Participants: Dwight K. Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP170204A
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01:08 >> Well, Happy Sabbath, PMC. Let's go ahead and start off our song service set with a word of
01:13 prayer. Let's bow our heads. 01:17 Dear Lord, I ask You that You be with us now. 01:20 We invite You into our presence and thank You for getting us 01:23 through another week. 01:25 A lot of times we take that for granted, and I thank You that we're in the Sabbath so we can 01:29 worship You. Amen. [ "Whom Shall I Fear" plays ] 02:10 Sing with us. 05:54 [ "When Peace, Like a River" plays ] 09:39 >> Amen. Amen. 09:41 ♪♪ 09:48 >> Please stand. 09:51 [ "No Longer Slaves" plays ] 13:32 [ Bell tolls ] 13:42 ♪♪ 13:53 ♪♪ 14:23 ♪♪ 14:38 ♪♪ 15:10 ♪♪ 16:16 >> That was beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Beautiful. 16:21 What a prayer for today. Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand. 16:31 Oh, God, we pray that prayer. Precious Lord, take our hands. Lead us on, help us stand. 16:42 In this hour of the storm, we have nothing to fear. So, with the few minutes we have 16:51 left, teach us. Through scripture, make it clear, please. 16:54 Hide me so that you get through to the max. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 17:02 So here's a question for you. Is the word "obey" a four-letter word? 17:14 Huh? Come on. "Dwight, I can count. O-B-E-Y." 17:22 Four-letter word. Yeah, but in American English -- Come on. 17:26 In American English, when you call something a four-letter word... 17:30 It's a cuss word. It's usually a profanity or an obscenity. 17:34 Is that not right? So is "obey" a bad four-letter word? 17:42 Let me rephrase it. 17:45 What is there about us humans that creates such a strong 17:49 aversion to this notion of having to obey somebody? 17:53 Obey anybody. I'm reading right now 17:58 Jacques Doukhan's brand-new -- I mean brand-new -- commentary 18:02 on the Book of Genesis. Whoa. 18:04 Every morning of this new year, every morning, every word in 18:08 Genesis, every word in the commentary, and I tell you what, 18:11 I find it absolutely embarrassing how quickly 18:17 we humans default, not to obedience but disobedience. 18:25 I mean, you have Adam and Eve. Brand-new parents of a not yet existing human race, and I don't 18:31 know how many hours go by, I don't know how many days. We have no sense of the time 18:37 passage, but Adam and Eve, on the stage of human life, when they are duped by this cunning 18:43 serpent into bold, defiant disobedience against their maker. 18:50 Soon as they're thrown out of the Garden, you got Cain and Abel. 18:53 Guess what? Second verse, same as the first. Two brothers. 19:01 One of them duped by the same rebel angel into a bold and defiant disobedience to his 19:11 maker. And, by the way, when Cain is banished -- 19:16 listen to this. When Cain is banished from that tiny little community, 19:22 even as mother and father are burying their boy beneath the ground... 19:31 And they are now childless... When Cain is banished, and Genesis records his lineage, 19:38 never again will the word "God" be associated or spoken or written in connection 19:44 with the line of Cain. High-handed disobedience. What is there about us humans 19:54 that creates this strong aversion to anybody, and I mean anybody, telling me what to do? 20:03 And then you come along to the very, very first king Israel has ever had. 20:08 We're talking about a tall, gentle, humble giant named Saul and he gets picked to be the 20:14 first king? I don't know how many days he's on the throne. 20:17 It may be a few weeks, it may be a few months. But before you know it, that 20:21 four-letter word "obey" is like a burr under his saddle. And he resists. 20:31 And one day, when he was waiting for the prophet Sammy to show up -- "Where is this guy when I 20:37 need him?" Suddenly, impetuous, impatient Saul decides he will be priest 20:43 and prophet, and he will go ahead with the sacrifices of Thanksgiving using the animals 20:50 he disobeyed God by keeping. 20:54 Animal blood is flowing everywhere when, at last, Samuel 20:59 shows up. And when the prophet shows us, 21:01 these words, on the screen for you, 1 Samuel 15. 