Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Margaret Davis
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000214
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00:30 Hello, I am Shelley Quinn and welcome again
00:32 to Issues and Answers. We are going to be 00:34 talking once more with Margaret Davis from 00:37 Armstrong, British Columbia. And our topic 00:39 today is going to be how can we cooperate 00:42 with God for salvation? You know, one of my 00:45 favorite scriptures and probably yours 00:47 as well in the Bible is Ephesians 2:8 that 00:49 says: That we are saved by grace through 00:51 faith, not by works that any man should 00:54 boast, but it goes on in verse10 and 00:56 He says, Paul writes: For we are God's 01:00 own handy work, His workmanship, His 01:03 work of art recreated in Christ Jesus 01:07 once we're born anew, that we might 01:10 do those good works which God predestined 01:13 before Him for us to do. The salvation 01:16 is by grace and I thank God everyday, 01:18 I tell Him that I am so glad that I am 01:20 saved by grace because Lord, I know I can 01:22 never save myself, still I know as 01:25 Margaret does that He is asking me 01:28 to cooperate for Him. And Margaret, 01:29 thanks for coming back 'cause you are 01:31 going to teach us today how we can 01:34 cooperate with God to take part in this 01:39 wonderful gift of salvation. That's right. 01:42 And I would like in case our viewers 01:44 didn't see you when you were here before 01:46 I would like for you to just tell us a little 01:48 bit about yourself. I grew up in the Church 01:55 and I tried for many years to follow God, 01:59 to do His will, to work for Him. And it wasn't 02:03 until I was about 42 and my father cried 02:08 for help that I couldn't help him and his 02:13 problems and so I went to search, how to 02:16 help him? And through the search I 02:19 discovered my own lost condition and. 02:24 Your father's cry for help we learned last 02:26 time was that he was a man who had brought 02:29 his children up in the Church, very strict 02:32 disciplinarian, had a long list of don'ts 02:35 and never understood how to experience 02:38 that new birth, and the conversion, and 02:40 the power that God gives us because 02:42 of His love, the power to save. 02:44 Yeah, so we had the obedience of law, 02:49 we did not understand the obedience of faith. 02:53 And the obedience of faith you lift your 02:57 soul to God and receive His Holy Spirit to 03:00 empower you. Amen. To do what He 03:04 wants you to do. Amen, now you are a minister's 03:07 wife and you are a missionary, where 03:10 were your missionary? In the Philippines 03:12 and in India. So, you for many years 42 years 03:16 you had been serving, grew up in the Church, 03:18 serving in the Church, but you had not really 03:21 experience that new birth and conversion. 03:24 Didn't know how the Holy Spirit worked? Well, 03:26 so tell us now what is one of the first thing 03:29 that God does? Now, that you have studied 03:32 this out. What is one of the first things He does 03:34 to bring us into that saving relationship 03:37 with Him? Well, I would like to share a text, 03:41 Philippines 2:12 and 13. It says: Workout 03:46 your own salvation with fear and trembling. 03:51 Amen. And we knew that text. And so, 03:55 we were working our own salvation. 03:59 I didn't know the next part. Amen. And many 04:02 people don't think of the next part. 04:04 For it is God which worketh in you both to 04:10 will and to do of his good pleasure. 04:13 And when I learned that then I said okay 04:17 Lord, Show me how to cooperate with You, 04:21 so that You can work in me. 04:24 So, you know your experience and mine was, 04:27 was similar and I think for many I apart from 04:29 Philippines 2:12 for a long time: Workout 04:32 your own salvation with fear and trembling. 04:34 And I did tremble, I was fearful. Until one day 04:38 the Lord showed me that I cannot separate 04:41 Philippines 2:12 from Philippines 2:13. Right. 04:43 It's not in your own strength that you 04:46 workout your own salvation. That's right. 