Participants: Pr. Brian McMahon
Series Code: RSH
Program Code: RSH000018
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00:09 The escalation of global terrorism, crime, immorality
00:12 and natural disasters, seems to indicate our world 00:15 is spiraling towards its ultimate hour with destiny. 00:18 Who, if anyone, will survive Earth's final events? 00:21 Discover what Bible prophecy reveals about the rapture, 00:24 the mark of the beast, and Armageddon. 00:26 Though shrouded in mystery for centuries, 00:28 the book of Revelation can be understood today. 00:32 Peer into the future, and see what wonderful things 00:35 God has planned for His people. 00:38 And now, Pastor Brian McMahon presents the powerful 00:41 Bible seminar "Revelation Speaks Hope". 00:45 It is our desire, it is our goal in these meetings to instruct 00:50 and edify the body of Christ in such a way as to prepare us 00:54 for His soon coming, would you agree with that? 00:56 Amen. 00:57 How do a people that are waiting for Jesus' soon coming live? 01:00 This is what we're going to talk about tonight, 01:03 and in 2 Corinthians 5:20, these are the words which we read, 01:09 it says: [text on screen] 01:17 "in Christ's stead" - that means in Christ's place, 01:20 [continues to read] 01:22 So here we're told that we are ambassadors, 01:26 now what exactly is an ambassador? 01:29 Well, an ambassador is an individual who lives in 01:31 a foreign country, and there in that foreign country 01:34 that person desires to hold to the laws and regulations 01:38 of the land from which they come from. 01:40 They desire to represent their native land in the very, 01:43 very best way possible. You might call an ambassador 01:47 an extremely important individual. 01:49 An ambassador in the political realm always tries 01:53 to do his very, very best. Here we're told that we 01:56 are ambassadors in the spiritual realm. 01:59 We live in a foreign world, don't we? 02:02 As the Christian song goes: "This world is not my home," 02:04 "I'm just passing through." In other words, 02:07 I'm hoping for a better world than what this world 02:09 presently provides. But in the mean time while we 02:13 are here, we're placed in an extremely important position, 02:17 we are ambassadors for Jesus, we are in Christ's place 02:21 to represent 2 those who do not know Jesus, the heavenly realm. 02:27 So we have to take it seriously. The problem with some is 02:33 they'll come and they'll say "Well, I know the Bible says" 02:37 "such and so, but why do I have to do it, why can't I to this," 02:41 "and why can't I do that? Will this little thing" 02:44 "keep me out of heaven?" And I say to myself 02:48 "Is that the way Christ's ambassadors are to live?" 02:52 "Is that the way Christ's ambassadors are to talk?" 02:54 When people say "why can't I do this?" 02:57 and "why can't I do that?", the problem is not the little thing 03:00 they're complaining about, the problem is the heart is not 03:03 in love with Jesus, because when the heart is in love 03:06 with Jesus you don't complain with what Jesus asks us to do. 03:09 When husbands and wives are really in love with each other 03:12 they want to please each other, when you're really in a close 03:15 relationship. Now turn with me to another 03:17 marvelous verse in Ecclesiastes 12:13. 03:22 He said in Ecclesiastes 12:13: [text on screen] 03:36 Now let's go to one in the New Testament together, 03:39 let's go to 1 John 3:22, it says: [text on screen] 03:48 Again, that's what an ambassador would want to do: 03:50 hold to the law the laws of the land of heaven. 03:53 It goes on, it goes further than that, it says: 03:56 [text on screen] 04:00 So John shows us that being an ambassador for Jesus 04:02 goes beyond just the basic laws of the land, an ambassador 04:07 wants to go above and beyond the call of duty, 04:11 and that's what the Christian would want to do 04:12 for his Lord, we want to go beyond those things 04:15 that are just required of us per se, and even go into those 04:18 things that are pleasing in God's sight. 04:22 Friends, do you love the Lord tonight to want to do 04:24 what's pleasing in His sight, if so give me a big "amen" 04:27 out there. [Audience] Amen. 04:30 I appreciate hearing that, and really along with that we would 04:33 want to not do those things that are not pleasing 04:35 in His sight. Do the things that are pleasing 04:38 in His sight, and refrain from those things that are 04:41 not pleasing in His sight. Love has to be the motive 04:43 behind all that we do. Hebrews 12:1 is our text. 04:48 The Bible says: [text on about] 04:51 "compassed about" - that means surrounded about, 04:54 [continues to read] 05:08 In the physical realm if people want to climb high mountains 05:11 they don't take along unnecessary things. 05:14 If they're going to climb these high mountains like Mt. Everest 05:17 and such mountains, they're going to take along 05:19 just the necessities, just the essential things, and anything 05:23 that's not essential they're going to say 05:26 "No, that's going to hinder me, that's going to hold me back" 05:28 "from really achieving my goal." Once again, it's true 05:31 in the physical realm, it's also true in the spiritual realm. 05:34 God would be pleased if we laid aside the weights in our life 05:38 that would hold us back from really living the life of faith 05:41 because God wants us to be free to live as a Christian 05:44 should live. Turn with me to 1 John 5:4, 05:49 it says this: [text on screen] 05:57 So when we have true faith, Christian faith, Biblical faith, 06:00 that faith is such that it accomplishes in our life 06:03 a victory over the things of the world. 06:06 The things of the world are the things that appeal to the carnal 06:09 nature, the things that appeal to what you were before you 06:12 were converted by the Holy Spirit. 06:14 It's kind of a general statement though "overcoming the world", 06:17 what exactly does that mean? Well, John gets more specific 06:20 if you go back to chapter 2. 1 John, same book 06:23 of the Bible, but go back to chapter 2:15: [text on screen] 06:50 You see, it is this desire to live like the world, 06:54 act like the world, speak like the world, dress like the world 06:58 that makes Christianity look so weak in the sight of the world, 07:01 because someone might have a friend who goes to church 07:04 and professes to be a Christian, and that person who has a friend 07:07 will say: "Why should I be a Christian?" 07:10 "My friend who professes to be a Christian, he dresses" 07:13 "the same as me, talks the same as me, goes to the same" 07:16 "place as me, attends the same party, smokes the same" 07:19 "cigarettes, drinks the same alcohol, watches the same" 07:21 "TV shows, goes to the same movies, he says" 07:24 "he's a Christian, I don't, what's the difference?" 