Hebrews – A Letter for all Seasons Context of Persecution 64-67 AD – First great persecution. Nero (666) – burning crosses “Caesar is Lord” – Incense Time – before 70 AD – Temple still standing Author – unknown KJV – Letter of Paul to Hebrews: Written to Hebrews by Timothy Living: Love, Paul. Comes to end: Good-bye They know who he was – Hebrews 13:18 Never signed his name – Persecution? Handwriting. Paul? No. Timothy? Priscilla? Didn’t know temple well. Whoever? He loved Jesus. Recipients No one knows – Hebrews 13:24 Recipients persecuted mercilessly. Not Rome – Hebrews 13:24. Who knows? LIKE BASKETBALL GAME – 5 QUARTERS, 5 TIMEOUTS AND OVERTIME. Quarters: Balls in play – Talk about Jesus. Five quarters and overtime. Time out – warning Overtime: concluding remarks FIRST QUARTER - Jesus is Superior to Angels – Hebrews 4:4-13 Hebrews 1:1-3 If we are to know anything about God, He must speak. We don’t break out of box – “Where have you been?” Follow any religion. No. God broke into our world in Jesus Christ. “Icon” – “Spitting Image” – 1 Colossians 1:15; 1:19; 2:9 The preeminence of Christ – verses 2-3 – His characteristics “Sat down” – contradiction to Old Testament priests – Fred and sister crossing street. When do I die? Hebrews 4:4-14 Guardian Angels – Angels: first created: unable to procreate: Revelation 5:11 – 1000x1000 and thousands and thousands. Free choice: Wrong Demonic angels after Fall: (1)On earth tormenting (2)In Tartarus to be released at Great Tribulation Jesus better than angels in 5 ways. Ministering spirits – Guardian Angels Brianna’s angel FIRST TIME OUT – Danger of Drifting Back to Judaism – Hebrews 2:1-4 Read Hebrews 2:1-4 “Whose mask goes on first?” “Pay Careful Attention” – listening to instructions on airplane -- Brie Demas – Drifting Philemon 24-24 – “Demas my fellow believer.” Colossians 4:7-14 – “Demas” Eight co-laborers complimented, but not Demas. Paul already seeing the drift – Silence speaks volumes 2 Timothy 4:5-11 – “Demas has forsaken me.” Why? – Loved present age. See Paul in prison. Christ outlive Nero? Christianity outlast Roman Empire Name dogs Nero How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? SECOND QUARTER: Jesus Superior to Moses – Hebrews 2:5-3:6 Hebrews 2:9 – He leads us back to Jesus. Measure Jesus as better than Moses “What are your measurements?” Heart surgery – ICU Didn’t dare ask Julie while dating – She wouldn’t tell me. Asked after we got married – Still wouldn’t tell me. Made like his brothers to be a faithful High Priest Read Hebrews 2:14-17 Greater than Moses – Hebrews 3:5-6 Hebrews 2:10 – Author of salvation=perfect through suffering. Author – Archegos – pioneer, trailblazer Shipwreck – one swims ashore with rescue line. Perfect through suffering Already perfect – “Teleios” by suffering. 2ND TIME OUT – Tough times – Encourage each other not to quit – Hebrews 3:7-8, 12-13 through 4:13. Hebrews 3:7-8 – “Today, don’t harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:1-3 – Enter God’s rest Hebrews 4:12-13 – Spiritual surgery Divide = soul and spirit and marrow Our ability to enter into God’s rest is directly proportional to the quality of our inner lives. Led by spirit, not soul. THIRD QUARTER – Jesus is a great High Priest--Hebrews 4:14-5:10 Key verse is Hebrews 4:14: Hold fast IXOUS (Greek) – Jesus Christ Son of God Savior Two requirements for Priest (1)Genuinely human – able to feel pain (2)Appointed by God. Hebrews 5:5-6 – Appointed by God. Hebrews 5:7-10 – Genuinely human and suffering. Verse 7 refers to climax in Garden Vs 8-9 (1)Dying spiritually – separated from God (2)Experiencing full load of sin   At Alison’s house A 3 year old naked from the waist down. “Don’t touch furnace” – Mom not looking. Backed in just to see how hot. THIRD TIME OUT – Grow up! Don’t commit apostasy – Hebrews 5:11-6-4 It’s time to grow up – Hebrews 5:11-6:3 SERIES OF DIAGRAMS HERE RELATING TO Conversion of Hebrews, Maturity, and Apostate “Not laying again” (These are Jewish religious issues) (1) Foundation of repentance – offerings of heretical system (2) Faith toward God – issue of faith and works is settled (3) Instructions about baptisms – ceremonial washings (4) Laying on of hands – Priest lays hand on scapegoat (5) Resurrection of the dead – Old Testament teaching in Daniel=2 02:12-13; Psalm 16:9, etc. (6) Eternal judgment – Judgment settled at cross Still Time-Out Three – Don’t Commit Apostasy Hebrews 6:4-6 Saved or Lost? Once saved always saved? Lose=2 0salvation? 5 great advantages – (1) Once enlightened – Matthew 4:16 – People on darkness seen a great light. (2) Tasted the heavenly gift = gift of salvation. Tasted – not eaten or drunken (John 6) Julie at B&R – tasted vanilla ripple, pistachio, bubble gum – “Look lady, I’m going to have to start charging you.” (3) Shared in Holy Spirit (not received Holy Spirit?) Judas is example – preached and miracles and lost! (4) Tasted goodness of Word of God – Mark 6:20 – “Heard John the Baptist gladly” (5) Tasted powers of coming age – Miracles of the day “If” they fall away – Apostasy = stand next to and fall away Doom pronounced – Not possible to return to repentance. Why? (1) They don’t desire to repent (2) No other message to give (See Hebrews 10:26-27) (3) No man, no angel has power to bring repentance (4) Crucifying Son of God again and public disgrace (Hebrews 10:26-29) Fourth Class Conditional Sentence FOURTH QUARTER – Jesus’ Priesthood was in the line of Melchizedek and thus far superior to Aaron’s! -- Hebrews 6:13-10:25 Read Hebrews 6:19-7:8 Melchizedek’s work – Bread and wine Inferior (Abraham) is blessed by superior (Melchizedek) Read Hebrews 7:11 – Levitical priests couldn’t do it. Read Hebrews 7:15-17 – Jesus after order of Melchizedek Read Hebrews 7:25 – Able to save for all time those who draw near Read Hebrews 7:26-27 – No need to offer daily sacrifices – Offered self once for all. Scottish fisherman – Little inn, evening meal. Gestured wildly about fish that got away. Hit tea glass and stained wall – Apologized profusely. Man: “Don’t worry”, pulls pen and sketches around ugly brown stain. Magnificent royal stag emerged. Sir Edward Lansier – England’s foremost painter of animals. This is what grace does to the stain of our sins. Read Hebrews 9:11-12; 27-28 (once to die and judgment) Read Hebrews 10;11-14 – “Sat down once for all.” World War II – German boy – captured – needs transfusion – Race supremacy – refused blood. “There is a fountain filled with blood…” FOURTH TIME OUT – Hebrews 10:26-39 – Those who turn away from Jesus are really in trouble. Read Hebrews 10:26-31 Out of context - Appeal for lost to get saved. In context – Appeal for Christians not to turn back. 10:26-27 – Sin deliberately… no longer sacrifice.” Not referring to any premeditated sin. 10:32-39 – Suffering – They were persecuted in many forms: Verbal, financial, physically. Don’t quit now. Alexander Solzhenitzen: “Consider yourself dead – died a little early. No property, no family, all is dead to me. “Only my spirit and conscious remain precious to me. Confronted by interrogation with that kind of man the interrogator will tremble. Only the man who has renounced everything can win that victory!” 10:39 – Real Christians will persevere to the end! FIFTH QUARTER – Men and woman of faith and especially Christ provide the encouragement we need to carry on at any price-- Hebrews 10:39-12-24. 11:1 Definition of faith (Diagram of train) – Faith – Facts – Feelings 11:3 – Universe created Abel/Enoch 11:6 – Without faith impossible to please Him! List men and women of faith – “and all the rest” 10:39-40 – All commended but hadn’t seen promises – God planned something better = “be made perfect.” Hebrews 12:1-3 – Looking unto Jesus overview Consider what He gave up to save us! Emptied Himself – Philippians 2 Shameful rejection Shameful accusation Shameful mocking – kingship, deity Prayer – Head falls… 12:3-11 – Discipline those He loves. FIFTH TIME OUT – DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS – HEBREWS 12:25-29. Read Hebrews 12:25-29. OVERTIME – HEBREWS 13 1:3: Hospitality to strangers 1:4: Let marriage bed be undefiled 1:5: keep free from love of money 1:7: Remember your leaders 1:8-16: Jesus is the same…don’t be led astray by strange and diverse teachings 1:17 Obey your leaders; give an account 1:18-19: Pray for my clear conscience 1:20-21: May the God of Peace Blessing 1:22-25: Timothy is released. Greet all; Grace be with you all. “FAITH IS THE VICTORY” By Buell Kazee

Christ is superior to the angels. Here's why.

“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being.” “For by Him all things were created . . .” (Col. 1:16) “. . . yet for us there is but one God the Father from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Cor. 8:6) “But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne O God is forever and the righteous scepter is the scepter of Thy kingdom . . . and you Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands.’” (Hebrews 1:8, 10) “The Son of Man is Lord of Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8) The scripture is quite clear.  Not only is the Son of God the creator of the angelic realm.  Not only is He the object of history through which God shall save His elect, but He is also the creator of the heavens and the earth. The Father is the architect who decrees.  The Son is that One in perfect union.  “The Son can do nothing of Himself unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)   Thus the Son created, as carrying out the Father’s will.  That by which He accomplished the Father’s purpose was the Holy Spirit.  This is first mentioned in Genesis 1:1-3. “ God  created the heavens and the earth . . .” “. . .  the Spirit  of God moved over the surface of the deep . . .” “. . . and God  said  (the Word)   ‘Let there be light.’” The implications are beyond description.  The divine Son, the Son eternally in the bosom of the Father, the Father’s eternal first-born, who has never  not  been the Son of God – this unique 2 nd  Person of the Tri-unity laid aside His glory and the free use of His divine attributes, to take “the form of a bondservant and to be made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:7) The One who said “Be fruitful” became the object of Elizabeth’s blessing, “Blessed be the fruit of thy womb.” The giver of life would be sustained breath by breath. The Bread of Life would hunger. Living Water would say “I thirst.” The Light of the World would hang in darkness. Omnipotence would sleep from weariness. Omniscience would grow in wisdom and ask questions of the teachers. The Life everlasting would die in His strength. The Holy One forsaken by the Father. Mary held Him who is The Everlasting Arms. O most excellent mystery. “When Christ the mighty Maker died for man the creature’s sin.” Rightly did the water blush at its Creator and become wine. as did the winds and waves at His voice “Hush” and “be still.” as would fish and grain instantly multiply to feed the multitudes. or fish come as commanded to the nets, or the one fish swallow the one coin when and where He willed. How gently could He sit on a colt, the foal of a donkey upon which no one had ever sat. How responsive were the demons, the diseased, disabilities and death to disappear before Him. For death to thrice bow at His feet. Though omnipotent He rested in the womb aboard the donkey in the stable in a manger. Our Incomparable Christ.

