulated 44:25 over our time, there are some things that are centrally 44:29 important, and those are the things that God has called us 44:33 to preach. The other things will come 44:34 cumulatively over time. And frankly, some of them 44:37 are just personal preferences. We might talk a little bit 44:38 about that if we get time. 44:40 But there is a central truth... and here it is: 44:44 the central truth in my humble evaluation 44:48 is that God is 44:52 totally awesome. 44:57 That's my own little translation there. 44:59 Basically the message of scripture, the message of Jesus, 45:03 and the message of the church always has been 45:07 or always should have been in the case of the church 45:10 "Look at God. He is so awesome! 45:13 He is so lovely. He is SO AMAZING! 45:16 And look at how all of these doctrinal packages 45:19 paint a picture and point to Him 45:22 who is altogether lovely! " 45:26 Look at how awesome He is. Look at how beautiful He is. 45:28 Look at how amazing He is. 45:30 John would summarize it in three simple words - 45:31 three unisyllabic words. 45:34 He would say: "God is love. " 45:38 And so everything else... You want to take the Sabbath? 45:42 Fine, put it on the table. 45:43 Put the Sabbath on the table. Amen. 45:46 You want to put the sanctuary? Put it on the table. 45:47 You want to put the state of the dead? Put it on the table. 45:49 Anything that is textually true put it on the table. 45:52 But be sure that as that thing goes on the table 45:56 it's not going on the table simply for information's sake 45:59 but it becomes a lens. A what everyone? 46:03 It becomes a lens just like scripture itself. 46:08 By the way, we call scripture the "revelation of God. " 46:11 What's the root word there? 46:13 The revealing; the removal of the veil. 46:17 Be sure that those doctrines, those things that you believe, 46:19 those truths that you have cobbled onto the table of truth 46:22 cumulatively over the experience of your walk with Jesus, 46:26 be sure that those things - EACH OF THEM - 46:29 that it is crystal clear in your mind 46:32 that the great truth of the universe is not merely that 46:35 Saturday is the Sabbath. 46:38 God is not just saving people who can read a calendar. 46:42 That the great central truth is not that Uncle Ed and 46:46 Aunt Edna are not in heaven. 46:49 That's true! But these doctrinal packages - 46:53 this doctrinal lens - 46:57 is something through which we view the goodness 47:03 and beauty and loveliness and awesomeness of God. 47:09 "Wow! Look at how good God looks 47:14 through the Sabbath truth! " 47:18 "Look at how good God looks through the truth of the life, 47:21 death, and resurrection of Jesus. " 47:24 "Look at how good God looks through the sanctuary! " 47:27 Whoa... and now what's happened is 47:29 now not only are we preaching "the truth" 47:34 we're preaching Him who is the Truth. 47:38 Too many, too many, too many, too many even of my own sermons 47:41 but too many sermons that you hear are build around 47:45 getting people to believe the right thing in the right way 47:47 to have all of their textual ducks lined up 47:50 so that at the end of the day you know what's true, 47:52 you can argue what's true, you can believe what's true. 47:54 And by the way, this is the part of our own as 47:56 Seventh-day Adventist for those of you that are Seventh-day 47:58 Adventists... this is a part of our DNA. 48:00 Because we had historically felt - I'm not going to spend 48:03 any time developing this except for just about 30 seconds - 48:05 we had historically felt on the defensive because 48:09 we were preaching things that much of Christendom 48:10 did not believe. And so we felt under compulsion, 48:14 a necessary compulsion to ride into town - the early Advent 48:17 preachers - and to challenge the ministers of the local 48:21 congregations to a debate about what day is the Sabbath. 48:24 To a debate about what happens when you die. 48:25 To a debate about whether or not you can eat pigs or shellfish. 48:28 To a debate about what Jesus is doing right now. 48:30 And you had better believe that we were going to set those 48:34 pork-eating Sunday keepers right. 48:37 And largely we did! 48:41 You know what? Jesus didn't come. 48:46 Because it's not just about right doctrine. 