Participants: Dwight K Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP170520A
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00:07 [ Instrumental music plays ]
00:20 [ Congregation sings ] 04:16 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. 04:18 Nice to see you. I thought maybe are they gonna 04:21 be away on vacation? But no. 04:23 You got -- what? -- two more weeks left. 04:25 Glad to have you here today. Good for you. 04:28 Yeah, we got some more soft seats saved for you right there. 04:31 There you go. Okay, so, my story scout, one of 04:37 them, Sharon Dugent. 04:40 She said, "Dwight, I found another one. Here you go." 04:43 Ooh. This is -- This will work. This story happened back April 19. 04:47 That was back in April, so three, four weeks ago. April 19. 04:53 Samuel -- He's in the fourth grade. Anybody here in the fourth 04:56 grade? I need to know. Am I talking to any 04:57 fourth-graders here? Fourth grade, fourth grade, fourth grade, fourth grade, 05:01 fourth grade. Good. So, he is in the fourth grade, 05:03 and his whole class is going to the capital in Salem, Oregon. That's where we were pastoring 05:08 before we came here. Oh, it's a beautiful Capitol building. 05:11 A golden pioneer on top. Ooh, everybody likes to visit the capital. 05:17 So, they're having a wonderful class outing, tour of the capital. 05:21 Governor Kate Brown, yes. Whoa. Can you believe it? 05:27 When he went home, uh-oh. When he went home, Samuel was not feeling very good. 05:38 He thought about it for a day. He thought about it for two days. 05:42 And then he said, "Nope, I'm going to have to write the governor of the state of Oregon 05:48 a personal letter." So that's exactly what he did. I'm gonna put that personal 05:53 letter on the big screen for us, please. There it is, boys and girls. 05:57 Can anybody read fourth-grader penmanship? Oh, I bet you can. 06:01 Let's see if you can read it out loud, if you can tell. "Dear Governor Brown, my class 06:09 visited the Capitol on April 19. While we were there, I took a hazelnut and pen from the 06:18 capitol building. These things were not mine, and it was wrong for me to take 06:27 them. I'm very sorry. 06:32 I hope you and the people of Oregon can forgive me. 06:36 Sincerely, Samuel." 06:38 Oh, Samuel -- I don't know where he was in the Capitol building, but he saw a pen. 06:44 He said, "Ooh, nice little souvenir." He saw a hazelnut. 06:47 Now, where he saw that, I do not know, but he grabbed a hazelnut. And so, when he sent that letter 06:54 to the governor, Governor Brown, he put the pen in the letter, and he couldn't send the 06:59 hazelnut, so he put a dollar bill, a pen and a dollar bill. "I'm very sorry." 07:06 Because you see, his little conscience was bothering him. "You shouldn't have stolen that. 07:11 You shouldn't have stolen that. You shouldn't steal, Samuel." Who speaks to us through our 07:18 consciences, I wonder. Oh, that's Jesus speaking. You're right. 07:21 Through our little consciences. Well, the governor got his letter. 07:26 She hashtagged "cutest male ever" about it, and then she wrote this response. 07:31 This is Governor Brown. See the stationery? Whoa, from Governor Kate Brown. 07:37 "Samuel, thank you for your note of apology. 07:40 On behalf of the people of Oregon, I accept your apology 07:43 and forgive you." 07:46 Hallelujah. And then, to prove it, she stuck a brand-new pen in the envelope 07:51 and sent it to Samuel. Oh, ho. Isn't that something? 07:54 I know somebody in the universe who will forgive us as fast as the governor of Oregon, perhaps 08:00 even faster, I do believe. There's somebody that when we do something naughty, we do 08:05 something wrong and our conscience says, "Oh, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, 08:10 oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you shouldn't do that." When the conscience says that, 08:16 we know, and when we say "I'm very sorry, Jesus," what do you think he does? 08:21 Gone. Forgot all about it. "I forgot all about it." 08:26 How many are thankful that our savior is that fast and that true to us that he forgives us 08:32 just like that? Oh, thank you, Jesus. Who would like to thank Jesus? 08:37 I'm thinking we had a little girl in first service, so do we have a young man who would like 08:43 to pray? Young man, come right here. You want to pray? 08:47 Come here. All right, let's close our eyes and fold our hands. 08:52 What's your first name? >> Joseph. >> Joseph. 08:55 We're going to pray with Joseph. Close your eyes and fold your hands as Joseph thanks Jesus. 09:01 >> Jesus, we thank you for the world. [ Speaking indistinctly ] 09:14 In Jesus' name, amen. >> Amen. Thank you, Joseph. 09:18 You can say what Joseph just said in your heart as you go back to your pew now and to your 09:23 mommy and daddy. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for being our savior. 09:27 Thank you for your forgiveness of my sins. 09:49 >> All: ♪ Giver of life ♪ ♪ Creator of all that is lovely ♪ 10:05 ♪ Teach me to sing the words to your song ♪ ♪ I want to feel the music of 10:24 living ♪ ♪ I want to feel the music of living ♪ 10:38 ♪ And not fear the sad songs ♪ ♪ But from them make new songs ♪ ♪ Composed of both laughter and 10:49 tears ♪ ♪ Giver of life ♪ ♪ Creator of all that is 11:12 lovely ♪ ♪ Teach me to dance to the sounds of your world ♪ 11:27 ♪ I want to move ♪ ♪ I want to move ♪ ♪ In rhythm with your plan ♪ 11:31 ♪ In rhythm with your plan ♪ ♪ Help me to follow your leading ♪ 11:43 ♪ To risk even falling ♪ ♪ To rise and keep trying ♪ ♪ For you are leading the 11:54 dance ♪ ♪ For you are leading the dance ♪ 12:02 ♪ For you are leading the dance ♪ ♪ Giver of life ♪ 12:20 ♪ Creator of all that is lovely ♪ ♪ Teach me to sing the words to 12:38 your soooooooong ♪ 12:54 [ Applause ] 12:57 >> Let's pray. Oh, God, You are the maker, You are the giver of all life, the 13:02 life we have. It comes from You. The minds we have, they are 13:10 guided by You. In the few minutes we have, would you seize this moment and 13:15 teach us? We pray through Holy Scripture. In Jesus' name, amen. 13:21 As we storied together this morning, that is compelling 13:25 evidence that some dark and sinister hacker has implanted 13:31 some malware in our very lives. You're familiar with malware? 