Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000022
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01:05 In the 12th chapter of the Book of Matthew,
01:08 in Matthew chapter 12, we find the almost incredible 01:14 story of the unbelief, the Scribes and the Pharisees, 01:19 the religious leaders of Jesus time. 01:23 In verse 22, it says they brought him 01:27 a demon possessed man, who was blind and mute 01:37 and Jesus healed him so they could both talk and see. 01:41 You know, I've often thought, I just wish, 01:46 I could have been alive and there when Jesus 01:50 was on this earth, wouldn't you love to 01:54 just see him open the eyes of a blind man? 01:57 Wouldn't you love to been there and watch the 02:00 expression on the man's face when the very first 02:03 thing that he sees is the face of his savior. 02:08 You think the people would have just been 02:10 rejoicing and shouting Hallelujah, 02:16 but they were astonished and they asked, Could 02:21 he be the son of David? Could he be the Messiah? 02:28 The Pharisees heard this, they said no, 02:31 it's only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, 02:36 that this fellow drives out demons. 02:40 Now they saw Jesus with his own hands open 02:46 the eyes of the blind man, the mouth of the dumb, 02:50 they saw the miracle, they were right there 02:55 and yet instead of believing and trusting him, 03:04 they went and asked their pastors, what about him? 03:13 Now don't misunderstand me, I'm not against pastors, 03:16 we have a good pastor here sitting on the front row 03:20 and I'm a pastor, but we don't take the place 03:24 of God, when God speaks, when Jesus speak 03:29 we believe that whatever any pastor says. Amen. 03:36 And so they went and asked that pastor, the pastor said 03:38 no, no it's just Beelzebub the prince of demons. 03:41 Now, this is an old trick that the devil has 03:46 used forever, he still uses it today. 03:49 It goes like this, if you can't fault the message 03:58 then shoot the messenger, isn't that right? 04:02 They couldn't prove Jesus wrong, everything that 04:06 he said day after day, night after night, 04:09 it was right there from the word of God, 04:10 they couldn't prove him wrong. 04:12 So, the next best thing to do is, oh! He's occult, 04:16 don't go there, don't listen to him, 04:19 he is the chief of demons, possessed by demons. 04:23 Some of you've already heard that, 04:24 some of you have been warned, 04:25 don't go to Revelation Now, that's occult. 04:29 You've heard it, if you haven't you're gonna hear it. 04:33 If you can't fault the message shoot the messenger. 04:39 They tried it with Jesus it didn't work because 04:42 he came up again three days later. Amen. 04:46 And so they said no, this isn't the son of David, 04:51 this is Beelzebub, the prince of demons 04:54 that he drives out demons and Jesus said, 04:57 he said I tell you every sin and blasphemy 05:01 will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy 05:04 against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven 05:08 and that is the unpardonable sin. 05:12 God will forgive every sin except 05:15 for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 05:19 Now, why does God not forgive blasphemy 05:23 against the spirit, because it's the agent 05:26 of the spirit of God that God uses to reach 05:30 our hearts to bring us to the point of repentance 05:33 to confess our sins and when we severe ourselves 05:36 from the Holy Spirit then there is no way for God 05:39 to reach us, there is no way to repent. 05:43 Well, what is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? 05:46 I want to know, I want to be sure I never do it. 05:51 Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is what we've just seen, 05:55 Jesus worked a miracle and it was obvious that 05:59 the Holy Spirit of God was at word, 06:01 but they said no that's the Devil. 06:03 In other words, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is 06:06 attributing the work of God to the Devil. 06:11 Oh! I'm glad I know that, I'll be sure I never do it. 06:16 Well, that's good, I hope you don't ever do it. 06:21 But it doesn't take the unpardonable sin to be lost. 06:29 People are going to be lost for plain old unpardoned sin, 06:38 but the second reason that that's kind of a dangerous 06:42 approach to take is that those Pharisees, 06:48 those Scribes, those religious preachers 06:51 of the day at first they never dreamed that they 06:56 would ever blaspheme the Spirit of God. 07:00 They never thought they would ever do that. 07:05 Well, then how did they do it? 07:07 How do they ever get to the place where they 07:11 were willing to knowingly say that the 07:13 work of the Spirit of God was the Devil? 07:18 That's the mysterious way of sin 07:21 and that's what we want to talk about tonight. 07:25 How did they arrive at the place where 07:27 they could see the obvious working 07:30 of the Holy Spirit and say no that was 07:32 not the Spirit of God that was the Devil? 07:34 How did they get there? 07:36 Jesus shows us right here in Matthew chapter 12 07:40 in the verse right before the one we just read, 07:42 verse 30, he who is not with me is against me 07:50 and he who does not gather with me, scatters. 07:59 If you're not with God then you're against God, 08:03 if we are not gathering with God, we're scattering. 08:10 In other words, in one sentence 08:12 Jesus is saying that you cannot be neutral about God. 08:22 They were trying to be neutral, you can't be neutral, 08:26 you cannot come to the word of God 08:29 and discover the truth about God 08:31 in his word and walk away from it 08:34 the same person that you were before you came. 08:39 The moment you encounter the truth of God 08:41 in any form or in anyway or at anytime you have 08:45 to make a decision, are you with him or not 08:48 and if you are with him then you're with him, 08:50 if you're not then you're against him. 08:51 You cannot be neutral about God, 08:53 you can't say, it doesn't matter, 08:59 can't say not important. 