21:05 But Samuel replied to Saul, "Does the Lord delight in burn 21:10 offerings and sacrifices as much as in -- here comes that 21:14 four-letter word -- as much as it obeying the Lord? 21:18 To obey, Saul -- To obey is better than sacrifice, and to 21:21 heed is better than the fat of rams." 21:24 Keep going. "For rebellion" -- 21:26 that would be disobedience. "For rebellion is like the sin 21:30 of divination and arrogance -- that would be pride -- is like 21:33 the evil of idolatry," the worship of self. 21:37 Disobedience. 21:39 Can you believe it? Satan has been dissing obedience from the very beginning. 21:46 And did you catch that? A huge clue to why we have this gut reaction to the four-letter 21:53 word "obey." It's because of another four-letter word that's spelled 21:56 like this -- S-E-L-F. The problem is not "obey." The problem is "self." 22:04 That's the problem. Don't nobody tell me what to do. Why don't we like to obey? 22:11 Because if you obey, it means you accept somebody else's authority over yourself. 22:15 You have to submit to somebody else whose position, whose prominence, whose power is 22:19 greater than your own, and you must submit, whether it's Mommy, Daddy, or God. 22:27 Maybe Bob Dylan was right. You know who Bob Dylan is? Come on, do you know who 22:32 Bob Dylan is? We're talking about the troubadour, the prophet poet of 22:36 the Baby Boomer generation. Maybe Bob Dylan was right when he composed this song "You're 22:42 Gonna Have to Serve Somebody." Mm-hmm, I went and looked it up. It's a long song. 22:49 I pulled a few lyrics out. It goes like this -- Here's one of them I thought I 22:54 was appropriate. ♪ You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride ♪ 22:58 ♪ You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side ♪ ♪ You may be workin' in a 23:03 barbershop ♪ ♪ You may know how to cut hair ♪ ♪ You may be somebody's 23:06 mistress ♪ ♪ May be somebody's heir ♪ ♪ But you're gonna have to serve 23:11 somebody, yes indeed ♪ ♪ You're gonna have to serve somebody ♪ 23:15 ♪ Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord ♪ ♪ But you're gonna have to serve 23:20 somebody ♪ Mm! I should have sung that for you! 23:23 [ Laughter ] I don't know it, I don't know it. 23:30 Please don't write me and tell me about that song. I don't know it. 23:35 "Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody." 23:40 That's exactly the point Paul is making here in this classic chapter of Romans 6. 23:46 Come on, find it. Romans 6, New Testament. Romans 6. 23:51 This is it. Bob Dylan is absolutely right. He must have read Romans 6 to 23:57 compose that one. Romans 6. If you didn't bring a bible, 24:02 grab the pew bible in front of you. It's page 760. 24:06 Romans 6, let's pick it up in Verse 16. "You're gonna have to serve 24:11 somebody." That's Paul's point right now. 24:23 Oh, did I love that song that they were teaching us today. "No longer a slave." 24:29 The song is mostly right. Except for where it's wrong. And that is you'll be a slave. 24:37 You're gonna have to serve somebody. 24:39 You're gonna be a slave to somebody. 24:41 You just better decide which one you want to be a slave to. 24:46 Verse 16 again. "Don't you know that when you 24:48 offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves 24:50 of the one you obey." There's that four-letter word. 24:56 Verse 17. 25:07 One more verse. Verse 18. 25:16 Because you're gonna serve somebody. 25:19 It's just the question of "Whom shall I serve?" 25:22 Grab your study guide. We got to get this down before 25:25 we lose it. Jot it down. 25:27 You got your study guide in your worship bulletin? Okay. 25:30 If you didn't get it, hold your hand up. 25:31 Here come our friendly ushers. Just hold you hand up. 25:34 Up in the balcony, the same. All right. 25:35 Everybody gets a study guide. Didn't get one, hold your hand 25:37 up. I want to talk to you who are 25:39 joining us live-streaming today. We're glad you're here. 25:41 And, by the way, José and I just talked to you a moment ago on 25:44 live streaming. You know that we are now setting 25:46 out to build an online community. 25:48 We have people from all over the planet now that at this hour 25:50 Eastern Time are joining us. We're glad you're a part of 25:53 them. How to grow that community? 25:54 We've already talked to you about it. 25:56 Let's start talking back and forth to each other. 25:59 And if you're on Facebook Live, they're putting the little link 26:03 right now for you up there, and you can connect immediately to 26:06 the study guide. You're watching on television 26:08 right now. You see it on the screen. 