13:37 Are you following this story that's going on now? 13:40 What are they calling it, WannaCry? 13:42 Is that the ransomware, WannaCry? 13:45 Yeah, thousands globally -- just this last week, thousands of computers hacked by this strange 13:54 and sinister entry. It somehow, as they noted here, it encrypts your files, removing 14:01 your files from access, and then it demands a ransom in bitcoin, which is a currency of the 14:07 Internet. The only place you can get it is the Internet and spend it. 14:12 And the promise is you give us that bitcoin and we'll give you your files back. 14:18 The government of China announced that 40,000 institutions and businesses 14:23 hacked by WannaCry. England, Britain -- we're talking about the national 14:28 health system down because of WannaCry. U.S. FedEx down because of 14:32 WannaCry. Turns out it's the largest computer hacking in the history 14:37 of Earth, period. They're calling it WannaCry because you want to cry when you 14:42 have it. It's just bad. And it makes you wonder. 14:48 It makes you wonder if that's what's going on up here. I'm talking about -- I'm 14:52 touching my temples right now. Is that what is going on up here? 14:57 Has some dark, sinister hacker embedded in our very psyches a malware that takes over the 15:09 operating system, actually holding it for ransom, and refusing any ransom paid anyway? 15:16 It makes you wonder. Could it be we've all been hacked? 15:22 I'm talking about up here. I mean, look. We're not talking rocket science 15:26 here, folks. Are you watching what's happening on this planet? 15:30 I mean, come on. Look at the headlines. There's one after the other 15:33 after the other. Facebook -- Oh, Facebook, this grand place where we love to go. 15:38 Facebook now. Did you see? What was it, over in Chicago, 15:42 the Windy City, Facebook Live, a gang beating up on a mentally handicapped young man, live, 15:48 cutting him up? And then to outdo it just a few weeks ago, Facebook Live again, 15:54 an actual murder taking place on Facebook Live. What's going on with America? 15:59 Not just America. What's going on with the world? A little over a century ago, 16:06 some rather prescient words were written. I'm gonna put these words on the 16:09 screen for you. Suggesting that a generation that's living on the edge of 16:12 eternity might be going through what we're going through right now. 16:16 I'll put the words on the screen for you. You see in there. 16:18 "We are living in the time of the end." A bunch of sentences from that 16:24 single page. "The spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from 16:27 the Earth." Hey, I got some great news for you. 16:29 Friends of Jesus, the spirit of God never leaves. If you're a friend of Jesus, he 16:33 will never leave you. But if you want to just kiss him off, eventually, just gradually 16:38 but he will walk out. Keep reading. "The agencies of evil are 16:44 combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the 16:48 last great crisis." Pooling all their resources together. 16:51 Mercy. "Great changes are soon to take 16:53 place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid 16:55 ones." Now, here comes the line. 16:57 "Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, 17:01 and little children." Somebody has hacked the very 17:04 thinking processes of the human race. 17:08 "Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil 17:12 prevails. The cries of starving humanity 17:15 are coming up before God, while, by every species of oppression 17:19 and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes." 17:22 Something's happening. The rich are just astronomically 17:26 richer and the poor are just tragically poor. 17:29 What's going on? 17:31 I repeat the question. Could it be we've been hacked? Could it be that some sort of 17:40 supernatural malware has taken over our operating systems and another mind is directing our 17:53 lives? I'm gonna go to that story. Let's go. 17:56 Gospel of Luke. This is a powerful story. Luke chapter 4. 18:00 Whatever Bible you brought. I'm in the New International today. 18:04 Luke chapter 4. Just find it. The story of Jesus. 18:09 Compelling story. Luke chapter 4. If you didn't bring a Bible, 18:15 grab the pew Bible in front of you. It'd be page 692. 18:18 Luke 4:31. "Then Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee." 18:24 Now, lookit, lookit. It's literally down because you know where he's been? 18:28 If you just go to the verse just before this, you'll find out he's been at his home church. 18:33 No, seriously. He's at his home church in Nazareth. 18:36 The people there just cannot stomach the thought that this boy that's grown up in our midst 18:41 is wildly popular everywhere else, and they are so mad at him, at the end of his talking 18:46 in the synagogue, in church that morning, they rush him to the edge of the cliff. 18:51 They're gonna throw him off, and he just disappears. He said, "Well, that's God for 18:55 you. He can do stuff like that." Nope. 18:57 Happened to John Wesley, in a crowd, ready to lynch him. William Miller in a crowd, ready 19:02 to lynch him, disappeared. Jesus didn't have any inside track to God. 19:07 Whatever he had, you have. And God was looking out for him. "Not your time." 19:11 Hide him. Gone. Now, he's moved to Capernaum. He's changed his home address. 