Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: 13HC
Program Code: 13HC000005
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00:51 Well hello and we do welcome you
00:54 to 3ABN's Fall Camp Meeting. 00:56 We want to welcome all of our viewers from around the world 00:59 and those who are watching on television, Internet, 01:03 maybe on your iPad or you're listening on the radio. 01:06 We're so glad that you're taking this time to be with us. 01:09 Are we having a good time? 01:11 Yes! 01:13 I think last night was incredible. 01:15 I was just telling the group here that the amazing thing 01:19 is I feel sorry for people who were just listening 01:22 to David Asscherick on the radio because they didn't get to 01:25 watch him. And isn't he fun to watch? 01:27 He really is. 01:29 And today he is going to continue. 01:31 He's speaking on Christ and the Covenants. 01:34 And he is going to be today speaking - part two - 01:38 of Christ and the Covenants. 01:39 You know, when he was talking last night about clearing 01:42 the table, I had the very same experience. 01:46 God, when I accepted the call to full-time ministry, 01:50 God told me very clearly... He impressed this thought 01:54 upon my mind: to forget what I thought I knew 01:58 and come sit at His feet and He would teach me. 02:01 So I had to take everything off the table 02:04 and let God put things back on. 02:06 And it was just an amazing experience! 02:09 And only David could actually put that into words 02:13 in the illustration he did. 02:15 So any time you think about a punk-rocking 02:20 skateboarding kid 02:22 that is handed a book called The Great Controversy 02:26 and from that book to meet the awesome God 02:32 you know how awesome God is to change. 02:36 The power of God's love changed David Asscherick 02:40 and now we're all benefitting from that. 02:42 So he will be speaking, but before he comes to speak 02:46 it's my joy to introduce one of my fellow church members - 02:50 a sister and a brother... actually two of them - 02:52 and that is Celestine Berry. 02:54 She is going to be singing a song called 02:58 Remember Me, and her husband Michael will be playing piano. 03:36 Remember Me? 03:41 I'm the One who gave up everything 03:45 for you. 03:49 I'll never leave your side... 03:52 Remember Me? 03:56 The One who cares for you no matter what 04:00 you do. 04:04 The One whose arms are here 04:08 to give you rest 04:11 The One who's seen you at your worst 04:16 and knows you best 04:20 Your closest Friend 04:23 Remember Me? 04:27 When you smile you are the joy 04:31 that's in My eyes 04:36 You are the Father's pride 04:39 Remember Me? 04:44 Your sorrow and your happiness 04:48 are Mine 04:51 The grace I gave will always 04:55 be enough 04:59 For there will never be 05:02 a greater love 05:06 than My love for you 05:09 Remember Me? 05:38 Remember Me? 05:44 as you take My broken body 05:47 torn and bruised 05:52 Let it give you life 05:54 Remember Me? 05:58 That this blood you take to drink 06:01 was shed for you 06:05 Let its power and its mercy 06:09 give you strength 06:12 Let My endless cup be all 06:15 you'll ever need... 06:22 Remember 06:25 Me... 06:30 Remember Me... 06:43 Remember 06:46 Me. 07:05 Amen. 07:12 Good evening everyone. Good evening. 07:15 Great to be here at 3ABN 07:18 Homecoming Fall 2013. 07:21 That's a cool little intro they do with the photo album. 07:24 You like that? Real homey. I like it. 07:26 Makes me think of Thanksgiving. Anybody else? 07:30 Makes me hungry. 07:33 Most things make me hungry come to think of it. 07:37 Have you had a good day so far? Yes. 07:39 Yeah, I've had a really good day. 07:41 I've learned when I come to 3ABN for just three or four days 07:44 to stay up late and get up late 07:46 because if I try to get on this time schedule 07:48 and then I go back home my wife gets upset with me. 07:50 She's like: "How come you don't want to go to bed with me? " 07:52 I'm like: "Well I'm on that time table. " 07:54 So this morning I slept in to what looked like on my clock 07:57 10 o'clock. 07:59 I was like: "Oh, I'm such a bad human being. 08:01 I slept in till 10. " But it's really only 8 o'clock 08:04 where I'm from, so that's not so bad, is it? 08:05 I was up till 2 o'clock in the morning 08:07 but it was really only midnight. 08:10 OK, great. So we are going to continue 08:13 our series on the covenants and we've got a lot of material 08:17 to cover. So you've got your Bibles, yeah? 08:19 And I so appreciate Shelley's introduction there 08:22 because what Shelley said happened to her with regards 08:25 to clearing the table of... 08:27 What did we call that last night? The table of truth. 08:30 With regard to clearing the table of truth 08:32 I'm going to suggest that that should be an on-going exercise 08:37 for every one of us. That we should never become 08:39 so complacent that we just think we've got most of it figured out 08:43 we pretty much know it and there's just a few small details 08:46 that we're yet learning. No, no, no. 08:47 The truth of the matter is my persuasion is... 08:50 is that many of us have mistaken the forest for the trees. 08:54 We have the cart in front of the horse 08:55 to use another analogy. 08:57 We've sort of known the points but many of us have missed 09:00 THE POINT. And it's critically important for us - 09:03 and we're going to continue to develop this - 09:05 to have the point right at the center. 09:08 And we're going to get into that but before we do, let's pray 09:10 and then we'll get right into the text of scripture. 09:13 Let's pray together. 09:16 Father in heaven, as has been so beautifully sung: 09:19 remember Me. And surely this is the great challenge 09:23 of our life to remember You amidst the hustle and bustle 09:27 and busyness and distractions and the sensuality and secular 09:31 nature of this world, Father. It tugs at our hearts. 09:35 I think of the old hymn: Prone to wander, Lord, 09:38 I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. 09:39 Here's my heart... O take and seal it 09:42 for Your courts above. 09:44 And Father, we need to remember You. 09:46 You've given us many institutions to remember this 09:49 central truth of who You are and who Christ is 09:53 and who we are by extension. 09:56 And now as we open scripture and seek to orient ourselves 10:01 to this table of truth in a proper way, in a Biblical way, 10:05 the prayer of my heart, Father, is that You would give me 10:07 clarity as I teach. That my mind would be clear. 10:10 That my language would be the correct language 10:13 and vocabulary. And Father, I pray that ears would be open 10:17 to hear the words that are spoken. But beyond that, Father, 10:20 there's another, an extra-human or super human dimension, 10:24 and that is that we need Your Spirit to be here 10:27 to do what human ears and human mouths could never do: 10:31 come into this place... but not just into the walls 10:34 but into the walls of our heart. Come into us. 10:37 And take this message - this single presentation, 10:41 these presentations - and tailor make them to every 10:44 circumstance, every situation. Just as Shelley said 10:46 "this is how this applied to me" 10:48 Father, every one of us has an application here. 10:50 And I am praying that the Spirit would not only make the 10:52 application but that we would be open to the application. 