Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Margaret Davis
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000213
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00:30 Hello. I'm Shelley Queen and welcome to another
00:32 Issues and Answers. 00:34 Today we are going to talk about the most important issue 00:37 that faces mankind today. 00:39 We are going to be talking about what we can do to inherit, 00:42 notice the emphasis on inherit, eternal life. 00:46 I want to share a scripture with you because I think it is a 00:50 beautiful scripture that brings me much joy. 00:53 Isaiah wrote: 'I will greatly rejoice in my Lord. 00:57 My soul will exult in my God for He has clothed me with the 01:01 garments of salvation and He has covered me with the robe of 01:06 righteousness. ' 01:07 That's Isaiah 61 and verse 10. 01:09 That reminds me of another of my favorite scriptures in Psalm 01:13 16:11. 01:14 The psalmist wrote: 'He has shown me the path of life. 01:18 I find joy in His presence forevermore. ' 01:22 We are going to be talking today with Margaret Davis. 01:26 Let me just introduce her to you. 01:27 Margaret, welcome. We're so glad that you are here. 01:31 And you came all the way from Armstrong, British Columbia. 01:35 Um hum. 01:36 Pleasant trip? 01:37 So and so. 01:38 So so pleasant trip. 01:39 But you came to share some really good news 01:41 with us today. - Yes. 01:43 And I know just from talking with you briefly that God has 01:46 shown you the path of life and 01:49 you are finding joy in His presence. 01:51 So have compiled Bible scriptures and inspirational 01:58 writing in a wonderful little book called 'What Shall I Do 02:01 to Inherit Eternal Life'. 02:03 Where did you get this title for this book? 02:06 well in the Bible in Luke 18 a young ruler comes to Jesus 02:13 and he says: ' What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' 02:19 And Jesus answers: ' Keep the commandments. ' 02:23 and he says:' Well I have done that from my youth up I've 02:27 kept the commandments. What lack I yet?' 02:31 And then Jesus explained to him what he lacked. 02:36 He was a very selfish young man. 02:39 He kept all his riches for himself. 02:42 He didn't know anything about the love of God. 02:45 Amen. 02:47 And love is the fulfilling of the Lord. 02:50 Amen. 02:51 He needed the love of God in his soul. 02:53 And he hadn't understood that. 02:56 And when Jesus explained it to him he walked away. 03:00 How would you explain to someone how they can experience or know 03:08 what the love of God is like? 03:10 Well we read in first Corinthians 13 what the love of 03:14 God is like. 03:15 First Corinthians 13: 4-7: 'Love is patient and kind' 03:24 Amen. 03:25 Even when your children are disobedient. 03:27 Amen. 03:28 Love is still patient and kind. One father told me 'Well how can 03:33 I be patient and kind?' 03:37 Well then you don't know Christ. 03:39 Because if you know Christ, God's love is controlling you. 03:44 And you can be patient and kind. 03:47 That's what I've discovered. 03:50 But I didn't know this either, my father didn't know this. 03:54 We were eleven children, we were brought up in the church. 03:59 And we were all taught obedience. 04:03 The obedience of the law. 04:06 And some of us had a hard time, some had an easy time. 04:11 I liked obedience so I didn't have a hard time. 04:16 And my father was so strong with us children. 04:21 If we disobeyed, he would get angry he would be impatient he 04:26 would be irritated and we would be blamed for his sin. 04:32 And you know that's what people do. 04:35 When parents get angry with their children they blame the 04:39 children. 04:40 Right. 04:41 And the poor children carry their own guilt of disobedience 04:46 and the father's guilt. 04:48 How sad. 04:49 How very sad. 04:51 And when we think the Bible tells us that God is love and 04:56 He tells us in Jeremiah 31 verse 'I have loved you with an 05:00 everlasting love and therefore I've drawn you with 05:03 loving-kindness. ' 05:05 So it is the example of loving kindness that God sets for us 05:11 But it's God shedding his love abroad in our hearts 05:15 that helps us to love others and show that experience. 05:18 - Right! 05:19 But if children grow up in a home where the father is not 05:23 doing that they don't understand and so they only understand 05:27 the obedience of law not the obedience of faith. 05:31 And the obedience of faith is when I surrender my total being 05:36 to God and let Him control my spirit. 05:40 Amen. 05:41 And flow His love into my heart. 05:44 Amen. 05:45 Like it says in Romans. 