09:02 If God says, I want you to be baptized 09:06 and you understand that that's what 09:08 the Bible says and if you were to say well, 09:11 I don't think it's important to be baptized 09:13 I've been a Christian for 20 years. 09:17 That puts him against God, 09:18 if you're not with me you're against me. 09:25 If God says, remember the Sabbath day, 09:29 you're convinced that that's what the Bible teaches 09:34 and someone says well, I understand that that's Bible 09:38 says, but I don't see why it's all that important. 09:44 If you're not with me you're against me. 09:48 If you're not gathering with me you're scattering. 09:52 You see we can't be neutral about God, 09:54 we can't say well you do what you do and 09:57 I do what I do and it'll all be okay, it doesn't work 10:00 that way. Why? Why is it? 10:05 And this is the part that we have to understand. 10:09 When someone attempts to be neutral about God's truth 10:14 and by neutral I mean indifferent. 10:17 Yeah, it's true, but you know 10:19 it's not important enough for me to change my life. 10:23 When someone tries to be neutral about God's truth 10:27 then sooner or later they will be forced to make 10:31 an excuse to explain their neutrality 10:38 and that excuse will make them the enemy of God. 10:44 You believe the Bible says that you should be Baptized. 10:47 Yeah, it says that. 10:50 Why were you Baptized? 10:52 I've been a Christian for 20 years and 10:54 God has answered my prayers and 10:56 I can heal and do miracles. 10:57 I don't think it's necessary for me, 10:59 that makes them the enemy of God. 11:03 You see when a person tries to be neutral, 11:06 sooner or later they're gonna have to 11:07 explain why they're neutral. 11:09 They'll have to make an excuse and 11:11 that excuse make us the enemy of God. 11:13 And it was excuses that paved 11:16 the way to the unpardonable sin. 11:21 He who's not with me is against me 11:22 and he who does not gather with me scatters. 11:24 I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven 11:27 man, but the blasphemy against the spirit 11:29 will not be forgiven. Since it was excuses 11:35 that explained the way for the unpardonable sin. 11:37 I want to take a look at how excuses work? 11:41 I mentioned that those Scribes, 11:44 those religious leaders, those Pharisees 11:46 at first never dreamed that they would ever 11:48 blasphemy the Spirit of God. 11:51 But you see from the very beginning, 11:55 there were indicators that Jesus was the son of God. 12:01 There was even a prophecy 12:02 that would predict about the time, 12:05 the time that the Messiah would begin his ministry. 12:09 There were all kinds of indicators. 12:10 Jesus showed that he was something special, 12:15 but they tried to be neutral. 12:18 They didn't accept him. 12:20 They would make an excuse. 12:23 Now, when we know the truth and refuse to act 12:26 on the truth and make an excuse, it works back on us. 12:33 You know that when you know 12:35 what's right and you don't do it. 12:37 It kind of bothers your conscious doesn't it 12:41 and not only that if you refuse again, 12:46 it bothers your conscious a little less. 12:48 You know what I am talking about, 'cause 12:50 sin works back and it makes it easier to do it again. 12:56 So they saw Jesus. They had to decide. 12:58 Is this the Messiah? They said no, made excuses. 13:03 But, then the evidence continued to built 13:06 and as the evidence builds, the excuses build 13:09 and each one is just as easy as the one before, 13:13 because it works back on us. 13:15 It takes away our spiritual acumen, 13:18 our spiritual discernment. 13:21 And as the evidence that Jesus was a Messiah 13:24 continued to build more and more and more, 13:26 the excuses went more and more and more right 13:29 with it and it was just as easy to make 13:31 the last excuse as it was the one before it. 13:35 Until finally the evidence was abundantly clear that 13:40 Jesus Christ was performing miracles, 13:43 even opening the eyes of a blind man 13:46 and it had to be by a supernatural power, 13:49 so they were forced to chose either 13:51 it was God or the devil and they chose to believe 13:55 that it was the devil and it was just as easy 13:58 for them to say that was Beelzebub 14:01 as it was to make the first excuse in the beginning. 14:05 You see that's the mysterious way of sin, 14:09 that's how it works on our minds. 14:13 And I discovered as I studied through the New Testament 14:18 that when Jesus was on this earth, he heard excuses. 14:26 I read through and I kind of marked in my Bible 14:30 the excuses Jesus heard, I found five of them. 14:35 And you know the amazing thing to me is? 14:38 That I hear those same five excuses today. 14:44 So, what kind of excuses did Jesus hear? 14:49 The first one is what I call unanswered questions 14:56 Unanswered questions, in John the 9th chapter verse 28, 15:04 they hurled insults at Jesus. 15:06 They said you, at the disciples. 15:08 They said, "You are this fellow's disciple! 15:11 We are disciples of Moses! We know that God 15:16 spoke to Moses, but this fellow, 15:19 we don't even know where he comes from. 15:21 Who is his father anyway?" 15:25 See unanswered questions. 15:28 Remember the other night. 15:29 Elijah has to come first. 15:32 What about that, unanswered questions? 15:38 In fact, in chapter 7 verse 41, verse 40, 15:42 on hearing his words some people said, 15:44 "surely this man is the prophet." 15:45 Others said, "No, he is the Christ." 