Participants: Dwight K. Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP160903A
|
00:08 [ "Majesty" plays ] >> Sing "Majesty" with us today, please.
00:20 Jesus, who died. Now glorified, King of all kings. 00:25 Sing with us now. 00:32 [ Congregation sings ] 01:52 Let's sing that again. [ Congregation sings ] 03:28 Won't that be an amazing moment? We've just sung our first hymn 03:32 in heaven. We've just lift our voices 03:34 and joined with the billions of others praising our -- 03:38 praising our Jesus. 03:39 We've joined our voices with those of the angels as we stand, sit, kneel, bow 03:45 around the throne of God. How great is our God? [ "How Great Is Our God" plays ] 03:56 [ Congregation sings ] 07:09 Please stand with us now. 10:11 [ "We Fall Down" plays ] 10:24 [ Congregation sings ] 11:15 One more time, sing with us, "We Fall Down." 11:21 [ Congregation sings ] 12:45 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. Happy Labor Day Sabbath to you, 12:50 the last summer break before fall begins. Nice to see all of you. 12:55 You're looking just great. So okay, let's have a little summertime show-and-tell 13:00 because this is the last, uh, official Sabbath of summer. I want to show you a picture. 13:04 All right? Put a picture on the screen of a very beautiful tree. 13:09 Oh, that tree, 65 feet tall. The little birdies would sit in its branches 13:15 and tweet, tweet, tweet. Little squirrels race up and down, up and down, 13:18 up and down. Even the man would come and sit under that tree and read 13:23 a book on a Sunday afternoon. When children came along, children played under that tree 13:29 with the woman and the man. Years, happy years went by. Until one day, un-- 13:35 Nobody knew this was happening. But one day, it happened. Let me show you the picture 13:40 right on that screen. You see that penny? Do you see two 13:44 little beetles on that penny? Those are the emerald ash borers, 13:51 smaller than a penny, tiny, teeny. But they landed 13:56 on that ash tree. And they say, "Hmm. [Munching]" And they began to dig. 14:01 And they went in. And the mamas went in. And the mama said, 14:04 "Let's have babies." Mm, boop. The eggs came out. 14:07 Next picture, and the eggs became larvae. That's a larva. 14:12 The larva is [Munching] eating all the wood where the water and the nutrition for the tree, 14:19 the vascular system, where it passes to the tips of the branches. 14:24 [ Munching ] And then, the larvae began to multiply and multiply 14:29 and multiply until eventually, the tree was filled. The man and the woman 14:33 and the children didn't know the tree was filled with these borers. 14:39 In fact, when the borers would crawl out, they could fly up to a half 14:42 a mile to another ash tree. An ash tree cannot survive ever, ever, ever if they're there. 14:50 And so it was a sad day when the man went out, stood in the yard, 14:53 and looked up at his tree and noticed something under the bark. 14:58 Look at the next picture. He noticed, "[ Gasps ] What's happening to the bark?" 15:02 Do you see those little squiggly trails? Those are the -- 15:06 Those are the larvae just [Munching] Next picture. 15:10 You can see it a little closer. Oh, they're carving everything under the bark. 15:13 You couldn't tell from the outside. But the tree is dying. 15:18 And on that day when the man came out and looked up at the tree, 15:21 here's a picture of that tree. Not a leaf -- Not a leaf in sight. 15:29 That means only one thing. If you don't want that tree to come crashing down 15:32 on your house, you better take it down. "Hello, Mr. Lumberjacks 15:36 of Bering Springs. John Hansen, is this you?" "Yes, it is." 15:39 "Will you come take down our three ash trees?" Bingo, let's put him 15:43 on the screen. There is brave John Hansen moving up 15:48 into the trees with a -- with a saw, branch by branch. Pew! Pew! Pew! 15:54 Let's see the next picture. Aw, the tree is coming down. It's dead. 15:59 It can't live. We waited three years hoping it might come back. 16:02 It's dead. It's gone. Next picture. Oh, that beautiful 65-foot tree, 16:09 bye-bye. It died. One more picture. 