Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000149A
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00:18 Hello and welcome to another Wednesday Night Bible study,
00:21 here at the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:23 Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in with us 00:26 as we continue in our study, The Truth About Jesus, 00:30 and wherever you're tuning in from, 00:32 we'd like to welcome you with a hearty amen. 00:33 Can we all say amen to that? Amen! 00:35 And in just a few moments, 00:37 I'll tell you how to get a copy of the lesson, 00:40 and how you can find out about our previous lessons, 00:43 our previous videos, but thank you so much 00:45 for taking an hour out of your time, 00:48 and this program actually is a little less than an hour 00:51 to study this very important and vital topic, 00:54 The Truth About Jesus. 00:56 Now we always sing our theme song, 00:57 and in a moment, 00:59 I'll tell you how to get a copy of the lesson, 01:00 but before we do anything, 01:02 let's always begin with a word of prayer. 01:04 Bow your heads with me. 01:05 Loving Father in heaven, we thank You 01:08 that as the Word is set before us 01:11 that Christ would be living within us. 01:14 Lord, as we come tonight, 01:15 we pray that You'll look at our condition. 01:18 Lord, cleanse our hearts, and our minds, and our hands 01:21 that we may be the vessels through which 01:24 Your Holy Spirit accomplishes Your purpose tonight. 01:28 Be not only our teacher but be our guide, 01:32 and may we find not only intellectual understanding 01:35 but the spiritual strength to live in harmony with it. 01:38 Now guide us and connect us wherever we are studying from, 01:42 we pray in Jesus' name. 01:44 Amen. 01:46 Now each of you should have lesson number 36, 01:48 do you all have that? 01:50 Lesson number 36. 01:51 Go to this following website, ASF.3ABN.org, 01:56 and download lesson number 36. 01:59 That's ASF.3ABN.org, that's A Sharper Focus. 02:03 Download lesson number 36, and it is titled 02:07 The Truth About Jesus. 02:08 What's the title of the lesson tonight? 02:10 Together, The Truth About Jesus. 02:13 Also, on that same website, you can find previous lessons, 02:18 previous videos that will keep you up 02:21 with all the lessons we've covered, 02:23 and I think, right now, we have about a 180 videos. 02:26 That's a 180 hours of Bible studies. 02:29 Now the question I always ask is, 02:31 how many of you have been with us... 02:34 This is a strange a question, 02:35 how many of you never missed a night? 02:39 Maybe one or two, 02:41 I even missed a few nights so I can't even brag about that 02:44 because we have other hosts when I'm out of town 02:47 that will cover for us. 02:48 I really appreciate that, like, 02:50 Pastor Dinzey, Pastor C.A. Murray, 02:52 Shelley Quinn, and also Jill Morikone, 02:55 the administrator secretary at 3ABN. 02:58 But tonight, let's get together and sing our theme song, 03:01 our theme song is what? 03:04 Victory in Jesus. Let's sing this song together. 03:15 I heard an old, old story 03:18 How the Savior came from glory 03:22 How He gave His life on Calvary 03:26 To save a wretch like me 03:30 I heard about His groaning 03:34 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:37 Then I repented of my sins 03:41 And won the victory 03:45 O victory in Jesus 03:49 My Savior forever 03:52 He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood 04:00 He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him 04:08 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood 04:15 I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory 04:23 And I heard about the streets of gold 04:26 Beyond the crystal sea 04:30 About the angels singing 04:34 And the old redemption story 04:38 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:42 The song of victory 04:44 Key change. 04:45 O victory in Jesus My Savior forever 04:53 He sought me and bought me 04:57 With His redeeming blood 05:00 He loved me ere I knew Him 05:04 And all my love is due Him 05:08 He plunged me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood 05:16 He plunged me to victory 05:19 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:26 Amen? 05:28 Tonight's topic, The Truth About Jesus. 05:31 Let's say that together, 05:32 The Truth About Jesus. 05:35 As a matter of fact, 05:37 our overall theme of this series 05:38 that we've done since we started is, 05:40 how to know the truth about the truth, 05:44 and tonight, in particular, we're going to be studying 05:47 who that truth is, not just what that truth is. 05:50 You know, doctrinally, 05:52 we could talk about our 28 fundamentals, 05:54 but if Jesus is not at the centre of all those beliefs, 05:58 then our fundamentals are actually very unstable. 06:02 So we're going to talk about the center, the circumference, 06:05 the foundation, the only one that really matters 06:08 in all the broad picture of what we believe, 06:11 and His name is... 06:13 His name is Jesus. 06:15 Now, we started our lesson, 06:17 we're going to begin on number eight tonight, 06:18 but let me just lay some foundation 06:21 because when I was thinking about doing this topic, 06:23 somebody said to me, 06:25 "Oh, we're just studying about Jesus? 06:29 Can't we study about maybe..." 06:31 And they started going through the list of doctrines. 06:34 "Are there any other doctrines we haven't covered yet?" 06:37 And I said, "Yeah, there are some 06:39 that we haven't covered." 06:40 "Could we cover those instead of Jesus? 06:44 I mean, what do we need to know about Jesus?" 06:46 Well, you know, Jesus said, "This is life eternal, 06:51 that you may know, that you may know Him, 06:55 that you may know Him," and you'll find that... 06:58 Matter of fact, go with me to Matthew 26. 07:00 Go there with me. 07:02 Matter of fact, Matthew 7 first. 07:06 Let's go to Matthew 7. 07:08 Let's look at some of the reasons 07:10 why this lesson is vitally important, 07:13 and this is just some foundation, 07:15 we'll dive into our questions in a just a moment. 07:17 But the foundation is very important 07:19 because... 07:22 the people of Christ's day 07:28 that had the right diet, they kept the Sabbath. 07:31 They had the oracles of truth for generations, 07:36 for hundreds of years, and for more than a 1000, 1500, 07:41 2000 years, they had the oracles of truth, 07:44 but what they did not have was the knowledge of Jesus. 07:47 And Jesus said this is Matthew chapter 7, 07:49 look at verse 21 to 23. 07:53 And by the way, this is, 07:55 I could say, two chapters after the beatitudes 07:58 or as one preacher says, the be happy attitudes. 08:01 Matthew 7:21, 08:04 "Not everyone who says to Me..." What? 08:07 "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, 08:10 but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.'" 