07:27 And you know what, he's right; there ought to be a difference 07:30 between one who professes to serve Jesus and one who 07:33 does not. It's the desire on behalf 07:35 of so many people to want to hold on to Jesus with one hand 07:39 and hold on to the things of the world with the other hand, 07:41 and have them both, and yet, Jesus Himself said it's not 07:44 possible, He says "you are either for Me, or you are" 07:48 "against Me." You can't have the love 07:50 of the Father and the things of this world, that passage 07:53 told us, we want to have God and God alone. 07:58 You can find, if you're wanting, a church that will approve 08:01 of just about any kind of lifestyle out there. 08:04 If a person wants to drink alcohol, you'll find a church 08:07 that says "that's okay", if a person wants to smoke, 08:10 someone'll say "that's okay". Friends, we should be very 08:13 accepting as we have people come, but God's church 08:15 is a church of standards, it represents something, 08:19 it's a high and holy calling, and it is not our desire 08:21 as Christians to bring the Bible down to our lifestyle. 08:25 Friends, the Bible is high and holy and we should 08:28 leave it there. It is up to us to surrender 08:31 our life to the work of the Holy Spirit so that He can then 08:33 lift us up to the true standards of heaven. 08:36 In other words, it is the insincere person that wants 08:40 to change the Bible to fit his lifestyle, the sincere person 08:43 says "no, change me, Lord... change me." 08:45 We're going to 1 Peter 2:9, it says in 1 Peter 2:9: 08:51 [text on screen] 09:00 When it says "peculiar" it doesn't mean "queer", 09:03 it doesn't mean "weird", it doesn't mean "strange", 09:06 but if you're going to be peculiar it means you will be 09:09 acting differently than the one who doesn't profess 09:12 to serve Jesus. It goes on, and it says: 09:14 [text on screen] 09:23 Isn't it a wonderful thing to come out of darkness? 09:25 The Bible says "Thy word is light", so when you come out 09:29 of darkness and you read the light of God's word, 09:31 that means you read the light of God's will for our life, 09:34 and we want to surrender to it, and that's coming out of 09:37 darkness so we can show forth the praises of God who has 09:40 done this for us, that's our desire. 09:42 So we're going to talk about some of the ways 09:45 we can do that, what are some of the ways we can show forth 09:48 the praises of the One who brought us out of darkness? 09:51 Let's talk about the senses. 09:54 If the Devil wants to get into your life, he tries to do 09:57 that primarily through the 5 senses; the things that we 09:59 taste, and touch, and see, and feel and so on, 10:02 and of all those 5 senses 2 of them primarily are really 10:05 used by the Devil, and that is the things we look at 10:08 and the things we listen to. What about the things 10:11 we listen to, do you think it really matters? 10:14 Go with me to Mark 4 and here it says, speaking of Jesus: 10:19 [text on screen] 10:27 It makes a difference what we listen to. 10:30 In Isaiah 33:15, we looked at this our last night together, 10:34 and it's speaking of the righteous, it says: 10:36 [text on screen] 10:39 So in other words, the Christian is going to stop his ears, 10:42 hold back from listening to things that are detrimental 10:45 to our faith, that are really not appropriate for Christian 10:49 listening. We're going to talk about 10:52 some music here because music is always a controversial 10:55 subject talked about by many, and I know that as soon 10:58 as someone says music they right away think 11:01 "Oh, he's going to bash rock 'n' roll". 11:03 Well, yes, I think rock 'n' roll is probably one of those things 11:06 that heaven wouldn't approve of, and of course, "rock 'n' roll" 11:09 itself is a term that's sexually explicit, but what about music? 11:13 Can we so listen to the wrong kinds of music that will be 11:16 a weight in our life, because remember, we're talking about 11:19 things that are detrimental to our experience, 11:22 we're wanting to run the race, as Paul talks about it. 11:26 We are in a battle of all battles as Christians, 11:28 and we want to make sure we win the race, but if we have weights 11:32 that are holding us down, wrong kinds of things perhaps 11:36 filling our mind, we're not going to run that race 11:38 very well, and we may not finish at all. 11:41 You see, if a cereal company can sell us a certain brand 11:46 of cereal by playing the same 30 second commercial over 11:49 and over and over again, how much can the Devil put into 11:54 our head if we play the wrong kind of song, 4 minutes worth, 11:58 over and over and over again? 12:01 Sometimes people say "Oh well, I just love the melody", 12:07 but the lyrics are really bad. It's true, music is a very 12:11 powerful medium. You can get caught up 12:14 with a certain kind of melody because it's a beautiful melody, 12:17 and you can start singing that song, and all of a sudden 12:19 you're singing things that you really don't even believe, 12:22 you can start singing things that you know you don't 12:25 even understand, or you know are not Christian, 12:28 yet the melody carries you along because it's very powerful. 12:31 I don't care if it's rap, or reggae, or blues, or funk, 12:33 or pop, or whatever it is, it matters what we put 12:36 into our minds, and I'm talking about more than rock 'n' roll 12:41 tonight; you talk about certain kinds of country music, 12:43 that's really big today, isn't it? 12:47 When I say country music I'm not talking about [Marty] Robin 12:50 singing "Home, home on the range" stuff, I'm not talking 12:53 about that. But if you listen to some 12:56 of this country music that's played, isn't it depressing? 13:02 Country music can really be depressing because it's all 13:05 about what the guy's problem is: he lost his wife, 13:10 he lost his job, he lost his house, he lost his dog, 13:14 he's always loosing something in his life. 13:18 Back in the 1970's, when I listened to a lot of 13:20 rock 'n' roll music in my life, not something I'm very 13:23 proud about, but they had a certain method of taking 13:28 records, yes, records... [Audience laughs] 13:32 ...and you could take them and put the needle down and spin 13:35 it backwards with your finger. Some of you are saying 13:38 "why would you ever want to do that?" 13:41 Well they called it "backward masking" when certain 13:44 sounds would come out of the record by spinning it backwards, 13:47 and they never were very righteous sounds, they were 13:50 always sounds that seemed to glorify the Devil, or give 13:53 praise to him, and so on. So certain people would learn 13:56 what records had this backward masking available on it 13:58 and they would do that, but now they don't have to backward 14:01 mark anything, they just sing it forward, they just say it. 14:04 If they want to run with the Devil, they'll say "I'm running" 14:07 "with the Devil." I went into a record store 14:10 and actually saw a record that on the backside of it 14:12 it had a contract where a person could sign away their soul 14:15 to the Devil. I wanted to buy it 14:18 just to show people that this really was out there, 14:20 but I didn't want to put money towards the record 14:23 and the record company, so I didn't do it, but yes, 14:26 it was there, I actually saw it. I see on the covers 14:29 of some of these CDs and other types and forms of music, 14:32 I see more Satanic symbolism than probably anywhere 14:34 other than a Satanic book store. Someone will say 14:37 "Oh, you know, I don't listen to the covers," 14:40 "I just listen to the music." Friends, it matters what we 14:43 look at as well as what we listen to. 14:46 Today when people listen to country music, people always 14:48 say "you mean to tell me I'm going to go to hellfire" 14:51 "for listening to country music?" 