16:13 All it's good for now is firewood. If you want some, come by. 16:20 Do you know what, guys? You know what killed the tree? Something so small, 16:23 nobody saw it -- the little emerald ash borer. Reminds me of sin, 16:28 something so small. Nobody can see a sin. When it gets in your heart, 16:31 that little sin gets in your heart. I'll be a little sassy to mommy. 16:34 I'll be -- I'll disobey. I'll hurt her. I'll get her. I'll get him. 16:37 [ Munching ] And if that sin is left in the heart [Munching] 16:42 And sin can eat the whole heart up. So once upon a time, 16:46 God planted a tree. Let me see God's tree. Ah, God planted a tree 16:52 to save us from our sins. And that's why -- that's why Jesus died. 16:58 He died so that He could get those sins out of our hearts with our help, 17:02 get those sins out of our hearts so that we won't die, but live forever. 17:09 Oh, who is thankful that Jesus came to die to save us from our little borer sins? 17:16 And who wants to say, "Jesus, if there's some ash borers in my heart, those little sins, 17:21 help me get them out now." Who would like to thank Jesus for being that kind of Savior? 17:28 Somebody here? Sissy, come on up here. What's your name? 17:31 >> Cassie. >> Cassie? You go, Cassie. All right. 17:33 Let's close our eyes and fold our hands as Cassie thanks Jesus for being our Savior. 17:39 Cassie? >> Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for this day. 17:42 Thank You for everything that You give us. Thank You that we got to go 17:45 to our Sabbath Schools today and come here to listen to the, um, the preacher, um, 17:53 preach to the little kids and to the grown-ups. Dear Jesus, 17:57 thank You for everything that You gave us this -- this week as we are going back 18:00 to school in three days. Dear Jesus, thank You. Amen. 18:05 >> Amen. Thank you, Cassie. And, boys and girls, 18:07 as you go back to your seats, you say what Cassie said, "Thank You, Jesus." 18:11 Thank You for being our Savior. Thank you, Cassie. Well done. 18:33 >> ♪ Within these walls ♪ ♪ The sound of praises ♪ ♪ Radiant hallelujahs rise ♪ 18:45 ♪ Ceaseless prayer and hymn ascending ♪ ♪ Sweet as incense to the 18:56 skies ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God all glory ♪ 19:13 ♪ Saints on Earth and saints above ♪ ♪ Join to bless the Lord of 19:24 love ♪ 19:38 ♪ Within these walls a meal for sharing ♪ ♪ Tender hallelujahs rise ♪ 19:51 ♪ Bread and wine for celebration ♪ ♪ Hymns to praise the 20:00 Crucified ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God all glory ♪ 20:21 ♪ Saints on Earth and saints above ♪ ♪ Join to share this feast of 20:32 love ♪ ♪ Within these walls ♪ ♪ A faith confessing ♪ 20:43 ♪ Joyous alleluias rise ♪ ♪ Songs of hope and revelation ♪ ♪ God's own Word and sign 20:58 inspire ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God all glory ♪ 21:21 >> ♪ Saints on Earth and saints above ♪ ♪ Speak of promise ♪ 21:33 ♪ Sing of love ♪ 22:35 >> ♪ Within these walls ♪ ♪ Yet far beyond all ♪ ♪ Wondrous hallelujahs rise ♪ 22:49 ♪ Word and song and all creation ♪ ♪ Praise the Son of God 22:58 most high ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy God all glory ♪ 23:17 ♪ Saints on Earth and saints above ♪ ♪ Join to bless the Lord of 23:34 love ♪ 24:07 >> Amen. 24:17 >> Thank you, Steve. That was just beautiful. Thank you, choir. 24:21 Good to have you back. 24:30 Let's pray. Oh, God, You have conspired this morning from the holy, 24:40 holy, holy we sang before the service began to the Sanctus that our singers brought to us 24:52 as we invoked Your blessing as worship formally began. The music, the praying. 25:07 We are in the presence of a holy God who rules this universe and yet has hit the pause button 25:18 everywhere else so that You can be wholly engaged with our minds 25:24 right here at Andrews University in the Pioneer Memorial Church. God, You have 25:31 something for us today. It is very clear. Let it be clear, 25:36 I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 25:40 Have you ever met anybody who was partly pregnant? 25:47 "Yo, girl, you pregnant?" "Partly." 25:53 "Which part?" Have you ever met anybody 25:57 who was partly a sinner? "Yo, dude, you a sinner?" 26:03 "Partly." It's impossible. You can't be partly. 