08:14 Whose will matters? Our will or God's will? 08:16 God's will. The Lord's will. 08:19 "Many will say to Me in that day, 08:22 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 08:24 in Thy name or Your name, 08:26 cast out demons in Your name, 08:29 and done many wonders in Your name 08:31 or wonderful works in Your name?'" 08:32 Notice you can prophesy, you can cast out demons, 08:36 you can do many things in the name of Jesus, 08:38 but look what He says in verse 23. 08:41 "And then I will declare or confess to them, 'I...'" What? 08:44 "Never knew you. 08:46 Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" 08:50 Or as the King James Version says, 08:51 "You who work iniquity." 08:53 And so the key issue is, not just knowing the doctrines, 08:57 but the key issue is knowing Christ. 08:59 And so as we study this lesson tonight, 09:01 we don't just want to know the doctrines 09:02 because, I could be honest with you, 09:04 I could open up my Bible any day 09:05 and kind of argue through and prove any of the doctrines, 09:08 but my greatest need is to get to know Jesus better. 09:11 Can we all say amen to that? Amen. 09:13 Our greatest desire is to know Jesus better, 09:17 and as you go to Matthew 25, you look also... 09:22 Matthew 25, you'll look also when Jesus comes, 09:28 when Jesus comes... 09:31 I was looking at... 09:34 Let me see here. 09:42 Here we are. 09:45 Matthew 25:12. 09:51 Look at Matthew 25:12. 09:52 This is the parable of 09:53 the five wise and five foolish virgins. 09:57 If you look at verse... 09:59 Let's just start with verse... 10:05 To give a context, let's start with verse 10 10:08 because the subjection was to the foolish virgins, 10:11 go, buy your own oil, get your own Holy Spirit. 10:14 And look at what He said in verse 10. 10:19 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, 10:23 and those who were ready..." 10:25 Did what? 10:26 "Went in with him to the wedding, 10:28 and the door was..." What? 10:30 "Shut." Just like the days of Noah. 10:33 "Afterward the other virgins came also..." 10:35 That means they were pure, 10:37 they were not defiled by other beliefs. 10:39 "And they said, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 10:41 But He answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you..." 10:44 What? 10:46 "I know you not. I do not know you." 10:48 So you see, they had the right... 10:51 They were virgins, they had the right belief system. 10:54 They were of an economy and a belief system 10:57 that was flawless, 10:59 but what they did not have was the Holy Spirit in their lives. 11:02 And so they were found wanting at the most 11:04 crucial hour in their lives and in their walk. 11:06 And He says, "I don't know you." 11:07 So what is our greatest need? 11:09 To know the doctrines of the church or to know Jesus? 11:11 Jesus. 11:12 When you know Jesus first, everything else is in context. 11:15 But if you know all that and don't know Him, 11:18 then it's good intellectual knowledge, 11:19 but it cannot save us. 11:21 Also one other very important verse, 11:24 let's go to John 5. 11:27 This was interesting because I remember 11:30 meeting a man on the train once in New York City, 11:35 and this was really interesting. 11:38 He... 11:41 Here I am. 11:43 He was very... 11:47 I was studying the Book of Revelation, 11:49 and I asked him the question, I said, 11:51 "Have you studied Revelation?" 11:53 He said, "I read it through many times." 11:55 Well, I proceeded to ask him questions about Revelation. 11:58 He didn't have a clue. 12:00 He read through it, he read through it, 12:03 but, you know, Revelation is not a book 12:04 that you drive through. 12:06 It's a book that you get out and walk through. 12:09 It's a book that's very, very deep. 12:11 He had an intellectual knowledge of the things 12:12 that were there, but I said, 12:14 "What's the central focus of Revelation?" 12:16 He says, "Isn't it the mark of the beast?" 12:18 I said, "No, it isn't." 12:19 "Isn't the seven last plagues." I said, "No, it isn't." 12:21 I said, "What is the focus of Revelation?" 12:23 And he begins with the Revelation of Jesus, 12:26 the focus there, and the Pharisees 12:29 and the religious people of Jesus' day 12:32 had the same issue. 12:34 Look at John 5:39. 12:36 John 5:39, this was an interesting scripture. 12:40 We often use this verse to say to people 12:42 they need to study their Bibles, 12:44 but that's not what Jesus was saying here. 12:46 He was saying you could study your Bible all day long, 12:49 but if you missed Me... 12:51 You could study your Bible all day long. 12:54 He said, "You search the scriptures 12:56 or search the scriptures, for in them..." 12:58 What's the next word? 12:59 "You think you have eternal life, 13:02 and these are they which..." 13:03 What? 13:05 "Testify of Me." 13:06 He says, "You've got all the books of learning. 13:08 I see you got all the Pentateuch 13:11 and you have the Torah, you got all that, 13:15 and I'm right here. 13:17 I'm here. 13:18 Here I am, and you rather study that than accept Me." 13:22 And that's why He said in John 1, 13:24 "I came to my own, and..." What happened? 13:26 "They didn't receive Me." 13:28 So we don't want to fall into the same trap, 13:30 and when you get busy and religious 13:33 and when you get based 13:36 in the doctrinal teachings of the Bible, 13:38 it's a very reassuring thing 13:40 to know that we understand these doctrines. 13:42 What's more reassuring than that is that 13:43 you know Jesus, 13:45 and then these doctrines make sense. 13:47 They have a relationship connection. 13:48 So we're going to talk about Jesus in the real sense, 13:51 so that in this study, 13:53 we could become more intimately acquainted with Him, 13:56 and find the power in our lives that we need to recognize 14:00 and live in harmony with the principles of Christ. 14:02 He didn't say, don't search the Bible, 14:04 He said search it, 14:05 but remember, those pages point to me 14:09 and I'm right here. 14:12 And that was an issue 14:14 throughout the ministry of Jesus. 14:18 When the disciples were around the poor, 14:20 He said, "There will always be poor people, 14:22 but I won't always be with you." 14:24 He continually pointed people 14:26 to the importance of being with Him, knowing Him. 14:28 When Martha and Mary were arguing, and Martha said, 14:31 "Could you tell her to come in the kitchen and help me?" 14:35 He says, "She's chosen the best place. 14:37 At my feet." 14:39 It's all about Jesus. 14:40 Can you say amen to that? Amen. 14:41 If we don't know Him, then all of these other things 14:43 have a great impact on us, but there's no greater impact 14:46 than the impact of knowing Jesus. 14:48 Let's go to question number eight 14:49 because we started one to seven already. 14:52 We're going to go to number eight, 14:54 and let me just go and bring it up here. 14:57 And one of the reasons 14:59 why this question is vitally important 15:01 is because some people, 15:02 in some churches as a matter of fact, 15:04 and I was surprised by this, some people don't know 15:08 that Jesus pre-existed. 