14:54 Friends, I'm not saying that tonight, but I will tell you 14:57 that if you're listening to music that is filled with 14:59 lying, and cheating, and stealing, and rebellion, 15:02 and adultery, you can be lost for that because the Bible says 15:04 "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." 15:07 Again, this is going back some years, but I had a record 15:10 collection from about here to the wall there, and it was 15:13 just filled with some of the most expensive records 15:15 because I'd go up and buy the rare things, the ones 15:18 that are hard to find, and then when I became a Christian 15:21 and realized that those kind of things are not the principles 15:23 by which I wanted to live, I had to make a hard decision: 15:26 what am I going to do with all of this? 15:29 Well, I knew I'd spent the money, but if I listened to it 15:31 and ruined my mind, that's even worse. 15:34 So I got rid of it, sometimes you have to make those 15:37 kind of hard decisions. If you have a certain mix 15:39 of music, you keep the best and you get rid of the other, 15:42 get rid of the rest, and you go out and you get some good 15:45 music because if you really are a lover of music 15:48 you want to replace that which you got rid of, otherwise you're 15:51 going to go back to the other; so go out and get some good 15:54 music and listen to that, and then you'll find that the Spirit 15:56 of heaven will come and visit you because you're not filling 15:59 your mind with all kinds of things like that. 16:02 Sometimes we get on our young people for all sorts of things, 16:04 but we listen to, as adults, music that's bad as well. 16:07 Here's another question that goes along with music, 16:10 and that is the question of dancing, is dancing really 16:12 right for the Christian? So whenever you deal 16:15 with an issue such as dancing, you want to ask yourself: 16:18 is Jesus going to participate in this? 16:21 Is this something that Jesus would approve of? 16:23 There'll be people that say "Oh, but didn't David dance" 16:26 "before the Lord in the Bible, and therefore dancing" 16:28 "is approved of?" Listen friends, we have to be 16:31 honest with what the Scripture says, the kind of leaping 16:34 of joy that David did because of the Ark of the Covenant 16:36 being brought towards Jerusalem, that kind of leaping of joy 16:39 bared no resemblance to what goes down at the Saturday 16:42 night discotheque. [Audience laughs] 16:44 Let's not pretend that it does. When you look at what goes 16:47 along with dancing, often that's the real problem 16:50 because it's very dark, and there's all kinds of poor music 16:52 being played there, alcohol is flowing, and there is a lot 16:55 of sexual things taking place that would not be normally 16:57 proper to take under the influence of dancing, 17:00 under the influence of alcohol, and then there'll be people 17:03 who come up and they'll say "Oh, but Pastor, listen," 17:07 "I go there, but I just do it for the exercise." 17:09 Again, if they made all the men dance with the men, 17:12 and all the women dance with the women, how long would they 17:15 do it "just for the exercise"? [Audience laughs] 17:17 Maybe a few would, but by and large, that would be it. 17:20 There's other ways to get good exercise. 17:24 Look what it says in Isaiah 33:15, we go back 17:29 to that verse where we were. It says: [text on screen] 17:36 So the principles of heaven go beyond the things that we 17:39 listen to, but it even goes into the things that we look at. 17:42 In Proverbs 23:26 the Bible says: [text on screen] 17:47 When we give God our heart, what will follow? 17:50 It says: [continues to read] 17:55 So we want to observe the ways of God. 17:59 Turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 101:2: [text on screen] 18:11 Then David goes on to answer himself and he says: 18:14 [text on screen] 18:18 When we walk within our house with a perfect heart, 18:21 the Lord will draw close to us, won't He? 18:26 If you go out to church, all dressed up nice, 18:29 it can be easy to put on for an hour or two, 18:33 even though you may not feel like it inside, you can act 18:36 like a Christian for a while, but when you're out 18:39 on the street, or at the job, that can be a different 18:42 matter all together. You can't imagine how many 18:44 people come and tell me they were offended at so-and-so 18:47 who came to church and looked real good, but out in the job 18:50 they screamed, and yelled, and ranted, and raved, 18:52 and people said "I don't want to become a Christian if that's" 18:55 "the way they are", it's a lot harder when it's out 18:58 in the street. But how is it when we're 19:00 at our house, as David prays here? 19:03 How is it when we're in our home, how is it when we're 19:06 in our home alone? Then we have the real test, 19:08 do we still walk within our house with a perfect heart? 19:11 Then in verse 3 David says: [text on screen] 19:15 Does that have relevance to our day? 19:18 You're getting kind of quiet there. 19:21 Does that have relevance to our day? 19:24 - [Audience] Yes. - Amen, sure. 19:26 He says "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." 19:28 "I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall" 19:31 "not cleave to me." There's a lot of things 19:34 going on on TV that are wicked, and you don't need me 19:37 to tell you that. I'm not even going to talk 19:39 about movies tonight, because I think that a discerning person 19:42 could easily see that there are desperately few things 19:45 that are put out of Hollywood that a Christian would want 19:48 to look at, just very very little that is any good at all, 19:52 that would really edify you, but when it comes to TV 19:55 a lot of people sit down and they watch all kinds of things, 19:58 and they watch these things on TV and they think 20:00 "Well, it's okay because it's in my home." 20:03 Let me share with you a couple surveys that have been done 20:07 on TV watching, if I could. 