My, it’s good to see everybody
in this afternoon. We’ve got more than a full house. It won’t be long and
they’re going to have to give us a bigger studio, aren’t they? We’ve got folks
here from Indiana, Illinois, and various parts of Oklahoma. Now, did I miss
any other out of state? Oh yeah, Texas. Good grief, yes, right here in front
of me. So anyway, we want all of you to feel welcome and to know how much we
appreciate your coming in and being a part of this. You know, I think some of
our visitors from Chicago were just anxious to get here and start meeting the
people that they’ve been seeing on television over the years. It’s just a good
time this afternoon. Plus, we trust that we’re blessed with the feeding of the
Word of God. Okay, for all of you out in
television, again, we just have to thank you. When the letters come in, oh,
every letter that comes in I wish could answer. Well, I’d never get anything
else done, of course, so you have to just let me get by with this on
television, to express my personal appreciation for all of your good letters.
My, what a shot in the arm it is every day to hear the response from the
program, and so many coming to a true knowledge of salvation for the first
time. We just can’t praise the Lord enough. Okay, we’re going to start a
new book today, Book 69. I’m going to depart from the “But Now’s and But
God’s,” and we’re going to take a look at one of the themes of Scripture.
We’re going to chase it all the way down from Genesis to Revelation. It’s this
whole idea of redemption, and Jerry’s got the three various word forms. We’ve
got the word “redeemed,” and we’ve got the verb tense “to redeem,”
and then the noun is “redemption.” Of course, they’re all associated
with the same act of God which is by definition - “buying back something
that was originally owned and lost.” That’s the whole idea of redemption. I
always use the simple illustration in our western culture of a “hockshop.” I’ve never, fortunately, ever
had to hock something, but I have bought things in a hockshop, because you can
get some pretty good deals, you know. But the whole idea of a hockshop is that
if you get in a financial bind you can take something that may be rather
intrinsically precious to you and get a small amount of money for it. Then,
hopefully, down the road you can go back and redeem it by buying it back. And
hopefully, in a hockshop, it will still be there. So, the whole idea of
redemption is that you have owned something. It’s been secure, but it was lost,
and it will have to be redeemed in order for you to regain ownership. All right, now God has had to
do this over and over. We’re going to look at the various places where He had
to come back in and redeem that which was originally His own. Of course, the
first place to start would be Adam. So, you can turn with me, if you will, to
Genesis chapter 1. I’m going to drop right in at the verse of creation - verse
27. Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Now, the first thing I always have to qualify, in fact I just shared it
with somebody on the phone in the last day or two, is that when God created man
in His image, it was not our physical appearance as man or woman, because God
was an invisible creature. He was a personality, and personality is an
invisible entity. Way back when we taught this, I
made this illustration: you could go into an autopsy and as they are taking
everything apart bit by bit, they can dissect the brain into the smallest
particles, but they will never find the personality. Well, does that mean the
personality isn’t real? Of course it’s real! And God was made up of
personality – the mind, the will and the emotion. All three persons of
the Godhead, you can chase this through Scripture, are given credit with those
same things. God the Son had mind, will, and emotion. God the Father has
mind, will, and emotion. So does the Holy Spirit. All right, so when He created
mankind in His image, it was that part of the Godhead that was transferred, you
might say, to humankind. Adam was created as an invisible mind, will, and
emotion, but since he’s going to function as mankind functions God placed him
into what we call “the body.” Now, it’s just that simple. The body is a
temporary thing. That’s why Paul calls it a tent in II Corinthians 5:1. II Corinthians 5:1a “For we know that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle…” It’s a tent. Now a tent is always
temporary. So, our real person, your real “you,” has been placed into a
temporary tent-like thing which we call the body. So, when people call and
say, “Well, what happens at death?” Always remember, the invisible part of us
that was created in the image of God will never die. Don’t you ever fall for
this idea of “soul sleep.” It cannot die, because it was created in an eternal
entity, and it’s going to live eternally – someplace. The lost are going to spend
their eternity doomed in the Lake of Fire. The saved are going to spend
eternity in God’s presence. Both are going to be eternal, because we are an
eternal created being. The body was temporary. That’s why we can lay the body
in the grave and it goes back to dust, but never the person - never the mind,
will, and emotion. All right, this is where we can
move on. God creates Adam as a person, but He calls up out of the dust of the
earth the tabernacle in which he’s going to dwell - verse 27. Genesis 1:27a “So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him;…” Now that’s the
invisible part. God didn’t have a visible body at this point in time. All
right, now then, verse 28: Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them and
