Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: 13HC
Program Code: 13HC000008
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00:54 Praise the Lord! We're having just a wonderful, blessed
00:58 time here at Camp Meeting, aren't we? 01:01 Yeah, but I've never said "ouch" so many times in my life. 01:04 What? Bro. C.A. said to either what? Say "Praise the Lord" or 01:08 "ouch" as he hit us about something so... 01:11 I was guilty a few times of things he said and I had 01:13 to say "ouch, that hurts. " 01:14 I've heard either say "Praise the Lord" 01:17 or "Oh me. " "Praise the Lord" or "Oh me. " 01:21 Well, that was a great sermon. It was. 01:24 We really needed all of it. Absolutely. 01:26 I praise the Lord for him and his love for Jesus. 01:28 By the way, you know we've been talking about the apps - 01:31 yes - and we've been talking about our different channels. 01:33 I hope all of you have the 3ABN app. 01:39 We've got it now for iPhone, iPad. 01:41 But also of course you can get us on the Internet. 01:45 But those of you even by satellite 01:48 we want to let you know that we are showing 01:51 these programs that are on live 01:53 two hours later we are showing a taped repeat 01:58 on 3ABN Proclaim! 02:01 So those on the West Coast have been telling me 02:04 how much they appreciated that. 02:07 Because some of them weren't even at home by the... 02:09 OK. When we get started it's 5 o'clock out there. Sure. 02:12 And so they're able to watch it at their 7:00 PM 02:16 and we're hearing from them already. If you have 02:19 friends on the West Coast or you are on the West Coast 02:22 and you want to see some of the programs 02:24 just remember if you've already missed it 02:26 flip over to Proclaim! and you can see it 2 hours later. 02:30 All right. Incredible tools that we talked about last night 02:33 of communications that God has given us. 02:35 And this phone thing... I mean, that's amazing. 02:37 You pull out your iPad and it's going to be on the Android also 02:41 phone in a few weeks. They're working on that. 02:44 And you literally just take it with you everywhere you go. 02:46 You remember when we were kids - yeah. We weren't even really 02:48 kids. For maybe a little bit older kids. 02:51 Dick Tracy used to look at his watch and talk. 02:54 And you know we thought that was just so impossible. 02:57 Oh man, right. And now you can see and talk and do Facetime 03:00 and all sorts of things. Absolutely. 03:02 What technology! I just got a message from 03:04 Dr. Walt... Dr. Walt Thompson, 03:06 for many years the individual who has chaired our board. 03:12 And he's still on our board and we appreciate him so much. 03:15 He was... In the e-mail, Danny, he was sharing with me 03:19 the first time that he saw you and Kenny 03:22 and you came to the Hinsdale Church. Yeah. 03:24 And you were presenting the dream of going forward. 03:28 And he said: "I couldn't believe that people weren't 03:31 just unbelievably excited about getting this message 03:35 around the world. " And he said: "I was. " 03:37 And he said: "After our board meeting yesterday 03:40 that he is probably more excited - oh, that's great - 03:43 than he has ever been about the fact that we are going to be 03:48 launching from the Valley of Elah a whole new initiative 03:53 to reach the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. " 03:56 Absolutely. And we are excited about it. 03:59 That's in November. That's in November. 04:00 What date is that? November 23rd. So a lot of you 04:04 are going to be with us. If you're not going to be with us 04:06 actually there, please be with us on television. 04:10 It'll be shown real time then we'll try to get 04:13 them to repeat it on Proclaim! two hours later. 04:16 Absolutely. All right. Now you were talking about 04:19 board members. Dr. Walt - yes - and of course his wife Avon. 04:22 I think we have some new board members - 04:24 we do - so we should invite them out here. 04:26 I'm going to invite Dr. James Stevens 04:28 to come and his wife Rita. 04:30 And Dr. Stevens is a member of our board. 04:33 You and I have been with him. He's been on the Kenneth Cox 04:37 board for many years - yeah - and is very supportive of 3ABN. 04:41 In fact, you put 3ABN and the Adventist Hope Channel 04:46 and Glorystar dish in the homes of new converts. 04:52 Tell us about that. 04:53 Yes. A few years ago you and I were talking 04:58 and we decided that this might be something to try. 05:01 Any time we have a new family that becomes a part of the 05:04 church we invite... or we ask them if they would 05:07 like to have the satellite dish. So we have installed 05:11 in the range of 400 satellite dishes between what we have done 05:15 from our office and what members have done 05:18 throughout our conference. And we found that 05:20 this has been very helpful for people to enrich and enhance 05:24 their faith as they become a part of our church. 05:26 It kind of reinforces some of the things they've learned 05:30 when they've attended evangelistic meetings 05:32 or Bible studies or something like that. 05:33 Absolutely. And as technology continues to change 05:36 we can do the little Roku box. Any of you have 05:39 that at home? 05:40 That thing is like 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch. 05:43 You simply plug it in if you have Internet in your house. 05:46 So I did it, and I'm not that technically - what do they call 05:51 it? - savvy. I don't have that savvy. 05:53 But all you do is you plug it in. 05:55 I plugged it in. Took a cord from there to the television. 05:58 And turned on the TV set and just one little remote 06:01 that you push and you can get all of the 3ABN channels. 06:05 3ABN radio, 3ABN television. You can get Hope. 06:07 You can get all of these other channels. 06:09 And it's like $49 or something and the best one is $99. 06:13 No monthly fee. So people: what you can do is... 06:17 What he's doing as a church leader... 06:19 we ought to do that as individually. 06:21 You have friends, you have loved ones. 06:22 You have people around you, neighbors, 06:26 that you can say: "Hey, let me get you one of these. " 06:28 That's all it is. It's a one time... 06:30 And these people that are new... Every one baptized in your 06:33 churches... I hope everybody around the world is listening 06:36 to Bro. Stevens tonight. Because what an incredible... 06:39 incredible thing you did. And now it's becoming even 06:42 easier to do and you're seeing results. 06:45 Amen. Well listen, we are so happy that 06:48 you've joined our board. And Rita, we've appreciated you 06:51 through the years. You are such a great minister's wife 06:55 and head of The Shepherdess for the minister's... all the 06:59 wives of your conference. And we appreciate you both 07:03 very much. Bro. Jim, would you lead us to the throne? 07:06 Let's bow our heads. 07:07 Our Father in heaven, tonight we thank you for the many 07:10 blessings You've given us. We're thankful 07:12 that we can come here together at this Camp Meeting 07:14 and celebrate the holy Sabbath Day. 07:17 And Lord, we pray for this ministry of 3ABN 07:20 that it may go around the world beyond even our wildest 07:23 imagination. May people hear this message and may they be 07:26 prepared for the coming of Jesus. 