Participants: Tim Riesenberger
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000388
|
00:31 Hello and welcome to Faith Chapel.
00:34 I'm Tim Riesenberger and I'm going to be 00:36 sharing with you the truth that 00:38 transforms the world. Let us pray. 00:42 Loving Father in heaven, thank you so 00:44 much for changing my life, I pray that 00:48 everyone who hears this would be forever 00:50 changed, that they would see you and 00:53 know you in Jesus name. Amen. 00:59 A simple question for you, does God love you? 01:04 Does God love the people in his Church? 01:08 Well does God love the people who don't go 01:10 to church? Does he love the lost? 01:14 Does he love the people who hate him? 01:18 Well does he love Satan and his angels? 01:22 And even more important question why does 01:25 he love you? Why does he love the lost? 01:29 Why would he love his enemies? 01:32 And why would he love Satan or his angels? 01:38 As I share this message I pray that you would 01:39 think about those questions. I got a message 01:43 from my boss and he said Dr. Riesenberger 01:46 I need to meet with you. Now normally 01:49 when your boss says something like this, 01:51 it's not just a chat, it's usually to share 01:54 something negative. So I had my friends pray. 01:58 And this truth came to me as a result of a 02:02 simple text message. I received a message 02:06 from a friend of mine who said I'm praying 02:08 for you that God will give you the right words 02:12 when you need them. Whatever happens I'm 02:16 proud of you. Simple enough but very disturbing 02:21 to me. I thought to myself whatever happens 02:26 I'm proud of you. Well, let's think about 02:28 whatever could happen. Could it be good 02:30 chore? My boss could say, Tim, we love you. 02:33 You're the best doctor we have here at the 02:35 hospital, we're doubling your salary and we're 02:38 cutting your hours in half. But it could be you 02:41 are the worst doctor I've ever seen. 02:44 We are just overflowing with complaints about 02:47 you and you are fired. I can tell you that if 02:52 I were fired I wouldn't be proud of me. 02:56 I would say what a horrible witness to people 02:58 at work. What a dishonor, what a disgrace, 03:01 I've never been fired in my life. 03:04 But not my friend, they wrote and said 03:07 whatever happens I'm proud of you, 03:11 that disturbed me until I began to 03:15 understand the truth that transforms the world. 03:19 God lead me to a passage in the Bible that's 03:21 very familiar to you. It's in the Old Testament; 03:25 it's about one of David's sons. 03:28 Turn with me in your Bibles to Second Samuel 03:31 chapter 14 and verse 25. Now in all Israel 03:37 there was no one who was praised as much 03:40 as Absalom for his good looks. From the sole 03:42 of his foot to the crown of this head 03:44 there was no blemish in him. 03:47 Absalom was flawless, he was what every 03:50 guy envied to be. All the women loved him. 03:55 But unfortunately the inside is not always 03:57 the same as the outside, because Absalom 04:00 began scheming. He noticed that his father 04:02 was getting older, his government was becoming 04:05 less efficient. Absalom took time to hang 04:09 out around the court house when the 04:12 people were in line waiting for their 04:13 judgment Absalom would talk to them. 04:16 He would sympathize with them. 04:17 He would say your cause is right but there 04:20 is no one that the King has appointed 04:23 to hear you. If only I were made a judge 04:26 then I would do you right. The Bible tells us 04:30 what happened as a result of this. 04:32 Second Samuel chapter 15 verse 6 tells 04:36 us, in this manner Absalom acted toward 04:40 all Israel who came to the King for judgment. 04:43 So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of 04:47 Israel. Absalom began doing even more. 04:52 He increased his plots to draw the people to 04:55 himself and he found some allies in the 04:59 court of the King. Second Samuel chapter 15 05:03 verses 10 and 12, Then Absalom sent spies 05:07 throughout all the tribes of Israel, 05:09 saying, As soon as you hear the sound of 05:11 the trumpet, then you shall say, 05:13 'Absalom reigns in Hebron!'. 05:15 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, 05:18 David's counselor, from his city from Giloh 05:21 where he offered sacrifices. And the 05:23 conspiracy grew strong, for the people with 05:26 Absalom continually increased in number. 05:31 Who was Ahithophel? Well the verse tells 05:34 us it was David's counselor but it's 05:36 more than that. If you look at Second 05:39 Samuel 11:3 and 23:34 you will see that 05:43 he was actually Bathsheba's grandfather. 