20:10 It says: [text on screen] 20:26 Okay, so 40,000 murders during that time, 20:29 absolutely unbelievable. It goes on, and he says: 20:33 [text on screen] 20:58 They wrote that in 1984. [text on screen] 21:19 So he's identifying through 20 years of survey that yes, 21:23 TV truly does have an effect on the way people live, 21:26 "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." 21:29 They have found as they have studied prime time TV, 21:31 prime time TV is that time from 7-10 o'clock at night, 21:36 and they've studied the channels, ABC, CBS, NBC, 21:39 the so called "nice channels", and they have looked at those 21:42 channels and found out that every single hour they have 21:45 10 or more instances of profanity, of violence, 21:50 of sexuality outside of the God ordained marriage relationship, 21:55 let me ask you this question, I want to hear on this, 21:57 can you watch violence to the glory of God, yes or no? 22:00 No, you can't. Can you watch profanity 22:03 to the glory of God, yes or no? Can you watch adultery 22:06 to the glory of God, yes or no? No. 22:09 Here's the question: Can you watch then, 22:12 prime time TV to the glory of God? No. 22:14 But that's what it all is, that's what prime time TV is. 22:17 People are watching it, and watching it and they're just 22:20 filling up, and then they go out into the street and people 22:22 start acting out these things because it doesn't bother them 22:25 because of the fact that they're so immune to it because they've 22:28 been watching it all of these years. 22:31 John told us in 1 John 2:15 "Love not the world," 22:37 "neither the things that are in the world." 22:40 Some years back they were trying to find out 22:43 what would be the appropriate labeling to put on TV 22:46 for certain programs, "should we make it R rated" 22:49 "for Restrictive, or PG-13", and they were trying to come up 22:52 with all kinds of rating systems in order to label it 22:55 for what it was, and then this one cartoonist came up 22:58 and he said "Well, as it turns out, one ratings category" 23:01 "covers it all: G for Garbage". [Audience laughs] 23:04 I thought that was pretty good. Friends, I'm not saying 23:07 that I don't ever watch TV, I watch the History Channel 23:11 because I enjoy that, and there's some of the other things 23:15 that are on there like Discovery Channel, 23:18 after you get by the evolution slant to it, you can maybe 23:21 enjoy some things on Animal Planet, but basically 23:25 even those channels, the commercials are getting so bad. 23:31 My father raised me to be kind of a newsaholic, and we had 23:35 more than 1 newspaper, and we had more than 1 news magazine 23:37 coming in, so I was always reading the news 23:40 and trying to find out what was going on with the news, 23:43 but it just seems like things are getting so bad you can 23:46 hardly watch the news today, it's just so graphic, 23:48 almost pornographic in some cases. 23:51 So we're looking at principles tonight, and it even goes 23:54 beyond TV, it can even go into the kinds of reading 23:56 that we have. People are filling them self up 23:59 with romance novels and fiction type material. 24:03 What happens is they get so filled with the fictitious 24:08 that the real has no impact anymore. 24:12 They start going off into dreamland through all of these 24:15 kinds of fictitious novels, and then all of sudden you want 24:20 to tell them what the plan of salvation, and they don't 24:23 seem to have an appetite for it, they don't seem to have a mind 24:25 that can grasp it because of the fact that their mind has really 24:28 become mush from all of this terrible reading that they've 24:31 been doing. There's a good, safe rule 24:33 that we can follow. Let's look at it together, 24:36 Philippians 4:8 says this: [text on screen] 24:47 "whatsoever things are lovely," [text on screen] 24:55 That's a pretty good principle right there, isn't it? 24:58 Absolutely friends. If you follow that guideline, 25:01 you're always going to be blessed, you're going to 25:04 truly put it by the test of what would Jesus want? 25:06 What would Jesus want me to do? 25:09 This next area that we're going to study tonight, 25:13 we're going to go into a different realm of what we've 25:16 been covering so far. We're going to talk about 25:19 what John says, "the pride of life". 25:21 Speaking of pride, I want you to notice how the Bible 25:24 contrasts 2 beings, the first one being Lucifer; 25:27 in Isaiah 14:13,14 Lucifer said: [text on screen] 25:39 Lucifer was filled with pride, that was the root of his being, 25:44 filled with pride about himself. Contrast that to 25:47 the lovely Jesus, and Jesus talked about Himself, 25:50 and He said in Matthew 11: "Come unto Me all ye that labor" 25:54 "and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." 25:57 He said: [text on screen] 26:03 Can you see the difference in the character of Jesus? 26:06 He was the Lord of heaven, He had everything, 26:09 and He came and He said "I am meek and lowly in heart". 26:13 We want to be more like Jesus, but the Devil wants to put 26:17 pride into our hearts. In this next area that we cover 26:21 we're going to talk about how we can try to fight 26:23 against that, the Devil is always looking for ways 26:27 to put it in us, we have to be looking for ways to get it out 26:31 of us, amen? To get it out of our life. 26:34 Sometimes it's so subtle we don't even recognize it, 26:36 sometimes it's so subtle we don't even realize how 26:39 the Devil's doing it. We're going to talk about 26:42 in this next area how we dress. I know it's a sensitive area 26:45 when it comes to dress because we're all affected by it, 26:48 so I'm going to ask this of you: if what we cover in the next 26:50 area affects you where you're at, I want you to be 26:53 perfectly comfortable in studying here with us tonight. 26:57 As we started out tonight, remember, some learn things 27:00 one night, other learn things another night. 27:03 Tonight you might learn something about the way 27:05 we dress as Christians, but if so, just know that all of us 27:08 are covered by the grace of God and none are any better 27:11 than anyone else, we're all sinners at the feet 27:14 of Jesus, thanking Him for His wonderful love for us. 27:17 Okay, so having said that, turn to the book of Genesis, 27:21 the book of beginnings. We're going to talk 27:23 about ornamentation tonight, and what the Bible has to say 27:27 about ornamentation. Remember if you were here 27:30 earlier in the seminar, we got some questions in from some 27:32 of you asking about jewellery and the Christian, 27:35 and how the Bible looks at it; well I'm going to share 27:38 with you in this next little while about what the Bible 27:40 has to say about it. 27:42 This affects not just the ladies, it affects the men 27:45 just as much, and as you're turning to Genesis 35, 27:49 I'd like you to remember that we're talking about weights, 27:55 how weights in our life can hold us back from doing 27:58 the will of God, sometimes we don't even realize they're 28:01 weights, we might not even realize that poor music 28:04 is a weight in our life that can so fill our mind 28:07 that we can't sense the Holy Spirit. 