07:29 And tonight, Lord, we pray as Bro. David Asscherick 07:32 comes and speaks to us that Your Holy Spirit will 07:35 speak through him. And touch our hearts, Lord, 07:38 that we will be more in tune and aligned with Your will 07:40 for our lives. We ask all of this 07:42 in Jesus' holy name and for His sake, Amen. Amen. 07:46 Well listen, Pastor David is going to be coming 07:49 and speaking again. He continues the message 07:52 on the covenants. This is part three. 07:55 He is co-director of Light Bearers Ministry 07:59 and the director of ARISE. 08:03 You all know him so very well. I won't take a lot of time 08:06 to speak about him except to tell you that 08:09 we really appreciate David Asscherick. 08:11 In fact I appreciate him so much. Last night I got the idea 08:17 that he might need a little more time. 08:19 And so I visited with him and he said: "Yes, he could 08:23 use a little more time. " So tomorrow morning 08:26 he'll speak at 9:30 AM and also at 11:00 AM. 08:30 So he'll get an extra session to get this message through 08:33 so we get a complete vision 08:36 of what it is that he is presenting. 08:40 So before he comes to speak to us 08:42 our good friend and our pastor John Lomacang 08:46 is going to sing for us Pass Me Not. 09:27 Pass me not, 09:29 O gentle Savior, 09:34 Hear my humble 09:38 cry; 09:41 While on others 09:44 Thou art calling, 09:48 just do not pass me by. 09:56 Savior, 09:59 Savior, 10:03 hear my humble cry; 10:10 Yes, while on others 10:14 Thou art calling, 10:17 just do not pass me by. 10:29 Let me at Thy throne 10:32 of mercy 10:36 find a sweet 10:39 relief; 10:43 Kneeling there 10:46 in deep contrition, 10:50 Lord, help my unbelief. 10:57 While I'm trusting only 11:01 in Your merit, 11:05 Would I seek 11:08 Thy face; 11:13 Heal my wounded, broken spirit 11:19 and then save me 11:21 by Thy grace. 11:25 For I'm crying Savior, 11:30 O my Savior, 11:34 just hear my humble cry. 11:40 Lord, while on others 11:44 Thou art calling, 11:48 just do not pass me by. 12:00 You're the Spring of all my comfort 12:05 and You are more than life 12:10 to me; 12:14 Whom have I on earth 12:18 beside Thee and 12:22 whom in heaven but Thee? 12:27 So I'm crying Savior, 12:32 O my Savior, 12:35 just hear my humble cry; 12:42 Lord, while on others 12:46 You are calling, 12:50 just do not... do not pass me by. 12:56 Yes I'm crying Savior, 13:01 yes my Savior, 13:05 Just hear my humble cry; 13:11 Lord, while on others 13:15 Thou art calling, 13:19 please do not pass me 13:24 by. 13:30 Oh, oh. 13:37 Lord, do not 13:41 pass me 13:44 by. 14:00 Amen. Thanks, John. 14:01 That brother can sing. Amen? 14:03 Amen. That's how I sing in my dreams. 14:08 I was saying to them just backstage 14:10 "You never... I never feel nervous. " 14:12 You know how some people when they sing you're nervous? 14:14 Like: "Is that going to be good? " But you're never nervous 14:17 with John. He just always hits the right notes 14:20 in the right way at the right time. 14:21 I love it! Good stuff. 14:23 And how about C.A.'s sermon? 14:25 Ha ha ha ha ha. 14:27 He didn't preach a sermon. He preached like 3 of them. 14:32 When he said: "I haven't even started my sermon yet" 14:34 I thought: "You've already preached two! " 14:37 Good stuff. But I learned something from him: 14:40 that if you run out of time 14:42 you just say: "OK, well anyway go read these 2 passages 14:44 'cause that's what I was going to tell you. 14:46 That's your homework assignment; I'll get you next time. " 14:49 Good stuff. I just feel such freedom now. 14:52 I feel like if I run out of time I'll just say: 14:55 "OK, go read these verses. It's on you now. 14:58 It's off of me... it's on you. " 15:00 Amen. It was really actually super appropriate 15:04 and awesome the material that C.A. preached 15:08 and even Shelley's sermon this afternoon on the love of God. 15:11 Amen? Good stuff. And I really appreciate 15:14 because what C.A. has done for us - even though he thinks 15:17 he didn't get to his material - 15:18 he did a very good job of communicating the basic... 15:22 at least definitionaly the basic idea of the covenant. 15:25 That a covenant is a legal agreement. 15:27 That it's an arrangement. 15:28 That someone can't just come in and start tinkering with 15:31 the covenant to change the terms. 15:33 That's going to be super helpful for us now 15:36 because where we have been building in our series on the 15:39 covenants - and I want to thank Jim for giving me yet another 15:42 session. I came thinking I would have five 15:44 and the Lord has given me six. 15:46 Amen? So I'm super excited about that. 15:49 We were actually planning on going to the prison here 15:52 in Marion but it didn't work out. They couldn't get the 15:54 paperwork sorted out. So, I was going to be there 15:57 but... and frankly, I'd rather be there. 15:59 That's no offense to you guys. I just want to go visit 16:02 my people that are behind bars. 16:03 I want to spend time with them, but the paperwork wasn't 16:05 able to get sorted out. 16:07 Anyway, we're going to take advantage of the situation 16:09 anyway. So tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM we're going to continue 16:13 our series. And C.A. has done a very good job of 16:16 laying - at least where I'm going - some great groundwork 16:19 here because we're going to start talking about 16:21 the covenant relationship that God established with Adam. 16:25 With who everyone? Adam. With Adam. 16:28 And in this particular session... Every session 16:30 we have kind of a goal, a hope, an aim. 16:34 And again, I've learned from C.A. that if I don't get there 16:36 I'll just tell you what I was going to tell you. 16:38 Now you go study it on yourself. 16:39 But our goal in this particular session 16:42 is to talk a little bit about that legal arrangement, 16:45 that relationship, that covenant 16:47 that God had with Adam and Eve. 16:50 Remember - and we'll talk about this in just a moment - 16:51 they were an extension of the family of God. 16:54 But we're going to also talk significantly here about 16:58 how that relationship and that covenant was derailed. 17:02 Was what? Derailed. Was derailed. 17:04 Or to use the illustration that we had as we closed our 17:07 session this morning, there was a connectivity 17:09 between God and man in an ever-growing, ever-expanding 17:13 matrix of love... but that was broken 17:17 and it was broken over a lack of trust. 17:19 And that's how all relationships are broken. 17:21 All covenants are broken when one party decides 17:24 not to repose trust in the other 17:26 or to turn away from the terms of that relationship. 17:29 And that's what we're going to talk about now. 17:31 So without further adieu let's pray and get right into 17:34 our material. 