10:55 And so be with us now as we open scripture. 10:58 Send that Spirit to guide us into all truth 11:01 as Jesus promised. 11:02 And we're anticipating an awesome time... a glorious 11:07 even a fun time with You as we open the text. 11:10 In Jesus' name... Let everyone say: "Amen. " 11:14 All right. Let's just spend the briefest of moments 11:17 reviewing here. We are talking about the table of... 11:20 truth. Very good. 11:21 And the truths that are on there - at least the truths 11:24 with which we are concerned in this particular series - 11:26 are not just any general truths 11:28 but truths that have to do with God, with the church, 11:30 with Christ. Basically, religious truths. 11:32 The truth of Christianity; the truth of scripture. 11:34 And many of us have been believers for a long time. 11:38 Some of us maybe just for a short time. 11:40 And over our cumulative religious experience 11:43 whether we were raised in a Christian home 11:45 and we bring our sort of familial culture with us 11:48 or we are converts maybe from another denomination 11:50 or even another religion. 11:52 We bring a number of things to the table of truth 11:55 and we begin to put them on the table of truth. 11:57 But my suggestion is 11:58 that we stand in danger of placing things in just sort of a 12:02 serendipitous and disorderly way on the table of truth 12:06 so that we actually can lose sight of the hierarchy 12:10 of truth. Lose sight of the what did I say? 12:13 The hierarchy of truth. Now notice that I'm not 12:15 suggesting here that anything is unimportant. 12:18 Have I said that? Have I said: "Oh these are unimportant? " 12:20 No, no, no. It's not that certain things are important 12:23 and other things are unimportant. 12:25 It's that certain things are essential and central 12:28 and other things are also important. 12:30 Do you hear the difference? 12:31 It's not that matters and that doesn't. 12:33 It's that's what really matters and this helps us to understand 12:37 why it matters so much. 12:38 We used the illustration last night 12:39 of the sort of doctrinal package of the Bible. 12:44 The doctrinal package that we believe. 12:45 And we referred to those things as what? Do you remember? 12:48 As lenses through which we view the central truth 12:52 which is the truth about who and what God is. 12:54 And we summarized that in John's own three words there 12:57 in I John chapter 4 verses 8 and 16 12:59 where he says: "He that does not love 13:02 does not know God for... " What three words? "For God is love. " 13:07 And I am suggesting that we in this thought exercise 13:12 clear everything off the table that we think we know is true. 13:16 And by the way, this is healthy. It's a little scary, yeah? 13:18 I mean, let's be honest. That's a little scary. 13:20 But it's healthy at times to go back and to re-evaluate 13:24 everything that we think we know 13:27 and to do it in the right way. 13:29 In an orderly way; in a textual way. 13:31 And I'm suggesting that the first piece 13:33 and I'm not going to call it a puzzle because that suggests 13:36 that it's something that has to be put together 13:38 in a sort of decoding sense. No, no, no. 13:40 I'm going to say the first brick. 13:41 The first brick in the house, the first brick in the edifice 13:44 of truth is the central truth about who God is: 13:48 God... is... love. 13:50 And I just talked to Shelley back stage and she told me 13:53 that's the very thing she's going to be talking about 13:54 after lunch. So hopefully - and I'm sure they will - 13:57 these two presentations should dove together very nicely. 13:59 You with me on that? 14:00 And we just mentioned a few passages yesterday 14:03 that basically the danger that we are in is the danger 14:07 that's analogous to the danger that the first century religious 14:10 leaders of Jesus' day were in. 14:12 And that is that we could actually make the mistake 14:15 of thinking that the point is all of the data 14:19 and miss the real point. And that is that all of that data 14:22 is telling a story, and the story is about how good 14:25 and how awesome God is. 14:26 Jesus said for example: "You search the scriptures 14:30 because in them you think you have eternal life. " 14:32 Let me just paraphrase that: "You search the scriptures 14:34 because you think that's the point. " 14:36 "But these are they that... " Do you remember? 14:39 "These are they that... " Yeah, they're telling a story. 14:43 Those words, those sentences, those verses 14:44 they're telling a story and the story is about... 14:47 Jesus said: "The story is about Me. " 14:50 "The story is about Me. " And we use the illustration... 14:53 We mention the illustration that Paul uses where he says 14:55 in II Corinthians chapter 3 that even the Israelites 14:59 when they come to their own book 15:01 He says that a what remains over their face? 15:03 A veil. But then he said that veil is taken away in Christ. 15:09 When someone turns to the Lord what ends up happening is 15:12 the New Testament writers - all of them with the possible 15:16 exception of Luke - being Jews 15:18 they went back and they read their own scriptures. 15:20 I want you to get this. 15:22 They went back and read their own book, their own history, 15:25 their own forefathers' tales. 15:27 But they went back and they read those stories 15:28 that they'd been hearing from when they were very young 15:31 and they read them with new eyes, right? 15:33 Because they put on the glasses. "Wait a minute, this is 15:36 all about the Messiah, Jesus. " 15:37 And when they went back and read their own book 15:40 they said: "Whoa! This book is totally different than we'd 15:44 imagined. We've been paying attention to the versification, 15:47 or the chapterization, or the stories... or whatever 15:49 you want to say: to the nuances, the details, 15:51 the minutia... but all of that together 15:54 was telling a story. " 15:55 In fact, Paul says a very interesting thing. 15:58 It's one of the most unusual verses in Paul that is hard 16:02 to understand if you don't understand his basic way 16:05 of coming to the Christ... to Jesus. 16:07 He says in Galatians - I think it's chapter 2, might be 16:10 chapter 3- he says this very unusual thing. 16:12 He says: "For I through the law 16:16 died to the law. " 16:19 What in the world does that mean? 16:22 Right? Some of us read that and think: "Paul, are you? 16:25 That's double talk. That's crazy speak. " 16:27 "I through the law die to the law. " 16:29 Well actually it makes very good sense 16:31 if we'll just understand a couple things. 16:33 The first is that when Paul spoke of the law - 16:36 and this is virtually universally the case in the 16:39 New Testament - He was not speaking of the 10 Commandments. 16:41 Right. That's what we often think. 16:43 When we hear "the law, " many of us as Seventh-day Adventists 16:46 or as Christians, we hear "the law" and we think 16:48 "Oh, the 10 Commandments. " 16:49 Am I right or am I wrong? 