15:10 Some people believed 15:11 that He just came into being as He was born through Mary, 15:16 but Jesus had a pre-existing existence. 15:20 The question is, "In what way does the Apostle John 15:25 confirm the pre-existence of Jesus?" 15:28 John 17:5. 15:29 In what way does he confirm that? 15:31 John 17:5, let's turn there in our Bibles. 15:35 And I know that those of you who are tuning in, 15:37 following along, you know, I want to also say 15:39 we do appreciate whenever we get a chance 15:42 to visit some of the fields that we go to... 15:45 People of every age. 15:47 I used to think, well, 3ABN's audiences, 15:51 this particular demographic or this particular age, 15:53 I was so surprised when I saw young people, 15:55 teenagers say, "Hey, I watch A Sharper Focus." 15:58 Wonderful. 16:00 And pastors, and teachers, and other people say, 16:02 "That's our program." 16:04 So let's look at this text together 16:06 and see what the Bible reveals 16:07 about how John confirms the pre-existence of Jesus. 16:12 Jesus said this, here it is. 16:14 "And now, O Father..." 16:16 What did He say? 16:17 "Glorify Me together with Yourself, 16:22 with the glory which I had with You..." 16:25 Together. 16:27 "Before the world was." 16:30 Before this world was. 16:32 You read in Hebrews... 16:33 Let's go to Hebrews 2. 16:35 So write that down, 16:36 "In what way does the Apostle John 16:37 confirm the pre-existence of Jesus?" 16:39 Those four words. 16:41 "Before the world was." 16:44 So... 16:45 Exactly, he's not a... 16:48 That's why I'm going to go to Hebrews 16:49 because a lot of times, there's another... 16:52 And I don't want to keep using the word denomination. 16:54 But when I lived in New York City, 16:58 I would sit out sometimes on Sundays 16:59 or sometimes my doorbell will ring on Sundays, 17:02 and I could almost guarantee that I knew who it was. 17:05 You know, in New York City areas, 17:06 it was most likely the Jehovah's Witnesses. 17:09 When I moved in Northern California, 17:10 it was most likely the Mormons. 17:12 And sometimes, out here in Thompsonville, 17:14 I go to my front yard and I see literatures, 17:16 Jehovah's Witnesses, they've been following me. 17:18 They're everywhere. 17:20 They're like that Channel 7 News van. 17:22 But there's some people that teach 17:26 that Jesus is not almighty God, 17:29 but that He's mighty God. 17:30 In other words, that He is a step down God. 17:33 Well, let me ask you a question. 17:37 I'm also going to give you the answer, 17:38 it's gonna be a redundant question. 17:41 If you are God, 17:44 are you almighty? 17:47 Can I get an answer? 17:49 Yes, that's what the word God means. 17:54 "I am God, and there is none like me." 17:57 When you are God, there's nothing higher. 18:00 So you don't have a God 18:01 and lesser God and lesser, lesser God, 18:05 as some people thought that God, the Father, 18:08 is the full manifestation of power, 18:10 then Jesus is the lesser manifestation, 18:13 and the Holy Spirit is a step down 18:15 transformer of Jesus. 18:16 No. 18:18 These three are one, pre-existing inherent power. 18:23 But look at this. 18:24 Hebrews, did I say to turn to Hebrews? 18:26 Yes. Are you all there? 18:28 Okay, so wait for me then. Here I am. 18:31 Hebrews 2... 18:32 Matter of fact, Hebrews 1. 18:34 All right? 18:37 One of the reasons why people get often confused 18:39 is because the name Jesus 18:43 is only found in the New Testament, 18:45 the name Jesus is not found in the Old Testament. 18:48 So when you say to people that, 18:51 "Well, Jesus existed before." 18:53 Then they say, "Okay, what was His name?" 18:56 They say, "What was His name?" 18:59 You know, you'll see He told that to the Jews 19:02 when they said, "Okay, our Father Abraham... 19:06 Are You older than our Father Abraham?" 19:08 He said, "Before Abraham was, I Am." 19:12 The ever-existing one, 19:14 the one that didn't just show up, 19:16 but I've been here. 19:17 And they looked at His age and they thought, 19:19 "Well, I know they invited him, but how old are You? 19:21 And You are before Abraham?" 19:23 Yes, you were before Abraham. 19:24 So Jesus always confirmed the fact that He... 19:27 There was never a time that He did not exist. 19:29 Look at Hebrews 1. 19:31 It says, "God, who at various times 19:34 or sundry times and in different ways 19:37 spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, 19:41 has in these..." 19:43 What days? 19:44 "Last days spoken to us by His..." 19:48 What? 19:49 "Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, 19:54 through whom He also made the..." 19:57 What? "Worlds." 19:59 The word there in the Greek is eons. 20:03 When you get a chance... 20:05 A few nights ago, I think it was the last week 20:06 when we had the meteor showers out here? 20:09 It was last Wednesday, was it? 20:11 Last Thursday night. 20:12 We were a little frustrated when we went outside 20:14 because they said, about after midnight, 20:16 maybe till sunrise, you'll get the best view. 20:18 We went outside and we looked up 20:20 and, oh, clouds. 20:21 So we just drove down the road and we found a patch, 20:24 and pulled over in the dark. 20:26 And I thought to myself, 20:28 "If I had just moved from New York, 20:30 I wouldn't be out here at night in the country 20:32 with my headlights off, standing outside my vehicle." 20:35 For some reason, people that are very city bound 20:38 think that something's going to happen in the dark, 20:41 but what actually happened 20:42 was I saw the most beautiful view of the heavens, 20:45 and then as we stood there, they said let your eyes adjust. 20:47 We turned all the lights off, we let our eyes adjust, 20:50 and all of a sudden, 20:51 "There is one. 20:53 There is one. 20:54 Did you see that one?" 20:56 Well, we only saw about four or five. 21:00 Angie saw one that I didn't and I saw one that she didn't, 21:03 and but they said, if you want to see 21:05 many, many more, you got to stay out here 21:06 till close to sunrise and I thought, 21:08 "I need some rest." 21:11 But when you look up there, there were other things 21:13 that were not shooting across the sky that was stable, 21:15 they were far away, and we started questioning, 21:18 "What are those things?" 21:19 And I go, "Well, you know, I'm sure those are galaxies." 21:22 And science and astronomers have proven, 21:25 have verified that there are billions, 21:28 numberless galaxies. 21:31 I love astronomy and I remember one of the Hubble shots 21:34 that were taken as the Hubble swung around. 21:36 And it just... 21:38 What the astronomers did is they magnified... 21:42 I forgot how many times and I'm just not going 21:44 to even try to attempt to say, 21:45 but there was a dark spot at a... 21:48 If I use the word great distance, 21:50 that's an understatement when it comes to space, 21:53 and they magnified, what might be referred 21:55 to as a pinhead in earth, 21:59 and they magnified, magnified, magnified, magnified 22:02 until they could actually see... 22:04 They said, in that pinhead of a single focus 22:06 in that direction, 22:08 they said there is probably millions of galaxies 22:10 just in that focus. 