26:08 You either are or you aren't. I can understand why as -- as humans, 26:12 we have this longing to -- to -- to come on -- kind of push me into the corner. 26:16 I'm part sinner instead of full sinner. Who wants to be full sinner when 26:21 you've got the moral portrait that Scripture paints for us with words 26:25 like "stinky" and "sick"? I want you to write those two texts down. 26:31 You don't believe that's in the Bible. Grab your study guide right now. 26:33 It's in your worship bulletin. Pull it out. You didn't get a worship 26:36 bulletin, you didn't get a study guide? We got some great, 26:39 young ushers. Well, sort of young and... I was looking at these boys 26:45 right over here. That's all right. Everybody's young here. 26:48 This is a college church. So we're -- We got the, uh -- We've got 26:52 the study guides for you. Hold your hand up. They're coming your way on this, 26:54 uh, Labor Day Sabbath. You didn't get a study guide. You're watching 27:00 on the air right now. 27:01 Let's put the website on your screen so you can see it. 27:05 Watching on television, www.newperceptions.tv. 27:09 That's what you're looking for. You're looking for a new series 27:12 that -- whose title is this -- #RxF4Now. 27:18 That's the title of the series. You have to look at that 27:21 on a piece of paper to get it straight. 27:23 But some of you are already using it with your tweeting. 27:25 And that is how we can track it. And we got people 27:28 that are monitoring your tweets. All right? 27:31 So what you're looking for on that website, 27:32 by the way, is you're looking for today's teaching, 27:34 which is "Dead Man Walking." If you missed last week -- It's 27:36 possible you did. 27:38 It's entitled "Believe!" with an exclamation mark. Now what we shared last week 27:42 and what we're gonna share today may seem a bit disparate. But next week is the key. 27:47 We pull the two together. And then, we keep journeying right into this, uh, fall. 27:51 And so "Dead Man Walking." What's that all about? Come on. 27:55 Let's jot the text down. We just -- We just talked about this -- Psalm 38:5, 27:58 New Living Translation. 28:07 I told you it's not a very pretty picture. It certainly won't end up -- 28:10 end up on the cover of "People" magazine. I stink because of my sins. 28:15 How about Isaiah 1:6, also the New Living? The God of the universe 28:19 is giving a moral diagnosis of Israel. And he says to them... 28:32 Period. Stinky and sick, not a very attractive portrait 28:38 for sure of the sinner. Martin Luther reminds me of what he -- 28:43 He described our fallen human nature, Martin Luther, this way. 28:47 Very graphic for the times in which he was living, but we'll put 'em on the screen 28:50 there, these words. 28:58 Get over on that side, push him back up, back and forth 29:02 because he's drunk. That's our fallen human nature. And you say, 29:06 "Well, I beg to differ with you because that's not me. I happen to be an exception. 29:13 I am different." That's what he thought, the great saint and apostle 29:19 Paul -- "I'm different. "In fact, let me just give you," he says, "a little insight 29:26 into how I grew up." And, by the way, this is a piece of very interesting 29:30 self-disclosure. Jot it down. It's in your study guide. 29:34 Put it on the screen. Philippians. By the way, he wrote this in -- 29:37 in jail, in prison in Rome. Paul writing, you want to talk. 29:42 "If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence 29:44 in the flesh --" that's human nature, the drunk in the 29:46 saddle -- "I have more." "Let me just run by 29:48 my credentials. "I was circumcised 29:51 on the eighth day, Jew of Jew, Hebrew of Hebrew, 29:54 tribe of Benjamin." He keeps going on. 29:56 "And in regard to the law, a Pharisee. As for righteousness, 29:59 based on the law --" write it down. "I was faultless." 30:04 That's what he's saying, faultless. "I kept the Ten Commandments 30:08 from the day I was born from top to bottom. I kept them faultlessly, always 30:13 honored the Seventh Day Sabbath, lived a morally pure life. Upstanding? 30:17 Why, I was outstanding." Kind of reminds us of the Pharisee Jesus depicted 30:23 in his biting parable, the Pharisee who stands up front in worship. 