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00:00 Hallelujah.
00:14 Thank you, Father.
00:27 Make your way to Revelation.
00:32 We're going to finish.
00:34 We're going to close out.
00:36 The church is closed today.
00:42 Revelation 3, make your way there.
00:50 And verse 14, verse 14, when you have it, say, "I have it."
01:05 Well, I don't have it, so you all need to give me one second.
01:16 Revelation 3, 14, the lukewarm church.
01:24 That's not us.
01:29 We're hot or cold or hot and cold.
01:35 Many have a misunderstanding of what that hot or cold means, but once you understand,
01:41 you'll realize there's a time to be hot, there's a time to be cold.
01:45 It's okay to be either based on what Jesus was saying to this particular church.
01:51 All right, it reads, "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans," or Laodiceans,
02:03 "write, 'These things says the Amen.'"
02:10 These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
02:19 of God.
02:20 Now, I want to stop right here for a second and address two fallacies that have resulted
02:28 in a misunderstanding or an intentional abusing by a seducing spirit of two portions of this
02:40 particular verse.
02:42 Notice that after Jesus tells John to write to the angel, the pastor of the Laodicean
02:51 church, it opens up with, "These things says the Amen."
02:58 Normally, we don't apply the definite article "the" to the word "Amen."
03:03 We close our prayers out with "Amen," or we'll say "Amen" to something that we are in agreement
03:10 with, but we don't normally, even though the Bible clearly does, we don't normally refer
03:16 to our Savior as the Amen.
03:21 Scripture clearly says that He is the Amen, but this has been perverted to imply that
03:29 God is a man.
03:32 This has been perverted to imply that this word was inspired by Egyptian mythology.
03:40 There was a deity known as Amun.
03:42 "Amen" does not come from "Amen," as some have incorrectly taught.
03:47 And then the latter part of the verse says, "The beginning of the creation of God," which
03:53 if you're not careful could sound like Jesus has an origin point that came after God because
04:00 He's the beginning of the creation.
04:01 So in the old days or the early days of the church, the Arians, a group of heretics known
04:10 as the Arians espoused this, and then even today, the Jehovah's Witnesses also teach
04:16 about this beginning or this birth of Jesus.
04:20 But how many of you know that Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary was not His beginning?
04:29 That was His human beginning.
04:31 That was His origin in terms of humanity, but Jesus has always existed, and He did not
04:37 have some kind of birth in eternity past.
04:42 You know, Jesus, like Father God, like the Holy Spirit, has always been and will always
04:49 be.
04:50 And we'll read a few Scriptures to confirm this.
04:53 First go to John 1 because I'd like a little clarity myself on what Jesus is saying when
05:03 He refers to Himself or is referring to Himself as the beginning of the creation of God.
05:13 What is He meaning here?
05:14 So go to John 1, the Gospel account of John, the Gospel according to John, chapter 1, and
05:24 look at the very first verse, and if you would just so kindly read those first three words
05:31 to me in that first verse.
05:34 In the beginning, does it sound familiar to you?
05:37 Have you seen these words anywhere else in Scripture?
05:41 Of course you have.
05:43 In the book of what?
05:44 The book of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1.
05:48 In the beginning, God did something according to the Genesis account.
05:51 In the beginning, God did what?
05:53 He created the heavens and the earth.
05:56 Here John's introduction echoes Genesis, but he goes in a slightly different direction.
06:04 Still focused on creation, but he goes in a slightly different direction than the Genesis
06:10 account.
06:11 John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word."
06:15 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
06:26 Okay, watch this.
06:28 We have a word here, the word "word."
06:35 What does this mean?
06:36 What does it mean when it says, "The Word was in the beginning"?
06:39 What does it mean when it says, "The Word was with God"?
06:42 What does it mean when it says, "The Word was God"?
06:46 And by the way, if the Word was God, wouldn't that mean that the Word is God?
06:54 And this word is capitalized.
06:57 This W is a capital W, and in the Greek it's the word logos, which apart from God, apart
07:05 from what we are familiar with or what's been known as the Trinity, the word logos simply
07:11 means a discourse or a reasoning.
07:14 But in terms of our Messiah, He is the logos.
07:19 He is the Word.
07:21 And of course, it's the 14th verse of this same chapter that tells us, "The Word became
07:26 flesh."
07:27 That's what lets us know that the Word or the logos is Jesus the Christ.
07:31 So what is this telling us?
07:33 This is telling us that the beginning of Jesus, if we are to even try and understand that,
07:42 the beginning of Jesus was not the womb of Mary.
07:47 That was not the first time He was seen, first time in an earth suit as a babe, but not the
07:54 first time He was seen or heard.
07:58 Christ has a past, and really that word is applicable to us, not to Him.