22:12 That's as far as the Hubble can see. 22:14 That's not counting all the other place. 22:16 Just try that experiment and take your pen, the pinhead, 22:20 focus on just that part of the room, 22:21 you really won't see much, 22:23 but if you did that, you'll be focusing 22:25 all the rest of your life. 22:26 If you just began with each glimpse, 22:28 the size of a pinhead. 22:30 When the Bible says, "Jesus, through Him, 22:33 the worlds were created." 22:35 These eons, these numberless, limitless, caverns of time, 22:40 and surely, if there's life in our solar system, 22:43 in our galaxy, surely, there could be... 22:45 But it goes on to even make it broader. 22:47 It talks about who Jesus is. 22:49 Look at verse 3. 22:51 "Who being the brightness of His glory 22:55 and the expressed image of His person..." 22:57 Meaning, that if you don't know what the Father looks like... 23:01 Remember when the disciples said, 23:02 "Show us the Father." And what did Jesus say? 23:05 "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." 23:07 So "Jesus is the expressed image 23:10 of His person, and upholding all things 23:14 by the word of His power, 23:17 when He had by Himself purged our sins, 23:21 sat down at the right hand of..." 23:22 What? 23:23 "Majesty on high." 23:25 And then when you go further down, 23:26 the Bible continues... 23:28 Look at verse 8. 23:29 Let's just go ahead and look at verse 8. 23:32 It says, "But to the Son He says 'Your throne...'" 23:37 What? 23:38 "O God, is forever and ever. 23:42 A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of..." 23:45 What? 23:47 "Your kingdom." 23:48 And then you see in verse 10, 23:49 "And, 'You, Lord, in the beginning...'" 23:52 Did what? 23:54 "Laid the foundation of the earth. 23:57 And the heavens are..." 23:58 What? 24:00 "The work of Your hands." 24:01 So who's the creator? 24:03 Jesus. 24:04 Through Him, all the worlds were created. 24:07 So when you read this, 24:08 surely the pre-existence of Jesus is an undisputed fact. 24:12 Those who seek to ignore it would wonder, 24:14 now if Jesus isn't the creator, how can somebody, 24:16 who hasn't created us save us? 24:19 Really couldn't happen. 24:21 Let's go to question number nine. 24:22 Only the creator can save the created. 24:25 Question number nine. 24:27 Okay. 24:34 "What language does 24:36 Isaiah used to confirm the eternal nature of Jesus?" 24:43 What language does Isaiah use... 24:46 What language does 24:48 Isaiah use to confirm the eternal nature of Jesus? 24:51 Okay, let's go to Isaiah 44. 24:55 Okay. 25:02 And I have it on the screen. 25:06 Isaiah by the way is a beautiful book 25:08 when it comes to speaking about 25:11 the Father and the Son together. 25:13 Beautiful book when it comes to that. 25:16 All right, Isaiah 44:6, 25:19 and here's how the Bible shares it, 25:22 "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel..." 25:27 And get this, "And his Redeemer..." 25:30 Who is who? 25:32 "The Lord of hosts," 25:33 Let's read this together. 25:35 "I am the First and I am the Last. 25:38 Besides Me..." There is what? 25:41 "There is no God." 25:42 So look, "Says the Lord, the King of Israel, 25:45 and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts." 25:47 See? 25:50 Lord and Redeemer. 25:53 "I am the first, I am the last, besides Me there is..." 25:56 What? "No other." 25:58 You find the same language in Revelation, 26:00 I think I'm going to go there in just a moment. 26:02 But write that down, "What language does Isaiah 26:05 use to confirm the eternal nature of Jesus?" 26:09 First and last, "Beside Me..." 26:11 There is what? 26:12 "There is no God." 26:13 "Beside Me, there is no God." 26:15 By the way, you'll see 26:17 that many of the religious leaders of the Day of Christ 26:20 in His ministry had a difficult time 26:23 even accepting the fact that He was God 26:24 because He forgave sin. 26:26 And what did they say when He forgave sin? 26:28 What did they accuse Him of? Blaspheme. 26:32 They accused Him of blasphemy, and why did they do that? 26:35 Because they said only who can forgive? 26:37 Only God can forgive sin. 26:40 That should have allowed a light to go on. 26:44 They said, "Well, if He is forgiving sin..." 26:46 That's why it's really strange today. 26:48 You know, the only time somebody could forgive me is, 26:49 if I've done something to you, you can forgive me. 26:51 If you've done something to me, I can forgive you, 26:53 but outside of that, I don't have a confessional 26:56 that people come to me and confess their sins 26:58 because no man could forgive sins. 27:00 That is the work of God Almighty, right? 27:05 Matter of fact, 1 John 1:9. 27:08 Look at that. 27:11 So the answer there is, "I am the first, I am the last. 27:15 Beside Me there is no God." 27:21 You know, I would love 1 John... 27:23 We're going to go to 1 John. 27:24 I want to show you something, speaking about 27:26 this great gift of forgiveness. 27:31 I've been sitting down so long, it feels good to stand up. 27:35 My legs actually stretched. 27:38 I've been sitting down so... 27:40 Huh? 27:41 Yeah, I've been working on the lessons, new lessons. 27:45 Okay. 27:47 1 John 1:9. 27:49 Okay, it says, "If we confess our..." 27:53 What? 27:55 "Sins, He is faithful and just to..." 27:59 Do what? 28:00 "Forgive us our sins and cleanse us from..." 28:02 What? 28:04 "All unrighteousness." 28:06 Who is "He"? Who is He? 28:08 Who's the "He" in the verse? 28:11 Jesus. That's who it is. 28:13 The "He" in the verse is Jesus. 28:15 When you read through the letters of 1 John, 28:17 you'll find that the Father and the Son... 28:20 If you look at 1 John 1:3, notice, it just kind of... 28:25 So we could understand the "He". 28:27 We can understand the "He," all right? 28:30 1 John 1... 28:33 Well, I have to read verse 1 to 3. 28:34 If I just read verse 3, 28:36 it's just kind of the end of the sentence. 28:37 It says, "That which was from the beginning, 28:40 which we have heard, 28:42 which we have seen with our eyes, 28:45 which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, 28:48 concerning the..." 28:50 What? 28:51 "Word of life." 28:53 In the beginning, it was the Word. 28:54 1 John 1 is beginning like John 1, 28:58 once again pointing us to the Word. 29:00 "The life was manifest, 29:02 and we have seen, and bear witness, 29:05 and declare to you 29:07 that eternal life which was with the Father 29:11 and was manifested to us, 29:14 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, 29:17 that you also may have fellowship with us, 29:20 and truly our fellowship is with the Father 29:23 and with the Son, Jesus Christ. 