05:46 I can assure you he was waiting for a 05:49 moment to even the score between he 05:51 and David. For what David had done not 05:54 only to Bathsheba but to her husband and to 05:57 their family name. But just when you thought 06:01 it couldn't get worse, it does. 06:04 Ahithophel gives a little piece of advice 06:07 to Absalom as he is taking over the kingdom. 06:11 Let's look at what he does in Second 06:13 Samuel chapter 16 verses 22, Second Samuel 06:19 chapter 16 verse 22, so they pitched a 06:23 tent for Absalom on the top of the house, 06:26 and Absalom went in to his father's 06:28 concubines in the sight of all Israel. 06:34 David had fled the city at this point. 06:36 He was so worried, he was so fearful that 06:41 his whole family would be slaughtered. 06:43 At one point he said that my son who came 06:48 out of my own body is seeking my life. 06:53 David prepares for the last stand between 06:57 he and his own son. Now Absalom has all 07:02 of Israel on his side, David has just a little 07:06 handful. David, as he is preparing his 07:09 armies to go out to war gives one final 07:12 piece of information to his generals. 07:16 Does he say take courage, does he say that 07:19 God will fight our battles for us. 07:22 What does he say? Let's take a look in 07:26 Second Samuel chapter 18 verse 5, 07:29 Now the king commanded Joab, Abishai, 07:32 and Ittai, saying, "Deal gently for my sake 07:37 with the young man Absalom." And all the 07:39 people heard when the king gave all the 07:42 captains orders concerning Absalom. 07:46 David repeats this command three times to 07:50 each general; take it easy on my son. 07:53 If it's any way possible save his life. 07:58 If as you're fighting you can avoid killing 08:01 him then do it. David's final command was 08:05 to save his son. I can tell you how the battle 08:10 goes. David's army by the grace of God 08:13 wins a categorical victory. Absalom's forces 08:18 are slaughtered and as Absalom is turning 08:20 to flee his hair catches in a tree and he's left 08:24 dangling between heaven and earth. 08:26 A soldier finds him, but the soldier 08:28 remembers David's explicit command and he 08:32 spares Absalom. However he tells Joab the 08:36 general of David's army. Joab comes and 08:39 takes not one, not two, but three spears 08:42 thrust them through the heart of Absalom 08:44 and thus ends the greatest rebellion Israel 08:48 has ever known. They send messengers to 08:51 return to the city to tell the good news. 08:55 Amazingly, the answer of the King is not 08:59 Praise the Lord, is not thank God for sparing 09:02 us and our family. David has only one 09:05 question for the messengers. In fact 09:08 there's two separate messengers in Second 09:11 Samuel chapter 18 verses 29 and 32, 09:17 the King said, is the young man Absalom safe? 09:21 When they tell him that Absalom is dead, 09:25 we read David's response, thus the King was 09:28 deeply moved and he went up to the 09:30 chamber over the gate, and he wept. 09:35 And as he went, he said thus: "O my son 09:39 Absalom my son, my son Absalom if only 09:43 I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, 09:48 my son!" Now I have a simple question for 09:51 you. Why did David love Absalom? 09:56 Did he love him, because he was a loyal 09:58 citizen? Did he perhaps love him because he 10:03 was an obedient son? Maybe he loved him 10:07 for his upright character. Well Absalom was 10:10 the worst trader in the history of Israel. 10:13 Absalom tried to kill his father. 10:16 Absalom committed adultery with his father's 10:20 wives. You don't get any worst than what 10:24 his son had done. So why in the world 10:28 would David love Absalom? The answer is 10:31 simple. Whether you are a Christian or whether 10:34 you are not. Whether you are Buddhist, 10:36 Shinto, Muslim it doesn't matter. No matter how 10:40 bad your son was. He still is your son. 10:48 David loved Absalom not for what he did 10:52 but for who he was. And what Absalom did 10:56 no matter how bad didn't change the simple 10:58 fact that he was the son of David. I can tell 11:03 you that this truth comes home to me, 11:08 to you and to everyone on this planet. 11:12 As I realized why David loved Absalom God 11:16 spoke to me three words. I can tell you, 11:20 it wasn't written on the ceiling in fire. 11:22 It wasn't like I opened the closet to see if 11:23 anyone was there. But God spoke it to my 11:26 mind, but I knew it wasn't me because it was 11:29 a new thought. God spoke to me three simple 11:33 words. He impressed me that I was not loved 11:39 because I was a doctor. Tim, I don't love 11:42 you because you help people. I don't love you 11:45 because you dedicate your time to go 11:47 oversees as a missionary. I don't love you 11:51 even because you're a Seventh-Day Adventist. 11:53 I don't love you even because you do what's 11:56 right. I love you and here's the three words, 12:01 because you're mine. And when I understood 12:04 that I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. 