Adapted from: Master's Seminary Journal Volume 8 Spurgeon’s defense of the truth and concern for integrity follow the pattern set by Paul in dealing with his opponents in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians, Paul’s response to criticism consisted of a defense of his integrity, without which his ministry would have been ineffective. He placed before his readers a number of reasons to reassure them of his integrity. They included his reverence for the Lord, his concern for the church, his devotion to the truth, his gratitude for Christ’s love, his desire for righteousness, and his burden for the lost. In defending his integrity, he risked being called proud by his enemies, so he also displayed several marks of his humility: an unwillingness to compare oneself with others, a willingness to minister within limits, an unwillingness to take credit for others’ labors, a willingness to seek only the Lord’s glory, and an unwillingness to pursue anything but eternal commendation. Paul had right motives and he defended them for the right reasons, that is, to glorify God and to promote the truth of the gospel and Christ’s church. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the gifted nineteenth-century London preacher, said this in one of his later sermons, “I feel that, if I could live a thousand lives, I would like to live them all for Christ, and I should even then feel that they were all too little a return for His great love to me”[2] Spurgeon was a pastor and Christian leader who clearly loved the Lord and defended His cause with integrity. That fact never exhibited itself more clearly than during the late 1880s, just a few years before his death. That is when he was a central figure in a major British church struggle known as the Downgrade Controversy. This doctrinal debate began within the Protestant churches of England (most notably the Baptist Union) when Spurgeon could no longer refrain from criticizing the church’s alarming departure from sound doctrine and practice. Many churches and their pastors, who previously had been firmly conservative and evangelical, became more tolerant of theories that undermined the authority of Scripture and its view of man. Spurgeon also observed a deviation from the great Reformation doctrines and the proper role played by God’s sovereign grace in salvation. From his pulpit and the pages of his magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, he courageously and consistently spoke out for the truth and urged average believers to resist false teaching and stand firm on the fundamentals of Christianity. However, the tide of doctrinal declension among the churches in Charles Spurgeon’s day continued, and his godly conscience constrained him to leave the Baptist Union. Shortly after his death in the 1890s, some of Spurgeon’s supporters formed a new society called the Bible League to continue the battle for doctrinal purity and practical orthodoxy among evangelical churches. During the months of controversy, Spurgeon received harsh criticism from his opponents, but he never wavered from his defense of the truth. The following excerpt, preached during the Downgrade from a sermon entitled “Something Done for Jesus,” reveals the true nature of Spurgeon’s righteous motives and proper integrity: We love our brethren for Jesus’ sake, but He is the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely. We could not live without Him. To enjoy His company is bliss to us: for Him to hide His face from us is our midnight of sorrow . . . Oh, for the power to live, to die, to labour, to suffer as unto Him, and unto Him alone! … If a deed done for Christ should bring you into disesteem, and threaten to deprive you of usefulness, do it none the less. I count my own character, popularity, and usefulness to be as the small dust of the balance compared with fidelity to the Lord Jesus. It is the devil’s logic which says, “You see I cannot come out and avow the truth because I have a sphere of usefulness which I hold by temporizing with what I fear may be false.” O sirs, what have we to do with consequences? Let the heavens fall, but let the good man be obedient to his Master, and loyal to his truth. O man of God, be just and fear not! The consequences are with God, and not with thee. If thou hast done a good work unto Christ, though it should seem to thy poor bleared eyes as if great evil has come of it, yet hast thou done it, Christ has accepted it, and He will note it down, and in thy conscience He will smile thee His approval.[3] Paul’s Defense of His Integrity Charles Spurgeon’s defense of the truth and concern for integrity aligned with the legacy of the apostle Paul. Throughout his ministry, Paul faced opposition from those who hated the gospel and wanted to pervert its proclamation for their own purposes. Most of the opposition came from a group of false teachers in Corinth. They accused him of being incompetent, unsophisticated, unappealing, and impersonal. As a consequence, Paul was obliged, much against his normal preferences, to defend himself and his ministry. He did not seek to glorify himself, but he knew that he had to defend the gospel and the name of the Lord from those who sought to destroy the truth. It soon became clear to the false teachers in Corinth that if they were going to redirect the Corinthian believers toward error and a false gospel, in addition to getting rich and gaining power and prestige, they would have to destroy Paul’s integrity. Since he had established and taught the church at Corinth, the false teachers would have to undermine the church’s confidence in Paul if they were going to replace his teaching with their own. If his opponents at Corinth could destroy his integrity, they could also do away with Paul’s usefulness, fruitfulness, and ability to serve the Lord. Therefore Paul had to maintain his integrity. While he had acknowledged his own humility in ministry—”We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7)—he also understood the real issue at stake in defending his integrity: “that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7). An essential goal for any spiritual leader is to gain people’s trust through genuine integrity. Like Paul, a leader’s conduct must be trustworthy and consistent with his words. But once a leader proves to be hypocritical in any area of ministry, no matter how seemingly insignificant, he loses everything he has labored for in ministry and sees his credibility destroyed. That is what Paul feared as he confronted the rumors and lies of the false teachers at Corinth. Paul used his second letter to the Corinthians, and certain passages in particular, to defend his integrity to the church. Second Corinthians 5:11 begins one of those passages, where Paul says, “We persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.”4 Paul wanted the church to understand and accept his sincerity in all things, as God had. As Paul began this defense of his integrity, common sense dictated that he not expend any more time or energy in further self-promotion (2 Corinthians 5:12)—the Corinthians were already well aware of his consistent character and what he had done. Nevertheless, because of the insidious, persistent, and often vicious nature of his enemies’ attacks, Paul outlined several reasons the Corinthians could look to for reassurance regarding his integrity. Paul’s Reverence for the Lord The first reason Paul offered in defense of his integrity was his “fear of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:11). Fear in this context does not mean “being afraid,” but “worship” and “reverence.” A few Scriptures easily illustrate this: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10). So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31). Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). Having the fear of the Lord means holding God in such awe that a person is wholeheartedly motivated to pursue His holiness and His service. Without question, that was true of Paul. He was so committed to the glory of God that it grieved him even to consider the possibility of dishonoring the Lord’s name. Paul’s intense reverence for God was therefore a powerful incentive for him to convince others of his integrity. People sometimes ask me what is most difficult about receiving false criticism. I tell them that what is deeply disturbing and disconcerting is that the unfair criticism can lead others to believe I am misrepresenting God. That is what upset Paul about the allegations from the false teachers at Corinth—he knew they were misrepresenting him to the Corinthian believers. A reverential knowledge of God’s greatness is what characterized Paul. How else could he make this powerful declaration about God’s attributes: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). Paul’s life was summed up in the exhortation he gave to the Roman Christians: “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1). His reverence for the Lord was complete, and he was grieved when enemies of the truth sought to undermine his integrity and threaten his ability to teach and preach. Paul therefore felt constrained to launch a defense of his integrity, not for his sake, but for God’s. Paul’s Concern for the Church Paul’s concern for the church at Corinth was well established (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:10). And potential harm from false teachers had freshly aroused his interest in her spiritual welfare. He was concerned that the false teachers would eventually gain converts and more influence within the fellowship, leading to an ideological war between their faction and Paul and his supporters. That would shatter the unity of the church, which would yield other negative results such as a discredited leadership, stunted spiritual growth among church members, and a hindered outreach to the surrounding community. Paul’s response to this array of threats against the Corinthian church is instructive for all who strive for integrity. Rather than jumping into the rhetorical trenches and answering each criticism and lie of the false teachers, Paul took a wiser, more judicious approach: “We … are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearance, and not in heart” (2 Corinthians 5:12). The apostle knew that in spite of all the dangers to the church, it was not prudent to mount a personal defense directly before his foes. Instead, Paul armed the people he ministered to so they might ably defend him and his integrity. In the long run, that is a much sounder method to contend for truth and integrity with one’s enemies rather than trying to answer each and every charge personally. As Paul discovered, one can go to his opponents repeatedly and present the best-reasoned, most balanced defense of the truth and his integrity, yet all they will do is twist what he has said and use it to tear him down some more. A person is better off to let his friends be his defenders, because those who have something against him are not as likely to feel the same way toward his friends. The Corinthians certainly experienced Paul’s consistent behavior and integrity, so they had no reason not to defend him. So Paul appealed to the brethren in the Corinthian church because he was passionately concerned with their unity and growth. In the end he could leave the results of his efforts with God: “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:17–18). Paul’s Devotion to the Truth A few years ago I was invited to speak in a philosophy class at one of the state universities located near my home church in southern California. I began my remarks by saying, “I’m here to tell you about the truth you’ve been searching for all your life. It is all the truth you need to know.” My approach dumbfounded the students in the class. Students in those kinds of classes invariably spend the entire term considering various views of the truth, but never reach any conclusions. Quite likely they leave the course not ever expecting to find the truth. That is why I went against the conventional wisdom and expounded the truth of the gospel. Whenever you are dogmatic, affirmative, and absolute in speaking the truth, as I was in that classroom, the world thinks you have lost your reason. That is how Paul’s adversaries in Corinth characterized him. His passionate zeal and devotion to the truth became another reason for defending his integrity: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.” The Corinthian believers did not need to question Paul’s reason—they came to Christ through his preaching, grew in their sanctification under his teaching, and, as a result, loved Paul and trusted in God. His sound mind was obvious to all. But the false teachers and their “converts,” in their attempt to overthrow Paul’s scriptural teachings with their own self-centered, erroneous ones, charged that Paul had lost control of his senses. But the apostle made it abundantly clear that he and his fellow ministers were beside themselves for God (2 Corinthians 10:13). The phrase “beside ourselves” refers to his passion and devotion to God’s truth. The term does not refer to a person who is clinically deranged, but it can describe someone, such as Paul, who is dogmatically committed to truth. And Paul could be more dogmatic than anyone else because he was dealing with direct revelation from the Lord. Nevertheless, Paul’s enemies insisted and persisted in labeling him a dogmatic extremist who was off balance mentally. But dogmatism has always had a negative connotation for the world, as the apostle discovered on other occasions. Notice what happened when Paul gave an earnest, straightforward presentation of the gospel before the Roman official, Festus: “And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” And while Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth” (Acts 26:22–24). Once again the solid thread of integrity is evident in Paul’s ministry. He was in complete control and possessed a sound, sober mind. Both at Caesarea before Festus and at the church in Corinth, Paul’s message was passionate and zealous because the truth of the gospel was at stake. But he also knew how to be humble and well-reasoned so that people would receive and apply the truth. In the end the issue was the same—he defended his integrity so he could continue to proclaim God’s truth unhindered. Paul’s Gratitude for Christ’s Love Another reason Paul was so concerned to defend his integrity was his thankfulness for the Savior’s love for him. He told the Corinthians: “The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Paul defended his ministry and offered its richness to Christ as an act of gratitude. To emphasize the strength of this motivation, Paul used the Greek word translated “controls.” The simplest, clearest meaning of this word is “a pressure that causes action.” The gratitude Paul had for Christ’s love for him exerted great pressure on him to offer his life and ministry to the Lord. And the overriding factor for Paul was the Lord’s substitutionary death and the application of that death to him. The essence of Christ’s substitution is summarized well in Romans 5: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (2 Corinthians 5:6–8). The death of Christ is meaningless apart from an understanding of its substitutionary impact—if Christ didn’t die in our place, then we would have to die for our sins, and that would result in eternal death. That certainly should be motivation enough for all of us to strive for integrity in our ministries and all aspects of our lives. After all, everyone who died in Christ receives forever the saving benefits of His substitutionary death (cf. Romans 3:24–26; 6:8). That’s the conclusion Paul is referring to in the second part of 2 Corinthians 5:14 when he says, “One died for all, therefore all died.” The truth of our Lord’s substitution is both a comfort and a motivation for thanksgiving, for Paul and for us: “I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20–21). Paul’s Desire for Righteousness The great eighteenth-century English hymn writer Isaac Watts composed the following stanzas about the pursuit of righteousness and obedience to God’s Word: Blest are the undefiled in heart, whose ways are right and clean, who never from the law depart, but fly from ev’ry sin. Blest are the men who keep thy Word and practice thy commands; with their whole heart they seek the Lord, and serve thee with their hands. Great is their peace who love thy law; how firm their souls abide! Nor can a bold temptation draw their steady feet aside. Then shall my heart have inward joy, and keep my face from shame, when all thy statutes I obey, and honor all thy Name. Those words, based on Psalm 119:1, could easily have been uttered by the apostle Paul as a way of declaring his all-out desire to live righteously. His desire flowed logically from his tremendous gratitude for Christ’s love and was another reason Paul so vigorously defended his integrity to the Corinthians. Paul told them, “He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:5). In defending his integrity, Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that his old, self-centered life was finished. Against all the distorted accusations from the false teachers, he wanted his brethren to be persuaded that his motives in ministry were completely pure. And Paul had a strong case because, by God’s grace, he was without self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, pride, or greed as he labored to plant and nourish local churches among the people of Asia Minor. The Corinthians should never have doubted Paul’s integrity. He had already instructed them about the spiritual lifestyle they ought to adopt: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1) Paul’s beliefs and motivations had not changed, no matter what his hypocritical opponents were accusing him of. He still lived for Christ and for the sake of righteousness, not for himself. Any other standard was unacceptable to him. So Paul defended his integrity because he desired to live boldly for the Lord and did not want anyone to think his motivation in life was anything less than that. Paul’s example should be an encouragement to all of us to cultivate and defend our integrity, because without it, we cannot minister effectively for the Lord. Paul’s Burden for the Lost Paul was extremely passionate when it came to reaching the lost for Christ. Seeing people converted by the sovereign power of the gospel message was the ultimate reason for him to continue in ministry. Paul’s burden for the lost therefore is the last of his reasons for defending his integrity. Acts 17:16 illustrates the intensity of Paul’s evangelistic burden: Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. Paul writes about his passion for the unsaved in Romans 1:13–16: I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit [converts] among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Later in his letter to the Roman believers, in perhaps the most telling statements he ever wrote about his burden for lost souls, Paul says, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren [the Jews], my kinsmen according to the flesh… . Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them [the Jews] is for their salvation (Romans 9:1–3; 10:1). As he continued to defend his integrity to the Corinthians, Paul said, “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16). This connects back to verse 15 and simply means that, since his transformation in Christ, Paul no longer evaluated people by external, worldly standards. He had a new priority, and that was to meet the spiritual needs of the people of God. Prior to our transformation we used to assess others by external criteria only—physical appearance, outward behavior, social and economic orientation, and engaging personality were our old yardsticks. But when a person comes to faith in Christ he begins to evaluate people by a new set of criteria. And the central issue we want to determine when we meet someone is: What is his relationship to God; does he know Christ? Perhaps you have a neighbor who is kind and considerate, who helps you out often and is especially available when you have an illness or emergency. As is often the case, you develop a warm and friendly relationship with someone like that. But if you are honest, you can never be content in your friendship until you are sure he has a right relationship to God. In fact, the more you build your relationship with your neighbor or anyone else, the more burdened you become for his spiritual welfare. Paul gives believers no option but to think of the unsaved and everything in life from a transformed perspective: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul had certainly experienced complete change in his life—from self-centered Pharisee to dedicated apostle of Christ—and he knew such transformation would happen to anyone who became a Christian. Is it any wonder that Paul defended his integrity so ardently? If any of his enemies could destroy it, he would lose his credibility and influence in preaching the gospel and thus his entire reason for living. If only every Christian could have the same passion and purpose as the apostle Paul. Paul Reveals His Humility Time and again as Paul defended his integrity, he risked being labeled proud by the false teachers at Corinth. Yet such a designation could not have been more unfair or untrue. Paul had already, by the sovereign plan of God, distinguished himself as the most noble, most influential, most effective earthly servant the church had ever seen, apart from the Lord Jesus Himself. Yet undergirding all his strong character qualities and various motives for defending his integrity was the all-important characteristic of humility. Scripture demonstrates that Paul was aware of his weaknesses and shortcomings. In Romans 7:18 he says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul describes himself in the lowliest of terms: “We have this treasure [the light of the gospel] in earthen vessels [garbage pails].” Finally, the apostle’s humble self-analysis is seen very clearly in what he wrote to Timothy: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Timothy 1:15). No Christian virtue is more cherished than humility. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Humility is best defined as a true and genuine sense of conviction that one is utterly and completely unworthy of the goodness, mercy, and grace of God and incapable of anything of value apart from those divine gifts. Paul culminates his defense of his integrity before the Corinthians with a thorough presentation of the marks of humility (2 Corinthians 10:12–18). In this passage he continues to contrast his pure motives and righteous goals in ministry with the impure motives and unholy agendas of the false teachers. Paul was certain his humility would be convincing proof to his readers of his true integrity. An Unwillingness to Compare Oneself with Others The first mark of humility for the godly teacher and leader is an unwillingness to compare himself with others and claim superiority over them. False teachers typically elevate themselves. But Paul had a different approach. He told the Corinthians, “We are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves” (2 Corinthians 10:12). Those who invaded the Corinthian church with error used glib speech, a superior attitude, and a hypocritical front to appear better than everyone else, especially Paul. But he refused to lower himself to their childish, egocentered games. In fact, he did not even consider such a strategy, saying, “To me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:3–4). Paul was concerned only with comparing his credentials with God’s standards. He did not use man-centered criteria to boast of his successes. Instead, he was more inclined to boast of his suffering, such as the sadness, tears, imprisonment, pain, and persecution he endured—all for the love of Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:23–31). In contrast, those who are proud and without integrity will establish these standards for success: charm, flattering personality, authoritarian bearing, rhetorical skills, and mystical spiritual experiences. They invent the standards, measure themselves by them, and commend themselves for superior “success.” Paul’s standards were objective and God-centered. The false teachers’ standards were subjective and worldly. Based on that simple comparison, it is easy to determine what pattern one should follow in pursuit of genuine integrity. A Willingness to Minister Within Limits The humble servant of God will also have a willingness to minister within limits. That was not the attitude of Paul’s opponents at Corinth. They overextended and overstated everything they did in an effort to widen their influence, enhance their prestige, and increase their fortune. They exaggerated everything so that they would look better than they actually were. We do not know exactly what the false teachers told the Corinthian believers about their battle with Paul, but undoubtedly they portrayed themselves as more powerful, more sophisticated, more articulate, and more successful than him. And they had to lie to make that case. How did Paul respond to those claims? Again he refused to engage in the same dishonest tactics of his enemies but simply told the Corinthians, “We will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you” (2 Corinthians 10:13). Paul was concerned with only one thing: to portray accurately the reality of his ministry. Paul always understood the principle of ministering within limits. He mentions it both at the beginning and the end of his letter to the Romans: Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake (Romans 1:5). Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed . . . And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation (Romans 15:17–18, 20). Pride and overstatement were not characteristic of Paul. He spoke only of what Christ had done through him and supported his statements by objective, truthful evidence. God had sovereignly gifted Paul and given him a specific commission to fulfill. He was completely content to preach the gospel in the Gentile world and found churches and train leaders in those unreached regions. He did not need to be more important than God intended him to be; he just wanted to be faithful to God’s plan and carry it out with a depth of excellence that would please the Lord. What is remarkable about Paul’s pattern for ministry is that he simply followed Jesus’ example. We often forget that Christ willingly functioned within the narrow limits His Father established. First, Jesus’ ministry was limited by God’s will. In John 5:30, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Second, Jesus obeyed the Father’s will according to His timetable only (Matthew 26:45; Luke 22:14; John 2:4; 4:23; 5:25; 7:30; 17:1). Third, Jesus limited His ministry to God’s people and to those who recognized their need for salvation (Matthew 15:24; Luke 5:31–32). Fourth, Jesus limited His ministry by God’s plan. He preached the gospel to a small group of people first (including the disciples) before extending it beyond the regions of Judea. Never did Christ allow Himself to get sidetracked onto other issues, and neither did Paul. An Unwillingness to Take Credit for Others’ Labors Plagiarism has been a problem in the world for centuries. It is defined as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own.” A truly humble person with real integrity will avoid plagiarism, and that was true of Paul. He never displayed a willingness to take credit for others’ labors. His deference for others contrasted with the false teachers’ desire to take credit for things they had never achieved, such as their contributions to the spiritual progress of the Corinthian church. But Paul could confidently and accurately tell the Corinthians how God had used him in their lives: We are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we shall be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another (2 Corinthians 10:14–15). Paul did not overstate or claim credit for what was not his. Nor did he flaunt authority that did not belong to him. He underscored what he had said previously: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth… . According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it” (1 Corinthians 3:6, 10). Paul was determined to avoid the pride and dishonesty of those who “ministered” in a worldly fashion. He would not go to a place and tell lies about his alleged accomplishments. He would not go into a city and usurp the credit for ministry that belonged to another. Instead, Paul knew that those who truly desired to further God’s kingdom would do so through their own virtuous lives. Romans 15:17–18 summarizes well Paul’s attitude about this third aspect of humility: “Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.” A Willingness to Seek only the Lord’s Glory A fourth way in which Paul exhibited the true humility of the man of integrity was by a willingness to seek only the Lord’s glory. The mere thought of selfglory was utterly repulsive to Paul, whereas those who teach error are willing, for the sake of their own glory and pre-eminence, to tear up the church and tarnish the glory of Christ. Paul had already laid out his position quite plainly in 1 Corinthians regarding why Christians should seek only God’s glory: For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God . . . that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29, 31). Paul here reminds all that if they boast, it must be only in the Lord, and if they seek anyone’s glory, it must be only His (cf. Psalm 115:1). That is the essence of humility—the recognition of one’s basic unworthiness and the acceptance of no worthiness but God’s. An Unwillingness to Pursue Anything but Eternal Commendation Authentic biblical humility is also revealed in Paul’s unwillingness to pursue anything but eternal commendation. In 2 Corinthians 10:18 he says, “For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.” False teachers commend themselves. But Paul desired God’s approval, and he proved that he did not fabricate his own commendation. The Greek verb he used for “commends” in verse 18 literally means “to be tested” or “to be approved.” That’s what Paul meant when he said, “But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3). Paul was not concerned about what others thought of him; the only praise and commendation he desired was from the Lord. That is an important reminder for all of us as we pursue integrity: we will receive God’s approval not as a result of our gifts, our skills, our personality, or our popularity, but because of our humility. In summary, Paul possessed the power of integrity. His motives were pure (1 Corinthians 4:5), and he defended them for the right reasons—to glorify God and promote the truth of the gospel and Christ’s church. Paul’s humble defense of his integrity is, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Himself, the most outstanding and thoroughly detailed example of Christian integrity found in Scripture. Modeling Paul’s integrity should be a goal for us all. [1] 1. The source of this essay is the recently released volume entitled The Power of Integrity (Crossway, 1997). It is adapted and used here by permission. [2] 2. Cited in Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, 2d ed. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973), 20. [3] 3. Cited in The Forgotten Spurgeon, 205–6. For a more complete discussion of the Downgrade Controversy and its significance for today’s church, see Appendix 1 of my book Ashamed of the Gospel (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1993), 197–225. [4] 4. The New American Standard Bible is the source of all Scripture quotations in this article unless otherwise noted. [1]The Master's Seminary. (1997; 2002). Master's Seminary Journal Volume 8 (8:137-149). Master's Seminary. www.gty.org. Used by permission.