26:11 www.newperceptions.tv You go there, and you're looking 26:14 for Storm. That's the title of this -- 26:16 "Storm: Finding Jesus in the Gathering Dark." 26:18 This is Part 4. There are only seven of these. 26:20 Three, and they're over. So go ahead and get that study 26:22 guide, you'll want this one. Okay, let's fill them out. 26:24 I didn't want you to miss this. First, the Samuel one. 26:26 So we're gonna go back to 1 Samuel, jot it down. 26:29 "To obey" -- that four-letter word. 26:32 "To obey is better than sacrifice," right? 26:35 By the way, you have devices. You can go to the same place 26:37 with your device. You can do it. 26:39 It's paperless. Paperless! "To obey is better than 26:42 sacrifice...for rebellion -- that would be disobedience -- 26:44 is like the sin of divination." That's connecting with Lucifer, 26:47 the dark art! Oh, he's the big "dis" of 26:50 obedience. "...and arrogance like the evil 26:53 of idolatry," which, of course, is the worship of self. 26:56 Keep going. "At the heart of our trouble 26:58 with the four-letter word "obey" is our trouble with the 27:01 four-letter word "self." We just made that point. 27:03 Write it down one more time. After all, doesn't "obey" mean 27:06 you must accept someone else's authority over your self? 27:09 Yep, that's exactly what it means, and sure enough, when we 27:12 turn to Romans 6, Paul makes that point. 27:14 Jot it down now. We just read these words. 27:17 "You are slaves of the one you obey, whether you are slaves to 27:20 sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads 27:23 to righteousness." You see? Jot it down. 27:26 Bob Dylan is absolutely right. "You're gonna have to serve 27:29 somebody," so pick your master carefully. 27:37 You got two choices. Pick 'em carefully. 27:39 "Yeah, but do I -- Come on, come on, come on, Dwight. 27:42 Who cares about this obeying or not? 27:44 I mean, what's the big deal?" You know that's a very pertinent 27:47 question. It deserves a very thoughtful 27:50 response. And you and I will kind of 27:52 conjure up the response together. 27:54 You remember last week, I had a coin here. 27:57 Were you here last week? You remember the coin? 27:59 We talked about a coin toss because at the Super Bowl, both 28:02 teams' captains will gather in the center of the field, the 28:04 referee will throw the coin up. Why are we talking about a coin? 28:07 Because a coin has how many sides? Three or two? 28:11 A coin can only have two sides. And so, last week, we 28:14 remembered -- Ahh! -- that the God of this universe, 28:17 when he minted in pure gold -- This is gold, by the way. 28:20 Last week we had silver, but now I got gold. 28:23 Well, I guess it's Fool's Gold, but it's still gold-ish. 28:26 When the God of the universe minted the exquisitely, most 28:30 expensive coin in the universe, and he called it salvation, 28:34 we found out that the coin has two sides. 28:36 The salvation coin has two sides. 28:38 Let me see if you were listening last week. 28:40 On one side of the coin, it's called...? 28:43 "We are in Christ." All right. Very good. 28:45 "We are in Christ." So I turn the coin over. 28:47 What's that side? "Christ is in us." 28:51 The entire coin of salvation can be summarized in just those two 28:55 sides. There's not a third side, 28:57 there's not a fourth side. Either we are in Christ 29:01 or Christ is in us. So when you think about 29:06 the coin of salvation... We remember the words of Jesus. 29:10 In fact, we looked at these last week. 29:11 I want you put them down again, please -- John 15:5, bright red 29:14 letters on the screen. Would you jot them down? 29:16 How do we know there are two sides to the coin? 29:19 Listen to this. Jesus says... 29:25 There are the two sides. You in Me, I in you... 29:32 God's entire gift of salvation summarized in two sides of the salvation coin. 29:36 There's not a third side. There are only two. Now, the moment -- the moment 29:42 you introduce this concept of abiding in another person and another person abiding in you, 29:47 you have injected a love story into the equation. This isn't just vines and 29:52 branches now. We're talking about a love story. 29:55 Because how would you ever let somebody abide in you if you're not in love with that person? 