05:47 But you see, we didn't understand that and so we grew 05:51 up and we were married and we were in the church, we were 05:56 working in the church, my husband is a minister. 05:59 And we had our little problems, they weren't big like my 06:08 father's. 06:09 But I had resentment towards my husband because he was selfish 06:13 with our son. 06:15 Umhum! 06:16 So I didn't realize I was sinning. 06:21 I thought it was just his selfishness and I blamed him. 06:24 And you know it is so easy to blame our heart's sins on 06:30 someone else. 06:31 Amen. 06:32 And I will be talking about heart sins as we go along. 06:36 But here it says in first Corinthians 13, 1 through 3: 06:41 'Even if I speak in the tongues of men and of the angels but 06:45 have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 06:50 And even if I have all faith to remove mountains and to give 06:56 my body to be burnt but have not love I gain nothing. ' 07:00 That's true. 07:02 I didn't understand those things. 07:04 I was not a real student of the Bible. 07:08 I loved obedience and so I was obedient. 07:14 So am I understanding you to say that you had had knowledge. 07:20 Yes. 07:21 You understood what you'd been brought up in church what you 07:24 had heard in church so you looked at it as a bunch of rules 07:28 what to do and what not to do to be 'a Christian'. 07:32 Umhum! 07:33 But it was more of a religious culturethat you were living in 07:35 rather than having a one on one personal intimate relationship 07:39 with the Lord. 07:40 And then we were missionaries for ten years and then I came 07:47 home from the mission field, I visited my parents, my father 07:53 was seventy-eight at the time, he had a heart problem, he knew 07:59 he could drop dead any minute. 08:01 And here he was, he still had an eighteen year old boy at home 08:05 who was giving him more trouble than all the other ten children 08:10 put together. 08:11 And he realized something is wrong. 08:14 He knew only the over comer would be in heaven and he was 08:20 not over coming. 08:21 And he was running scared. 08:23 Your father. 08:24 My father, and he came to me and he said 'Margaret have I missed 08:30 something?' 08:31 'What do I need?' 08:34 Have I been deceived by my own spiritual conditions? 08:39 - Yes! 08:40 It was what he was asking. 08:41 ' Margaret help me!' 08:42 Were you able to help him then? 08:44 No. 08:45 I could have told him 'Try a little harder father. ' 08:49 Because that's what we've been doing. 08:51 We were ignorant of the righteousness that comes from 08:55 God, seeking to establish our own righteousness, we did not 08:59 know how to submit to God's righteousness. 09:03 And I had no answers. 09:09 But I went home determined I would find the answers 09:14 for my father. 09:15 And I started to study and at first it was hard, I was a 09:21 surface reader, I had read my Bible many times. 09:24 But I had not stopped to study it. 09:27 Yes. 09:28 There's a big difference. 09:29 To meditate on it. 09:31 What does it mean? 09:32 Yes. 09:33 How can I apply it in my life? 09:34 Right. 09:35 And now I had to find answers but gradually as I kept 09:41 searching, gradually I began to understand and gradually 09:47 the Bible just became a living book to me. 09:53 Amen. 09:54 Living water and living bread. 09:55 Amen. 09:56 And then I couldn't leave it alone, I want to spend all my 10:01 time studying. 10:03 And I found the answers and then I prayed 'Now Lord send me back 10:07 to my father. ' 10:08 And I just want to share some of the examples today, 10:15 I will go into the answers later, share some of the 10:21 examples today of how Jesus helped me to understand my lost 10:29 condition. 10:30 Let me ask you first, 10:33 your father was deceived about his condition. 10:37 He thought by being so strict and such a strict disciplinarian 10:40 and having a bunch of rules, he didn't realize you can't have 10:44 rules without relationship and be saved. 10:48 Were other people in the Bible that were like your father? 10:51 Were there people in the Bible' examples? 10:53 Yeah. Look at Nicodemus. 10:54 All right. 10:55 Ok. 10:56 Nicodemus was coming to find out if Jesus was the messiah. 11:00 Right. 11:02 Jesus looked into his heart and said 'Nicodemus you have a 11:05 problem. 11:06 You must be born again. 11:07 Nicodemus was startled at the thought of a kingdom too pure 11:13 for him to see in his present state. 11:16 And Jesus said ' Are you a ruler in Israel and you don't 11:21 understand this?' 11:22 Yes. 11:23 My husband was a minister, he hadn't understood it either. 