Biblical details of the events just preceding Christ's death.

Strong biblical teaching on the implications of Christ's death and our salvation.

Revelation 1; Revelation 4 Hello, and welcome to this message from Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses these messages to reach people around the world, and we're always thankful to hear the stories of lives being changed by his love. If this message has impacted you in any way, we would love to know. So e mail us at mystory@calvaryabq.org . If you'd like to support this ministry financially, you can give online securely at calveryabq.org/giving . As followers of Jesus, we look forward to eternity with Him. And in our series "What's Next," we study the incredible prophecies found in the Book of Revelation. And we get a glimpse into the throne room of heaven, as Skip shares the message, "Come Up Here." Now we invite you to turn in your Bibles to Revelation 1 and 4, as he begins. Would you turn in your Bibles, please, to Revelation 1. So Powerball got up to $1.6 billion. And I don't know if it affected any of you, but your odds of winning Powerball, well, the odds were 292 million to 1 that you would not win Powerball. You would be more likely to be struck by an asteroid than to win. So I noticed that a clerk was on the news being interviewed who was selling tickets to people buying the $2 tickets to Powerball. And there was a line around the store. And somebody said, so why do you think so many people want to buy this ticket? What are they buying? And the cleric had an interesting answer. He said, they're buying hope. It's $2 worth of hope. And then he explained what he meant. He said, they take their ticket home, and then the number is read on the news. And the first number is their number. And they get all excited. Hey, that's my number! Then they read the second number. It's their number again. They get all excited. Third number isn't their number. But for a while there, he said, they had hope. It didn't last long, but that's what they're buying, $2 worth of hope. Well, I want to tell you about something a whole lot better than $2 worth of hope. It's called the blessed hope. When Paul wrote to Titus, he said, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The blessed hope-- it's also what Peter called a living hope, living because the one who promised it is alive because of a Resurrection. And he has promised to come back. And he promised to come back for those who believe in Him. Now, that is in event I want to discuss with you this morning from the pages of the Book of Revelation to look at this idea, this thought, of what I think we have depicted here before us. And that is a word, and when I say it, it causes some to get excited. It causes others to roll their eyes. And that is the Rapture of the church. I say it causes people to roll their eyes because some of us can remember 1988. And we may remember the book that was published. It made a lot of news. Some people here told me almost that I had to tell people, warn people, that the Lord is coming back. The book said Jesus Christ will come back in the Rapture for his church in 1988 between September 11 and September 13 of that year. That's Rosh Hashanah on that year. Jesus is coming back. 88 Reasons Why that will happen. That's what it's called. So after the date came and went, the author Edgar Whisenant published a second book called The Final Shout, Rapture 1989. And then when that date came and went, he called it The Final Shout 1990 and once again The Final Shout 1994. And I think that was his final shout, because he's no longer with us. So a lot of people have predicted the event of the Rapture. And because of that negative press, some will dismiss the idea altogether. And that's unfortunate, because it is a real event. It's a distinct event. And it's an event for the church. And it's an event that is given detail in passages like John 14; First Thessalonians 4; I Corinthians 15. But here, I think we see it. We see it in the chronology of Revelation. There's only two people in the Bible that were given a trip to heaven. One was Paul. The other was John. Paul was taken there, but he didn't give us any details. We start reading II Corinthians 12, and he says, I was taken to the third heaven. And we're getting so excited because we want him to tell us what it was like. And he goes, I can't tell you what it was like. It's just too amazing. It's unlawful for me to even talk about it. It's like, oh, great. John, on the other hand, sees it, and he is commanded to write about it. And he does so in chapters 4 and 5 in a detailed description in the Book of Revelation. Now let me throw something out at you to hopefully jog your memory. Do you recall when Jesus told His disciples, some of you standing here will not taste death until they see the coming kingdom in glory? Then he took Peter, James, and John, and he was transfigured before them on a mountain, and so we kind of think, well, that's the fulfillment of that promise. However, what John sees in this vision of the Book of Revelation, though it was partially fulfilled in that little glorious snippet of a transformation, he sees in real, full-blown, expanded vision of the glorious Christ the things of the church and the details that follow in the Book of Revelation. So we discussed last week in Revelation one that John hears a voice behind him. And he turns to see who it is speaking, and he sees one like the Son of Man. And the words are in red because it's Jesus in this vision talking to John and giving him instruction. Now what I want you to notice with me, beginning in chapter 1 but then looking at chapter 4, are three occurrences that happened to John the Apostle-- three occurrences that happened to John before he writes about this tribulation that the bulk of the book takes up. And the three occurrences are simply this. John is commanded to write, John is called to heaven, and John is captivated by glory. So first of all, he has to look down, because he's told to write something. He then looks up because he goes somewhere. And then he looks around. And he describes to us the glories of heaven. Let's look back at chapter 1. Let's take it up in verse 17 this week. And will notice that John is commanded to write. "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore." Only one person can say that. "And I have the keys of Hades and death. Write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this, the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands, which you saw, are the seven churches." Now, do you remember last week I told you that this book was written in symbols? We all notice that as we read the book. There's signs and symbols. In verse 1, it says that God gave it to him. He said, He sent and signified it. The word "signified" in verse 1 of chapter 1 means "given in signs or symbols." And so we ask the question, why? Why is it given in signs, why all these symbols? And then I said I won't answer it. I'll wait till this week to answer it. So let me give you the reasons why I believe this book is written in symbols. First reason is preservation. Symbols can withstand the test of time. Symbols transcend normal human language. And therefore, they are not weakened by time. They're not weakened by language. They're not weakened by culture. They're preserved because of that. The second reason is emotion. When you read symbols, they arouse a certain kind of an emotion, usually a strong emotion. So when we get to it, instead of just saying a dictator is going to come on the world scene, it's written like this. "And I saw a beast rise up out of the sea." That does something to the reader far different than just plain didactically writing it. So preservation, emotion, and the third is orientation. I mentioned last week that out of the 404 verses that comprise the Book of Revelation, almost 300 of them hearken back to an Old Testament reference. And so with the symbols that we read about, most of the symbols are rooted in the Old Testament. That is why they might sound weird to us, but to a first century Jewish reader familiar with the Jewish apocalyptic literature like Daniel or Ezekiel or Zechariah, they make more sense, so the orientation. And then number four is protection for the sake of protection. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the early church was under the watchful eye of the Roman government, and they were seizing documents to try them in a court for treason. And sometimes they would find their writings, their scriptures. And they would try to say, look, subversion, sedition, et cetera. Well, can you imagine a Roman soldier finding a copy of the Book of Revelation? He'd look at it and go, what? This just is all weird, all these signs and symbols. I don't get this. And it would be confusing to them and thus for protection. So all of those reasons help us understand why the book was given in signs and in symbols. Something else-- John is told to write, but he's given an outline in how to write. Verse 19, did you notice the command is "write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this." Now, this is important, because that is exactly what John does in the book. That's how this book is laid out. Verse 19 of chapter 1 becomes the outline for the entire book. Look at it more carefully. "Write the things which you have seen." What did John see in chapter 1? A vision of Jesus, and he writes that down. He writes down the details of what he has seen. He had never seen Jesus like this before. He remembered Him in his earthly, unexalted state. He turned, and he saw one like the Son of Man but vastly different. And he writes that. Second, he is told to write the things which are. And John does that in chapters 2 and chapter 3 of Revelation. Those are the things going on at that time, the churches, seven churches in Asia Minor. In fact, if you look at verse 20, the meaning of a couple of the symbols are given. So we don't even have to guess. The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands-- the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Angels is the Greek word "angelos." It could mean heavenly messenger. It could mean earthly messenger. Both are seen using that term in the Bible. It could mean the pastors, the elders of the church. And the seven lamp stands, which you saw, are the seven churches. Now, these seven churches, which are written about in chapters 2 and 3, were actual, literal congregations in Asia Minor within a 100-mile radius close to each other in modern-day Turkey. I visited the ruins of them all. They are in close proximity to each other. They were literal, actual, living congregations at the time of John. But also, I believe, for a lot of reasons I don't have time to get into, that they were seven periods of church history, all the way from the apostolic church era all the way to the apostate state church era. It comprises all of church history. It's like a panorama of the things of the church. So John writes about the church in chapters 2 and in chapter 3. By the way, the churches are represented by a lamp stand. I think that's so fitting. A lamp stand raises the lamps, the oil lamps, high so that it gives light. Didn't Jesus say about us, you are the light of the world? Have you ever thought of yourself that way? Have you ever thought of yourself, when you walk into a room, hey, I'm the light of the world? You probably haven't, but you are. You really are. And think of it this way. People in this world are looking for a way out of their darkness. But if they look at God's people, and we seem to be in the dark, there's not a whole lot of hope. So it's like that lighthouse in Florida I read about some time ago. One of the glass panes broke out, and so they replaced it. They didn't have glass at the time, but to replace it to preserve the light from blowing out-- this is an old lighthouse-- they put a piece of tin in that one side. So it kept the light going. The only problem was, from one direction there was a dark spot. And I'm told that a ship trying to find harbor one night couldn't see it because in looking at the lighthouse, it saw a dark spot. And people trying to navigate through life and looking at what is on the lamp stand, us shining our light, they need to be able to see it bright and clear. We're the lamp stand. And Jesus holds the lamp stands and walks in the midst of the lamp stands So write the things which you have seen, the vision in chapter 1. Write the things which are, the things of the church, chapters 2 and 3. And then notice verse 19, the very last phrase, "and the things which will take place after this," Now, in the Greek language, it's meta tauta, after these or after this, meta tauta. And that's how John writes the book. Now turn over to chapter 4, please for a moment, chapter 4. Because John was commanded to write, but now John is called to heaven. And watch this. Chapter 4, verse 1, after these things, stop. If you and I were reading the Greek text, it would say, meta tauta. Back to the outline, chapter 1, verse 19, the things which are, the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which will be, meta tauta, after this. We come to chapter four, meta tauta, after this, or after these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here, and I will show you things which must take place meta tauta, after this. So after these things-- after what things? After the vision he saw in chapter 1, after the message that Jesus gives to the seven churches, chapters 2 and 3. Now suddenly John is in heaven. Suddenly John is in the presence of God. Suddenly John sees it, the throne, and he writes about it. He holds it in chapters 4 and 5. Now follow me here. The church has been in focus in chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the Book of Revelation. 19 times-- 19 times-- the word "church" appears in chapters 1, 2, and 3. It's Jesus and the church, Jesus and the church. The church is in focus. Now suddenly in chapter 4, after these things, the church, it's as if they disappear. It is not seen. It is not spoken about. It is not even mentioned at all until the end of the book after Jesus comes back and the kingdom is developed and the new heavens and the new Earth are put in place. The word "church" appears. But from chapter 4 on, it's gone. In fact, the very last mention of it is in the verse right before verse 1 of chapter 4. Look at Revelation, chapter 3, verse 22. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches," last mention of it in the book. Now it's meta tauta, after this, after the things of the church, after the church age has run its course. So those are the three divisions of the Book of Revelation. That's how it's laid out-- what John has seen, chapter 1, the things which are, chapters 2 and 3, and the things which will take place after this. Now John is in heaven instantly. And I believe we would call this a preview of coming attractions. This is a depiction of the Rapture of the church. In fact, even the language in verse 1 of chapter 4 sounds a little bit familiar if you're a Bible student at all and you know the text in I Thessalonians 4, right? John says that "a first voice that I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here." Doesn't that sound familiar? In fact, if it's not familiar, you need to be familiar with it. Turn with me to I Thessalonians now, chapter 4-- I Thessalonians 4. Love to hear those Bible pages turning. It's not the same when you have a little phone, and you're kind of doing this with your finger. It doesn't make the [IMITATES PAPER CRUMPLING] sound. They should put that in an app, by the way, that little [IMITATES PAPER CRUMPLING] sound. They could do that. [LAUGHTER] I Thessalonians 4:13, "But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren," concerning those who have fallen asleep, died. "Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep." Now, what you need to know is the Thessalonians were all worried. They believe Jesus was coming. Paul had told him he's coming back. But many of their friends and relatives have already died. So they're wondering, what about them? They're going to miss the coming of the Lord. And Paul is saying, oh, no, no, no, no. They're not going to miss the coming of the Lord. They're going to be there. In fact, they're going to see it first. Verse 16, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God." You got that? Voice of an archangel-- the Lord himself is going to shout with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. So your relatives who have gone into heaven, they're not going to miss this. They're going to see it first. Of course, they have six feet further to travel, so they need to get a little head start, I suppose. But look at verse 17. Here's the classic passage. "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." OK, so I hear people all the time say, well, the word "rapture" isn't in the Bible. Well, the word "bible" isn't in the Bible. Who cares that the word isn't there? The teaching, the idea, that doctrine is clearly there. You say it is? Where? You just read it. "We who are alive and remain shall be caught up." The word in Greek is harpazo-- harpazo. Harpazo shows up 18 different times in 13 different verses in the New Testament. And when it's translated, it means four times "to catch up," or to be caught up, three times it means "to take something by force," one time it's translated "to snatch away," twice "to snatch," twice "to catch away," twice "to pluck," and one "to pull." You get the idea? It means to grab something suddenly, harpazo. So when Jerome translated the New Testament from Greek into Latin in around 400 AD, it became the Bible of the church until the Reformation. He translated harpazo, to be caught up, by the Latin word "raptus," or "rapere," which means to seize or to catch. So when people say, well, the word "rapture" isn't in the Bible, I guess it depends which version you read. If you read the New King James or NIV or NASB, you're right. If you read the Latin Vulgate, it's there. It's there. Now listen to this verse, verse 17, in what is called the Wuest translation of the New Testament. Written by a Greek scholar, teacher of Moody Bible Institute, Kenneth Wuest, he translates verse 17 this way. "We shall be snatched away forcibly in masses of saints having the appearance of clouds for a welcome meeting with the Lord in the lower atmosphere." Doesn't get any more graphic than that. Doesn't get any plainer than that. And what is written by Paul is experienced by John. It's a voice like a trumpet. It says, come up here, which illustrates what will happen to God's people when the Church Age is done. The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout. What's he going to shout? I can't be sure, but I would be surprised if he didn't say, come up there! Wouldn't that be great? In whatever language you're used to hearing it in, come up here! Boom, instantly. So then in Revelation, chapter 4 and 5, the church is in heaven. The church is safely ensconced in heaven, tucked away for a seven-year honeymoon. A seven-year tribulation is going on on the Earth. After that seven years, Jesus will return to the Earth to stop a judgment, a war that is going on, and we will come with him. I similar to a Jewish wedding. At a Jewish wedding in ancient times, there would be a wedding ceremony, followed by a feast that usually lasted seven days. While people were feasting, hanging out, fellowshipping, the bride and groom would be tucked away, away from the crowd, away from the world, t the end of which the groom would present his bride after that wedding. So that takes place in heaven. Meanwhile back at the ranch, back on Earth, chapters six through 19, is the worst possible tribulation period the Earth has ever seen, ever, ever, ever in its history, according to Jesus, worse than any other time in history. God pours out his wrath on a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. So John is commanded to write. John is called to heaven. Third and finally, John is captivated by glory. Once he's there in heaven, verse 2, "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a throne sat in heaven. And one sat on the throne. "And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones. And on the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes. And they had crowns of gold on their head. "From the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Before the throne, there was a sea of glass-like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back." So John is caught up into heaven. What's the first thing that catches his attention? A throne. Not his Aunt Lucy. It's not, where are those people I wanted to have a reunion with? That will come, but more and first and foremost, it's a throne. "Throne" is mentioned 13 times in chapter 4. So that is the dominating feature of heaven, is the throne of God, the control, sovereignty of God. He sees the throne and one who sat on it. I love what Dwight L. Moody used to say about heaven. He said, it's not the jewelled walls, it's not the pearly gates that are going to make heaven attractive. It's just being with God. Being with God-- that's why heaven is more than a what or a where. It's really a whom. You'll be where He is. Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself-- listen-- that where I am, there you may be also. That's heaven, and he sees it. And notice how he describes God. He describes the indescribable in the appearance of stones. Did you notice a jasper stone and a sardius stone? These are stones, and they're not just stones. They're particular types of stones. They were the first stone and the last stone on the breastplate of the high priests in the Old Testament. A Jasper stone was clear like a diamond. I'll be honest with you. I have never really understood the value of diamonds. I'm sometimes shown diamonds, oh, look at that. And I just go, you know, OK, glass, you know? It's not a big deal to me. Now, trust me, I've been schooled on this. I've been corrected on the value of diamonds. But you know, there's a couple of planets in our galaxy where it rains diamonds on them. So in some places, it's like dust. Women, however, you value jewels on this Earth, heaven is so inestimably more, that everything on this Earth pales in comparison to it. I know it may not mean much to you now. But notice the next stone is a sardius. Sardius stone is a stone that is sort of a translucent reddish stone. And why that is there, I'm not certain, perhaps to remind us of the redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. He also sees 24 elders on 24 thrones around the throne like an ancient courtroom, a court of the king. And trust me, I could do two weeks on the identity of the 24 elders. I could drill that deep down. But we would be in Revelation for at least 7 to 10 years, so I'm not going to do that. But I am going to say that 24 is a representative group. Just like in the Old Testament there is a genealogy that has 24 patriarchs listed that represent all of the patriarchs listed. Also, the 24 elders who were over the 24 courses of priests, those 24 elders represented all of the priests and, in fact, all of the nation of Israel. And also, there were 24 courses of Levitical singers with representatives that represented the nation. So it's safe to say that 24 is a representative number. And I believe the 24 elders, since that is a New Testament term, "presbuteros," elder, that they are representatives of the church. It is 24 elders representing the church of Jesus Christ in heaven during the tribulation. Now, some of you are looking at me like, oh, dude, you are so stretching it. You are walking on thin ice. I don't know if it really is the church. It could be angels. It could be anybody. It could only be the church. It could only be the church. And I want to show you why. If you look at the song they sing, and you read the lyrics of the song, there's only one group that can sing those lyrics. And that's church people, people who have been redeemed, saved. Angels can't sing that. Angels haven't been redeemed. Go down to chapter 5 for a moment, verse 8. "When he, the lamb, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures"-- notice-- "the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp, golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you are slain and have redeemed"-- listen-- "us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Only one group can sing that song, and that's the church. We sing songs, like "Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It" or "Jesus Paid It All, All to Him I Owe," songs of redemption. So as soon as we are raptured, as soon as we are taken to heaven, however we get there, by death or by rapture, but at that rapture when we're there, we are going to be consumed by the vision of the glorious God upon his throne. And I'll tell you, the immediate response is you're going to want to worship. It's been said there's three surprises you'll find in heaven-- who's there, who's not there, and that you're there. [LAUGHTER] I've always liked that. First of all, who's not there? Hey, where's So-and-So? I was sure they'd be here. Nope. And then you look at some people, how did you get here? [LAUGHTER] You were the last person I'd ever expect to see in heaven. Surprise. And then, surprise of surprises, you're there. And you're just going to say, oh, I am redeemed by his blood out of every tribe, tongue, nation. So while there is tribulation on the Earth, chapter 6 through 19, there is adoration in heaven, chapters 4 and 5. Now, did you notice in verse one John says, after these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. You see, it's not a gate with Saint Peter holding a clipboard like all those lame jokes. Peter has nothing at all to do with you getting into heaven. Jesus has everything to do with it. He said, I am the door. Anyone who enters by me will be saved. By the way, twice in Revelation-- twice in Revelation-- heaven is opened-- twice. Here, chapter 4, verse 1, second is Revelation 19:11. In the first occurrence, somebody goes up. In the second occurrence, somebody comes down. In the first occurrence, church goes up. The second occurrence, Jesus with the armies of heaven come down. T here is more to say on that, but time is running out. Let me just go back to that verse, which is, I believe, the first promise in the New Testament of the Rapture of the church given by Jesus. He said to his disciples, remember, let not your heart be troubled. This is in the upper room after the Last Supper. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you so. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Did you get that language? He says, I'm coming for you. I'm coming to get you. I'm coming to take you where I am. He didn't say, I'll send for you. I am coming, I will return, and I will come for you. The disciples were so bewildered at that point, that's why Jesus said, don't let your hearts be troubled. Because they had believed he was the Messiah. But they can't conceive of what he just said, that he's going to die. Their messianic script did not include a crucifixion. They couldn't conceive of a messiah who comes to Earth, hangs out for a few years, and then goes back to heaven and then comes back. That was not in their script. They're bewildered. So he says, hey, let me tell you how it's coming down. I'll be back. [TERMINATOR VOICE] I'll be back. [LAUGHTER] I'm coming to get you, that where I am, there you may be also. So, you know what? Powerball is cool. But it's only $2 worth of hope. This is the blessed hope. This is the living hope. I suppose if I was to get a phone call if I were to have even bought a Powerball ticket, and I were to get a phone call that said, you won, I bet that would be really exciting. I get that. But there's something else I'd much rather hear than I'm the winner of $1.6 billion or split three ways before taxes. [LAUGHTER] You know what I'd rather hear? Come up here. [APPLAUSE] Come up here/ That's better than Powerball. That's a power call. [LAUGHTER] Father, thank you for the hope that is found in your word, the hope that has become, for the last 2,000 years, the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the living hope, that even when loved ones that we were so close to die before this event, they will be there. They will see it first. They will be transformed in their resurrected bodies first. But then we who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet you, Lord, in the air, and we will always be with you. I pray that hope would change us. Because it could happen at any moment. In Jesus' name, Amen. How amazing it will be to worship God forever in the glorious throne room of heaven. Did this message influence how you worship the Lord right now? Well, let us know. Email us at mystory@calvaryabq.org . And just a reminder, you can give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/giving . Thank you for joining us for this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque

We've been studying the names of the Holy Spirit, because those names indicate his function, indicate his work. Remember now this third member of the Trinity is the one given to do work on earth on behalf of the godhead in heaven. God the Father was the point person in the Old Testament. Jesus the Son was the point person on earth during the gospels. God the Holy Spirit is the point person during this which we call the Church Age. He is that member of the Trinity who has been assigned to act on their behalf in history. The Father functions from the third heaven. The Son sits on his right hand to rule spiritually in heaven to earth, and he does that through the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. I want to look at this name given to him, this identification, this symbol in 1 John 2. He's called the Anointing. This word is a word that speaks to a specific work of the Holy Spirit that you don't want to leave home without. The Bible says in Acts 10:38, that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Luke 4:18,19. "The Spirit of the Lord has come upon me, and he has anointed me". So, the Anointing and the Anointed One is speaking of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life, including in the life of Jesus Christ. Now, the first thing we want to establish is this: Every Christian has the Anointing. If you are saved, if you have accepted Jesus Christ, you have whatever this Anointing in, we're going to explain it in a moment, you have it, you possess it, you own it, it is there. This Anointing speaks of the indwelling presence and work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Let me say that again. The Anointing is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit designed to do his work in your life. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that you have the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Well, in the New Testament, when Jesus said, "I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, I'm going to gift him to you as a permanent resident in your life, and he's going to anoint you". When the soul gets the information from the human spirit, that has been illuminated by the Holy Spirit, the soul feeds that data to the body. When the body gets the data from the soul, that is received from the human spirit, that has been anointed by the Holy Spirit, the body now functions differently, because it has new data that has been in it. The reason why we have problems with our bodies is we have infection in our soul. But the reason we have infection in our souls is because we have a human spirit that's been contaminated by sin. But when the Anointing enters the human spirit, because the Anointing is perfect, the human spirit is now perfect, because it has been anointed. So, you've got a perfect resident in your human spirit that now wants to give information to your infected soul. And when the Holy Spirit, that now invades your human spirit, sends out data that is received, adopted in your soul, your soul begins to get healed. When the soul is getting disinfected because of the infectedness, due to the expression of the human spirit that's been invaded by the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, it then tells the body what to do. It tells the mind what to think. It tells the eyes what to see. It tells the ears what to hear. It tells the leg where to move, because it's got new information about how to function. So, if you want to fix your body, you've got to clean up your soul; but if you want to clean up your soul, it's gotta get information from your spirit; but to get information correctly from your spirit, it's gotta be inhabited by the Anointing. So, that is how the Anointing flows. The Anointing is divine messaging that you have now been qualified to receive, because the Holy Spirit has now entered into your human spirit. So, that is the concept. It authorizes you. It authorizes you to receive information from heaven for living your life on earth. It is a divine authorization for that. The passage I would love for you to read this week is 1 Corinthians 2:9-3:3, verse 3. Okay? So, go all the way to chapter 3, verse 3. Read that once a day every day, but I want to go over it with you now. Here it is, verse 9. "But it is written, things which eyes have not seen and ear have not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. For to us God revealed them through his Spirit". He's not talking about heaven. He's talking about earth, 'cause he says God has already revealed it. So, listen to this. When the Anointing is turned on and turned up, you get to see things eyes cannot see. That's what verse 9 says. When the Anointing is turned on and turned up, you get to hear things ears have not heard. When the Anointing is turned on and turned up, you get to think things that you would not normally think. In other words, the Anointing is taking you beyond the physical. It is showing you what your eyes can't see. It is letting you hear what your ears don't audibly pick up. It is letting you perceive what you didn't normally think on your own. It is taking you out of your physical into a spiritual reality, so that the physical is now perceiving, experiencing, seeing, and hearing things that is outside of its normal physical realm. Or as I like to say, if all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen. If you are limited to your five senses, then you will not get divine messaging; because even though you are a Christian, the dimmer switch is off, or it's so low, you can't see the light shining. So, there must be the ability to see beyond the physical: the eye, the ear, and your own human mind. Look at what he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 2. He says, "We receive them from the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God". Remember, the Anointing is the Spirit. The Spirit has a search engine. Google. The Spirit Googles God. It knows the deep things of God. In the next verse, he says, "No one knows the thoughts of a man, except the spirit of a man. No one knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit, the Anointing, the Spirit of God". So, the Spirit of God has a search engine. It says he searches the deep things of God. So, he can go deep like a deep-sea diver into the thinking of God, and his job is to transfer God's thoughts to your life, just like when you Google something on Google, and you pull up stuff you didn't know to transfer to your understanding. So, we have exposed to us the World Wide Web, but believers have exposed to them the knowledge of God, and he says, and it's the job of the Spirit. So, let me clarify something before we go any deeper. The job of the Spirit is to reach into the mind of God and transfer to the thoughts, sights, and ears of the believer. His job is to take truth and make it your experience, to bring it, to make it your reality, not just for information, but for transformation. Now notice what he goes on and says in 1 Corinthians 2:12, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God". Here's what I like about the Anointing. It doesn't cost you anything. Once you accept Jesus Christ, it's freely given to you. So, it's available to every believer, and it's available for free. You don't have to buy the Anointing, okay? "Now, which things we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom". Keep that in your mind, because that's gonna be key in a moment. You don't get this by secular understanding. You don't get this by popular viewpoint. Once you introduce human wisdom, you've turned down the dimmer switch, and the light will not shine, because you've compromised the data. You put a virus in the programming. And so he says, "not taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words". So, the Spirit of God dips into the mind of God, since he is the third member of the Godhead, and he brings to the mind of man, or into the spirit of a man, that which he cannot see physically, cannot hear audibly, and would never think naturally, but he has revealed them unto us. That's what the Anointing does. Now, here's the issue. Verse 14, "The natural man receives not the Spirit of God". Let me put it another way. The non-Christian does not have the Anointing. Now he goes to another person. He says in verse 15, "But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ" The natural man doesn't have a receiver. The spiritual man not only has a receiver; he keeps his receiver on. The spiritual man can appraise or evaluate all things, because a spiritual person sends everything through a spiritual grid. You are only a spiritual Christian if you consistently send all data through a spiritual grid. So, that means you keep the dimmer up all the time, because everything is going through the grid of spiritual words, combined with spiritual thoughts. And guess what he says you have in verse 16? You have the mind of Christ. Do you know what it is to have the mind of Christ? It means Jesus is thinking his thoughts in your brain, by means of the Holy Spirit, who is the Anointing. And what thoughts is Jesus thinking in you? Thoughts that eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and thoughts you wouldn't have thought about thinking about, even if you would've thought to think it, because he's bringing his thoughts to your brain, because you have the mind of Christ. Then there's a third group. