Participants: Bill Liversidge
Series Code: IHS
Program Code: IHS000005A
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00:13 Eat the bread, you will have life.
00:15 Eat my flesh, you will have life. 00:18 Drink My blood, you will have life. 00:21 The evidence is our willingness to hear 00:24 and to abide the Word of the God, 00:26 especially since we realize this is God speaking. 00:32 This is not an ordinary book we are talking about 00:36 this morning this is the word of life. 00:40 This is the Word of God we have in His presence. 00:46 The Holy Spirit's ability to inspire. 00:58 As you thank this morning look up the crowd here, 01:03 praise God that people in Washington like 01:06 to get up early in the morning. 01:09 Doesn't happen all over the country trust me. 01:13 But it seems to be okay in Washington 01:15 and I'm grateful for that. 01:18 We are moving on today to the Holy Spirit's ability 01:21 to "Inspire With Love." 01:29 Appreciate all the amen's for that. 01:31 Amen. Wow, great beginning. 01:36 Open your Bibles with me to Ephesians Chapter 3 01:39 as we read a passage of scripture. 01:43 Ephesians 3:16, "That he would grant you, 01:46 according to the riches of his glory, 01:49 to be strengthened with power 01:52 through his Spirit in the inner man" 01:54 that's where we were yesterday, 01:55 remember putting on the mind of Jesus. 01:58 Having Christ coming into your inner man. 02:03 "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" 02:09 and when Jesus dwells in your heart through faith 02:12 what happens? 02:14 You become rooted and grounded in? 02:17 Love. Love. 02:19 Isn't that beautiful? 02:21 Yeah. 02:22 "You become rooted and grounded in love, 02:24 and you may be able to comprehend 02:25 with all the saints what is the breath 02:29 and length and height and dept of the love of God 02:36 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, 02:41 that you may be filled up with" 02:44 Love. 02:45 Can you believe He actually said that? 02:47 How much of God is He offering to us? 02:49 Wholeness. 02:51 The fullness of Himself is being made available 02:55 through Jesus Christ in us 02:58 and its all summarized by the height 03:01 and length and breath and dept of His love. 03:06 I think sometimes I got a little handle 03:09 on the love of God and God opens my eyes 03:11 and shows me that it's an onion I peel off that layer 03:14 and there is another layer of His incredible love 03:18 reveals itself and I'm overwhelmed. 03:23 "Further Him he was able to do abundantly beyond all" 03:26 I can't read it here 03:28 "that we ask or think according to the power 03:31 that lies within us to Him be" 03:34 "Glory." 03:36 We are getting into glorification now 03:37 and notice who is being glorified. 03:40 The sanctuary message is about 03:42 people claiming justification every morning 03:46 moving into the sanctification experience 03:49 in order to glory God in their lives. 03:54 That's the whole purpose of the redemptive process. 03:58 Not for me to get to heaven 04:01 but to bring about the glorification 04:03 and the vindication of God Himself. 04:08 Isn't that powerful? 04:10 This is a remarkable chapter here 04:12 and God is to be glorified in, what does it say? 04:17 Church. The church. 04:20 You love that? Amen. 04:22 God is to be glorified in the church. 04:25 The purpose of having a church on earth 04:29 in your location is not to prove 04:32 that our doctrines are superior 04:35 or that our lifestyle will help you to live 04:37 a few more years as great as that is. 04:40 A purpose of having a church in your community 04:45 is to glorify God. 04:51 And you do that by becoming the most loving 04:56 and lovable Christians. 05:00 That's how we glorify God. 05:07 I probably should sit down at this point 05:08 because that's says it all, doesn't it? 05:11 That's the most convicting thing we can ever hear. 05:14 God is to be glorified in His church. 05:18 Wow. 05:19 Jesus has profound teachings on this, 05:22 I'm still intrigued by the depth 05:24 of the teachings of Jesus. 05:26 I spent all these years using Paul 05:29 and God has finally opened my eyes 05:31 to see the magnificence of the teachings of Jesus 05:35 and how deep they are. 05:38 Slip over with me to the Sermon on the Mount this morning 05:41 because it's all about love 05:44 and Jesus teachings on love they just blow me away. 05:48 Matthew Chapter 5, Matthew 5, 05:51 and Jesus told about love in the most unlikely setting. 