16:50 And that's not an inappropriate way to think about the word law 16:54 but it's not the Biblical way to think about the word law. 16:56 When the New Testament - as well as the Old - but when 16:59 the New Testament uses the word law it's referring usually 17:02 to the five books of Moses and can also generally just mean 17:05 the Old Testament. Right? 17:07 "To the law and to the prophets. If they speak not according to 17:10 this word it means there is no light in them. " 17:12 Jesus said: "Verily I say unto you 17:13 not one jot or one tittle 17:15 will pass from the law until all be fulfilled. " 17:18 In other words, He's not just talking about 17:20 the Ten Commandments. He's talking about the 17:21 Ten Commandments which are a part of the bigger thing 17:24 that is the law... and that's the Old Testament. 17:26 When Paul says "I through the law 17:29 die to the law, " here's what he's saying. 17:30 Watch this very carefully. He says: "I went back 17:32 and read the Old Testament. " 17:35 "I went back and read my own book. 17:37 I, through my re-reading of the Old Testament, 17:40 through my re-reading of the law, 17:42 I died to my old way of thinking about this book 17:45 and I realized it's all about Christ, and particularly 17:48 in the context of Galatians, it's Christ and His fulfillment 17:52 of the covenant... which is where we're going. " 17:54 Our basic point is this: 17:57 we're going to take all the things off. 18:00 With the Jews of Jesus' day - the Jewish leadership - 18:02 it was the actual text of scripture itself 18:05 and a rigorous adherence to the various rules and regulations 18:09 and later Rabbinical additions to those rules and regulations. 18:12 With Seventh-day Adventists and Christians it's more of a 18:15 doctrinal package. The truth about the Sabbath. 18:18 The truth about the sanctuary. 18:20 The truth about the state of the dead. 18:21 The truth, the truth, the truth, the truth. 18:23 And we mentioned just briefly last night 18:24 that there is a danger in which we would think 18:28 that the message that God has called us to preach 18:30 is a message to get people believing the right thing. 18:32 Now, is that true? 18:34 It's "trueish. " It's "trueish. " 18:36 But it's not just to believe the right thing... 18:38 it's to believe in the right person. 18:40 And the right person is God as represented in Christ. 18:44 Do you feel that? Yes or no? Awesome! 18:46 By the way, people say: "You don't say yes or no any more. " 18:49 I just said it right there. 18:51 Now listen to this. This is one of my favorite statements and 18:54 it's from a little book called That I May Know Him p. 208. 18:57 Now listen to this. 18:59 It says: "The truth for this time is broad in its outlines. " 19:05 The truth is? Broad. So it's not narrow. 19:07 It's "broad in its outlines, 19:09 far reaching, embracing many doctrines. " 19:13 Embracing many? Doctrines. OK. 19:16 So we're not diminishing the importance of doctrine. 19:18 Now watch this: "But these doc- trines are not detached items. " 19:23 Ooh. These doctrines are not what? Detached. 19:25 OK, so let's follow this through. 19:27 The truth for this time is broad, far reaching in its 19:30 outline, embracing many doctrines. 19:33 "But these doctrines are not... " What is it? Are not 19:36 "detached items" Well what are they then? 19:39 "which mean little... " 19:41 They're not detached items which mean little. 19:43 "they are united by golden threads forming a complete 19:48 whole with Christ as the living center. " 19:51 OK, now do not miss that. 19:54 What's actually being said here is that if all we have 19:57 is the doctrine of the Sabbath, 19:58 the doctrine of the state of the dead, 20:00 the doctrine of the soon second coming, 20:01 the doctrine of healthful living, 20:02 the doctrine of... and they're detached 20:04 from those golden threads that unite them to the center 20:07 which is Christ, it says "they mean little. " 20:11 They mean what? Little. Let me say it this way. 20:14 The Sabbath without Jesus is just the truth about the day. 20:18 The sanctuary without Jesus... 20:20 I don't even know frankly how you'd teach the sanctuary 20:22 without Jesus... That would be a real effort to do so. 20:25 But people manage to do it. 20:27 They manage to talk about every little detail 20:30 and measurement of every little part of the sanctuary 20:33 and go into all the architectural nuances 20:37 and idiosyncrasies, but all of that is about Jesus. 20:42 "The truth for this time is broad in its outline. " 20:45 Does it embrace many doctrines? 20:47 In fact it does. But these doctrines are not detached 20:50 items - a little bit here, a little bit here, 20:52 a little bit here, a little bit here. No! 20:53 "They are united by golden threads 20:56 with Christ as the living center. " 20:58 Maybe think of a bicycle wheel. 21:00 Right? You can all imagine a bicycle wheel here. 21:02 And you have the hub... and who do you suppose the hub would be? 21:05 The hub would be Jesus. 21:06 And the spoke of the Sabbath goes out and gives structure 21:10 to the whole. And the spoke of the state of the dead, 21:12 and the spoke of the soon second coming, 21:13 and the spoke of sola scriptura. 21:15 And all of these different spokes go out, but they 21:17 find their meaning and their significance, 21:19 their importance, precisely to the degree that they illumine 21:22 the central truth and support the central truth 21:25 that God is really awesome. 21:28 So far so good? OK. Now that's a little bit of review. 21:31 That brings us right up to speed. 21:33 Now with that in mind... With that basic picture in mind 21:36 I would like to suggest that that first thing that we put 21:40 right there on the table that God is love 21:44 is several things. First of all, it's normative 21:49 and second of all it's non-negotiable. 21:51 OK. Let me unpack that. 21:53 Normative and non-negotiable. 21:56 When we say it's normative that means that it becomes 21:59 the standard by which everything else that gets its 22:02 place on the table is measured. 22:05 Makes sense? So let's just take any other doctrine. 22:08 We've got a clear table with one thing right in the middle of it 22:10 and that is the central truth that God is love. 22:13 So now we're going to bring any other truth and we're 22:15 going to set it on that table. Say the truth of the Sabbath 22:17 or the truth of the state of the dead. 22:18 Whatever any doctrinal truth could be 22:21 we're going to set it on that table. 22:22 We're going to ask the question #1 Is this textual? 22:26 Is it Biblical? And #2 How - if it is 22:30 textual and Biblical - how does it illumine, 22:32 how does it make more glorious and more grand and more awesome 22:36 our picture of who God is? 22:38 And if we see compatibility - and not just compatibility 22:41 but complementarity. Wow! Look! When we view 22:44 the character of God, the goodness of God, 22:45 through the Sabbath, through the soon second coming, 22:47 through the state of the dead we see all of this relational 22:49 goodness well now understanding these things correctly 22:53 as they were intended to be understood. 