28:09 Sometimes we don't realize that TV, poor viewing habits, 28:12 can be a terrific weights in our life, sometimes we don't 28:15 realize that reading the wrong kind of literature, 28:19 romance novels, and other kinds of fictitious stuff 28:21 can be a terrible way of diverting our mind from 28:24 the realities of the gospel, they're weights in our life, 28:27 it's not that it's necessarily an incredibly sinful thing 28:31 in and of itself, but it's a weight that will hold you back 28:34 from living the true life of faith, so we're going to talk 28:37 tonight about how dress can be a weight as well. 28:39 Genesis 35:1, it says: [text on screen] 29:25 When he said he hid them that means they weren't 29:28 going to go and dig if up later, he hid them meaning that 29:31 was it, they were going to remain there. 29:34 So there is something in this passage that early on 29:37 in the Bible tells us that God was displeased when they 29:40 draped ornamentation all over them, it was drawing 29:42 their hearts away. When God says: 29:45 "You're going to go and you're going to consecrate yourself" 29:48 "and consecrate your family, these are some things" 29:51 "that need to be disposed of because they're strange gods," 29:54 "there are earrings in the ears, and they represent the world." 29:56 Remember what we looked at earlier tonight, 1 John 2:15, 29:59 "love not the world, neither the things that are in" 30:02 "the world", and people have for long years recognized 30:05 that ornamentation was something that was a representation 30:08 of worldly life. That's one verse, that's just 30:11 one passage, let's go to another one together. 30:13 Let's go to Exodus, second book of the Bible, we looked 30:16 at the first book, now let's go to the second. 30:19 Exodus 33. 30:21 Dear friends, it's not that God doesn't like jewels, 30:23 God made a lot of wonderful gems in the earth, 30:26 but God doesn't always like what they do to us when we put 30:29 them on, because it can have the ability of drawing the heart 30:33 away from Jesus and focusing on our self. 30:37 You'll think "look at me." I'm not judging anyone 30:39 here tonight, and every time I get into this subject 30:42 I tell you, I almost wish I could preach it 30:45 with a blindfold on so that no one would ever think 30:47 that I'm looking at you, because everything I'm sharing 30:50 with you tonight, believe me, I had to learn it myself, 30:53 and you know what that means. 30:56 I was not immune to this kind of thing. 30:58 We go on, Exodus 33:1-6. It says: [text on screen] 31:14 "And will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out" 31:17 "the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite," 31:20 [text on screen] 31:33 Why will God not go up in the midst of them? 31:36 There's obviously a spiritual problem, isn't there? 31:39 Then he goes on, it says: [text on screen] 31:41 "stiff necked people" - that means "a stubborn people", 31:44 [continues to read] 31:46 So God is identifying the problem, they're stubborn, 31:49 they were rebellious, and He goes on and it says: 31:52 [text on screen] 32:24 So, early on in Scripture we can see that God said 32:29 they had a spiritual problem, they were still rebellious, 32:32 they needed to consecrate them self before God would go up 32:35 in the midst of them, and the reaction to that was 32:38 they said "God is not pleased with our dress." 32:41 Now, there may have been some other things as well, 32:44 the heart is the issue, but the dress reflects the heart. 32:47 So the heart is the issue, but the dress was reflecting that, 32:50 and they changed their dress, and they took off 32:52 the ornamentation. Now, people say 32:54 "well that's the Old Testament", remember now, whether we read 32:57 in the Old Testament or whether we read in the New, 33:00 the principles of heaven don't change. 33:03 Sometimes applications can change in certain ways, 33:05 but the principles don't change, and God's character doesn't 33:08 change, so let's go to the New Testament now, and see how 33:11 it's revealed there to us as well. 33:14 We're going to go to 1 Timothy. You know how to find 1 Timothy: 33:16 Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 33:20 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 33:23 then the 5 books that start with "T", 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 33:26 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, right through there. 33:29 We're going to 1 Timothy 2:3. 33:38 It says: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight" 33:41 "of God, our Saviour,", what is good and acceptable in God's 33:44 sight? Let's keep reading. 33:46 "Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto" 33:49 "the knowledge of the truth." So God wants all to know truth 33:52 and that's what we're looking at tonight. 33:55 Now let's go down. It's talking about coming 33:57 into the knowledge of truth, and go ahead for the sake of time 34:00 to verse 7, it says: "Whereunto I am ordained" 34:03 "a preacher, and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ," 34:05 "and lie not; a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity." 34:08 So Paul is trying to make it very clear that he's speaking 34:11 truth to them, he's mentioning it more than once. 34:14 Verse 8: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere," 34:17 "lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." 34:19 Now verse 9, it says: [text on screen] 34:31 We're going to stop right there. 34:34 This is an interesting passage. When it says "broided hair" 34:39 by the way ladies, we don't really understand that 34:41 to mean braided hair, most of the time when people look 34:43 at this passage and try to analyze it, they think it might 34:46 have been referring to a practice they had of weaving 34:48 jewels through the hair, and that would be more what broided 34:51 hair means, rather than braided hair because a woman's hair 34:54 is her glory, it's a wonderful thing, but we see that God 34:57 is not pleased when adornment becomes the focus in the issue. 35:04 Scripture tells us in Matthew 4: "Man shall not live" 35:09 "by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth" 35:13 "from the mouth of God." Does this passage come 35:16 from the inspired mouth of God as well? 35:20 This passage in 1 Timothy, is it inspired of the Lord? 35:25 That's pretty quiet, how about a little louder "amen"? 35:29 - [Audience] Amen. - Okay, that's better. 