12:08 I ran out of tears as I realized the whole 12:12 great controversy, as I realized the whole 12:15 message of the Bible. It's just my dad trying 12:18 to get me back. It's that simple, every 12:22 warning you read, every promise that you 12:24 claim is just your dad, trying to get you back 12:28 home. That's the whole great controversy. 12:32 That's the truth that transforms the world. 12:35 That God is your father and he wants his 12:37 child home. I can tell you that everyone of 12:40 us understands this truth because we go 12:44 back to the original question, why does God 12:48 love you? Well I can give you an example. 12:52 I've a friend of mine who, you ask her and 12:55 you say do you have any enemies and she 12:57 will say well, no, I love everybody, 13:00 I'm everyone's friend. And many times we 13:02 think that God loves us for that reason, 13:05 because as the Bible says God is love and 13:08 this is true. There are certain people that love 13:12 everyone not because the people around 13:14 them are bad but because their nature is 13:16 so good. God is the same. Truly, he's going 13:20 to love no matter what, but that's not 13:22 the main reason that he loves you. He loves you, 13:25 yes because he's God. He loves you, 13:28 yes because he's the creator. But you are his, 13:32 he made you. You are his child and he is 13:36 your father. I remember working in the 13:39 emergency department. There was a bad 13:42 motor vehicle accident. A young teenage boy 13:46 was not breathing; his heart was not beating, 13:48 no blood pressure. I put the breathing tube 13:51 down his throat I put him on the ventilator, 13:53 put a line in his chest. We continued doing CPR 13:58 on this boy. I can tell you a grieving father 14:03 was behind me just sobbing saying Dr. Riesenberger 14:06 if only it was me in the passenger side. 14:10 I remember a girl who was just 8 vomiting 14:14 uncontrollably; we couldn't stop it with any 14:16 medications. She had lost all her hair because 14:19 she had cancer and she was getting chemotherapy. 14:23 The mother looked down and wished saying if 14:28 only I had the cancer Dr. Riesenberger. 14:31 Couldn't I take the chemotherapy for my 14:33 little daughter? Every parent feels the same. 14:38 I can tell you that no matter what that child 14:40 has done, no matter what they've gone 14:42 through. The parent will change places and 14:45 take their place. They would willingly take 14:49 any punishment take any amount of suffering 14:52 to spare their child. I can tell you that 14:56 perhaps you may think, well I've committed 14:59 the unpardonable sin, I'm too bad to save. 15:02 Look at Absalom, Absalom was about as bad 15:06 as you can get. But David loved him still. 15:09 And we all understand that because he 15:11 was his son. Don't you see that's how God 15:15 sees you and I. No matter how bad we get, 15:18 no matter how dark the situation is. 15:20 What doesn't change is that we're still 15:23 children of our heavenly Father. 15:26 And when does he give upon us? 15:28 Well, let's go back to the ER. I can tell you 15:32 I had a 2 year old one time come in, 15:34 very sad story. Little child wasn't breathing. 15:38 We did our best to help the child breath; 15:42 we shocked the child's heart many times. 15:44 We gave him strong drugs to see if we 15:47 could bring him back. Ten minutes went by, 15:50 twenty minutes, thirty minutes and I can tell 15:53 you something happened then that always 15:55 happens after about 30 minutes. I feel little 15:57 touch on my shoulder and I turned around and 16:02 it's one of the parents. And they say 16:04 Dr. Riesenberger, it's been a long time since 16:07 my boy has breathe or if he's even moved. 16:11 I need to know if there is any hope. 16:15 And I can tell you that if tell the parents 16:17 there is a little chance we saw the heart beat 16:20 flutter a little bit. I saw some movement actually 16:23 of his eyelids that parent will say keep going. 16:27 But if I respond to the parent and I say, 16:30 ma'am I'm sorry your son has not moved, 16:33 breathed, or had any signs of life for the last 16:36 half hour. There is no hope and the parent 16:41 will look down. And what will they tell me to 16:44 do? Well, what would you say to do? 16:47 Would you tell me keep shocking him 16:48 anyway? Keep put more lines in him? 16:51 Keep forcing air into his lungs. No. You'd say 16:55 it's time to let go. Let my son go to rest. 17:01 That's when God gives up on you. 17:03 When he knows that there is no more hope 17:07 but I can tell you that just as David did. 17:11 He was sending his armies out to defeat 17:13 Absalom and his forces but even as he did 17:15 that, what did he say? Spare my son Absalom 17:20 and I can tell you no matter how bad you 17:22 are. You may think that God is sending the 17:23 angels after you to end your life, to bring 17:27 judgment upon you. And that may be true 17:30 but I can tell you what he tells his angels. 