17:37 Father in heaven, we are so thankful 17:39 that you have not passed us by 17:43 and as John has so beautifully sung 17:45 this is the prayer of our heart that we would not be passed by. 17:50 And we have the entire record of both the Old and the 17:52 New Testament that You are not in the business 17:56 and You are not interested in passing us by 17:59 but You came to save us, to redeem us, to rescue us, 18:02 and re-connect us to Yourself. 18:05 Father, now as we open scripture 18:09 may we never lose sight of the grand privilege that is ours 18:13 to call You Father. I pray that we would understand 18:17 better - not just intellectually but emotionally, 18:20 psychologically, and spiritually - that we would see 18:23 that this whole plan of salvation is a plan of 18:26 covenant restoration. It's a plan of re-connection 18:29 with the family of God. 18:31 And Father, help us to see the role that we play in that. 18:34 But even more significantly 18:36 and the center of that is the role that Jesus plays, 18:40 the Spirit plays, and that You are playing. 18:43 So be with us now, Father, as we continue our study 18:46 of You and of the covenants. 18:48 And open our hearts and minds to this great truth of scripture. 18:52 This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Let everyone say 18:55 Amen. 18:57 All right. Let's just spend a brief moment here 19:00 kind of reviewing a little bit of what we've talked about. 19:02 I wonder if anyone can remember? 19:03 I said that the entire Bible can be summarized 19:06 in basically three words or three ideas. 19:08 Does anyone remember what they were? OK. 19:12 "God is love. " Very good; very good. 19:13 Now that's the summary of the first thing that we put 19:15 on the table. That's an appropriate answer. 19:17 I maybe didn't do a good enough job asking the question. 19:19 We definitely have been talking about the table of truth 19:21 and the first and normative and non-negotiable brick 19:25 or piece that goes on that table of truth 19:28 is the truth about who God is. Amen? 19:30 But the question I'm asking is... The whole Bible... 19:33 I'll just tell you the answer so you don't have to guess here. 19:35 The entire Bible can be summarized in basically 3 ideas 19:38 or 3 words that contain the Biblical concepts 19:41 of creation... You remember this? 19:44 God is Creator, so creation. 19:46 And then does anyone remember the others? 19:47 Conflict. Creation and conflict 19:50 followed by covenant. That's exactly right. 19:52 Creation, conflict, and covenant. 19:55 That is basically the Bible in three words. 19:57 God created; there was a conflict; 20:00 and God covenanted with Himself and with mankind 20:03 to bring restoration to that broken relationship. 20:06 That's what we're going to talk about right now. 20:08 Scripture opens up in Genesis 1 to 11- 20:11 and Genesis 1 to 11 I should say 20:14 is theologically and historically the most 20:17 disputed and debated section in all of scripture. 20:21 More than the resurrection of Jesus. 20:22 More than the miracles of Jesus. 20:24 The passage of scripture that is most under scrutiny, 20:27 that is most denied and debated and discussed, 20:30 is Genesis chapters 1 to 11. 20:33 Right? Because what you have here is a primordial and early 20:37 history of the planet. 20:39 And that history, of course, is at direct odds 20:42 with the traditional evolutionary perspective: 20:45 the long ages view of the world. And so what we have is 20:49 scripture here coming in direct conflict or direct contradiction 20:53 to the mainstream story about how old the world is 20:58 and where it came from and by extension where we came from. 21:01 So far so good? 21:03 And so people have denied the basic historicity of 21:05 Genesis chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 all the way up to 11. 21:08 They said: "Well that's allegorical. 21:10 That's metaphorical. There really wasn't an Adam 21:11 and an Eve. It's just trying to tell a story. 21:14 There was no global flood; it was a local flood, 21:17 a localized situation. And the whole idea of the Tower 21:20 of Babel... " Now it's a very interesting thing. 21:23 If you sort of think of the book of Genesis 21:25 in like a... If you just kind of imagine it 21:27 laid out in a schematic, right? 21:30 What you end up with is the first eleven chapters 21:33 basically from creation to the Tower of Babel. 21:37 Basically all the way through creation, through the fall, 21:40 through the flood, and then the building of the Tower of Babel. 21:42 This covers not less than 1,500 and maybe more than 2,000 years 21:46 of human history. Are you with me on that? 21:49 So the first 11 chapters of scripture is like 2,000 years of 21:51 human history in round numbers. 21:53 And then from Genesis 12- that's the call of Abram 21:56 who later becomes Abraham - and then the rest of Genesis 22:00 all the way down to Genesis chapter 50 22:02 is basically the descendants of Abraham and covers 22:04 the period of roughly 100 years. 22:06 OK? So now just kind of appreciate the shape of the book 22:11 of Genesis with me if you will. 22:12 You have 50 chapters. 22:14 How many chapters everyone? 22:16 And the first 11 cover some 2,000 years of earth's history 22:20 and then the next 39 chapters cover roughly 100 years. 22:23 Give or take... 150 years. 22:26 Are you with me on that? 22:27 So it's obviously weighted very strongly 22:30 toward the part of earth's history that takes place 22:35 after the call of Abram. 22:37 Now there is huge reason for this. Tremendous reason 22:40 for this, and that is because it's almost as if 22:42 God is just giving a quick glimpse of... Oh yeah, here's 22:46 creation and here was the flood and here was the Tower of Babel 22:49 and that gets us to Abram. It's like He's racing 22:52 to get to the story of Abram because Abram - later 22:55 Abraham - becomes the fulcrum on which 22:58 the entire Old Testament - and the New Testament 23:01 by the way - hinges. 23:02 God's covenant with Abraham is the metanarrative structure 23:08 for the entire Old Testament and even by extension 23:11 the New Testament. So it's just like 23:13 right through 2,000 years and then HERE is God's relationship 23:18 with Abram, which was a covenantal relationship. 23:20 Now in Genesis 1 and 2... Let's spend some time 23:23 in those early chapters. Genesis 1 and 2 23:25 is God in creation. "In the beginning God 23:29 created the heavens and the earth. " Etc. 23:32 There have been people that have suggested 23:35 that there is a distinction - and not just a distinction 23:38 but a contradiction between these two chapters: 23:41 Genesis 1 and 2, the creation chapters. 23:43 And there have been - you know - scholars 23:46 from various critical perspectives who have gone in 23:49 and tried to show contradiction. 23:51 "Oh, well Genesis 1 says this and Genesis 2 says this. " 23:54 "Genesis 1 says this and Genesis 2 says this. " 23:56 Trying to paint a picture that two different authors 23:59 painted... wrote at different times trying to paint 24:03 diverse pictures. Genesis chapter 1 is Elohim. 24:06 Genesis chapter 2 is Jehovah or Yahweh. 