15:47 Still others said, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 15:50 Don't the scripture say that the Christ will come 15:53 from David's family and from Bethlehem 15:55 and the town where David lived?" 15:57 See unanswered questions. 15:58 In fact the unanswered questions got so intense. 16:02 In verse 43, it said, "Thus the people 16:05 were divided because of Jesus." 16:08 The one who came to bring us 16:09 together was dividing people. 16:13 Sometimes people tell me, 16:14 Oh! This can't be right because it brings confusion. 16:19 The truth doesn't bring confusion. 16:22 But Jesus himself brought confusion 16:25 not because of who he was, 16:27 but because of what they were saying he was. 16:31 God told Eve and Adam, she said, he said 16:34 you can eat the fruit from any of the trees 16:36 in the garden, but there is that one. 16:38 Don't eat from that one or you'll die. 16:41 There is nothing confusing about that, is it? 16:44 That's not confusing, but the devil comes along 16:48 and says, you won't die, your eyes will be opened, 16:50 you'll be like God. Now it gets confusing. 16:54 You see the only time things get confusing 16:56 about the truth is when you get your nose out of 16:58 scripture and look around what's going on in the world. 17:01 So keep your nose in here, Amen. 17:03 Follow the lamb and it doesn't get confusing. 17:10 Second excuse, we find it in verse 22 of John chapter 7. 17:18 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things 17:20 about him and then the chief priests and the Pharisees 17:23 sent temple guards to arrest Jesus. 17:26 Go arrest him, so picture this now. 17:28 Here these guards go all the way up wherever Jesus was. 17:31 They go all the way up to arrest him and 17:33 they hear him speak and then they come back 17:36 and in verse 45, when he came back they asked him, 17:40 well, why didn't you bring him in? 17:43 And I love this. 17:45 Why didn't they bring him in to arrest him. 17:47 Listen, verse 46, no one ever spoke the way this man does, 17:55 they went to arrest him, heard him speak 17:58 and it went right straight to their heart. 18:00 No one ever spoke like him. 18:03 Don't you like that? 18:08 And so the Pharisees said, 18:11 "You mean he has deceived you also?" 18:16 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? 18:20 No, just this mob that doesn't know anything. 18:23 There is a curse on them. 18:27 Here's how it sounds today. 18:30 If the things they teach 18:31 in Revelation Now are true and let's face it. 18:34 The biggest thing is the Sabbath. 18:37 If that's true, why doesn't everybody else see it. 18:44 If all the popular evangelists see it, no, 18:51 if it's true why don't they all teach it too? 18:53 What about all the big Churches in town? 18:55 All of these Churches. 18:56 Can they all be wrong and just this little one right? 19:01 No way, if it was the truth 19:04 everybody would see it, you've heard it. 19:12 Just asking that question, just asking that questions 19:19 if it's true why doesn't everybody see it? 19:23 Just asking that question should show you the power 19:28 of the Antichrist because you don't find truth 19:34 by what everybody else sees. 19:39 The truth has never been popular on this earth. 19:44 It was not popular in the days of Noah, 19:47 we learned that last night, a 120 years preaching 19:51 of spirit filled powerful preacher. 19:53 A 120 years and he only got 7, his own family. 19:59 Suppose the Gallup poll would have been around 20:03 when Noah was preaching and they decided to do a poll. 20:08 Is he telling the truth? 20:10 Is there gonna be a flood, destroy the whole world? 20:13 What do you think the answers would have been? 20:18 99.99992% say no and 0.00001% say yes. 20:29 What about in the time of Christ? 20:33 You're walking down the road to Jerusalem 20:35 and you see on the outside of the city, three crosses. 20:43 Two men, they're thieves and one of him in the middle. 20:46 You've never seen anybody like him. 20:49 In fact, there is a sign on the top of the cross it says, 20:54 this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 20:59 Well, he doesn't look like a King hanging on the cross, 21:02 but you look at him and you think, 21:04 Wow! Man, there is something about this guy. 21:07 So you ask the Roman soldiers standing there. 21:09 You ask him, is he really the King of the Jews? 21:12 And the solider just smiles, does he look like it? 21:19 You're not convinced, so you go into town. 21:24 You go to the biggest temple in town. 21:28 And ask the priest, the high priest. 21:31 Surely if anybody knows he would, 21:34 that man out there in the cross priest. 21:38 Sign says, he is the King of the Jews. 21:40 Is he really? The priest smiles, no. 21:47 He is deluded, he is Beelzebub, prince of demons. 21:52 And then you see one of his disciples 21:56 walking across the courtyard. 21:59 Peter, you tell me Peter. Is Jesus the Messiah? 22:05 Peter says, I never knew that cursed man. 22:11 How do you find the truth? 22:13 By taking a survey, 22:16 going door to door or the word of God. 22:22 You see Jesus said, broad is the way that leads 22:28 to destruction and many are going to go there, 22:33 but straight and narrow is the way that leads to life 22:38 and only a few are gonna find it. 22:42 If that's true and it has to be because Jesus said it right. 22:46 If that's true then that means that if everybody 22:50 believes something, watch out because 22:56 the truth is not gonna be popular. 23:05 Third excuse, it cost too much to follow Jesus. 23:13 Rich young man came up to Jesus one time. 23:17 What should I do to be saved master? 23:20 And Jesus said, keep the commandments. 23:22 Oh! I've already done that all my life. 23:26 Jesus said, yeah, but you lack one thing. 