22:54 But there are some doctrinal teachings, there are some things 22:57 that people believe about God or believe about the Bible 23:01 or about the church or even about salvation 23:03 that frankly when you bring them over and set them on the table 23:06 of truth there is a radical incompatibility with the idea 23:11 that God is love and this "truth. " 23:14 Let me give you one example. 23:16 This is an easy one. This is the low-hanging fruit. 23:19 The idea that God either causes or allows 23:23 sinners to suffer eternal conscious torment 23:26 in the fires of hell. 23:28 That that somehow is taught in scripture. 23:30 That that somehow is part of God's plan. 23:33 So now me... and you... we're faced with a dilemma. 23:38 We're faced with a what? 23:39 With a dilemma because we have this central truth - 23:41 this normative truth - that God is love 23:45 and now we have this other claim to truth 23:47 that God allows the immortal soul of humanity 23:52 to suffer eternal, conscious, torturous experience 23:56 through all the ages - unending ages - 23:59 and that is some assumed to be or thought to be 24:03 compatible with the truth that God is love. 24:05 Now I'm not going to spend any time on that except to say 24:08 that in my humble opinion 24:10 I do not see how any reasonable, rational, intelligent person 24:15 can see correspondence between that truth 24:17 that God is love and this idea that He allows sinners to suffer 24:20 eternal conscious torment. 24:21 These two things are mutually exclusive 24:24 and now I'm faced with a choice. 24:26 I've got to take one off the table because they're not 24:27 coherent, right? And my point in saying that 24:31 it's not only normative but God is love is non-negotiable 24:34 means that NEVER comes off the table. 24:37 It never comes off the table. 24:39 So if I see an incompatibility between something that I believe 24:43 or that others have believed with this central truth 24:45 that God is love, God is love never comes off the table. 24:49 Whatever the other thing is that's incoherent or 24:51 incompatible with this it always goes. 24:54 You with me? 24:56 So I've got to pick it up; I've got to take it away. 24:58 And I full well recognize and I respectfully recognize 25:02 that there are millions of Christians, tens of millions 25:05 of Christians who believe that there is somehow 25:08 a compatibility between the goodness of God, 25:09 the love of God, the munificence of God, 25:11 and this truth about an eternal burning hell. 25:13 And I respectfully but vigorously disagree. 25:17 You cannot affirm that and that at the same time. 25:20 These are mutually exclusive ideas. 25:24 This is just a very simple example of how this process 25:27 should work. We have the central truth of who God is 25:29 revealed in Christ and any other doctrine, 25:32 any other idea. Some new fandangled interpretation 25:35 of prophecy. Some new idea of the nature of God 25:39 or whatever it is... it gets its place on the table 25:41 and then we do an analysis. 25:43 We do a what, everyone? 25:45 We do an analysis and we ask the question: 25:47 Not only is there compatibility but is there complementarity? 25:50 Does this make the great truth of who and what God is 25:55 even clearer, more beautiful, and more awesome? 25:57 If the answer to that question is no, it's going off the table. 26:00 It doesn't have a place on the table of truth. 26:05 So far so good? 26:07 OK, let's talk about this idea that God is love. 26:09 I know that Shelley is going to be picking up some of this 26:12 but we need to spend a little bit of time on it. 26:13 First of all notice that John DOES NOT say 26:16 God is loving. 26:18 All right. That would be a rather modest claim 26:22 because you could say that about me, you could say that 26:24 about you. David is loving. 26:25 My wife would say "That's true. " 26:27 I'm not always loving but it is true that I'm a loving person 26:29 generally. It can be said about almost... probably every person 26:32 in this room. At various times under certain circumstances 26:35 you could say "She is loving; he is loving. " 26:37 So far so good? And you'll find places in scripture 26:40 for example that will say "God is powerful. " 26:43 "God is mighty; God is merciful. " 26:46 "God is forgiving. " 26:48 But you will not find any place in scripture 26:50 that I am aware that says "God is power. " 26:53 "God is mercy. " 26:55 "God is forgiveness. " 26:57 "God is might. " 26:59 But what we do find is this equivalence 27:01 that God is not merely loving 27:04 an adjective describing a behavior or a characteristic 27:07 but John says God is love... a noun. 27:13 It's a fundamental similarity. 27:16 He's giving us an equivalence. 27:18 A what word did I say? 27:20 He's giving us an equivalence, 27:22 and the equivalence is that God is this thing. 27:25 Whatever this thing is God is this thing. 27:28 Not merely that it's an attribute or a characteristic 27:31 or who He is. No! This is WHAT He is. 27:34 Now we've got to spend at least a few moments on this. 27:37 How many of you either were here or saw the series 27:40 that I preached on The Unknown God? Right here. Right in this 27:43 very place. The Unknown God. OK. 27:45 We unpacked this to a much greater degree than we're 27:48 going to be able to unpack now. I think we spent 5 or 6 hours 27:51 unpacking what we're going to do here in about 10 minutes. 27:53 OK? But here's the short version of that. 27:57 The very short version. Maybe we'll even do it in 5 minutes. 28:00 If God is love, 28:02 not merely as a characteristic or an attribute 28:06 of his behavior - loving - 28:09 but God is love in His essential nature 28:12 this raises the question: "But what is love? " 28:15 Right? That statement "God is love" will be meaningful 28:18 precisely to the degree that we have a correct definition 28:20 of the word love. So far so good? That makes sense. 28:22 And yet what we find in scripture is that love is 28:26 unanimously and universally described as other centeredness 28:32 and as giving one's self for the benefit of the other. 28:36 For example John chapter 15 verse 13. 28:38 Jesus says: "Greater love has no man than this: 28:42 that a man would lay down his life for his friends. " 28:46 That's the very definition of love. 28:47 That he would give what is naturally, natively his 28:50 to someone else. 28:52 Right? To my loss and their gain. 28:55 Right? Paul, in the love chapter where he goes through 28:58 I Corinthians 13 and says: "Love is not; love does not; 29:01 love is not; love does not. " Right in the middle of that 29:02 he says - this is verse 5: "Love does not seek its own. " 29:09 Which means that love is not primarily self-interested 29:12 or interested in self-preservation. 29:14 Love is other centered. Love is going out to others. 29:18 Love does not seek its own desires, 29:20 its own hopes, its own benefits, its own dreams. 29:23 Love is seeking the hopes and dreams and benefits 29:25 and desires and ambitions of others. 29:28 So far so good? 29:29 And the best-known verse in all the Bible is John 3:16 29:32 that says: "For God so loved the world that He... " 29:38 When you so love what do you do? 29:40 "He so loved the world that He gave. " And that's the point. 29:43 That's what love does. 29:44 Open your Bibles just quickly to Ephesians chapter 5. 