29:59 Why would somebody ever let you abide in her, abide in him if you're not in love with that 30:03 person? And when you're in love with that person, what makes that 30:06 person happy makes you happy. What makes that person sad, makes you sad. 30:09 When you abide in each other, it's just like life comes together. 30:12 A very good friend, a spouse... That's how it works. So, the other day, Karen came 30:20 home from her shopping -- one of her shopping expeditions. And she comes home with a 30:29 replacement for our clothes hamper. You know what a clothes hamper 30:33 is? When they're dirty, you throw them in the hamper. 30:36 That old hamper, finally the bottom gave out. A lot of dirty clothes in our 30:40 family. I don't understand that. Two people in the family and 30:42 we've got a lot of dirty clothes. It's not right. 30:45 But, anyway, so she comes home. Oh, boy, she's prepared. She doesn't come home with an 30:49 exact replacement. Are you kidding? She comes home with a 30:52 super-duper big hamper. With one very annoying feature that she thinks is very cool. 31:03 And that is, if you open the hamper up, there are two nets hanging inside of it. 31:08 Mm-hmm. Net bags. They're hung up by Velcro. When she brought it home, she 31:13 says, "Come here, Dwight. I want to give you a little free tutorial." 31:17 [ Laughter ] I love these 'cause they're never free. 31:20 "I'm gonna give you a free tutorial." She says, "Now, look here. 31:24 This one, lights. This one, darks. All right? 31:31 When you take them off... Lights. Darks. Is that clear? I said, "Yeah. Sort of." 31:40 And in a few days, I found out, what do you when they're not light or dark? 31:44 Leave them outside? Third pile. Oh, no. You got to decide. 31:52 You got to serve somebody. So, anyway... You know, I'm used to dumping 32:00 everything in one big hole. Just -- Practicing my Chicago Bulls 32:06 hook shot. Now I got these two holes I got to hit. 32:10 And there are times -- I'll tell you the truth. There are times when my 32:13 wadded-up sock goes in the wrong net. Bad. I say, "You know what? 32:19 Who cares? Who cares?" And just like that -- I tell you 32:25 the truth -- just like that, there's a little voice inside of me that whispers, "But, Dwight, 32:31 Karen cares. And this makes her work a lot easier. 32:37 So if she's asked you to do this, do it, boy." Jesus comes along and he says, 32:44 "Hey, hey! Yo, yo! Abide in me, I in you. Hey, Dwight! 32:49 You're the one that went to the door and opened it up when I was knocking on the door and you 32:54 said, 'Come on in, Jesus. You have my life!' I came in. 32:57 Thank you for inviting me in. 33:01 We're together now. And, Dwight, you do know that 33:04 when I came in, I began to clean up what I found. 33:08 The dirt just went away. And, Dwight, you do know that 33:12 when I came in and I said, 'Dwight, that'll need to leave,' 33:16 I let you take it out." Oh, yes, Lord, I remember. 33:19 You did let met take it out. "Yeah, you know why, Dwight? 33:23 Because I am in you and you are in me. 33:25 And when we're close like this, what makes you happy 33:29 makes me happy. And the other side of the coin 33:33 is what makes me happy, makes you happy. 33:36 Abide in me, stay in me. Anything I command you. 33:40 It's good news because we're like this. 33:43 I remind you, Dwight, I didn't just come in as your protector. 33:46 I didn't just come in as your defender. 33:48 No, no, no, no. I'm your BFF, your Best Friend 33:51 Forever, I am your savior." Yeah. 33:58 Wow. "And, by the way, Dwight, now 34:02 that I'm in, I kind of hope that you live by the words of 34:06 John 14:15. "To quote me," he says... 34:11 I hope you live by those words. Well, now, you got me curious, 34:14 Lord. I got to check that out. 34:15 John 14:15. Check it out in your bible. 34:18 See if it feels the same way in yours as it does it mine. 34:21 John 14 -- Okay, I see it's all red letters, so Jesus must -- 34:25 Oh, this is Jesus the night before he goes to Calvary. 34:28 This is obviously something very important on his heart. 34:31 That night, sure enough. John 14:15. Here's Jesus. 34:34 Red letters. 34:41 Keep my commandments. Would you jot that down, please? 34:48 What's the word "keep" mean? It means obey! 34:50 It's another four-letter word for "obey." 34:52 Keep my commandments. Because that's the gospel truth! 34:57 Loving and obeying go hand in hand because if you love someone, no matter who it is, 35:01 you demonstrate your love by obeying her, by obeying him. It's just that way, folks. 