08:05 It says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
08:09 Notice now the first word of the next verse.
08:12 It brings personality to this word.
08:15 He, not it, but He, He was in the beginning with God.
08:21 Okay, so then we can go back to the first verse and read it like this.
08:24 "In the beginning was Him, and He was with God, and He was God."
08:30 And once again, if He was God, then He is God.
08:33 "He was in the beginning with God."
08:35 Watch this.
08:36 "All things were made through Him."
08:37 How many things?
08:39 And they were made how?
08:41 Through Him.
08:42 Watch this.
08:43 "And without Him, nothing was made that was made."
08:46 So if you don't have Him, then nothing's made.
08:50 So what then did He mean when He said that He was the beginning of creation?
08:57 Was He saying that He was the first thing God created?
08:59 No, that's not what He was saying.
09:01 Because look right here.
09:02 "All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made."
09:06 Let's keep digging into this.
09:08 Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 8.
09:14 1 Corinthians chapter 8.
09:20 This is the one thing that atheists cannot comprehend because they live in a world of
09:26 tangible evidence and what they would consider to be facts.
09:33 A large portion of the scientific community is atheists or agnostic.
09:40 And so the atheists, they deny the existence of God because it does not make sense to them
09:45 that someone could just be.
09:49 Because we all have a beginning.
09:52 We all came from somewhere, some place, a womb.
09:57 That's not the case with God.
09:58 So an atheist struggles with the idea that someone or something could just be.
10:08 And of course, none of you ever need to waste time going back and forth with an atheist.
10:15 If an atheist tells you to prove that God exists, simply respond by asking them or telling
10:23 them to prove that He doesn't.
10:26 You're pretty much in the conversation.
10:32 First Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1 reads like this.
10:37 Now concerning things offered to idols.
10:40 Okay, we're talking about this statement that he made to the Laodicean church, the firstborn
10:44 of the beginning of creation.
10:46 It says, "Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge."
10:53 All right, did you read that?
10:56 Paul is saying what?
10:57 We all have knowledge, meaning we all know some stuff.
11:02 Now unfortunately, not everyone has understanding of the stuff they know.
11:07 But we all know some stuff.
11:09 When you come into contact with information, you now have knowledge.
11:13 You know some stuff.
11:14 Doesn't mean you understand it.
11:15 Doesn't mean you know how to apply it properly, correctly, accurately, but you know some stuff.
11:21 So what does Paul tell us?
11:23 He tells us what we already know.
11:24 We know that we all have knowledge.
11:27 Here's where we can get into trouble when we only focus on the knowledge.
11:31 He says knowledge puffs up.
11:34 One might think there's something because they now have acquired some knowledge, especially
11:39 if they feel they've acquired some knowledge that you don't have.
11:44 Then they think there's something.
11:46 Knowledge puffs up.
11:47 But notice what the rest of the Scripture says.
11:49 It says, "However, love does what?
11:53 Love edifies."
11:55 Okay, so knowledge or the dispensing of knowledge outside of a motive of love does not edify.
12:03 I actually do what I do, for example, out of a motive of love.
12:10 So sharing knowledge with you apart from love does not edify.
12:16 Love alone edifies and knowledge will edify if that knowledge is coming from a place of
12:20 love.
12:23 Verse two, "And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought
12:28 to know."
12:30 In other words, the moment you think you do know something or you feel some type of way
12:34 about the fact that you know a little something, know that you don't know as you ought to know.
12:44 Verse three, "But if anyone loves God," watch this, "forget what you know, know that you're
12:49 known by Him."
12:54 Verse four, "Therefore," Paul says, "concerning the eating of things offered to idols," he's
12:59 writing this to the Corinthian church because this was an issue with them.
13:04 He says, "Concerning the things offered to idols, the eating of things offered to idols,
13:10 we know," watch this, "that an idol is nothing in the world."
13:15 Look at what Paul says.
13:16 He says idols are nothing.
13:18 Then he says, "And that there's no other God but one."
13:24 But then he says, verse five, "For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven
13:31 or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords or many known as gods, referred to as
13:40 lords."
13:41 Verse six, "Yet for us there is one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we
13:48 for Him and one Lord Jesus Christ," watch this, "through whom," did I read that in John?
13:57 All things were made through Him?
14:01 It says one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live.
14:08 Okay, so Paul is relaying to the Corinthian church what John was sharing out of his gospel
14:17 account that all things are made through Him, were made through Him, are made through Him.
14:25 Then go to Colossians.
14:28 Colossians chapter one, find verse nine.
14:33 Colossians 1, find verse nine.
14:40 He told the Laodiceans, "I am the beginning of creation."
14:49 Let's get a little more clarity on what that means.