11:26 And that's why he couldn't share it with me. 11:29 And so Jesus explained to Nicodemus, 'You must be born of 11:35 water and of the spirit. ' 11:38 And there are many, many of us who don't understand, you must 11:43 be born again. 11:44 How do you experience that new birth? 11:47 In order to be born again you must first yield yourself 11:52 completely to Christ. 11:54 Because how can God create a new heart and a new mind if you 11:59 don't yield the old one? 12:01 Amen. 12:02 And that's hard for people. 12:05 Yes it is. 12:06 To give up all for God and let Him work in us, His love, his 12:15 way. 12:16 Because by nature the heart is evil, we are told in the Bible. 12:21 We must be born again. 12:24 It's hard for some of us, we don't realize that, I remember 12:29 when I had returned to college at the age of thirty, how I 12:33 thought I was reading where Jesus said: 'Why do you call me 12:38 good? No one is good except God. ' 12:40 And I thought ' Wait a minute, you are God, 12:42 why would you say that?' 12:43 He was testing the heart to see if this man was merely 12:47 buttering him up if you will, or if he really saw him 12:50 as the messiah. 12:51 Now the Lord did show me that night, I prayed and said 'Father 12:54 You've got to show me, everyone's always told me what 12:57 a good person I am and if I'm not good show me. 13:00 And you know something? 13:01 For eight hours, from ten o'clock at night till six 13:06 in the morning, God gave me a review of my life. 13:10 It was amazing and He showed me the wrong motivations, 13:15 the selfish motivations, just seeking approval from men 13:19 if you will and in many instances trying to look good. 13:24 We don't see ourselves as not being 'good' but there is no 13:29 goodness except from God. 13:31 Right. 13:32 But aren't we... the part of this 13:35 surrender that you're talking 13:36 about, this yielding, when we go to the Lord, it's not just 13:41 saying, just simply saying 'Lord help me' but I need to be 13:46 filled with Your power. 13:49 Yes we need to be born again. 13:50 To be born again and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 13:54 That's right, the Bible puts it this way in Ephesians 4:22 13:58 ' Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner 14:03 of life and is corrupt through deceitful lust and be renewed 14:08 in the spirit of your mind and put on the new nature created 14:13 after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 14:18 Amen. 14:19 And so it is a new creation, it is supernatural. 14:25 You cannot do it by yourself. 14:29 But you can come to God with all that you have, surrender 14:33 it all and we will talk about that as we go through the steps. 14:37 But I want to share another example Jesus gave of people 14:44 thinking they were ready and they were not. 14:47 Right. 14:48 Think of the foolish virgins. 14:51 Matthew 25. 14:54 I never understood the foolish virgins, I never understood 14:59 about the Holy Spirit. 15:01 And, you know, so they didn't have oil, they didn't have 15:06 enough oil, but what does it really mean? 15:09 Let's for our viewers who may not be familiar with that story 15:12 just kind of recap that story. 15:17 It says: 'Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 15:22 ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the 15:25 bridegroom. 15:26 Five were wise, and five were foolish. 15:30 They that were foolish took their lamps, 15:33 and took no oil with them. 15:35 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ' 15:42 Umhum! 15:43 This is the area that helped me to understand. 15:46 You see, the lamp is the word of God. 15:51 My word is a lamp unto your feet, 15:53 and a light unto your path. 15:54 That's right. 15:55 And they were inviting the Holy Spirit to help them understand 15:58 the word of God. 15:59 We always did that. 16:00 Yes. 16:02 Ok, but they were also to take oil in their little vessels. 16:07 Right. 16:08 In the Bible what does the vessel represent? 16:11 The vessel is us. 16:13 That's right. 16:14 It's us and the five foolish virgins had neglected to invite 16:20 the Holy Spirit into their life. 16:23 So the oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit and the five wise 16:28 virgins invited, they went out with their lamp and with the 16:33 extra oil in their vessels so it was asking the Holy Spirit 16:38 'Come into my life, let me be led by Your spirit Father. 16:41 God fill me with Your spirit continually. ' 16:43 Yes. 16:44 But those five foolish virgins who thought they were, I'm sure 16:50 they thought that they were like your father, like your husband 16:56 they thought they were ready, but they went out, they had 16:59 a lamp with them but they had no oil in their lamps. 