24:09 Genesis chapter 1 is largely God creating from afar 24:14 with the spoken word. You have this repeated phrase: 24:16 "And God said... and God said... 24:18 and God said. " Then you get to Genesis chapter 2. 24:20 It's different. Now we're dealing not with Elohim 24:23 but with Jehovah. The language changes. 24:25 But these are not contradictory; they are actually complementary. 24:29 And what Genesis chapter 1 lays out in sort of chronology. 24:33 The first day: "The evening and the morning were the first 24:35 day. " "The evening and the morning were the second day. " 24:36 Third day, fourth day, fifth day. 24:38 You have this sort of big panorama of creation. 24:41 Genesis chapter 2 transitions from that 24:43 to a relational picture of creation, right? 24:47 It says in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 that the Lord God 24:50 formed man of the dust of the ground 24:53 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. 24:56 So now God is... The person of God Jehovah is 25:00 personally physically interacting with His creation. 25:05 Now in Genesis chapter 2 God makes Adam and Eve. 25:10 And Adam and Eve - as we've already mentioned, or Adam in 25:12 particular - we went to the genealogy of Luke 25:15 and we saw that unlike Matthew's genealogy 25:18 which only goes back to Abraham - which is important - 25:21 Luke's genealogy goes all the way back to Adam 25:25 and it was going through and it would say: "So and so 25:26 is the son of so and so, the son of so and so, 25:28 the son of so and so, the son of so and so. " 25:29 And then it says: "Adam... " And what does it say? 25:32 "the son of God. " 25:35 Now we have been painting a picture here of the fact that 25:38 God is in Himself a divine family, 25:43 a divine relational being: 25:46 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen? 25:50 And John's observation about that is that "God is love. " 25:53 Not merely loving but He is in His very nature 25:57 and in His very essence love. 25:58 Let me just pause here for just a moment. 25:59 I've got to spend a few minutes on this. 26:01 I spent a lot of time unpacking this in the series 26:04 on The Unknown God, but I need to just spend a moment on this. 26:09 If I say to you "Hippopotamus, " 26:13 do you get a picture in your mind? 26:15 Hippopotamus. Got it. If I say "giraffe, " 26:18 you got a picture in your mind? OK. 26:20 We can do this. We could say "lion" 26:22 and you get a picture. We could say "tiger" 26:24 and you get a picture, right? 26:25 You get a mental picture. You know what we're talking about. 26:29 But if I say "God, " 26:33 right? Do you get a mental picture? An image in your mind 26:37 of what we're talking about? 26:39 Hopefully not in a way. In fact, the only appropriate 26:42 image that you could get would really be Jesus. 26:44 Now there's so many instances of this. 26:47 For example, just a quick one that I'll paint here. 26:49 When Moses went to the top of Mt. Sinai, God said to Moses 26:53 repeatedly. He said: "Now you remind the Israelites 26:55 they didn't see anything. You didn't see anything; 26:58 they didn't see anything. So they cannot make 27:01 a form of Me. " 27:03 Right? There was clouds and there was smoke 27:05 and there was lightning and there was thunder. 27:07 It's as if God was purposely obscuring Himself 27:11 so that they couldn't go down and make or fashion 27:14 something that was in the shape of God. 27:17 Are you with me? Yes or no? 27:18 When they did their best they immediately resorted back 27:21 to their pagan idolatrous ways 27:23 and when they made a god they made it in the image of 27:26 a golden calf. 27:28 But God didn't look anything like a - you know - quadruped 27:31 bovine creature at the top of Mt. Sinai. 27:33 They didn't see. Jesus in the New Testament 27:36 many many years later would actually say to the religious 27:38 leaders of His day... He would say this exact words... 27:41 these exact words. He would say: "You have neither 27:43 seen His shape nor heard His voice. " 27:48 The idea of what a God is is something that frankly 27:52 none of us understands. God is not like a hippopotamus. 27:55 He's not like a giraffe; He's not like a tiger. 27:57 He's not like an easily identifiable, quantifiable 28:01 thing that we know what we're talking about. 28:04 Theologians and philosophers and lay people like us 28:08 we don't really know what we're talking about 28:12 when we talk about a God in terms of His nature. 28:16 Are you with me? 28:18 And the theologians invent words to try and communicate 28:21 the ineffability of God, the incommunicability of God. 28:26 The mystery of God. We say things like: 28:29 "God is eternal. " 28:32 Which is simply a way of saying that He had neither beginning 28:35 nor end. But nobody in this room has any idea what that means. 28:40 Are you with me? 28:41 I had a beginning: August 16, 1972. 28:44 Every person I've ever known had a beginning 28:46 and is headed toward an end. 28:48 Right? And here we talk about another kind of creature, 28:52 another kind of being, another kind of entity 28:55 who had neither beginning nor end and no one understands that 28:59 so we simply throw a word at it. We hope it sticks. 29:02 And the word is eternal... 29:04 but we don't know what we're talking about. 29:06 We take other words like "God is a Spirit. " 29:09 When Jesus was sitting you will recall with the woman 29:12 at the well and the woman came over and sat and Jesus said 29:15 to her: "God is a Spirit. " 29:18 Remember that? 29:20 "God is a Spirit, and He's look- ing for people to worship Him 29:22 in spirit and in truth. " 29:26 Now let me ask you a question: what is a Spirit? 29:30 Do you know? 29:32 We have no idea what a spirit is. 29:34 What we do know is what a spirit isn't. 29:38 Right? For example, Jesus says: "Touch Me and feel Me... " 29:41 He said to His disciples 29:42 "because a spirit does not have... " You know this? 29:47 "flesh and bones like you see Me have. " 29:49 Right? So we know that a spirit is noncorporeal. 29:53 That's a technical term. Just means doesn't have 29:54 a physical body like we have. A spirit is immaterial. 29:58 A spirit doesn't have, is not, now listen to what I'm saying. 30:01 What we know about a spirit is not what it is... 30:06 it's what it isn't. 30:09 Well what is it? We don't know. 30:11 We're like goldfish trying to figure out quantum cosmology. 30:15 We don't... We lack the language; 30:17 we lack the vision; we lack the intell... we don't know. 30:22 And there are other words. The theologians use words like 30:25 omnipotent which means all powerful. 30:27 We don't really know what that means 30:28 but we know it means a lot more powerful than us. 30:31 We say things like omniscience: He knows everything. 30:34 Well we can't even comprehend what it would be like 30:36 to know everything. And here's a really tricky one: 30:38 we say He is omnipresent 30:42 which is to say that He transcends space. 