35:05 You don't like it, find another planet. It's the way we live. 35:11 Wow. "Yeah, but, Dwight, aren't you making this -- 35:16 Hey, guys, I don't know what you did up there, but you just suddenly have this really amped 35:21 up. Do you mind turning it down just a little? Thanks. 35:23 It's just we're getting all kinds of crazy sounds now. All right. 35:27 "Yeah, but, Dwight, come on. Aren't you making this "obey" business a little too simple? 35:31 I mean, you know, love, relationship, and all?" I don't think so. 35:35 Because as is turns out, the great truth is -- obedience is by faith. 35:41 Did you know that? Obedience is by faith. 35:44 Jot it down, will you? Just keep scribblin' there. 35:47 There it is. 35:55 You say, "Oh, Dwight, you made that up." No. 35:57 Everything up there in yellow, would you write that down? 35:59 Because this came to me after I wrote up the study guide, but I 36:03 need you to write Hebrews 11:8 down because what does it say? 36:08 By faith. Obedience is by faith. It's not something you grit, 36:13 it's not something you grunt. 36:15 It's not something you grin. It's something you do by faith. By faith, Abraham obeyed God. 36:21 And, by the way, that's exactly how Jesus lived. He obeyed by faith. 36:33 I'm gonna share that line with you again. Whew. 36:36 For some reason -- I'm telling you the truth -- this line has gotten embedded in my mind 36:41 through this Storm series. I know we quoted it in #RxF4Now last semester, but this is 36:46 really -- It just took this series for it to get into my mind, and I have to remind you, 36:51 again, that when the preacher preaches, he is preaching loudest to himself. 36:57 She is preaching loudest to herself. Why? Because I'm listening to 37:01 everything I'm saying and I'm saying, "Is that authentic?" Have I integrated that into my 37:06 own life?" And so I'm telling you, this line has been popping into my 37:10 brain all day long, all through my waking hours. Now, I'm not -- 37:14 This is nothing great about Dwight. I'm telling you the truth. 37:17 But in my humble opinion, here's what's going on. The Holy Spirit has put Himself 37:23 behind this line and pushes it in a way he pushes no other line. 37:33 It's the secret to Jesus. And if you get this secret 24/7, you will have the faith of 37:42 Jesus, and when you have the faith of Jesus, you will have the obedience of Jesus. 37:46 It's the secret wrapped up in a single line. I never saw it before. 37:51 But now it's just like, "Whoa." I got to share it with you. The Book of Hebrews. 37:55 Got to Hebrews, near the end of the New Testament there. Hebrews 2. 37:58 It's very interesting what the author of Hebrews does. He puts words in Christ's mouth 38:03 that the gospels do not. Because in Hebrews, the incarnate God's thought 38:07 processes are revealed to us. The gospels do not reveal the thought processes. 38:11 They just tell what he spoke. But in Hebrews, we see what he's thinking as he spoke. 38:16 And this is dynamite. You'll find it all the way through the book of Hebrews, 38:19 little statements that Jesus makes that we never read anywhere else. 38:24 This is Hebrews -- I want you to know that Jesus is 38:26 gonna speak this line, so I need you to start with Verse 11, 38:29 where Hebrews 2 reads... 38:40 He's talking about Jesus. Who makes us holy? Jesus does. 38:43 So the one that makes us holy, and you and me, we're all the 38:46 same family, and that's why the line goes on... 38:51 "Yo, little brother! Yo, little sister!" 38:54 That's who He is. He's our elder brother. 38:57 Now, he says -- You won't find these words anywhere in the 38:59 gospels. He says, the incarnate God... 39:06 That's straight out of Psalm 22 and we know it's a messianic 39:09 psalm. "My God, my God, why have you 39:10 forsaken me?" are the opening words. 39:12 So we know this is Jesus, all right? 39:15 So he says... 39:27 One line. Seven words. Those seven words turn out to be 39:33 the credo of Christ. From birth to ascension. 39:39 "I will put my trust in Him." Wow. You know what? 39:46 I get tears in my eyes -- when in a quiet place, not here -- 39:49 but in a quiet place, I turn and I read those words, and it's as 39:53 if Jesus is speaking. And what I realized is, He has 39:58 just given me a sentence that I can speak for the rest of my 40:02 life. And I am speaking His thoughts 40:07 when I speak this sentence. Seven words long. 40:11 Jesus said "Hey, yo, yo, Dwight, Dwight, Dwight... 