19:17 Different zip code now 'cause they don't want him in Nazareth, and it really is going down. 19:23 It's from 1,144 feet to 685 feet on the shores of the Sea of Galilee below sea level. 19:28 He's dropped down 1,800 feet. He's really going down. So, let's read it again, verse 19:33 31. "Then Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, 19:37 and on the Sabbath, he taught the people." If this were consecutive, this 19:41 would be the next Sabbath. "They were amazed at his teaching because his words had 19:46 authority." The authorities of his day, they said, "Well, one rabbi says 19:51 this. Another rabbi says this. Another rabbi says this. 19:55 But however, a fourth rabbi says this." It's just this intellectual 19:59 equivocation. Nobody's ever sure. People are sick and tired of it. 20:03 Here's a guy that says, "I tell you the truth. The truth will set you free. 20:08 You know the son? The son will set you free. It is written." 20:12 And they just thrived on it. 20:14 Now, in the synagogue -- okay, the plot thickens. 20:16 Here we go now. "In the synagogue," verse 33, 20:19 "there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit, and he 20:23 cried out at the top of his voice, 'Go away! 20:26 What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? 20:29 Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are -- the Holy 20:32 One of God!'" That loud. 20:37 The place -- you could've heard a pin drop. 20:47 Everybody's frozen. Every worshiper except Jesus. 20:53 He knows who this is. Chapter 4 begins, in fact -- "I know who you are." 21:00 Chapter 4 in Luke begins with Jesus 40 days and 40 nights, no food, praying, fasting. 21:07 Weak, emaciated, and haggard at the end of 40 days. Shoo! 21:12 This angel of glory shows up and said, "Yo, you the king? You this guy they been talking 21:18 about? You can't be. Look at you. 21:20 You're a pitiful specimen of humanity. I tell you what. 21:23 You want to prove you're the king. Turn that stone into bread." 21:29 Three raging, grueling temptations. Jesus knows. 21:35 He was waiting for him. He knows who's here. Jesus speaks. 21:45 Next line. Verse 35. 21:50 Jesus says one word in the Greek, just one word -- it'd be 21:53 in the Aramaic. One word. 21:56 "Be quiet!" That's actually the word -- the 21:59 actual, literal translation is "be muzzled." 22:01 It's what you do with a Doberman pincer when you don't want the 22:03 Doberman biting anybody. You put a muzzle on the muzzle. 22:10 Can't do anything. Be muzzled. 22:14 By the way, that's what he said in that little -- that bouncing, 22:17 fishing skiff. He's been sleeping through the 22:20 storm. "We're dying!" 22:21 And he stands up and he turns in to that raging fury of a storm, 22:26 and he says the same word, "Be muzzled. 22:29 Be still." Apparently when the Creator came 22:34 down in human flesh like you and me, the word He spoke still had 22:38 all the omnipotent power so the moment he speaks the word, in 22:42 less than half a nanosecond, that word immediately creates 22:46 the reality it describes, and when Jesus says, "Be muzzled" to 22:50 that demon, boom. Not the man. 22:55 The demon inside of him is muzzled. 22:59 "Get out of him now." And, by the way, Luke's the only 23:05 one that points this out. "Then the demon threw the man 23:08 down before them all and came out without --" this is the 23:11 doctor's edition -- "without injuring him." 23:13 Leave it to a physician to let everybody know, "By the way, he never got hurt. 23:17 He never got hurt. The demon came out but he couldn't hurt him." 23:23 Wow. "Desire of Ages" captures this moment. 23:28 I'll put the words on the screen. By the way, you have a study 23:30 guide today. No fill-in-the-blanks. You'll want these quotations. 23:32 There are a bunch of them. Put "Desire of Ages" on the screen. 23:35 Read it off the screen. "He who had conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation was 23:39 again brought face to face with his enemy." I know who you are. 23:44 "The demon exerted all his power to retain control of his victim. To lose ground here would be to 23:48 give Jesus a victory. It seemed that the tortured man must lose his life in the 23:53 struggle with the foe that had been the ruin of his manhood." Something he did during his 24:00 young manhood had opened the door to another power beside -- besides God. 24:08 Something he did opened the door and kept opening the door wider, and the longer he did it, the 24:14 wider the door went. 24:18 "But the savior spoke with authority and set the captive 24:21 free. The man who had been possessed 24:23 stood before the wondering people happy in the freedom of 24:26 self-possession. Even the demon had testified to 24:30 the divine power of the savior. The man praised God for his 24:33 deliverance." Like our singing today, praised 24:36 God for his deliverance. "The eye that had so lately 24:40 glared with the fire of insanity now beamed with intelligence and 24:44 overflowed with grateful tears." A miracle. 24:52 Wow. And the people, they finally get 24:55 their voice. The people. 24:56 What is this? Verse 36. 24:58 "And all the people were amazed, and they said to each other, 25:01 'What words are these? What words these are. 25:03 With authority and power, he gives orders to impure spirits, 25:06 and they come out.' And the news about Jesus spread 25:09 throughout the surrounding area." 25:11 The end. 25:13 What do we do with a story like this in this crazy world in which you and I now live? 25:17 There's never been an age like it. You can go back 10 years. 25:21 Not like it. You can go back 50. Not like it. 25:23 You can go back five. Not like it. Something is happening. 25:27 What do we draw out of this story? This nuclear fishin'. 25:30 That's what we're calling these four stories. Nuclear fishin'. 25:33 Why do they call it nuclear fishin'? Because we got some fishing 25:37 going on. We'll get to that in just a second. 