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, he says, "And I, brethren", brethren, you're Christians, "could not speak to you as a spiritual man but as men of flesh, as infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink and not solid food, for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now, you are not able, for you are still fleshly". And he concludes the verse by saying, "You walk like mere men". You walk like a natural man. Your life is not any different than the non-Christian. Paul went to Corinth in 50 AD. He wrote back to them, 1 Corinthians, in 55 AD. So, there was a 5-year gap between when he went there and led them to Christ, when they got the Anointing, and when he writes them 5 years later. He says, "After 5 years, you ought to be operating on the Anointing by now. After 5 years, you ought to be spiritual and consistent with keeping the dimmer switch up". But he says, "After 5 years, you still walking like you've never been saved in the first place". So, if you're here, and you've been saved for 5 years or more, and you're still not walking in the Spirit, you're still not living in the Anointing, but you're still walking like mere men, you've wasted 5 years of spiritual growth. In fact, in the book of Hebrews, he condemns them, because they've been saved for 30 years and still don't know how to walk in the Anointing. You can be in church for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, you can spend your life in church and never get divine programming, because you were not walking in the Anointing. So, the Anointing is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer to illuminate divine insight into your sight, your ears, and your thoughts. But he says you can't do that if you are operating on human wisdom. Now back to 1 John 2. He says to them, "Here's what I want you to do. If you want the Anointing to be turned on and turned up, here's what I want you to do". He says in verse 24, "As for you, let that abide in you, which you've heard from the beginning". Verse 27, "As for you, the Anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you". But as his Anointing teaches you all things, and is true and not a lie, just as it has taught you, you abide in him. Do you see that word "abide," the many times I read the word "abide"? We saw that last week, too. It means you have to hang out in the Anointing. You can't visit it on Sunday. You must hang out. Abide means to hang out. You must hang out in the Anointing. That is, you must hang out in a divinely-oriented perspective. When you begin to ask the questions, "What does God say, and what does God think? Holy Spirit, reveal it to me," you have turned on the receiver, for it to bring down the programming, to illuminate the mind and the thoughts. Notice what he says. He says, "You have the anointing, and you do not have need for anyone to teach you". Now, that's interesting. It's interesting, number one, 'cause he's teaching them right now. He's writing to them, teaching them about the Anointing. It's interesting, because the Bible says God gives teachers to the church. It's interesting, because Bible tells you to come and to study the Word of God in the collective worship, which includes teaching. It's interesting, because Paul says to Timothy to teach the Word and to preach the Word in season and out of season. So, why would he say, "If you have the Anointing, you don't need anyone to teach you, for the Anointing teaches you". Ah, okay. Well, remember who he's dealing with. He's dealing with the antichrists who are lying to them. So, let me tell you what he's saying when he says, "You don't have a need for anyone to teach you". He is saying, "You no longer need to be led by secular thinking, secular information, and secular instructors. You no longer need to use the world for your data. For your spiritual data, you don't first go to the world. You don't need them to teach you how to live, how to work, how to have a family, how to be single, how to have, you don't need them. Start with me, because then the Anointing will teach you". That's why the psalmist prayed in Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes that I might see". Many of us are being attacked physically, and we don't know what to do, 'cause we don't see anything spiritually. All we see is what we see. And if all you see is what you see, you'll never see all that God is doing, because you don't have the eyes to do it. But here's how the Holy Spirit works. See, I said, when I preach, I give you national news. I'm giving you cable news, because what I'm giving you is something general, applies to everybody. But when you have the Anointing, the Holy Spirit gives you local news. He gives you news for your life, for your situation, for your problem, for your pain, for your needs. Because you need one kind of program, you need another kind of program, you need another kind of program, you need another kind of program, you have a different job, you've got a different family, your kids are different, your finances are different. So, you need local programming for the general problem. I'm giving you cable news, but you have the Anointing, and I can't answer all of your specific answers, but you have Somebody inside who'll give you thoughts you didn't think, let's you see what you couldn't see, bring ideas you didn't have, and you already have them, because you all have them, he says. You already have the Anointing. Give the Anointing a chance. Put it first. Make it priority. Take the written Word, put it in the face of the Holy Spirit, do it on the front end, and let's see what programming God brings up into your life. In the midst of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, I do have a problem. I'm surrounded by that which blocks me being able to receive an Internet or satellite signal. In other words, my surroundings are getting in the way of me being able to pick up something from out there. God never wants our surroundings on earth to get in the way of receiving messages from heaven. That's why he's given every believer what the Bible calls the Anointing. The Anointing is that work of the Holy Spirit, where he delivers heavenly messages to our earthly environment. It is this connection, as we apply with the Spirit, that God can speak specifically into our earthly circumstances, situations, challenges, difficulties, and need for clarity and guidance to show us which way God wants us to move and how he wants us to take the next step in life. Don't leave home without it. Yes, we're surrounded by the rocks and boulders of earth, but don't lose sight of heaven because you leave the Holy Spirit behind. The Holy Spirit, the Anointing is the key to keep the messages of heaven reaching you, no matter where you're situated on earth.

Luke 15:11-32; Genesis 2-3 Aloneness reaches deep into the inner recesses of the human heart. No one likes to be alone. I was flying recently to Orlando: girl on airplane: Celestine Prophecy: spiritual search. Why? Stillborn baby: I am going to tell you what she said, it is integral to the story. Comfort Catholics. What I am about to share happens at times in every church. RCC priest refused to baptize child. “I am so sorry.” Comforted her. She broke from anger to hurt to sorrow. “Four miscarriages.” What do you think I am thinking? (Don’t try any more.) No. I’m thinking, “I bet she endured all four miscarriages alone. We husbands can be so clueless. So, I said to her, “I bet he had no idea what you were going through. You carried that baby. You were already getting close to that child. Your husband just kind of blew it off. He had no idea what you were going through.” She got real quiet. “I am so sorry.” Comforted her. What was I doing? “I was ministering to her aloneness. She endured some of life’s toughest events—alone. Ministering to people’s aloneness reaches to the deepest recesses of the human heart. : Genesis 3, Adam fell and God dealt with fallenness: “I will send a savior to die in your place in payment for your sins.” : Before God ever ministered to Man’s fallenness, He first ministered to Man’s aloneness in Genesis 2. Adam was alone and “it is not good to be alone.” The struggle with aloneness is a big deal. We fight it throughout our entire lifetimes. STORY of kid in airport in Orlando. Mom with 5-year-old and two year old toddler. Put them in play area with tv. Hear them playing and singing along with tv children’s video. Suddenly, this piercing voice, “Mommy? Mommy!?? Mommy!!!!!” Came running from the play area. He realized he was alone and he didn’t like it. : See him grow up to teenage years. He still won’t like to be alone. Why do teenagers congregate in cliques? They don’t want to be alone. They will even see another teenager hurting and alone and they will even join with their clique in ostracizing and teasing mercilessly another if that is what the group does, just to stay part of the group—so deep is the need not to be alone. I imagined him 80 years from now, old and frail, and his children sit down with him and say, “Dad, it is time to put you in a nursing home.” Sorrow, he is going to be alone. It is not good to be alone. Let me tell you the natural, human response to loneliness. Self Reliance: “I am alone, well, I can make it on my own. I don’t have any needs and if I do I will take care of them myself, thank you.” Self condemnation: “I am not good enough to have any friends. No wonder no one likes me.” Selfishness: “I have needs and to meet those needs I am going to take from you.” : Let me show you something else. This is also what fallenness looks like. It looks just like our natural response to our aloneness: Self Reliance; Self condemnation; and Selfishness. : The human response to loneliness of Genesis 2 looks just like the manifestation of our Fallen sin nature in Genesis 3. This stuff is all over the Bible. This is why the fallenness of sin is so terrible. It isolates us from God and from others. It makes us alone. The story of the Prodigal Son, the Elder Brother and their Dad is a story of self-reliance, self- condemnation and selfishness which brought loneliness and isolation among people who longed to enjoy closeness, support and companionship. READ Luke 15:11-12: Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. What symptom of fallenness do we see here in the younger son? “Give me” is selfishness. This reminds me of the man at Casas who won a trip for two to Hawaii and was so selfish that he went twice. What does this selfishness produce? (pause) Aloneness. How do you think the father felt? Father’s feelings: “Dad, I wish you were dead.” Talk about separation. Now the boy is alone and the dad is very much alone. STORY of selfish man at MacDonald’s at breakfast. Noticed couple coming in. Shabby dress. Looked for coins in telephone, and newspaper box. Man enters. Couple looking at menu and I hear him say, “Well, get out of the way. If you don’t know how to get in line, I do. I have to go to work and you don’t look like you are going anywhere. I don’t have all day.” “Well, I guess, I don’t have anything much to do today.” Silence in the room. Total separation. Sensed that the man was very much alone. “You look like you’ve had a hard morning. May, I buy your breakfast?” I was ministering to his aloneness. Was the selfish man alone? Yes. I was too angry at the moment to minister to his aloneness. He was hurting, too. Selfishness is a terrible thing. READ Luke 15: 13-15: "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. What is this? Self-reliance. Neediness presented itself so Prodigal handled it with self-reliance. Lost it all, “I will get a job and take care of this.” Taken to its ultimate end, self-reliance produces extreme aloneness. Self reliant people won’t let you minister to their needs and they become very insensitive and intolerant of other people’s neediness. They end up very alone. Julie and I were in Albany NY several months ago leading a conference for pastor’s and wives on how to heal the hurts of ministry. One pastor’s wife was hurting and very alone. Handled her hurt and loneliness by self-reliance. She had recently written a poem about her feelings toward life. Based on Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. No, Blessed are the strong, who are always in control and never show weakness. Blessed are those who mourn, No, Blessed are those who deny their pain and deaden their hearts—they need no comfort. : Blessed are the meek. No, Blessed are the survivors who need no one and depend only on themselves. : Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, No, Blessed are those who have killed their longings, who no longer have any expectations---nothing will disappoint them. : Blessed are the merciful, No, Blessed are those who have minimized the damage in their soul so that there is no need for mercy or forgiveness for “nothing bad really happened.” Blessed are the peacemakers, No, Blessed are those who keep the peace at any cost (even to the peril of their own soul) so that conflict, self- revelation and the possibility of rejection is avoided at all costs. What do you say to a woman like that? Fortunately, I know what to say. We will talk about that on January 2 as we enter the new millennium. READ Luke 15:16-19: He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' What is this? Self-condemnation. Slopping pigs: “My father’s hired hands do better than this. But I am not worthy...” is self condemnation. : READ Luke 15:20a: So he got up and went to his father. Picture the Prodigal: Selfishness failed. Self-reliance was a disaster. “I am not worthy.” Utterly defeated. Completely humiliated. Utterly alone. It doesn’t get any lower than this. Close eyes and allow the Lord to identify you with the Prodigal in your self-reliance, selfishness, and self- condemnation. He imagines in his mind his father’s response. Accusations: Where have you been? What have you done? What happened to the Money? Endless questions. Comparisons between him and his elder brother. Scolding and shaming him for all his sins Now, look up here: What sets us free, folks, is the prodigal’s next experience: So much dysfunctional views of God that we don’t have the right view of the Father. Look at the dad with outstretched arms. READ LUKE 15:20: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Picture the Father as he comes running off the front porch, arms outstretched, wounded side, nail prints. Runs to embrace. This is the picture Jesus gives us of the dad when we have allowed self-reliance, selfishness, and self- condemnation to make us prodigal. READ Luke 15:21-24: “The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. Father hardly heard the words. Best robe, probably had it made up for him. Symbolic reminder. Never thought he’d use it. Sandals: he had no shoes. Ring for finger Feast: hungry. T his is how God accepts us back. If we see this picture with awe and wonder we can be free from self- reliance, selfishness, and self-condemnation. : Meanwhile, all is not well at home. READ Luke 15: 25-28: "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. READ Luke 15:29-30: But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' Father’s response: “But you had me.” READ Luke 15:31-32: "My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." He wanted a relationship with his dad and never saw it. If you look closely you will see again the problem of aloneness and fallenness with the elder brother: He was blinded by self-reliance, self-condemnation and selfishness. Glenn will deal with the elder brother next week. Let me go just a little deeper here. Reflect on the hurting heart of God. Here is a picture of Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal. Now, his younger son has come home; it is time for rejoicing —and the elder brother stands by in anger and isolation—and the Father has to rejoice (what?) alone. It is time to minister to his long-lost, son—and He has to minister (what?) alone. This is why he pleaded with the elder brother to come to the party. He did not want to minister alone. I want to read a poem written by my youngest child when she was in middle school. We found it on the floor one day after she had gone to school. It absolutely broke our hearts. It expresses the loneliness, isolation, self-condemnatory rejection felt by millions of Americans: People come and people go, But never get attached “Cause usu’lly by the time you do They drop you down the hatch. People only care about what you wear As stupid people do, But they never look inside of you To see the real, true you. Older sisters let you know How awful that they feel But sometimes it is in a way That shoots straight for the kill. I know that life is full of twists and turns And the occasional little loop, But I feel I have to tell you That I really feel like poop.” We were so busy that we had not seen this? Well, we knew she was hurting. Middle school is a tough time for a girl. God said, “Roger, I really want to minister to Bronwyn. Do you believe that?” “Yes, God.” “Well, Roger, too often I feel like I have to minister to her alone. I need you to help me.” Changed my whole view of parenting. My biggest job as a parent is to minister to her aloneness. When she called, we answered. Spent hundreds of hours with her. Now doing well in Germany. “I miss you, you and mom are my best friends.” Imagine God is wanting to minister to your wife, child, co-worker and there we stand by in criticism and judgment and isolation. God says, “You know what is breaking my heart? I want to minister to your wife, husband, children, friends, but, I am having to do this alone. I am pleading with you to help me. : You know God wanted to minister to that alone child in the airport in Orlando. He did not want to do it alone. He needed a mommy. You know God wanted to minister to the aloneness of the spiritually searching girl on the airplane—but He was having a hard time doing it alone. “Roger, why don’t you minister to her aloneness and then introduce her to Me again.” When I ministered to the aloneness of the girl on the airplane, I had an open door to address her isolation from the father. I came down with the resurrection. Reached right into her heart. There will be many lonely people around you: Don't just look away •When we see the Father’s heart, we can be fully and forever free of our self-reliance, selfishness, and self-condemnation.

