Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201331
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00:11 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time.
00:15 God's book, The Bible 00:18 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:24 It Is Written 00:26 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 00:39 >>Chris: Is heaven for real? The testimony of the Bible is that heaven is a 00:43 very real place that is assured to those who want to spend their lives with 00:48 Jesus. And Jesus wants to spend it with you. John 14:1-3 shows us the heart 01:00 cry of Jesus, 01:57 Jesus is the Way. He is the only way to heaven. And Jesus desires to give 02:05 us life abundant. In John 10:10 Jesus says, 02:17 The desire of Jesus for each one of us is to have a life of abundant living 02:23 in Him that leads to eternal life. He has made the provision for each of 02:31 us to be rid of the guilt and shame or our sin. He is the one who has made a 02:40 way for us to be reconciled to Him. The last book of the Bible is 02:45 the book of Revelation. It is really the revelation of Jesus Christ. It tells 02:52 the story of Jesus and His faithfulness to us to save us from our sin and make 02:58 the path clear to heaven. Heaven is for real and Jesus has done, is doing 03:06 and will do everything He can to assure your place there. It is in this vain 03:12 that Jesus is introduced in the book of Revelation in Revelation 1:5-6 as, 03:57 Jesus has always been and He always will be and it is He who wants to save 04:05 us. He stands in the midst of the lampstands, which represent the churches. 04:11 Jesus walks among the churches, He walks among the people. He knows you 04:17 and He knows me. He knows our trials and knows the burdens of our life. He 04:24 understands us and makes a way for us. Jesus is pictured all throughout 04:29 Revelation with different symbols and metaphors. As the only One who can open 04:36 a scroll for our redemption, He is pictured as the babe of Bethlehem. 04:42 But He is also pictured as the conquering king. Revelation 14:14 says, 05:05 Jesus wants to save us and He has made a way for us to be in our heavenly home 05:10 with Him. He is pictured again in Revelation 19:11, 05:29 Jesus is coming as our king of kings and lord of Lords In Revelation 21 and 05:34 22, He is the one who makes all things new for our new home in heaven 05:39 with Him. Jesus boldly states in Revelation 22:7, 12, and 20 the three-fold 05:50 promise that He is coming quickly. Friends, He is coming soon to take us 05:58 home. The key in all of this and the key for our success in this life is 06:05 found in Revelation 12:11, 06:26 Over and over again in the scripture and especially in Revelation, Jesus is 06:32 pictured as a lamb. When you think of mighty animals, you don't 06:38 typically think of a lamb, however the Lamb is the victor in the book of 06:45 Revelation. Revelation 17:14 makes it very clear, 07:08 The Lamb wins. Jesus wins and this is the profound message of the Bible and 07:15 reaching the pinnacle in the book of Revelation. As long as we are for the 07:21 Lamb, Jesus we will be victorious with Him. The lamb is a symbol of 07:29 Christ. It has been a symbol of Christ throughout the Bible. The 07:32 lamb points to Jesus, the innocent One who died on the cross for you and for 07:38 me to make a way for us to be reconciled to God. 07:45 I would like for us to take a journey back in time. The story and names 07:49 are only for illustrative purposes. But we go back in time to the tent of 07:58 Ariel. Ariel is up early this morning and he begins walking. He walks through 08:06 the encampment of Israel. Tents here and there. He walks leading a lamb. This 08:15 lamb is perfect, it is spotless. He and his family have raised this 08:20 lamb since it had been born. Ariel is taking this lamb as a sacrifice. It is 08:28 a sacrifice for a sin that is at the forefront of his mind. There is only one 08:35 way to reconcile with God and it is to take the life of this little lamb Ariel 08:41 arrives at the entrance to the sanctuary. He is greeted by a priest. He 08:48 takes that little lamb into the courtyard and places his hands on the 08:54 head and confesses his sin. Symbolically transferring his sin to 09:01 that lamb then the throat of the lamb is slit. It is swift and merciful, but 09:10 the blood of the animal is spilt. The priest takes the lamb and places it on 09:16 the altar of burnt offering. Ariel sees the smoke arising to heaven. 