Transcription
So, church, with that, let's stand and open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I've had a plan about going from verse one, then from verse 2 to 5, and from 5 to 11, and I've just abandoned all of that, uh, to what I hope is just the will of God. Um, here is one of the glorious chapters. Some will say the greatest chapter for the believer in all of the Bible. It begins by announcing, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," and it ends with, "There's no separation of the believer from God." And as one scholar pointed out, right in the middle of the book, it also adds, "And there's no defeat to the Christian." So this is the glory, this is the, this is the crowning high mark of, uh, biblical New Testament theology, no doubt. Um, so I, I've resigned to this: we're going to go through it as we go through it. We're going to be done with chapter 8 when we're done. So don't ask me again, "Can you pick up the pace, Pastor? It's taking so long. Where are you going anyway?" It's the book of Romans. It's the best place to park if you're going to park. So that's what we're going to do.
Romans chapter 8. I'll begin reading in verse one, if you'll take it down to the section we will end someday in verse 8. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." The Christus free! For what the law could not do — notice the law is limited in what it can perform, in that it was weak through the flesh — God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And you would say, "Why would He do that?" On account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. The [Applause] us not ACC to, to verse five: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the [Applause] Spirit." Peace. Verse seven: "Because the carnal mind, the mind that thinks fleshly thoughts, is at war against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." Father, bless the going forth of Your Word to our hearts, we pray. And after it's in our hearts, God, may it go to our feet and to our hands, to our mouths in this world, we pray. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, "Amen." You may be seated.
Church, we're looking at, uh, this series that we've titled "The Declaration of Dependence," and that is the dependence of the believer upon God. And that is the great lesson that the Apostle is teaching us, having come out of Romans chapter 7 and him announcing the frustrations of the battle of the Christian Life — that what we want to do, desire to do, long to do as a believer, we find ourselves often crippled, derailed, or sometimes sidelined by the power of the flesh that wars against our brand new spiritual passions. We have spiritual passions for God now as a believer. And I told you before that Romans 7 is viewed by scholars in different ways, and I happen to be in a camp — I'll admit, I happen to be in a camp of a few — and that is this: I believe Paul, as a believer, is not recounting his previous Christ, uh, non-Christian days. I believe that when he was — he was not a Christian — he felt fine about his relationship with God. In other places he writes about his achievements: Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, concerning zeal more energetic than anybody else, the knowledge of the word. He said that he was just beyond everybody else, and that concerning righteousness, he said nobody came close, close to me. Then he met Jesus, and you could just see the — you can see the air come out of him, the hot air that is — the religious self-righteous hot air come out of him. And he woke up to the realization that he was the chief of sinners. You cannot view yourself as the chief of sinners without meeting Jesus. And so to me, Romans 7 is him telling us, "This is what the life of the flesh is all about. And, oh by the way, now that you're a Christian, notice that you have a real war that goes on now." See, I thank God for Romans chapter 7 because it tells me that if the great Apostle had a struggle, then it surely answers the issues I have in my life. I, I hope I speak for you. None of us wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, man, how can I sin today?" No, we wake up as believers saying, "Lord, what are we going to do today? What's going to go on today?" And then when we get slammed by a bad thought or a temptation, we're the ones that are disgusted. We don't try to hide it. We run straight to God with it. We say, "Lord, I, I just wanted this to be the best day with You, and I — and then I had this bad thought." And God says, "That's nothing. Listen, confess that to Me." Homo — say the same word to Me that I've said about it. "Lord, it's sin. It's selfishness. It was temper. It was anger. It was lustful. It was egocentric. And that sick — and it put You on the cross." And Jesus says, "Thank you for that. Now get up and go." And you get up and you go. And, uh, where do you go? Romans chapter 8: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Church, uh, we learned that in the, in the very first verse. And it's this: that the Christian's Declaration of Dependence is wrapped up in the fact that we have absolute freedom now. Freedom! "There is therefore" — remember — "no, never, cannot be ever — condemnation to those who are in" — that's a qualifying statement — "in Christ Jesus." We'll learn more about this today. But in Christ Jesus, friends, jot it down: the born-again believer must have — biblically it's clear — experiences the fullness of salvation and the full assurance of salvation. Are we still struggling? Yes. But is our hearts set on a pilgrimage to Christ? Yes. Do we want to live for God in every way, shape, and form? Yes. This fact about you and I experiencing the full assurance of salvation is throughout Scripture, and it should be something that brings you great comfort. Don't answer out loud: do you want Jesus Christ to rule and reign in your life? If the answer to that is yes, it's because the Holy Spirit lives in you. And because the Spirit of God is in you, it's His job and it's His love to get you all the way through into heaven. And you're not going to be born again — you were born again, that's how He moved in.