29:46 Let me just give you one last text on this idea 29:50 so that we can unpack our central point here. 29:52 And that is going to be about the essential plurality 29:56 that is God. Ephesians chapter 5. 30:00 In Ephesians chapter 5... The whole chapter is really 30:04 quite cool... You find Paul saying walk in three things. 30:08 He says "walk in love; walk in light; walk in wisdom. " 30:11 It's a really cool sermon on its own. 30:13 "Walk in love, walk in light; walk in wisdom. " 30:15 But the first thing that he says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 30:18 is he says "walk in love. " 30:20 Now let's just take a look at that. 30:21 Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 30:23 he says: "The imitators of... " Who? 30:27 "The imitators of God as dear children. " 30:31 This is a basic - you know - pedagogical, developmental, 30:36 sociological truth: that children imitate their parents. 30:39 Right. If you go talk to my sons right now and say 30:41 "What do you love to do? " They're going to say: 30:43 "We love going camping; we love going backpacking; 30:45 we love going running; we love going surfing. " 30:47 Why do you think they love those things? 30:49 Because their dad loves them, right? 30:50 They're into the things their dad is into. 30:52 They like to dress how I dress; they like to act how I act; 30:54 they like to eat how I eat. 30:55 Now my oldest - Landon - is 12, and he's a very mature 12. 30:59 He's just coming into those pre-teen years. 31:02 In his mind he's already a teenager. 31:04 And he's developing that sense of his own identity, 31:08 right, where it's like: "Dad's pretty cool 31:11 but I think this is also cool. " And so we're in that 31:15 I wouldn't call it a tug-of-war but that tension where - 31:18 and I'm encouraging it - he's learning to be who he is. 31:21 None of us should want our children just to exist just in 31:23 our own shadows and be just parrots of us 31:26 or carbon copies of us. 31:27 We want to train them and guide them and direct them, 31:30 but at the end of the day we want them to become 31:32 their own human beings. Amen? 31:35 There's a beautiful giftedness that God gives to us 31:38 in helping others to become followers of God, 31:42 followers of Christ and not merely parroters 31:44 of the thoughts of their parents. 31:46 Well anyway, Paul here uses this basic sociological phenomenon 31:50 and he says: "Therefore be imitators of God 31:53 as dear children. " And for Paul, the moment he says 31:58 "be imitators of God" what's the first thing that comes 32:01 to his mind in verse 2? 32:04 Yeah, he says: "and walk in... " What? Love. 32:08 Now don't miss that. For Paul it's automatic. 32:10 It's axiomatic. 32:12 If I say to you: "Imitate God, " the very first thing 32:14 that I am going to say is "walk in love 32:16 because God is... " The first thing on our table of truth. 32:19 God is love. Therefore be imitators of God as dear 32:22 children and walk in love... " Now watch the rest of your 32:24 verse: "as Christ also has loved us and given Himself 32:29 for us an offering and a sacrifice to God 32:31 for a sweet-smelling aroma. " 32:34 He has loved us and given Himself for us. 32:39 I want you to see these as equivalences. 32:42 To really love is to give yourself for someone else. 32:46 They are equal. To love is to give yourself. 32:49 "Greater love hath no man than this: that a man would 32:50 lay down his life... he would give his life for his friends. " 32:52 John 3:16 "For God so loved the world 32:54 that He gave His only begotten Son. " 32:57 So to love is to give. 33:00 We cool everyone? 33:01 Now go to the same chapter 5 and look at verse 25. 33:04 Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25. 33:06 Paul picks up the same theme except now he uses it 33:08 in a different sociological institution, theological 33:12 institution: marriage. And he says in verse 25: 33:14 "Husbands... " What are we going to do, husbands? 33:16 "Husbands: love your wives... " Now watch this: "as Christ 33:20 also loved the church 33:22 and... " What did He do? "and He gave Himself 33:26 for her. " And there are other places by the way. 33:29 This is a phrase - this phrase "gave Himself" - 33:32 that Paul can just... he just can't get away from. 33:34 He uses it in Galatians 1; he uses it in Galatians 4; 33:36 he uses it in Titus 2; he uses it here in Ephesians 5:1-2 33:41 and also verse 25: "He gave Himself. " 33:44 "He gave Himself. " In fact, you know one of these 33:45 verses by heart many of you: Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. 33:47 "I am crucified with Christ. 33:49 Nevertheless I live yet not I 33:53 but Christ lives in me. " Now listen to this: 33:55 "And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by 33:58 the faithfulness of the Son of God 34:00 who... " You know this part? 34:03 "who loved me and gave Himself for me. " 34:08 So for Paul to love is synonymous 34:11 with to give yourself. 34:13 And the Bible says that God is what? Love. 34:18 This raises a huge question. 34:21 If love is the principle of put- ting someone before one's self, 34:28 in order to have love you must have others 34:31 to put before one's self. 34:34 And this is exactly what scripture reveals about the 34:36 nature of God. It's marvelous! 34:38 It's what C. S. Lewis calls "either the greatest truth 34:40 ever revealed or the greatest farce ever invented. " 34:43 The God is not merely a rigidly, numerically 34:47 singular entity. 34:49 Right? And there are whole faith systems that believe this. 34:51 But the Christian faith - orthodox Christianity - 34:54 says: "No... God is a relationship. 34:58 God is a family. God is a... " Listen carefully: 35:02 "God is a covenantal reality 35:05 where you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 35:10 each of them possessing personality and each of them 35:14 God but each of them distinct from the other 35:18 so that the identity and role of the Father is not 35:24 the same as the identity and role of the Son. " 35:27 The Father didn't die on the cross. 35:29 Yeah? But the Son did. 35:31 So the identity and role of the Son is distinct 35:34 but complementary to the role of the Father. 35:37 Yes? And so too the role of the Spirit. 35:40 Did the Spirit die on the cross? 35:42 No. The Spirit has a very specific and central role 35:46 in the plan of salvation, but that role is not 35:48 identical with - it's complementary with but not 35:50 identical with - the role of the Son or of the Father. 35:53 And so what we see here 35:56 is that scripture reveals that God is a mysterious 36:00 blending of three identities 36:05 and three missions 36:08 and yet one God. Here's a kind of cool way to think about it. 36:12 I just heard this yesterday in fact. 36:14 Somebody says: "Explain that. " 36:16 Well, first of all it's inexplicable... but don't be 36:18 too bothered by that. Everything about God is inexplicable. 36:22 OK? So we'll get to that in just a second. 36:24 If you can explain to me how you can have three candles 36:27 and one light in a room 36:29 then I can explain to you how you can have three personalities 36:33 and one God in the Godhead. 36:36 Right? How many candles are there in the room? Three. 