29:27 And these things we write to you 29:29 that your joy may be full." 29:31 And verse 7, 29:33 so talking about the fellowship again, 29:35 "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, 29:39 we have fellowship with one another, 29:40 and the blood of..." Who? 29:42 "Jesus Christ His Son..." Does what? 29:44 "Cleanses us from all sin." 29:46 So you see clearly, the issue was undisputed. 29:49 The Apostle John continued to reiterate that, 29:51 the only one that can forgive sin is Jesus. 29:55 And the reason why... 29:56 We're not saying that the Father couldn't, 29:57 but Jesus was the one 29:59 who came and connected to the human family. 30:02 He was called the Son of man, 30:04 then He was called the Son of God. 30:06 He began by using the phrase "Son of man", 30:09 He began by using the phrase, "The kingdom of heaven", 30:12 and later on He said, "The kingdom of God", 30:14 because the kingdom of heaven was a term 30:16 that He could use without any controversy, 30:18 but as He grew in His ministry, 30:20 the controversy having already started, 30:23 He instead of saying the kingdom of heaven, 30:24 He started saying "The kingdom of God is at hand." 30:27 And they said, "Well, who are you to say that?" 30:28 And He revealed Himself. 30:30 Even when He performed the miracles, 30:32 He said to some people, "Please, don't tell anybody." 30:35 And what did they do? 30:36 Told everybody. 30:38 See, when Jesus does something for you, you can't hold it in. 30:41 He says, "See that you tell no one." 30:44 And the man that was by the pool, 30:45 he's walking home with his bed on his shoulder, and they say, 30:49 "Ain't that David Butler? 30:54 Weren't he the guy laying by the pool? 30:55 That's him. What happened?" 30:57 And then the guy that was blind, 30:59 they gave him a hard time. 31:02 He went to the synagogue praising Jesus, and they said, 31:05 "Shh, no praising on the Sabbath. 31:08 That's not what this day is all about. 31:11 By the way, aren't you the guy that was blind?" 31:13 "Yes." 31:15 "And by what means were you made well?" 31:18 "By Jesus." 31:20 "Wait a minute, let me ask you again. 31:24 You were blind, right?" 31:25 "Yes." 31:27 "So by what power were you made well?" 31:30 "By Jesus." 31:31 And they kept asking him so much, he said to them, 31:34 "Do you also want to be one of His disciples?" 31:37 And they kept pressing him, 31:38 he said, "I want to tell you this. 31:40 One thing I know is I was blind, 31:42 but come on, now I see. 31:44 That's all that matters." 31:46 And they were all prosecuting him about who Jesus is, 31:49 he said, "You must really want to be His disciple. 31:51 You keep asking me about Him, I keep telling you." 31:54 And his parents didn't wanted to get into the controversy. 31:56 They said, "Weren't your son born blind?" 31:58 "Ask him. 32:00 We don't want to get into this fight." 32:02 But I tell you, it's a good fight 32:04 when you're fighting with Jesus. 32:06 Jesus, there is no one like Him. 32:09 Question number 10. 32:10 So you see this clearly undisputed, 32:12 He is the one that forgives sin, 32:14 He was always around, He has an eternal nature. 32:17 There was never a time that He was created 32:18 and then started existing. 32:20 Question number 10, 32:21 "How does John the Revelator 32:24 describe Jesus?" 32:27 How does John the Revelator 32:32 describe Jesus? 32:34 Revelation 1:8. 32:37 Revelation 1:8. 32:40 Wow, I'm not going to drag this one up 32:42 because you were already there. 32:44 Let's read this one together, let's read it on the screen 32:47 because some of you might have a different translation. 32:49 Are you ready? 32:50 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,' 32:56 says the Lord, 32:58 'who is and who was and who is to come," 33:03 Together. 33:04 "The Almighty.'" 33:06 That's Jesus. 33:10 That's not Mighty Jesus, that's Almighty Jesus. 33:15 Whenever I use this text, usually this is the Bible verse 33:19 that always brings those lesser Jesus conversations to an end. 33:23 Whenever I go to Revelation, 33:24 I say, "Now, who is this about?" 33:27 This is about the revelation of Jesus. 33:29 The revelation of Jesus, 33:31 and He's clearly described as to who He is. 33:33 He is the Almighty. 33:34 Amen somebody? Amen. 33:35 So write that down, 33:37 "How does John the Revelator describe Jesus?" 33:38 Write the answer, "The almighty." 33:43 You've got to be almighty to talk to wind and it listens, 33:47 I mean, think about that. 33:49 He's on a cruise... 33:51 A little cruise with His disciples, 33:53 they're having an afternoon cruise, 33:56 they got all the lunch. 33:58 They got their fishing rods. 33:59 And all of a sudden, a storm comes up, 34:01 and Jesus calls the storm... 34:04 This is my preacher's imagination, 34:06 He knows the storm by name. 34:08 He says, "Could you stop making noise?" 34:11 "All right, my bad." 34:15 "Could you guys relax?" 34:18 The wind, the wave is just, "I'm sorry." 34:22 And the people that were watching Him 34:23 on the other boats, 34:25 this I learned this was not what the disciples said, 34:29 but the multitudes that followed Him 34:31 in the other boat, they said, 34:33 "What manner of man could this be 34:38 that even the winds and the waves obey His voice?" 34:46 Could you have a friend like that and never worry? 34:49 If you were in a storm 34:51 and He said something to the ocean, 34:53 and it calmed and the winds shut up, 34:55 and He was your friend, 34:58 would you want to hang out with Him? 35:00 Yes. 35:01 Would there be a time 35:02 you wouldn't want to hang out with Him? 35:04 Some people say, "Are you going to a baseball game?" 35:05 "No, I'm going to hang out with Jesus." 35:08 You know, "I heard a storm is coming" 35:09 "That's all right, I'm hanging out with Jesus. 35:12 I'd rather be in the storm with Jesus 35:14 than be in a calm without Him." 35:15 Ain't that wonderful? 35:17 The peacespeaker. 35:18 That's right, "He is the peacespeaker, 35:19 we know Him by name." 35:21 That's one of our favorite songs 35:22 in the Heritage Singers, I love singing that. 35:25 Wow, what a Lord. 35:27 Let's go to number 11. Let's go to number 11. 35:29 There's a lot to know about Jesus. 35:31 When you begin to study the Bible, 35:33 you begin to see... 35:35 Don't jump over the verses about Jesus, 35:37 stop and spend time there, 35:39 and you'll begin to see something 35:41 you haven't seen before. 35:45 I got to stow my mind down because right now, 35:47 there's a flood of stories pouring into my head. 35:50 Like, when the blind man came to Jesus... 35:54 The lepers, 35:58 and one of them was healed and nine of them left, 36:01 went to a party, and only one came back, 36:04 and he wasn't even a Jew. 36:08 He said, "Where are all my people?" 36:11 "I healed them all." 36:13 "How come this one that's not a Christian came back?" 36:17 That's not a believer came back and gave God the glory. 36:19 Then the time when Jesus spat on the ground. 36:22 Rolled up a spit ball, put on the guy's eyes and said, 36:27 "Go wash." 36:28 And the Bible says, "As he went, 36:30 his sight was restored." 