Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: 14SCM
Program Code: 14SCM000005
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00:38 Hello, friends. Welcome to 3ABN's Spring Camp Meeting.
00:42 All of God's people are gathered here 00:44 and they want to welcome you with a hearty Amen. 00:46 Can you say that? Amen! 00:48 We are gearing up for Pastor John Bradshaw 00:50 who's going to break again the bread of life as we look at 00:54 the second coming of Christ: an in-depth look. 00:57 If you're in the driving area of southern Illinois, 00:59 we surely do extend to you a warm invitation to come 01:02 and join us here in Thompsonville, the biggest 01:05 little city in the world. Do we believe that? 01:07 Everything is happening here to impact the world. 01:09 We do believe not only in the beauty of the message 01:12 of the second coming but we believe that Jesus 01:14 is coming soon. And so join us here for this wonderful 01:18 Camp Meeting weekend at the 3ABN Worship Center. 01:21 You can't miss it. 01:22 Thompsonville is only just so large. 01:25 Now we have gathered here today to praise the Lord. 01:27 And before we go any further in talking about our speaker 01:30 for the hour... Matter of fact, let me do that first 01:32 and then we'll have prayer, we'll have our music, 01:35 and then we will have him come out and break the bread of life. 01:38 Pastor John Bradshaw is Speaker/Director 01:43 of It Is Written, and what a powerful speaker he is. 01:46 Animated... loves the Lord, loves to proclaim the Word. 01:51 And he's going to add to our unfolding picture of the 01:56 second coming of Christ. There are more meetings this morning, 01:59 this afternoon, this evening, tomorrow. 02:03 And it's going to go on until Saturday evening, so you're not 02:05 too late to come and to join us. 02:08 But in preparation for the message, I'd like to invite you 02:11 to bow your heads as we recognize the presence 02:14 of the Lord with us. Let us pray. 02:16 Gracious Father in heaven, what a blessing it is 02:18 to turn our eyes away from this world 02:21 and turn our eyes upon Jesus. 02:22 We do pray, Lord, that You will anoint Your manservant. 02:25 That you will come and inhabit this place continually. 02:28 That You will find the hearts of those that are watching 02:31 the program, listening to the program, and that are here 02:33 attending the program. Unify us with the great joy 02:37 of preparing for the soon return of our Savior and our Lord. 02:41 And for those who don't know You, Father, 02:43 speak to their hearts that they might be a part 02:46 of that redeemed host that will soon ascend 02:48 to meet Jesus in peace. 02:50 For this we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 02:55 You know, one of the most wonderful things to do 02:57 in preparation for the coming of the Lord 02:58 is to turn our eyes upon Jesus. 03:00 As I sing this song I pray that you will desire 03:03 not just to look at the Word of God but to get a glimpse 03:06 of Christ. As we turn our eyes upon Him now 03:09 we will be filled with joy to turn our eyes upon Him then. 03:13 May God bless you. 03:35 O soul, 03:38 are you weary and troubled? 03:43 No light 03:45 in the darkness you see? 03:52 There's light 03:55 for a look at the Savior, 04:01 and there's life more abundant 04:05 and free! Want to sing the chorus? Are you ready? 04:11 Turn your eyes 04:14 upon Jesus, 04:19 Look full in 04:21 His wonderful face; 04:26 And the things of earth 04:30 will grow strangely dim 04:37 In the light 04:39 of His glory 04:42 and grace. 04:59 His word 05:02 will not fail you 05:05 He promised; 05:08 Believe it 05:10 and all will be well: 05:15 Then go to a world 05:19 that is dying 05:23 with His perfect salvation 05:27 to tell! 05:33 Turn your eyes 05:37 upon Jesus, 05:41 Look full in 05:43 His wonderful face; 05:48 And the things of earth 05:54 will grow strangely dim 06:00 in the light 06:03 of His glory 06:06 and grace... 06:11 in the light of His 06:15 glory 06:18 and grace... 06:27 in the light 06:29 of His glory 06:33 and grace. 06:49 Well good morning everyone. 06:51 Good morning. 06:53 Unless of course it's not morning where you are. 06:55 In which case, good afternoon or good evening or 06:57 however you like it. 06:59 But where we are we say "good morning. " 07:01 I'm glad to see you. 07:04 I hope you're glad to be here. 07:05 I expect you are. Excuse me... We do this routinely. All right. 07:09 Well, why don't we start at the beginning? 07:14 You know what I believe? I believe that music is given 07:16 by God at a time like this to direct our minds toward heaven 07:20 and prepare our hearts for the reception of God's Word. 07:23 I'd like to think the music has done just that. 07:26 So let's pray and move on. 07:32 Our Father in heaven, we thank you that we can be here 07:34 for this weekend gathering. We are together. 07:38 We focus on that wonderful truth 07:42 that Jesus is coming again. 07:46 And not only coming again but coming again soon. 07:52 So we are thankful that You are not going to leave us 07:54 here forever and that soon we'll be in Your presence. 07:58 Verily, soon we'll be in that place where the sea is of glass 08:02 and the streets are of gold. 08:04 Father, let that day come soon is our prayer, 08:06 but while we are still here... 08:09 You have said: "occupy till I come. " 08:11 Let us be doing that. 08:13 I thank you for the presence of Your Spirit 08:18 and I pray that now every heart here... every heart 08:23 and mind watching will be touched by Your Spirit. 08:28 We cannot afford to be left alone by You. 08:32 Come to us and mold us. 08:35 Connect with us and speak to us. 08:40 Lord, the Bible refers to the foolishness of preaching, 08:45 and I'm praying now that You would take this 08:48 foolishness and do something with it that will be more 08:54 than an hour well spent 08:59 but instead will be something that blesses us 09:03 with eternity in view. 09:06 We thank you and we pray together in Jesus' name. 09:10 Please say amen. Amen. 09:19 If you're from New Zealand, then you know this story. 09:24 But seeing as you aren't... then I'll tell you. 09:29 1968 the Olympic Games were in Mexico City. 09:35 And a New Zealand woman named Sylvia Potts 09:39 represented New Zealand in the 800 meters. 09:42 She did not win. She qualified for the semi-final, 09:44 ran well, didn't make the final. 09:46 An American woman named Madeline Manning won the 09:49 gold medal. Sylvia Potts ran with distinction and we - 09:53 the Kiwi's - were proud. But two years later... 