God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Now, what is the
general mentality of mankind when they think of Adam and Eve being placed in
the Garden? How much authority, how much dominion, did they have? Well, wherever the Garden was
limited. That’s what most people, I’m sure, think was their responsibility –
the Garden of Eden. No! The whole planet was their responsibility. There was
no ocean in the Garden of Eden. You see that? But that’s what he’s got
dominion over – “the fish of the sea.” The same way with all the
other animals that weren’t part and parcel of the Garden itself. So, never
lose sight of the fact that Adam was given dominion over the whole planet. Now, here is the reason I’m
emphasizing this as we come through these various portions of Scripture dealing
with redemption. I’ll tell you what got me started on it. My daughter had
said a long time ago, she said, “Daddy, I hope someday you’ll do a study on the
Book of Ruth.” Well, I’ve been putting it aside and once in a while I’d delve
into it and I’d think, well, some day out in the future. Well, when I got
ready for this taping, that’s where I started. I was going to teach the Book
of Ruth, and I just ran up a cement wall. I was going to teach redemption in
the little Book of Ruth, but there was no mention of the blood. There
was no mention of death. And I think, now wait a minute, I can’t teach just
this alone by itself. So, as I was getting ready over
the last several months, this wasn’t just in the last week, I was tying this in
with Revelation chapter 5. Because whenever I teach Revelation chapter 5 and
God the Son brings the mortgage, as we speak of it, before God the Father, the
only way we can connect anything to that is from the Book of Ruth, but when I
got ready to teach the Book of Ruth, that wasn’t the real picture of the other
forms of redemption, which always involved a blood sacrifice and so forth. So, I had to rethink the whole
thing and decided, well, I’m going to - in fact, have I got room on the board?
I’m going to put it on the board. Everybody can always remember better what
you see than what you hear. We’re going to find that we’re going to have
redemption in four places. Number one we’re going to see Adam – lost
and restored. The next one we’re going to see is the Nation of Israel –
lost and restored. Then we’re going to see at the cross the whole human race –
humanity - I guess I can put it. The whole sphere of humanity is going
to be in a place of redemption. Then the fourth one we’re going to cover is the
redemption of the planet, the physical earth. Now, maybe that’ll help.
Now, the only way that I could
fit the Book of Ruth in here is to put it someplace here, halfway up to the Old
Testament, the Book of Ruth. But I’m going to have to bypass it, because it
will not have any connection to these until I get down to this last one. So,
if you can bear with me, that’s the whole scope of my afternoon, or maybe the
next two afternoons, I don’t know. I never know how far we’ll get. See, I may
even run out of gas at the end of the third program and will have to hurry up
and figure out something else. But I don’t think so. I think I’m going to
have enough material here to hold us all afternoon. Okay, so back to Genesis. Adam
is given dominion over everything! Not just that little area of the Garden of
Eden, but the whole planet is now under his dominion. All right, now let’s
jump, for sake of time, on up to chapter 2 verse 16. Now, we jump up to where
things are really going to start taking off. Genesis 2:16-17 “And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Now,
that’s plain English, isn’t it? Now verse 18: Genesis 2:18-20 “And the LORD God said,
It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for
him. 19. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and
every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call
them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name
thereof. 20. And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to the fowl of the air,
and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an helpmeet
for him.” Now here again, that’s another.
I could go all afternoon on that alone, because most people think that when I
read chapter 1 verses 26 and 27, Adam and Eve were both created side-by-side.
No, they weren’t. Adam was alone for the longest time, although Eve was in
Adam. Oh, that turns people off. They just can’t handle that. So, I’m not
going to deal with it this afternoon. But anyway, sometime later,
after all the animals have been named, and they’ve all been coming no doubt
like at the Ark, two by two. What is the first thing Adam notices? Every male
has its female. And he has none. He’s alone. God saw in the heart of Adam
that he was longing for a mate. That’s why He comes back then in verses 21 and
22 and He creates Eve to be a helpmeet for Adam. Now, that’s long after he was
originally created. But anyway, now you come down to verses 23 and 24. Genesis 2:23 “And Adam said, This is
now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because
she was taken out of Man.” Now, let me stop and ask a minute. How
much mind, will, and emotion are in a rib bone? Have you ever thought of
that? See, this is what I tell my callers. The phone - you know, I’m on the
phone some days almost from morning till night. And the first thing I tell
people is – THINK. Just sit back and think. This isn’t so deep. Now somebody, I think it was Ike;
you gave me that book on Quantum Physics, didn’t you? I don’t know where in
the world he thought I had the wherewithal, but he gives me a book on Quantum Physics.