25:40 But they're also nuclear. The chemists and the physicists among us know that the word is 25:45 fission -- F-I-S-S-I-O-N. We're calling it fishin'. But the fact of the matter is, 25:51 in these four stories, we encounter a megatonnage of divine explosion that responds 26:00 to human crisis. All four of these stories. This is number two. 26:03 Nuclear fishin'. Let's go back to fishing. You say, "Dwight, thanks a lot 26:07 for the word on fishing. There is no fishing in this story." 26:10 Ah, you'll see quite differently in a moment. Let's go to the ancient prophet 26:14 Habakkuk. Ever heard of Habakkuk? Nobody reads Habakkuk. 26:17 Do you know where it is? It's Old Testament. How do I find it? 26:19 We'll go back to Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, 'cause I want you to see this in 26:24 Habakkuk. You got to see this. So, go back to Matthew, then the 26:26 book before Matthew is Malachi, and the book before Malachi is Zechariah, and the book before 26:31 Zechariah is Haggai, and then there's Zephaniah, and then there's Habakkuk. 26:34 You say, "Dwight, I don't have till lunch to find the book." Okay, well, read it off the 26:38 screen then. Habakkuk. But I wouldn't mind you seeing 26:43 that in your own Bible. Nobody knows who this prophet is. 26:46 There's nothing about him. He just calls himself a prophet. There's only three minor 26:49 prophets that call themselves prophets. He's one of them. 26:52 We guess that he's from Judah. We guess the time period. But we don't know. 27:00 He brings a word. And God speaks to Habakkuk. Look at this. Drop down. 27:03 This is chapter 1, Habakkuk 1:5. 27:05 God says, "Habakkuk, I want you to look at the nations. 27:08 I want you to watch and I want you to be utterly amazed, for I 27:11 am going to do something in your days that you would not believe 27:14 even if you were told." You know what I'm doing, 27:17 Habakkuk? Verse 6. 27:18 "I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and 27:21 impetuous people, who sweep across the whole Earth to seize 27:24 dwellings not their own." I'm sending the Babylonians to 27:27 Judah, Habakkuk. Because I see what you see. 27:33 It's time for judgment. I'm sending the Babylonians. And for eight verses now, God 27:37 describes what the Babylonians are gonna do, and finally Habakkuk jumps up, "Yo, God, 27:42 time-out, stop. This is crazy. You're punishing your chosen 27:48 people with an enemy that is so morally worse and debased. Something is wrong here. 27:56 Wrong punishment." And now Habakkuk is trying to tell God why it's wrong. 28:01 Drop down to verse 14. "You see, you, God --" here comes the metaphor now -- "You 28:06 have made people like the fish in the sea." See, we're all little fishies. 28:11 That's what Habakkuk is saying. "You've made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea 28:15 creatures that have no ruler. 28:17 So the wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks. 28:20 He catches them in his net. He gathers them in his dragnet, 28:23 and so he rejoices and is glad." Verse 16. 28:26 "Therefore he sacrifices to his net. 28:28 He burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in 28:31 luxury and enjoys the choicest food." 28:34 Verse 17. "Is he to keep on emptying his 28:36 net, destroying nations without mercy?" 28:39 You're gonna let this go on until the whole human race is 28:42 destroyed? What are you thinking, God? 28:46 That's what he's asking. 28:49 Wow. Why would you do it? Babylonians? 28:55 You see, what Habakkuk doesn't know, God knows, and you and I know now, looking in quietly. 29:02 What he doesn't know, not clearly, is that there is a great cosmic war embroiling the 29:10 planet even in his day. A great conflict, and God is just drawing the veil aside and 29:19 said, "Let me tell you something, boy. This war is much bigger than you 29:22 think." In fact, there are two fishermen. 29:27 Now, one of the fishermen we've kind of fallen in love with, with the miniseries we just 29:32 ended called "Gone Fishin.'" We love that fisherman. He said, "Hey, you want to 29:35 follow me? Come on, come on, come on. I'll make you fisher people. 29:39 You'll be a fisherman just like me. We'll catch people together. 29:42 For eternity we'll catch them." 29:44 There's one fisherman we love, but now, for the first time, we 29:49 are introduced to a second fisherman who, with his raking 29:53 dragnet is just dragging through humanity and with his net he's 29:58 pulling up innocent fish and destroying them. 30:02 That's what we got here. We've got the big, bad, fisherman. 30:11 Wow. Somebody's behind Babylon. There's somebody invisible 30:15 behind this. It can't be just the Babylonians, and you're 30:18 absolutely right. I'm gonna take you to another verse. 30:20 You'll have all these verses in your study guide, but just go back -- you know where Isaiah 30:24 is. That's not hard to find. Just keep going backwards. 30:27 You'll run into Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 14. You want to know who's behind 30:30 the Babylonian power? Take a look at this. Isaiah 14. 30:35 These verses I just want you to see them in your own Bible. Go through your Bible later and 30:39 mark all the verses in if you wish. But this is Isaiah 14:3. 30:43 "And on the day the Lord gives you relief, oh Israel, relief 30:46 from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor 30:50 enforced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king 30:53 of Babylon, how the oppressor has come to an end. 30:56 How his fury has ended." Now, is God talking about 30:59 Nebuchadnezzar or is he talking about some Babylonian king? 31:03 No, he is not. Watch this. 31:04 Drop down to verse 12. Verse 12. 