09:56 two years later Sylvia Potts did something that we remember her 10:01 for still. As a matter of fact, 10:03 she said: "That's all OK. " But what bugged her 10:05 and her husband is that Sylvia is remembered for what she 10:08 didn't do rather than what she did. 10:11 Now she did pretty well at the Olympic Games, 10:14 but we don't remember her for that. 10:15 In fact, no one even remembers. 10:17 But it's what she didn't do that people remember her for. 10:22 Now, in 1970 the Commonwealth Games... 10:27 That's like the Olympics, but for countries that are members 10:30 of the British Commonwealth. 10:32 That's the United Kingdom nations and Canada 10:37 and New Zealand and Australia and Kenya and Malawi 10:40 and Nigeria and so on. 10:44 About 42 countries gathered together in Edinburgh, Scotland. 10:47 And Sylvia was running in the 1500 meters this time. 10:52 And I don't think there was a New Zealander who expected her 10:55 to win, but 11,500 miles away from Edinburgh 10:58 back in New Zealand we... well, not me... but they 11:02 were watching on TV. 11:05 And New Zealanders were happy to see the black singlet - 11:10 that's what we call it... the black singlet - 11:13 of New Zealand being worn by Sylvia Potts 11:16 right in contention in the 1500 meters. 11:18 In fact, into the fourth and final lap Sylvia was... 11:21 she was right there. 11:22 And into the home stretch... I mean, what? We didn't expect 11:26 this! Sylvia Potts took the lead 11:30 and she was going to win a gold medal for England! 11:33 She's running down the home stretch. 11:35 I mean 50 meters left to run. She's leading. 11:37 Behind her are two British women... 11:39 two English women and a Canadian. 11:42 But that's all right. Doesn't matter who's behind her. 11:44 The beauty of it was nobody was in front of her. 11:47 With 10 meters left to... Now I need to translate 11:51 that because you all don't know what a meter is. 11:53 But 10 meters is about 30 feet. 11:58 Is that far? When you've run a mile, and 1500 meters is 12:02 just 109 meters short of a mile, 12:04 30 feet is nothing. 12:08 And 30 feet left to go in the race 12:12 Sylvia Potts is in front. 12:15 Nine meters... eight meters... 12:20 seven meters... 12:22 I mean with 5 meters left to run, 15 feet left in the race, 12:27 she's in front. Ah, New Zealanders. We could already 12:30 hear our national anthem - God Defend New Zealand - 12:33 being played. We could already see her standing on the victory 12:36 dais with the gold medal around her neck. 12:38 She could feel it; she could touch it; 12:41 she could taste it, man! Fifteen feet from the finish. 12:44 I mean, how can you lose? 12:46 Two meters left to run. 12:50 That's this far... fingertip to fingertip. 12:53 Six feet. Six feet from the finish 12:58 Sylvia Potts is leading and New Zealand is going to win 13:02 a gold medal. 13:11 And Sylvia Potts' legs could not carry her an inch further. 13:17 Exhausted she fell to the track. 13:22 And I don't expect you to Google it, but if you did 13:25 you would see a photograph of Sylvia reaching towards the 13:28 finish line looking up in anguish. 13:32 The British runners were running by 13:34 and the Canadian and I don't know how many others. 13:37 I don't know where she finished... IF she finished. 13:41 Doesn't really matter. There's no gold medal 13:42 for fourth or fifth. There's no medal at all for... 13:45 You know, there's no medal unless you're 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. 13:48 And Sylvia Potts got about as close 13:53 as you can get to winning a gold medal 13:57 without actually winning it. 13:59 Six feet... 14:03 and she fell over. 14:05 What's that saying? So near and yet so far. 14:11 Now we see this from time to time in sport, 14:13 and it doesn't really matter, does it? 14:14 I mean, how important is sport anyway? 14:16 Who won the last Super Bowl? Now somebody's going to say 14:18 Seattle 'cause it was just last year. 14:20 But who won the one before that? 14:23 Probably nobody here even knows. 14:25 So it's not really important... even though at the time 14:27 advertisers were paying 3.5 million dollars 14:29 or whatever it was to get a 30-second spot on. 14:31 When the Olympics come around the nation stops. 14:34 It's just sport... it doesn't matter. 14:36 It's inconsequential. 14:38 No... but you see these hard luck stories. 14:41 A Frenchman was playing in the British golf open 14:43 some years ago, and with one hole left to play 14:47 he was leading by three strokes. 14:49 I mean, how can you lose? You can't. 14:51 The only thing you can do to not win from there 14:53 is die just about. 14:57 And he didn't die, thank God, but Jean van de Velde's 15:00 golf game died. He triple bogeyed the hole. 15:04 Ended up in a tie. Lost the playoff. 15:07 Another man who is remembered not for what he did 15:09 but for what he didn't do. 15:12 So near and yet so far. 15:14 It doesn't matter... doesn't matter 'cause it's only sport 15:16 and sport isn't significant in the big picture. 15:21 But what if we applied this "So near and yet so far" 15:25 theme to something really important 15:30 like salvation? 15:33 Today we're talking about preparing for the second coming. 15:36 The tragedy is that a lot of people 15:40 are going to be "almost ready... " 15:43 if you'll allow me to say it that way. 15:45 I don't know that there's actually a scale... 15:47 I think you're either ready or not, but you understand 15:49 what I mean. A lot of people are going to come close 15:53 to salvation without being quite close enough. 15:58 We read about this in the Bible. Jesus said in Matthew 25 16:02 verse 41 and on: "Then He will say also 16:06 to those on the left hand: 'Depart from Me you cursed 16:09 into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his 16:12 angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food. 16:15 I was thirsty, and you didn't give Me any drink. 16:18 I was a stranger; you did not take Me in. 16:21 Naked... you did not clothe Me. 16:23 Sick and in prison... and you did not visit Me. ' " 16:27 Now the reaction is interesting. 16:28 "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger 16:33 or naked or sick in prison and did not minister to You? " 16:36 What? No! "And He will answer them saying: 16:41 'Assuredly I say to you 16:43 inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these 16:46 My brethren you did it not to Me. ' " 16:49 And they go away to everlasting punishment 16:51 but the righteous into eternal life. 16:53 And they are surprised. "Huh? You mean we didn't? 16:56 When was that? How can that be? " 16:58 They thought they were more right than they were. 17:00 It seems to me that these ones are surprised that they're 17:03 not going in. And we read in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21 17:08 and on a similar thought. Jesus said: 17:10 "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into 17:14 the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will 17:18 of My Father which is in heaven. " 17:20 Now by definition, if somebody is calling Jesus Lord 17:23 that person must be a Christian... surely. 