30:45 And you and I can't even imagine what that would be like 30:47 because we have always been stuck here. 30:50 Like those little signs that you see - you know - when you go 30:52 to the fair or to the mall or to the airport: 30:54 you are here. 30:57 Funny that... I've always been here. 30:59 Here I am again and here I am. 31:02 Right? You have never not been right there. 31:05 There you are. But God apparently is not right here. 31:09 He's here and He's there. 31:11 And He's there and He's there and He's there, He's there. 31:14 And no one in this room has even a clue what we're talking about. 31:20 Are you with me? So we use these words. 31:22 We say: "God is a Spirit and God is eternal 31:24 and God is omnipotent and God is omniscient 31:26 and God is omnipresent. " And basically these are words 31:30 that are masking our ignorance about what a God really is. 31:34 In terms of God's essential nature 31:36 we don't know what we're talking about. 31:38 We together everyone? 31:40 But what we DO know - and this is where we're going - 31:42 what we do know based on scripture and the revelation 31:45 of God in Christ is not what He is 31:48 in terms of His eternal power and Godhead 31:51 but who He is in terms of His character. 31:54 Now this is where things get really awesome 31:57 because our three-word phrase... 31:58 What was our three-word phrase that we put on the 31:59 table of truth? It was "God is love. " 32:02 God is love is like a... it's like a... Just imagine a door. 32:07 Right? And there's like this old lock. There's a little keyhole. 32:11 And we cannot see everything. God is behind that. 32:15 We cannot discern and divine what a God is. 32:18 But we have this little window, this little keyhole and 32:21 we can sort of crawl up there and with our very human language 32:26 and our very human modest intellect we can crawl up there 32:30 and we can look through. And the keyhole through which 32:33 we are looking is the great truth that "God is love. " 32:39 We cannot see or understand everything that's behind this 32:42 door. Are you with me? 32:44 Our view is necessarily limited because we are creatures. 32:47 In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here: 32:49 even in eternity future 32:52 we can have a thousand million years and we will never 32:56 ever fully understand what God is in His essential nature 32:59 because He's God. 33:02 The chasm between the creature and the Creator 33:05 is an impassable chasm. 33:07 Right? And God knows this, by the way. 33:09 This is where we're going with this. 33:10 As we go up to that window and we look through 33:13 and we think: "Ooh... that's awesome! " 33:16 We can't see everything but we can see enough to be 33:19 intrigued. And not just to be intrigued in a curious sense 33:23 but to be in love, right? We can see enough to say 33:26 "What's in there is awesome. " 33:27 Now here's a really cool little point: 33:29 in many ways this is analogous to the sanctuary. 33:33 Because in the sanctuary you have the courtyard, the holy 33:35 place, and then the most holy place 33:38 in which God's own presence - the Shekinah glory - 33:41 was behind the veil 33:44 in the most holy place hovering over the ark of the... 33:49 the ark of the relationship. 33:51 The ark of the terms of relationship. 33:53 Now that's where we're going to go tomorrow. 33:55 But the point is basically this... quite fascinating: 33:57 in the architecture of the sanctuary 34:00 the veil did not go all the way to the top. 34:05 The veil went right up close to the top 34:07 and of course it wasn't a hard fast door. 34:10 The veil was such that light - this is awesome - 34:13 light could stream out from inside of the most holy place - 34:18 the Shekinah glory - and fill the holy place 34:20 where the priests were going in and out every day. 34:22 So 359 days out of the year 34:24 they knew that there was some beautiful glorious 34:28 incandescent light behind there 34:31 but it was inaccessible to them 34:33 most of the days of the week except for the Day of Atonement. 34:35 We together everyone? 34:37 And it would light things up. 34:41 Now Satan - and this is where we're going with this - 34:45 Satan played on the necessary mystery that is God. 34:52 OK? Satan played on that because God is... 34:56 He's hidden from us. It's as if He's behind one of 34:58 these barriers here. He is necessarily hidden 35:04 as it were by virtue of what and who He is 35:08 in His nature. 35:10 Now His character will be increasingly revealed, 35:12 and especially as we get down to the incarnation. 35:14 But Satan begins to capitalize on the necessary mystery 35:20 that is God and he essentially says - now follow this line 35:23 of reasoning here. Now we're in Genesis chapter 3. 35:25 We've been to Genesis 1, 2. We've talked about creation. 35:27 Now we're talking about the ineffability of God. 35:30 And here's effectively what Lucifer said. Check this out. 35:33 I've been saying Satan and that's an imprecision... 35:35 Lucifer. We're not Satan yet... we're Lucifer. 35:38 Lucifer effectively says this... 35:41 He says to the angelic host... 35:43 We'll get to this. This is where we're going to spend our time 35:45 today. He says: "I have glimpsed behind the curtain. " 35:52 "I know what's behind the door 35:54 and frankly I'm concerned. " 35:57 "I'm concerned about what I've seen behind there. " 36:00 And because he had an access, because he had a privilege 36:03 that most... The Bible calls him the "covering cherub. " 36:06 "The anointed cherub that covers. " Ezekiel 28. 36:08 Because he had an access that most of the angelic host didn't 36:12 have, he had information that most of them didn't have. 36:16 And so there was - listen to this carefully - 36:18 there was a plausibility inherent in his argument 36:21 on two grounds. Number one: he had access to information 36:23 that they didn't. He was very proximate to God. 36:28 He was as it were as close to being behind that door 36:32 or behind that curtain as could be. 36:34 So number one: he had access 36:35 and number two - very significantly here... 36:39 What was I going to say in my second point there? 36:42 Lucifer had access - #1- and it will come to me in a moment. 36:45 It will come to me because that's the way my brain works. 36:51 Now don't miss this. This is a critical point. 36:56 Lucifer essentially says that he's seen what's behind 36:59 the curtain and he's concerned about it. And he uses 37:03 his access to information and he uses his seeming concern 37:08 for the wellbeing of the angels to paint a picture about God. 37:12 And it's not a favorable pic- ture; it's not a happy picture. 37:15 And essentially what he says... 37:17 what he ends up saying... what it boils down to 37:20 is that God is not what we have been led to believe. 37:24 "We have been led to believe that God is one thing 37:27 but I have access to information and I'm just looking out 37:30 for your own best interest. " That's what I was going to say. 37:32 There was a necessary plausibility in what Lucifer was 37:35 saying for two reasons. Number one: because he had 37:37 access to information that others didn't have 37:39 and number two: because God is necessarily mysterious. 