40:14 This is the way I lived when I was here." 40:17 No kidding! This is the one confession that 40:19 carried me through night and day. 40:21 I kept whispering to myself, "I will put my trust in Him." 40:24 "I will put my trust in Him." Three times the enemy of the 40:27 human race came to me, and all three responses were summarized, 40:31 "I will put my trust in Him." That's how I made it. 40:36 That's my line. And I'm giving it to you to be 40:40 your credo, too. "I will put my trust in Him." 40:44 Come on, little brother. Come on, my little brother. 40:47 I need you to take hold of this faith because, you see, when you 40:53 speak those seven words, you have just possessed the faith of 40:56 Jesus. That's the faith of Jesus." 40:58 "I will put my trust in Him." "And when I give you the faith 41:03 of Jesus, you do like I did with the tempter. 41:05 When he comes to you, Dwight, you say those seven words to 41:08 him." "I will put my trust in Him." 41:10 "So how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God? 41:13 Recognize those words, Dwight? I gave those words to Joseph. 41:16 He was saying "I will put my trust in Him." 41:19 And then when Mrs. Potiphar was standing in front of him, he 41:22 said, "How can I do this wickedness and sin against God?" 41:24 I gave him my faith. He had the faith of Jesus. 41:27 You may have that same faith. You may live by the faith till I 41:32 come. Because if you have my faith, 41:34 you have my obedience, and if you have my obedience, you have 41:38 my victory. Do you understand that?" 41:41 Wow, Jesus. Are you serious? "I'm serious." 41:46 "I will put my trust in Him." Live by it. 41:50 I wish you'd jot that down. That's exactly what it is. 41:56 Which means you have that faith of Jesus, you have the obedience 42:01 of Jesus, too. And, oh my, speaking of 42:03 obedience, did He learn how to obey. 42:06 Merci. "Thank you" in Tagalog. 42:09 Beautiful language. Reading that. 42:11 Hebrews 5. Just turn the page. We'll go to the words. 42:15 We just heard in Tagalog and read in English -- 42:17 Hebrews 5. Turn the page. Look at this. 42:20 This is something else. Verse 7. 42:39 Too long words for one codeword. Because of his obedience. 42:43 There's that four-letter word again. 42:47 Not clear? It'll be clear in a split second. 42:50 That's the result of Jesus' confession. 42:52 And, by the way, before the great "By faith" chapter, 42:57 Hebrews 11. Before they ever talk about the 43:00 faith of humanity, in Hebrews 2, it's quickly established. 43:03 It's the faith of Jesus that counts. 43:07 By faith, Abraham obeyed, but where'd he get the faith from? 43:10 He got the faith from one who would come down and live that 43:13 way. Mm. 43:16 And, by the way, did you notice this? 43:19 That their loud cries and tears -- did you catch that? 43:21 Loud cries and tears. Let me tell you something. 43:23 When you live by the faith of Jesus, don't be fooled. 43:25 Don't be fooled into thinking that it's a picnic in the park 43:28 in the land of Satan. There is no picnic in the land 43:30 of Satan. You live in the land of Satan. 43:33 We all do. It's no little breezeway. 43:39 The stronger you hold on to God, the harder the devil will hit 43:44 you with everything he's got because in the enemy's land, it 43:48 is inevitable -- this is basketball season, we got a few 43:51 teams on the campus right now. It is inevitable that it is a 43:56 full-court press. The moment you seize the faith 43:59 of Jesus, it's a full-court press because there's somebody 44:03 that's gonna break -- He's gonna break your knuckles. 44:05 He's gonna crush that grass. That's his goal. 44:09 Because with the faith of Jesus, you win. 44:11 You got his obedience and you have his victory when you have 44:14 his faith. So hang on to the faith. 44:17 That's the point. Oh, F.F. Bruce. 44:21 Boy, does he nail it here, the great New Testament scholar. 44:33 Or as they say in the world of athletics, "No pain, no gain." 44:37 if you're not paining, you're not gaining. 44:40 You're just whimping. You want gain? 44:43 Then you have pain. You work out till it's killing 44:46 you. Jesus suffered in order to 44:50 learn. To learn what? 44:51 Well, take a look at this. Verse 7 again. 45:03 Keep reading. Verse 8. 45:08 Hold it right there. Would you write that in, please? 