05:56 He starts talking about the Ten Commandments 05:59 and which one does He choose in order to teach about love? 06:06 It's the last commandment that I would choose. 06:10 It was also one of the commandments 06:12 that I had fooled myself into thinking for years, 06:15 well, at least I have never broken that one. 06:20 Oh, how we deceive ourselves? 06:23 Which commandment did He choose? 06:26 "Thou shalt not kill." 06:31 If you are gonna teach about love 06:32 would you start talking about thou shalt not kill? 06:36 Would that be the most effective vehicle 06:39 to share the understanding of the love of God? 06:42 Thou shalt not kill. Wow. 06:49 You never heard this before prepare, 06:52 to have your eyes open here because this is profound. 06:57 Jesus opens up the subject, thou shalt not kill, wow. 07:03 Look at verse 17 the verse we know well. 07:07 "Don't think that I came to abolish the law 07:10 or the prophets. 07:12 I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." 07:16 And the Greek word fulfill is understood 07:19 by reversing the two halves of the word. 07:22 If you want to understand the word fulfill 07:24 just turn it around 07:26 and have it say a fill full of meaning, 07:29 that's what it means. 07:31 Jesus is saying I came to fill the law full of meaning. 07:39 And here is the profound meaning 07:42 of thou shalt not kill. 07:43 I love this. 07:45 It's so simple and yet it's so profound. 07:49 And now look at verse 20, "I say to you, 07:53 that except your righteousness surpasses 07:56 that of the scribes and Pharisees, 07:59 you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." 08:01 The scribes and the Pharisees they knew the law. 08:05 They even had many additional volumes of rules. 08:10 They had 600 rules for example associated 08:13 with keep the Sabbath and then they spent their lives 08:16 trying to get around them. 08:19 Six hundred rules about Sabbath keeping allowed 08:22 think of that. 08:24 They made the law into a great burden. 08:28 Jesus has come to teach us the true meaning 08:32 to fill it full of meaning and He does it by letting on to 08:37 and He chooses two commandments. 08:39 One is thou shalt not kill, 08:41 the other is thou shalt not commit adultery. 08:43 They are both so profound, they blow you away. 08:48 And here is thou shalt not kill. 08:50 Let's see what He has to say about it. 08:54 Verse 21, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 08:56 "You shall not commit murder'" or thou shalt not kill 09:00 "'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 09:03 But I say to you" 09:06 is Jesus trying to tell us something there? 09:09 This is the lawgiver Himself, remember. 09:13 I say to you, the scribes and the Pharisees 09:15 are horrified when Jesus say-- 09:19 Hey this is what the law says but I say to you. 09:23 Jesus is actually identifying Himself 09:26 in the Sermon on the Mount 09:27 with the great I'm of the Old Testament. 09:31 He is the I'm, He is the authority. 09:35 He not only gave the law He is the best qualified person 09:39 to reveal the depth of meaning in it. 09:42 Why he had made it into such a burden 09:46 that I say, unto you and notice now 09:51 where He goes with this. 09:52 Verse 22 becomes a huge verse now. 09:56 Verse 22 and that's an interesting verse 09:58 because you've got three levels here. 10:03 Three levels, first of all if you are angry 10:08 with your brother 10:10 you will be in danger of judgment or the court. 10:17 Judgment. 10:19 And by the way that is the word for the civil court. 10:24 Like if we have a problem with a neighbour 10:26 we can go to civil court and we can sort it out. 10:30 It's the common word for court in Jewish society. 10:35 That's the first level of anger. 10:39 Interesting that in these discussions 10:40 of thou shalt not kill, the one thing that 10:42 Jesus never actually mentions 10:46 is taking somebody's life. 10:51 Isn't that interesting? 10:52 Not one mention of the physical act 10:57 of killing somebody, not even mentioned. 