36:39 How many lights are there? One. 36:41 You see, the room has light, right? And so too 36:44 you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 36:46 And here in this divine relationship the heart of the 36:49 Son is eternally going out to the Father and the Spirit. 36:54 And the heart of the Spirit is eternally going out 36:56 to the Father and the Son. 36:58 And the heart of the Father is eternally going out 37:00 to the Son and the Spirit. 37:01 And so John could observe that basic ontological reality 37:06 and other Bible writers saw it as well 37:07 and he could say, in three simple words he could 37:10 encapsulate this enigmatic amazing truth. 37:13 He could say: "God is love. " 37:18 Incidentally and not coincidentally 37:21 when God sets out to make something in His image - 37:25 Genesis 1 and 2 37:26 "Come let Us make man in Our image" - 37:30 what does God make in His image? 37:35 Yeah. He doesn't just make males in His image. 37:39 Right? Neither does He make just females in His image. 37:43 He makes a man, He makes a woman, 37:45 and the first thing He says to them is: "Be fruitful 37:47 and... " Multiply. In other words "make another. " 37:49 And the thing then that is in the fullest... 37:53 the thing that is in the fullest image of God 37:55 the thing that is made in God's image in the fullest 37:59 and most grand and beautiful sense 38:01 is the family unit itself. 38:04 Which makes sense! 38:07 I've been married now for 14 years and you've heard 38:10 the story before - maybe you've lived the story - 38:12 that you... marriage is not easy. 38:16 I tell people all the time: "It's easy to have a great 38:18 wedding, OK? It's a great marriage that takes time. " 38:21 OK? You know, you get the point. 38:23 Anybody can pull off a show for a day 38:26 but to live in close proximity with another human being 38:30 and to give yourself to them, to learn to forgive 38:33 and to be forgiven, to trust and to be trusted... 38:37 this is no easy feat, is it? 38:40 Hardly. Marriage is the great honing device, 38:45 the great sculpting device that God has built in 38:48 to man's psychology to teach us how to become 38:52 the people that we can be when we're not so totally 38:55 focused on ourselves. Now there's another human being 38:57 in your space, in your bed, in your house, 39:00 in your car, in your life, in your checking account. 39:03 And if you go into a marriage and you think you're going to 39:06 preserve what's yours and what's mine 39:08 and that's yours and this is mine 39:09 you have conflict and tension. And many marriages - 39:12 perhaps even most, sadly - are characterized by this 39:15 kind of tension between a protecting of what's mine 39:18 and an identification of what's yours and mine. 39:20 But if you see marriage as a whole different animal 39:23 not what can I get and what can I keep 39:25 and this is mine and that's yours... but what can I give? 39:27 How can I bless? How can I forgive? 39:30 How can I be a blessing? Now it's not easy. 39:32 Amen? But when both parties are committed to the good 39:37 of the other... Did you get that? 39:41 When both parties are committed to the good of the other 39:43 they're actually both committed to the same thing 39:45 and that's the good of us. 39:47 A marriage creates a new reality. 39:51 There was you and there was me 39:53 and there's still you and me but now there's an us. 39:56 And it's that "usness" that's really in the image of God. 39:59 "Come let Us make man in Our image. " 40:03 Us is the plural pronoun; our is the plural possessive. 40:06 "Come let Us make man in Our image. 40:08 Let them... " that's a plural... "let them have dominion. " 40:14 Because only a them - only a family, only a plural - 40:18 could represent a God who is in His nature a plurality. 40:22 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 40:25 Incidentally, the Bible says things like "Therefore the two" 40:30 speaking of the man and the woman 40:31 "the two shall become one flesh. " 40:35 But wait a minute: you still have a man and a woman 40:37 but they are so unified in purpose... And of course, 40:40 this is an unambiguous reference to the sexual union 40:42 but it's more than that. 40:43 You have in the sexual union a real communication 40:47 about how intimacy works. When I am giving myself 40:50 totally to you and you are giving yourself totally to me 40:52 in vulnerability, in love, and in transparency 40:54 even though we are two we are really one. 40:58 Can you say "Amen? " 40:59 It's absolutely beautiful... which is why Satan has gone 41:02 to such great lengths to pervert this beautiful 41:05 truth of humanity and of scripture of the sexual union. 41:09 He has perverted it because he hates it. 41:12 He hates it, but the church needs to re-claim it 41:14 for the beautiful and godly thing that it is. Amen. 41:17 People say: "Oh, don't talk about sex in church. 41:19 Don't talk about that. " 41:20 I say church is the very best place to hear about sex. 41:23 Where should we learn about it? On the bathroom walls? 41:28 Is that the place that we want to learn about the thing 41:30 that God has created for our benefit and blessing 41:32 and for the promulgation of our children? 41:34 I have people come to me and say: "Oh pastor, I don't like 41:37 you talking about those things from the front. My child... 41:39 I'm concerned about my child. " 41:40 I said: "Hey look. First of all your child's thirteen 41:43 and they already know a lot more than you think they know. 41:45 That's number one. Number two: 41:47 where would you rather have your children learn 41:50 about the sexual relation that God has created for the 41:52 benefit and blessing of mankind? 41:53 In a church from a godly, Biblical perspective 41:56 or from their teenage friends who have gotten access to some 42:00 pornographic material? Or worse yet, on the bathroom wall? " 42:04 The church needs to re-claim this territory 42:07 because of the beautiful and awesome thing that it is. 42:10 I'm going to say one more word on that and then I'm going to 42:11 get off of that. The reason that God is 42:13 so death on pornography, the reason that God is so death 42:16 on fornication, the reason that God is so death on adultery - 42:19 listen carefully - is because He's so up on the Biblical 42:23 and correct manifestation of true sexuality. 42:26 He's down on that because that's a perversion of the thing 42:29 He's so up on! But the church historically has misread that. 42:32 We've thought: "Oh, the sex thing is the wrong thing. " 42:35 No, no, no, no. The sex thing is the right thing 42:38 when it's done in the right way for the right reasons 42:41 between two people who are mutually committed 42:43 to the others benefit and blessing. 42:45 Amen. How beautiful is that? Whew! OK! 42:48 That was a little side note. You didn't plan that, did you? 42:50 Now here's the cool thing: 42:53 God makes a family in His image 42:56 to symbolize that He Himself is a family. 42:58 No wonder Jesus - this provocative, young Rabbi 43:03 in ancient Palestine - can show up on the scene 43:05 and start saying things like this: John chapter 10 verse 30. 43:08 "I and My Father are One. " Well do the math. 43:13 "I... " that's one... 43:15 "and My Father... " well that's two 43:18 Right? I and My Father. Right? By any mathematical 43:21 construction and is a conjunction. 