23:29 Sell everything you own, give it to the poor, 23:33 take up your cross and follow me. 23:36 The rich young man just hung his head 23:41 and walked away because he was afraid it 23:45 would cost too much to follow Christ. 23:52 And sometimes today we face 23:54 the same kinds of challenges. 23:59 The Bible says, six days you'll labor 24:03 and do all of your work, but the seventh day 24:07 is the Sabbath on it you won't work. 24:10 I don't know if you've noticed it or not. 24:12 But the world is not setup for that today. 24:20 On it you won't work. 24:22 Oh! Man, that's my busiest day at work, 24:25 they'll never let me off, 24:29 got to earn a living for my family. 24:33 God knows that. Doesn't he? 24:35 You know what Jesus said about that, 24:37 you know people coming to me all the time, 24:39 you know, God said to work he wants me 24:41 take care of my family, of course he does. 24:44 He is the one who created families. 24:48 You know what he said about that. 24:50 He said, your heavenly father knows that you need food, 24:56 a place to live, you need things. 25:02 Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness 25:09 and he'll take care of the things you need. 25:12 You believe that. He will. 25:15 Now it doesn't say he'll give you everything you want. 25:20 But he says, he'll provide what you need. 25:25 It takes faith to follow God. 25:31 But when we take that step with faith, 25:33 he always comes through. 25:36 Just two nights ago, a young lady came up 25:39 to me and said, you know Pastor I prayed about it 25:42 and I wanted to do what the Bible says. 25:44 I went up and talked to my boss and told him 25:47 that I believe that the Saturday is the Sabbath day. 25:49 And I can't work on Sabbaths anymore? 25:52 And the boss said, well, I am not going to put 25:54 an obstacle on your way to keep you from walking 25:56 down the pathway that God's leading you. 26:00 She said it was easy. 26:02 Sometimes, I think we make it too hard. 26:06 Just follow God. 26:07 You know sometimes, you know, God does test us. 26:10 He let's us be tested anyway. 26:13 I remember one lady had just been, 26:16 had been working in a large department store 26:19 for years and years and she was a department manager 26:22 there and had really worked her way up 26:25 and she came to Revelation Now and decided 26:29 that she wanted to start keeping the Sabbath. 26:32 So, she had went into talk to the store manager 26:38 and the store manager says, what are you saying, 26:40 you are not going to be able to work on 26:41 Friday nights and Saturdays anymore and she said well, 26:45 I just I have to do what the Bible says. 26:49 Can you help me? 26:51 And he said, well, I guess so, 26:52 we can help you find another job. 26:56 She said after all these years, you're gonna let me go, 26:59 you know that's our biggest day, 27:00 we need you here and besides that 27:03 it's really too bad because we're just opening up a 27:05 brand new store on the other side of town and 27:08 we had decided that you are the one that should be 27:11 the manager, double her salary, brand new car. 27:16 Do I have to work on Saturdays? 27:19 Yes, you will. 27:20 She said, I can't. 27:25 So, they even had a farewell party for her, 27:28 I mean she was finished. 27:29 She lost her job. 27:32 Had a farewell celebration party Monday night, 27:35 Tuesday, she was unemployed. 27:39 Wednesday phone rang. 27:43 We don't know what to do without you around here. 27:44 Can you come back? 27:47 Do I have to work on Saturdays? 27:48 No. God comes through. Amen. 27:54 Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteous 27:56 and he will take care of the things that you need. 27:57 God will never let you down, never. 28:00 Now don't misunderstand that. 28:02 I am not saying that if you take your stand 28:04 for the Sabbath and you lose your job, 28:06 that God will give you a better one 28:07 or that God will get it back for you. 28:09 I am not gonna tell you that, 28:12 because I believe the Bible shows the time 28:15 is coming when people are gonna lose their lives 28:17 over the way they worship God. 28:20 But I'll tell you this, you take your stand. 28:23 You do what God says and he is gonna take care of you. 28:27 He will never let you down. 28:29 He is going to take care of you. 28:32 It doesn't cost too much to follow Jesus? 28:34 The truth is, it cost too much not to follow Jesus. 28:40 One of these days, we are going to walk 28:42 in to those mansions up there on the streets of gold, 28:44 nothing on earth is worth that. 28:47 Just to be in the presence of Jesus, 28:51 it cost too much not to follow him. 28:53 The next excuse number 4, this is the toughest of all. 28:59 The devil doesn't ever play by the rules folks. 29:02 He is not afraid to kick when you're down, 29:05 stomp and this one hurts the worse. 29:10 I hear it like this Pastor. 29:13 I really want to get baptized. 29:15 I really wanna be a Christian. 29:16 I really wanna follow Jesus. 29:18 I really want to become a part of the Church, 29:20 I've never been a part of a Church family. 29:24 But my husband or my wife is saying 29:27 if I do that they'll leave me. 29:31 I hear that a lot, a lot more then you might think. 29:38 Jesus said, some of the hardest words for me 29:42 to understand that Jesus ever spoke is on this topic, 29:46 Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, 29:50 do not suppose that I've come 29:52 to bring peace to the earth. 29:55 I did not come to bring peace, 29:57 but a sword and it's Jesus speaking. 30:01 For I have come to turn a man against his father, 30:03 a daughter against her mother, 30:04 a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 30:06 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. 