I want to begin our time by going over today how the world works, because many Christians do not understand how the world works. Because we do not understand how the world works, we approach issues in an illegitimate way, because we're operating on a faulty frame of reference. It is in understanding how the world works that allows us to be able to approach the struggles, stresses, needs in an appropriate way. Many of us are trying to mop up messes in our lives; and every time we try to mop it, there's more mess to mop up, because we haven't gotten to the root of the problem. If you will understand the theology I am going to attempt to communicate to you today of how the world works, then it will shift how you approach living and especially shift how you approach challenges in living. In 2 Chronicles 15:3, "For many days, Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law". Verse 5 says, "In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress". It says there was no peace to him who went in or to him who came out. "No peace" means they were living in conflict. There was conflict. It says, first of all, there was personal conflict, "no peace to him". Many of the problems of coping today are people unable to live with themselves. That's why they often go to devices to help them to cope. That's why they become dependent, because they can't live with themselves, and so they are dealing with inner conflict. But not only was there no peace to him, it says there was no peace to him who came out or who went in; that is, when he left home and when he came back home. So, if you have an issue on earth that has been caused by heaven, trying to solve it on earth is a waste of time. If it's an issue on earth caused by heaven, "God troubled them," then you need heaven to come to earth to fix the issue on earth that heaven is responsible for, even if it's a problem, "because they were living in distress". In the Old Testament, you ran into the active wrath of God, when God would directly bring pain about. He would rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. He would flood the earth with water. He would open up the earth and swallow up rebellious people. That would be the active wrath of God, when God directly addressed things on earth, bringing about distress. When Jesus died on the cross, God's relationship to the world shifted. The Bible says that with the death of Christ, the world was reconciled to God. So, some people believe the God of the Old Testament has to be different than the God of the New Testament 'cause the God of the Old Testament, they say, seems so mean and judgmental, while the God of the New Testament seems so nice and full of love. Well, there aren't two Gods, but there are two relationships. In the Old Testament, before the permanent solution to sin was addressed, there was only a temporary solution, and God directly dealt with things. In the New Testament, because the death of Christ reconciled the whole world to God, God could now relate to the world differently; not because he changed, but because his relationship to the world changed, predicated on the death of Christ, which is why Jesus Christ is the key and the center of all of life. So, now you do not face the active wrath of God. You face the passive wrath of God. Now, that's spoken of in Romans 1:18 to the end of the chapter, where it says, "The wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness of men who don't want to retain the knowledge of God". And then Romans 1:24,26,28 say the same thing. It says, "Therefore God turned them over". That means God released them to life without him. It says, "Because they did not wanna retain the knowledge of God", God, like a dog on a leash, let the leash go so the dog could run away. So, when men don't want God, he lets you not want him, and he lets go of the leash, and you can go your own way. But when you do that, you also invite, in the space between where God is and between where you want to go, that space becomes occupied with consequences. And so, the consequences we are dealing with in our lives, in our homes, in our culture, we are dealing with them because there is a gap between where God is and where we are. Because they no longer wanted to retain the knowledge of God, it says God turned them over or released them to the consequences of their decision to be separated from him and the built-in side effects that are the result. So, the problems that people were facing on earth were predicated on what God was allowing to happen. Now, the question is, why? They were in distress, in other words, troubles they couldn't fix. And I know in this house today, there are troubles we can't fix, and you know you can't fix them because you've been trying to fix them for a long time; and they either stay broke or look like they're fixed but still break. He gives three reasons in verse 3 for this calamity. "For many days," that is, for an extended period of time, "Israel was without the true God" So, there was conflict in the family. When he entered back into his home, there was more conflict or disturbances. It says city rose up against city, and nation rose up against nation. There was cultural conflict. We'll say city, urban conflict, international conflict. Many disturbances. That was the situation. Ah, but here's where it gets interesting. The end of verse 6 says, "For God troubled them". "For God troubled them with their distresses". End of verse 6. Now, wait a minute. I would've thought with all that chaos, it would've said the devil troubled them. I would've thought, with all this confusion, verse 6 would end by saying the devil troubled them with every kind of distress, but it says God troubled them. So, now we're gonna mess with your thinking a little bit, because a lot of things you're blaming on the devil is God. There was no peace, the family disintegration, conflict, urban conflict, international conflict, and God says, "If you gon' blame somebody, blame me". See, a lot of us are blaming the wrong person, 'cause here's how it works in the world. If God is your problem, only God is your solution. If God is the cause, only God is the cure. You say, "But wait a minute. How can all this evil be given over to God"? Because God uses the devil to carry out his dirty work. 'Cause even the devil is not the devil. The devil is God's devil, 'cause the devil can only do what God allows him to do. So, even if the devil is messing with you, it's by divine permission. "For God troubled them with every kind of distress". Let me put it another way. The spiritual always precedes the natural. The spiritual governs the natural. The heavenly determines the earthl Okay, problem number one, for many days, an extended period of time, Israel was without the true God. Israel was not without religion. Israel was not without church attendance. Israel was not without choir singing. Israel was not without religious programming. It says Israel was without the true God. The key word is the word "true". They kept the name of God. They kept praying to God. They kept religious activity. They were doing all of that without the true God. So, evidently, you can have church without God. The biblical word for a false god is idol. That's the biblical word for a false god. An idol is any noun: person, place, thing, or thought, that you look to as your source. Now, in third-world countries, we would condemn their idolatry. In third world countries and in backward nations that haven't come into the 20th and the 21st century, they may worship trees or rocks or nature. Okay, we would condemn that. But in the West, we have designer idols. No, we don't worship trees and rocks. We have American idols. Let me look at some of the idols that we have that have replaced the true God. We've got the idol of, oh, let's see, race, where my color trumps God, where people get offended when you correct their blackness with the Bible, where folk get offended when you correct their whiteness with the Bible, because their race is more important than God's rules, where they wind up worshiping black being beautiful or white being right, rather than both having to be biblical. Whenever your race is your source of your ultimate identity, your race is an idol, and you are a false worshiper. Oh, let's look at another designer idol. Politics is a designer idol, where you think God rides the backs of a donkey or an elephant. Politics is a designer idol when you're more Democrat than godly, when you're more Republican than God, when God says one thing but you still talking about what your party says. In Ezekiel 43, God says, "How dare you bring the throne of your king and set it next to my throne, like we're equals". When God speaks, elephants got to sit down and donkeys got to back up. It's okay to be a Democrat, it's okay to be a Republican, as long as the Bible can overrule either or both, 'cause nobody should own you but the kingdom of God. Oh, let's see, do we have another designer idol? Let's see. Oh, yeah, science. Science is a designer idol, 'cause science teaches your kids not an evolutionary theory, but an evolutionary fact. Atheistic evolution is a fairytales for adults. It's a fairytale for adults. Because in the name of science, they deny God, and they set up a whole system of divine denial based on that science. So, because of that science, man becomes the ultimate definer of life. Man becomes the ultimate definer of meaning. Man becomes the ultimate definer of where God should be placed in the culture. When people elevate science... science is a beautiful thing, but all science does is show how God does stuff. He says there were idols. There are economic idols, the class idols. Because of a certain amount of money, or where a person lives, or the car they drive, they have elevated themselves to the height of pride, where they're better than other people who have been equally created in the image of God. So, it can come in shapes and forms. So, you don't have to be an overt God denier to be an idolater. All you've got to do is place anything or anybody in the place or the position of being the source of your identity. Then it doesn't matter how much you pray, 'cause you're praying to a false god, not the real God, 'cause the real God is not listening if you have another idol. Now, why, why, why were they worshiping a false god? Well, verse 3 tells us, 'cause the second thing it tells us is there was not a teaching priest. There was no teaching priest. It didn't say there were no preachers. He just said they weren't talking about nothing. They were talking smack. A lot of these problems that we have in our culture is because the church, Christians, have not risen to the occasion to be what God has called us to be, and it's just showing up in the public square. If your life is falling apart, you're in personal distress, then my responsibility, a leader's responsibility, even another believer's responsibility is to take the Word, show you what God says about whatever you're dealing with, then give you practical steps to apply what God said, then ask the Holy Spirit to take your practical steps of obedience, based on what God said, to bring change in your life. But what we've got is a generation of folk who change books. They use this book for some things. They use human understanding for other things. They use popular opinion for other things. And they wind up living in distress. The third thing it says is there was no law. There was no law. You see, when there's no true God, no teaching priest, there are no rules. People make up their own rules, you see. They either have no rules, or they have their own made-up rules, you know. People come up with their own, you know, they walk around, saying, "I know my truth". You know your truth? No, it's either truth or it's not truth. We want to adjust truth. We want to make truth "relevant". It's okay to be relevant as long as you're not changing truth, and truth is whatever God says on any subject about what he speaks. That's truth. So, if God says it, that is the Word about it. Science just has to catch up. No rules, wrong rules, your own rules, no standard. Was there a solution? Now that you understand how the world works, the spiritual governs it. If God has caused it, you don't know anybody who can fix it unless it's God using that person. Verse 4 gives us a solution, 'cause verse 4 says, "But in their distress, they turned to the Lord God of Israel. They sought him, and he let them find him". Ah, key word, "distress". "In their distress, they turned to the Lord God of Israel". That's the same word of verse 6. "God caused their distress". Verse 4 says, "But in their distress, they turned to the Lord God," which means God will let it get bad enough, long enough, till you wake up. 'Cause it was in their distress. See, God will let us get addicted. He'll let us get into all the consequences of our sin. He will let you go down, and down, and down, and down till the only way you can look is up. He won't let anybody fix it, any money be able to get you out of it. He will let the distress go down. But in their distress, when things got deep enough, bad enough, long enough, it says they called on the Lord God. Oh, watch this now. When they returned to the Lord God, he let them find him. Ah, so, God created distress. I told you about, you know, Sister Evans, when I met her, and she was not responding at the rate to which I was accustomed. Girlfriend was moving a little slow, so I had to help a sister out. So, in Baltimore, there's this amusement park called Gwynn Oaks Amusement Park. They had a roller coaster that did this... but the roller coaster would, like, go out to the end like it was gonna jump off and turn real quick. I said, "Give me two tickets". We got on the roller coaster for two. The wilder the ride got, the closer she got. By the time the ride was over, you thought only one person got on it. Why did I buy two tickets? I bought two tickets to create distress, because I knew the worse things got, the closer she'd get, you see. Sometimes God has to put us on a roller coaster ride so that we move over, and we slide over, and we get a little closer, and we get a little closer. So, if you're in distress, don't let that drive you away, draw you near, closer, so that you're like Jacob and say, "I'm not gonna let you go until you answer me". And when you do that, when you get close and want to live for him, want to please him, want to honor him, want to exalt him, want to draw near to him, then heaven opens up, and he lets you find him. He lets you find him. Everything visible and physical is preceded by that which is invisible and spiritual. So, if something needs to be changed or corrected in the visible physical realm, we must identify its invisible spiritual cause. Heaven has something to say about what's happening on earth. So many things are in chaos, out of order, in conflict in the world in which we live. On every level, whether it's people's personal lives or family disintegration, racial conflict, class conflict, political conflict, these earthly realities have a spiritual root. And if you skip the spiritual root and just try to fix the visible fruit, then you won't get to the source or the solution to the issues that need to be transformed and corrected. God must be consulted if correction is going to take place and improvement is going to come in our lives and our circumstances. Heaven rules. And when we understand that if we grab the spiritual, if we grab heaven and allow that to intervene in the circumstances of earth, then we will have put things in its proper order and proper perspective. As I like to say, if all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen. If we continue to only try to solve our earthly problems with earthly solutions, we will continue to live in earthly frustration and earthly failure. But if we will allow God's perspective, the reality of heaven, to interfere with and intervene with what we are dealing with on earth, then we will have positioned ourselves for real solutions, long-term solutions, because God doesn't make mistakes. In fact, if it's something God has allowed, that means only God can fix it. So, let's stay in touch with heaven, because earth is in trouble. We need to have earth touched with the power and presence of God in heaven so that order can replace chaos.   www.ocbfchurch.com . www.tonyevans.com.

Perhaps the biggest impediment to believing in God (as stated by those who don’t) is the presence of pain and suffering in the world. How can there be a God who is benevolent and omnipotent with the sheer volume of grief, misery, travail, and torment at any given moment? Today we explore the theme of a loving God in a universe pockmarked by pain. As Jesus was in Jerusalem with His disciples, they came across a blind man. I’d like to show you four features of this most common and universal of human experiences. www.skipheitzig.com .