37:43 Right? And so the angels said: "You know, he might be right 37:47 about that. " It must have been sufficiently plausible 37:51 that a full 1/3 of the angels 37:54 aligned themselves with him and with his concerns 37:58 and with his objections. 37:59 But now check this out: we think... you know, as if 38:02 it was like the Mason-Dixon line. 38:04 You have these that were on this side 38:06 and these that were on this side. It was far 38:08 fuzzier than that and the Mason-Dixon line 38:09 was quite fuzzy as well in terms of the actual relationship 38:12 and other things. But here's the point: 38:14 even the 2/3 of loyal angels had questions. 38:20 Because of the nature of the things that Lucifer was saying 38:23 and because of his credibility and because of the necessary 38:26 mystery that is God there was a credibility 38:30 with what Lucifer was saying 38:32 that even those who were loyal were only provisionally loyal. 38:37 Did you get that? 38:39 So 1/3 say: "Hey, we've bought what he's selling. 38:43 We're onto his program and we're out of here. " 38:44 Right? Eventually when they get kicked out. 38:46 But even the remaining 2/3 are like... "Man, 38:51 what do we do? What do we do? " 38:53 And there's insights by the way from the writings of Ellen White 38:55 where as many as half of those that were loyal - 39:00 in others words, another third - 39:01 had almost aligned themselves with the disloyal 39:04 but at the last moment had sort of made the choice 39:07 to stay. But there choice to stay was like... "We're 39:11 gonna go here. " 39:14 Are you with me? 39:16 Because the whole thing was... the whole thing had been turned 39:19 upside down. The whole thing had gone cattywhompus. 39:21 I mean: "Do we believe him? Do we believe Him? " 39:23 "Do we believe God? Do we believe Lucifer? " 39:26 And in Genesis 3 we have a picture - maybe the clearest 39:29 picture - of Lucifer, who now has become Satan, 39:33 the enemy, the accuser, 39:34 we have a picture of his basic MO. 39:37 His modus operandi. And let's take a look at it. 39:40 Genesis chapter 3. 39:42 Genesis chapter 3: there are basically three elements. 39:46 And many of you have spent a lot of time in this, so I'm 39:48 going to kind of treat this quickly 39:50 because I want to get to some points... 39:51 some significant ones. 39:53 In Genesis chapter 3 we see Satan... his kind of MO. 39:57 And the MO hinges on 3 points. 39:59 You can think of it as a tripod of deception. 40:02 As a what? Tripod of deception. 40:05 Let's pick it up beginning in verse 1. 40:06 "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the 40:09 field which the Lord God had made. " 40:10 It's very interesting that the first time we're introduced 40:13 to Satan, to the accuser, to the deceiver in scripture 40:17 we're not told how powerful he is. 40:20 "Oh, he's strong! He's powerful. " No, no, no, no. 40:24 What is he? What are we told about him? 40:26 He's subtle; he's intelligent; he's crafty. 40:30 "The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field 40:33 which the Lord God had made. " And he approaches the woman 40:35 and he says: "Has God indeed said you shall not eat of 40:38 every tree of the garden? " 40:41 Even within the question there is a subtlety 40:47 and an element of confusion that actually paints 40:50 the picture that God had given in a totally different light. 40:53 In fact God had established the covenant with Adam and Eve 40:56 that went something like this... and this is just part of the 40:58 covenant... but part of the covenant was 41:00 "You can eat of every tree... " In fact, take a look at this. 41:02 Look at... You're right there in Genesis 2. Look at verse 16. 41:06 Genesis chapter 2 verse 16. 41:08 "And the Lord God commanded the man saying: 41:10 'Of every tree of the garden you may... ' And what does your 41:14 Bible say? 'freely eat. ' " 41:18 What this tells us is that God's basic way 41:23 of interacting with human beings - 41:25 of interacting with His creatures - 41:27 is on the basis of freedom. 41:30 On the basis of what? 41:31 I have two boys... I have two boys. 41:34 I am trying to model my own parenthood 41:36 after the way that God parents the universe... 41:39 the way that He rules the universe. 41:40 And He doesn't rule it by the strength of His nature 41:44 but by the beauty of His character. 41:45 And it goes something like this. 41:48 I say to my boys: 41:49 "Boys, if you want to do something... " 41:51 Landon and Jabal: they're 10 and 12... almost 11. 41:53 I say: "If you want to do something, 41:55 just assume the answer is yes. " 41:58 You might be thinking: "That is a crazy way to parent. " 42:01 No, I think it's exactly the right way to parent. 42:02 I say to my boys: "If you want to do something, 42:05 assume that the answer is yes. And the answer will only be no 42:10 if the thing you want to do either endangers your life 42:13 or somebody else's. " 42:15 Right? In other words, "If it's not good for you 42:17 or not good for somebody else, I will be forced by the 42:19 circumstances to say no. But in the absence of that kind 42:22 of thing that's either bad for you or bad for somebody else 42:24 my answer's going to be yes. My default condition 42:27 is not no. No. No. 42:29 Don't do; don't touch; don't grab; don't... don't... 42:32 don't... don't. " And how many of us 42:34 were that way with our kids? 42:35 Some of you are sitting there thinking: "Hmmm, I wish I could 42:37 go back and have my children over. " 42:38 Those of you that have not yet had children 42:40 let me just recommend this to you as a way to raise 42:42 your kids. Do not let your... 42:45 You can basically set the terms of parenting 42:48 by parenting not from the prohibition side: 42:52 what you can't do and we don't and don't 42:54 and don't touch... But you can say: 42:56 "Assume the answer is yes. 42:58 Assume it's yes unless it's something that 43:00 is going to be hurtful to you or to some other person 43:02 my natural inclination is going to be to say 'OK. ' " 43:06 That's exactly what God said. 43:08 "Of every tree of the garden the answer is 'yes. ' " 43:11 Are you with me? 43:13 But of the one tree... "But of the fruit of the tree 43:16 which is in the midst of the garden: don't eat that one 43:18 or you'll die. " Now there's a point there. 43:20 He doesn't say: "Don't eat that or I'll kill you. " 43:24 Do you hear the difference? 43:26 He says: "Don't eat that or you'll die. " 43:28 See, this is a warning. 43:30 It's not a threat. 43:31 "Don't eat of that tree or I'll give you a lickin'. " 43:34 It's a warning about what will happen, a natural 43:36 consequence of separating yourself from God. 43:39 But when Lucifer - Satan now - asked the question 43:42 rather than painting as God had a vast panorama of freedom 43:47 with only a very narrow niche of restriction 43:50 he suggests that in fact there's a vast panorama 43:54 of restriction with only a narrow window of freedom. 43:56 "Has God really said you can't eat of every tree 43:58 of the garden? " Do you hear how the subtlety suggests 44:02 that in fact God rules by restriction 44:05 and not by freedom? 