17:28 So Jesus says: "Now Christians, don't be making the mistake 17:32 of thinking that because you're a Christian 17:34 this somehow automatically qualifies you for entrance 17:37 into the kingdom BECAUSE it doesn't. " 17:41 "Not everyone who calls Me 'Lord, Lord. ' " 17:43 He's made a distinction between those who make a profession 17:47 and those who have a possession of Jesus Christ. 17:51 He said: "It's important that you do the will of My Father 17:54 in heaven. " Now we've got to be careful 17:55 that we don't devolve into legalists and by the time we're 17:58 done we'll have left all of that behind. 18:01 But Jesus is clear: "Not everyone... Many will say to Me 18:04 at that day: 'Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in Your 18:08 name? ' That's a good thing to do. 18:10 'And in Your name have cast out devils? ' 18:12 That's good, too. 18:13 'And in Your name, haven't we done many wonderful works? ' 18:16 And then I will profess to them... ' And this is sobering. 18:21 Not 'I don't know you' but 'I never knew you. 18:25 Depart from Me ye that worketh iniquity. ' " 18:30 Now we shouldn't rush by this. 18:32 When we think about preparing for the second coming of Jesus 18:36 this ought to get our attention. 18:37 "Hold on, Lord... we've done all the right things, 18:39 haven't we? " And rather than being saved 18:43 they're absolutely lost. 18:46 This is an urgent and vitally-important truth: 18:50 Jesus is coming back to this world! 18:54 And I believe He's coming back soon. 18:56 And closely related to this urgent, important, 19:00 unavoidable truth 19:04 we are confronted today with the thought that 19:08 when Jesus comes back a lot of people will not be ready. 19:17 Revelation chapter 6 "The kings of the earth, 19:20 the great men, the rich men, 19:23 the commanders, the mighty men, 19:25 every bond man and every free man 19:28 hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains 19:31 and said to the mountains and the rocks: 19:33 'fall on us and hide us from the face of Him 19:39 who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb 19:41 for the great day of His wrath has come 19:44 and who shall be able to stand? ' " 19:47 And that's an interesting situation, isn't it? 19:49 Because they're hiding themselves from a Lamb. 19:53 I don't know what you know about lambs, but lambs are cute 19:57 and they are harmless and they are docile. 20:02 And here are people hiding themselves from a Lamb. 20:08 It makes no sense... but that's where they find themselves. 20:12 Isaiah 25 starting in verse 8: 20:15 "He will swallow up death forever. " You ought to say 20:17 amen to that. "And the Lord God will wipe away tears 20:21 from all faces. The rebuke of His people He will take away 20:25 from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. 20:28 And it will be said in that day 'Lo, this is our God. 20:32 We have waited for Him and He will save us. 20:34 This is the Lord! We have waited for Him. 20:37 We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation! " 20:41 But there's a flip side. 20:43 Remember when you used to go to the record store and buy 20:45 singles? 45's? Now some of you never had that experience... 20:51 but I remember. I remember going to the record store 20:54 and buying Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney. 20:58 How about that? 21:00 You know, that was in a previous life. 21:06 And there was always a B side... a flip side. 21:10 And I remember what the flip side was... 21:12 song didn't make any sense. 21:14 I remember my brothers and sisters, they would buy Beatles 21:17 records. The first song I ever heard was "Hey Jude. " 21:20 And on the other side was "Revolution. " 21:22 I mean, not that I care... but that was quite a record! 21:27 There was a flip side, and in Isaiah 25 you've got people 21:32 looking and saying: "This is Jesus! Hallelujah! " 21:35 But there's a flip side. 21:37 You read in Jeremiah 8 and verse 20 21:40 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended 21:45 and we are not saved. " 21:50 Those are sad words, aren't they? And yet John wrote: 21:54 "These things I have written unto you that believe on the 21:56 name of the Son of God that you may KNOW that you have 22:01 eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the 22:03 Son of God. He that hath the Son hath life. " 22:07 None of us ought to be in any doubt. 22:09 God wants us to be confident. 22:11 We can be certain. Not boastful... not proud... 22:14 not lackadaisical... not arrogant 22:16 bit we may KNOW that when we are connected to God 22:20 through faith in Jesus Christ everlasting life is ours. 22:24 Now the fact of the matter is there are many who will be 22:27 confident and they will be wrongly confident. 22:31 There will be some who won't be confident... 22:32 they just don't even care. But the amazing thing is 22:36 for Christians today is that there will be some who think 22:39 they are ready to meet Jesus when He comes back 22:42 and they will not be ready. 22:45 I imagine, as a matter of fact, they will find out before then 22:48 because the seven last plagues will fall on all of those 22:52 who are not ready to meet Christ. 22:53 And there will be people saying: "Why these boils? " 22:56 "Why this water turned into blood? " 22:58 "Why is this plague of darkness affecting me this way? " 23:01 "Why is the sun scorching me as it is? " 23:04 "I thought... I thought... I thought... " And Jesus says: 23:08 "I never knew you. " This is sobering. 23:13 And I don't think any of us can afford to think that we are 23:15 beyond the reach of finding ourselves in the wrong camp. 23:20 You know what I'm talking about. 23:22 And the truth is every one of us by virtue 23:25 of the fact that we are here today... whether here or 23:28 here on the other side of the screen... every one of us 23:31 we are close. We are two meters from the finish line. 23:36 The gold medal is within our grasp... almost. 23:38 And it's not wrong to put it like that 23:40 because Saint Paul when he wrote about salvation 23:42 several times alluded to the games... the precursor to the 23:47 modern games. And he compared the Christian life 23:51 with these athletic events. 