TRANSCRIPTION Judges 6-7 - Skip Heitzig Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience a life change that comes from knowing God's Word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. We're in the book of Judges 6. A few years back, I had a privilege to go to India, and I think it was the first time that I went. We were out with a group street witnessing in a town, in a village, and we noticed that the people in the area were hostile toward the message. We used interpreters. They were using their native language and dialects. And so we started sharing, and I noticed that after a while we were surrounded by people, people all around us, and they did not look happy at us. And so as the crowd grew, I turned to my interpreter and I said, can you tell me what's going on? And he said to me in that sweet Indian accent-- Ravinder, sorry, I'm going to probably butcher it-- but he said, (INDIAN ACCENT) I think we are going to get beat up. And I thought, you're kidding me, right? He goes, (INDIAN ACCENT) No, I think we are going to get beat up. Well, we didn't end up getting beat up, but we were surrounded and the Lord did disperse the crowd, I suppose. Did you know that we are surrounded as believers in this world? What we believe and what we stand for, the people of this world, the value system of this world is not simpatico with us. We are surrounded, and we are surrounded by hostile beings. And I just don't mean on the physical, but in the spiritual. Paul said, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts-- that means armies, spiritual armies-- of wickedness in heavenly places. We are in the midst of a battle. The children of Israel, as we open up chapter 6 of the book of Judges, finds themselves surrounded by conflict. Now, part of the problem for the children of Israel is they should have gotten rid of their enemies a lot sooner. When they settled the land, we recorded in chapter 2:1-2, that they let the people of the land live among them. They made covenants with them. They didn't do what the Lord told them. And when you live that way, when you don't obey the Lord in the present, your past has a habit of catching up with you. It catches up with them, so they are continually plagued by people. They are surrounded by enemies. Now, though we are surrounded-- and I have to say this, too. I just sort of launched into that little thing on spiritual warfare. We are also are surrounded by God's angels. We sometimes just focus on the demonic hordes that are against us, and that's true. But 1/3 of the angels of heaven fell. That means 2/3 didn't fall. 2/3 are on our side. They are dispatched, according to the book of Hebrews, to those of us who are heirs of salvation. Not only that, but greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. So you have the Holy Spirit in you, as well as those resources on the outside. So yeah, we're surrounded, but in effect, they're surrounded. And God is going to get the victory in the end. Something else, and we see it here in this book. When we face battles, we discover that sometimes God seems to cut down on our resources, so it looks like we don't have all that we need to fight the battle. Why does He do that? Why does He cut down the visible resources? To trust. I heard somebody whisper that. Exactly. So that we might learn to trust Him. I've told this story a dozen or so times. But when I was in school and college-- and I was on a very minimal stipend income for the scholarship that I had in radiology-- I thought I budgeted for my groceries. I didn't quite budget right. And so I came down to-- right before I was going to get paid, I had peanut butter and jelly and a few slices of bread. But I thought, I can make this stretch to the end of the week. And the end of the week came and I ran out of bread and jelly. So I just had a spoon with peanut butter, right? So I'm thinking, Lord at any time now you could provide. Now would be a good time. But watch here how the Lord, in this story-- if God willing, we get to it-- see how the Lord strips them of their outward resources to get them to trust in the Lord. In chapter 6, verse 1, it says "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord." This is beginning to be a pattern. "So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds, which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown"-- that is, planted their crops, their seed-- "Midianites would come up. Also, the Malachites and the people of the east would come up against them." Now these are marauding bands, like Bedouin type people. They lived in tents. They didn't build cities. These two people groups, by and large, just lived according to the seasons with their flocks, and they looked for opportunities to feed their huge numbers of people. Let me tell you a little bit about these people because we need to get a historical reality check. First of all, there are Midianites. Midian was a son of Abraham. When Sarah died, Abraham remarried a woman by the name of Keturah. That's Genesis 25. He had six sons through that gal, and the fourth born son was a guy by the name of Midian. And these are the descendants of that Midian. So he is the offspring of Abraham that settled in that area. The Midianites settled in what we would today call Saudi Arabia, northwest Saudi Arabia, closer toward the Gulf of Eilat, if you have a map in the back of your Bible. And that's where they settled, but they would maraud. They would attack these areas for their people and for their flocks. Later on in the book of Exodus, we find that Moses' father-in-law, by the name of Jethro, was a priest of Midian. So it's all that region where Moses took his family and the children of Israel when they went through the wilderness. Now, later on, the Midianites become enemies to the children of Israel as they wander through the desert. So a guy by the name of Balak-- remember Balak? Balak tells the elders of Midian that you have the children of Israel. They're going to take over everything. If you let them come into this land, they're going to take over your land, my land, everything. So Balak instructed the elders of Midian to call for a guy by the name of Balaam, who would pronounce curses on them. He ended up blessing them instead of cursing them. But he came up with an ingenious plan because he knew that if the children of Israel were tempted centrally enough, that God would judge them if they sinned in that area. So he said, get some of the young Midianite women to come into the camp and lay with them sexually, and that's exactly what happened. And a plague swept throughout the camp of Israel. You know the story, I'm just quickly tell it to you. But that's the background of the Midianites. The Amalekites, Amalek, was the grandson of Esau. Esau was the brother of Jacob. Esau was the man of the flesh, right? He didn't care about his spiritual birthright. He sold his spiritual birthright for a bowl of red chili stew. And he became one who lived after fulfilling the desires of the flesh. Amalek, the Amalekites, his grandchildren, seemed to take that over throughout history. So the Amalekites kites were the first people group to attack Israel when they left Egypt on their way out of Egypt toward the land of promise. The Amalekites came to a place called Rephidim, and there they attacked Israel. And you'll know this story because Moses stood on a hill and Aaron and Hur lifted up the hands of Moses. And as long as the hands of Moses were lifted up against the Amalekites, Israel prevailed. When the hands went down, the Amalekites prevailed. Now, the Amalekites and Amalek does become a type of the flesh. And God said, you're going to have war with Amalek from generation to generation. That's Exodus chapter 17. Because they kept compromising with them and settling with them. Now later on, it's going to turn around and bite them. The first king of Israel, Saul, goes out to battle against the Amalekites. So they're still around during the monarchy. Saul goes out to battle, does not kill the King Agag. Keeps some of the kings and some of the entourage, as well as some of the choice animals for himself. And he comes back into the camp. Saul comes back and Samuel the prophet says, hey, there Saul. What are you doing? He goes, oh, I've just come back from obeying the voice of the Lord. I did everything God told me to do. Now, God told him to wipe out the Amalekites. Samuel said, if you obeyed God fully, then what is the bleating of the sheep that I hear in my ears and the lowing of the cattle? He said, well, you know, I've kept these animals to sacrifice to the Lord. You get really spiritual when somebody puts their finger in your chest like that. So he came up with a spiritual excuse, but he also kept Agag, who was an Amalekite. Agag was the king. And obviously, not only Agag, but a whole bunch of his family survived, because much later on, there will arise a man in the court of Persia by the name of Haman, the Agagite, who comes up with a plan to destroy every single Jew alive in the empire. That's the story of Esther. So the Amalekites proved to be problematic, all the way from way back, all the way through much of their early history on into the history, even when they were in Persia. So the mention here deserves sort of a summation of us understanding who these people were. So verse 4. They would encamp against them, destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza. So I just want you to know that we're dealing with the area of the north, all the way down south. You've heard of the Gaza Strip, today where the Palestinian refugee camps are. Gaza is down south. So these Amalekites and Midianites have basically dominated the entire land of Israel from north to south. "And they leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkey, for they would come up with their livestock and their tents coming in as numerous as locusts. Both they and their camels were without number. And they would enter the land to destroy it, so Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord." Let's see how the Lord responds to that cry. "It came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel." Now, this is a prophet who is unnamed. We don't know who he is, but he is noteworthy because there is only two people in the book of Judges that are known as prophets, this guy and the gal in the previous couple chapters. Deborah was a prophetess. Now we have an unnamed prophet. But he comes in, he delivers a message. So "the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppress you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also, I said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice." This prophet does not come like the prophetess Deborah, to give a prophecy and to become the deliverer. This prophet only comes to speak God's word of rebuke to them, not deliver them from their oppression. They cry out to God. God sends them a prophet. The prophet speaks to them words of indictment, words of rebuke, saying just so you know-- because a deliverer is coming. His name is Gideon. But just so you know, this is because-- you are in this because-- you have walked away from God. So the prophet is there to rebuke them to get them to further cry out to the Lord, to get them to pray harder, you might say. I wonder how many things the Lord allows in our life just so he can hear from us more often. Everything's good. We're not really praying that much. Everything's great. We're not really reading our Bible all that much. We get a little inconvenience-- oh, God. It's like God kind of smiles and goes, you know, I haven't heard from you in a while. Great to hear from you. "Now the angel of the Lord"-- verse 11-- "came and sat under the terebinth tree, which was in Ophrah-- not Oprah, but Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite-- and Abiezrite is a clan, a family of the tribe of Manasseh-- while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. You have to understand this setup. Whenever you would thresh wheat in those days, you would typically thresh wheat on a threshing floor, a rock surface, on a raised hill. The reason you want a raised hill is because you want to take advantage of the prevailing winds that are in that part of the world that come just about every evening, every afternoon and evening. The winds come from the Mediterranean and they softly blow. So you want to get on a raised hill so that you can, with your winnowing fork, throw the grain up in the air, the stock and all. And the chaff, which is lighter than the meat of the grain, the chaff blows away in the wind and the grain goes back to the rock surface. So that way you can separate the chaff from the wheat. That's how you winnow it. When you want to press wine, the winepress was always in the lowest part of the valley because when you squeeze the grapes the juice runs out, so you pick the lowest spot to do that. So we find Gideon. Because he's so afraid of the Midianites, he doesn't want to do it in plain sight. So because he is so fearful, he is so afraid, like everybody else in the land, he is winnowing down in the valley, in the low place, down where the winepress is. And the wind isn't that great. So you throw it up in the air and it just all goes back down. It's very frustrating. That's what he's doing. So I set that up because I want you to get what the angel of the Lord says to Gideon. So verse 12. "The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor." Now, that could be sarcasm. He could have just sort of smiled and winked, hey, Mr. Courageous, down here in the winepress, winnowing. Or, or he is speaking a prophecy. It's as if the Lord says, I know you're a scaredy cat, but I've got big plan for you to become a mighty warrior and I'm going to speak this word because this is what you are going to become. You might be scared today, but when you're an instrument in God's hands, you're going to become a mighty man of valor. That's what I think he's doing. Just like the Lord Jesus sometimes renamed people based upon what he knew they were going to become, rather than what they were at the moment. So I love that about God. I'm going to turn you into this. This is what I'm going to make you. And history shows that he became one. "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor." And Gideon said to him-- I'm sure Gideon looked around, like is there somebody else here that I don't know about? Gideon said to him, "Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us and where are all his miracles, which our fathers told us about saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." What a statement from Gideon, from this mighty man of valor. The Lord is with you. Really? If the Lord is with us, then how come I don't see the miracles I read about or heard about. Where's God now? I don't see any evidence of God. I don't see any signs and wonders. Because he says this, now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Boy, talk about being a revisionist. The Lord hadn't forsaken them, they have forsaken Him. That's the reality. He's got it all wrong. Then the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. That's the command. Have I not sent you? So he said to him, oh, my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. You know, sometimes God has a hard time getting people to surrender to him as vessels. Sometimes the Lord wants to use people, but with some folks it's hard. God wanted to use Moses. Moses, I've sent you to Pharaoh. Who am I? I can't even talk right. I-- I-- I stutter. I can't do this. The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, I'm going to use you to speak to the nation. Are you? I can't be your spokesperson, I'm so young. God has a tough time using some folks. Gideon, I want you to go. I can't go, I belong to a bad, crummy family. We're all poor. We can't really do anything. I didn't live a great childhood. I'm the least in my father's house. "And the Lord said to him, surely I will be with you." It's all you need. That's everything. Doesn't matter who you are, it matters who He is with you. "Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man." Then he said to him, "if now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you. And he said, I will wait until you come back. Then Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour"-- unleavened because he has to do it quickly. He didn't want to let it rise. "The meat he put in a basket and he put the broth in a pot. And he brought them out to him under the terebinth tree and presented them. The angel of God said to him, take the meat and unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. And the angel of the Lord put out the end of his staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight." He wanted to sign. This is a pretty good one, right? The thing just went up in flames. Now, once again, we are introduced to the angel of the Lord. And I've told you before that I believe the angel of the Lord is a theophany, or more precisely, a christophany, an appearance of Christ, a pre-incarnate apparition of Christ in the Old Testament. And that is because in most all of the occurrences of the angel of the Lord, either the angel or the audience, the person watching or interacting with the angel, acknowledges deity. Either the angel of the Lord will say that he is the Lord or the person will recognize this is the Lord. So for example, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar in the book of Genesis and gave a promise that God is going to work through her and through her offspring, she gave a name to the angel of the Lord. You are the Lord who sees. You are Yahweh-Roi, she said to the angel of the Lord. You are the Lord who sees. That's one instance. On Mount Mariah, the angel of the Lord indicated to Abraham that he was the Lord. At Bethel, when the Lord appeared to Jacob, again, the angel of the Lord identified himself as the Lord. So we find this all the way throughout the Scripture. Look at verse 22. "Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord." Now I don't know if it's in your Bible, but in my Bible, He is capitalized and Angel is capitalized. That's the translators doing that, because the original Hebrew has no capitals in the documents that we work off of. But in English, they're capitalized because the translator wants you to know this is probably the Lord Himself. "He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, alas, oh Lord God, for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said to him, peace be with you." I love this. He's all scared, like I'm going to die. I'm going to die. And the Lord comes back and says, peace. Peace. Settles him down. Peace. That's the Lord's heart, wants to speak to you His peace. "Peace be with you. Do not fear. You shall not die." I think the Lord wants us to hear that tonight during this pandemic, during this time of great fear. I'm going to die. Peace. You're not going to die. My peace I give to you. "Do not fear. You shall not die. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Yahweh-Shalom, the Lord is Peace, the Lord Shalom." To this day, it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. "Now it came to pass that same night that the Lord said to him, take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal"-- this is interesting-- "that your father has. And cut down the wooden images, that is, the wooden image that is beside him." Interesting that in Gideon's own backyard, his dad has an altar, a cult worship idol. I've told you before about syncretism. One of the problems of ancient Israel wasn't that they denied God. They didn't deny Yahweh, as much as they worshipped God. They worshipped Yahweh. But they also worshipped other gods and goddesses. So they just brought it all together, and they conflated these different religious systems into a smorgasbord of different ideologies, and that was their worship. It's like, well, there's a lot of different ideas and ideologies. I can't afford to make anybody mad. I don't want to insult anybody. Just worship them all. So in his own backyard, he's got this idol happening. So the Lord says, OK, first thing I want you to do is to take this animal, this bull-- and notice how old the bull is. It's specified in the text. How old? Seven. Do you think this is here by accident? Probably not. I think every time you find a detail you should ask yourself why. Now here's why I guess. The Midianites oppressed Israel, we are told at the beginning of this chapter, seven years. So get a seven-year-old animal. This animal has been alive as long as the Midianites and Amalekites have troubled your land. Let's kill it. Let's get rid of it. Because I'm going to do a new thing and I'm going to drive your enemy out and this worship system out and reign over Israel. So tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image. I am presuming it's the Ugaritic goddess Asherah that we have seen mentioned in this book already. "And build an altar"-- verse 26-- "to the Lord your God on the top of this rock in the proper arrangement. And take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image, which you shall cut down. So Gideon took 10 men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night." Now you can say he was a coward. He was a chicken. He should have done it if he was a man of faith. Remember, he's the guy threshing wheat in a winepress. So God is working with this "mighty man of valor." He's going to get there in stages. Don't be too hard on him, just like you shouldn't be too hard on Nicodemus who came to see Jesus at night. I've heard so many preachers just bad mouth him. Hey, he came to Jesus at night. Give him credit for that. Hey, he tore down the altar here give. Him credit for that. He did obey. "And when the men of this city rose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal torn down and the wooden image that was beside it cut down and the second bull was being offered on the altar which he had built." Question. Why was it that the Lord wanted Gideon to tear down his father's altar? Well, what is God calling Gideon to do? Deliver the children of Israel from their enemy. That's what He is going to do, the Midianites. So if you're going to lead people publicly, you better live it out personally. You start in your own backyard. You start with your own household. If you're going to be the guy out there, you begin at