Imagine you see a house for sale these days. It's happening on my street. There's a house for sale. Soon as a sign went up, there was a stream of cars, and there was a line of people trying to get in to buy the house. And in this day and age, it's absolutely crazy because I was told that people are bringing briefcases of cash. You got to be crazy, but people want to buy homes so badly that they're bringing the cash right to the moment. Wow. What does that mean? That means you're serious. That means they want to move in now. Somebody told me that somebody came, uh, to their home to buy their house. They paid, uh, tens of thousands over the asking price just to get the house. And then when they got in the house, they said, "You know what? We like the house. Um, you, you get your clothes. Leave. Leave your furniture. Everything. You can take the food if you want, but we'll take it all." And listen, think about that for a moment. The Holy Spirit moves in and says, "Here you go. Um, okay. This stuff you go. This stuff I want. This is out of this house now. All of your cussing, drinking, drugs, all of your stuff — you that goes out. Throw it on the street. That goes out on the street. I'm moving in now." And He moves in and He takes over. And He might, He might arrange some furniture. He might move a few pictures in your life. That's called sanctification. That's where He goes to work in your life. And every day of every month of every year of your life, He's arranging things, making you more like Jesus. It takes an entire lifetime for that. Why is it happening? Because you're born again from the start. The house, the house was sold to Jesus. He bought it at a great price, the price of His blood. And with that, you ought to walk and live with an absolute freedom that we saw in numerous ways. And that's a joyful thing. So just remember that. In fact, listen to this. In John chap 10:28 — we'll hit on this verse at least twice today in our study. John 10:28 to 30. Jesus said — I said, Jesus said — I almost sound like a great black preacher from the south. I said, I said, Jesus said. That's the way it's supposed to be. I'm sure that's how it is in the Greek language. Jesus said, "I give them eternal life." Notice Moses isn't saying it. Jesus is saying it. "I give them eternal life. They shall never perish." Is He talking, talking about you? He's talking about me. You want to know why I'm so comfortable in saying that? Because I know I can't save myself. "I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hands." I read that to include me myself. I cannot snatch myself out of His hands. I find great comfort in that. If you don't, don't tell me about it, because I love, I love that security. Uh, verse 29: "My Father, who has given them to Me." So don't you love that? If you're a Christian, Christ follower today, you are a Christ follower today because the Father has sent you to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ lives in you. So the Father sent all those who will come to Christ. We were sent by the Father. I love that. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."
Now, I was going to show you a drawing that I did years ago. I can't find it. It's pretty cool. But I drew a drawing of a set of hands, right? Or one hand right here, and it had the Father had like a ring on it with the Father — it said "Father" — and then on top, there's another set, another hand, and it had a ring and it said "Jesus." And I, I was in the middle. There was some lettuce. I had lettuce hanging out. Um, like a tomato hanging out. And at the end was my head, and I'm like this. You see? Well, that's crazy. No, I want that picture to stick in your head. Jesus said, "You're in My hand. You're in My Father's hand." You're like a Salvation sandwich, okay? You're like a born-again burrito. I got you. My Father's got you, and I got you. And I love that. And that is great assurance, and that's great absolute freedom that Christ provides for us. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Absolutely glorifying.
So listen, we pick it up — or we recap before we pick it up. Second argument was found in verses 2 to 3, and that is sin's condemnation. The reason why we have a Declaration of Dependence upon God is because sin was judged by Jesus Christ at the cross three ways. Remember last week, that produced for us a new law that's in effect. It's the law of God's love. It's the law of God's grace. It's the law of God's Spirit at work in our lives. Not the Ten Commandments anymore. That was complete. The Ten Commandments pointed us to Christ. The Ten Commandments brought us to the place of frustration. We can't be good enough. And when you throw your arms up in frustration, that's when the Spirit comes in and says, "Good. Are you ready now? Have you come to the end of yourself? Yes. Good. There's a new law in effect." That new law is what God says through Christ at the cross: that all those who will look unto Him shall be saved. We saw that there's a new power in place. Thank God for this power. I said this last week: if you're trying to be a Christian and it's really sweaty, it's really tough, and it's really bloody, and you've done so much to try to improve yourself — all, all you have is the luck of the Lord. That's a joke. You don't — the Lord doesn't deal with luck. All you have — you have human effort. It doesn't work. The power that is, that is working within you now is the power of the Holy Spirit. He's the one that makes you a Christ follower. What you and I are to do is to yield ourselves. Which led us to the third consideration: that's a, a an entire new experience, uh, ordered by design. And that is the work that God is doing in our lives. In fact, um, I want you to remember this: Colossians 2:13. This is so beautiful. Colossians 2:13 says, "And you" — so you can put your name in there — "being dead in your trespasses and, uh, and the uncircumcision of your flesh" — that's your BC days, before Christ days. Remember, we, we lived in the uncircumcision of our flesh. You say, "What is that mean?" The word simply means that God, before you and I came to Christ, our hearts, our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our actions, the deep-seated part of who you and I are — we were callous and cold because of injury, because of sin, because of life. Uh, and by the way, the longer we live life, the more callous our hearts become to God, uh, in resistance to God. Uh, that term "uncircumcised" means that there was so much dead flesh around our hearts that we couldn't feel anything. And you got to remember, church, this world without Jesus doesn't feel anything. They so don't feel anything now that they've come to the point where they'll just video somebody being murdered or beaten to death on the streets or pushed into the subway. They, they just see something coming and they, "Oh, that guy might get pushed in the subway," and they start recording it instead of helping. How does that happen? Calloused hearts. The, the heart needs to be circumcised. What does that mean? That means the dead skin needs to be removed so that it can feel again. But watch what God did about that. He says that He has made us alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. That ought to soften up your heart. Verse 14: "having" — uh, "which was contrary to us, and has, uh, and He has to the cross." I don't — that verse, I don't think that was copied correctly. It means this: that He nailed our sins to our, to the cross, having been our forgiveness. Jesus took all that, uh, to His cross. Absolutely awesome. Having nailed it to the cross.