43:24 "I and My Father are... " not two 43:29 "We are One. " Let's try John chapter 1 verse 1. 43:33 "In the beginning was the Word 43:36 and the Word was with God. " 43:38 OK, that means if the Word is with God... 43:41 Here's the Word, here's with, and here's God. 43:43 So it's one and... How many entities do we have here? 43:47 "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God... " 43:50 So there's one, two. 43:52 But then what John says: "And the Word was God. " 43:55 That's just another way of saying 1 + 1= 1. 43:59 Now Jesus then later develops - and we don't have time 44:01 to get into this here - but later in the gospel of John 44:03 particularly Jesus further develops the identity of the 44:06 Spirit. And He says: "Another Comforter will come. " 44:10 Right? And so what we end up having is this beautiful 44:13 picture of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 44:17 as a familial reality. But not just as a familial reality. 44:21 Not just in the "God is love" in some general sense. 44:23 But - and here's where we're going with this over our time 44:26 together - God as a covenant relationship. 44:31 Now we need to unpack that. 44:32 What do we mean by God as a covenant relationship? 44:34 Well what we mean is in a covenant... 44:35 What's a covenant? What's another word? What's a synonym? 44:37 An agreement. Perfect... we'll use that. 44:39 An agreement. It means that in an agreement I have 44:42 my role to do and you have your role to do. 44:44 I'll perform my part; you perform your part. 44:47 So far so good? 44:49 And let's just take the marriage covenant. 44:50 Let's take the marriage agreement. 44:52 Is the role of the man identical with the role of the woman? 44:55 Is the role of the woman identical with the role 44:57 of the man? No. And the role of the children... 44:59 is that identical? No. 45:00 Every one has a complementary and fundamentally important role 45:05 to play, but their roles are not the same. 45:09 The goal is the same, but the role isn't the same. 45:12 Oh I rhymed just for you. 45:14 The role is not the same but the goal is the same. 45:19 The role of the father and the husband is not the role 45:22 of the mother and the wife. 45:23 And the role of the child is not the role of the father 45:27 or of the mother. And so, too, with each of these 45:29 identities here so that if the father and husband is true 45:34 to his role and his identity 45:36 and the wife is true to her role and her identity 45:39 and the children are true to their role and their identity 45:41 you have a beautiful agreement. 45:45 You have a beautiful...? We're all on the same team 45:48 but our tasks are not identical. 45:51 There is some overlap, but our tasks are slightly different. 45:54 They're not only compatible... they're complementary... 45:56 and we now are a covenant. 46:01 I'm indebted to Skip MacCarty. Anybody know Pastor MacCarty? 46:04 Yeah. Have you read his book In Granite or Ingrained? 46:07 I tell you: I recommend that book without reservation. 46:09 It should be in your library. 46:10 In Granite or Ingrained? 46:12 It's a fantastic Biblical study on the covenants. 46:15 And I'm really indebted to him for opening my eyes 46:19 to something that I sort of knew but he articulated 46:22 in language that was fresh for me. 46:24 He says the reason that we find God relating 46:27 through all of scripture in covenants - 46:29 and that's what we'll talk about in our next session. 46:31 God makes a covenant with Adam. 46:33 God makes a covenant with Noah. 46:35 God makes a covenant with Abram. 46:36 God even makes a covenant with Christ. 46:38 God establishes all of these covenants. 46:41 Do you know why? Because God Himself is covenantal 46:45 in His nature. That's just another way of saying 46:50 He's relational so He works on the basis of relationality. 46:55 The Bible says that Moses spoke to God as with a friend. 47:00 Abraham was the "friend of God. " 47:02 They had an agreement; they had a covenant; 47:04 they had a relationship. 47:07 Now, in our final 10 minutes here we've got to knock this 47:09 part out here. This is awesome. 47:11 When Jesus shows up to earth 47:14 He starts using all this familial language. 47:17 In fact, on one occasion the disciples overheard Jesus 47:20 praying. And they came. They said: "Whoa, we love the way 47:23 You pray. We want to pray like You pray. 47:26 You don't pray like the Pharisees. 47:28 You don't pray like the scribes; you don't pray like the 47:29 religious leaders. There's a dry formalism 47:32 and ceremonialism in the way they pray. " 47:34 Luke 11: "Teach us how to pray like You pray. " 47:38 And I can just imagine the heart of Jesus swelling 47:40 with pride and hope when He thought: "Oh, I was 47:44 hoping you'd ask. Been waiting for you to ask that one. " 47:47 And He said: "OK, pray like this: 47:49 'Our Father. ' " 47:54 "Our Father which is in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. " 47:58 Notice the very first thing that Jesus teaches His disciples 48:01 in approaching God is to approach Him in a relational 48:05 covenantal way: "Our Father. " 48:10 Not merely "Our God" - which is a title 48:13 of someone who occupies a place of Creatorship 48:17 and sovereignty in the universe. No, no, no. 48:22 You approach God like this. I mean God? God: ineffable, 48:26 eternal, omnipotent God? You approach Him like this. 48:33 "Our Father. " And notice even the language. 48:36 Not "My Father. " Ah, that's far too selfish. 48:40 No, no. He's our Father. 48:41 Yes. Are you with me? 48:43 "Our Father which art in heaven. " 48:46 And then the New Testament is saturated with this familial 48:49 language. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed 48:53 upon us that we should be called the sons of God. " 48:59 I John chapter 3 verse 1. John chapter 1 verse 12. 49:02 "to as many as received Him... " The Christ... 49:04 "to them He gave the right to be called the sons of God. " 49:09 And the whole New Testament is just saturated 49:12 in this familial language, this covenantal language. 49:15 Now here is the point, and it is such a beautiful point. 49:20 Scripture and for those of you that are Seventh-day Adventists 49:23 Ellen White uses this idea of the family of God 49:27 in two senses. And if we can nail this down 49:30 we are on track. 49:31 There is the sense in which God is a family - 49:35 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - 49:36 who made a family in His image. 49:38 Can you say "Amen" to that? 49:39 This God is not merely loving; this God is love. 49:42 But now watch what happens. 49:44 When God creates other things... 49:47 And let me just ask a question: why would He do such a thing? 49:50 For love. Who said that? That's exactly right! 49:53 He created them for love. 49:55 To love and be loved. 49:57 That's exactly right! 49:59 God said: "Hey, let's share this thing that we've got. 50:01 Let's make man in Our image 50:04 and they will love and they will love Us 50:05 and We will love them, and they will create still others 50:07 who will love. And it will just be this... 50:10 this ever-expanding, ongoing matrix of other-centerdness. " 50:14 Whoo! Can you say "Amen? " 50:17 It's like the reverse of our world. 