30:27 And he lifts up his eyes to heaven, "Oh, God, I thank You. 30:30 I am not like that moral wretch on the last row. I fast twice a week. 30:39 I give a tenth of all I get." Yeah. Sounds like some people I know. 30:46 Paul, the Pharisee, convinced their obedience to the law would get them 30:50 into God's good graces and His heavenly home someday. But something very dramatic -- 30:56 You'll see this. Something very dramatic happens to Paul that forever changes 31:02 his mind about God's law. Watch this. This is dynamite. 31:07 You got to go to it in your Bible. Now, here's where we're gonna 31:09 stay, Romans chapter 7. Open up your Bible, please, to Romans chapter 7, 31:12 provocative testimony. Paul, Romans chapter 7. I'll be in the New International 31:17 version. You didn't bring a Bible, grab that pew Bible 31:19 in front of you. You got to track this. You got to see it written 31:22 in front of your eyes. Romans chapter 7, pew Bible page 761. 31:26 Romans 7. Let's begin in verse 7. Provocative testimony. 31:30 Here it comes. 31:50 What law says, "You shall not covet"? Call it out to me. 31:53 What law is that? That would be the Ten Commandments, of course. 31:57 What in the world changed Paul's mind about the law? He just told us that, "Man, 32:01 growing up as a young adult, I was faultless before the Ten Commandments." 32:08 It can't be that the -- the 10th commandment got added. He memorized 32:12 the 10th commandment when he was a kid. It's the last of the 10. 32:15 So what has changed? Aha. Paul met somebody. 32:21 And once he met this somebody, the law could never be the same again 32:27 because -- excuse me -- because, you see, in the Sermon on the Mount, 32:34 Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, the law giver, the incarnated law 32:36 giver, who, by the way, with His own finger carved the 10 commands 32:40 into granite Himself. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus treats 32:45 the 10th commandment like we have never seen it treated before. 32:51 Watch this. Matthew chapter 5. In your study guide, verses 21 32:55 and 22 and then on to 27 and 28 -- Let's go, Red-letter words in anybody's 32:58 Bible. "You have heard --" Jesus speaking. 33:01 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder.'" 33:05 That would be the sixth commandment, by the way, of the Ten Commandments. 33:09 "You shall not murder. But I tell you that anyone who is angry --" write that 33:14 down. "Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister 33:17 will be subject to judgment." And then a few breaths later, Jesus goes on, 33:22 "You have also heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'" 33:26 That would be the seventh commandment of the Ten Commandments. 33:29 "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully --" or a man -- 33:35 "has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Write in that word "heart." 33:41 The 10th commandment, "you shall not covet," 33:45 radically shifts our focus from the law of God, 33:48 our focus on the Ten Commandments. 33:49 Jot this down. It shifts us 33:51 from external compliance. This is huge. 33:55 It shifts us from external compliance 33:57 to internal obedience. And that is what 34:03 Paul is talking about. Paul says, "Look, Jesus, 34:05 in the Sermon on the Mount, reveals to us why He, 34:08 the divine law giver, included the 10th commandment 34:12 in the first place." Because the 10th commandment 34:15 deals with the mind. You shall not covet. 34:18 In other words, you shall not sin in your mind. 34:22 You shall not sin in your thoughts. "And the moment I realized," 34:27 Paul is writing, "that that's what the 10th commandment is doing, 34:32 I threw my hands up. I am lost. Why? Because I know my mind. 34:39 I know my secret thoughts. I know my darling sins. I thought the commandments 34:44 were about one to nine, you know, external behavior. And then throw in the covet 34:46 just to cover everything, not realizing that the 10th commandment 34:51 was inserted so that I could get nailed, proud of my external compliance, 34:59 nailed regarding my internal obedience." Wow. 35:06 Nailed, by the way. 35:08 Nailed by the law. And I know what you're saying. 