So, church, here we go. We dive into this. It's our third study in this. Now we go to verses four and five, and that the Christian's Declaration of Dependence there for now is this: perfect union. Now I want you to write this down, and I'm, I'm going to ask for your prayers and your, uh, for your forgiveness in advance. I so love this argument, verses four and five. I don't know how far we're going to get today. Will it be one word? Will it be two words of it? I, we see. But mark this down if you would: a perfect union. The true child of God, if you feel it or not, has a perfect union with God through Christ. This is a tremendously serious statement. We cannot pretend. We cannot go through the motions. I'm — listen, I'm not speaking to you who already know this, I'm just going through the motions. I'm do — I'm here because my wife wants me. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the person who's here today that you may not even be aware of this, but you need to hear it. Do you know that you have perfect union with God through Jesus Christ? You should be absolutely secure in understanding that I am a true child of God, not because I'm here on a Sunday morning, but because it is an overwhelming testament of a reality that I have been born again and that God the Holy Spirit dwells in me. I am in perfect union with God. It doesn't mean you're perfect. He's the one that's perfect. But because He's perfect, you've come to Him in faith. You believe He died on the cross for you. You, you believe He rose again from the dead. You believe that the Bible says we are new creations in Christ. That is either true, by the way you live, or it is not. But what — listen, it's true no matter what. But is it true in your life? If this is happening in you, there is an entering into a rest that is — it seems too good to be true. It's a, it's an experience, and I'm talking about feelings? It's a, it's a, it's a reality, it's, it's an understanding. I cannot better myself in front of God. I can't improve myself in front of God. He's announced to me, "Come with all of my sins to Christ, and I am now placed inside the righteousness of Jesus." It's — look, this is a plastic water bottle. It's worthless unless you put water in it. Now I want to buy it. I not only want to buy it, I want to drink it. Why? Because it's plastic? No, because of the water that's in it. My skin, my outward life, might seem as to be plastic, but inside God says, "Listen, I placed you inside My Son, and when I look at you, I see My Son." And this is so critical: perfect union the believer has with Jesus Christ. The Bible here tells us, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Free! Absolutely free. That union is all wrapped up in that qualifying statement. I want you to — are you guys okay? The qualifying statement is in the statement of "in Christ." Remarkable. So that verse four and in the announcement: "For the righteous requirement of the law" — wow, that's huge — "might be fulfilled in us." That's a huge statement. How does this happen? "Who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Now do you remember a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned verse one at the latter end doesn't have that in the original Greek language, but it's in verse four. Here it is. In verse four, it appears in the original Bible, the original Greek language. But the King James translators took what's stated right here in verse four and they added it to verse one to make sure you got the point. It's no damage. It's just that they didn't need to stress it, but they did. And again, in the original Bible, it reads exactly like this as you look at it right here, right now: "The righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." How does that work? What — to who is this? "Who do not walk according to the flesh." In other words, listen, my flesh, your flesh yells at you to do things, but I don't — you and I don't walk according to the flesh. Doesn't mean the flesh doesn't challenge us. It challenges us. Be honest. Everybody say, "Amen." Amen! Your flesh challenges you. And if you say today, "Not mine, Pastor. I've arrived," you're more messed up than any of us. We battle. But thank God there's a battle. And the great thing is this: that we don't walk according to the flesh, but we walk according to the Spirit. When the Spirit's speaking, when the Spirit is leading — a Spirit-led life, a perfect union. So number one, jot it down: it's this: perfectly united with the will of God. You and I are — see, Pastor, are you sure you should be saying that? You and I have been, as a child of God, now born again, we are now in perfect union with the will of God. You see, can I be that bold about it? Yes, because watch this: even when you and I mess up, it's the perfect union of the will of God that you and I repent and get back and walking with Him constantly. I've told you this before. I'm kind of wearing it out. Everybody's talking about revival. When you — you don't have to wait for revival to sweep across the land. Do you want revival in your life? Get close to Jesus. And here's the greatest manifestation of revival. Are you listening? It's not, it's not goosebumps. It's not hand raised. It's not dressing like Jesus. You want to have a revival in your life? Understand that walking with Him — when you sin — not if, when you sin — the ramifications of your sin event last seconds, because when the thought comes — listen, temp — before you could ever sin, you have to be tempted first. Temptation is not a sin. Temptation is how sin gets in. Are you with me? The key is to stop the sin on the porch.