23:54 We are this close. 23:56 How do I say that? 23:57 Well because we're here gathered around the Bible together. 24:00 I mean, we've got the keys in our hands! 24:03 We own Bibles and good spiritual books and we've attended church 24:08 or whatever the situation is. 24:11 Some are going to say: "Well I never went to church. " 24:13 Yeah, but you live in a land if you're in the free world 24:15 where the Bible is literature's best-selling book. 24:19 So if you don't have one, 24:21 you have the opportunity to have one. 24:24 You live in a place where there are Christian television 24:27 programs all over. I know, some people are put off 24:30 by the shenanigans of some of these TV preachers. 24:32 I understand that. 24:34 But you don't say: "Man, because some of those Christians 24:38 are hypocrites I don't want to be a Christian. " 24:40 There are Americans who are hypocrites. 24:42 Now you want to turn in your citizenship and go live 24:44 in another country? I don't think so. 24:47 There are doctors who are hypocrites, so you're not 24:49 going to go see one when you're sick? Oh no! 24:51 We take the good with the bad. 24:54 Masses of people... they know about Jesus. 24:56 God knows they do because He hears them using His name 24:59 all day long. We had classmates who are Christians, 25:02 didn't we? Everyone heard about that Noah movie and nobody said 25:06 "Who? " We know... Noah, the guy in the Bible. 25:10 I mentioned to you my friend and colleague at It Is Written 25:12 Ron Watts walking into a village in India asking somebody 25:17 "Do you know Jesus Christ? " And the answer he got was: 25:20 "Well, no. We haven't heard of anybody by that name 25:23 living around here. " That might be true in places like India. 25:27 In some parts of India. 25:30 Less and less by the grace of God of places like India. 25:34 But where most of us live God is a known quantity. 25:38 He may be a misunderstood quantity 25:40 but we have this idea that there is a God. 25:44 Every time something happens that's tragic 25:47 what does the person in the news say? 25:49 "Our thoughts and prayers are with them. " 25:53 Always. Even if they're not practicing Christians 25:56 they're kind enough to say "thoughts and prayers. " 25:58 They are familiar with the idea. 26:00 Knowing what we know, knowing who we know 26:04 it would be a tragedy of immense proportions 26:07 were we not found ready to meet Jesus when He comes back. 26:10 It's as though we can look over into the Promised Land. 26:14 Now there's a world of difference between looking over 26:16 and actually being there. 26:20 World of difference. 26:21 Just ask Moses. 26:24 God took Moses up to the top of Mount Nebo. 26:27 He allowed him to look over into the Promised Land. 26:29 "There's Jericho over there and there's another land. 26:32 And look at this part and look at that part. 26:34 Take a good look... 'cause you're not going in. " 26:38 And we know why. 26:40 There was Moses told by God: "Go down there. Speak to the 26:43 rock. Water will come out. " 26:45 Moses was so mad with those people. 26:47 And who can blame him? 26:49 He said: "Hear now you rebels: must we fetch water out 26:52 of the rock? " Not God... me... I'll do it. 26:54 "Have I got to get water for you again 26:57 like I'm God? " He struck the rock. 27:00 Oh, he lost his temper. It wasn't good. 27:02 God said... Ah, and you might say that was harsh 27:07 but it worked out OK. Moses was ultimately resurrected 27:10 and taken to heaven. But the point is he was not 27:13 permitted to go into the Promised Land 27:15 because of... because of what? 27:19 It was because of sin. 27:22 Because of sin. 27:24 I know that somebody's going to say: "No, no. 27:27 Sin isn't the problem. Sin is merely symptomatic 27:32 of not having a good relationship with Jesus. " 27:35 Well that's a very spiritual way of looking at it 27:37 and I commend you for that. I'm not going to tell you 27:39 you're wrong. But I have not read in the Bible that the wages 27:42 of not having a good relationship with Jesus 27:44 is death. God is pretty clear: 27:48 "The wages of sin is death. " 27:51 Now I'm going to tell you two things 27:53 and I hope to explain both of them to you before I'm done. 27:57 First, sin is the big problem 28:01 and secondly, sin is not the problem. 28:05 Now I'll stitch this thing back together before we're done 28:08 so hang in there with me. 28:10 If you stay with me to the end, it'll be OK; 28:12 if you don't, you'll be confused but good luck to you anyhow. 28:16 The Bible is clear about sin. Clear... clear! 28:19 We ought to be clear about it. 28:20 Revelation 21:27: "But there shall by no means 28:24 enter into it... " We're talking about the New Jerusalem. 28:26 No one's going to go in there or anything, rather, 28:29 that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie! 28:36 Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's 28:38 Book of Life. I mean later on, Revelation 22 28:41 "Blessed are those who do His commandments 28:44 that they may have right to the Tree of Life 28:46 and enter in through the gates into the city. " 28:48 That's good. "But outside are dogs and sorcerers 28:51 and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters. " 28:55 Yeah, kick 'em out. Get rid of all of them. 28:57 We don't want them in heaven. 28:58 But it goes even further: 29:00 "And whoever loves and practices a lie. " 29:02 Oooh... You know, you read in the Bible that pride 29:08 is an abomination to God. 29:10 Huh... it seems like God is setting the bar pretty high. 29:14 I think it's time for God's people to seriously get serious 29:17 about the seriousness of sin. It's deadly! 29:21 Sin kills. The devil knows that. 29:24 That's why the Bible urges us to be sober and vigilant 29:27 because "our adversary the devil as a roaring lion 29:32 walketh about seeking whom he may devour. " 29:35 He knows your name. He's got a sin with your name on it, 29:38 something crafted for you. The good news is you don't 29:41 have to fall... but we'll come back to that. 29:43 He has been studying human beings for 6,000 years. 29:48 He knows what makes us tick; he knows our weaknesses. 29:51 He also knows that in God we are strong. 29:55 He knows that but he walks around trying to separate you 29:58 from God. Now again, you don't need to be so 30:03 out of balance about this that you chew your fingernails 30:07 and worry and shake. 30:08 And man, I think I may have eaten one almond too many today. 