04:47 It's God working in you to willing to act 04:50 according to His good pleasure, and He 04:52 is asking us to workout what He puts in us, 04:55 right? So, what should our response 04:57 be to such a great God? And, and so then when 05:00 I wanted to share it with others I developed 05:03 a chart where I show that God has a part. Okay. 05:09 And we have a part. And God's part, all of God's 05:15 part has to do with working in us. All 05:19 of our part has to do with working out 05:22 what God has already worked in. Amen. 05:25 But He doesn't do everything at once, 05:27 He waits for our cooperation; you see 05:32 it's together working. And so, we look at 05:36 the first one, He will draw all. The Bible 05:41 says in John 12:32: I, if I be lifted up from 05:48 the earth will draw all men unto me. Amen. 05:53 Then we have to respond. And so, this is how 05:57 I am going to share. And so, as we sense 06:05 God drawing us then what must we do? 06:15 I thought I had responded all my life and 06:22 God knew I was a foolish virgin, He knew it. 06:25 Now, explain what you mean by a foolish virgin 06:28 'cause some people may not understand that? 06:30 Right, I share that last time and a foolish 06:33 virgin has, has been reading the Bible, 06:37 but has not understood how to invite 06:39 the Holy Spirit into the life. And this comes 06:42 from Mathew 25 where the Lord is talking about 06:44 the ten virgins. Right. Five wise, five foolish 06:47 and we determined last time that the wise 06:50 ones when the Bible says that they went out 06:52 with their lamp and with extra oil in their 06:55 vessel, that the lamp is the word of God 06:59 and that the oil in the vessel in us is the 07:03 Holy Spirit. Right. But you are one of those 07:06 foolish ones, you had a lamp, but you did 07:09 not we are not relying on the Holy Spirit 07:11 or the power of the Holy Spirit, okay. And, 07:15 and God knew I was sincere and so He kept 07:21 knocking at my door, you know and He says, 07:23 behold I stand at the door and knock. 07:26 I didn't know what the knock was for? But I, 07:30 but the impression was study, study. 07:34 Year-after-year He knocked study. 07:38 And it wasn't until my father cried for help 07:41 that I knew what I have to study. Right. 07:46 As I studied the plan of salvation I 07:50 discovered many things. The very first and 07:55 most important thing is to melt the soul by 07:58 the love of God. Amen. We have to know 08:01 that God loves us. Amen. Our son didn't 08:03 feel that God loved Him because he had 08:05 dyslexia and the teachers rejected him, 08:09 they didn't understand what he had and so 08:11 forth. He didn't feel savable and it wasn't 08:14 until we discovered his problem and he realized 08:18 how much God loved him. Amen. That he could 08:20 relate to God. And so, we need to 08:23 understand God loves us with an everlasting 08:27 love and with loving kindness He draws us. 08:30 Amen. And I think of all the years that I was 08:33 the foolish virgin and didn't know the way, 08:35 but He was continually trying to get my 08:39 attention and helping me and drawing me 08:42 to Himself, if we do not resists we 08:47 shall be drawn to the foot of the Cross. 08:50 We are not as we stop resisting what 08:54 can He do? Well, Jesus came to save us from 09:00 sin. The Bible says: That He Himself bore 09:04 our sins in his body on the tree, that we 09:08 might die to sin and live to righteousness. 09:11 And so, He has to bring us to the place 09:14 where He can convict us of our sinful state 09:21 and then cleanse us from all unrighteousness 09:25 and since I had been a good girl all through 09:29 my life and tried my very best to do what was 09:32 right and my only sins were a little impatience 09:36 and irritation with the children and a little 09:38 resentment toward my husband. You know, 09:42 those sins I didn't feel so lost, but now I 09:47 realized that's the very character of the person 09:52 as a man thinketh in his heart, so 09:55 is He. And so, I began to realize that I 09:59 had no righteousness. Because the Bible 10:03 tells us in Isaiah 64:6 that: All our 10:06 righteousness is filthy rags? Filthy rags, 10:08 right? So, you weren't looking to Jesus for 10:10 salvation, you were trying to save yourself. 10:13 I was trying to be good right. And now, 10:15 I was convicted I had no righteousness, 10:18 I was not ready for the judgment like the Bible 10:22 says: He will come and reprove us and help us 10:25 to understand our condition. And as I 10:28 understood my condition what did 10:31 I have to do? Acknowledge my guilt. 10:36 The Bible says, return faithful, faithless 10:42 Israel, says the Lord. I will not look on you 10:45 in anger, for I am merciful, says the Lord. 10:49 Only acknowledge your guilt, but you rebelled 10:54 against the Lord your God. That's in 10:56 Jeremiah 3, isn't it? Yes, Jeremiah 3:13. 