35:10 You're saying, "Oh, yo, Dwight, if the law is this dangerous, 35:14 if it's okay with you, I'm just staying away 35:15 from those 10. Please, 35:16 do not bring me into those 10." 35:19 Come on. Come on. Come on. Why would we do that? That doesn't make 35:22 any sense when, in fact, the Ten Commandments, the divine law, is a portrait, 35:27 a transcript of the beautiful law giver who God is. Listen to how David sings. 35:34 David devotes an entire song, the longest chapter in the whole Bible, Psalm 119 -- 35:40 He devotes it to the law. He's singing about the law. Jot these down, will you? 35:43 Run 'em by you, verse 97, Psalm 119. 35:50 Keep writing, 172, verse 172. 35:58 Keep writing, verse 127. 36:04 That's why he opens up the song with verse 18. 36:12 I tell you what, if you were to walk up to David and declare, "You know that law of God, 36:15 those 10 Commandments? Man, what a bummer. What a downer." 36:18 You know what David would respond? "Are you crazy? 36:21 Don't you understand? The law reveals the God of love who rules this universe." 36:25 That's why he throws in verse 64 -- Fill it in. "The earth, O God, 36:29 is filled with Your love. Teach me your decrees," a synonym for laws, 36:35 a synonym for commandments. Teach them to me. They are filled with Your love. 36:40 The whole universe is. There's nothing defective or bad news 36:44 about the law of God. In fact, Paul is about to make that very point. 36:49 Let's read verse 7 again just to get a run into this. Verse 7... 37:00 "For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 37:03 'You shall not covet.'" Now, go on, verse 8. 37:12 Now I'm suddenly aware of my thoughts. I'm aware that, oh, wow. 37:14 I wouldn't want anybody knowing what I'm thinking right now. 37:29 "I never realized the depth of the 10th commandment," Paul's telling us. 37:32 "I didn't know. I thought I was faultless. And now I realize everything, 37:37 like X-ray, is exposed to the God of the universe." Verse 10. 37:52 "Because, suddenly, now I stand guilty before the bar of justice 37:56 and judgment in the law." As Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount -- 38:01 This is what Paul is saying in between the lines. "As Jesus taught, 38:04 even if I think it, I'm nailed. Even if I don't do it but only think it, I'm nailed." 38:12 The law, guilty, guilty, guilty. "There's nothing wrong with the law, reader," 38:21 he tells us. "Nothing wrong with the law. It's wrong with me." 38:27 Jot it down, verse 12. "So then, the law," Paul writes, "is holy, and the commandment 38:33 is holy, righteous and good." There's nothing wrong with the law. 38:42 Pick it up in verse 14 now. "We know that the law is spiritual --" yes, we do -- 38:47 "but I am unspiritual." See? I'm the one that's defective. 38:50 "Sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do 38:55 I do not do, but what I hate I do. "And if I do," verse 16, 38:59 "what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 39:23 Verse 24... 39:35 Wow. 39:40 Remember John Bunyan? The Englishman John Bunyan, remember him? 39:44 "Pilgrim's Progress," the classic. He wrote another book 39:47 in which he tells -- he relates his conversion experience. The title of that book, 39:51 "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners." And in that book, 39:54 he describes this, "Oh, wretched man that I am," experience that he went through. 40:00 I'll put his words on the screen. You can take 'em home 40:02 there in your study guide. "I --" John Bunyan writing... 40:25 "Yo, let me have your heart. Mine is worse. I promise it's worse. 40:28 Give me your heart." 40:31 "I thought none but the devil himself could equalize --" or 40:35 equal -- "me for inward wickedness and pollution of 40:38 mind. I fell, therefore, 40:40 at the sign of my own vileness, deeply into despair." 40:46 End quote. 40:49 "Oh, wretched man that I am." When John Bunyan, when the Apostle Paul, 41:00 when you, when I see in the perfect mirror or reflection of the law of God, 41:07 when we gaze into that reflection, staring unblinkingly back at us, 41:12 when our consciences are confronted with the total depravity 41:17 that exists inside of us, it is truly a, "Oh, wretched woman." 