11:02 That's why I had deluded myself by it said well, 11:05 that's once commandment 11:07 I'm confident I've never violated. 11:11 That's because I wasn't understanding it with clarity. 11:15 But the level is pretty clear, 11:16 if you are angry with your brother 11:19 you are in danger of the court, judgment. 11:23 Basic thing, common in our society too. 11:27 We are a very litigious society, aren't we? 11:31 People love a chance to sue one another in court. 11:33 Look at the second level now 11:37 and verse 22, whoever says to his brother, 11:44 Raca shall be in danger of what? 11:49 The council and the other word in your version, 11:55 the advance version look up the word Sanhedrin. 11:59 Council is already on the board or Supreme Court 12:04 that's the other possibility, Supreme Court. 12:07 This was the highest court 12:09 in Jewish society the Sanhedrin. 12:12 It's like, it's the equivalent of our Supreme Court. 12:16 The ultimate authority in Judaism was the Sanhedrin. 12:21 You had to be married by the way to be a member 12:23 of the Sanhedrin, that's how we know 12:25 the Apostle Paul was actually a married man. 12:28 We are not sure what happened 12:30 but we know that he had to have been married 12:31 in to be in the Sanhedrin, be in the council. 12:35 Well, that is beside the point. 12:38 Second level and does anyone 12:39 to marginal reference to the word Raca? 12:44 If you say to your brother Raca 12:47 and new version says, vain fellow. 12:53 I put it here in parenthesis (vain fellow) 12:56 anyone go to different word 12:58 to that in your marginal reference. 13:00 That man with the good voice back here is with us again, 13:03 praise the Lord. 13:05 Idiot. Idiot, okay, idiot. 13:08 Idiot. 13:11 Its not the most serious thing we can say about somebody. 13:15 Now there is one other expression that 13:17 maybe could emerge here. 13:19 A rascal, yes, you can see that it's not the most serious word 13:23 because rascal itself is not a terribly derogatory term. 13:27 Okay, so we've got this rather light. 13:30 It's a little advancement on just being angry. 13:34 You are angry enough now to use an epithet, 13:37 to use a word. 13:39 You know, you are an idiot, buddy. 13:41 You are dingbat. You are rascal. 13:47 All right, don't mind header me please, 13:49 you run a hid, you run a hid. 13:51 We have to look the word bring this fourth now, 13:54 its very important. 13:55 Now you've got these two things have come out 13:57 but the third level now, notice it very carefully 14:01 and also be ready for maybe because your margin 14:05 should have an interesting word 14:06 coming through the third level that, 14:12 "Whoever shall say 'You fool' 14:18 shall be in danger of hellfire." 14:23 Hell fire, and immediately we start recognizing 14:27 that there is a line here, don't we? 14:32 Because the first two levels of anger 14:36 only bring you before the courts of men 14:42 but the third level of anger will bring you 14:47 before the divine court of God's judgment. 14:50 You are in danger of hell fire. 14:53 So Jesus is making a huge leap now. 14:57 He's had two categories to put you 14:59 in danger of man's judgment 15:03 and if you've been to court you've tasted that 15:07 but there is a third level. 15:11 If you call-- 15:12 Oh, man, I'm taking a hand on this now. 15:14 Is anyone-- does anyone have a word 15:16 in their margin there for fool? 15:20 The word in Greek is the word, moron. 15:24 Moron, same as our English word, moron. 15:31 And if you are looking at the word moron 15:34 and you are actually accused someone seriously 15:37 of being a moron you are actually making 15:41 an accusation to them about their mental 15:45 and intellectual capacity 15:47 and perhaps the limitations even in terms of serving God. 15:52 A moron would have serious limitations. 15:56 Jesus is so particular in His words. 16:00 Don't you love that? 16:02 We missed in English of course 16:03 well, these common little words like fool and idiot 16:08 but here is the word moron 16:10 which has serious implications build into it. 16:13 And interestingly enough 16:15 the root of our own common word in English, 16:19 if you call someone a moron 16:24 you place yourself in danger of hellfire. 16:31 Is that sinking in? 16:34 Men, is that hitting you? 16:37 I hope its hitting you. 16:40 Jesus is making a clear distinction 16:44 between the first two categories and the third. 