11:00 And you see this was where my father was 11:05 stuck. He could, now I think knowledge 11:09 is guilt. I think the scripture right before 11:12 that the Lord says, I thought you would 11:14 call me Father and not turn away from 11:17 following me. And that's what He wants 11:21 us to have that intimate one-on-one personal 11:24 relationship with Him as a child and a Father 11:27 trusting. But we think we have it, we think 11:30 we have it, see but if we excuse our heart 11:34 sins we are actually working out our own 11:37 salvation because we are not allowing God 11:41 to work in the heart. We are not allowing the 11:44 Holy Spirit to give us His righteousness 11:49 and that's what our problem was. And my 11:55 father could not acknowledge that he 11:58 was wrong. And when I went to visit and 12:03 we were talking about what is righteousness, 12:07 how do we find it? And he, some of my 12:13 brothers and sisters said, let's pray, and 12:15 let's make sure there is nothing between 12:17 the Lord and our souls. And my sister looked 12:23 up at the father hoping he could 12:25 acknowledge how deeply he had wronged her? 12:27 He couldn't do it. And he jumped up and ran 12:30 outside and I jumped up and ran after him 12:34 to protect him from himself. What do 12:38 you mean to protect him? Well, I remembered 12:41 as a child, if my father had to take the blame 12:45 for getting angry or whatever he did, 12:49 he could threaten to kill himself. And so, 12:52 I put my arms around his neck and I held 12:55 him tight. And then, I said Lord what shall I 12:59 say to my father? And the Lord gave me strong 13:03 words I said, dad you have so deeply wronged 13:09 your children, the only one you have not 13:13 wronged is me. He thought for a moment 13:18 he said, Margaret I have wronged you too. 13:22 What was he doing? For the first time 13:26 acknowledging his guilt and then he took me into 13:31 the house and the guilt just poured out. 13:35 The guilt of his youth, the guilt of his 13:37 fatherhood and he said Margaret help me. 13:41 Bless his heart. And I couldn't help him. 13:45 And so, that's why I went home and studied, 13:48 and that's why the Bible says, only acknowledge 13:52 your guilt. Yes. That you rebelled against 13:56 the Lord your God. Don't blame anyone 13:58 else for anything that you do wrong, 14:02 go to God and say, Lord I have sinned, 14:08 if I get impatient whose sin is it? It's mine, 14:13 it's not my husband's, it's not my children's, 14:17 it's mine. So, your father was at that point 14:21 where he took the first step toward salvation 14:24 and that is acknowledging your guilt. 14:26 Acknowledging his guilt. Now, what's next? 14:28 Because how can God cleanse me, if 14:31 I don't give Him my sins. Right. If I don't 14:34 acknowledge. The Bible says in Jeremiah 3:13: 14:38 Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled 14:44 against the Lord your God. Right. And I began 14:48 to realize, if I get impatient with 14:53 my children or irritated or have resentment 14:56 towards my husband, I am sinning. Right! 15:01 And I was convicted and I needed to go to 15:04 God and say: Lord, I have sinned, forgive me. 15:10 And if we confess our sins what will He do? 15:13 He is faithful and just to not only forgives 15:15 our sins, but cleanse us from all 15:18 unrighteousness. Next verse John 1:9, 15:22 and what if we excuse our unrighteousness? 15:25 Right! See I would never excuse cheating or 15:28 lying or stealing! People don't excuse those sins. 15:33 They just excuse their heart sins! The anger, 15:37 yes, the bitterness, because they feel 15:39 someone else had done something and they have 15:41 a right, okay, to feel that way. And yet this 15:45 is the very heart of the matter. Right! 15:48 How can Jesus cleanse my heart if I don't 15:52 give him my heart sins? Amen. So, I went 15:56 to God and I said: Lord, here I give you my right 16:00 to have resentment toward my husband 16:02 no matter what he does. I give you my right 16:06 to get irritated with the children no matter 16:09 what they do. I want you to work in me your 16:14 spirit, your love, so that I can be loving and 16:19 understanding, and I can deal with my family 16:23 in love. What is the greatest problem in 16:26 families? These little problems, yes, that 16:30 irritate and that bring about quarreling and 16:33 resentment, and I began to understand 16:36 what real religion was! So, when you pray 16:39 this Margaret, I'm interested when 16:40 you went to the Lord and said: Okay! I'm 16:43 giving up rights to self, rights to being offended 16:47 because once the Lord told me, and you know 16:50 what I'm saying when I say that the still 16:51 small voice of the Lord came, impressed 16:53 upon my mind, that the spirit of offense is 16:55 a spirit of pride, which is a Spirit of 16:58 Antichrist. And when we think about that 17:00 you really cannot be offended unless your 17:02 pride does get in the way. So, when 17:04 you go before the Lord and say, I give 17:06 up my right to be offended, I give up my 17:08 right to be resentful. What did He do in you? 17:11 Well as soon as I surrendered all, right? 