30:10 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me 30:12 is not worthy of me, anyone who loves 30:14 his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 30:19 Wow! I thought how can he ever say this, 30:23 I mean that is hard, 30:26 didn't come to bring peace but a sword. 30:29 I thought he was the prince of peace. 30:33 You see the truth is at the moment you accept 30:38 Jesus Christ as your savior, 30:41 at that moment you're at peace with God. 30:48 At the same moment, 30:51 you've become an enemy to the world. 30:57 And, don't be surprised, if the ones who hurt you 31:01 the most come from your own family, 31:05 but you know what I found out, 31:09 that if you can just hang in there 31:11 and put Jesus first then you're doing 31:16 the one thing that can strengthen your family 31:19 more than anything else, because you see 31:22 a family relationship between husband and wife 31:24 is triangular, did you know that? 31:28 It's a triangle, you're at one corner 31:31 and the husband and wife at the other 31:33 and God is at the top, and you see the 31:36 closer you come to God, the closer you get to each other, 31:41 it's only when we put God first 31:44 and some of you are here without spouses, 31:47 your husband, your wife hasn't come. 31:50 If you were to know the truth and try to be neutral, 31:53 they know what you believe, 31:54 they know what you're doing. 31:58 If they know that God wants you 32:00 to be baptized for example, 32:02 but they say no, you can't be baptized 32:06 and if you refuse to be baptized, 32:08 you're saying to them what you think 32:12 is more important to me then what God thinks, 32:17 and you've tied God's hands, 32:19 you can't use it to reach to the ones you love the most. 32:24 But when you're step forward and take your stand 32:29 for God in spite of the opposition then 32:33 you're doing the one thing that enables God to use you, 32:37 to reach out to the ones that you love the most. 32:40 Now, I'm not gonna guarantee you that if you take 32:43 your stand that your husband or your wife is just gonna 32:45 automatically fall all over you to do and to follow, 32:49 they've to make their own decisions. 32:51 But, I do guarantee you when you take your stand, 32:54 you're doing the one thing that enables God 32:56 to reach out to the hearts of the ones you love the most, 32:59 husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, 33:02 you're doing the one thing 33:04 that frees up God to reach them. 33:10 We were in Louisville, Kentucky doing a 33:13 Revelation Now Meeting years and years ago 33:17 and a young couple sat right on the front row, 33:22 first three nights right down there, every night. 33:26 Fourth night, she was sitting there, 33:30 but George was gone, wasn't there. 33:34 So, after the meeting, I went down and say, 33:35 Hey, where is George? I got to know him already. 33:38 Where is George? 33:39 She said, oh! He is not 33:41 gonna come anymore, 33:42 why not? 33:43 Well, he just says he lost interest, 33:45 you're gonna keep coming, 33:46 oh! yeah, yeah I'm coming, 33:48 I just wanna follow Jesus. 33:49 So, every night she came and she learned about baptism 33:54 and learned about different things and she decided 33:57 you know I wanna be a Christian, 33:59 I'd never been baptized, had an alter 'cause 34:01 so I came down to the front, 34:02 she said, Pastor I wanna to be baptized 34:06 and I said praise the Lord. 34:07 So, she went home and told George, 34:09 George I'm gonna get baptized 34:13 and George said over my dead body, 34:17 you're not getting baptized. 34:22 What would you do? 34:23 I mean it's easy for us to sit and answer well, 34:29 I do it anyway, I mean what would you really do. 34:34 So, the next night she came, 34:37 she said Pastor, George said I can't get baptized. 34:40 I don't know what to do, 34:43 what should I do, I said well, 34:48 what does the Bible say? 34:52 The Bible says that I should be baptized 34:56 and I said look just follow the lamb, 35:02 follow the lamb, you'll never go wrong. 35:08 She says, I'm gonna do it, 35:11 so she decide to be baptized the next night. 35:14 Her friend went to pick her up and George locked her 35:19 in her bedroom and she couldn't get out 35:24 and she opened the window, stuck her head out 35:28 the window and hollered at her friend, 35:30 George locked me in and I can't get out. 35:33 Well, he was really mad about that, 35:35 whole neighborhood knows what's going on. 35:38 So, he opens the door and he says 35:41 okay, you can go, but don't come back. 35:49 What would you do? 35:55 She showed up at the meeting that night 35:57 with a little bag, she had a towel, 36:00 a change of clothes and she said I wanna be baptized. 36:10 Wow! What courage! You know, 36:14 I'll never forget when she came out of that water. 36:20 The next night George was sitting 36:26 right next door in the front row. 36:32 Seek ye first my kingdom and my righteousness 36:39 and it opens the door for God to do 36:41 all kinds of great things in your life. 36:45 Put God first and then the next excuse, don't rush me, 36:57 give me more time, call me at a convenient season, 37:04 I need to study more, you know, you don't realize it, 37:14 but you probably know more about the Bible now 37:16 than 90% of the people that live in this town, 37:19 not because I'm such a great teacher, 37:22 it's because of the message that God has given, 37:26 the three angels messages of Revelation. 37:29 It make sense, makes the Bible 37:32 easy to understand and you probably 37:36 don't realize this, but in the last four weeks, 37:39 24 meetings, that's over six months of going to church. 