So this morning, this morning, Amazon showed up little somewhere around 3:00 a.m. Say, "How do you know?" I saw him. I was sitting in my chair, preparing the final editing of this message. Did he know I could see him? No. But I could — but I could. Did he know that? No. But I, I saw him get out of his car. And you know, good thing those guys wear vests, because I'm thinking this guy pulls up at that time of the morning in a car. It's a car. It doesn't say Amazon. And I'm thinking — but he had a vest on. That doesn't mean he's not a robber, 'cause robbers could steal vests and rob your home. I'm just saying, he had a package, and he dropped it out at the gate. I could see him do that. So all was well. The, the point was, I completely forgot what my whole point was about. What was it? I, I — what? Wait, wait. Quiet. Everyone's talking. I can't hear. Temptation and sin. Temp — thank you. Sin lands on the porch like the Amazon package. It wasn't in my life until I brought it into the house with me. When you bring it in — if not, if — when there's going to be a time when you let it in, throw it back outside as soon as you can. Instantly. That's how you'll experience a constant revival. If a revival breaks out over the nation or not, you get to have one by obeying Him, by walking with Him every day. Listen, everybody else may be dead. You don't have to be dead. That's why there's hope. Listen, seriously, when we start to see people — and it's happening. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I've been told by hundreds and hundreds of people who go to Catholic mass because they're Catholics, but they come here to study the Bible, and then they go back to their mass and tell their friends, "We're studying the Bible down the street. Y'all come." And then this place gets filled up with Catholics that are searching for the Bible. What happens? They go back and they tell other Catholics, "We're studying the Bible verse by verse. Sometimes a crazy guy, he only gets through like two words, and you should, you should come." And then they come. What happens? They're feeding on the Bible. They're finding out what God has said to them. And they wind up becoming what Jesus said you must do to enter the kingdom of heaven: and that's be born again, to be born from above. And in that, there's the desire for the Word of God. And this is an awesome thing, because the Word of God is simply the expressed will of God. I want to know God's will for my life. Really? You do? For reals? Read the Bible. You'll find out what God's will is for your life.
And He purchased this opportunity for us by His great sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 5 — you know this well, but we need reminding. 2 Corinthians 5:18: "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ." Do you see Him asking for your help in there? No. It's between the Father and the Son. "And He has given us the ministry of reconciliation." Do you know what that means? It means that you, as a believer, you have supernatural power to reach out to others and get them to hug and kiss and make up. And that starts in your own life, by the way. Don't tell me you're a follower of Jesus and you're mean at home. That doesn't work. No. The opposite. The Holy Spirit in you will demand reconciliation. Why? Because that's what He did to us. We were alienated from God. We were in the doghouse when He found us, and He reconciled us to, to the Father. So now He turns right around, because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the Spirit that lives in you. And that's why — you and I — it's hard for you and I to hate people. I didn't say it's impossible. It's hard. When you and I don't like somebody, the, the Lord says, "What's the problem?" "I don't like them, God. Look at them. I just — wait, God. I'll show You all their flaws. Just wait a minute." That doesn't last long, because He says, "Do you want Me to start on you now, Jack?" "No." "Well then stop it." And if I — listen, God forbid — but if I said to anybody, "Do you know what's wrong with that guy?" Gossip. Gossip. Gossip. Character assassination. Now listen, when God says, "Why'd you do that? That person — even if they are in sin — you just inherited their sin by doing that. And you've sinned by pointing out their sin to someone else. How dare you do that? Now go to that person immediately, beg their forgiveness, and then go to that guy and confess to them, 'I have maligned you publicly. I have heard — I said this about you, and I was wrong.'" Do you know what that'd be? A manifestation of revival right there. The Holy Spirit's not going to send revival while we have these petty things going on.
Verse 19: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." Verse 21: "How does He do that? For He" — or see the word "for" could be "because" — "on the account of, He made Him" — Jesus — "who knew no sin to be sin for us." It doesn't mean Jesus became a sinner. It means Jesus took upon Him our sins. Do you have that? A donkey is carrying a load of concrete down the Grand Canyon. The donkey is not concrete. The donkey is carrying concrete. Jesus carried our sins at the cross. Jesus didn't become a sinner. Are you with me? There's some cults that teach otherwise. He was perfect from start to finish, which is how He was qualified to carry our sins. Amazing. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." And all God's people said, "That's awesome." That is an awesome promise. All right, hang on to your shorts. Uh, we're going to do this. This is a, this is a biggie. We'll go as far as we can. So Lord, help us, please. In Jesus' name.