41:26 It is truly a, "Oh, wretched man that I am," experience... 41:39 ...for anyone. When I met Christ as a 22-year-old 41:47 here at Andrews University, it was through this same, "Oh, wretched me," 41:53 experience that God led me. And you know what? A few years have gone 41:56 since that day, and I've come in the course of my ministry to men, 42:02 women, young adults, teenagers, and children -- I have come to realize 42:07 that this dark pathway is one that all must trod. For only a conscience made aware 42:18 of the perfection of God's law and the holiness of His character and realizing 42:23 how wretched is the comparison with my guilty heart, only that guilty heart 42:29 can be driven to truly seek relief from salvation. 42:44 That was the experience, by the way, of Jacob, with his midnight -- 42:47 Do you remember Jacob and the midnight assailant? That was the experience 42:51 when Isaiah comes into this glorious worship service. Suddenly the walls -- 42:54 He was talking about, in these four walls, the walls fall away. 42:57 And now he's -- he's standing before the throne of almighty God. 43:01 "Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And I live in the midst 43:05 of a people of unclean lips." "Holy, holy," they sang as he watched. 43:10 And he fell to his face. It's what happens to you. It's what happens to you 43:15 when you realize that it is a guilty heart you bring into the presence 43:20 of almighty God. It's what happened to Peter, slimy, silvery fish dancing 43:26 in the bottom of that fishing skiff. And Peter is down on his face, 43:30 grabbing Jesus' ankles. And he's saying, "Depart from me, 43:33 for I am a sinner, oh, God." It's what happens. It would be the experience 43:41 of all who come to God. At some point, it has to happen, or you haven't looked 43:50 in the mirror yet. When my professor told us in class -- 43:55 By the way, he told us, we needed to ask God to reveal to us our true sinfulness. 43:59 I wrote it down thinking it might be on a test. Then one dark night, 44:04 just a few weeks later, I prayed that prayer, kind of on the -- on the spur. 44:10 I mean, no thought. Just, "Okay, God, show me my true sinfulness." 44:16 And I now realize what happened when God heard that prayer. He leaned over to Gabriel. 44:19 He said, "Hey, Gabriel, you hear that boy? I'm rolling up my sleeves 44:23 because we're gonna have a field day right now." And I was so overcome 44:29 with personal guilt, I thought I was losing my mind. "Oh, wretched man that I am. 44:41 Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Which is Paul's very point. 44:54 Look at that again, 24. Come on, look at it in your own Bible. 45:00 Keep reading, verse 25... 45:07 Verse 1 of chapter 8... 45:12 No condemnation. Something happens. Something happens to that guilt 45:18 when you look into the law and it says, "Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, 45:24 guilty, guilty, guilty." Something happens when you say, "I need help. 45:32 My God, help me." Thanks be to God. 45:41 Purpose and point of the law -- Jot this down, please. 45:46 Yep. That's what it is. Galatians 3:24, jot this down. 45:52 My translation reads -- renders it guardian. "The law was our guardian 45:55 to bring us to Christ." Keep writing... 46:10 Don't ever throw the Ten Commandments out. They're to get you to Jesus. 46:15 It is to deliver us from this body of death that the law giver lovingly 46:21 gave us the law in our fallen state so that we might dri-- 46:27 be driven to him who is our redeemer and our friend. 46:34 Come on, God. God, who loves you with all His heart, mind, body and soul. 46:39 And God, who loves His neighbor as Himself. God is the embodiment 46:43 of the Ten Commandments. They are all about Him. 46:50 Christ's object lessons, page 315. Jot it down. 47:09 Now, I want you to listen to my new, never-met-him friend 47:13 named Cameron Schofield, a kiwi -- that means he's from New Zealand, 47:17 a writer. Got a book this summer sent by a physician across the lake, 47:22 as I told you last week. The title of the book, "Heralding the Loud Cry." 47:27 Cameron, who asks this question -- Now, these are Cameron's words 47:30 that go on the screen. You'll see them. 47:41 It can't be satisfied because your right-doing --" and, by the way, as we learned 47:44 last week, right-doing is the gut core level definition of righteousness -- 47:49 "It can't be satisfied because your right-doing is not what the law wants." 