30:13 Perhaps that was a sin. And I wore this lovely skirt 30:17 today but my sister over here tells me it's an inch too short 30:19 and so perhaps I'm going to hell right now. 30:21 And you know that there are some people who think that way. 30:24 God bless them... they're an easy target. 30:26 I don't appreciate it when preachers go after them 30:28 because they're just too easy. 30:30 But we don't need to be like that. 30:32 Conscientiousness? Good. 30:34 But love God; ask God to lead you; 30:37 follow His leading; and get on with your life 30:40 not sweating about whether there was vinegar 30:45 in the salad dressing. 30:52 Now if you don't want to eat that, that's OK. 30:54 But if you did, don't go to God and ask for forgiveness. 31:00 Don't start worrying that maybe my name got taken out 31:04 the Book of Life. God has bigger fish to fry than that. 31:09 If you love God, understand that He's not lookin' at ya 31:14 with a magnifying glass trying to lock you out of heaven. 31:18 He's doing everything He can to get you in! Amen! 31:22 Thank the Lord for that. 31:24 No, no, no... don't be lackadaisical. I don't mean that 31:26 and you know I don't mean that. 31:28 Jesus wants us to be ready for Him to come back. 31:32 But sin will keep us from that. 31:34 Sin now. Isaiah said sin separates a person from God. 31:38 And that's the truth... it's true! 31:41 And if that's true, we don't want to be casual about sin. 31:44 Understand we're growing... we're growing. 31:47 And today there is something that you're doing in your life 31:49 that tomorrow you're going to say: 31:50 "I don't think that was right. I'm growing. " 31:53 That's all right. So now what I'm suggesting 31:55 not is that you go to your brother and sister 31:58 and tell your brother and sister to grow. 32:00 God will do that. Amen! 32:03 But it's time for me to sit down and take a moral inventory 32:06 of my life. David did that: "Search me, O God, 32:08 and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. 32:11 See if there be any wicked way in me 32:13 and lead me in the way everlasting. " 32:15 Christ is coming back! This is no time to be casual about sin 32:20 because "the wages of sin is death. " 32:22 Listen to what Peter wrote and I love this. This is in 32:26 II Peter: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise 32:28 as some count slackness but is longsuffering towards us. " 32:32 There's a beautiful verse... it says: "The longsuffering 32:35 of God is salvation. " 32:37 I mean where would you be without God's patience, right? 32:40 And if you can hear me as I mean to be heard 32:44 if God is willing to be patient with you, 32:48 then you be patient with others and patient with yourself. 32:52 Amen! Patient with yourself. We are growing. 32:56 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night 32:58 in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. 33:01 The elements will melt with fervent heat. 33:03 Both the earth and the works that are in it 33:05 will be burned up. Therefore, 33:07 seeing that all of these things will be dissolved... " 33:09 Now here's a question: 33:11 "what manner of persons ought ye to be 33:14 in all holy conduct and conversation or godliness? 33:17 Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God... " 33:21 and so on. In the context of the coming of Christ 33:25 God asks us this question: "What manner of persons 33:28 ought ye to be? " John answered it: I John 3 verse 3. 33:32 "Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself 33:37 even as He... " God... "is pure. " 33:41 Isn't that something? 33:44 "Purifies himself even as God is pure. " 33:48 You know, it's really interesting that people say: 33:50 well some... I've heard it said. 33:51 I was in a conversation with a man who told me this 33:53 with a straight face: "We could never be like Jesus... 33:56 no... no way. " And I understand that Jesus 33:58 and I aren't exactly the same. 34:02 That is, I have a lifetime of having practiced sin. 34:05 Jesus never had that. 34:06 I understand that. But the Bible does say that 34:09 Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. 34:11 Made of the seed of Abraham. I mean, this seems pretty 34:14 straightforward to me. It seems that way 34:17 but put Jesus... I can't put it that way. 34:20 But let's consider somebody else. 34:22 The Bible says that Elijah was a man subject to like passions 34:27 such as we are. Elijah was just like us 34:31 yet Elijah was taken to heaven, translated without seeing death. 34:37 So if you feel for a moment like: "Well I can't be like 34:41 Jesus" be like Elijah. 34:45 Because Elijah evidently had it figured out. 34:47 And without a shadow of a doubt, Elijah and you 34:51 are made from the same stuff. 34:53 You see this thing with sin... there's power in sin. 34:56 Sin is deceptive... sin appeals to self. 34:59 You can indulge sin and get hooked on it 35:02 like an addict gets hooked to drugs. 35:05 I was talking to a friend recently about a man he knows 35:08 and I need to be careful with this. 35:10 The man used to go from church to church singing in a musical 35:12 group and the man is now doing a 150-year prison sentence. 35:18 Christian. People thought he was a good fellow. 35:21 I visited a man recently who attended a Christian university 35:25 the name of which you would recognize. 35:27 But I did not visit with him at an alumni event. 35:32 I visited with him on death row 35:35 and he's sitting in a penitentiary 35:36 with a death sentence hanging over his head 35:38 just waiting to be executed. 35:41 And in each situation both of these gentlemen 35:45 just started to indulge sin 35:47 until it got bigger and bigger and more and more 35:51 and they got to the place that they just couldn't say 35:53 no to sin 35:54 and sin was guiding and governing 35:56 and driving their lives. 35:58 Man I want to tell you: it starts this small. 36:01 No one's first sin is drug dealing or mass murder. 36:05 That comes later. 36:07 As a matter of fact, at least one of these gentlemen I was 36:09 telling you about got his start 36:11 looking at inappropriate websites. 36:16 And you know if you read the statistics 36:18 it's phenomenal how many people look at these things. 36:22 And then if you say to yourself 36:24 "In truth the church is a whole lot like the world" 36:29 then you know that that problem permeates the church. 36:33 Have mercy. 36:35 Can you imagine where that's going to lead people? 36:37 Can you imagine? 