14:54 Colossians 1, 9, are you there?
14:56 All right, it says, "For this reason we also," which reason?
15:01 What was stated in the previous verses, that's why it's always important to read things in
15:04 context, "For this reason we also since the day we heard it, we don't cease to pray for
15:09 you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and
15:15 spiritual understanding."
15:16 Look at what Paul's praying when it comes to knowledge.
15:19 He didn't stop at knowledge, he says knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
15:24 He says that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every
15:29 good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
15:32 So we should be increasing daily in the knowledge of God.
15:36 The walk of the believer should be a walk that includes an increasing in the knowledge
15:43 of God.
15:45 It says, "Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, with all patience and
15:49 long suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers
15:55 of the inheritance of the saints in the light."
15:58 Look at verse 13, "He has done something."
16:01 What has He done?
16:02 "He has delivered us."
16:06 Now before you read the rest, it almost, in a sense, doesn't matter what else it says
16:13 because whatever it says, I've been delivered from it.
16:19 It could be the lightest thing, it could be the worst thing, whatever it is, I'm no longer
16:23 there, I've been delivered from it.
16:28 You know that prayer that's been incorrectly referred to as the Lord's Prayer.
16:33 Anyone ever heard of that prayer that's been known as the Lord's Prayer?
16:37 The Lord never said it was His prayer.
16:40 He never said it, men said it.
16:44 All the disciples asked was, "Lord, teach us how to pray."
16:47 He said, "Okay, there are two things that you must be aware of if I'm going to successfully
16:54 teach you how to pray.
16:55 Number one, pray in this way, in this manner, and when you pray, say."
17:04 In other words, what was Jesus teaching His disciples?
17:07 "Therefore, when you pray, say this way, say in this manner."
17:13 He presented them a blueprint, a schematic.
17:17 He never told them to pray these words exactly.
17:20 He was giving them a model of how to pray.
17:23 And sadly, we hear believers today praying what they think is the Lord's Prayer, and
17:28 in that Lord's Prayer, there's a line that asks God to deliver us from the evil one,
17:34 but Paul just told me, "I've been delivered from."
17:40 And if I've been delivered from the power of darkness, I'm going to safely assume that
17:44 the evil one lords over the power of darkness.
17:47 Therefore, I no longer have to go to God and ask Him to deliver me from Satan.
17:53 I've already been delivered from Satan.
17:57 According to what Paul just said, he has what?
18:00 Delivered, past tense, done, settled.
18:03 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us, or what?
18:08 Translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love or into the kingdom of His dear
18:14 Son.
18:15 I have gone from darkness to light.
18:17 I am now in the kingdom of His Son.
18:21 And the kingdom of His Son is the kingdom of God.
18:24 That's where I am now.
18:25 I'm not where I used to be.
18:28 I used to be in darkness.
18:29 I'm now in light.
18:31 I don't have to go to God and ask Him to do something He's already done.
18:38 That's actually a lack of faith.
18:40 That's a lack of trust in His Word.
18:43 Going to Him and asking Him to do something He's already done.
18:47 It's a bit disrespectful.
18:49 He already did it.
18:52 Either you believe it or you don't.
18:54 He has what?
18:55 He's delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son
19:00 of His love in whom we have something.
19:03 Not we're going to get it.
19:05 We have it.
19:06 What do we have?
19:08 We have redemption.
19:09 Right?
19:10 We've been redeemed.
19:11 We've been purchased by His blood in whom we have redemption through His blood.
19:16 What else do we have?
19:17 The forgiveness of sins.
19:19 I have it.
19:21 Say this with me.
19:22 I am blessed.
19:23 I am redeemed.
19:25 I am forgiven.
19:27 Now you have a choice.
19:28 Believe what you just said or don't.
19:30 I choose to believe it.
19:32 The Word of God says it so I receive it by faith and it is so.
19:38 Look at verse 15.
19:40 He is, who is?
19:42 Jesus is.
19:44 What is Jesus?
19:45 He is the image of the invisible God.
19:52 So when the Bible says no man has seen God, the Bible's telling the truth.
19:56 There's a lot of perverted concepts of man and God that have gone forth out of different
20:07 religions especially when those religions departed the Christian faith because of the
20:11 unfortunate things they saw in the Christian faith and they measured Jesus according to
20:17 the flaws of men.
20:19 So they departed the Christian faith and started other faiths, certain faiths that declare
20:24 that the black man is God, for example.
20:28 But if the black man is God, then the Bible's lying because the Bible said God's invisible.
20:36 The Bible also says no man has seen God.
20:39 The Bible also says you're sitting here talking about you love God and you hate your brother.
20:44 How you gonna love a God you haven't seen and you can't love your brother whom you do
20:48 see?