Come to find out, that in the last six or eight months they have now found
mathematically that there are ten or eleven dimensions instead of three. But
see that’s beyond me. It’s beyond most people. But this Book isn’t. This
Book is not beyond the thinking realm of the simplest of the simple. I’m always using the
illustration, I see it when we’re dubbing tapes, and I’ve used it over and
over. When old Tyndale, the reformer, was trying to get Bibles across the
Channel into England, they finally caught him. They were going to burn him at
the stake for it. What was his final plea to God? “Oh, let every plowboy in England have a copy of this Book.” Well, here’s my point. How much education did a
plowboy in England have in 1500? Not much, but was it enough to understand
Scripture? Yes! So, don’t ever let somebody tell you, well, it’s too
complicated. I can’t…no, it isn’t. God has made it so simple that a plowboy
in England in 1500 could read it and comprehend it. Okay, so now we have to
understand that when Adam was first formed, Eve was within him. God takes her
out at this point in time and Adam doesn’t call her Eve, he calls her Woman. She’s
called Woman all the rest of the verses until we get to chapter 3 in verse 20.
All right, but I don’t want to jump away from chapter 2 just yet. Come back
there where he says, she’s “now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Now
verse 24: Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall
be one flesh. 25. And they were both naked, (They were totally in
complete oblivion to sin or anything like that. They were perfectly innocent.)
the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Okay, now when you get into
chapter 3, we have the fall. They eat of the tree. God loses them. That’s
the point I want to make. Here they’ve been in the very will of God. The Lord
comes down every day and walks with them and communes with them. I think
person to person they communicated, and it was the most glorious relationship
that you could ever hope for. But then all of a sudden, Satan moves in and
Adam ate and Eve ate, and they lost that favored position. They were now
separated from their Creator. Now get the picture. They were
God’s. He made them. They were His, but he left them with the option of being
obedient or disobedient, and when they became disobedient He lost them. Now,
in order to show you how clearly He lost them, drop down to verse 8 of chapter
3. Don’t forget the Lord has been communicating with them every day. Oh, what
a time of fellowship that must have been, walking in the midst of that
beautiful Garden with the Lord at their side. Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the voice
of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and
Adam and his wife (ran to meet Him? Is that what your Bible says?
No. Quite the opposite. What do they do?) hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” Their
fellowship has been broken. Sin has entered, and God’s lost them. Now, I’m
always emphasizing the Apostle Paul’s use of the word “grace,” but listen,
grace didn’t originate with Paul. Grace originated right here, because when
they ran to hide rather than confront the glorious Creator God, does God just
simply give up on them? No. He seeks them out. Well, why? His grace!
That’s the Grace of God in its first example. Verse 9: Genesis 3:9 “And the LORD God called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” Now, when I taught this
15 years ago on television, I made the point: didn’t God know where they were?
Of course He did. So, why did He call? The same reason He calls today. He
wants a free will response. He wasn’t going to search them out and say, oh,
there you are. Huh uh. But He calls, “Where are you?” He’s
waiting for their response. Nothing has changed. Genesis 3:10-12a “And Adam said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself. 11. And the LORD God said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast
though eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12. And the man said, The woman…” Hasn’t changed a bit, has it? It’s
always the woman’s fault! Genesis 3:12-13 “And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Well, anyway, what we have to
understand now is-- I’m going to skip over verses 14 and 15 for just a moment
and come back to them later. Here we find that, as a result of the fall, God
lost that glorious fellowship between Himself and His created beings. They’re
going to suffer the results of it with verse 17. Genesis 3:17-19 “And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is
the ground for thy sake; In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field; 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” All right, that was the lot,
now, of fallen Adam and Eve, out of fellowship with their Creator. Now, what’s
God going to have to do? He’s going to have to redeem them. He’s going to have
to pay the price of redemption to bring Adam and Eve back into a walk and a
talk with Himself. All right, in verse 20 comes the first step back from
separation to once again enjoying fellowship with the Creator. Genesis 3:20 “And Adam called his wife’s
name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” Now, if you know
your Bible, ever since chapter 1 when Eve appeared, she was called nothing but
Woman. The Woman said… the Woman this… the Woman that. Here is the first
instance where we have her called Eve, because she was to be the mother of all
living. Now, here’s the big question.
Adam understood that when they ate death was imminent. Well, how are you going
to be the mother of all living if you’re going to die? So, here’s my question.
On what basis does Adam call the Woman, Eve, the mother of all living?