36:39 Now I don't mean for a moment like anybody here's going to 36:41 end up in prison for the term of their natural lives 36:43 or end up sitting on death row. 36:44 And I can tell you - thank the Lord - in the case of both 36:46 of the people that I spoke to or spoke of 36:49 both of them have repented. They've claimed Jesus. 36:52 If we are to understand the way salvation works, 36:54 we can expect to see them in heaven. 36:56 Not to minimize sin but to maximize the grace of God. 36:59 Hallelujah! And perhaps using examples like that 37:03 are just so far out that you say: "Ah, maybe it separates us 37:08 from that. " But sin starts small and grows big 37:12 and we can imagine that... we can. 37:16 Oh let me say this first about sin. 37:19 No, let me say that second about sin. 37:21 What's sobering about this 37:24 is that sin doesn't just affect you. 37:26 It affects your family; it affects the church. 37:31 We hold these series of meetings and we want to preach the gospel 37:34 and we have a smaller return than we might wish 37:38 and we wonder why. And the church isn't praying. 37:42 And there's so much sin in some of the churches 37:45 that God knows it's better for people to leave them out there 37:48 than bring them in here. 37:50 And if you have any doubt about that, think of Achan. 37:53 Achan stole from Jericho. 37:55 And because of that sin when Israel went into battle 37:58 Israel was defeated. And the parallel is clear 38:01 because the church is in a war right now... 38:04 a battle known as the great controversy. 38:06 And we would do a whole lot better if we had a whole lot 38:10 less sin clogging up the ar- teries of our spiritual hearts. 38:14 If we get that out and get God in, 38:17 God can bless the church more. 38:20 There's a reason the shaking is going to come. 38:24 You know when Jesus comes back He will come back for a church 38:27 without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 38:30 Holy and without blemish. The sin is going to be shaken out. 38:35 God... And I can tell you for a fact 38:38 that if I am connected to that sin I'll be shaken out with it! 38:42 And I don't want that to happen. 38:44 Now if you're feeling awful about being a big sinner 38:46 right now: "Oh man, I feel so bad because of 38:49 this and this and this, " my response to you is 38:52 "Good... you ought to feel awful about sin! " 38:56 Problem is we get too casual about it. 38:59 But let me say this: the Bible says blessed are they 39:02 that mourn; they shall be comforted. " 39:05 Recognizing your sinfulness is the first step in being able 39:09 to do something about it. Jesus said He didn't come 39:12 for the righteous. He came to call sinners to repentance. 39:15 If you recognize you're a sinner, 39:17 then you are the person that Jesus can save. 39:19 You see, identifying sin is one thing, 39:22 but letting it be like an avalanche that sweeps you 39:24 down the mountainside... that's another. 39:27 Now somebody said that the biggest battle that we ever 39:29 have to fight against is self. 39:31 You ever hear that? 39:32 I'll never forget that sweet man talking about how he wanted 39:36 the ketchup but his son grabbed the ketchup. 39:38 And he was going to take the ketchup from his son. 39:40 There was only enough for one person. 39:42 But he said: "No, no, that's self and so I won't do that 39:45 and I will deny self right now. " 39:47 God bless you. I mean, if that's the biggest battle 39:49 you have to fight with self, you've got one foot on the 39:52 sea of glass already. 39:58 In the Bradshaw family it works altogether differently. 40:01 If there's ketchup for one and my son reaches to get it, 40:07 dad says: "Are you forgetting that there are adults 40:10 seated at the table? " 40:13 This becomes a teaching moment. 40:18 "Should you not at least offer that to the adults? " 40:22 "Oh yeah... dad, want some? " 40:24 "Yes. " 40:37 If that's self for you... I know, I need another 40:42 chocolate chip cookie, whatever it is... 40:44 OK, that's your battle. Fine. 40:50 And that's not to minimize that... well, no it is to 40:52 minimize that because what I'm about to say I think is a whole 40:55 lot more important than that. 40:58 A bigger battle with self, in my opinion, is the battle 41:00 that comes along when you hear a preacher talking about sin 41:03 and you say: "You know what? I'm just a hypocrite. 41:07 I guess I should just leave. I should just leave the Camp 41:10 Meeting because I have secret sin in my life that nobody knows 41:13 about. And that storm last night was probably because 41:16 of me. And if I stay around, Lord only knows who's going 41:20 to get struck by lightning. So I need to leave 41:23 and I'll just have my membership dropped 41:26 and done. Because I'm 55 years old and I've been 41:29 failing for as long as I can remember. " 41:33 Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is self. 41:37 And it's a deadly, deadly, deadly version of 41:41 self-centeredness. 41:44 Those people who say: "Woe is me. God couldn't save me" 41:48 they are self-centered. 41:50 They just are... self-centered. 41:53 Not just a person who spends all morning looking in the mirror 41:55 enjoying what they see. That's self-centeredness too. 42:00 But when you say "God can't save me" 42:03 that's self-centeredness. 42:04 Why can't God save you? Jesus died to save you 42:07 just like He died to save anybody else. 42:09 You see, when you make that mistake, here's what you're 42:11 doing: you are looking not at Jesus but at yourself. 42:16 So if you have identified sin and hypocrisy and whatever, 42:20 say: "Thank God I found it. Now Lord, do something about it. " 42:25 And stop looking at your sin and start looking at Jesus! 42:29 He is a great Savior... mighty to save! 42:32 He can save - what does it say in the book of Hebrews? - 42:35 "to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. " Amen! 42:39 The worst you are? Bring it because "where sin abounded 42:42 grace did much more abound. " 42:44 Don't you sit around having a pity party worrying about 42:46 your sin. I don't care how bad you are! 42:48 Moses was a murderer... God took him to heaven. 42:51 David? "A man after my own heart" God said. 42:54 And we struggle with that because David was a mess 42:57 and yet God was able to straighten out the mess 43:00 and clean that brother up. What God did for David 43:02 and Solomon and Hezekiah and Abraham 43:07 and all the rest of them He can do for you - Amen! - 43:11 and for your children - Amen! - your neighbor - Amen! - 43:14 some person you think can never be saved. 43:16 I don't mind talking about sin 'cause when I do 43:19 I will talk about the Savior. "There is a balm in Gilead. " 43:22 Christ can save anyone from sin. 43:26 And that includes you... praise the Lord! 43:28 We ought to be urgent about it though... urgent. 