If you were here today, if you're watching right now, if you're listening by whatever means you're viewing this broadcast, you might be asking, "That's quite a statement: that I'm a new creation in Christ, that I can be reconciled to God, that Christ who knew no sin became sin for me, that He would pay my, pay my sin debt. Is that what you're saying?" That's exactly what I'm saying. And isn't that in 2 Corinthians? Yep. New Testament? Yep. "Well, I don't believe it." No. Let's, let's play hardball for a second. Let's say we could say, you know what, we, we don't believe it either on face value. We don't believe it either. Well, yeah, you're right. Because how do we know this is true? Good question. How do we know that's true? It's just Paul the Apostle speaking to the Corinthian Greeks, telling him this. Why should I believe this? Maybe you're here right now and you're saying, "Pastor, you're right on. I'm an atheist, and I don't believe any of this stuff. You're, uh, you're talking my language there." Which is why God gave us the Old Testament. So what? Yeah. How about if I read something to you that was written 500 — and, or excuse me, 740 years before Jesus was born? Let's check that out. So Paul is boasting in the Lord that the Lord has forgiven us our sins by going to the cross. On what basis did that Jewish — Hebrew now Christian — make that statement? Isaiah 53. Watch this. Whenever you read in the New Testament that the disciples or the apostles taught from the Word of God — including Jesus Himself — you ever think about? You think He was carrying around the King James Bible? And, and the Bible says, "And Jesus spoke to them and taught them." Taught them what? From the, from the Scriptures. What Scriptures? Old Testament. If you can't find the Gospel in the Old Testament, how can you find the Gospel anywhere? You say, "That's quite a rude statement." I just read in the New Testament. Sure, you're going to read it. But how do you know it's true? Could be just somebody talking. How many have you and I heard that: "Oh, it's just some, it's just somebody's writing." You know, you almost have to agree with them, unless you put it to the acid test. How can we prove it? Oh, we can prove it. In fact, I am so convinced of this. Somebody might say, "You can't prove the existence of God." I believe you can. It's called Bible prophecy.
So 740 plus years before Jesus was born, God prophesied and announced regarding the Messiah. Here it comes. Verse one: "Who has believed our report?" In other words, shock alert. "And to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed?" What you're about to hear is forever truth to be revealed. And who can take it? Who can receive it? In — who will accept this? "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant." Think about Jesus's Incarnation, coming into this world as a root out of the, the dry ground. "He has no form or comeliness." It means there was no physical attributes that made Jesus stand out. Isn't that interesting? Does that — I think that's so interesting. I'm really happy about that. "And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." There's no physical attraction that Jesus had. You can't say that about David. David was a knockout. You can't say that about Sheba. She was something. What about Esther? Esther. Bible says Esther was a wow. It said, listen, and, and um, Sarah. The Bible says Abraham's wife Sarah. It says that she was beautiful to look at, both in, uh, in spirit and in form. That means Sarah was formed. And then Absalom. That guy, what a freak. He was so handsome that it ruined his life. You know, good looks — being good-looking can be a curse. Some people say, "Lord, will You smite me with that curse?" No, you don't, you don't want that. You don't want that. Jesus was very common-looking. I appreciate that. There was no beauty that we should desire Him. "He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." Now listen, friends, I've told you before, I read this to my Jewish friends, who — they promised me — "Tell me what you think you believe without reading the, the New Testament, because we don't read it." All right, so this is one of the great chapters. So keep that in your mind. "He was despised, and we hid, and we did, uh, not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." Do you remember when the Pharisees, when Jesus was crucified, they said, when Jesus cried out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," they said, "Wait, wait, wait. Don't help him. Let's listen. See if God — let's see if God will rescue him." There was a smack. They were saying, "He finally gets what's coming to him for committing blasphemy. He claimed to be the Son of God." Watch what doesn't happen. They felt justified as was being done that day on the cross. He was rejected.
Verse 5: "He was wounded for our transgressions" — the Bible tells us this is what's going on — "He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes" — by His lashings, the whip — "we are healed." I want you to stop at verse five for a second. Think about this. I'm reading from the Bible, and this must test your spirit. If you're not a follower of Christ, who in this universe, throughout all of human history, has had a book written about them in advance and explains in their life in great detail — even their very name and how they were going to be born, the miracles that they produced — but that the person that we're talking about would suffer the death of an atoning death for those who hated him? You going to find that in the Quran? Nowhere. Tibetan Book of the Dead? The, the even the Book of Mormon? Jehovah's Witnesses? Every single other writing of a religious leader adds works to this, which is an abomination. The simplest, purest thing you can do is the greatest insult to our pride: and that is, "Believe on Me." Jesus said, "Believe on Me." That belief will convert your life. But if you say, "I believe in Him, but I'm going to be really good too, and I'm going to get some points for it," that's sick, and you need to repent of that.
"All we like sheep have gone astray," the Bible says, "and we have turned, everyone, to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth." Excuse me. Hello? 740 years before Jesus was born. Then we later find out, reading the Gospels, that Jesus, when He was beaten and, uh, crucified, He never opens it, His mouth to defend himself. Wow. "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison" — was Jesus not arrested? — "and from judgment." He was judged on at least three different levels at least that night of His arrest. "And who will declare His generation?" Who wants Him? "For He was cut off from the land of the living." You see, Jack, that's why I don't believe in your Messiah. Things started out pretty good, but He got Himself killed. He didn't get Himself killed. But if you don't believe that He laid down His life willingly for you, then you view Him as being cut off from the land of the living. "For the transgressions of My people" — that's Israel — "He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death." Wasn't He crucified between two wicked people? But wasn't He buried in the richest man in Israel's tomb, Joseph of Arimathea? Wow. "Because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit found in His mouth."