50:19 Right? It's the reverse of our world right now. 50:22 We're going to talk about that. How did we end up here 50:24 when that was the plan? Well we'll talk about that. 50:26 OK. So God makes this beautiful thing, and the family of God 50:30 is used in these two senses: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 50:33 are the family of God. But then all of those creatures 50:37 that are made in His image become extensions of 50:41 God's family. Now... check out Luke chapter 3. 50:44 Luke chapter 3. 50:47 Unlike Matthew who begins his genealogy 50:51 all the way back... no, only back to Abraham... 50:55 When Matthew does his genealogy he basically does it 50:58 in 3 sets of 14. 51:00 He says: "there were 14 generations from Abraham to 51:02 David; 14 generations from David to the carrying away of 51:04 the captivity in Babylon; and 14 generations from that 51:07 to the Messiah... which, by the way, is very significant 51:09 because three fourteens is six sixes. 51:14 Right? Or six sevens. So you have a 7, a 7, 51:17 a 7, a 7, a 7, and a 7. 51:19 And if you know anything about the Old Testament 51:21 what is the 7th seven called? 51:24 Called the jubilee. 51:27 Right? And Jesus shows up... Matthew purposely constructs 51:30 his gospel this way. Jesus IS the jubilee. 51:33 You have a 14, a 14, and a 14 51:36 which is just Matthew's way of saying a 7, a 7, 51:38 a 7, a 7, a 7, and a 7... and it ends with Him 51:41 who introduces the jubilee. 51:42 No wonder Jesus in Luke chapter 4 when He went into 51:45 the synagogue He said: "I am anointed by God 51:48 to set at liberty the captives. " 51:50 That's jubilee language. 51:51 Oh I wish I had time to develop that 51:54 and then to go into Daniel chapter 9 with the 70 times 7. 51:58 It's amazing. We don't have time for that. 52:00 That's another Camp Meeting for another day. 52:02 OK? Are you with me? Or it's for your own personal study. 52:05 Yeah? OK. But what Luke does 52:07 instead of just going back to Abraham, Luke goes back to Adam. 52:11 Which by the way, this is one of the many reasons 52:14 why we think that Luke was likely a Gentile. 52:16 He is purposely bringing it back not just to Abraham 52:19 which would have been a very appropriate beginning for the 52:21 Jews... he goes all the way back to Adam, which would have 52:23 been a very appropriate beginning not just for Jews 52:25 but for Gentiles as well. 52:27 Look at this. Luke chapter 3. We'll pick it up in verse 35. 52:31 Luke 3:35. 52:33 "The son of Serug, the son of Reu, 52:35 the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, 52:36 the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, 52:39 the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, 52:40 the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 52:41 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, 52:44 the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, 52:46 the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, 52:47 the son of Seth, the son of Adam... " 52:49 What are the next four words? 52:51 Whoa! 52:56 The son of who? God! 52:59 Adam is the son of God. 53:02 So what would that make Eve? 53:06 That would make Eve the daughter of God. Exactly. 53:08 And so what you have here is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 53:12 making their son and their daughter and then saying 53:15 "You guys make others and there'll be this ever-increasing 53:18 ever-expanding matrix of love. " 53:20 Now watch this: the family of God is ever growing, 53:24 ever expanding, but ever connected. 53:28 Whoo! Can you say "Amen? " 53:30 Those of you that have grandkids: I'm told that 53:32 grandkids are even better than your own kids. 53:36 I can't wait to find out. 53:37 Some day... just not too soon. 53:39 Right? 53:42 The Bible says: "Blessed is the man that has his quiver 53:44 full of them. " 53:46 Right? That there's just this joy in this expansion 53:49 of the family of God. 53:53 Now check this out. There are two primary figures that are 53:56 called the son of God in scripture. 53:58 Two primary historical figures. 54:01 One we just mentioned is Adam. 54:03 Adam is the son of God. 54:06 You know who the other one is? Old Testament. 54:10 Israel. When Moses shows up at the burning bush 54:13 there and God says: "Go tell Pharaoh 54:18 to let My people go. Israel - My son - 54:23 My firstborn. " 54:26 So Moses' job is to go and to announce to Pharaoh 54:30 "Let God's son go! " 54:34 And so here you have this amazing truth: 54:36 that there are two primary entities. Number one: 54:40 and number two in the Old Testament that are referred to 54:43 as the son of God. Adam is the son of God; 54:47 Israel is the son of God; 54:49 and when Jesus shows up all of the New Testament 54:52 writers paint this picture. Watch this. 54:54 This is how we're going to close. We're set. 54:58 The New Testament writers paint a picture 55:00 where Jesus is the true Adam. 55:06 He's the new representative of humanity. 55:09 What would that make Him? 55:11 That would make Him the Son of God. 55:13 But He's also the new Israel. 55:17 Where they have been unfaithful He has been faithful. 55:19 What would that make Him? That would make Him the 55:22 Son of God. And now we begin to understand 55:23 these are not terms that are just tossed to and fro. 55:28 No. A very specific term is being communicated here. 55:31 When the Bible says Jesus is the Son of God 55:33 it is tapping in to that early truth about Adam 55:37 as a son of God. And Jesus comes as the new representative 55:40 of humanity. And it's tapping in to that truth 55:43 that Israel was God's son. And Jesus comes 55:47 as the new Adam and the new Israel 55:49 because that family that had been created to expand 55:53 and to grow - and this is where scripture takes a marvelous 55:59 turn... a terrible turn, a tragic turn - 56:01 that unity, that connectivity, 56:03 that covenant... broken. 56:09 In fact, you can summarize the Bible in three words. 56:11 Creation, conflict, covenant. 56:16 That's the Bible in three words right there. 56:18 Creation, conflict, covenant. 56:20 And what we see is this ever-expanding family that 56:23 God has created, that He's created to reflect His image 56:26 and to reflect His character and to reflect His nature 56:29 that that covenantal reality is broken. 56:33 And do you know how it's broken? 56:35 It's broken the way that any covenant's broken: 56:36 by self-seeking. 56:39 Start looking out for myself. 56:42 And in the greatest of ironies and tragedies 56:44 it's broken because the insinuation and the accusation 56:48 is that God's really looking out for Himself. 56:51 "He's not looking out for you or anybody else, 56:54 and don't you make a mistake about that" 56:55 the serpent said to the woman at the tree. 56:57 "God is looking out for God. " 57:00 And that's where we'll pick up in our next presentation. 57:03 The covenant has been formed 57:05 and now we are ready for that covenant - sadly, tragically, 57:08 and yet textually - to be what? Broken. 57:12 But I've got good news: before it's over 57:14 we'll put Humpty Dumpty back together. Amen? |
Revised 2014-12-17