home. You begin with your family. You begin there. So that's where he's called to begin. By the way, you know what the name Gideon means? Hacker. Hewer. Hewer, actually, somebody who cuts down. So it's like the Lord is saying, hey, hacker. You hack. Time to live up to your name and hack that alter down. Let's get at it. Hack away. "So they said to one another"-- verse 29-- "who has done this thing? And when they had inquired and asked and said, Gideon, the son of Joash has done this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it. Joash said to all who stood against him, would you plead for Baal?" Really? You have to fight for your god? Your god won't fight for you so you have to defend your god. Would you plead for Baal? "Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him plead for himself because his altar has been torn down." Now, this is fascinating to me. The boldness of Gideon inspired his dad to take a stand for righteousness. He was just sort of going along with everybody and everything up to this point, but just seeing the example of his son and the boldness of his son inspired him to stand for Yahweh. And I like that. So a lot of times we think parents influence their children, and they should and they do, but sometimes children influence parents and they take a bold stand. And I love how the son's boldness and faith in God inspired dad to put this gauntlet down. Therefore, on that day, he called him Jerubbaal, or Yerubbaal, saying, let Baal plead against him because he has torn down his altar. That means Baal pleads or let Baal plead. That's what the name means, so they renamed him. "Then all the Midianites and Amalekites and people of the east gathered together and they crossed over and they encamped in the valley of Jezreel." Or for you New Testament folks, the valley of Armageddon. Same valley. Valley of Jezreel, Valley of Esdraelon, Valley of Armageddon. It's that whole northern plain, that vast farmland in the north. But verse 30, "for the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. And then he blew the trumpet and the Abiezrites gathered behind him." That is his own family, his own clan. "And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him." so. Now his own tribe. He also sent messengers to Asher, a neighboring tribe, Zebulon and Naphtali, two other neighboring tribes, "and they came up to meet them." And we'll discover how many of the children of Israel came up to meet him, 32,000 of them gathered together with Gideon. Now, it says in verse 34, "the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon." Let me give you the literal translation. It's very picturesque. The Spirit of the Lord clothed himself with Gideon. Isn't that interesting? The Spirit of the Lord clothed himself with Gideon. That really is a beautiful definition of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Think of being filled with the Spirit like a glove. The hand that does the work puts itself into the glove, and the hand is controlling the glove. Your life is that glove. He fills you with His Spirit, so that glove becomes His clothing. He does the work. He empowers. The glove gets to come along for the ride, but the hand is doing the work. So the Spirit of the Lord clothed himself with Gideon. Here's a prayer. Lord, may I be your suit of clothes today. May you do a work in my family, in my world, in my neighborhood through me. I want you to clothe yourself with me. That really is a beautiful prayer. That really is the idea of being filled with the Holy Spirit. So many times I hear people say, I want more of the Holy Spirit. I need more of the Holy Spirit. No, no, no, no. The Holy Spirit needs more of you. You surrender yourself to Him, He's the one that does the work. You, with all that power of the Holy Spirit at your disposal, you'd be scary, man. That's like giving you the red button to push, the nuclear pack. No thank you. But when the Holy Spirit, who knows what He's doing, has you, you get the excitement of coming along for the ride, being part of the work. Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon. "And Gideon said"-- verse 36-- "to God, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only and it's dry on all the ground, then I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." Boy, this guy likes signs, doesn't he? And it was so. He rose early the next morning, squeezed the fleece together, wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. You would think, OK, OK. That's good. I'm good with that. "Then Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me and let me speak just once more. Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on the ground, let there be dew." That is all around the fleece. "And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only but there was dew on the ground." So here's Gideon. He's thinking, it could just be a fluke, the way the temperature goes down and the moisture goes in the air. A soft material like this would tend to gather more moisture than a dry surface, so that's why I need to reverse it. I don't know what he was thinking. But this is a famous portion of Scripture, Gideon's fleece, that I ever heard abused, or at least misused, by a number of believers, who will say, I'm asking the Lord for a fleece. I'm putting a fleece out. You've heard that before. That's terminology that they use. Now, what they mean by that is I am trying to determine what the will of God is so I'm going to do something or ask God to do something, like Gideon did with the fleece. First of all, Gideon isn't trying to find the will of God. He knows the will of God. God told him, go. Defeat the Midianites. It's going to happen. So he's not using this to determine the will of God. Gideon wants a confirmation. Not a determination, a confirmation of the presence and the power of God. So be careful when you say, I'm putting a fleece out. I need a sign. Jesus said a wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Folks, you have the Holy Spirit living in you, in you. He came upon Gideon. He lives in you. He resides in you. So it's one thing to ask God for direction, ask God for guidance. But how about this? What if God says, I have a better plan. Don't ask me for guidance. How about if we let the guide Himself live inside you? If the guide lives in you, you're all set. He'll take care of the guidance because the guide lives inside of you. Something else. When I hear people say I'm putting out a fleece, I want God to show me his will, they usually look for a natural sign, a natural sign. Well, if the phone rings at 1:00 in the afternoon, then it's from the Lord. This was not a natural sign that Gideon asked for, nor got. Both of them were supernatural signs, supernatural. Oh, by the way, if you ask God for the 1 o'clock phone call, what do you do if the phone call comes at 1:10? You say, well, that's good enough. God has a 10% margin of error. No, you'd probably scratch your head and go, gosh, was that really the Lord? Because wouldn't the Lord, if you ask him for a 1:00, be 1:00 promptly? Just a thought. I'll let you wrestle with that. "Then"-- verse 1-- Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose and encamped beside the well of Harod so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of him by the hill of Moreh in the valley. I tell you what, I wish we were in the land of Israel right now, because this passage is just so fun to teach standing by that very brook and well of Harod. Looking at Mount Gilboa to one side and the camp down by the hill, where the other mountains are, were the Midianites, where you can see it all. I don't even know why I said that. I just taunted you and made you wish that you can go to Israel and you maybe can't, so sorry about that. I'll get back to the text. "And the Lord said Gideon"-- now, before we get to what the Lord said to Gideon, Gideon, as I mentioned, has 32,000 troops, who have volunteered. All these tribes come. The Midianites have more than 135,000. That's about how many die in this battle, so presumably they had hundreds of thousands. But let's just say 135,000 to 32,000. Israel safely is outnumbered 4:1. "So the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many." Now, if you're Gideon, you're going, uh, I was just about to say I have too few men and you're telling me I have too many. But notice the language. "The people who are with you are too many for me-- for me-- to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying my own hand saved me. Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilboa." Gideon, before you go to battle, you have too many men. Because if you win this battle with a 4:1 odds, you're going to come home from the battle patting yourselves on the back going, man, are we warriors or what? There've been plenty of battles in history where men have been outnumbered and they won the battle. But if you make the odds ridiculous, if you stack the odds against you so that there's no way you could win except for God, you can't brag about it. You can't boast about. So it's too many for me to do it. There is a principle I want you to learn. Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the one doing the work. Who is going to do the fighting in the battle? The Lord is. The Lord promises to be the one delivering. So it doesn't matter if there's one guy or a million guys, God is doing it. So numbers really aren't an issue. So He says there's too many. So He says, go to your men and tell them, whoever's scared, if anybody is fearful and afraid, go home. Depart from Mount Gilead. And look at verse 3 at the end, "and 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained." So now there's not 32,000 against 135,000. Now there are 10,000. And all he had to say is, hey, you know what? Before you get into battle, anybody here scared? Go home. Really, it's OK. And they all said, OK, and they just left. Now, that shouldn't surprise you. That is actually a principle. Back in Deuteronomy-- you don't have to turn there, but if you're quick with your fingers, you can-- Deuteronomy 20, God says, when you go to battle, have the priest approach the people and give them a mandate. Tell them you're about to fight a battle. The Lord is going to give you victory, but there is a few reasons why you can stay home from the battle. Number 1, if you've planted a vineyard but you haven't eaten of it, stay home. If you built a house but haven't dedicated it, stay home. If you're newly married, stay home. I mean, your wife's been looking forward to this and you're just going to go get married and go right out to war? No, no. Just go enjoy your honeymoon. Stay home. But then he says this. This is Deuteronomy chapter 20. "Speak further to the people and say, what man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart." Here's the principle. Faith is contagious, but so is fear. If those 22,000 men would have entered the battle and ran away in the midst of the battle, everybody would have run away. It would cause sheer panic to break out. Fear is contagious. Knowing that fear is contagious, get rid of those who are afraid. If they're living by fear-- I'm surrounded by fear. They can't get out because of fear, stay home. Stay home. Don't go to battle. Don't fight. We don't want your fear spilling out into the others. So 22,000 left. Now he's got 10,000. "And the Lord said to Gideon"-- this back in Judges now, verse 4 chapter 7-- "the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And it will be that of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, the same shall go with you. And whoever I say to you, this one shall not go with you, the same shall not go." So he brought the people down to the water. "The Lord said to Gideon, every one who laps from the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself. Likewise, everyone who gets down on his knees to drink. And the number of those who lap, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men. But all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. And then the Lord said to Gideon, by the 300 men who lapped, I will save you, deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people, so every man, go every man to his place. So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands, and he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those 300 men. Now that the of Midian was below him in the valley." If you have ever done any stint of duty in the United States military, I almost am certain you were not tested in this manner before you were allowed to get in or kicked out. Nobody said, let me see how you drink water. No, its usually let me see how you can handle that weapon. Let me see how your physical stamina will be in running long distance with a pack on your back, et cetera. Let's see how you are with others in the battle. This probably is not one of them. But in ancient times, this made sense. You see, this was a test. It was a test of urgency. The first was the test of courage. If you're fearful, go home. Now it's a test of urgency. So you could drink a couple of different ways. You could bow all the way down to the ground, like on all fours, and drink right out of the river. Or you could bend down slightly, kind of crouched down slightly, take your hands, put the water in your hands, bring the water up to your mouth. And only 300 did that, proving that they, let's call it, "lived in the yellow." Ever heard that phrase? In law enforcement or in training, they tell you to live in the yellow. A guy named Cooper came up with a color code-- white, yellow, orange, and red-- and that aware people should live, and do live, in the yellow. A lot of people just sort of live their lives in the white-- there's no problem. There's no big deal. And then if something escalates to a life-threatening situation, red, they are totally unprepared and typically will die. So a person who is prepared walks and looks at things and notices things, and walks into a room and takes note of people and situations and thinks, if there is an emergency, how would I handle it? What would I do? OK, so that's living in the yellow. So if you're a soldier and you bend all the way down to the ground, now you're just staring at the ground. You are temporarily incapacitated. If you bring the water to your mouth, you can still look around and notice things, and if an emergency situation arose, you're on your feet and you can fight. So it's a test of urgency and preparedness. They're going to drink water, but they're going to do it in a very circumspect way. There's a good little principle here. Sometimes some people take a lot of unnecessary time with necessary things. You got to drink water, that's necessary. But you can do it, or you can make it an elaborate thing and just spend so much time doing it. So if you're going to fight in my army, Gideon said, do it quickly, do it circumspectfully, and be ready to fight. And it happened, verse 9. "On the same night, the Lord said to him, arise. Go down to the camp, for I have delivered into your hands. But if you are afraid to go"-- boy, he knew Gideon-- "but if you're afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant, and you shall hear what they say. And afterwards, your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. And he went down with Purah,"-- his servant, which indicated he was, indeed, afraid-- "to the outpost of the armed men who were there in the camp." After all, he's got 300 guys. I don't blame him. I'm going to do that. I have 300 men. I'm going to fight hundreds of thousands of enemy, Purah, let's go. "Now the Midiantes and the Malachites, all the people of the east, were lying in the valley, as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number as the sand by the seashore in multitude. And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, I've just had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian." Now, barley is what the poor ate. And remember, Gideon said, I'm poor. I come from a poor family. I come from the least in my father's house. And the children of Israel were impoverished by the onslaught of these marauding tribes. "A barley loaf in the dream tumbled into the camp of Midian." And listen, this is a pretty big loaf of bread, but dreams are like that. "It came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned and the tent collapsed." That's one big, mighty loaf of bread. Where's the beef? "Then his companion answered and said, this is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp." He comes down into the camp. Gideon hears at exactly the right moment a guy telling his dream and a guy interpreting the dream for him. He said he wanted a sign. God said, if you're afraid, go down and listen to this conversation. He does. So it was when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation that he worshiped. I love that. You must first be a worshiper before you are a warrior. You want to be a good warrior, learn to be a good worshipper. Public victories are the result of private devotions. So he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand. And he divided 300 men into three companies, put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. He said to them, look at me and do likewise. Watch. When I come to the edge of the camp, you shall do just as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you shall blow the trumpet on every side of the whole camp and say, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." 300 are about to go into battle, 300. Untrained, probably, for the most part, but it's a lean, mean, fighting machine against hundreds of thousands of enemy. As you watch this, you might be tempted to say, does the Lord want to kill them? No. The Lord wants to get the victory, and often-- as I mentioned, here's the principle-- God stacks the odds against us. I want you to know that if you feel overwhelmed, God will often stack the odds against us so that He might get the victory. Elijah was against 300 prophets of Baal. And then God told him, put water on the altar. Or Elijah told them, pour water on the altar. Doused his altar completely with water so it wouldn't burn, and then fire fell down from heaven and consumed it. The odds were stacked against him in that situation. Jesus told the 11 disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's the odds stacked against us. Sometimes-- and this is really rare in the church-- sometimes you don't need more people. And I say it's rare in the church because, typically, the church never thinks fewer is better. Bigger is always better. Well, I understand that, and I hear you. And I've had people say, would you make an announcement for this ministry or that mission, we need more people. We just don't have enough people. Listen, you don't always need more people. Sometimes you just need the right people. Because more people can just muck it up. A few of the best people and you could be on your game. And so you will find that as a principle throughout the Scripture that sometimes fewer is better. We're going to get to it in 1 Samuel, but Jonathan and his armor bearer are going to go into the camp of the Philistines. And Jonathan will say to his armor bearer, what restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few? God could use an entire army. But you know what? God could just use you and me, just us two. Just us two. And the Lord did, just two of them. So Gideon and his men did that. They blew their trumpets. They broke the pitchers. So they heard 300 cracks. They heard and saw flashes of fire and trumpets being blown, and people scattered and they were defeated before Israel. In verse 24, "Gideon sent messengers throughout the mountains of Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites. Seize them from the watering places as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan." That's down at the crossing. That's down where Jesus was baptized, way, way, way down there. "Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seized the watering places as far as Beth Barah the Jordan. And they captured two princes of the Midiantes, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb." Fitting. "They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan." They won the victory, but it's going to create problems. The problem it's going to create is the largest tribe and most powerful tribe in the north, the tribe of Ephraim, wasn't included. And when they heard that there was a battle and they didn't get invited to the fight, they get jealous. And jealous people are the ruin of anything God wants to do. And so they'll iron it out, but it does become an issue because of that, but we'll get into that in chapter 8. Father, we want to thank you for an opportunity to look at one of the great stories in the Bible, one of the great battles that Israel, a people who have largely, for generations, been greatly outnumbered by hundreds of millions of enemies all around, and have survived. We read their early history in these chapters. And we need to remind ourselves that it's the same God, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that these principles are principles that are still in effect today. I pray you will speak peace to your people. I pray, Lord, that you would tell them, once again, you don't have to be afraid. You're not going to die. And if something happens where you do die, you're going to heaven, so I've got you covered. I just pray that you would bring comfort and peace to your people during this time. Lord, we need a fresh boost of it. Lord, if we are feeling overwhelmed, if we are feeling outnumbered, just remind us that you are with us. And because you are with us, if God be for us, then who can be against us? Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the New Covenant. Lord, we have so many enemies all around us, but we have your angelic hosts also surrounding us, sent to minister to those of us who are heirs of salvation. And we have your Holy Spirit, and we pray that He would fill our lives like a hand fills a glove. Clothe yourself, Holy Spirit, with our lives. Use us for Your sake, for Your glory, for Your purpose, that we might extend Your truth throughout all the earth. It's in Jesus' name we ask, amen. Let's all stand. For more resources from Calvary Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church . Thank you for joining us during this teaching in our Expound series.