17:16 Now I was not just surrendering other sins, 17:19 which I had not done, but the heart sins. 17:22 Then He could change my heart! Then 17:25 He could create a new heart and a new mind 17:28 and a new attitude, a new way of understanding 17:32 what it meant to be a Christian! And I 17:34 knew immediately He had changed my attitude 17:37 toward my husband. And I said thank You Lord, 17:40 I believed He could cleanse me from all 17:44 unrighteousness when I went all the way with 17:47 Him. So, God's part is: we come to Him, 17:50 I mean first He's drawing us to Him Yes! 17:54 And He is the one who's gonna give us, grant 17:58 us forgiveness and repentance, turn us 18:01 away from those sins. Yes! He is going to 18:03 empower us what's our part? What is the 18:06 obedience by faith? Well up until this point 18:10 He's not even asking us to be obedient, okay. 18:13 He's asking us to acknowledge our guilt 18:17 and then He works in us repentance, true heart 18:21 surrender, right. And then as we surrender to 18:25 Him then He cleanses us, right from all 18:30 unrighteousness and gives us a new heart, and 18:34 a new mind, and then He asks us follow me, 18:38 right. And I just want to read a few quotes 18:45 here on His part of forgiving and cleansing 18:50 and regenerating. "If we confess our sins He 18:53 is faithful and just forgive us our sins and 18:57 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 18:59 You see 1 John 1:9 for those, yes, forgiveness 19:03 has two parts, amen, forgiving and cleansing 19:07 and regenerating, amen That's why Jesus said 19:11 except you're born again, you cannot see the 19:14 Kingdom of Heaven. And it said this point 19:16 of total surrender, where Jesus can create a 19:20 new heart and a new mind, exactly, because 19:24 He can cleanse us from all of the old ways 19:27 of thinking. And that's when 2 Corinthians 5:17 19:31 says "We can become new creations in Christ 19:34 because the oldest fall, the newest come". 19:36 The resentment, the bitterness, 19:37 the anything was there God takes away. How 19:43 many of us could knock at the door of heaven 19:45 and say Lord, let me in if we have bitterness 19:49 toward someone, toward parents or anyone. 19:54 How could He let us in? He can't, He cannot 19:57 take sin into heaven. He must take it away 20:00 from us, and so it's very important to 20:03 understand the heart sins. That would 20:07 be even like when Jesus was talking about 20:10 in Matthew 5 that, you know, we know it's evil 20:14 to commit murder, but He said: If you hate 20:17 someone that's part murder. It's evil and 20:20 it's against the law of God to commit adultery, 20:23 but He's saying if you lust after someone, 20:25 so it's that heart sin that you're talking 20:28 about that. When we are born again Colossians 20:32 1:27 says that Christ in us is our hope of glory, 20:35 the hope of being changed. So, 20:37 this is what you are talking about, yeah. 20:39 Gods gonna do it all for us. He works in 20:41 us to line our will up to His will. Then when 20:45 we say okay, Lord and we're ready to step 20:48 forth. Now He's gonna work in us to act 20:51 to obey. We're ready to give our hearts and let 20:53 them be cleansed from all corruption. Then 20:58 He says: I will live in you, amen. But, now, 21:01 there is a very important part for us to do 21:05 when He has promised to forgive and cleanse, 21:08 what do you think is our part? After total 21:12 surrender? To believe, to believe amen, to 21:15 believe He can cleanse you, to believe 21:18 He can change you, okay, without faith 21:21 it is impossible to please God, amen. And if 21:26 we don't believe He can do it, He can't do it. 21:32 I agree, you see, I agree. And so it's 21:34 a very important step for us to cooperate 21:38 with God and believe what He can do. 21:42 You know, when the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 21:44 "Without faith it's impossible to please 21:46 Him." One time I was praying Margaret and 21:48 I asked the Lord why is that impossible? 21:51 You walked this Earth, you know how the 21:53 challenges, and He took me to 1 John 5:10 21:56 and it says there that: "If we disregard 21:59 the testimony of God we're regarding God 22:01 as a liar" no wonder it's impossible. 22:04 And so He can't do a work in us if we are 22:08 not gonna trust in Him, that's right, 22:10 believing that His promises are ours 22:12 in Christ Jesus. But, how do you get that kind 22:15 of faith? The Bible said faith comes by hearing 22:20 what? The words of God. And as I 22:25 searched the word of God I began to have 22:28 that kind of faith, amen. I realized what 22:32 God expected of me, how to cooperate 22:35 with Him and then how to come in to 22:37 that living faith, that accepts what God can 22:42 do in a heart, amen. You know the Israelites, 22:49 as they were traveling in the wilderness, 22:51 they started murmurings and grumbling. 