48:49 In fact, let me say it this way: 48:50 it's far more important to be righteous than to be right. 48:55 Oh ho... I tell you that's a lesson hard learned 48:58 for those of us that are stubborn know-it-alls. 49:01 Yes or no? In fact, check this out. 49:03 When you ride into a town and you show up and you preach 49:06 an argumentative discourse - 49:08 right? - the kinds of people that you win with that preaching 49:11 tend to be stubborn know-it-alls. 49:14 "Well that's right... Saturday is the Sabbath. " 49:17 And then those people - you know - stubborn know-it-alls 49:20 and generally obnoxious - that might be describing 49:22 some of you... maybe many of you - 49:24 now you're going to let your whole town, your whole 49:27 neighborhood, your whole family know the truth. 49:30 But you've only let them know about the glasses. 49:34 You've only let them know about the lens. 49:37 But the glasses and the lens: these things are not decorative. 49:40 They serve a purpose, 49:41 and the purpose is to put them on - oooh - 49:49 have a look at God through new eyes. 49:56 See how beautiful Jesus is when you put the Sabbath glasses on. 50:01 Man... He wants to spend time with me? 50:04 He created me for intimacy. 50:06 He created me for relationship. 50:08 He Himself is fundamentally relational? 50:12 He created a sanctuary in time not just for me but for all 50:16 humanity. The Sabbath was made for man. 50:18 God is... Wow! What a beautiful picture 50:20 that begins to emerge. And is Saturday the right day? 50:23 Yes or no? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 50:25 But that's... and you'll under- stand what I mean by this... 50:28 that's almost beside the point. 50:30 Is that important? Of course it's important, 50:32 but that's not the point. 50:34 It's a little bit like this. People say: "What the truth 50:36 about marriage? " And I ask you what's the truth about marriage. 50:40 If I said: "Well the truth about marriage is that Violeta is 50:43 my wife. " That is true actually... she is my wife. 50:48 But that's hardly the truth about marriage. 50:51 That just means I got the right girl. 50:53 OK... now what? 50:55 To what end? 50:57 To what end marriage? To what end a relationship? 51:00 To what end Violeta? What's the point? 51:03 Well the point is love. The point is commitment. 51:05 The point is forgiveness. The point is relationality. 51:08 The point is growing together. 51:10 There's a whole bunch of truths that fall under the rubric 51:13 of the beauty of marriage. Yes or no? 51:15 And it is important for me to be with the right woman... 51:19 the one that I actually married. 51:20 Amen to that, brothers. 51:21 Right? And sisters. OK. 51:24 But to say that the truth about the Sabbath is that 51:26 Saturday is the Sabbath... that is a part of it. 51:29 And it's an important part, yes or no? 51:31 I wouldn't want to diminish that, but that's not the whole 51:33 truth. The truth of all of these things 51:36 and of the text itself as we have put each of them 51:40 on the table we ask ourself a question. 51:42 And here it is.. we've done a good job. We've gotten through 51:44 the illustration. When we put this first block 51:49 on the table of truth, 51:51 this first fundamental truth on the table of truth, 51:54 I'm suggesting my methodology here, and I think it's a textual 51:58 methodology, I think it's defensible, 52:00 is that God is love. 52:05 Let me try and paint that picture for you briefly. 52:07 When Ellen White sat down to write her comprehensive 52:13 exposition of scripture, her pastoral exposition of scripture 52:17 otherwise known as the Conflict of the Ages series, 52:19 five volumes. You might know them. 52:21 Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, 52:23 Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles, followed by the 52:26 Great Controversy... the book that I read 17, 18 years ago 52:29 that brought me to Jesus. OK. So the purpose of those books 52:32 is to set out a pastoral exposition of the whole panorama 52:37 of scripture. It begins in creation and it ends in 52:39 re-creation. Can you say "Amen? " 52:42 It begins here and it ends here. 52:44 So when she sits down with her dexterous hand, 52:47 her ready mind, her able pen, she sits down to write: 52:51 how do you begin a comprehensive full-scope 52:57 treatment of the whole passage, the whole message of scripture? 