Faith! And what’s faith? Taking God at His Word! Now, by deduction, just
like algebra, you deduce. What had God evidently told them? That they weren’t
going to die right away, they’re going to propagate their own likenesses. So
consequently – believing God – although it may have seemed as utterly
ridiculous as a lot of things that we have to take by faith, Adam believed Him
and called her the mother of all living. I’m sure he had no idea of what
that was going to entail. But in simple faith, he said, all right, I’ll call
her Eve, because that’s what she’s going to be. All right, now then we have
the faith established, which is one of the two absolutes in Scripture. The
second absolute, if we had time to go back and look at it also in Hebrews, is
the blood. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and without the
shedding of blood there is no remission. All right, we’ve got the faith
established, so where is the blood? Always remember that blood is the price of
redemption. That’s why I’m using this one. All right, we’re right down into
verse 21. Genesis 3:21a “Unto Adam also and to
his wife did the LORD God make coats (or clothing) of skins,...”
Animal skins. Now again, you’ve got to sit back and think. What’s God doing?
Well, He’s preparing an animal sacrifice, but He’s going to use--what’s the
word I’m looking for? He’s going to kill two birds with one stone. He’s not
only going to clothe their physical nakedness with these animals, He’s also
going to have the blood for the blood sacrifice. So, these animals were
killed. I made a point in one of my
seminars in Minnesota. Don’t ever think God was cruel, because even the Jewish
priests and so forth were so adept at killing those sacrificial animals that
they never suffered. Not for a second. It was instant death, painless death.
And that’s what we have to feel that God did here. He killed these animals and
used the skins to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. But more important, it was
the blood that was needed for restoration and forgiveness, for atonement. All
right, so we find this is so clearly put that he made coats of skins to clothe
their nakedness. Genesis 3:21b “…and (the next
word is) clothed them.” Clothed, this is a spiritual term. The
only way we can put that together is to jump all the way up to Isaiah. Now,
we’ll have to do this quickly. Again, time is getting away from us, isn’t it?
All the way up to Isaiah 61 verse 10. This is 700 BC instead of 4,000 BC. Look
what Isaiah experiences. It is the same thing, the same forgiveness, the same
blood application. Isaiah 61:10a “I will greatly rejoice
in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he (God) hath
(Watch the word.) clothed (The same word in Genesis, not
with garments for the physical flesh, but garments of what?) me with the
garments of salvation, (See the difference?) he hath clothes me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,…” All right, now we’ve got one
minute. You’ve got to jump all the way up to Romans, and you know what? It’s
no different. Paul now teaches basically the same thing in Romans chapter 3. This
is where you and I have come. The same forgiveness, we’ve got, of course, the
atoning blood of Christ instead of an animal, but, oh, the result is the same. Romans 3:22a “Even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that (What?)
believe:…” Now, what is imputed to the believer? The clothing of
righteousness, the covering of righteousness. When we become a believer, I
maintain, God doesn’t see me, He doesn’t see you. God sees who? Jesus
Christ! We’ve been clothed with His righteousness. Now, that’s beyond human
comprehension. But it’s what the Book says. When Adam and Eve came away from
that experience of being clothed with their physical nakedness, they also were
clothed with God’s righteousness. It restored them back to fellowship with the
Creator. You see all that? He bought them back from their lost estate. We’re going to get on with
program number two this afternoon. For those of you joining us on television,
we’re just an informal Bible Study. I like to compare it to a Sunday School
class more than anything. We’re simply comparing Scripture with Scripture. My
whole idea of this is to get people to study their Bible by themselves. Don’t
go by what I say. Don’t go by what some preacher says. You go by what the
Book says, because this is how we’re going to be judged one day. Okay, we’re looking at a little
different approach to Scripture today. We’re looking at the whole process of
redemption as we see God exercise it in various ways and forms from Genesis to
Revelation. As I mentioned in the last program, I really wanted to do this
with the Book of Ruth, but I couldn’t do it with Ruth alone, so we’re going to
have to put it all together and then come back and see where the picture of
Ruth and Boaz figure in. All right, in this lesson we’re
going to go back and look at the beginning of the Nation of Israel and how God
lost them. Again, it’s a picture of what was once God’s He lost and He has to
redeem them. So, let’s go all the way back
to Genesis chapter 37. We’re going to jump all the way up to when Joseph was
having his dreams. I don’t think I have to rehearse for most people that
Joseph is the dreamer. The brothers are starting to hate him a little bit more
all the time until finally, one day, old father Jacob sends him out to check on
the brethren. They conspire and say, here comes that dreamer, let’s get rid of
him. All right, so drop all the way
down to Genesis 37 verse 19. I want you to see how all this took place, that
here we have the Abrahamic Covenant, and it has now become a reality. Isaac
has come and gone. Jacob has sired the twelve sons which will be the twelve
tribes of Israel. We’re still in the early stages, of course, but the Nation
has now gotten a good beginning. Genesis 37:19 “And they said one to
another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.” Which was Joseph, and then they
conspire between themselves what to do with him. First they want to kill him.