47:54 Hit the pause button right there. Last night as I was reflecting 47:58 on this teaching, I'm saying, "My God, how -- how -- how -- Is there anything else 48:04 that should be added?" So this didn't make it into the study guide. 48:09 But I want you to jot it down. We put a slide together this morning. 48:12 I want you to write this verse down, please. Galatians 3:10. 48:15 This is a stunning -- This is absolutely stunning. You'll need to take a few 48:20 little notes in the margin. That's okay. You can do it. Galatians 3:10. 48:24 I'll read it on the screen as you have it there. 48:28 "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, 48:32 as it is written --" now he's quoting 48:34 from Deuteronomy -- "'Cursed is everyone who 48:36 does not continue --" does that look like 48:38 it's blue on the screen to you? Yeah, it's supposed 48:41 to stand out. "Cursed is everyone 48:43 who does not continue to do everything 48:45 written in the Book of the Law." 48:47 Now, listen, listen, here's what Paul is saying. "If you want to be saved by the 48:51 law, okay, be my guest. You want the law? You don't need a Savior. 48:54 You can do it yourself. You want to go to the law and be saved, fine. 48:57 Here's what you need to do. You need to keep the law continually from the day 49:02 you were born until the day you die. Okay? You need to keep 49:05 the law continually. And you need to keep the law entirely. 49:09 Every piece of the law you need to keep. So if you can do it continually 49:14 and if you can do it entirely, my boy, you do not need a Savior. 49:18 Welcome home, children." From birth. Uh-oh, too late. 49:28 Too late. Jot these two words down before you go back to -- 49:32 to Cameron. Two words. You have to keep it continually. 49:36 Write in the word "continually." And you have to keep it entirely. 49:40 That's the only way you can satisfy the demands of the law, continually and entirely. 49:44 If you can't keep it continually and if you cannot keep it entirely, 49:46 then you're out. You better find another way to heaven, 'cause it won't be 49:50 through the law, buddy. That's the point. Let's pick Cameron back up. 49:57 "What the law wants --" oh, this is good -- "is God's --" this is his 50:01 emphasis -- "is God's right-doing, God's perfect life -- 50:05 and we, in ourselves, do we have to offer it? We don't. 50:08 Is there any room in you -- any room for you in this picture?" 50:11 There isn't. "Can you satisfy the law? Can you?" You can't. 50:14 "Have you in your life attained unto the very perfection 50:16 of God?" You have not. "To do that, you would have 50:18 to be God yourself. Are you God? You are not God!" 50:22 You are not God. Then you better find another way 50:28 because all that law keeping will never get you to heaven. 50:32 Now, the law is holy, just, and good. 50:33 Let's not get all twitterpated here. 50:36 It's holy, just, and good. Cameron goes on, "We can not." 50:42 We cannot save ourselves. "We can do nothing to effect 50:45 our own salvation. And it's a frightful realization 50:49 when we meet the law as it is really is. 50:51 We are dead men walking." End quote. 50:56 Nailed. Paul says, "I was doing fine. 50:59 I was doing fine. One through nine, 51:00 I have 'em all faultless, faultless. 51:02 External compliance, I got it, external. 51:04 But then, I suddenly realize, thanks to the Lord, 51:08 what number 10 is saying -- internal obedience. 51:12 And I was nailed. Who will deliver me 51:16 from this body of death?" Dead man walking. 51:22 By the way, that's a nomenclature, prison talk. 51:26 Prisons that can perform executions, because when the man is taken out of his cell 51:30 and he's marched down to the chamber of death, the guards shout out, 51:35 "Dead man walking! Sit up. This is the last time you'll see this boy." 51:41 Dead man walking. The truth of the Gospel is, we are all dead men 51:46 and dead women walking. Doomed to our deaths unless something -- 51:53 unless someone comes along and puts a stay on the execution. 