09:23 This little lamb pointed forward to the true sacrifice that would be 09:27 given by the perfect Messiah. Ariel has been forgiven, not because of 09:34 the loss of life of that animal but because of his trust in God that this 09:39 sacrifice pointed forward to Jesus. The sanctuary service helped people to a 09:48 personal responsibility for their own sin. It also pointed out that 09:54 forgiveness came from outside of themselves and could only be administered 09:58 by God. They needed His divine grace to experience forgiveness. The 10:06 sacrificing of the lamb was an act of faith that Jesus was the one who 10:11 takes away all the sins of the world. John the Baptist testified to Jesus 10:19 being that lamb when he said in John 1:29, 10:36 Jesus was the fulfillment of the symbol of the spotless lamb. My dear 10:42 friend, the scripture is very clear in Romans 6:23, 11:04 We are in desperate need of a Saviour. Without Jesus we have one destiny 11:10 - death and not just death in a grave, but eternal death. Permanent 11:16 separation from God. The Old Testament sacrifice pointed forward to Jesus. 11:22 The guilt of a sinner was symbolically removed in the service. Not all we 11:29 need is to confess our sins and they are placed upon Jesus and we are 11:36 forgiven. 1 John 1:9 promises, 11:53 Jesus will forgive us and cleanse us. We are freed in therms of Jesus. He 12:02 has born the penalty for our sins. Jesus Christ died on the cross as a 12:11 sacrifice for our sins. That is the only sacrifice that cleanses us and makes 12:17 us whole. Jesus is the only way. There are not multiple routes. Christ 12:25 was offered for us as a sacrifice for our sins. He paid the price as the 12:32 perfect Lamb of God. He was victorious over sin. He lived a perfect life 12:37 and as an innocent sacrifice paid the price for us. And his victory 12:47 brings divine forgiveness in our life. 12:57 We need forgiveness today. Guilt will rob a person of peace and happiness and 13:01 security. The death of Jesus removes that guilt when we confess our sins 13:06 to Him. Friends we often try all kinds of different ways to relieve our guilt 13:11 and shame. But the only forgiveness that truly can bring peace comes from one 13:19 source and that is Jesus Christ. Our friends may try to bring comfort, but 13:26 they can't solve our guilt. Even psychology can help us adjust and cope, 13:32 but it can't really deal with our guilt. It took the cross to create pardon 13:43 and grace. Christ poured out His life on the cross, He took on our guilt and 13:49 gave us His righteousness, His right standing with the Father. That's why the 14:00 sacrifice of the Lamb is so powerful. That's why it can become the source of 14:07 great peace. Paul makes this wonderful promise about Jesus in 2 14:14 Corinthians 5:21, 14:30 Christ never sinned. He was perfect He lived a perfect life. But He made 14:37 a choice. He didn't sin but became sin for us. He assumed the guilt of us 14:46 all and all our sin, but never committed one sin. We find peace in Jesus. We 14:56 don't deserve it, we haven't earned but Jesus offers it freely. We find 15:03 the peace of Jesus Christ by reaching out in faith and asking Jesus to 15:10 forgive us and be our Savior. Our sin required the death of Jesus, my sin 15:19 required Jesus to die - so I might live. It's our sin that required this great 15:35 sacrifice. And it's our lives that Jesus wants to rescue. He wants to take 15:42 us to heaven to live with Him forever. His death has made that path clear. 15:52 The story of the Bible is that Jesus, the Lamb of God wins. He cannot be 16:03 defeated. We have been given a view of the end. We know how the story 16:09 ends. He has given us everything. We are guaranteed a victory, 16:17 listen to these words of 1 Peter 1:18-19, 16:45 Friends we are not saved by our wealth, we are not saved by our possessions, 16:50 and we are not saved by our good deeds. We cannot earn salvation through 16:55 working harder - we are saved by Jesus alone. By the blood of the Lamb. It 17:04 is through Him that we can live a victorious life. Salvation is a gift from 17:12 Jesus. He offers it to us, and all we have to do is accept it by faith. For 17:18 many of us this is so hard to understand - not because it is complicated, 17:23 but because of how our lives have been shaped. For many of us we have 17:27 tried to earn the approval or acceptance of others. We have spent our whole 17:32 lives seeking that acceptance from a mother or father, maybe from a 17:39 spouse or some love interest. We have done this or done that to earn 17:46 love and Jesus says no. Salvation is a gift from God. The grace of Jesus 17:59 Christ is a gift, His forgiveness is a gift and conceptually we might nod 18:08 our head in agreement that it is a gift - but wetry to earn it. But today 18:14 Jesus is calling to our hearts to accept this simple life-giving gift. 18:20 To stop the rat race of trying to earn His love and accept that which He 18:25 has freely given.He desires this real experience for us that