16:48 And now Jesus illustrates the truth. 16:55 He tells a little story. 16:58 Jesus is the master storyteller you all know that 17:01 and He tells a little story who illustrate his point 17:06 and it took me quite a while to realize 17:08 that the little story is tied together 17:10 with this third category, not with the first two 17:15 which have a high degree of harm built in to them 17:18 but this third category places somebody in danger of hellfire. 17:26 It has very serious ramifications 17:30 if you call somebody else seriously a moron. 17:33 So Jesus as He tells the little story 17:36 is actually illustrating now the third 17:39 and serious category 17:43 and that we catch this from verse 23. 17:47 I'm always fascinated by conjunctions. 17:51 How does verse 23 begin? 17:57 My version has a double infinity 17:59 where it says, "If therefore" 18:04 and it's the use of therefore here 18:06 which ties us back to the third reference 18:11 to calling somebody a moron. 18:13 Keep that in mind. 18:15 He's just made the pronouncement about moron 18:18 and the danger of hellfire now if therefore. 18:25 Jesus is about to give you 18:27 an illustration of this third statement. 18:34 It only took me 25 years to hear this. 18:39 As you guys, you are all on such a vow, 18:40 and yesterday you probably hear it 18:42 in minutes here this morning. 18:45 If therefore 18:47 and now that is unexpected statement comes out, 18:49 "If therefore you are presenting 18:53 your offering at the altar, and remember" 19:01 not that you've got something against your brother 19:05 but you remember "that your brother 19:09 has something against you." 19:12 That's not well. Where is he going with this? 19:16 He is illustrating this third principle here 19:19 and He tells this little story 19:21 if you're bringing your offering 19:22 to God like in an active worship, 19:25 and while you are doing it you remember not that 19:28 you've got something you need to make right 19:31 but you remember that 19:33 your brother has something against you. 19:39 Very profound. 19:42 What should you do? 19:44 You should leave your offering there by the altar, 19:49 let me read it here. 19:52 Verse 24 "Leave your offering there before the altar 19:57 and go your way. 19:58 First be reconciled to your brother 20:03 and then come and present your offering." 20:09 Wow. Wow. 20:12 For His, His illustration of this third principle here 20:15 and by the way, this is all about, 20:22 thou shalt not kill. 20:25 And its about to illustrate the great, 20:27 you are correct, 20:28 it's about to illustrate the great love principle. 20:35 You are bringing your gift to God 20:38 and you are convicted that your brother 20:42 has something against you, put your gift down. 20:49 You don't go ahead with it as an active worship. 20:52 You go and seek your brother 20:54 and how many times of people said to be by? 20:56 I didn't stop this thing. 21:00 I had to remind that has nothing to do 21:03 who started this thing. 21:05 Nothing to do with it. 21:09 Jesus is trying to teach a really deep lesson. 21:13 He will say, your mind should be actually saying 21:15 to you at this moment. 21:16 First of all what is this have to do with, 21:21 thou shalt not kill 21:23 and secondly how does it explain this? 21:29 Now we got a link now. 21:30 We have to like, this is how Jesus teaching 21:32 is so masterful. 21:35 First of all He leads us to this 21:39 and He brings in this. 21:42 He goes from here to here 21:45 and now if you remember 21:54 your brother or your sister 21:55 of course as something against you. 22:00 You may not have done anything who precipitate this situation 22:07 but you know that your brother or sister 22:12 for whatever reason has something against you. 22:19 Apparently you're biblical duty 22:23 and responsibility is to go to that person and seek what? 22:28 What's the word that's used there? 22:31 Reconciliation. Seek reconciliation. 22:36 After reconciliation has been affected come then 22:41 and present your gift to God. 22:48 But Jesus is linking together. Look what He has done? 22:52 Thou shalt not kill is tied together 22:55 with calling somebody a moron, 23:00 putting oneself in danger of hellfire 23:05 and incredibly illustrate it 23:08 remembering that someone 23:13 has something against you. 23:22 Wow. 23:25 That only took me 25 years 23:27 to tie those three thoughts together. 