43:30 Tell you something: I don't think there's enough 43:34 urgency. I'll tell you why. 43:36 What happens when you get sick? 43:37 You go to a doctor if you've got any sense. 43:40 Doctor says: "You are so sick you need chemotherapy. " 43:45 And you say: "Well, what's that going to do? " 43:47 "Well, we hope it's going to get rid of the cancer. " 43:50 "Anything else? " "Oh, yeah, you'll lose your hair. " 43:53 "Well, what else? " "Well you'll have neuropathy. " 43:55 "Anything else? " Ah, your ears will ring forever. " 43:57 "Oh, OK... what else? " 43:59 "Well, I mean you're going to feel like you want to die. " 44:03 "Uh-huh. " "You'll feel so tired. 44:06 You never imagined being so tired. " 44:07 "OK... anything else? " 44:09 "Probably... " And you say: "When can I start? " 44:20 "You are so sick, lady, you need radiation. " 44:24 "Why what's that going to be like? " 44:25 "It's going to be terrible. 44:26 You will be in some way less for the rest of your life 44:30 than you are now. It will burn you... maybe. 44:32 Doesn't burn everybody. It will do this; it will do that. 44:35 Laundry list of side effects. " 44:37 And you say: "But you think it's going to get the cancer. " 44:40 "We hope so. " "I'm in. " 44:48 "Ah... that diabetes is so bad we have to take off your foot. " 44:51 "I don't want to lose my foot. " 44:52 "Well, we can let you keep it. " 44:55 "Well what then? " "Well you'll die. " 44:57 "Oh... here it is. Take it off! Take it off now! " 45:02 That famous actress? She had a double mastectomy. 45:06 She didn't even have cancer. 45:09 It was to lower her risk of getting cancer. 45:14 That's rad... I'm not criticizing... that's radical! 45:17 But people do that stuff. 45:19 "Ask your doctor about this medication. 45:22 Now the medication could cause cancer, acid rain, deforestation 45:26 or cause global warming. 45:31 It could cause depression and suicidal thoughts. " 45:33 And that's not funny. 45:35 "It can cause all of these things. " And you go: 45:37 "Awesome! Doc, can I have some of that? " 45:41 Why do people do that? 45:44 And the people say: "Well from now on I will never 45:45 eat sugar for the rest of my life and I'm only going to ever 45:47 eat raw food. And I'll drink carrot juice every day 45:50 until Jesus comes back. " And they go on these radical diets. 45:53 Why? People do this stuff 'cause they want to get well! 45:57 'Cause they think if they don't, they might die. Right? 46:02 And you'll do anything when your life is on the line. 46:06 Anything. Hopefully, anything within reason. 46:10 And that's why people do this stuff: 46:13 because they want to live. 46:15 Well I want to tell you something: whether you've got 46:17 some disease or not we're all sick! 46:21 The worst disease... the disease of sin. 46:24 And it kills. 46:27 And for our health we have the National Institutes of Health 46:30 and the CDC. And you've got that guy out there on the West Coast 46:33 who gave a $500 million matching grant 46:37 to an Oregon university. By the time they're done 46:39 a billion dollars given for cancer research. 46:42 Ted Turner gave a billion dollars to the United Nations 46:46 to eradicate polio or some such thing. 46:48 Bill Gates and all of his wealth... they're trying to get 46:50 rid of diseases. I mean... 46:54 Where's the institute for sin? 46:59 And I guess somebody could say: "Well that's in our churches 47:01 and that's in our theological institutions. " 47:03 All right. Perhaps... perhaps... perhaps you're right. 47:07 We put so much energy and money and time and effort 47:10 and resources into getting well. 47:13 That's OK. 47:16 We recognize easily the urgency for getting over 47:19 illness so that we can be healthy again. 47:21 But there is an illness, man: sin. It will take you down 47:25 and take you out. 47:28 Worse than cancer or a stroke or diabetes or heart disease. 47:32 Worse! Much worse. 47:35 Now God has a remedy, thank the Lord. 47:37 He has a word for us today; the word is repent. 47:39 Repent; repent. Whether it is something dark 47:43 or something more fashionable 47:46 God says "Repent! " 47:48 We are this close to entering into the kingdom. 47:52 If you stand on your tiptoes and look, you can just about 47:55 see over the border into the Promised Land. 47:57 Jesus is coming back soon and yet what do we say? 48:02 "Well now be careful around old Bob the deacon 48:04 because he's a bit irascible; he's a little scratchy. 48:06 But that's OK. That's just old Bob. We love him. " 48:09 Well it's good that we love him but it's not OK. 48:12 Bob's got to get the victory. 48:14 "Well now that you're in this church - and I hate to say this 48:16 but we do need to tell you - 48:17 be careful what you say around old Mrs. Brown 48:19 because... hhhh... she'll tell everybody. 48:23 But that's just Mrs. Brown; we love her anyway. " 48:27 Well it's right to love her but Mrs. Brown needs to quit 48:30 that gossip. And the Bible talks about that 48:32 and it's wrong. God wants us to live lives 48:36 that are above reproach. 48:37 They wanted to mess with Daniel. 48:39 They couldn't find anything to trip him up on because 48:41 he lived such a holy, committed life. 48:44 He purposed in his heart that he would not dishonor 48:49 God. Now the remedy for sin... 48:51 I said sin is the problem. 48:54 Yes, that's the problem because "the wages of sin is death. " 48:56 But sin is not the problem. 48:58 Let me talk about that for just a moment here. 49:00 What's the remedy for sin? You could say forgiveness. 49:03 You'd be right. You could say grace. 49:06 You'd be right again. 49:07 You could say oneness with God. 49:10 Nothing wrong with that. 49:11 But if you want to be most right you would say that 49:15 the remedy for sin is Jesus. 49:19 Jesus. Not forgiveness from Jesus 49:23 but Jesus who brings forgiveness into your life. 49:26 Not merely righteousness from Christ 49:30 but the righteousness of Christ that you don't receive 49:35 from Him but you receive in Him. 49:38 Jesus is the remedy. 49:41 One day they were dying out there in the wilderness. 49:43 Snake bites had got them. 49:44 "Moses, make a snake out of brass. Stick it on a pole. 49:47 Tell the people to look and they'll be able to live. " 49:51 And miraculously they looked at this snake 49:55 and they lived. If you will look to Jesus, 49:59 what did we hear? "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 50:03 Look full in His wonderful face. " 50:05 It's true that the things of earth grow strangely dim 50:08 in the light of His glory and grace. 