36:31 I mean, there's serious power when you think about that. 36:33 And when He... 36:35 And there are so many other stories in the Bible 36:37 that was only done by the power of God. 36:42 You think of Naaman the leper, you might think, 36:44 "Well, Jesus wasn't there." 36:46 Yes, He was. 36:48 He was the act of power there. 36:50 There was never a place He wasn't. 36:52 So I tell you, that's why when I study the Bible, 36:56 and I said to somebody, 36:58 "There's nowhere can you find Jesus in the Old Testament." 37:00 I said, "Well, He has many descriptive names." 37:03 One of those, The Rose of Sharon, 37:05 The Lily of the Valley, Adonai, Jehovah Rapha, 37:09 Jehovah Jireh, He's there. 37:11 He is never... 37:12 Because He is called "The Great I Am, 37:17 not "I missed it", 37:19 not "I wish I should have been there," 37:20 He's the Great I Am. 37:22 Ever present help in time of need. 37:26 Number 11, here we are. 37:28 "How does Isaiah the prophet 37:33 describe Jesus in a pre-Messiah state?" 37:38 In a pre-Messiah state. 37:44 Okay. 37:48 Now I just say pre-Messiah 37:50 because this was a prophecy that the Messiah would come. 37:56 How does he describe Him? 37:57 Isaiah 9:6. 38:03 Wow, what a passage. 38:05 Isaiah 9:6, here it is. 38:09 "For unto us..." 38:11 Can you hear the song? 38:13 For unto us a Child is born. 38:16 Well, I'm not going to sing right now, 38:17 but "For unto us a Child is born, 38:21 unto us a Son is given, 38:25 and the government will be upon His shoulder. 38:30 And His name will be called..." 38:32 Let's say these all together. 38:33 "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 38:40 Prince of Peace." 38:41 Some people look at this verse here 38:43 and say, "Mighty God." 38:46 The word there in the Hebrew was not lesser God, 38:50 it means He's Mighty. 38:52 So you don't have mighty and almighty, 38:54 and say, uh, see? 38:56 Almighty and mighty are not the same thing. 38:58 There is no disparity between the Hebrew and the Greek. 39:01 The word is meaning the same thing. 39:02 The one in who all power resides, 39:05 not the one who doesn't have all power. 39:07 This is not like president and vice president, 39:10 these are on equal plane. 39:13 He's talking about the Mighty, the Prince of Peace. 39:15 So when you think about Isaiah, how he prophesied, 39:18 and this by the way, was 700 years before 39:21 Jesus began His earthly ministry, 39:23 700 years before. 39:24 Matter of fact, this lesson that we're going to be covering 39:26 is many more pages, I'm going to try to distill it down 39:29 to be no more than four pages, 39:30 but we have at least two more pages coming 39:32 because what we're going to do, even tonight hopefully, 39:35 is get to some of the prophecies 39:37 because many other things... 39:38 Let me rephrase that. 39:39 All of the things that happened in the life of Jesus happened 39:43 as prophesied in the Old Testament, 39:45 and fulfilled in the New Testament. 39:49 So you see that 39:51 the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed, 39:54 and the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. 39:59 Jesus was concealed in the Old Testament, 40:02 revealed in the New. 40:04 He was there. 40:05 So when we look at that, you see clearly that 40:07 God is not a God who becomes something later on, 40:11 but he's a God that always is. 40:12 Praise the Lord for that. 40:14 And so as we go to question number 12, 40:16 we'll begin to see... 40:18 Write the answer down on the number 11, 40:19 "How does the Prophet Isaiah 40:21 describe Jesus in a pre-existing? 40:23 You want to just simply say, "Unto us a Child is born." 40:27 He calls Him a child. 40:29 He says, "He's going to come as a child." 40:31 That in of itself is a prophecy. 40:33 "He's going to come as a child." 40:35 Wow, what a powerful child. 40:38 But I want you to know this, 40:40 this is something I want to pause on 40:41 just to say really quickly right here. 40:43 When Jesus came in human form, 40:47 He was born into the world as we are in the world. 40:51 He was born in the same... 40:52 He was born in the flesh of Adam after the fall. 40:56 If He came in the nature of Adam before the fall, 41:00 He would've had an advantage over us, 41:02 but He was born through Mary, and Mary was not sinless. 41:07 Mary inherited the same nature that Adam did, 41:09 but Jesus did not. 41:11 Jesus did not have... 41:13 And this is really important that I say it carefully. 41:16 When temptation came, Jesus did not yield. 41:21 Jesus did not yield, 41:23 but did He have the ability to yield? 41:27 Yes or no? Yes. 41:29 If He didn't, Satan would have not sought to tempt him. 41:32 Why tempt somebody that cannot sin? 41:34 If He didn't have the ability... 41:36 Now this is huge. 41:40 We think about that. 41:44 Can we sin? 41:46 Yes. Okay. 41:47 Real good. 41:49 The amazing thing... 41:50 David said, "Real good." 41:51 The amazing thing about this, I'm gonna use the word, 41:55 transfer or transformation. 41:58 Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us 42:01 that we who know sin could come to the point 42:04 where we don't know sin. 42:06 I mean, that's just... 42:08 And we're not there yet, 42:09 but we step into the transformation. 42:11 We right now are between 42:13 where we were and where we're going to be. 42:16 So Jesus who did not sin came into this world of sin, 42:22 so that we can come in to a world without sin. 42:24 Amen for that? Amen. 42:25 So those of us who know sin 42:28 can be transformed into His likeness, 42:30 and exist in a world where there is no sin. 42:33 That's the transformation that... 42:36 Can we all testify that's the transformation 42:38 that we need grace everyday to live in harmony with that? 42:42 Because humanity, if we have our own way... 42:46 Because they say, "Well, give me a week, 42:49 you know, give a little bit more time 42:50 then I'll participate with you." 42:52 That's the frailty of human nature. 42:54 "Mary, did you know?" 42:55 Yeah, "Mary, did you know?" That song... 42:57 My wife is in a prophetic mode tonight. 42:59 She's sharing all these things with me. 43:01 It's true, "Mary, can you imagine 43:03 holding Jesus in her arms? 43:05 And did you know? 43:07 Your baby will one day walk on water. 43:09 Did you know your babe will give sight to the blind?" 43:11 Phenomenal. 43:13 Phenomenal song, but it's very true. 43:15 A reality that no one really understood until Jesus came. 43:19 Let's go to number 12, let's go to number 12. 43:22 Okay, number 12. 43:24 Man, our time goes so quickly. 43:26 It's not even fair, but that's what we have to do. 43:31 Question 12, 43:32 "When Jesus was born, how was His birth described?" 43:39 Let's go to Matthew 1... 43:49 and we're going to look together at verse 23. 43:54 Matthew 1:23. 43:56 I love reading this story, you know, 43:59 Matthew and Luke does a tremendous job 44:02 in describing the birth of Jesus, 44:03 all the events surrounding His birth. 