31:07 "How are you fallen," speaking of the king now, "How are you 31:10 fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn." 31:13 Uh-oh. We know who that is because in 31:15 the Latin "Vulgate," the Latin translation early on, here's how 31:19 they rendered it -- "How are you fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, 31:23 son of the morning?" Lucifer. 31:26 You ever heard of him? You ever heard of him? 31:30 The big, bad fisherman. How are you fallen from heaven? 31:36 Keep reading, verse 12. "You have been cast down to the 31:39 earth, you who once laid the nations low. 31:41 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens. 31:44 I will raise my throne above the stars of God. 31:47 I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost 31:50 heights of Mount Zaphon.'" That is the north. 31:52 That's where the God lives. "I will ascend," verse 14, 31:55 "above the tops of the clouds. I'm gonna be God. 31:58 Do you understand that? Read my lips. 32:00 I will be God of this Earth." That's who he's talking about. 32:05 That's the power behind Babylon. That's the big, bad fisherman. 32:11 And I mean bad fisherman. Who is he? 32:17 Well, can you find Ezekiel? Now you're going forward again. 32:21 Ezekiel. So, you run into Jeremiah, then 32:23 Lamentations, then it'd be Ezekiel. 32:26 Ezekiel chapter 28. Here is a stunning picture of 32:30 how it all ends for Lucifer. Watch this. 32:33 Unbelievable. Ezekiel chapter 28. 32:36 Find it? It doesn't hurt us every now and 32:42 then to just do this and move the pages. 32:45 All right, Ezekiel chapter 28. Drop down, please. 32:48 Talking about the same being we now call the fallen rebel angel 32:52 Lucifer. Here you go, verse 14. 32:54 Ezekiel 28:14. "You," speaking to the being, 32:57 God is, "You were anointed as a guardian cherub." 33:00 You remember Indiana Jones and the "Raiders of the Lost Ark"? 33:02 You remember that? Remember they're looking for 33:05 this golden piece and it has two angels with their wings that 33:08 touch. That actually was the ancient 33:11 Israelite ark. The covering cherubs are the two 33:15 cherubs that stand on either side of the throne of God. 33:18 This being is the highest of the celestial intelligences. 33:22 He has stood right beside God. He's the covering cherub, as 33:27 he's described here. "You --" keep reading, verse 33:31 14 -- "You were on the holy mount of God. 33:33 You walked among the fiery stones." 33:35 Fire always a symbol of God. Burning bush, symbol of God. 33:39 "You were blameless in your ways," so whoever the being is, 33:42 it's created and he was perfect, "from the day that you were 33:46 created till wickedness was found in you." 33:48 What happened? Something snapped inside of his 33:51 heart. Verse 17. 33:53 "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you 33:56 corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. 33:59 So I threw you to the earth." Now, watch this. 34:02 This has not happened yet. This is going to happen. 34:05 Watch this. "I threw you to the earth. 34:08 I made a spectacle of you before kings." 34:10 Verse 18. "By your many sins and dishonest 34:13 trade, you have desecrated your sanctuaries, so I made a fire 34:17 come out from you, and that fire consumed you, and I reduced you 34:21 to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching." 34:25 Final verse, 19. "And all the nations who knew 34:28 you are appalled at you. You have come to a horrible end, 34:32 and you will be no more." 34:36 Ladies and gentlemen, get this, get this. In the midst of all this bad 34:40 news of being hacked, dark, sinister power taking possession, demon possession in 34:45 the human race near the end of time, in the midst of all that bad news, here comes some good 34:50 news, and I need you to hang on to this. This is kind of an oblique bit 34:54 of good news, but you need to know that what the words God has just spoken declare this. 35:02 This guy is cursed one day. I will destroy him. It'll be a fire that comes out 35:10 from the inside -- pshew! Ashes. The dark, sinister power that 35:20 has hacked our operating systems and has tormented and taunted us from day one, one day, he will 35:28 stand before the judgment of almighty God, and the whole universe will say, "God, you're 35:35 gonna do the right thing. We know just and true are your ways, oh, God. 35:41 Shoom! Boom. Gone. But something -- hold on, hold 35:49 on, hold on -- something has happened to him in the passage of years that you're not gonna 35:54 believe. I'm gonna share with you now words I've never shared in a 35:58 public service anywhere, but I want you to see them right now. Today is the right day. 36:04 It's an eyewitness account of his physical appearance today. You'll have it in your study 36:09 guide. I'm gonna put it on the screen. This is Lucifer today. 36:13 Watch this. A word picture now. Verse -- you see it on the 36:16 screen there, right at the top. "I was shown Satan as he once was, a happy, exalted angel." 36:23 The favorite boy of heaven. "Then I was shown him as he now is. 36:29 He still bears a kingly form. His features are still noble, for he is an angel fallen. 36:36 But the expression of his countenance is full of anxiety, 36:40 care, unhappiness, malice, hate, mischief, deceit, and every 36:44 evil. That brow that once was so 36:46 noble, I particularly noticed." Something stuck out, and now the 36:50 writer is commenting on it. "His forehead commenced from his 36:54 eyes to recede." So the forehead, proud and noble 36:57 like this, the forehead goes just like this, from the eyes 37:01 right here, the forehead just goes slant way back. 37:04 The forehead has receded. "I saw that he had so long bent 37:09 himself to evil that every good quality was debased and every 37:13 evil trait was developed. His eyes were cunning, sly, and 37:18 showed great penetration. His frame was large, but the 37:22 flesh hung loosely about his hands and his face. 37:25 As I beheld him, his chin was resting upon his left hand. 37:29 He appeared to be in deep thought. 