22:55 And God gave them a freedom, He withdrew 23:00 Himself a bit and said okay, if you're 23:03 grumbling all the time I'll withdraw a little 23:06 bit let you do what you want. And 23:07 the snakes came out and bit them. They 23:10 were always there but God had protected them. 23:13 Then they cried to God because they were dying. 23:18 And then they put up this pole in the 23:20 wilderness and if they were to look at that 23:24 brazen serpent and believed that God could 23:26 heal them, He could do it. Many looked 23:31 they were instantly healed, but others 23:35 didn't look and they died in their sins, 23:38 in their grumbling. That's amazing. 23:41 We must believe what God can do 23:45 through Jesus, amen. So, that's our first part, 23:47 I mean that's after we've surrendered 23:50 our part in cooperating with God is to trust 23:52 Him, trust Him and lean not on own 23:54 understanding, but lean on what His word says. 23:57 And in the next session we will talk about 23:59 How to have victory day by day? What 24:02 to do if you fall? Wonderful, yeah it's 24:06 very-very important to understand 24:08 how to cooperate with God and it works. 24:12 Amen, now you've mentioned the obedience 24:14 by faith, we only got a few minutes 24:17 left. Explain to me what you mean, 24:19 and explain to our viewers what you 24:20 mean by obedience by faith. 24:22 I will explain in the next session, but 24:24 I'll do it a little bit. When temptation comes 24:28 to me if I lift my soul to God, I receive 24:35 the power to do whatever I need to do 24:39 to resist, amen. If God tells me to do 24:43 something and I lift my soul to God to receive 24:46 the power, He empowers me to do what He wants 24:49 me to do, amen. You know, it's not hard to 24:53 be a Christian when you understand 24:55 how to cooperate with God. Moment by 24:59 moment He is there to empower you with 25:02 His love, His forgiveness, His caring 25:06 for others. So, that you can live His love 25:09 and love is the fulfilling of the law, 25:11 amen. And that reminds me of a scripture 25:15 in Hebrews 13 and verse 20 it says 25:20 "Now made a God of peace who brought again 25:23 from among the dead Lord Jesus Christ 25:25 that great Shepard of the sheep. By the blood 25:29 of the everlasting covenant may this God 25:32 strengthen, complete perfect and make you 25:35 what you want to be and equip you with 25:37 everything good for doing His will." 25:40 And he will do that. And it's so sad when 25:43 we try to do Gods will without His power 25:46 because we can't. It doesn't work, it 25:49 doesn't. You might be able to do the outward 25:52 things but the heart, amen the heart can 25:56 be full of pride and envy and jealousy. 25:59 You know Margaret; you wrote a book called 26:01 "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26:05 And actually it's a compilation of 26:06 scriptures and inspired Bible writing. 26:10 And this little book can be gotten, I mean 26:16 first of all the Lord is using it in a mighty 26:20 way. You told me you've had Muslims 26:22 who've joined the church. You've had Jehovah's 26:28 witnesses who've come into greater truths. 26:31 And you said that this is available on your 26:35 website and that's: www.whatshallido.org, 26:41 right. And this is a result after you learned 26:47 this things God gave you a ministry to go 26:50 out and do seminars, right, to teach people 26:53 how to learn to surrender to God and 26:56 live totally dependent upon Him. 26:58 When I went and shared with my family and 27:01 my father then they said Margaret, you 27:04 can't keep this to yourself. This will 27:06 change our whole lives and that's how my 27:09 ministry started, because then people started 27:13 to ask me, to come and share and so for 27:15 30 years I've been on the road anywhere 27:19 in the world, whatever the Lord calls, 27:21 praise the Lord I've been doing my seminars. 27:23 Well Margaret I am so glad that you have 27:25 joined us today, and I know you're gonna be 27:28 back we're going to learn some more from 27:30 Margaret Davis. And I want to encourage you 27:32 if you are looking for the answer to what shall 27:35 you do to inherit eternal life? You can go 27:39 to her website at www.whatshallido.org 27:44 and order this precious book. Now may the grace 27:48 of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father 27:50 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be 27:52 with you today and always. Thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17