20:52 No man has seen God but a couple men saw Jesus and Jesus said if you've seen me, you've seen
20:56 the Father.
20:59 He is the image of what?
21:00 The invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
21:06 Now that, now in this context, firstborn is the title that a king receives.
21:12 Okay, watch this.
21:15 It says for by Him, here we go, for by Him all things were what?
21:22 For by Him.
21:23 In other words, if there's no Him, then all things weren't created.
21:29 By Him all things were what?
21:30 Created.
21:31 That or where?
21:33 And not just in heaven but where else?
21:36 On earth, watch this, both visible and invisible.
21:42 So the invisible things were created by Him.
21:48 Everything that is invisible, you can't see gravity.
21:55 You can see things apply to the law.
21:58 You can see the result of violating it.
22:01 But you ain't never seen gravity.
22:03 You don't know what gravity looks like.
22:07 But guess who created it?
22:10 Whether visible or invisible, He created it.
22:16 Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, these are celestial creatures,
22:21 whether good or evil, they were created by Him.
22:26 Watch this.
22:27 All things were created, didn't I read this in John?
22:31 Didn't I also read this in 1 Corinthians 8?
22:33 All things were created what?
22:35 Through Him and by Him, through Him, for Him.
22:43 All things were created by Him, all things were created through Him, and all things were
22:47 created for Him.
22:49 But it doesn't stop there.
22:50 Watch this.
22:51 And He is before all things and in Him.
22:56 All things consist.
22:58 All things were made by Him, through Him, for Him, and all those things that were made
23:04 by Him, for Him, and through Him, in Him, they consist.
23:10 If you have no Him, they don't consist, and therefore, they don't exist.
23:16 Look at verse 18.
23:17 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
23:22 dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
23:30 Yeah, He's the first from the dead because there was no one else before Him ever resurrected.
23:40 Yes, others were raised from the dead, but He was the first to be resurrected, which
23:46 is why He said, "I am the resurrection."
23:51 Look at this.
23:52 What we read in John, all things were made through Him.
23:56 Without Him, nothing that was made.
23:59 Paul told the Corinthians that for Him the Father, but through Him the Son.
24:07 Then look here in Colossians.
24:08 We see the same thing, that all things were created by Him, for Him, and through Him.
24:14 And think about this.
24:15 If all things were created by Him, yet all things were also created for Him, that tells
24:19 me that the Father and the Son worked hand in hand in the creation of all things.
24:26 As a matter of fact, the reason that you know that both the Father and the Son worked together
24:31 in the creation of all things is by the definition of two different Greek words that give us
24:38 the English word, "word."
24:40 We already looked at one, logos.
24:42 Logos is Jesus the Christ who became flesh.
24:47 But then you have another word, rhema.
24:51 And that word rhema or rima is the utterance.
24:56 It's the utterance.
24:57 Watch this.
24:58 The Word of God has already been written.
25:03 For you to see that already written Word working in your life, you're going to have to put
25:10 some rhema on the logos.
25:14 You have to put some utterance on what's already been written, on what's already been established.
25:23 It's Hebrews 11 that tells us that by faith we understand the worlds were framed by the
25:29 utterance of God.
25:30 Don't we see it in Genesis chapter 1?
25:33 And God said.
25:36 And when God said, whatever He said came into existence.
25:40 But then John fills in the gaps.
25:41 That was Jesus or the logos when God said those things were made through Him.
25:48 Okay, look here in Hebrews 1.
25:52 And we'll make our way back to Revelation.
25:53 Hebrews 1.
26:02 Notice too that Colossians 1:15 said, "He, the Son, is the image of the invisible God."
26:08 Okay.
26:09 We'll hold on to that because look here, look here in Hebrews 1, beginning with verse 1,
26:14 it says, "God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers
26:19 by the prophets and has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed
26:25 heir of all things, through whom He, God, also made the worlds."
26:34 So Hebrews is agreeing with Colossians, who's agreeing with Corinthians, who's agreeing
26:39 with John, that God made everything through His Son.
26:44 All things were made through Him.
26:47 He just said it right here.
26:48 Our writer of Hebrews said it right here.
26:50 Then look at what it says, "Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image
26:55 of His person."
26:57 The expressed image, which means the exact expression of His person and upholding all
27:05 things by the word of His power when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the
27:10 right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as He
27:15 has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
27:20 So all of the excellent names of the angels are not as excellent as the name of Jesus.
27:24 His name is more excellent.
27:27 Okay, notice that not only did this scripture also confirm that all things were made through
27:34 the Son, the verses also confirm that Jesus is the expressed image of His person.
27:42 Now, how many of you have ever heard that image is everything?
27:50 That's where thirst is everything came from.
27:54 That image is everything.