23:33 Hitting anyone here this morning in seconds and minutes? 23:38 Reconnections coming together, 23:40 thou shalt not kill or no man a fool 23:47 and remember if your brother has something against you. 23:54 What makes it so imperative that we act when we know that 23:59 someone has something against us? 24:03 And I know how easy it is to rationalize 24:06 and justify yourself 24:08 and say well, I didn't stop this. 24:10 I've never responded to it 24:11 or actually been in that situation myself. 24:15 And I've never responded to it. I felt righteous, you know. 24:20 I don't know whether you've ever had an enemy 24:22 but I had an enemy for 25 years 24:24 at the highest levels of our church in Washington D.C. 24:28 and I don't know why this man felt 24:30 he had to spend his life in ministry bad mouthing me. 24:34 I keep hearing these things all over the world. 24:37 I went to him three times and said, what is the problem? 24:42 We've never had a misunderstanding, 24:43 we certainly had disagreements sitting on committees 24:46 in the General Conference 24:47 but I've never had a personal disagreement 24:50 with this individual and yet he is bad mouthing me 24:54 all over the world and God said to me 24:56 you are to never to respond to this ever. 25:00 But for 25 years I shut my mouth 25:02 and it nearly killed me. 25:04 I was so angry with this guy. 25:06 I wanted to kick him in the backside. 25:09 I went to him three times and said, I begged him 25:12 what is the problem? 25:13 If I've done something I'm sorry, 25:15 let's get is sorted out. 25:16 No, there is no problem, Bill, nothing. 25:20 He lied to me and I couldn't address it. 25:25 And you know what, because I didn't respond 25:27 for 25 years I felt a little bias. 25:34 I felt well, at least I have never responded to this public. 25:38 I've certainly thought plenty 25:41 and I have never yielded to the temptation 25:43 to say something bad about this guy thank you, God. 25:47 And I deluded myself into thinking 25:50 that I was actually in harmony with the commandment, 25:57 thou shalt not kill, 26:01 until the meaning of it came crystal clear to me. 26:07 Because the reason we go to the person 26:10 who has something against us is not to satisfy ourselves, 26:18 the Lord is pretty satisfying 26:21 but it's because there's only one thing fulfills the law. 26:27 What is it? 26:29 Love is the fulfilling of the law. 26:34 Isn't that profound? Amen. 26:37 This is the meaning of love God's style. 26:43 Let's bow our heads together as we pray. 26:48 Father in heaven, Your teaching is so profound. 26:52 We think and delude ourselves into thinking 26:55 we've never killed anybody 26:57 but we are learning here this morning 26:59 that love is proactive and we just pray 27:03 for the grace of God in our hearts to love our brothers 27:06 and our sisters so much 27:10 that if they are angry with us Father, 27:11 we will have the grace to seek reconciliation enabling them 27:16 not to reach a point of anger 27:18 that will bring them into danger 27:20 of Your judgment and hellfire. 27:22 Thank You, for the clarity 27:24 of Jesus teaching here this morning. 27:26 We praise You in Jesus precious name, amen. 27:32 If you would like more information about this ministry 27:35 or how you can obtain a copy of this entire series 27:37 and other resources by Pastor Bill Liversidge 27:40 please contact us. 27:42 Creative Media Ministries proclaims 27:43 the full ministry of Jesus through the sanctuary. 27:46 With the growing cost of TV production 27:48 and broadcasting this dynamic ministry 27:50 needs partners committed to spreading the good news 27:53 throughout the entire world. 27:54 You are invited to prayerfully consider 27:56 making a tax deductible donation 27:58 to Creative Media Ministries. 28:00 Contact us online at www.creativemediaministries.org 28:06 That's www.creativemediaministries.org 28:11 By mail at Creative Media Ministries, 28:13 P.O. Box 1981, Palm Springs, CA 92263 28:19 or call us at 888-744-0443, 28:24 that's 888-744-0443. |
Revised 2015-08-20