17:33 He says spare if you can. Do what you can 17:36 to bring my son or my daughter home. 17:43 Let's imagine, if this family goes through the 17:47 tragedy of losing their child. They've just 17:50 finished telling me okay, let him go. 17:55 And I come over to the grieving parents and 17:58 I decide to put my arm around them and I 17:59 say Mr and Mrs. Smith I'm so sorry that you've 18:03 lost your 2 year old son. But I see you 18:05 have several small children here. 18:07 You still have others or you're a young 18:10 family you can have more kids or perhaps I 18:14 could even say this child looks like it was a 18:17 twin. You still have the other twin, so that's 18:20 alright. I can tell you the hospital administrator 18:24 would on me the next day, I would be fired. 18:28 Because having other children doesn't erase, 18:32 doesn't replace the one that is gone. 18:36 I can tell you any parent on the face of this 18:39 planet would say that having other children 18:43 doesn't replace the one that's gone. 18:46 But why don't we think it's that way with 18:47 God. God could create more children but 18:51 they would never be another you. 18:53 Even if you were a twin that twin is not the 18:57 same as you. All the same genetic material, 19:01 even the same name doesn't make you, 19:05 and doesn't replace you in the heart of your 19:08 parents or the heart of God. I can tell you 19:14 that I understand this now, because if you 19:16 ask any parent how many of your children 19:18 do you want to save 90 percent, 95 percent, 19:22 99 percent. They would say what do you mean? 19:25 It's clearly 100 and it makes sense to me 19:29 now why God leaves the 99 in the wilderness and 19:32 he goes after one that's lost. We're told 19:36 in Second Peter that God is long suffering 19:40 toward us. He is not willing that any should 19:44 perish but that all should come to repentance. 19:48 Do you realize that God, His will is to save 19:52 every last one of us? Why is God so particular? 19:56 Why would you want to save your kids? 19:58 There is no question in my mind, I can tell 20:02 you that if you've ever known a parent 20:04 whose lost a child they're never the same again. 20:07 No matter how much counseling they go 20:09 through, no matter how many years have 20:11 passed since the death of the child. 20:13 There is a hole that's left and I can tell you 20:16 that some day when we go to heaven it may 20:19 be that you are missing a child, you may look 20:22 around and say well, where is my son? 20:25 Where is my daughter? You may see that 20:27 one of your children is missing and you will 20:29 be sad. You will cry and you will mourn. 20:33 You see because God does not wipe away all 20:35 tears until after the second resurrection. 20:39 There will be many tears shed during that 20:41 thousand years but I can tell you there is 20:43 one person who is gonna cry more than 20:45 anyone else. God himself is going to look 20:49 around at the mansions that he has prepared 20:51 for you and I and he is going to see some empty 20:55 ones. He will say why, why did you die? 21:02 You didn't have to? I prepared these places 21:06 for you so you could be with me. 21:09 But you see that's the way it is with God, 21:13 just like is with us. You see David in the last 21:16 verse he said O Absalom my son. 21:19 Would to God that I had died instead of you. 21:23 You see David wished that he could have died 21:26 for Absalom. But you see that's where the 21:29 story falls short. God did die for you and I. 21:34 I can tell you if I've had parents on the gurney 21:36 saying Dr. Riesenberger, do you need blood? 21:39 Have some of mine. When I've told them look 21:42 your daughter's kidneys are failing from 21:43 shock they'll say take one of my kidneys. 21:46 But you see you have two kidneys, 21:49 but can you imagine if a child needed a heart 21:52 transplant. Because that's what you and I 21:54 need. Our hearts are lost. We are bad and 21:59 there is no turning back for us. God gives up 22:03 his heart that we might live. That's where it 22:07 falls short. Turn to Isaiah, chapter 49 verse 22:13 14-16, Isaiah 49, but Zion said, 22:19 "The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord 22:21 has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her 22:23 nursing child, And not have compassion on 22:26 the son of her womb? Surely they may 22:28 forget, Yet will I not forget you. See I have 22:31 inscribed you on the palms of My hands: 22:35 Your walls are continually before Me." 22:41 Amazingly a mother and her child touching 22:44 as though it may be can fail. There are 22:48 mothers that we read in the paper that have 22:49 left their children in the dumpster, 22:52 they have murdered them. God understands 22:54 that the story isn't perfect and just like with 22:58 David. He wished that he could die for Absalom 23:01 but he didn't, but you see God did die for 23:05 you and I. He did die for his children. 