27:56 Well, the world doesn't mean it the way the word means it.
28:02 The way the world means it is for selfish reasons, promotion of self.
28:10 But when the word says it, it has everything to do with God and the earth.
28:20 The Bible says, "Let us make man in our image."
28:23 And so man was made in the image of God.
28:25 And then what did the devil do?
28:29 He messed up the portrait.
28:32 He desecrated the image.
28:33 He marred it.
28:35 He polluted it.
28:38 When man gave heed to the word of the adversary instead of the word of God, the image of God
28:45 was tarnished in the earth.
28:48 The devil who realized that this piece of creation, his crowning achievement in creation,
29:06 his final creation on day six, that this piece of God's creation not only was made in the
29:13 image of God, but was given dominion over the earth.
29:16 The adversary had a big problem with that.
29:20 And so he seduced man into giving heed to his word, which we see in Genesis 3.
29:27 And we all know how that account went.
29:30 The man and the woman ate the fruit which God told them not to eat.
29:35 When they did that, immediately the connection to the father was severed.
29:40 Spiritual death was instant.
29:42 And then physical death began to be a progressive thing.
29:45 But not only that, the image of God in the earth was tarnished.
29:50 It was ruined.
29:53 But that image was important to God.
29:56 So contingency plan went into effect.
30:00 Now watch this.
30:02 He sends Jesus, also known as the last Adam.
30:09 The last Adam would represent mankind the same way the first Adam represented all of
30:14 mankind, meaning whatever decisions the first Adam made would affect all of mankind, and
30:20 whatever decisions the last Adam would make would affect all of mankind.
30:25 Now we know where the first Adam failed, the last Adam succeeded.
30:29 But I want to focus on this image and why Hebrew says he's the express image.
30:34 He is the exact expression of the invisible God.
30:38 That image that was tarnished in the garden by way of Adam's sin, the Adam sin.
30:44 That image that was tarnished, God had no desire to lose it in the earth realm, so He
30:51 sent His Son, who happened to be what?
30:56 The express image of His person.
30:58 When He died on the cross, when He completed His work at Calvary, He enabled us, or all
31:06 who would believe, to become one with Him and children of God.
31:11 It's Romans 8, 29 that tells us, "For those whom He foreknew had knowledge of beforehand,
31:20 He also predestined," watch this, "to become conformed to the image of His Son."
31:28 So look at this.
31:30 In Adam, our image was desecrated.
31:34 It was marred, it was tarnished, and it was ruined.
31:38 But in believing on Jesus, the last Adam, we then become conformed to Christ, who happens
31:46 to be the exact expression of God.
31:51 So man looks like God again when man believes in the Son of God.
31:56 Are you with me?
31:58 Okay, make your way back to Revelation 3.
32:08 We just read verse 14.
32:09 So what does that—what does it mean when He says, "I'm the beginning of creation"?
32:12 He's saying, "I'm the origin of it."
32:17 He's not saying, "I was the first thing created by God."
32:19 He's saying, "I'm the beginning of all things created by God."
32:25 Now look at verse 15, Revelation 3, 15.
32:28 He says, "I know your works."
32:30 He says that you're neither cold nor hot.
32:32 "I could wish you were cold or hot.
32:35 So then, because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will," what?
32:40 "spew you or vomit you out of my mouth."
32:44 Cold and hot doesn't mean you're all the way in with sin or you're all the way in with
32:49 righteousness.
32:50 That's not what cold or hot means.
32:53 Remember that Jesus is having John write to these specific churches, and certain things
33:00 that He has Him saying or writing to these churches apply to the environment the church
33:05 existed in.
33:08 And there was a river in which the waters became muddy and tainted, and they became
33:14 lukewarm.
33:17 So the cold water that could cool you when it was too hot was no longer there, and the
33:22 hot water that could warm you when it was chilly was no longer there.
33:26 It became muddled and tainted and was therefore lukewarm, so it didn't benefit anyone, which
33:33 means lukewarm believers don't benefit God.
33:41 You're right there, you're right on the fence, always straddling it.
33:48 No, no, no, no, confirmed, yea or nay.
33:52 You just, you're just right there in the middle doing absolutely nothing.
33:58 That's what a lukewarm believer is.
34:00 So he tells the church at Laodicea, "I'd rather you be cold, which benefits, or hot, which
34:06 also benefits, but not lukewarm.
34:09 If you decide to be lukewarm, I then have a right to vomit you out of my mouth."
34:14 Verse 17, "Because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and
34:21 do not know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."
34:26 He says, "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich
34:33 and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be
34:38 revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see."
34:42 So their righteousness had become tainted, dirty, no longer the white robes of righteousness
34:54 that they acquired when they believed on the Son.