53:01 I'll tell you exactly how you begin: 53:02 it's exactly how she began. 53:04 She sat down and she said: "Oh, I know how this is going to 53:05 start. This starts with three words. " 53:08 And does anyone know what the first sentence of Patriarchs 53:10 and Prophets is? She wrote: "God is love. " 53:16 Right? And then you go... 53:19 through 3500+ pages... I mean you just fast forward. 53:24 You come down to the end and it's the Great Controversy 53:27 and sin and sinners are no more. And the whole thing is 53:29 winding up and the victory has been won 53:32 and Jesus has accomplished it. And we've been through the 53:34 experience of Israel and through the experience of the church 53:36 and through the experience of the Dark Ages 53:38 and we're right down into the time in which we are living 53:40 but we're even past that. We're past the millennium; 53:42 we're down to the very end... which is really the beginning 53:44 by the way... we're down to the very end. 53:48 How do you close this book? 53:49 How do you close five volumes? 53:52 An exhaustive, comprehensive exposition - 53:55 pastoral exposition - of scripture. How do you? 54:00 Well there's only one way to close it. 54:03 How do you close it? I heard somebody say it. 54:04 How do you close it? You sit down and you write these 54:06 words... say it with me: "God is love. " 54:09 And between those two ends - 54:12 those two bookends, those two parameters - 54:15 exists the whole story of scripture. 54:18 So I'm suggesting that the first thing, 54:20 the first thing that we put on the table, is this central 54:24 truth about who God is. John said: "He that does not 54:27 love does not know God for" - say it with me - "God is love. " 54:32 I John chapter 4 verse 8. 54:34 Let me paraphrase that for you. 54:35 He goes so far as to say: "If you're not a loving person, 54:37 you couldn't possibly know what God is about 54:40 because God is love. " 54:43 For John, for Paul, for Jesus 54:46 and for Ellen White the whole message of scripture 54:50 is not a series of didactic truths. 54:52 OK, check... you believe the right thing. 54:53 Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check... 54:56 We're not taking SAT tests here. 54:59 It's not a fill-in-the-blank and be sure to fill in the whole 55:02 dot. No! The whole point 55:05 is about God and who He is and how awesome He is 55:10 and how beautiful He is. And that grandiosity, 55:13 that glory, that grandeur and beauty 55:15 can be summarized in three simple syllables... 55:18 the three grandest syllables that have ever been written. 55:20 And if they are true they are - and I believe they are, 55:22 every reason to believe they are - 55:24 they are the greatest good news. 55:26 Now listen to this. Not just the greatest good news 55:27 in the universe but the greatest good news 55:29 conceivable. You cannot think of better news than that. 55:33 Try it some time. 55:35 Just go sit under an oak tree some warm sunny afternoon 55:38 and try to think of something that could be better 55:41 than that God is love. You can't come up with it. 55:46 If that is true, and I have every reason to believe it is, 55:49 if it is true, it is the grandest and most glorious 55:52 and most announceable and urgent truth 55:57 that could ever be imagined or proclaimed! 56:00 The universe is friendly? 56:02 The universe is congenial? 56:04 God is love? 56:08 And Jesus said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 56:10 That's what this book is about. " 56:11 And Paul said: "That's what this book is about. " 56:13 And Ellen White sat down to write this whole thing. 56:15 She said: "Let me tell you what this book is about. 56:16 From beginning to end the whole thing is about 56:19 the central truth of who and what God is. " 56:23 And what we're going to discover over the next 4 times 56:26 sessions that we have together is that central to this first 56:30 normative, non-negotiable building block is this great 56:34 truth of the covenant. That "God is love" 56:39 is a statement about His nature, about His character. 56:41 And it is a grand covenantal statement 56:45 that God in His very nature is relational and covenantal. 56:51 And we're going to unpack that 56:54 over the rest of our time together. |
Revised 2014-12-17