17:02 So it was a head knowledge, we would compare that to a head 17:05 knowledge of the scripture but not relying on the power of the 17:08 Holy Spirit. 17:09 That's right. 17:10 And so I learnt this lesson from this parable. 17:16 And what a difference it made in my life, finally understanding 17:21 what I needed. 17:23 Praise God. 17:24 And then there was another person that Jesus talked about. 17:28 The man who came to the wedding feast without the wedding 17:31 garment. 17:32 Umhum! 17:33 So now explain that. 17:35 And he was left out. 17:37 He couldn't enter and the wedding garment we read in 17:44 Revelations 19: 7, 8: " Let us be glad and rejoice and give 17:50 honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife 17:56 has made herself ready. ' 17:58 'And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine 18:04 linen, clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness 18:10 of saints. ' 18:12 The fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 18:16 Amen. 18:17 When we surrender ourselves to Christ, He works in us His 18:22 character. 18:23 And that is the fine linen that He wants the church to have. 18:30 Because we also read in Ephesians 5:25: ' And to her was 18:37 granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen' 18:42 Amen. 18:44 No, I've already read that. 18:46 'Christ loved the church and gave Himself for the church 18:52 that He might sanctify and cleanse it. 18:56 That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, 19:01 not having spot or wrinkle' or any such thing. 19:06 But now let's stop here for just a second Margaret because 19:10 I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression. 19:12 What you are saying here when you're talking about the robe 19:17 of righteousness, whose righteousness is this? 19:19 It's Christ. 19:21 It's Christ making up for all your past sins and then Christ 19:27 working in you his character. 19:30 It's all of Christ. 19:31 It's all of Christ and that's the point that we want to make 19:35 sure that we get across is that righteousness by faith is the 19:39 only kind of righteousness. 19:41 I knew Christ could forgive my sins. 19:43 I knew that. 19:44 And if I did a little sin I would immediately make it right. 19:49 But my heart sins I blamed on others. 19:55 If I got irritated, impatient, I excused them. 20:01 This is where the problem lies. 20:02 Yes. 20:04 I didn't have Christ's righteousness in me. 20:07 So you were accepting the fact that you had been justified 20:11 that your sins had been covered but you weren't letting Him do 20:15 that sanctifying work in you where He set you apart from evil 20:19 day by day. 20:20 Yeah, from the heart sins. 20:23 I never went out in the world but here, you see? 20:29 And that's the problem of the lukewarm. 20:32 I mean you think of the lukewarm. 20:34 Jesus says in Revelations: ' I would that you were hot or cold 20:39 but because you are lukewarm I must spew you out of my mouth. ' 20:44 Same problem. 20:46 they didn't understand how to open their hearts to receive 20:50 Christ. 20:51 I know you brought a diagram today to talk about that, 20:56 explain to us from Revelations 3:16 where He is talking about 21:02 the hot and the cold and the lukewarm. 21:05 What is that cold condition all about? 21:08 Well the cold know they are lost. 21:12 All of self is on the throne. 21:15 The hot know they have found a living connection, they have 21:20 come to the foot of the cross, they have given their lives to 21:24 Christ. 21:25 And they allow Christ to live in them, they are connected with 21:30 the vine, the branch and Jesus is able to work in them the 21:36 fruit of the spirit. 21:37 That's the hot. 21:39 The lukewarm think they are rich and increased with goods 21:44 and have need of nothing. 21:46 I didn't know I was lukewarm. 21:49 I was a hard worker for God. 21:52 And when my father cried for help and I went to study I 21:56 recognized I didn't have the inner experience. 22:00 And that's what this is all about. 22:03 How do we get the oil in our lives like the virgins, how do 22:08 we become hot Christians where we're really ready to say 22:13 'It's all You Lord, it's not about me it's about You. ' 22:18 As we get to know God and we have to get to know Him, we 22:24 cannot give our lives to Him fully, openly until we know Him. 22:29 Amen. 22:31 And so as I got to know God personally, I could open my 22:37 heart to Him and I could say 'Lord here I am. ' 22:40 Tell me about this trip, this journey as you were coming from 22:45 this place where so many people are and so many denominations 22:49 where they may know the word but they don't know the love of God. 22:54 What was the most surprising thing to you, as you got into 22:57 the word, not just to read it, but to study it, 23:00 to meditate on it? 23:01 What surprised you most about the Lord? 23:05 That He loved me. 23:07 Now I had love for my parents because I was so obedient. 