34:57 This is why Jesus writes to all of these churches, "He who overcomes," because that we get closer
35:02 to his appearing, once again, there are going to be those that begin to stray, and then
35:06 there are going to be those that begin to depart.
35:08 The ones who are straying are the ones whose garments are getting dirty, the ones who have
35:13 departed got rid of the garments.
35:16 They said no to their righteousness.
35:18 All right, then he says this, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
35:25 Therefore be zealous and repent."
35:30 The Scripture tells us that whom the Lord loves, what does He do?
35:37 He rebukes and He chastens.
35:41 He reproves.
35:44 He admonishes.
35:46 And whom He chastens, He chastises or teaches or instructs.
35:52 We've seen this in Proverbs, go to Proverbs 3, verse 11.
36:02 Proverbs chapter 3 and find verse 11, which reads, "My son, do not despise the chastening
36:17 of the Lord, nor detest His correction.
36:22 For whom the Lord loves, He corrects, like a loving father corrects his children.
36:29 Just as a father, the son in whom he delights."
36:34 The son that I delight in, I reprove, I admonish, and I chastise.
36:43 When I see them going down a path I know is not beneficial to them.
36:49 Any loving father would do that, and our heavenly Father does the same with us.
36:54 So, he says, "Don't despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction."
36:59 Here's one reason why you don't want to despise His chastening.
37:03 Here's one reason why you don't want to detest His correction.
37:07 We all know this Scripture during communion time.
37:11 If we would judge ourselves, we wouldn't be judged.
37:14 But when we are judged, we're what?
37:16 We're chastened by the Lord.
37:19 We're chastened by the Lord so we may not be condemned with the world.
37:26 The chastening of the Lord is God's judgment for His children, and it's not the same as
37:32 His judgment for the world.
37:34 His judgment for the world, that's not a pretty thing.
37:39 Those of us who are children of God, we should thank God every day that we said yes to salvation
37:45 because we will not experience the judgment that the world experiences.
37:53 When you think about that, what is the chastening of the Lord compared to the judgment the world
37:59 will receive because the Holy God has a right to judge sin?
38:03 Okay, go to Hebrews now, chapter 12.
38:09 Hebrews 12, and look at verse 3.
38:26 Now this is after we're informed of two things in Hebrews 12.1 and Hebrews 12.2.
38:36 In Hebrews 12.1, we are told to lay aside something.
38:44 We're told to lay aside every weight.
38:47 That sounds like casting our cares on Him.
38:50 But then we're also told to lay aside every sin that so easily ensnares us, which by the
38:58 way that's my responsibility, not God's.
39:02 It is not God's responsibility to lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares me.
39:07 Also notice that He says lay aside the one that so easily ensnares you.
39:13 Here's the reality.
39:15 Humans are different, but humans are the same.
39:19 We all will fall into some kind of error because we're not perfect.
39:27 Now we should not make it our aim, that's for sure.
39:31 We know that we will because John writes in the second chapter of his first epistle, he
39:36 says, "My little children, I write to you so that you don't sin."
39:40 He says, "But if you do sin, well, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
39:44 the righteous."
39:45 So, we also consider what he says, "Judge yourself so you won't be judged, but when
39:57 you are judged, not if."
40:00 I have this treasure in an earthen vessel.
40:04 The treasure is my perfect spirit.
40:06 The earthen vessel is imperfect flesh.
40:10 And if I'm not arresting this flesh daily, then this flesh will get the best of me.
40:15 But there are certain things that all of us can easily fall into as opposed to other errors
40:21 and other sins.
40:22 So what does our Hebrew writer tell us?
40:25 He tells us to lay aside every sin that so easily ensnares us.
40:29 There's some things that, well, they don't easily and won't easily ensnare Fred because
40:37 I have no interest.
40:40 But there may be some areas I need to stay away from because I don't even want to test
40:48 my flesh.
40:51 Let's not even go there.
40:53 Let's just say this.
40:54 I am my father's son.
40:56 And so if you recall some of the areas in which he said or examples that he had given,
41:05 he could walk through the, he could go into a liquor store.
41:07 There's no temptation.
41:10 But wisdom dictates that daddy didn't go into a brothel.
41:15 That may not have been so wise.
41:18 Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
41:23 So wisdom would dictate.
41:26 Wisdom would dictate that I don't go to certain websites.
41:34 I can go to BevMo.com.
41:37 That's easy.
41:38 I know what BevMo is, right?
41:40 You know, the kinds of things you can get at BevMo.
41:42 I mean, you can get some soda and some candy there, but that's not the majority of what
41:47 BevMo sells.
41:50 That's not a challenge.
41:52 That doesn't easily ensnare me.