44:06 Why would he say that? And that's the first leg... 44:09 that's the first leg of the tripod of deception. 44:12 Right? That God is restrictive. 44:15 That He's trying to keep something from you 44:17 that it would be in your best interest to have. 44:18 By the way, that's one of his most successful and significant 44:22 temptations in the world today. 44:23 "You don't want to turn your life over to God. 44:25 He's going to take something from you... 44:27 something you really want. " 44:29 Let me tell you right now: God won't take anything away 44:32 from you that is in your best interest to keep. 44:35 God wants your happiness 44:38 more than you want your happiness. 44:40 C.A. just said that in his sermon. 44:41 He said: "God wants your salvation more than you want 44:43 your salvation. " Well it's also true that God 44:46 wants you to be happy even more than you want you to be happy. 44:48 And so assume that God has your happiness, your bliss, 44:54 and your pleasure as one of His highest priorities. 44:57 But Lucifer says: "No, no, no, no, no. He wants you to be 44:59 unhappy. He's keeping something. Did God really say you can't eat 45:02 of every tree of the garden? " 45:03 Now the woman senses that there's something not quite 45:06 right about that and so she comes to the defense of God. 45:08 Of course God's word didn't need defending; it needed obeying. 45:12 Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo. 45:14 The preacher just said that. 45:17 God's word didn't need to be defended... 45:19 it just needed to be obeyed. 45:20 But she comes to His defense anyway. 45:22 Verse 2: "And the woman said to the serpent: 45:25 'we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden 45:27 but the fruit the tree which is in the midst of the garden 45:28 God has said you shall not eat it or touch it 45:30 lest ye die. ' " Now here's the second leg 45:33 of the temptation... the second leg of the tripod. 45:35 Verse 4: "Then the serpent said to the woman: 45:37 'that's not going to happen. You will not surely die. ' " 45:41 Translation: "God has lied to you; 45:44 He's dishonest and untrustworthy. " 45:48 Yeah? Now here we're getting a picture - a MO - of what 45:53 Lucifer/Satan did in heaven when he as the anointed cherub 45:57 that covers had access inasmuch as it's possible 46:00 for a creature to have access to what was behind the veil. 46:03 And he coveted God's position; he coveted God's power. 46:06 He wanted something, so he went and spun his web of lies 46:09 amongst the angelic host and he essentially said: 46:12 "I have access to information that you don't have 46:14 and I'm telling you I'm concerned about who and what 46:16 God really is. " And we have a window here 46:19 into the kind of things he would have said. 46:21 "God rules by restriction. " 46:25 "God rules by keeping stuff from us that would be... " 46:28 "God can't really understand us. He's a God. 46:31 He's behind the veil. He's ineffable; we're angels. 46:36 And angels are holy and angels are good 46:39 and we don't need restriction... we need liberty. 46:43 We need freedom. " And the angels: "Yeah, that 46:45 sounds about right. Yeah, we're with him. " 46:48 And some of the others say: "Yeah, that sounds kind of right 46:50 too. " And all the while 46:52 God is behind the veil as it were. 46:55 Now when I'm talking about here I'm not speaking of the 46:56 veil of the sanctuary - though that's a metaphor for it. 46:58 He's behind the veil that separates Him necessarily 47:01 as God from creation. 47:04 And he's thinking: "That's not right; that's not right; 47:06 that's not right. " But what can He do? 47:09 He has to allow this situation to play itself out - 47:13 we're going to get to that in our presentation tomorrow 47:15 morning at 9:30 AM. I cannot wait for that! 47:17 But before we get there: second part of the temptation 47:20 is: "God has lied to you. 47:22 He's dishonest. God is not trustworthy. 47:27 He is not a person worthy of your trust. " 47:31 Now these two are bad enough. 47:33 "God is restrictive; God is not trustworthy. " 47:36 But what Satan does in the third and final leg 47:39 of the tripod of temptation is the worst of all. 47:41 Here's where he attributes a motive. 47:44 He attributes a what did I say? 47:46 He attributes a motive to God. 47:48 "Let me tell you, Eve. Let me let you in on a little secret. 47:51 It's the same secret I let the angelic host in on. 47:53 I'll tell you why God is restrictive and I'll tell you 47:56 why it is that God has lied to you 47:59 about the fruit of the tree. 48:01 It's because... " Here it is... 48:04 verse 5: "because God knows 48:08 that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened 48:11 and you will be like God knowing good and evil. " 48:13 Translation: "God is looking out for Himself. " 48:19 Oh... and that's the point. 48:22 We've spent two presentations developing the fact that 48:24 God is... Let's say it together with enthusiasm: 48:28 That "God is love. " 48:29 And the principle of love is to give one's self, 48:32 to extend one's self. 48:34 So far so good? "Greater love has no man than 48:36 this: that a man would lay down his life for his friends. " 48:38 "For God so loved the world that He gave... " 48:39 "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church 48:41 and gave Himself. " "The imitators of God as dear 48:43 children and walk in love. " "As Christ also has loved us 48:46 and given Himself. " 48:47 "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live... 48:49 yet not I but Christ lives in me 48:50 and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith 48:52 in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself. " 48:55 Who gave Himself... who gave Himself... who gave Himself. 48:58 Paul cannot get away from this phrase. 49:00 He's got it in Galatians. He's got it in Ephesians. 49:01 He's got it in Titus. He cannot stop saying 49:05 that God in His very nature, God in His very essence 49:08 longs to love and to give. 49:10 But Lucifer actually says the exact opposite is true! 49:15 "God is restrictive" - number one - 49:17 first leg of the tripod. 49:19 "God is dishonest and untrustworthy" - number two - 49:21 "and the reason is He's trying to keep you 49:24 down. He's looking out for himself. 49:28 That's what He's all about. " 49:30 And here this imputation of motive 49:33 that God is essentially selfish 49:37 is the thing that causes the woman to go over the edge. 49:40 Now this is HUGELY important 49:42 and it's astonishing that we miss this point. 49:45 Watch this. Verse 6: 49:47 "So when the woman saw... " 49:50 Now don't miss that. "So... " 49:52 In the English language that's basically... The word there 49:56 "so" operates as a kind of conjunction 49:59 and what it's saying is "on the basis of that. " 50:02 Are you with me? 50:04 On the basis of that this is what happens. 50:08 So after the woman had heard this persuasive and seemingly 50:13 plausible case. "I mean, that does seem kind of unreasonable. 