37:48 I need more time, six months worth of going to church, 37:55 I don't think we've realize how dangerous 37:57 it is to put off following God, 38:03 to put off doing what God is speaking to 38:05 your conscious to do, you can't play games 38:10 with the devil, if you try playing 38:13 his games folks you're gonna lose every time. 38:19 Its like, like getting a new job that requires you 38:28 to get up about an hour earlier in the morning and 38:32 so you set your big alarm clock in the morning, 38:36 that things goes off and Oh! Man you're not ready 38:39 to get up yet, I mean that's an hour early, 38:42 bed is so warm and cozy and comfortable and soft 38:47 and you forgot to put the heater up 38:49 and it's cold out there and Oh! Man you reached 38:51 out there and you hit the snooze button, if I can 38:53 just get five more minutes, that would feel so good. 38:57 So, you hit that snooze button, you sleep five 38:59 more minutes, it goes off again and you drag yourself 39:02 out of bed off to work, next morning the alarm goes off 39:07 Oh! Man I'm not ready to get up yet snooze button, 39:10 you know, that last five minutes of sleep that 39:13 you get after the alarm goes off is the best 39:15 five minutes of the whole night, you sound 39:18 like you're talking from experience of that, I'm. 39:23 Then, the next morning you know hit the snooze button 39:26 until onetime you wake up and you hear sounds that are 39:32 different from what you've been hearing, and you notice 39:35 the angle of the light is just a little different coming 39:37 into your window and you look at that clock and you 39:41 realize, Oh! I'm already late for work, you grab 39:45 that clock, you shake it and why didn't you ring? 39:51 When you look at it you realize it did ring just 39:53 as loud and longer than it ever rang before, 39:56 it rang all the way down and you didn't hear it. 40:03 So, the next day, on next, that day 40:05 on the way home from work, 40:06 you stop at the hardware store 40:07 and you buy one of those old fashioned alarm clocks 40:10 with the double clanging bell on top. 40:14 And, you wind that thing up as tight as it will go 40:17 and you set that there on your bed in the morning 40:19 that things goes off, you shut it off 40:22 and when your heartbeat settles down 40:23 just a little bit, you jump out of bed, 40:25 get dressed and off to work. 40:28 You see, God made us, so that we can tune out 40:36 the things that distract us and annoy and bother us, 40:44 he made us so that we can sleep 40:45 through an alarm clock ringing if we want to. 40:51 In fact, I remember I was assigned to sack crew B-52, 40:57 somebody just coming here tonight, said I was 40:59 in the sack too and one of the things we had to do, 41:03 we had to spend seven days in a row, a whole week living 41:11 out in a little building on the end of the runway right 41:14 next to those airplanes fully loaded with fuel and nuclear 41:18 weapons ready to go to war at a moment's notice. 41:22 First day after intense target study 41:25 and preparation and learning what our mission was, 41:28 where we would go, we went to war. 41:31 I crawled into my bed that night, 41:34 I mean I was bone tired, 41:36 just wanting to sleep, 41:38 I don't know if you've ever tried sleeping out 41:40 on the end of the runway with the 8 engines of a B-52 41:45 jet roaring over your head all night long. 41:48 I would just about would be dozed out 41:50 and roar there goes an airplane. 41:52 Oh! What was that? 41:54 Just about to go to sleep again and roar, 41:56 here comes another one. 41:59 I hardly got a wink that first night. 42:02 Second night, I managed to get 42:03 a little bit more, third night a little more 42:05 by the time that week was over, 42:08 I could sleep through the whole night 42:09 and never hear an airplane going off. 42:13 You see God made us to tune out distracting, 42:16 I remember when I was a bachelor, 42:18 a single Pastor and I go to grocery store 42:23 every week to get my weekly bag of beans and rice, 42:27 it's only thing I knew how to make and what I see 42:31 the mothers there, their kids hanging on their skirts, 42:35 jeans and things falling out off the carts and kids 42:40 knocking stuff off the aisle and I'm thinking 42:42 how do they keep their sanity? You know, now I know. 42:47 See God makes us, so that 42:48 we can tune out, distracting to us. 42:51 Given a Bible study one time, 42:53 studying the Bible in the living room 42:54 with a young lady who had a little boy, 42:57 you know, about that big, 42:58 I don't know, if you've ever 42:59 done this when you're visiting 43:00 with people who have little kids 43:01 they gotta go and get every toy out of their toy box 43:03 and coming and show you, 43:05 wow! This kid had a brand new airplane 43:07 and a train, and he had that I'm trying to study the 43:10 Bible with his mother and Wahaaaoo!! 43:13 You know, and choo, choo, choo, choo, 43:15 all up and down my pants leg and I'm just not even 43:20 thinking, can't figure out what's the next, text, 43:22 what am I supposed to say next and she says 43:24 Oh! don't pay attention to him, 43:26 I don't even hear him. 43:30 You see God made us that way, 43:32 otherwise these distracting things 43:35 would just drive us insane and 43:40 he made us that way spiritually. 43:44 You know, you can study the Bible 43:47 and discover God's truth and then if a person 43:53 doesn't act on it, it bothers their conscious, doesn't it. 44:00 If they still don't act it, it bothers 44:02 them less and then less and less and 44:07 then it doesn't even bother him anymore. 44:08 I remember Bill, a young man who was coming to 44:11 Revelation Now meetings, he was a pastor of a church 44:13 and they were a Sunday church, a nice little 44:16 group, I met some of them, a great fellow. 44:18 We got to be friends and then when I covered 44:21 the Sabbath he came up to me afterwards 44:24 he says, wow! They didn't teach me 44:26 that in the seminary, I said what do you think? 