37:31 A smile was upon his countenance, which made me 37:34 tremble. It was so full of evil and 37:36 satanic slyness. This smile is the one he wears 37:40 just before he makes sure of his victim, and as he fastens the 37:46 victim in his snare, this smile grows horrible." 37:50 End quote. 37:53 I apologize because that is not a pretty picture. You've heard of sadism? 38:04 Finding pleasure in pain. Guess who invented sadism. It is orgasmic pleasure when 38:16 humans suffer at his hands. Guys, guys, guys, here's the point, here's the -- 38:21 Come on. Let there be no sympathy for the fallen Lucifer, the big bad 38:26 fisherman. That's the point -- no sympathy. Please, no sympathy. 38:31 He is the incarnation of diabolical evil and exults over a single little sparrow that he 38:38 can crush on its chirping treetop perch. Crrkkk! 38:43 Pwtt! He would spit in your face, as he did with Jesus' face, if he 38:48 thought that would destroy you right now. Pwtt! 38:54 He hates the sparrow. He hates you. 38:58 He hates every creature that has been created by the loving 39:02 creator of the universe. And guess what -- his hatred is 39:05 so -- Satan's hatred is so strong that 39:09 he lives by a two-word credo. 39:10 This is his two-word credo. Now, Jesus had a seven-word credo -- "I will put my trust in 39:17 Him." Seven words. Here's Lucifer, fallen Satan's, 39:22 two-word credo. It goes like this. "Kill them." 39:28 Just "Kill them." "Kill them!" On Facebook? 39:34 "Kill them." Do a drug overdose? "Kill them." 39:39 Do a drunken driver? "Kill them all." To a debilitating disease? 39:44 "Kill them." To a magnitude 7 earthquake? "I'll take the whole land. 39:49 Kill them." Through suicide? "Kill them." 39:52 Through cancer, through Ebola? "Kill them." In their infancy? 39:57 "Kill them." In their teen years? "Kill them." 40:01 In their young adult years? "Kill them." Adults? "Kill them." 40:06 Aged, wrinkled senior citizens? "Kill them. Just kill them." 40:11 Do you understand me? "Kill them." That's what he lives by. 40:16 "Kill them." Yet so strong is his deception with smoke and mirrors -- get 40:24 this -- that brilliant minds have gone to their painful death, as Christopher Hitchens 40:31 did, declaring in his last book, "God is Not Good: How Religion Poisons Everything." 40:38 Atheists have gone to their death believing there is no God, there is no evil, there is no 40:45 devil. So smoke and mirrored his deception, you don't even know 40:53 that the hook is in your mouth and you're getting reeled in. You have no idea. 41:00 "Kill them." The big bad fisherman, who, by the way -- whose insane and 41:07 insufferable pride will not quit -- get this -- until every human being bows at his feet and 41:14 calls him God, and that's where he's -- that's what he's living for. 41:17 Look at this -- 2 Thessalonians 2:4. 41:30 "Worship me!" And according to the prophecy of the apocalypse, Revelation 13, 41:35 they will. 41:36 Watch this. "People worshipped the dragon." 41:40 Who's the dragon? That old serpent called the 41:41 devil and Satan. We know who the dragon is. 41:53 Except a small community... that had a loyalty to the lord Jesus Christ, will refuse, like 42:02 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to bow down in the face of even death itself. 42:08 Say, "You can't prove that, Dwight." Yes, I can. 42:11 The apocalypse, again, Revelation 12:11. "Then the dragon was --" 42:17 This is describing the people. "Then the dragon --" End-time generation. 42:33 Because, you see, in fury, as he went after Job -- You remember the story of Job? 42:41 As he went after Job, he says, "Give me these people. Just give me these people. 42:45 I will decimate them." Enraged, he goes after the resistors, those loyal to the -- 42:53 loyal to this Lord Jesus. Some of you are going through immense suffering right now. 42:57 I was talking with a friend of mine this last week, and he told me about a friend of his, and I 43:01 said, "That's more suffering than a human being can go through." 43:04 I could not believe it when he described it to me. Some of you watching on 43:07 livestreaming right now are the victim. You are. 43:10 Some of you right here, your mask says, "Everything's fine," but you are dying inside. 43:15 You are the victim, not of God. You're not the victim of Christ Jesus and the Spirit. 43:21 You are the victim of the big bad fisherman who lives with two words -- "Kill her. 43:29 Kill him! Kill them! That's all I want. 43:36 Get her now." Wow. Yeah. 43:45 He gets that mad sometimes. [ Laughter ] He gets that mad. 43:55 Ladies and gentlemen, we're safe inside the storm right here. I need you to know that we got 44:01 to get to the good news very fast now. Because we've painted a very -- 44:07 a very graphic picture of the big bad killer fisherman. But I don't want to end there. 44:17 I want to go back to the crowd. Want you to go back, last line I'll read from this story. 44:22 Go back to -- what is this? -- verse 36. It's time to follow the crowd. 44:26 I'm talking about the crowd at Capernaum now. This is a crowd you can follow. 44:29 I love this. Verse 36. This is the gospel according to 44:33 the crowd. Here it is. Back in Luke 4:36. 44:37 And "all the people," after commanding you be muzzled and 44:41 stay out of here! After he exerted the power of 44:47 God... 45:01 "With authority and power, he gives orders to impure spirits, and they come out." 45:06 Hey, guess what, folks -- he can speak the omnipotent word, and they will come out. 45:10 Come on. You got any spirits in you? Come on. Let's be honest. 45:13 You know the spirits of whom I'm talking about. Him. I'm talking about him. 45:15 You have any of those spirits in you? Are they tempting you? 45:18 Are they -- Are they taunting you? Are they harassing you? 45:22 Are they torturing you? There's somebody that never flinches... 