52:01 Thanks be to God, who delivers us by our Lord Jesus Christ. 52:09 By the way, the only perfect law giver -- law -- law keeper in the history 52:15 of the human race, who from birth to death continually kept the law, 52:22 kept the entire law. In fact, the great messianic promise -- 52:26 uh, prophesy tucked away in Psalm 40:8 -- "I delight to do your will, 52:32 O God. Your law is within my heart." Wow. 52:38 Only one person has perfectly kept what the law demands -- perfect compliance, 52:43 continually, entirely. And because He has, anybody, anybody who comes to God 52:51 through Him gets it, too. Anybody. 52:58 Cameron asks the question -- "The question is --" I like 53:03 this. Well done, Cameron. 53:18 You'll come to church. You will come to church. But you won't come to Christ. 53:23 You will sit in that pew Sabbath after Sabbath. But you haven't given your heart 53:26 to Christ. You are still your own God. You are still 53:31 taking His name in vain by living practically as an atheist without Him. 53:37 You can come to church. But that isn't coming to Christ. You must. 53:46 Dead man walking. Dead woman walking. You must. 53:55 When I went back to my professor, by the way -- >> [ Speaks indistinctly ] 54:00 >> Thank you. That's two of us now, at least. When I went back 54:05 to my professor, overwhelmed with the guilt. "Who will deliver me 54:10 from this body of death?" His response to me was, "Boy, go read 'Steps to 54:15 Christ.'" And I did. And that's how God saved me. 54:21 That's how He saved me. I want to end with this, page 31 from "Steps to Christ." 54:26 You have it in your study guide. 54:55 We must come to Christ --" How's it end? 55:01 Let's read that whole sentence, that last sentence, together. 55:03 "We must come to Christ just as we are." 55:09 Question, are you bad enough to come to Christ? 55:13 Are you bad enough... just as you are? Just as bad as John Bunyan, 55:19 just as bad as Paul, just as bad as Jacob, as bad as Isaiah and Peter 55:24 and Mary Magdalene. Are you bad enough to come to Christ? 55:30 Good news -- He is good enough to come to you and save you, just like that if you ask Him. 55:51 Oh, God, what are we thinking? What are we thinking? That we could somehow, 56:02 by hard work and behavioral strictness... 56:13 ...work our way straight through the law into heaven? No. 56:19 We're the opposite, Father. Most of us think, "It doesn't matter. 56:26 I don't need a law. I just do it my way." And, oh, God, 56:33 it doesn't take much to realize we're doomed if we go that pathway. 56:39 There's only one way. And we hear Jesus calling us now, 56:44 "Come to Me, the Savior, the law giver, your friend. Come to the Father, your friend. 56:54 Come and I will save you." Father, grant that for us today and today and today. 57:06 I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 57:13 >> I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us in worship today. 57:16 It's by the continued support from viewers like you that we're able 57:19 to bring this telecast. Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us 57:23 how this ministry has blessed you. Truth is, I get inspiring notes, 57:27 e-mails, letters from viewers literally all over the world sharing with us 57:32 how God has blessed them through this program. And I'd love to hear from you, 57:35 as well. 57:36 It's not that hard. Simple, really. 57:37 Just visit our website, newperceptions.tv. 57:40 It's one word. Newperceptions.tv. 57:44 And click on the contact link at the top of the page, 57:46 shoot me that e-mail. Once again, 57:49 thank you for being with us. Thank you, by the way, 57:51 for your own support. That support is what keeps this 57:54 telecast week after week, reaching America, 57:57 reaching North America, and reaching the planet. 58:01 That kind of generosity that you share is a huge boost 58:05 and blessing to us. And I hope you'll join us 58:07 right here next time 'cause we'll be here. 58:10 In the meantime, God be with you and bless you real good. 58:15 ♪♪ |
Revised 2017-07-18