Verse 10: "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin" — family, people, church, strangers, listen — the Bible says there's one coming who will not be understood by mankind, who will be rejected, who will die in a place where He didn't have to die, that you and I were condemned to die. And all of this, it says that it will please the Father when He sees what's going on regarding whoever this person is. Absolutely remarkable. And it says that "when You make His soul an offering for sin" — that's atonement — "He shall see His seed, and shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." That's an interesting statement, you guys. You have in verse 10 because it means whoever's going to die as the Messiah is going to live again and live forever and prosper. Him, when He's raised from the dead — you know how God, you know how Christ is prospering? Every soul that makes a decision to follow Him, as it were — I can't prove this — but as it were, puts your black piece of coal, charcoal of a life, and places it like a diamond jewel in the crown of Christ's salvation. You think of that for a moment. The greatest reward. Listen, the Bible says, "For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame." No pun intended, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but Christ hung in there on the cross because He loved you. He couldn't get off the cross. "Let's leave Him alone, and let's see if God will rescue Him." And they said to Him, "If You are the Christ, come down and save Yourself." He couldn't come down. Love kept Him on the cross. Not the nails. The nails had nothing to do with that part of it all. Isn't that awesome? This no wonder why there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ. He took all the condemnation there could ever be. Are you in? Join Him. Do you, do you embrace this Gospel?
In Isaiah, verse 11: "He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied." Jesus said on the cross, "Tetelestai," and He dismissed His Spirit. When He said, "Tetelestai," the word is "It is finished." Atonement is finished. I paid the price. And the Bible says He dismissed His Spirit. "I'm done." And basically, He commences His own physical death. Spirit leave, and His body died. This is in Isaiah: "By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities." Is that a tremendous, awesome truth? Listen, you guys, okay, we have a few more minutes.
Psalm 22. Psalm 22:6. This Psalm, by the way, is known as a Messianic Psalm, and many scholars believe that when Jesus said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" — that's what's recorded in the Gospels — but many believe that Jesus recited from — can't prove it — but from the cross the entire 22nd Psalm. It does make sense when you read it in its entirety. I'm only going to read a part of it. In verse 6, it says this: "But I am a worm" — can you circle the "worm" in your Bible? That word "worm" — "and no man." This is David prophesying about the Messiah. "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me." Watch this: "They shoot out the lip, and they shake the head." Does anybody remember Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? When Jesus was crucified, they — the scribes and Pharisees — hissed at Him, stuck out their tongue, and wagged their head. That is a very dramatic, um, version in the Middle East of other gestures that we use in the west. Same verse: "He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue him; let Him deliver him, since He delights in him. But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breast." Verse 10: "I was cast upon You from birth." He's talking about His Incarnation. He came into this world just like you and I did. "From My mother's womb You have been My God." Verse 11: "Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help." Verse 15: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death." Watch, "For dogs have surrounded Me" — it's a reference to Gentiles. Dogs — was Jesus surrounded by Gentiles at His crucifixion? Were they not Roman centurions and guards? "You have brought Me, um, uh, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet." This is — are you guys — this is written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. What do you say to that? Are you not a crazy-in-love-with-Jesus person? Why not? When the Bible says a thousand years before He was born — in conjunction with Isaiah — He's going to take your sins, He's going to be rejected by people, misunderstood, and it's going to bless the Father that He paid that price because He knows that it's only for a limited time, because the inheritance of the one who's paying the price will be His blessing forever. And that this, that in the midst of the darkness, in His darkest hour, when He's pierced in His hands and His feet — "I will lay upon Him separation between God and man" — represented in Christ — "that you will never have to go through." You've — listen, you've never died. You don't know what it's like on the other side. But for the Christian, it's crystal clear. The Bible says when you and I die, immediately we wake up. Listen, have you ever fallen asleep and then woken up? You ever taken a nap? Imagine falling asleep, and you wake up, and all of a sudden you're falling in, in a pitless dark hole, and you're thinking, "This is a dream, this is a dream. I got to wake up, I got to wake up." And all of these other recorded manifestations that are written in the Bible of Hell begin to be your experience, and it never ends. The Bible says, but imagine falling asleep — maybe on a deathbed, maybe you go to — maybe, listen, maybe you go to sleep tonight, you're completely healthy, and you die in your sleep. How about this dream: "Wow, this is awesome. This is glorious. Am I dreaming?" And the Lord says, "Hey, do you remember what the Bible said? I know you heard it at Calvary. To be absent from the body," it says, "to be present with the Lord. Welcome. Come on in. Enter into the joy of the Lord. It's great to see you." Can you imagine? Woo! It's going to be one or the other for you. There's no middle place. There's no gray. There's no fog zone. Gray zone.