45:15 Hey, wait a minute. Do you suppose that's the way we 45:18 learn, as well? Do we learn the same way? 45:20 I have a feeling we do. I haven't seen my brother's palm 45:26 in a while. I should have looked it when we 45:28 were burying our mother with our sister Carrie just a few weeks 45:31 ago. But when Greg and I were growing 45:35 up in Japan, we were in a little house where the oil furnace was 45:39 underneath the floor, all right? And it would just -- 45:42 They don't have, you know, central air. 45:44 It just forced air from one hole that covers the whole house. 45:47 There was a metal grate over where the hot air came up. 45:52 And our parents warned us. "Boys, never touch that when the 45:56 furnace is on. Don't touch it." 45:58 I don't know what was happening one day. 46:01 We were playing around, and Greg was maybe scrambling for a ball 46:04 and he puts his hand down on that metal grate and there 46:07 was -- [ Hisses ] And a scream! 46:11 And a lesson learned. Because that's the way we learn. 46:16 No pain, no gain. F.F. Bruce goes on... 46:39 He learned what it would be like for you and me. He learned it. 46:43 "I will put my trust in Him" with loud cries and tears so 46:46 that by having the faith of Jesus, we will be granted the 46:50 obedience of Jesus. Oh! I got to end this. Verse 8. 46:57 Oh, here it comes. Verse 9. Get this. 47:06 Four-letter word. "You want eternal life? 47:11 Then abide in me, and I in you. And what I say, you do. 47:16 Not because I hate you, not because I'm a grump, not because 47:20 I like to see you squirm. What I say, you do because I'm 47:24 saving you. I'm protecting you. 47:28 That tempter is being held at bay because of this. 47:32 Do as I do. Say as I say." "I will put my trust in Him." 47:39 Seven-word credo. How shall we obey Him? 47:41 That's how. We obey Him by faith. 47:43 By whose faith? By the faith of Jesus. 47:46 So that when the tempter comes to us -- come on -- as he does 47:49 100 times a day... When the tempter comes to us... 47:54 We learn to live by the faith of Jesus and we declare to our 47:57 mortal enemy, "No, I will not, for I will put my trust in Him." 48:05 And, remember, God's word quoted back to Him is just as 48:08 omnipotent as when God speaks it. 48:10 So that when you speak the words "trust," "Him," 48:15 the moment they're off of your lips, the words instantly create 48:20 the reality they describe, and you have trust in Him. 48:23 I've seen it in the last four weeks. 48:29 It works. That sentence becomes 48:33 operationalized in your very being in the presence of the 48:38 tempter. Wow. The faith of Jesus. 48:43 "Yeah, but, Dwight, Dwight, Dwight, what if I'm tempted to 48:46 eat something I shouldn't eat? What if I'm tempted to drink 48:48 something I shouldn't drink? What if I'm tempted to do 48:50 something I shouldn't do? What if I'm hungry for sex, and 48:54 the tempter stands in front of me and he says, 48:57 'Indulge yourself. You've been going so long.' 49:04 What do I do then?" My friend, you call on the faith 49:07 of Jesus, that's what you do. "Yeah, but what's that mean?" 49:10 Repeat after me. "I will put my trust in Him." 49:14 In fact, let's do that out loud. Maybe you haven't gotten the 49:16 sentence yet. "I will put my trust in Him." 49:20 Let's do that again. "I will put my trust in Him." 49:25 One more time. "I will put my trust in Him." 49:31 And then immediately leave. Immediately leave. 49:37 Physically take your body away. Whatever it is, wherever it is. 49:42 "Yeah, but what if the devil keeps chasing me?" 49:45 Then you just keep saying to him "You might not have heard it the 49:47 first time, so let me repeat. I will put my trust in Him." 49:56 I remind you, that when Jesus went to Calvary with that 50:00 confession of faith and he's praying in the black darkness as 50:05 the forces of Satan himself come down to extinguish his life, 50:10 he clings to that line -- "I will put my trust in Him." 50:17 And because he does, the bloody, crimson obedience 50:22 that he won became the triumphant victory that he 50:29 gives. It's yours. 50:32 "It is finished! I got it for Dwight! 50:35 I got it for you. I got it." 50:39 The faith of Jesus. You get his obedience, you get 50:42 his victory. I'm telling you, ladies and 50:44 gentlemen, it doesn't get any better than this. 50:46 I want to end with a quotation from Desire of Ages. 50:48 I love this. Oh, this is stunning. 