35:31 So, should we live by that too? I want to hear an equally loud 35:35 "amen" to that one." [Audience] Amen. 35:38 Okay, that's good, now I know you're still with me. 35:40 So we should live by this too. As we look at this, 35:44 Paul tells Timothy, he's ordained to teach truth, 35:48 he instructs them not to wear these things. 35:51 What does that word "not" mean? 35:53 When the Lord told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 35:56 they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of 35:59 the knowledge of good and evil, they were not to eat 36:02 of that fruit, did that mean they could eat a little bit? 36:04 Did that mean they could eat sometimes? 36:07 Did that mean they could eat just a small fruit? 36:10 No, it means nothing. So someone will say in this 36:15 passage "well Paul doesn't mention diamonds," 36:19 "so diamonds must be okay because he didn't mention" 36:21 "it here." Well Paul could have said 36:24 "Not with broided hair, or gold, or diamonds, or pearls", 36:27 but then somebody would say "Oh, but he didn't mention" 36:30 "emeralds, so I can wear emeralds." 36:32 No, he could have said "Not with gold, pearls," 36:35 "diamonds, emeralds" and someone would say 36:38 "he didn't say rubies". The point being this folks: 36:41 Paul doesn't have to mention every precious stone 36:43 under the sun to get a point across. 36:46 The point is that we are to be concerned with the inward 36:49 character and not the outward dress, not to say you can't 36:53 dress nice, it's not to say you can't wear quality clothes, 36:55 but that's not to be our focus, the focus is that we are 36:58 to be concerned with the character within, and not 37:02 necessarily showing things from without. 37:04 Do you know that as we look more and more at our world, 37:07 isn't it true that people are going to extremes? 37:10 Isn't it true that people are going to even extremes 37:12 with the piercings of the body? 37:15 You've got tongue piercing, and if that wasn't bad enough, 37:17 people are starting to pierce all kinds of things, 37:20 you've got nose piercing, eye piercing, lip piercing, 37:23 how about head piercing? It's hard to look at, 37:26 it's amazing what people get into. 37:30 All parts of our society are going to the extremes, 37:34 but you know, all it is is a carrying out of a more 37:37 extreme part of the very principle of piercing the body, 37:42 which we've accepted in our society for some time 37:44 as far as the world goes. Friends, I want you to know 37:47 that Christians of long ago spoke out against ornamentation 37:53 very loudly and very clearly. Those of you might be Methodist 37:58 here, or have a Methodist background, I hope that you'll 38:00 especially appreciate this, but even if you don't, 38:03 I'll hope you'll pay attention to what John Wesley had to say, 38:05 he was a great man of God, fantastic preacher, 38:08 and John Wesley spoke out about ornamentation this way, 38:11 he said: [text on screen] 38:13 Really what he's doing is he's looking at this passage 38:16 and basically almost quoting from it, he says: 38:19 "I do not advise women", let me pause there, 38:22 today he would say "I do not advice men and women", 38:26 [text on screen] 38:44 That's what John Wesley used to teach, but that's what a lot 38:47 of other Christian teachers also used to teach 38:49 because it was well known that ornamentation 38:52 was of the world, and not of the Christian faith. 38:55 Again, we go back to our text where we began tonight 38:58 in 1 John 2:15,16, it says: [text on screen] 39:04 We look at the things that the world says we are to wear, 39:07 we have to be careful, lest by doing so we're showing an aspect 39:10 of pride that we really don't want to as Christians. 39:12 I've heard it say, and I'm sure you have too, 39:16 that Christianity does not consist of a list of dos 39:19 and don'ts, checking off "I will do this..." 39:22 "and will do this... and will do this...", 39:25 "and I won't, won't, won't..." and so on, 39:28 and judging others because they're not living the way 39:31 we think they should. Friends, that's not Christianity, 39:33 Christianity is not trying to have a checklist religion, 39:36 as I like to say; Christianity is having a very close 39:39 and abiding relationship with Jesus, 39:42 and of course, the Holy Spirit. 39:44 But brothers and sisters, there are things that will 39:47 happen when the gospel enters our hearts and minds. 39:50 The gospel is an active gospel, it changes lives. 39:53 Take a look at this next text in Romans 12:1,2, it says: 39:58 [text on screen] 40:09 When we are transformed by the renewing of the mind, 40:12 which means the born again experience, then look 40:15 what comes next, Paul says: [text on screen] 40:21 Unless you're born again and have a transformed mind, 40:25 the subject tonight, well I can guarantee you, you won't 40:28 like it. Unless you're born again 40:31 by God's Spirit and you really have a desire to follow Jesus, 40:33 you will not want to do the kind of things we're talking about, 40:36 because the kind of things that we're talking about, 40:39 remember our verse there in Romans earlier? 40:42 They're weights that will hold us back from running the race 40:46 that God wants us to run, and we're talking about 40:49 how to be able to live the true life of faith, 40:52 but the carnal mind wants those things, and the spiritual 40:56 mind says he doesn't want those things, so it's a contest 40:58 between the 2, but we're not going to recognize that 41:02 until we are transformed, so he says "don't be conformed," 41:06 "but be ye transformed". In James 1:27 James says: 41:11 [text on screen] 41:20 Sometimes people say "well, it's just a little thing", 41:23 friends, little things lead to big things, 41:25 little spots lead to big spots. It is true that we are 41:29 saved by grace, and I like to say this every night 41:32 we're together, yes, we're saved by grace, 41:35 but you know, for the Christian, grace places us under greater 41:38 obligation than we were before, to the servanthood of Jesus. 41:42 When we are saved by grace we become servants of the most 41:46 high God, and as servants we will do what the Master asks. 41:51 The 144,000, it says in Revelation "they follow" 41:54 "the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." 41:58 Do you want to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes tonight? 42:00 Amen, I know you do. 42:02 So baptism means that we are born again. 42:10 I have 2 children, 2 girls, and I had the high privilege 42:15 of seeing them born. I went right into the room 42:19 where they were born, and as they were being born 42:23 the doctor turned to me and he said "would you like" 42:26 "to cut the umbilical cord?" I said "Yeah, I would." 42:31 So he handed me this big pair of sheers, these big 42:33 pair of snips and I got the privilege to do that once, 42:38 and twice when my daughter, Kelly, was born. 42:41 Wow, I'll never forget that. But it signified to me 42:45 that the birth was not fully complete until that cord 42:49 was cut. We are now talking, 42:52 as Christians, about being born again. 