44:29 It makes sense, he said, every word of it. 44:32 Saturday is the Sabbath day, crystal clear to me, 44:36 I said well Bill, what are you gonna do about it? 44:40 Well, that's a different story he said. 44:42 If I started preaching that in my church, they'd run me 44:45 out on a rail and my wife already thinks I'm crazy 44:48 just for coming to these Revelation Now meetings. 44:52 I said, yeah, but Bill the most important thing to you, 44:57 you said was to follow the lamb 45:00 isn't that right? Boy, he took a deep breath, 45:05 I could just see him agonizing, 45:08 I said what are you gonna do this Sabbath, Bill. 45:11 Man, I work in a lumberyard, 45:13 pastor, didn't have enough people to pay his 45:16 enough salary, he had to have another job, 45:19 that's our busiest day, I said Bill, you're gonna 45:23 follow the lamb and he said I'll be there. 45:28 So, Sabbath morning I was looking for him, 45:30 he didn't show up and that night he came 45:34 to the meetings and he didn't even to look 45:36 at me, and I don't know why and its not me, 45:41 but he just looked down, sat down, he wasn't the same. 45:45 So, I ran over there after the meeting, I said 45:47 what happened Bill, he said man I just couldn't do it. 45:51 He said I know I should have been here 45:53 and my conscious has been bothering me all day, 45:55 but I just had to go to work. 45:59 I said, well there's another time, next week, he says 46:03 okay, next Sabbath, didn't show up, 46:05 didn't come to the meeting that night. 46:08 I mean this man was so under conviction, 46:11 it was bothering him so bad, 46:13 but he didn't do it, didn't come Sunday night, 46:18 first two nights he missed, so the next Monday 46:23 I went to see him and he said Jac, 46:26 said that I've enjoyed Revelation Now, 46:28 but I'm not gonna comeback anymore, 46:30 I said why not Bill? 46:31 He said I went to see my district supervisor and 46:34 he said yeah, he says the Bible teaches Saturday is the 46:37 Sabbath day, but that's not as important, what's 46:40 important is that you teach people to love one another. 46:45 That's what God was all about, it's all about love, 46:49 doctrines come second, don't worry about doctrines 46:53 just love, teach love, preach love, just preach Jesus. 46:58 That's all and he said Jac, I'm gonna do that, 47:03 I'm just gonna preach Jesus. 47:06 I said you know Bill, that's what we're supposed to do, 47:10 we supposed to preach Jesus, 47:13 but tell me which Jesus are you gonna preach? 47:19 Are you gonna preach the one who said, 47:20 if you love me keep my commandments 47:24 or are you gonna preach the Jesus that said 47:27 commandments aren't important, 47:29 which lamb are you gonna follow? 47:34 And he said, I just don't believe 47:37 it anymore, just like that. 47:42 See that's the mysterious way of sin, 47:45 don't give the devil an inch because he'll take your life. 47:52 I think we've realized the danger 47:54 in delaying and putting it off. 47:57 So, you buy that big double clanging alarm clock on your 48:01 way home, you wind it up 48:03 as tight as it'll go the next morning. 48:04 Oh! You're hearts' beating, 48:06 but you get out of bed and get dressed and 48:07 next few days you respond instantly just like that. 48:12 And, you know what after about 48:13 two or three days of that, you don't need 48:15 that old double clanging bell on top anymore; do you? 48:19 A clock radio works fine, you keep responding to that 48:22 clock radio and pretty soon you can hear that little click 48:29 before the music even comes on, and if you respond to 48:33 that, then soon you won't even need the radio anymore. 48:38 See, I've had those kind of experiences too. 48:42 God made us, so that we can 48:45 tune out those distracting things, 48:48 in fact the Bible tells us in First John 4 verse 2, 48:51 such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose 48:54 consciousness have been seared as with a hot iron. 48:57 You see, he made us that way, 48:59 he made us so that we can reject him, 49:02 because he made us that way so that we could be free ages. 49:04 We can choose to accept Christ or we can choose to reject him 49:08 and we can reject him and live with that choice, 49:11 see if he made you so that every time 49:13 you rejected Christ your conscious bothered you, 49:15 more and more and more and more every time 49:18 then soon you'd be driven either insane or you would 49:21 have to obey and so he made us, so that we can 49:25 reject him and be comfortable with that choice. 49:30 And our conscious becomes seared with a hot iron. 49:34 Some people say that's the unpardonable sin. 49:37 The unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. 49:42 It's dangerously close, I've been there, 49:47 I've said no to God over and over again, 49:50 I've been to the place where I couldn't hear 49:52 the Spirit calling me anymore, 49:53 I've sat in church and I've seen people's tears 49:56 streaming down their cheek and I'm laughing at them, 50:01 that isn't the unpardonable sin praise God for that. 50:05 The unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, 50:08 I was close somehow God got through 50:12 and if you just respond some of you here 50:14 maybe wondering, have I done it? 50:16 If you're wondering, you haven't committed it yet. 50:18 You maybe close, but you need to respond 50:22 and as you respond, its just like that alarm clock, 50:25 it's just the Bible says that light gets brighter 50:27 and brighter and brighter until the perfect day. 50:32 But don't wait until it's too late. 50:40 In verse 10, of Second Thessalonians chapter 2, 50:45 oh, let me start at verse 9, 50:46 the coming of the lawless one 50:47 will be in accordance with the work of Satan 50:49 displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, 50:51 signs and wonders and in every sort of evil 50:53 that deceives those who are perishing, 50:55 they perish because they refuse to love the truth, 51:00 it doesn't say they perish because 51:02 they didn't believe the truth, 51:04 you can believe the truth without loving the truth, 51:08 loving the truth is believing it so much that you embrace 51:11 it and bring it into your heart, in your life and 51:14 you'll obey it, you can believe it without loving it, 51:16 they perish because they didn't love the truth. 