41:55 I don't necessarily have to set up the kind of safeguards or make the kinds of rules for
41:59 myself that I would with other websites, if you know what I'm referring to.
42:06 In other words, there is a certain something that so easily ensnares us.
42:11 For some of you, it's your mouth.
42:16 It's like you can't help but to run it.
42:22 It's like you can't help but to share what you've done heard before you've confirmed
42:29 if what you've heard is fact.
42:33 Lay aside that which so easily ensnares you.
42:38 But then in verse 2, he tells us to do what?
42:41 He tells us to run the race set before us.
42:47 And why does he tell us to run the race set before us?
42:50 That's the same reason we're told to fight the good fight of faith, because it is a fight
42:54 that has been won for us.
42:56 We just have to fight it.
42:57 The race has also been won for us.
43:00 We just have to run it.
43:03 Run the race that is set before you.
43:05 Then he gets to this third verse right here, and he says what?
43:09 He says, "For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest
43:15 you become weary and discouraged in your souls."
43:18 Watch this, he endured hostility and still made his way to the cross.
43:25 The joy he endured laying down his life for those he called friend.
43:31 So consider the hostility he endured when you yourself endure hostility.
43:37 Don't become weary.
43:40 Don't become discouraged in your souls.
43:43 If they talked about your Savior, what are they going to say about you?
43:49 If they did Jesus wrong and foul, how are they going to do us?
43:55 Watch his example, "lest we become weary and discouraged in our souls."
43:58 He says, "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin, and you have forgotten
44:03 the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons, which is Proverbs 3, 11 and 12.
44:10 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked
44:16 by him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives."
44:25 Verse 7, "If you endure chastening, then how is God dealing with you?"
44:31 Look at what the Scripture says.
44:33 God deals with you as with sons.
44:37 This is not how he deals with the world.
44:41 Watch this, the world, biblically speaking, because you're either a part of one of the
44:48 two kingdoms that exist.
44:50 It's either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness.
44:55 And if you're a part of the kingdom of darkness, biblically, you're a criminal.
45:00 If you're a part of the kingdom of God, you're a child or a son.
45:06 God deals with the world how a judge deals with the convicted in a courtroom.
45:13 He deals with his children or with the kingdom of God as a father deals with a son.
45:19 If you endure chastening, well, then God deals with you as with sons.
45:24 For what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
45:29 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you're illegitimate,
45:36 the Scripture says.
45:38 You're illegitimate and you're not a son.
45:41 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect.
45:47 Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?
45:53 I want to put a pin right here because our writer calls God something very particular.
45:59 He calls him the father of spirits.
46:04 I want to blow a hole in this concept that people have when it comes to what you might
46:17 do or not do with the body that you're an overseer of.
46:22 Because you all know we're stewards over these bodies.
46:25 We're overseers, caretakers of this flesh.
46:31 Have you ever heard someone say, "That's how God made you"?
46:35 You ever heard that?
46:38 Don't do that or don't touch that or don't mess with that.
46:42 Don't alter that.
46:44 Don't whatever that.
46:45 That's how God made you.
46:47 That's not how God made you.
46:48 Because God doesn't make anything flawed.
46:56 Now we can talk about a number of things, a number of flaws that humans would like to
47:01 correct and if it's for a legitimate reason like maybe a health concern, then there should
47:09 be no judgment when one takes that route.
47:12 Maybe there are those that could overdo it, that could actually ruin themselves as a result
47:19 of it.
47:20 But we need to be very cautious when we say, "That's how God made you."
47:24 No.
47:25 God made Adam perfect and then Adam made everybody else imperfect.
47:34 It's Adam's fault that we're born into sin.
47:37 And when you're born into sin, you are born exposed to a harsh environment.
47:45 Not every human has the exact same body.
47:50 Not every human has the exact same health.
47:53 Some people are born with challenges, health challenges.
47:56 Why were they born with health challenges?
47:58 Because that's how God made them?
48:01 No, because of sin.
48:05 Not anyone who sinned, but because of sin.
48:10 You remember when the disciples asked Jesus about the child born disabled?
48:16 They asked the question.
48:17 The question's almost silly.
48:18 They said, "Who sinned, the parents or the child?"
48:21 How could the child have sinned from the womb?
48:25 So why they asked that, I really don't know why they asked that part, but they were curious
48:31 as to whether the sinning of the parents had any part to play in how the child came into
48:37 the world.
48:38 Sadly, there are some things parents can do to harm their child's birth.
48:44 But in this context, Jesus was letting it be known that it wasn't any sin that they
48:49 engaged in, but rather it was the body of sin that exists in this present world.
48:56 And because of the body of sin that exists in this present world, we are born with flaws.
49:02 God did not create us to come into this world with any kind of flaw.
49:06 Sin did that.