So real quick, back to that word. This might be as far as we get today. Back to that word. Uh, go, go back to Psalm 22:6. See: "I am a worm and no man." Um, you guys, you might want to write this down. It's "r i m m a h"? That's the word for worm in Hebrew? "R i m m a h"? Thank God for us, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic are the three most colorful languages on the face of the Earth. Um, you have to look — you just can't assume. Well, a worm, and if I say a worm to you, you think of a garden, your garden worm. But God didn't write the Bible in English, and that's very, very fantastic. He wrote it in this part in Hebrew. And the word that is most often used is "r i m m a h" for a grub or a worm, an insect-type thing. But the word that is used right here is "t o w l a." Write that down, please, because you're not going to believe a word I'm going to, going to say. So write it down. You're going to go research this yourself. Are you ready? "T o w l a" — TOALA? That's the word that appears here. It only appears three times in the entire Bible, two times referring to Christ. So number one, in fact — guys, why don't you put these two slides up on the screen? Just — yeah. That should kind of make you cringe, right? It actually — that's a young one. It will, it will continue to mature. When it matures, it becomes not only totally red, but it becomes a very dark — but we would say oxblood color, or very, very red. Uh, unattractive, uh, grub — we would say grub. They live subterranean, they live in the ground right now. They come out in the springtime, uh, predominantly to midsummer. They have a very short lifespan. And, um, just to show you — next slide — you can research this later. This is Oxford Academy bioscience. You can look it up. That's one place where you can look at the, look — the scarlet dye of the Holy Land. See the word "dye"? Dye. All right. So why is this important? For this reason: when Psalm 22 is attributed to Christ as Messiah, and in Psalm 22 Jesus says, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" — "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" — that's found in Psalm 22. You ask the question: who is calling out, "I am a worm and no man"? You could say somebody with a psychosis, somebody who's lost their mind. That would be fine, except the context of the Bible goes on to describe whoever this person is. Are you hearing me? This is not some ranting lunatic on the street. This is the Messiah of the Scriptures declaring Himself to be a "toala." So what's with the "toala"? The "toala" comes out of the earth at its mature state, and it will go up a post, it will go up a fence or a tree. Now, in Lebanon, parts of Syria, predominantly Israel, it prefers a particular type of oak tree. It will go up. It will inch its way —
Up the oak tree by the way, it will figure out without eyeballs which direction does the sun rise and hit the tree. It goes up the tree. It fastens itself to the tree. And while it fastens itself, it goes through a form of metamorphosis. In that, almost like, um, Iron Man, you know Iron Man, Tony Stark, you know how this the armor suit goes on? I want you to think about that. That that thing fastens itself to the tree, latches on, and then this armored coating comes over it. And, uh, by the way, that armor coating is pretty much invincible. I mean, you got to pry it off with a knife if you're going to get it off. And there is a reason to get it off, by the way.
Um, the Bible tells us, and you can write it down. No time to reference it on the screen, what you can put on the screens or not, but I'm still going to keep talking you guys for your future study on this. It's Exodus 26, verse 1. Exodus 28, verses 5 and 6. And Isaiah 1, verse 8. I'll read these. And rather than short-change of scripture, this is, this is where we'll end. So I'm going to mark this down for all the poor souls at second and third service today. So Jack, stop here.
So this thing is there, suspended now, and it's, it's stuck on this tree. And the only way that you're going to get it off is if you cut it out. And the only reason why you would do that is because you would take it and you would collect a bunch of them. Because in that condition, if you smash them up and crush them, they became, they become an incredibly powerful and vivid crimson dye. Why is it in the Bible? Because it is the crimson red that was used for the tapestries of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and for the high priest's robe.
But it gets better. As it goes into its metamorphosis on the tree, as the sun begins to rise, the sun begins to hit it. And there's some sort of, somewhat unknown to this day, some say boiling, but there's no temperature, uh, issue in it, that when the sun hits the TOA, uh, during that process of it being encased, protected. So watch this. Allow me, will you guys allow me this privilege to kind of go, um, uh, what's the word, theoretical or allegorical on this one? That while it is shielded, it's going through a metamorphosis. Jesus was on the cross on a tree, and he ain't going anywhere. Why? Because his love will not allow him to leave. His love for you.
And oh, by the way, if you think you're a wretch, join the club. Because if you're a big wretch, it seems as though, though God has no favorites, he makes that very clear. It does seem, I'm reading into the word now, could get in trouble, but he seems, it seems like he loves people a little bit more affectionately who cannot love themselves because of their wretchedness. In other words, have you been a very, very bad person? Have you been a drug addict, a thief, a murderer? Have you been a prostitute or less? What have you done in life? He says, I die for you. It almost shines. Not that he needs it, it almost buffs his crown the brighter when you bring your wretchedness to him. It's almost like he says, that's it. You guys think you were bad? That's bad. And my blood was more powerful in that person's bad. You can't write yourself off, friend. You don't have that authority. Whatever you've done that you think is so bad, you just need to knock it off, grow up, and know something. Jesus's blood is greater than your bad.