23:12 So I did not fear God ever that way. 23:18 But the understanding of what He needed to do, to work in my 23:25 heart, how I needed to open myself to Him. 23:29 The understanding of the Holy Spirit, I didn't know anything 23:33 about the Holy Spirit, I didn't know 23:36 the work of the Holy Spirit. 23:37 So you didn't know He was to be your helper? 23:39 Well yes, but no. 23:42 You see. 23:43 You knew the scripture, you just didn't experience it. 23:45 That's right. 23:47 There's a vast difference between knowing theology and 23:51 knowing a living connection with the vine, Jesus Christ. 23:56 So that He through the Holy Spirit representing the sap 24:01 comes into the little branch and works the fruit of the 24:05 spirit in the life. 24:06 Amen. 24:08 That I didn't understand and so this is why I want to share 24:11 all the steps of how to come to that place. 24:15 In our next Issues program. 24:17 Wonderful. 24:19 Let me ask you as you were studying this and it's 24:22 interesting that the Lord used your father, your seventy-eight 24:25 years old father to be, and how old were you at the time? 24:28 Forty-two. 24:30 You were forty-two years old, been in the church all your life 24:34 married to a minister, and now you began searching to answer 24:38 the questions for your father. 24:40 God really, I mean you opened your heart to the Lord and you 24:45 began to experience that true conversion, being the new birth. 24:50 what did your husband think of all of this? 24:53 He's a pastor. 24:54 Right. 24:56 And I came to him from time to time and I would say 'Tom have 25:00 you ever understood this?' 25:02 Because he hadn't shared it with me and so I wondered. 25:06 Did he understand? 25:08 And at first he was 'I'm the minister. ' 25:12 I'm the author, I'm the minister. 25:14 Right. 25:15 But after a while he began to realize 'she's finding something 25:21 real. ' 25:24 And so then he too started studying for life, for his soul. 25:28 That pearl of great value that you are ready to sell everything 25:31 just to attain this. 25:33 Right. 25:34 Amen. 25:35 Now what about your father? 25:36 Well after I discovered how to put it all together then I 25:42 prayed 'Now Lord send me back to my father. ' 25:44 And we don't have time to go into all the ways the Lord 25:49 worked, it was a miraculous way that he worked. 25:53 And the Lord sent me back and I shared and my father during 26:02 the four years when I was studying 26:04 he too was deeply searching. 26:06 And so when I shared with him what I had found he caught on 26:10 very quickly. 26:11 Praise the Lord. 26:12 Yeah and the Lord had kept him alive during those four years. 26:15 So he experienced the new birth? 26:17 Yeah, he found a new way to be saved. 26:20 And did that heart change come as the Lord poured the Holy 26:25 Spirit into him, in his love? 26:27 You finally had the father that God intended him to be. 26:31 Right. 26:32 Praise the Lord. 26:33 But three weeks later he died. 26:35 Oh. 26:36 Yeah. 26:37 Isn't God so gracious? 26:38 God is good. 26:39 God wants us to be saved. 26:41 Absolutely. 26:42 He doesn't want us to be lost. 26:43 And he tries in every way to get our attention. 26:47 Praise the Lord. 26:48 So you know that you'll have eternity to 26:51 spend with your father. 26:52 I cannot say if my father will be in eternity because, you know 26:57 we don't know. 26:58 I just know what God did to open up the door for all of our 27:03 family to understand the way of salvation. 27:06 Praise the Lord. 27:08 Well Margaret it has been such a joy having you here today. 27:12 I want to thank you so much and I am thankful that you're 27:15 going to be coming back to do another 'Issues and Answers', 27:19 actually a couple more, so I just praise the Lord for the way 27:22 He's leading you and there's a lot I want to get to know about 27:25 you and share it with our viewers. 27:28 But now I just want to encourage you, the Bible says in Luke 11 27:33 verses 9-13, Jesus said this. 27:35 He said 'Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock 27:39 and keep on knocking. And it shall be given to you. ' 27:42 He said ' How much more will the Heavenly Father give the 27:45 Holy Spirit to those who ask and keep on asking. ' 27:49 God loves you and we're thankful that you joined us today. 27:53 Hope you were encouraged. 27:55 Good bye. |
Revised 2014-12-17