42:57 But in that desire to be born again there is a spiritual 43:02 cord that needs to be cut, and that cord is the cord 43:07 of temptation and pride that wants to bind us to the things 43:10 of the world. Satan will do everything he can 43:14 to try to keep you from cutting that cord, he will fight it, 43:18 he will fight it hard. Friends, that cord of pride 43:23 is often one of the last bits that people want to hang on to 43:30 before they really let go and they let Jesus take control. 43:33 Tonight I'm urging you to do that, if for any way, 43:37 in any shape or form you're saying "But Lord, I will" 43:40 "surrender all, but I want this to myself." 43:44 Remember, the ambassador that we are for Christ, 43:48 2 Corinthians 5:20, says we not only keep His commandments, 43:51 but we do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 43:55 Do you want to please Jesus tonight? 43:58 Think on these things that we're sharing here. 44:00 The Bible tells us that the way that we dress outwardly 44:05 makes a big difference in how we represent ourselves 44:07 to the world. In Revelation 2 women 44:09 are presented. We've covered this, 44:12 but in Revelation how they're presented indicates what kind 44:14 of church these 2 women are. You have one that's dressed 44:17 in purity, in white, she represents God's true people, 44:21 then you've got another woman represented in Revelation 17, 44:24 she represents the harlot woman, she's adorned in a totally 44:27 different way, a very worldly way we might say. 44:30 So the outward representation of these 2 women alone, 44:34 one decked in gold and precious stones representing the fallen 44:38 church, should indicate to us that God desires the we not 44:45 pattern our self after that kind of thing. 44:48 I want to tell you a story that happened back in the days 44:51 of the civil war. Back in the days of civil war, 44:54 you know the civil war was between the North and the South, 44:57 and 2 different colors were used to distinguish the North 45:00 from the South. The North wore blue 45:02 and the South wore grey. They had the Mason-Dixon line 45:05 running between the North and the South, and the Mason-Dixon 45:07 line was that which was to separate those from the North 45:10 and those from the South. Here was a man 45:13 that by circumstance, and I guess coincidence, 45:17 happened to have his house on the line. 45:22 He had his house right on the Mason-Dixon line. 45:26 So he thought he'd use that to his advantage in not 45:28 declaring himself for either side, he says: "I don't want" 45:31 "to get in trouble with the North, and I don't want" 45:34 "to get in trouble with the South, I don't want" 45:37 "to have to take a stand, so I'm just going to declare" 45:40 "myself in this way: he more blue top and grey bottom." 45:42 [Audience laughs] He thought: 45:45 "I'll out-fox them both because my house is on" 45:48 "the border anyway." I'll tell you what, 45:51 by wearing the 2 colors he had a divided profession. 45:55 When the armies of the South came along and saw that 45:57 blue top they said "this guy can't take a stand", 46:00 they shot him in the blue. When the the armies of the blue 46:03 came along they said "this guy can't take a stand", 46:06 they shot him in the grey. He didn't make out so well. 46:09 [Audience laughs] You can't send a confused 46:12 signal like that of your allegiance. 46:14 In the same way, as Christians it's confusing when we don't 46:18 take a stand all the way for Jesus. 46:20 We need to take that stand and show people, not just by dress, 46:24 but by many other ways, who we really profess to serve. 46:28 When the Christian church is willing to step out and show 46:30 who we really professed to serve, people will recognize 46:34 that we are peculiar people "who should show forth" 46:37 "the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness" 46:39 "into His marvelous light," and what is light? 46:42 "Thy Word is light." In case you feel like you've 46:45 gotten a little bit shot at tonight, I hope you'll recognize 46:49 we always want to do it in love, we don't want in anyway 46:52 to do anything, but edify the body of Jesus, but I want 46:55 you to know that God has ornaments. 46:58 That's good news for some of you who want to have ornaments, 47:01 but God has ornaments in Scripture, and let's take 47:04 a look at what kind they are. Go with me 1 Peter 3. 47:19 As you're turning there, I'm not going to read this yet, 47:23 I know that some of you have asked me this question, 47:25 they've said: "Pastor Bryan, I noticed that you don't wear" 47:29 "ornamentation, why is that?" Well, the reason we don't 47:34 is basically the verses that I've been sharing with you, 47:37 and the one that I'm about to share with you, 47:39 but I have actually had people tell me as they came in the door 47:46 opening night of the seminar, they said: "Pastor Bryan," 47:50 "if I saw you up there wearing a whole bunch of ornamentation," 47:55 "looking like some of those people on TV who are begging" 47:58 "for money even though they're wearing all of this stuff," 48:00 "I would have turned around and walked out, and not" 48:03 "even attended." It matters how we represent 48:05 our self. I could wear it if I want, 48:08 I have a ring, would you like to see my ring? 48:14 Here's my ring. Now, my ring is so big 48:21 that I have to have 2 fingers to wear it. 48:24 [Audience laughs] So if I wanted to wear it 48:27 I could come up here with ornamentation and I could 48:30 be preaching to you at night, and as I was preaching to you 48:33 and trying to convince you to look to the word of God, 48:37 what would you be looking at? [Audience laughs] 48:40 Yeah, sure. And what if I got up here 48:43 and said "we're kind of short on funds", [Audience laughs] 48:46 "and we would really appreciate you giving a big offering." 48:49 What would you think that offering might go towards? 48:52 Maybe another one for this hand. 48:56 It matters how we represent our self. 48:58 I don't want to put that kind of mixed signal towards people, 49:02 so I don't wear it. By the way, that got given 49:06 to me, it's worthless. 49:11 But God has ornaments, let's look at it, 1 Peter 3:3. 49:26 It says in the word of God: "Whose adorning", 49:30 here's your adorning, [continues to read] 49:50 Friends, God has ornamentation, the good news is it's 49:55 the ornaments from within and not without. 