23:08 His love goes so much farther than human 23:12 love. But I can tell you that it goes even 23:16 further than that. Remember the question 23:19 that I asked you, does God love Satan? 23:22 Well let's think about it. Go back to Absalom. 23:27 Absalom was perfect from head to toe; 23:31 there was no blemish, who else was created 23:34 perfect? Absalom rebelled and took the 23:37 loyalties of his father's kingdom. Was there 23:41 someone else who took the loyalty of his 23:43 father's subjects? Absalom committed 23:47 adultery with his father's wives. There was 23:50 someone else who committed spiritual 23:52 adultery with his father's wife. And finally 23:55 Absalom tried to kill his father, there was 23:58 another who tried to kill his father. 24:01 There was no missing the illustration Lucifer 24:05 was the one who did all these things to God. 24:07 He lied about God's government, 24:09 stole the affections of the angles, 24:11 stole affections of us on earth. He committed 24:14 spiritual adultery with God's bride the church. 24:18 There is no question in mind that this story 24:20 illustrates the great controversy and so 24:22 I know that God does love Satan, because 24:27 he created him, he is his father. But you see 24:31 there is a difference between Satan and you 24:34 and I. In the Bible it tells us in the final 24:38 judgment Matthew 25:34 tells us that God 24:43 will say to those on his right hand, come ye 24:45 blessed of my father inherit the kingdom 24:47 prepared for you from the foundation of the 24:49 world. And he says to the people on the other 24:52 side depart from me you cursed into the 24:55 everlasting fire prepared for. No, it doesn't 24:58 say you; it was prepared for the devil 25:01 and his angels. Do you realize not one human 25:03 being was designed to be lost? 25:06 Remember we read that, that God is not 25:08 willing that any should perish but that all 25:11 should come to repentance. But the 25:13 difference between the devil and you and 25:15 I is fundamental. Romans 2:4 tells us there 25:18 is only thing that brings us to repentance and 25:21 that is the goodness of God. How much of 25:24 God's goodness did Satan understand? 25:27 What was his job? He was the covering cherub, 25:30 he's right here God's over here. 25:33 How much of God's goodness did he know? 25:36 He saw it all and he walked away. 25:39 There is nothing more God is gonna show him 25:41 to bring him back. But you see it was 25:44 different for me. God knew Tim doesn't 25:48 understand me he doesn't see me as I am. 25:52 But now God has shown me that he is just 25:54 my dad trying to get me back. Have you 25:57 ever woken up in the middle of the night, 25:59 it's pitch black, you don't know where you 26:01 are, you don't know which side of the bed 26:03 your head is on, you don't know where the 26:04 door is or the window is, but when someone 26:06 opens that door just a crack and lets some 26:09 light in, you see it last. You know where 26:12 everything is in the room. That's what it's 26:14 like for me. I see God at last. God knows 26:19 that I'm not like Satan; I was deceived into 26:21 sin just as you were. And when God reveals 26:24 to us who he is, we can turn back. 26:29 So how does this effect you? I'll share with 26:32 you. When you understand the three 26:34 most powerful words in the Bible it changes 26:37 you. Turn with me in Isaiah chapter 43 verse 1, 26:44 But now, thus says the Lord who created you, 26:47 O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: 26:50 " Fear not, for I have redeemed you: I have 26:53 called you by your name: here are the 26:55 three words, You are Mine. 27:00 Let us consider that God calls us by our name, 27:04 because we are his that is why he loves us 27:07 and what does that do for our lives well read 27:10 the next verse. When you pass through the 27:13 waters, I will be with you: And through the 27:16 rivers, they shall not overflow you. 27:18 When you walk through the fire, 27:20 you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame 27:24 scorch you. Don't you see what this does 27:27 when we understand this truth that we are 27:31 God's and that's why he loves us, 27:33 we are invincible. We can face anything 27:36 because there is one thing that doesn't 27:38 change. What doesn't change is how God feels 27:42 about you. He loves you, yes because he is God, 27:46 yes because he is the creator, 27:47 but he loves you most because you're mine. |
Revised 2014-12-17