51:19 They didn't believe the truth, they didn't 51:21 believe it enough to bring it into their hearts. 51:25 Now, listen to this, some of the most 51:27 frightening words in scripture verse 11, 51:29 for this reason God sends them a powerful 51:33 delusion so that they will believe a lie. 51:40 God sends it and they'll believe that lie just 51:44 as sincerely as they believe the truth. 51:50 Why does he do it? 51:53 Because God gave us the choice, 51:56 we can choose to love him, 51:59 and we can choose to reject him and live with that choice. 52:05 Not real peace, real peace only 52:07 comes if we surrender to God 52:12 I don't think we understand how dangerous it is to delay 52:17 and put off serving God, a young boy who was born 52:20 into a poor family in the Swiss Alps, his father didn't 52:25 even earn enough money to feed his family. 52:28 So, this young boy, his father taught this young boy, how 52:32 to go out into the woods and look at the nest of big eagles. 52:37 Oh! He could find, he could spot those eagles nest 52:40 where nobody else could see them 52:41 and he studied those nests and he knew when just the 52:44 right time was he could climb up the tree, 52:46 take the eagle eggs out of that nest and keep the 52:49 mother eagle laying eggs just as long as possible, 52:51 he knew how to do all that, and that was the way 52:53 he helped to take care and feed his family. 52:56 One day he spotted an eagle nest high up on a ledge, 53:00 he kept watching it and watching, 53:02 he knew now the time is right, 53:03 he need to go up there and get those eggs. 53:05 So, he went to the base of the cliff 53:07 and just shear straight wall, 53:10 he couldn't climb up, but he knew 53:13 those mountains like the back of his hand. 53:14 So there, I can go around the backside 53:16 and go up the top and then go down to the ledge, 53:18 so he went around the backside, 53:19 he got up to the top and discovered 53:21 that the ledge was actually underneath an overhang, 53:24 it was beneath and below him, 53:26 there's just no way that he could climb down to it. 53:29 Still no problem because he had a rope, 53:30 all he need to do is tie his rope to a tree, let it down 53:33 over the edge and then lower himself until he could just 53:36 swing over there and bend down to pick up the egg. 53:39 So, he carefully tie that rope to a tree, check the knot, 53:44 really good I mean he was way up, way up high 53:47 and then he puts some little knots in the end few inches 53:50 apart, so his hands wouldn't slip and he lowered himself 53:55 over the edge of that cliff on the rope, hanging up there, 54:00 hundreds of feet up in the air, 54:03 one slip, instant death on the rocks below. 54:08 He wasn't even afraid, he had done that kind 54:10 of things so many times, so he just lowered himself 54:13 down to his feet where leveled with the ledge 54:16 and then he started to swing on the rope, 54:19 wider and wider and wider until all he had to do was 54:23 just step off on the ledge and he bend down to pick 54:28 up those eggs out of the eagle's nest and suddenly 54:31 he froze in a moment of panic because he realized 54:36 he had let go of the rope, and he turned to watch it 54:40 swinging away, you know, in times like that, it seems 54:43 like your mind just races at an incredible speed and 54:46 he thought, now I gotta climb up, he couldn't. 54:47 Sheer overhand, he couldn't climb up. 54:49 I'll climb down, oh! too straight, 54:51 he couldn't do it, call for help, 54:53 there is nobody is going to hear me I'm so far away. 54:57 And he also realized that in just a few days 55:00 he would become so weak, 55:01 he'd be easy prey for that mother eagle 55:03 and she would just tear him to shreds. 55:06 He knew his only hope was the rope 55:12 and by now it was coming back, 55:15 he also knew that the first time that rope came back, 55:19 it would be as close as it would ever get, 55:23 if he waited till the second time, 55:25 it would be further out there and the third time 55:28 even further until if he waited too long, 55:32 it would just be hanging motionless 55:34 far out of his reach, the rope was coming 55:38 he had to make the choice and he had to decide quickly, 55:42 so he stood up on the cliff, on the edge, his toes hanging 55:47 over the edge of that cliff, hundreds of feet up in the 55:49 air and one slip and it was all over and he waited until 55:54 that rope came and at just the precise moment, when 55:58 it hung motionless there in front of him and just before 56:01 it began to swing away, he flexed his muscles in his 56:05 legs and with all of the energy he could muster, 56:09 he just threw himself out into space, grabbed hold 56:14 the rope and climbed up to safety. 56:21 The rope is still swinging for you, 56:26 the rope is Jesus and he is reaching out with all of 56:30 the love that he can pour out of his heart to you, 56:35 it will never be any easier for you to make your choice 56:41 to follow the lamb then it is right now, 56:46 the longer you wait, just like that rope the 56:50 further it would be out there and more difficult 56:53 it's gonna be, that's why the Bible says today, 56:57 today if you hear his voice, 57:01 harden not your heart, this is the day of salvation. |
Revised 2014-12-17