49:58 Now having said that, I want to be sure to tell you something 50:00 before you go home tonight. There'll be some people 50:02 that will come to church every week, and they wouldn't dare 50:05 watch those things on TV that we talked about, 50:08 and they wouldn't dare to watch some of those movies that we 50:11 talked about, and they wouldn't dare look at wrongful books, 50:14 and they wouldn't dare wear ornaments, and they wouldn't 50:16 listen to rock 'n' roll, but oh friends, the same people, 50:19 it's possible to come to church and they can be nasty 50:23 to talk to, they can be mean spirited, they can hateful, 50:28 they can be prejudiced, they can be all kinds of those 50:31 sorts of things, and friends, that sort of thing 50:34 ought not to be in God's church. 50:37 Do you know that when that kind of stuff walks into church, 50:40 that that is far worse in God's sight than someone who might 50:44 happen to wear a piece of ornamentation. 50:47 Do you recognize that? Because what does God really 50:49 care about? The heart is what He's really 50:52 is trying to change anyway. Sometimes people haven't 50:54 learned that the outward needs to reflect that inwards, 50:58 but what it really is in terms of importance is the inward, 51:03 so when those kind of things come in, let's not fool 51:06 our self, God is offended when those things walk into church, 51:08 it doesn't matter how you dress. 51:13 Let's just understand that we can fool others at times, 51:19 but we can't fool God. 51:22 I want Jesus to be the pearl of great price in my life. 51:28 Turn with me to the book of Titus, we're about to finish 51:32 tonight, I know that there are some that feel that maybe 51:38 being born into this world, God didn't really make them 51:42 the way they think they should be: didn't make them 51:44 beautiful enough, didn't make them important enough, 51:47 didn't make them something, so they want to somehow add 51:51 some value into their life by putting on some ornaments. 51:54 Dear friends, would you please pay close attention to what 51:57 I'm about to share with you, I hope you have all along anyway, 52:01 but friends, listen to me, when God sent Jesus into 52:05 the world to die for the sins of the world, Jesus would have died 52:09 just for you, do you know that? If you had been the one 52:14 lone sheep gone astray, Jesus would have given His life 52:17 for you, are you valuable? You better believe 52:21 you're valuable, you are valuable exactly as you are. 52:25 I don't care what colour your skin is, I don't care how tall 52:28 or how short, I don't care how much education you have, 52:30 I don't care how much money you have in the bank, 52:33 I don't care what your job is, you are of eternal value 52:37 with God. It doesn't matter if you put on 52:40 every jewel in this world, you wouldn't be 1 penny more 52:44 valuable than you are already. 52:46 I just want you to know that. 52:49 In Titus 2:11 here's what we read: [text on screen] 53:00 When the wonderful grace of God appears to us, 53:03 what does it do? The very next word 53:05 in verse 12 says what? "Teaching us", 53:08 does grace teach us? Yes it does. 53:11 What does it teach us? Let's read on: [text on screen] 53:42 Friends, if you think this subject has been tough 53:45 for you tonight, and I know for some perhaps it is, 53:47 you're learning new information, it always is when you learn 53:50 new information, and you know you have to change some things, 53:53 but I want you to think of one thing when you go home tonight. 53:56 When you leave this place and you're driving home tonight, 53:59 I want you to think of 1 thing, I want you to think that Jesus 54:02 gave Himself for you. Jesus gave Himself for you 54:04 that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 54:09 Himself a peculiar people. If Jesus gave all of heaven 54:13 for us, couldn't we give a few things back to Him? 54:19 Couldn't we be willing to surrender some things 54:21 back to Him? It might be surrendering 54:24 bad TV habits, might be surrendering some bad 54:27 music habits, it might be surrendering even some of 54:30 the things the we might normally want to wear, 54:33 but when you think about it, are we really giving 54:37 a big sacrifice next to what Jesus gave? 54:41 I used to be a real estate agent... 54:44 ...you never could tell, would you? [Audience laughs] 54:48 I did, that was my career before I became a minister. 54:51 As a real estate agent you get used to looking at houses 54:54 because houses are your commodity. 54:57 So you would drive around and you would look for houses 55:00 that you thought were going to go on the market for sale. 55:04 Sometimes you would, because you especially notice places, 55:07 sometimes you would see a house that was...the paint 55:10 was flaking, the grass was this high, the fence was broken down, 55:14 the window was broken, maybe a junk car or two out in 55:17 the front yard and back yard. You'd look at this place 55:20 and you'd say "You know, it's really too bad because" 55:23 "the property itself is nice, and the house itself" 55:26 "is a good house, but all these other things are so distracting" 55:31 "from it." Well, you might procrastinate 55:33 and not necessarily knock on the door that day, but you'd 55:36 come down that same street another time and look toward 55:39 what you thought you were going to see, and all of a sudden 55:42 you looked and then you did a double take because the house 55:45 has been painted, and the lawn is cut, and the fences 55:47 and windows mended, the junk, garbage is hauled away, 55:51 and then you look at that place and say "Oh, it's such" 55:54 "a beautiful place." You couldn't see it necessarily 55:57 before, but it sure looks good now with all those other things 56:01 taken away, and then the thought hits you: 56:04 "Ahh, a new owner has moved in." 56:14 Many times when we're out in the world we act in a way, 56:20 and we dress in a way that's really distracting from the kind 56:23 of person we really could be. When the Holy Spirit, 56:27 that new owner, moves in, there can be such a wonderful 56:31 change in the life, have you found that? 56:33 People who used to be mean spirited, unloving, 56:41 discourteous, rude, maybe not even care very much about 56:46 the way they dress at all, but all of a sudden you look 56:49 at that person again and the ornamentation is gone, 56:53 the smile is on the face, a joy and a radiance is there 56:58 that never was before, the frown is gone; 57:02 and then you look at that person and you say "Ahh, there's been" 57:05 "a change here, a new owner has moved in", and that 57:09 new owner is the Holy Spirit. God wants to work inside 57:12 of our hearts, doesn't He? If you want spiritual 57:15 discernment, the good news is God'll work that inside of you, 57:18 God works from the "inside out" principle. 57:21 You can't put it on, God works it through you. 57:24 If you need wisdom, God says "I'll work that through you," 57:27 "I'll start in you and I'll work it from inside out." 57:31 That's how God works on all of these wonderful things. 57:34 Friends, the Lord desires for you and for me to be a sermon 57:39 in shoes. |
Revised 2014-12-17