44:08 And here we are, Matthew 1:23. 44:13 And here's how the Bible describes the birth of Jesus. 44:16 "Behold, the virgin shall be with..." 44:19 What? "Child." Get it? 44:21 For unto us a child is born. 44:23 It's coming into fruition. 44:25 "And bear a Son, 44:27 and they shall call His name..." 44:28 What? 44:30 "Immanuel, which is translated," Together. 44:33 "God with us." 44:36 Not just saying, God is sending somebody to be with us, 44:41 but God is with us. 44:43 Some people think, "For God so loved the world, 44:46 that He gave His only begotten Son." 44:47 No, it didn't say God sent someone to be with us, 44:51 what does it say? 44:52 "God with us." 44:55 This is in its sense of the presence, 44:58 the existing God is here. 45:01 He's not there, sending someone to be with us, He is with us. 45:06 "God with us." 45:08 So write that down. 45:10 "When Jesus was born, how was His birth described?" 45:15 Translate it together. 45:17 "God with us." 45:20 Wow. 45:23 The strange thing about that, 45:24 how many of us could have that kind of power 45:26 and not be tempted to use it? 45:29 Think about it, Jay. 45:30 I mean, if somebody is giving you a heartache, 45:33 and you could just think them out of existence, 45:35 how many family members would you not have? 45:39 I mean, think about that. 45:40 How many enemies will you not have? 45:42 People will say, "I heard about Yanick, 45:44 don't mess with him. 45:45 We had 135 employees, we now have six 45:49 'cause they were bothering Yanick 45:51 and people are disappearing." 45:53 Come to work and nobody else is there. 45:55 "Did they bother you Yanick?" "Yes." 45:57 No, really. 45:58 I said that just simply to say this 46:00 because in our human nature, 46:01 we could not handle that kind of power. 46:05 We couldn't. 46:07 I'm not going to ask you 'cause I know you couldn't handle it. 46:10 No, Sister Zita, you're a very godly woman, 46:13 but you couldn't even handle it. 46:14 None of us could handle that because human nature... 46:17 We are defensive by nature. 46:19 We are, at least, defensive in our thoughts, 46:22 we may not hit somebody back, but we'll say... 46:27 Right? 46:29 With our faces, we hit them. 46:33 You know, we'll hit them with our mind. 46:36 Jesus, this is hard when I think about it. 46:39 This is hard for me to understand 46:42 that not even in His mind did He sin. 46:48 And when you study His life, 46:50 there was so much question about the nature of His birth. 46:54 First of all, Joseph had an issue, 46:56 "So you've been away for how many months?" 46:58 Three months." 46:59 "How many months are you pregnant? 47:01 Three months, and who did you say to this? 47:03 A guy named Gabriel?" 47:04 No, an angel named Gabriel, and this is about... 47:09 Thank God, he stepped in and cleared that up. 47:12 And there are sometimes, 47:13 only God can clear certain things up, 47:15 so the Lord cleared it up, yes, it was divine, 47:17 nothing to do with humanity's participation at all. 47:19 A divine birth, the incarnation of God. 47:24 And then being raised, 47:26 there was question in the community, 47:29 and I read in Desire of Ages where Ellen White said, 47:32 "He didn't sin in thought or deed." 47:33 His brothers even... 47:34 And there was a question that upped 47:36 the legitimacy of His birth, 47:37 and He kept all that in, and these irritations come, 47:40 let me tell you why these irritations come... 47:44 And this is huge, are you ready? 47:46 Jesus was divine, 47:49 but Satan wanted Him to reveal His humanity. 47:53 If He revealed His humanity, 47:55 He would've failed to be our Savior. 47:58 We are human, but when we become Christians, 48:02 we partake of a divine nature. 48:04 So we are partaking of a divine nature, 48:07 he wants us to reveal our... 48:12 Let me say that again. 48:14 He wanted Jesus to reveal His divinity. 48:17 He wants us to reveal our humanity. 48:20 Anywhere you cut it, we fail. 48:23 When we lean to our humanity, 48:26 we fail to allow God's divinity to be reflected through us. 48:29 If Jesus leaned on His divinity, 48:33 He would've failed to be our Brother. 48:37 He would've failed to be on the same level that we were, 48:39 and there is so much more that I could say, 48:42 but I don't want to take the rest of the lesson 48:44 to just describe that. 48:45 But Jesus did not have any advantage over us. 48:48 If He could not have sinned, 48:51 He would never have been tempted. 48:52 Can you imagine having that kind of power, 48:54 having to live that life 48:56 from birth all the way to pass the cross, 48:58 and at no point did you appeal to your power 49:02 to go ahead and free yourself? 49:03 When He was being judged 49:05 in the judgment hall, they were ripping Him 49:06 and they were putting the thorns on His face 49:07 and on His head, and spit on Him. 49:10 When they kept saying, "Tell me, are you the..." 49:15 He could've thought 49:16 and wiped out the minds of the Pharisees. 49:19 He could've made the high priest bow to Him 49:22 in just a look, but He didn't do any of that. 49:24 So now today, we have a high priest who, 49:28 I love the way that the Bible says, 49:30 "He is familiar with our weaknesses. 49:33 He's touched by our infirmities." 49:35 He understands. 49:37 "Being tempted at all points like we are, yet without..." 49:39 Sin. 49:40 Praise the Lord for that. So when Jesus came... 49:42 Let's look at a couple of the prophecies. 49:43 We have about eight minutes or so, 49:45 let's look at a couple of these prophecies 49:46 to show that... 49:48 And what's nice about prophecy, 49:49 let me just go and transition here. 49:50 What's nice about prophecy is 49:54 when you look back at 49:55 many of the major religions in the world, 49:59 you might be able to trace in genealogy 50:01 where a prophet was born 50:03 or where Buddha or Muhammad, 50:09 and you go back into their background. 50:12 But you don't see a divine, a heaven connection. 50:17 And when you think of all the major religions today, 50:19 Christianity is probably the youngest of all. 50:23 In the Bible, you could trace through history, 50:26 through the Rosetta Stone, 50:29 through some of these 50:34 Sanskrit documents, and many other... 50:36 the Cylinder, the Cyrus Cylinder, 50:37 many of these things that were found by archeology. 50:40 You could trace many of these dynasties. 50:41 Matter of fact, there was a time 50:43 when people thought that the Book of Daniel 50:44 was written after it already happened. 50:52 But when certain documents 50:54 were discovered in the Middle East, 50:55 I remember the story about a shepherd 50:57 who was taking his sheep out and he threw a stone 51:00 and he heard the sound of a tin in a cave. 51:03 And the documents they discovered in that 51:05 confirmed the kings and the dynasties that, 51:08 up until that point, were only found in the Bible. 51:11 But when they were found, when these scrolls were found, 51:14 it confirmed what archeologists thought never existed. 