49:07 That's why the Bible is very clear.
49:10 God is the Father of spirits.
49:11 He is not the Father of flesh.
49:17 He made Adam the father of flesh.
49:20 The only flesh God made was from dirt.
49:26 Then he reached into the dirt that he formed and he pulled out a rib.
49:29 After that, the rest was on them.
49:33 He then in that moment dubbed them the father of flesh.
49:37 But spirits only come from one factory, and that's heaven.
49:43 God is the Father of spirits, and when the New Testament was given, the New Testament
49:47 was not given for your flesh, but rather written to your spirit.
49:51 God deals with us spiritually, not carnally.
49:55 Look at this verse 10.
49:56 "For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seen best to them, but he for our profit
50:01 that we may be partakers of his holiness.
50:03 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful nevertheless.
50:08 Afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained
50:12 by it."
50:13 The end result is worth it.
50:17 It's not necessarily that God is causing pain, but whatever that chastening is may be something
50:23 painful.
50:24 Know this though, the only reason pain is here is the same reason that we're born with
50:29 any kind of a flaw.
50:31 That's because of the sin of Adam.
50:33 And we need to make sure that we don't attribute to God what was the devil's fault or Adam's
50:37 fault.
50:39 Okay, go back to Revelation now.
50:50 And look here in verse 20.
50:57 And let's finish this out.
51:05 Revelation 3.20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."
51:10 I stand at the door and knock.
51:13 Well on one hand, there is the door of salvation that he stands at and knocks.
51:22 And many of us, we answered that door, we opened that door and we became a part of his
51:27 body, saved.
51:30 But this door, he's knocking at the door of this church in particular.
51:37 This is about overcoming.
51:40 He says, "I stand at the door and knock.
51:42 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and
51:49 he with me.
51:51 To him who overcomes," there it is again, "to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit
51:58 with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne."
52:03 So, that's another scripture that references how we will judge with him and how we will
52:07 rule with him.
52:09 That's if we overcome.
52:10 Now once again, in Christ we're overcomers.
52:13 So he's not talking about that.
52:15 He's talking about these last day attacks that will be launched and aimed at the church.
52:22 Will we be a part of them who overcome or will we deny him?
52:30 Will we give in to whatever the world is throwing at us, the church, or will we stick with him?
52:37 Those who stick with him are the ones who overcome in which, once again, the Bible says,
52:42 the second death shall have no authority over.
52:45 That's referring to the lake of fire.
52:48 He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."
52:51 Now the Bible also tells us that we are not to give place to the devil, which means we're
52:57 not to open a door.
53:01 Any door that's open, the devil will walk through.
53:04 If you all remember when it came to Cain, this is before he killed his brother, God
53:09 told him, and this is after sin was in the world, God told him, he said, "Cain, sin lies
53:15 at your door."
53:18 Sin lies at your door.
53:19 And he said, "Its desire is for you," he said, "but you should rule over it."
53:25 Now he was talking to a man that wasn't redeemed like you and I are.
53:32 So how much more should you and I rule over sin?
53:35 How much more should you and I reign over sin?
53:39 That's a door we don't have to open.
53:42 But the door in which he's at and he's knocking, if we open, then he dines with us, he sups
53:48 with us, he dwells with us.
53:51 That's intimate fellowship.
53:53 And then here in verse 22, it says exactly what it says at the end of the previous six
54:00 letters to the previous six churches, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
54:08 says to the churches."
54:09 Anytime we're reading about him who has an ear or him that hears, that's us, that's the
54:18 church.
54:20 These are the letters that Christ wrote to the seven churches.
54:23 And then in the next chapter, the first words are "get up here," referring to the rapture
54:30 or us being caught up.
54:33 So this tells us that these last words, these final words of Christ to the church refer
54:40 to the things that will be increasing daily before he appears to receive us.
54:49 My question is, are you ready for when he appears?
54:53 Amen.
54:54 Father, we thank you for your Word.
54:55 Your Word is life and truth.
54:56 It will not, it cannot return to you void, but it will accomplish what you set it out
55:02 to do.
55:03 It will prosper where it's sent.
55:04 I thank you indeed that the Word that is seed and corruptible has gone forth.
55:12 It has been planted into the hearts of those who have heard it, both present with us, those
55:20 watching online.
55:23 And because your Word be, because your Word does not return to you void or useless or
55:31 empty, rather it goes forth and is planted into good ground and produces.
55:38 And I thank you that the hearts of those present, those watching and listening, were those of
55:44 good ground, whereby the incorruptible seed of the Word that was sown will produce in
55:51 their lives.
55:54 Your Word accomplishes and prospers, Father.
55:56 We thank you for it.
55:57 We thank you for the invitations that I'll mention in a second.