we 18:33 might be prepared for the reality of heaven. So how can we receive and have 18:40 the assurance of this free gift of salvation. The first step is to accept 18:47 and know that God loves you and longs to save you. Jeremiah 31:3 gives this 18:55 wonderful promise, 19:07 God has everlasting love for you and everlasting love for me. This is the 19:12 reality. We first must comes to terms with and accept that reality. No 19:18 matter what you've done, who your family is, whether your rich or poor 19:22 - He loves you with an everlasting love. And then, secondly, we need to 19:29 realize that we cannot earn our salvation or save ourselves. Romans 3:23 19:35 makes this clear, 19:47 We are sinners and cannot save ourselves;there is nothing we can do. We are 19:53 justified or simply saved by the Jesus Christ. He alone is the way to 20:03 salvation. Thirdly, in accepting that, we need to really believe that Jesus 20:08 can and will save us. Romans 10:9 is clear, 20:31 It is a guarantee, a promise that won't fail. Then friend we confess our 20:38 sin to Jesus 1 John 1:9, 20:50 There are no conditions other than confessing. We tell Jesus who we are and 20:57 what we have done, then He forgives us - we no longer have to pay the price for 21:03 our own sin, we accept his sacrifice on our behalf, but not only that - He 21:11 cleanses us - He helps us to have a life that is clean and pure. And lastly 21:17 friend, we live and claim this gift. 1 John 5:11-12 assure us, 21:43 We have life with Jesus. 21:48 Heaven is for real and it will be the home of those who accept the salvation 21:54 of Jesus Christ freely. Will you accept that gift today? Jesus came 2000 22:00 years ago. He is life. He is our peace in a time of trouble. When we choose 22:08 Jesus He is our strength, even in our weakness. When our world is crumbling 22:14 around us and world seems shaken to the core, Jesus renews us and gives us 22:19 life. He alone can give that life. He is light in our dark world. Jesus is 22:26 the one. His amazing sacrifice of love gives us life. That life is an 22:33 renewed life now and eternal life in the future. What He has done 22:39 for you, what he has done for me is truly amazing. 23:05 You are our life when death is all around 23:10 Your are our peace when all else seems to fail 23:17 You are our strength when our weakness overcomes 23:22 You are, yes, You are. 23:28 When our world is shaken 23:31 When our hope is broken 23:34 Still You are God of all 23:38 You amaze us 23:42 You alone are worthy of our praises 23:47 You deserve our worship 23:50 We adore you 23:53 Your glory and Your majesty renew us, consume us 24:15 Your word brings life when darkness falls around 24:21 Your word speaks truth when the lost are wandering 24:27 You are are God, above you there's no one else 24:32 You are, yes, You are 24:37 Oh, when our world is shaken 24:41 When our hope is broken 24:44 Still You are God of all 24:48 You amaze us 24:52 You alone are worthy of our praises 24:57 You deserve our worship 25:00 We adore you 25:03 Your glory and Your majesty renew us, consume us 25:18 Renew us 25:22 Consume us 25:24 You amaze us (ooh) 25:29 You amaze us 25:33 You alone are worthy of our praises 25:38 You deserve our worship 25:41 We adore you 25:44 Your glory and Your majesty renew us, consume us 25:54 Glory and honour belong to you (renew us) 26:01 All the glory and honour belong to you (consume us) 26:05 All the glory and honour belong to you 26:10 All the glory and honour belong to you 26:20 God is truly amazing. This wondful song was offered by the Christian recording 26:26 group Selah. It Is Written is proud to present three Selah concerts across 26:33 Canada this fall. September the 6th, Selah will be at the Toronto 26:40 Airport Marriott at 8 p.m. September the 20th, they will be in British 26:44 Columbia at the Bell Performing Arts Centre. And then on October the 26:49 11th, in Alberta, they will be at the Red Deer Sheraton, also at 8 p.m. 26:55 You can go to your website, itiswrittencanada.ca, and 27:01 there, find more information about purchasing tickets and 27:04 getting to that concert. Also, friends, as we have been studying over the 27:10 last weeks, is heaven for real? This eight-part series, I want to offer 27:16 that series to you in a DVD set. Here is the information you need to 27:21 receive that offer. 28:13 Friends, Jesus is going to make a new heaven and a new earth for us to spend 28:18 eternity with him. Do you want to be there? I hope you enjoyed today's 28:23 program. I invite you to join us again next week. Until then, remember, it 28:30 is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 28:36 proceeds from the mouth of God." 28:41 $$$$$$$$ 28:59 $$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-09-24