45:33 in Satan's presence. It's his creator, who tried every trick in the divine book 45:41 to keep his favorite child in the family. But there's somebody, who in the 45:48 speaking of a word, can still today set our lives free. Hey, go mark these verses in 46:01 your Bible later. I got to share two verses, a quotation, then I got to end 46:05 with a story. Here we go. 46:07 Colossians -- jot it down -- Colossians 2:13, 15, words on 46:10 the screen. Mark these in your Bible. 46:12 "Christ forgave us all our sins, and having disarmed the powers 46:16 and authorities of evil, he made" -- I love this in the NIV. 46:19 "...he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by 46:24 the cross." Calvary has forever shifted the 46:29 paradigm in this universe. Oh, my. 46:33 "Great Controversy," this little apocalyptic classic. 46:35 The words on the screen for you. 46:53 The war was won 2,000 years ago. He said, "Why am I going through this suffering?" 46:57 Because the battle for you is still going on. That's why? 47:01 There are two fishermen in this universe. They are both going for you. 47:04 You have the free choice. You cannot be taken against your will by either fishermen. 47:10 They are playing for keeps with everything they have. One woos by his everlasting 47:16 love, the other, with crushing fury, will break your wrist to get you in. 47:23 You choose. You can choose who will rule over you. 47:29 But you can't say, "No, I'm not having anybody, because..." No, no, no, no, no, no. 47:37 There are only two masters, and no man can serve both. You have to choose. 47:44 Ugh. How can I win? How can I win? 47:47 Oh, here it comes. I love this. Revelation 12:11. 47:50 "But they --" the generation living at the end of time. 47:52 "But they have conquered the dragon" -- that would be 47:55 Satan -- "by the --" By the what? By the what? 47:58 "By the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for 48:02 they did not cling to life even in the face of death." 48:04 You go ahead. Like Job, "You throw everything you have at me. 48:08 I'm never letting go of Jesus now. I will not let go of him." 48:13 You don't have to let go of him. He cannot force you to let go of him. 48:17 You hold that nail-scarred hand, and that hand holds you for eternity. 48:21 You have nothing to be afraid of. It's the blood of the lamb. 48:26 Under the blood of the lamb. Two strategies here, and then that story. 48:31 Two strategies. Number one, the blood of the lamb. 48:35 Written a century ago -- this really magnifies this strategy. So there's just two of these -- 48:38 jot them down. One is the blood. 48:40 And here's a quotation. "When Satan would fill your mind 48:43 with despondency, gloom, and doubt, resist his suggestions." 48:47 Tell him of the what? Circle that in your study guide. 48:51 "Tell him of the blood of Jesus, that cleanses from all sin. 48:54 You cannot save yourself from the tempter's power, but he 48:58 trembles," and then circle this word, "flees." 49:01 He flees. When? 49:05 "...when the merits of that precious blood are urged." 49:08 So, what does it mean to -- to overcome him by the blood of the lamb? 49:11 Here's what it means. Now listen to me very carefully. It means to do like the 49:15 Israelites did the night they fled Egypt. They put blood on their door 49:18 post. Do you remember that story? Put blood on their door posts. 49:23 Here's how we do it today. We put blood on our laptop. Blood of the lamb on our laptop. 49:31 We put blood on Netflix. We put blood of the lamb on Netflix. 49:38 Why? Because I want everything that's happening here -- on my tablet, blood of the lamb. 49:44 My smartphone, blood of the lamb. My Facebook account, blood of 49:48 the lamb. Why? Because when I'm under the 49:51 blood, I'm safe. You can't touch me under the blood. 49:55 The destroying angel flies -- shoo! -- over. "Pass over." 50:00 You get it? Blood of the lamb. I put blood on my refrigerator. 50:06 Blood of the lamb on the refrigerator. Because I need -- I need the 50:10 lamb to control what I eat from that refrigerator. I put blood of the lamb over my 50:14 drinks, blood of the lamb right over it. Why? Because I need him to have 50:19 everything with me. I put blood of the lamb over my credit card. 50:22 That's what I do. I put it over my credit card, 'cause I don't have to have 50:25 that. I put his blood on my credit card. 50:28 I put blood of the lamb on my checkbook. I put blood of the lamb on my 50:32 stock portfolio. I put the blood of the lamb everywhere I go so that every 50:37 day, I'm under the blood. I'm under the blood. That's what it means to live by 50:42 the blood. You just tell the devil about the blood of the lamb, and he 50:46 will flee the moment you say, "Get behind me, Satan. I recognized you. 50:54 Took me a while. I see you." Click! 50:57 Gone. That's how it works. You have to exert the final 51:01 choice. But you choose, you win. Okay, one more quote, and then 51:05 the story. Here's the other quote. Okay. So, same author. 51:09 On the screen. "Satan cannot endure to have his 51:11 powerful rival appealed to --" that would be Jesus -- "for he 51:15 fears and trembles before Jesus' strength and majesty." 51:19 Now, hold on to your pew. "At the sound of" what kind of 51:23 prayer? What kind of prayer? 51:24 That's a key word there. At the sound of what kind of 51:26 prayer? Fervent prayer. 51:28 That's not, "Thank you, Lord. Now I lay me down to sleep," or 51:32 what do we say when we eat the food? 51:36 "Bless this food, Lord." Yeah. 51:37 Well, whatever it is we used to say. 51:39 That's not that. "Satan cannot endure to have his 51:43 powerful rival appealed to. He fears and trembles before 51:46 Jesus' strength and majesty. At the sound of fervent 51:50 prayer --" here's the deal. Not only does Satan flee. 51:53 What happens to his entire host? Do you see that? 51:56 What happens to his entire host? The entire army begins to shake. 