51:18 So the Bible is a book of confirmation 51:19 over, and over, and over again. 51:20 And the fact of the matter is, 51:22 I don't want to date the program, 51:23 but whenever you say 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 51:29 you're saying Anno Domini, 51:31 in Latin meaning, the year of our Lord. 51:34 It's an indisputable fact that Jesus existed. 51:38 Let's look at one of these prophecies. 51:39 Go with me to question number 13. 51:42 Question number 13. 51:44 "The Bible predicted the place of the birth of Jesus." 51:48 Let's go to Micah. 51:54 These are those minor prophets. 51:56 You know what's nice about Micah? 52:00 Let me tell you how to find it. 52:01 Right after Jonah, you find Micah. 52:05 It's right before Nahum. 52:08 These are books that you don't often turn to. 52:12 We're going to look at the prophecy, 52:13 then we're going to look at the fulfillment. 52:17 Okay, Micah 5:2. 52:23 And it's on the screen also. 52:27 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah..." 52:30 Say that, Ephrathah. 52:32 "Ph" is the "f" sound. 52:34 "You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 52:38 though you are little among the thousands of Judah, 52:43 yet out of you shall come forth to Me..." 52:46 What? 52:47 "The One to be..." 52:49 What? 52:50 "Ruler in Israel..." 52:52 And this is powerful. 52:54 "Whose goings forth are from of old..." 52:58 From where? 52:59 "From everlasting." 53:01 You ask somebody, "Where did you come from?" 53:03 "I came from everlasting." 53:05 "No, really, honestly, where did you come from?" 53:06 "From everlasting." 53:08 "And where is that?" 53:10 "Everywhere." 53:11 "From everlasting." 53:13 As one Doctor Pandit said, 53:17 "If you say that you cannot find God..." 53:20 Listen to this carefully. 53:22 "If you say you cannot find God, 53:24 you've got to be God to find God 53:29 because if God can be everywhere 53:31 at the same time..." 53:33 It's like walking into Brother Hutchinson's house. 53:36 Now he doesn't have a 10 bedroom house, 53:37 but just in case he did... 53:38 Say, he had a 15 bedroom house, 53:40 let's even make it bigger than that. 53:42 And I walk into his house and I go into one of the rooms 53:43 and say, "Well, I can't find Brother Hutchinson, 53:45 and he doesn't exist." 53:46 I got 14 other rooms, 53:48 plus the garage in the basement, 53:49 and the kitchen, and the living room, 53:50 and the family room. 53:52 I got all these rooms to look for him, 53:53 so I go to the next room and I say, 53:55 "Well, I've been in two rooms, so far, I can't find him. 53:56 He must not exist." 53:58 Somebody says, "Well, maybe, he went to the other room." 54:00 Okay, I go to all the rooms in the house, 54:03 I did not find him, and I conclude that 54:05 Brother Hutchinson does not exist. 54:08 And you know what they say to me? 54:09 "Well, when you went to that other room, 54:11 he just went to the next room." 54:13 So what I got to do to be able to find him, 54:15 I've got to be in all the rooms at the same time 54:18 to be able to find him in any of the rooms. 54:21 At that point, you would've debunked your own theory 54:24 because you would've become God. 54:26 Did you follow that carefully? 54:28 So if you say God does not exist, 54:30 you got to become God to find God, 54:33 but not really 'cause Jeremiah said, 54:36 "You will seek me, and you will find me 54:39 when you search for me with all your heart." 54:43 People are trying to find God 54:46 archeologically or geographically. 54:50 They are trying to find His address, 54:52 they're trying to find out where He lives. 54:54 Well, the song writer says, 54:56 "You ask me how I know He lives" 54:57 What did we say? 54:59 "He lives within my heart." 55:00 So it's a beautiful thing when you think about that. 55:02 Look at the very next passage in this 55:04 just to get an answer for this question. 55:07 "Whose goings forth are from old, 55:08 from everlasting." 55:10 And then we have the last one, 55:11 I think we're covered for tonight. 55:13 Look at the very next passage. 55:14 Luke 2:1 to 7, let's read this carefully. 55:18 "And it came to pass in those days 55:20 that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus 55:22 that all the world should be registered. 55:25 This census first took place 55:29 while Quirinius was governing Syria. 55:33 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 55:36 Joseph also went up from Galilee, 55:39 out of the city of..." 55:40 What? 55:41 "Nazareth, into Judea, 55:43 to the city of David, 55:45 which is called..." What? 55:46 "Bethlehem," 55:48 Exactly where Micah said he would go, 55:49 Bethlehem Ephrathah. 55:51 "Because he was of the house 55:53 and lineage of..." What? 55:54 "David..." 55:55 He went there to do what? 55:57 "To be registered with Mary..." 55:59 That was the census that was being taken. 56:02 "His betrothed wife, 56:04 who was with..." What? 56:05 "Child. 56:07 So it was, that while they were there, 56:10 the days were completed 56:11 for her to be..." What? 56:13 "To be delivered. 56:15 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, 56:19 and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, 56:22 and laid Him in a manger, 56:24 because there was..." What? 56:26 "No room for them in the inn." 56:29 Let me take the last bit of time 56:30 I have to describe what just happened. 56:33 You've got to be a reckless husband 56:37 or a divinely-led husband 56:39 to take your wife, who's pregnant, 56:42 put her on the back of a donkey, 56:45 and go from one city to the other. 56:48 And when you look at the geographical distance, 56:50 it wasn't like going from here 56:51 to the gas station in Thompsonville, 56:53 that alone on smooth roads would still be something 56:56 that nobody in his right mind would say, 56:58 "You know, honey, how many months are you? 57:00 Eight and a half? 57:02 Let's just take a long ride on the donkey 57:04 to the store and back." 57:10 On paved road, that's risky. 57:12 Am I telling... 57:14 On paved roads. 57:15 But they didn't have paved roads, 57:17 they didn't have a turbo donkey either. 57:19 They didn't have any comfort 57:20 or air conditioning on that thing, 57:22 and he took his wife. 57:24 You know why? 57:26 When the Lord... 57:27 Isaiah 46:9, 57:30 "I am God, and there is no other. 57:33 Declaring the end from the beginning, 57:37 and from ancient times things that are not yet done. 57:41 Saying, 'I will do all My pleasure.' 57:44 " The Lord was guiding that man and that woman 57:47 so that the birth of Jesus, 57:49 from the very inception until today, 57:52 there would be no question about His divine connection. 57:55 Well, friends, I tell you, sometimes it can be confusing, 57:57 but let me make this promise. 57:58 If you keep studying God's Word, 58:00 one day, it will come into a sharper focus. 58:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2018-08-02