50:17 Why can we eat of every other tree and not this one? " 50:21 There is a plausibility here. Yes or no? 50:25 Don't be so pious as to suggest that there wasn't a significant 50:30 believability to Satan's basic accusation. 50:33 Of course there was. 50:34 "That doesn't make any sense. I can eat of that tree 50:36 and that tree and that tree and that tree and that tree 50:38 and that tree and that tree but not this one. Yeah, yeah, 50:40 yeah, yeah. That doesn't make any sense at all. 50:44 I think you might be on to something there. " 50:47 And so the first word of verse 6 is such an important word. 50:50 It says "So... " On the basis of Satan's cunning 50:55 crafty picture of God 50:58 watch what happens. This is HUGE: 51:00 "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 51:02 that it was pleasant to the eye, a tree desirable 51:04 to make one wise, she ate of its fruit. 51:07 She took of its fruit and ate. She gave also to her husband 51:09 with her and he ate. And then the eyes of both of them 51:12 were opened and they knew that they were naked 51:14 and they sewed fig leaves together and they made 51:15 themselves coverings. " We're going to pick that up - 51:17 7 and 8- tomorrow but we've got to nail this point down here. 51:22 The eating of the fruit is the least of it. 51:26 Right? That is the least of the thing. 51:30 It's not as though God's primary concern 51:32 was with the physical action of extending the arm, 51:36 taking the fruit, and placing it to one's mouth 51:39 as if there is some inherent sinfulness in this motion 51:43 or in this gesticulation. No, no, no, no. 51:47 The sin did not come until the true picture of God - 51:51 the hard drive of who God was - had been ejected 51:57 and a new picture of God had been put in place. 52:01 And now sin comes as a natural result 52:04 of a new picture of who God is. 52:07 Don't miss that. 52:08 That's HUGE! The eating of the fruit was... 52:11 it was... The sin had already taken place! 52:15 This was merely the action of going through... 52:17 It was almost a logical action on the basis of believing 52:22 what she has now chosen to believe. 52:25 The simplest way to say this is that sin followed a false 52:29 picture of God. 52:33 As soon as Lucifer got her to break trust with God 52:38 sin was... the action of sin was a necessary conse... 52:44 it was an inevitable consequence. 52:47 Are you with me on that? 52:49 So that's what it's about. 52:51 It's not as though God is some arbitrary, capricious deity 52:55 some sovereign... you know, either a distant bureaucrat 52:58 or a despotic tyrant that says" "Now don't do that 53:01 and don't do that and don't do that. " 53:02 What this represents and what this is communicating 53:06 is a total lack of trust in the person that God had 53:09 revealed Himself to be. 53:11 You had to take that out... "That's not who God is. 53:14 We can't believe that. Look at how unreasonable He is. 53:17 Look at how restrictive He is. " 53:19 "Oh, did He give you that line about how if you don't... 53:21 if you eat of this tree He'll kill you? " 53:23 "Oh yeah. " "But look at me. I ate of the 53:25 fruit of this tree and I'm a talking serpent! 53:28 I have actually entered into a higher and grander sphere 53:31 of existence than I had formerly occupied 53:34 and you will too. God knows that in the day 53:36 that you eat of that tree your eyes will be opened. 53:38 You'll be like Him; He's trying to keep you down. " 53:42 And the plausibility... 53:44 "That sounds about right. Yeah I think you're on to something. " 53:47 She eats of the fruit 53:50 but again, the eating of the fruit only followed 53:54 the complete removal of the true picture of who God was 53:59 and the insertion of a whole new picture of God. 54:02 Now check this out: 54:04 if I'm basically right here, 54:06 that the Bible's introduction of sin 54:08 is that it's over a broken relationship and a broken 54:11 picture of who and what God is, an inaccurate picture 54:13 of what God is, then this tells us that sin goes far more deeply 54:16 than what we do with our fingers and our toes 54:18 and even our mouths. 54:20 In fact, there are a great many people who take an exceedingly 54:24 shallow view of sin as if sin is just like spilled milk. 54:27 "Oh look! There's spilled milk. Let's clean it up. " 54:31 And so what do you do when you spill milk? 54:32 You get out the mop, you clean it up, and all is well. 54:34 Let me tell you: the problem with sin 54:37 is nothing like spilled milk. 54:38 It's not as if: "Oh, God doesn't like sin. 54:43 The solution is we stop doing it. " 54:46 Let me tell you: there's a far more deep... 54:49 There is a subterranean level here that goes like this. 54:51 Why do we sin? 54:54 Why did Adam and Eve sin in the first place? 54:56 And why do we find ourselves falling into sin? 55:00 Is it simply because of addiction or...? 55:03 Those things play an element and I'm not suggesting they don't. 55:05 But sin is about a false picture of who and what God is. 55:11 And unless and until we replace the false picture 55:15 of God that Satan has planted in many of our minds, 55:17 even Christian's minds, 55:18 unless and until we get a true picture of who God is 55:22 the solution to the sin problem will remain elusive. 55:28 "I should stop doing this; I've got to stop doing this. 55:30 I've got to stop doing this; I'm gonna muster the strength. 55:32 I'm going to pull myself up by my bootstraps. " 55:34 Or whatever new technique or idea or formula that you have 55:38 put into place to stop doing that thing. 55:40 I'm telling you if the root of the sin problem is the 55:42 misunderstanding of who God is, 55:44 then the solution to the sin problem is the correct 55:46 understanding of who He is. 55:52 The breaking of the covenant that God had established 55:55 between His sons - His children Adam and Eve - 55:59 the breaking of the covenant. If a covenant is a relationship, 56:02 it's a legal relational agreement, 56:04 what happens is is that it's broken over 56:06 a broken relationship over a lack of trust. 56:11 Well how's that going to be restored? 56:13 Well it's not going to be restored by merely legal means 56:17 because a covenant is not merely a legal document. 56:21 Its legality only protects the basic relationality. 56:25 That's as if to say "Is a marriage 56:27 a legal arrangement? " Yes or no? 56:30 But is it ONLY a legal arrangement? 56:32 Heaven forbid! How ugly is that! 56:35 Right? "Well I've got to be married; I can't break 56:37 my covenant. Guess I'll stick it out. " 56:41 No, no, no, no. The legality protects the relationality. 56:47 And the covenant was legally broken 56:50 because the relationship... because Adam and Eve lost trust 56:53 in God. They said: "This guy can't be trusted. 56:55 We know He cannot be trusted. " It's the very same MO 56:59 that Lucifer used in heaven. "I know. I've been behind 57:01 the veil. I've seen who and what He is and I have concerns. " 57:07 We see this here, and scripture actually uses the language. 57:10 I'm going to pick this up in our next session. 57:11 "He trafficks in lies. " 57:14 He trafficks in lies about who God is. |
Revised 2014-12-17