50:58 Oh, by the way, that's Christ in us. 51:00 He's identifying with my thoughts. 51:02 Isn't that amazing? Christ in us. 51:04 He said, "I'll take your thought, that's me." 51:14 You see how that works? It's just mutual. 51:17 Here it comes... 51:27 You're not even thinking! You are living by this. "I will put my trust in Him." 51:31 And when the moment comes, you're not saying, "Now, let's see, what is that word again? 51:34 Does the "put" come before the "trust," or the -- No! 51:37 You're not even thinking now. Because you have given that day to Jesus. 51:42 "I will put my trust in Him." And when you make a decision, you think it's your decision. 51:47 You think it's your decision, but the one who is abiding in you actually made that decision 51:52 for you. It will be as if we are carrying out our own impulses. 51:56 I'm not thinking about Jesus who just made this decision. He says, "No, Dwight, you did. 51:59 But it's because we're this. That's why you made the decision I would have made. 52:05 Good on you, boy. Little brother, stay with me. Stay with me, little brother." 52:11 Isn't that something? Wow. 52:23 Oh, can you believe this? 52:29 By faith. Not gruntin', grittin', and 52:31 grinnin'. Nope. By faith. 52:34 Continual. 52:40 This whole truth is saturated with Him. 52:47 That was last week's big idea. Every day, ask for the faith of 52:51 Jesus while you read the Word of God. 52:53 Every day, ask for the faith of Jesus while you read the 52:56 Word of God. Through communion with Him. 52:59 That's it. Sin will become -- 53:01 Read that next word to me. Read that next word to me. 53:04 Sin will become... Hateful! 53:07 Hateful to us. It's not about "Oh, man! No!" 53:12 No way! Sin will become hateful. 53:14 Isn't that something? And it's all because he's 53:17 abiding in you and you're abiding in him, and it's all by 53:19 faith. You get it all by faith. 53:21 Ladies and gentlemen, you see, the truth remains. 53:25 It is Jesus from beginning to end. 53:29 It's all Jesus. Jesus' faith, Jesus' obedience, 53:33 Jesus' victory. It's all Jesus. 53:35 It's all by faith. And listen, listen. 53:38 It's all yours to which I want to say "Amen." 53:42 It's all yours. It's all yours. 53:46 Right now. Amen. 53:50 Oh, God. Trust and obey. That's it. 53:53 The faith of Jesus leads to obedience of Jesus, leads to the 53:57 victory of Jesus, leads to eternity with Jesus. 54:01 Could it be more simple? And could it be more Christ in 54:05 the middle of it all than what we've just discovered? 54:09 "I will put my trust in Him." Please. Dear God. 54:16 Insert that seven-word credo all through the day and night 54:22 for all of us. We humbly pray in Jesus' name. 54:26 Amen. All right, let's sing that 54:29 beautiful, beautiful gospel, "Trust and Obey." 54:33 ♪♪ 56:28 >> Now may the God of Peace, who through the blood of the eternal 56:31 covenant brought back from the dead, our Lord, Jesus, that 56:34 great shepherd of the sheep. May he equip you with everything 56:39 good for doing His will. And may he work in us what is 56:43 pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory 56:48 forever and forever. Amen. 56:51 >> Amen. 56:53 >> I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining 56:56 us in worship today. It's by the continued support 56:58 from viewers like you that we're able to bring this telecast. 57:02 Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how 57:04 this ministry has blessed you. Truth is, I get inspiring notes, 57:08 e-mails, letters from viewers literally over the world, 57:12 sharing with us how God has blessed them through this 57:14 program, and I'd love to hear from you, as well. 57:17 It's not that hard. It's simple, really. 57:19 Just visit our website. www.newperceptions.tv. 57:21 That's one word. www.newperceptions.tv. 57:25 And click on the "Contact" link at the top of the page. 57:27 Shoot me that e-mail. Once again, thank for you being 57:30 with us. Thank you, by the way, for your 57:33 own support. That support is what keeps this 57:35 telecast week after week reaching America, reaching 57:39 North America, and reaching the planet. 57:42 That kind of generosity that you share is a huge boost and 57:46 blessing to us. And I hope you'll join us right 57:48 here next time 'cause we'll be here. 57:51 In the meantime, God be with you and bless you real good. 57:57 ♪♪ |
Revised 2017-02-10