So, ensconced in this shield, the metamorphosis takes place. What happens? Larvae form. This only happens in the female TOA. Now she's about ready to lay her eggs. Her eggs then are hatched inside of her with the shield coating. Nothing's going to interrupt this except somebody prying it off to make dye for the high priestly gown for Jerusalem in the temple. And for three days, they feed on her and they consume her for three days, not four, three days. On the morning of the fourth day, she explodes. When she explodes, that's when that crust breaks open. By the way, can't, I can't prove this part. Some have speculated that it seems to always happen while the sun is hitting the TOA. It explodes and leaves, leaves a red mark on the tree about the size of a small pancake or like a, whatever this, a softball. When it breaks open, when it explodes, its young goes out into the earth, falls down into the ground. Process begins all over again.
Check this out. Are we not sent out into all the Earth with the gospel? Watch this. Wait. The TOA is crimson red, but her offspring inside of her are snow white. Wow. But when she dies, she washes them internally, completely crimson red. When they blow out into the world, it's only after they are resembling the parent, the mother red. Think of this for a moment. You could go off on this. God knew those who would be his before the foundation of the world. Before you were ever seen as a believer or known to even become a believer, nobody knew. Everybody wrote you off and said, man, if there's a hell, he's going. But God knew in his infinite foreknowledge that there would be a day when you would accept him as Lord and savior. In the mind of God, you were white as snow. What would make you so? What would make that reality happen? Well, God would say, it's you in Christ. And if a TOA could talk, it would say, my young are secured by my salvation that I've shielded with a coating. And when they're saved, when they look just like me, I send them out into the world.
Are we beautiful? Listen, according to God, we are. But in this world, we're constantly trying to seek beauty. I need to get this look and have, you know, that eyes or that hair or that height or that build or that. We're all in, in our flesh, we're always seeking. And yet, God sees you in Christ. And then look, we'll end with this. I'll just read it to you.
Exodus 26:1: "Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with the ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread." TOA.
Exodus 28:5 and 6: "They shall take the gold, and the blue, the purple, and the scarlet TOA, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen artistically, uh, worked." That's on the chest of the high priest.
Isaiah 1:8: "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Church, let's stand. I want to end with this. Picture this. This is absolutely amazing. You go, as you go research this, you're going to find out something amazing. That there is a waxy buildup that is left behind by the TOA that is extracted out of where it was, where it died on the tree, leaving that red mark. It's extracted out and it's used. It's the actual forerunner of what is known as lacquer. And throughout the ancient times, and even in some places of the world today where modern chemicals are not available, the TOA is still used to preserve wood.
So that's your homework today is to try to figure out how in the world could God not love you when he said that he would and that he does? That you may be one of how many billions of people are on earth now? Who knows? Eight? Legally, we don't know. Who knows? Nobody knows. God knows. And you're not a number. You have your social security number, and that's how the world identifies. What's your number? Number? What's your number? God, God doesn't have a number for you. He says, I know your name. And he says, I want you to come to me. And if he sends us pictures like this ugly grub, not to mention the good things he does, he loves you, my friend. What? There's nothing else to say. He just loves you. Stop resisting him. I, I'm not worthy. Stop that. We're not, none of us are. And who determines what is worthy? Come on. Stop short-changing him. He paid it all.
I can say this right now, 'cause they're not here. There's some friends of ours who, they're just really, they're incredibly sweet, and we love being with them. But we just like to sit and talk with them the most. Let's just talk. You know, you know, there's, I hope you have somebody in your life like that where you don't need to do anything. And by the way, you don't need to get together often. When you do, you pick it right back up. You know what I'm talking about? So let's just talk. Let's just talk. And I said, Lisa, let's just go do this. But we want to do that with them, but we don't want to make it a big deal. Because they want to make it a big deal. They, let's bring in, let's bring in balloons and dancing clowns. And if we're going to sit down and just talk, let's have airplanes fly over and write in the sky. That's their love language. Everyone has a love language that they both receive and give. And this is, I'm saying this that you might be won over by his love. Watch this.
So while I was saying, I just want to, just want simple. Let's go on. Let's just put the chairs in the sand, watch the whales go by or the waves crash. Just simple. It costs nothing. And then Lisa said something about, but that's so sweet. That. And then I, and then I said, well, wait a minute. We did go out that night on a boat off of the coast on 4th of July and watch all the fireworks going off from the shore. That was awesome. And there was also that time when we went to Universal Studios and we got in the back door because that's the industry that they're in, and that was pretty awesome. And there was that, the other time. You hear what I'm saying? We just want it simple. I'm so simple. But then Lisa and I wound up busting up laughing because as we took that thought for a second and let it percolate, we wound up concluding, just leave them alone. They love us. That's how they express their love. It's amazing. And we probably appreciate it more because we're worthy of so much less. Are you with me? That's us. God's crazy about you. He can't take his eyes off you. And you're going to leave today with or without him, he still can't take his eyes off you. It's just that some of you are going to heaven and some of you going to hell. Um, I say that in all due love. He doesn't want, he doesn't want you to go there. That's why he went to the cross. So you run to him and, um, it'll be well with your soul. He'll save you of your sins. He's the only one who can.
Father, we ask you to bless these people as they're about to be released into the world right now. May hell tremble when these doors open up. May demons hit the road as these who are loved by you go out to share your love for them. In Jesus name, and all God's people worshiped and said, let's, let's sing this song in closing. God bless you.