50:10 Christ is the way out! 50:12 John wrote: "Unto Him who loved us 50:14 and washed us from our sins in His own blood. " 50:18 Look, if you've got a dirty mind the Bible promises 50:21 that you can have the mind of Christ. 50:23 If you've got a tongue that operates without restraint, 50:26 God can touch that and train it right away. 50:30 The dishonest can become honest. 50:32 The impure, pure. The addict can be clean and sober. 50:35 The drunk can dry out, and let me add 50:37 it's true that for some sins - 50:40 even though God can forgive them all - 50:42 it's right in some cases to get some help. 50:48 'Cause you end up getting down here in this place. 50:51 You've got these functions. You're messed up 50:53 and it's good sometimes to get some people that help 50:56 you get untangled from all of that. 51:00 But THE problem isn't sin even though sin is THE problem. 51:05 Jesus told us clearly what the problem is. 51:08 John 5 verse 40. 51:12 He said: "But you will not come to Me 51:17 that you might have life. " 51:19 That's the problem. The reason I say that is 51:21 the sin problem has been taken care of. 51:24 We know it. Jesus died for our sins. 51:26 The Bible says so. 51:28 We sing about it. "There is a fountain filled with blood 51:30 drawn from Immanuel's veins. 51:32 Sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty 51:36 stains. " So there! The sin problem has been taken care of. 51:40 Question is: what are you willing to do about it? 51:43 Will you come to Jesus that you might have life? 51:46 Because there is life in Jesus. Not death but life. 51:50 Life! Furthermore we are told in Jude verse 24 51:54 "Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling. " 51:59 Praise the Lord for that! 52:01 There's power in Christ. 52:03 You don't have to be what you were. 52:04 He can keep ya and make you what you're not right now. 52:08 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common 52:10 to man" Paul wrote to the Corinthians. 52:12 "But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be 52:15 tempted above that which you are able 52:19 but will with the temptation make a way to escape 52:22 that you may be able to bear it. " 52:24 Oh, thank God for that. 52:27 Isn't that something? 52:29 Preparation for the second coming of Jesus. 52:32 If we are serious about being ready for the second coming, 52:36 we'll be praying like we mean business. 52:39 Fasting when God prods us to do so. 52:44 Reading our Bibles 52:46 with the fervor that we check our Facebook page. 52:55 Hard to imagine, huh? 52:58 Memorizing scripture. 53:00 It'll be in our minds. 53:02 Of course we'll eat well and do all of those things. 53:04 We will. I'm not down on that. 53:08 But if we are serious about being ready for the second 53:10 coming of Jesus we will not put the cart 53:14 before the horse. 53:16 Heaven awaits. It is those who put Jesus first, 53:21 those who have come to Christ, 53:24 those who have demanded that Jesus own them... 53:30 You know, in a certain sense 53:35 if sin is the problem 53:39 it's not your problem... it's God's problem 53:45 because the only One who can do anything about the sin 53:48 in your life is God. 53:51 All you can do is give God permission 53:56 to come into your life and do the work. 53:59 Then you cooperate with God. 54:01 But that's all part of turning your life over to God 54:03 and giving Him the permission to work. 54:05 Now you can take me out of context if you like 54:07 but I trust you not to do that. 54:09 I say again: the sin problem is God's problem. 54:14 He already paid the price. Debt was cancelled at Calvary. 54:18 Whssh... done. 54:20 Now that's to be worked out in your life. 54:22 That's God's work. 54:25 Now if you'll be inpatient, God can work. 54:29 That is: "Lord, let's get it done. " 54:33 "Lord, don't wait a moment longer. " 54:37 "Lord, You've got to clean me up. " 54:41 "Heavenly Father, do not let my hand go 54:45 even for a moment. Lord, on my own I cannot make it. " 54:49 But clothed in Christ's righteousness 54:53 I can't fail to make it. 54:56 And these are things that only God can do for us 54:58 so we ask God to be God in our lives. 55:02 And will God fail to answer that prayer? 55:04 All God wants us to do is get out of His way 55:06 and let Him work. 55:08 That's all. To stop being God. 55:10 When we come to the fork in the road we say: "All right, 55:12 which way? " When we come to temptation 55:15 we pause. God is prodding us to pause. 55:17 He's telling us to pause; He's calling out to us to pause. 55:20 We stop. "All right... which way? " 55:22 God will guide us in the way to go. 55:24 He promises to do that. 55:28 Jesus is coming back soon; He wants us to be ready. 55:32 No point being close but not close enough. 55:37 Before Jesus comes back the Bible paints this amazing 55:40 picture. In Revelation chapter 20 55:42 the Holy City - the New Jerusalem - 55:44 has come down from God out of heaven. 55:47 Inside that thing is Christ 55:50 and all of the redeemed. 55:53 The walls - as best as I can tell - are transparent. 55:57 And on the outside are all of the lost. 56:03 And of course, we can't know exactly what that situation 56:06 is going to be like, but it seems right to assume 56:09 that those on the outside can see in 56:12 and those on the inside can see out. 56:13 Imagine coming up in the second resurrection 56:16 having known Jesus, having owned a Bible 56:19 and a phone with Bible apps on it. 56:22 Having come to Camp Meeting. 56:24 Having gone to church and been a deacon 56:26 and sung in the choir and taken up the offering - 56:28 "Good day... lovely to see you, brother" - 56:30 and having a heart that was full of corruption 56:33 and was never yielded to God. 56:38 Preparation for the second coming of Jesus: 56:40 Christ in the heart; Christ in the life. 56:44 Jesus all and in all. 56:47 We must have that. What do you say? Amen! 56:50 Pray with me. Let us pray: Our Father and our God, 56:53 we know Jesus is coming back soon and we are thankful. 56:57 And I pray today - we pray today - take our hearts 57:00 for we cannot give them. 57:01 Keep them pure because we cannot keep them for You. 57:04 Save us in spite of ourselves... our weak, unChristlike selves. 57:07 Mold us, fashion us, raise us into a pure and holy atmosphere 57:12 where the rich current of Your love can flow through our souls. 57:15 Ready us for Jesus' soon return, we pray 57:18 and we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. 57:23 Amen. God bless you. 57:26 The best truly is yet to come. |
Revised 2014-12-17