52:01 "Oh, no! She's turned to Him! Oh, no! 52:04 He's calling out for intervention! Here it comes! 52:07 Angels who excel in power!" Shoom! "You called?" 52:13 "Yeah, I did." "Call upon me in the day of trouble" -- Psalm 50:15. 52:18 "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me. 52:21 You just call upon me. You just call my name." You call his name. 52:27 Ladies and gentlemen, do you see? You're not trapped. 52:32 You're not stuck. There are no chains on you. The blood of the lamb sets you 52:39 free. You are free. You are free. 52:42 Okay. Here's that story. So, I was preaching in Sacramento, California. 52:47 Wonderful church. It's called the Carmichael Church. 52:51 As it turns out, my sister and her husband are the pastors. Now, Kari's on the staff as a 52:54 pastor, and Keith Jacobson, her husband, is the pastor, and they have some other pastors, as 52:58 well. It's a beautiful church. It's a large church. 53:01 So, I'm out there before they were ever pastors, and, uh... They've asked me to speak for a 53:06 weekend. So, Friday night, Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath. 53:09 You know how it goes. So I'm on the front row Friday night -- front row. 53:11 New church, never been in here in my life. I don't know what led me to turn 53:15 around, but I turned around, and I saw from the back, all the way to the back, I saw a young man 53:21 wearing a black T-shirt, walking straight down this aisle, and it's like our eyes locked on. 53:27 And I'm thinking, "What's up with this?" He has this black T-shirt on, 53:31 and then, in giant red letters, "Satan." [ Scoffs ] 53:37 "What is this? Is this the right church?" He had a smile on his face, so I 53:44 said, "Well, he's not intending harm right now." He keeps -- 53:47 And he locks eyes. He will not take his eyes off. "Satan." 53:51 Big red letters, black T-shirt. He gets to about the third or fourth row, and I can now see -- 53:57 I can now see that there are two little words beneath "Satan" that I would never have seen 54:03 when I saw him. Two little tiny words, and it goes like this -- "SATAN... 54:08 is defeated." [ Laughter ] Guys, guys... 54:20 There's something wrong with this picture. Now listen to me carefully. 54:24 Don't look at the screen now. Listen to me carefully. If you ever -- 54:28 If you ever decide to get those three words on a black T-shirt... 54:33 If you ever decide to get those words on a black T-shirt, here's what it needs to look like. 54:39 [ Laughter ] You don't give credit to him! The good news is, because of the 54:47 truth of Calvary, he's already a defeated foe and enemy. He knows he's licked. 54:52 He's just threatening you. He's intimidating you. He's trying to scare you into 54:56 staying with him. Don't believe a word he said. He's a liar from the beginning. 55:01 He will never do you right. You can't depend on him. He hates you. 55:08 Get over trying to defend him. And by the way, anything that has his fingerprints on it, stay 55:16 away. Stay away. I don't understand the logic 55:20 that says, "I know he has fingerprints on this. I'm just going in 'cause it's 55:23 Saturday night, and I need just a little bit of relaxation." I don't understand that. 55:27 Do you know that if you go into anything that has his fingerprints on it, you're going 55:31 into his lair! You are coming -- "Come on, come on! 55:34 Come on. Come on. Come on." Just like a fisherman with a lure -- "Come on. Come on. 55:38 Come on. Come on in." If you know and you have a conscience, like little Samuel 55:44 in that letter to the governor of the state of Oregon, if you have conscience and it's 55:49 whispering to you, "Back off, back off, back off," don't do it! 55:54 Don't do it. Because if Lucifer's fingerprints are on it, if the 56:01 dragon's crawl, crawl marks are on it... his claw is right behind the 56:10 entrance, waiting for you to come -- "I was waiting for you, girl. 56:16 Where you been all my life? I have been fighting for this day for you from the beginning. 56:21 Girl, step in! Kill her!" That's all he wants. 56:26 There's no friendship with you. Can't stand you. Guys, by the blood of the lamb. 56:33 They overcame the dragon. Satan is -- what's the word? Defeated. 56:39 Hallelujah. And that, Jesus says, "When you come fishing for me, boy -- 56:42 Girl, when you come fishing for me, that's the word I want to get out everywhere -- Satan is 56:49 defeated." Hallelujah. Amen. 56:55 Amen. [ Applause ] Amen. 56:58 Amen. 57:01 >> I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us in worship today. 57:05 It's by the continued support from viewers like you that we're able to bring this telecast. 57:09 Today I want to invite you, though, to share with us how this ministry has blessed you. 57:14 Truth is, I get inspiring notes, e-mails, letters from viewers literally all over the world 57:20 sharing with us how God has blessed them through this program, and I'd love to hear 57:23 from you, as well. 57:25 It's not that hard. Simple, really. 57:26 Just visit our website, newperceptions.tv. 57:29 That's one word, newperceptions.tv. 57:33 And click on the "contact" link at the top of the page. 57:35 Shoot me that e-mail. Once again, thank you for being 57:38 with us. Thank you, by the way, for your 57:40 own support. That support is what keeps this 57:43 telecast week after week reaching America, reaching 57:46 North America, and reaching the planet. 57:49 That kind of generosity that you share is a huge boost and 57:54 blessing to us. And I hope you'll join us right 57:56 here next time, 'cause we'll be here. 57:58 In the meantime, God be with you and bless you real good. 58:05 ♪♪ |
Revised 2017-05-25