Then they decide to throw him into a pit, and you know the story. So, let’s
drop down to verse 26, where the eldest of the brethren, Judah, has a little
bit of compassion left in him. Genesis 37:26-28 “And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay (or kill) our
brother, and conceal his blood? 27. Come, and let us sell him to
the Ishmeelites, (slave traders) and let not our hand be upon him;
for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28. Then
there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out
of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and
they brought Joseph to Egypt.” Now that is merely the
beginning of the process that brought the whole Nation of Israel down into the land of Egypt where they became slaves of the Egyptian Pharaohs and so forth. But it all
started with the evil thinking and reaction to this godly man, Joseph, who was
actually dreaming things that were prophecy. He was dreaming of the time when
indeed they would be coming down to Egypt, and they’d have to bow down to him
in order to get food for sustenance. But of course, none of them understood
that as yet. But, what we want to show in
just this little bit here is how the beginning of the Nation under Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob and his twelve sons is now interrupted by the first step in
God’s losing them as they go down into Egypt. All right, now we know that
after they’re in Egypt for a period of time, they come under abject slavery and
the persecution and pressure of the Pharaohs, and then God’s going to do
something totally different. Now, jump all the way up to
Genesis chapter 46. We’re going to see how everybody ends up in Egypt, and it all began with selling Joseph into slavery. Joseph, of course, comes out of
prison and becomes the second man in Egypt. He puts together the seven years
of plenty. You know the story. I don’t have to rehearse that. But now we
come to the place where Jacob and the brethren have had to go to Joseph to get
grain, not knowing who he was, of course, the first time. But when they went
back the second time, then they understood that Joseph was indeed their
brother, and Joseph made it known that the brethren were his brethren. And that, of course, is a point
that Stephen makes in Acts chapter 7, that for whatever reason, Israel always has to have a second go around. When the brethren went down to Joseph the
first time, they didn’t know who he was. They didn’t have clue. But Joseph
knew them. But when they came back the second time, then it’s revealed who
Joseph is, and of course there’s this great reunion. Well, this was all a
picture, in type of course, of Christ. The first time He came, He knew them.
But they didn’t know Him. We have the same thing with
Moses. Moses went out to the Children of Israel supposing that he could lead
them out. But what’d they do with Moses? They rejected him, and he was guilty
of murder, so he had to flee for 40 years. Then he comes back the second time
and he becomes the deliverer. Now, these are all pictures in
type. Which of course, I was thinking again sometime, either during the night
or driving up here, you know, this Book is just like a huge, beautiful mosaic.
I don’t think many people understand the beauty of a mosaic unless you get to
the Middle East and see some of the archeological uncoverings over there of
these beautiful mosaics, these little chips of stone. I think the most
beautiful one we ever saw was the lady in Sepphoris. It was in a huge mosaic.
Almost a quarter of the size of this room and in one central part of the mosaic
was a beautiful face of a young lady. It was like a Mona Lisa. You know why?
No matter where you stood from that face, it was looking at you. You could
look over here. It was looking at you. Stand in front of it. It was looking
at you. Well you see, I like to compare that as a crude, crude illustration,
but this Bible is a beautiful mosaic. All the little pieces when they come
together are flabbergasting! But people will just reject it out of hand. I always have to think of a
survey I think lawyers took up in Iowa years and years and years ago. This one
believing lawyer asked all the members of the bar association, I think it was
in Iowa. Forgive me if I’m wrong. But he asked two questions. Do you believe
the Bible is the Word of God? The second question was - if you said no, have
you ever read it? Well, you know what the result was? About 90% said, no,
they didn’t believe the Bible. Had they ever read it? One hundred percent
said, no, they’d never read it. So, they reject it out of hand, not even
having a clue of what they’re rejecting. But, you see, it is such a beautiful
mosaic. Everything fits, but you have to dig it out. It isn’t going to unfold
like a fifth grade reader necessarily. But yet it’s simple enough, like I said
in the last half-hour, that anybody can understand it if they’ll just try! You know, when people write and
disagree with me on some of these things, you know what my stock answer is?
There’s only one reason that you’re not agreeing with me. You don’t want to.
And isn’t that true? No, they don’t want to. And they’ll be switched if
they’ll try. But if they would and if they’d want to, it’s there. It’s as
plain as day. I make no apology for that. Okay, so here we go back to Israel now. They’ve just gotten started as a result of the promises made to Abraham. Then
the old devil comes into these eleven brothers with envy and jealousy, and they
sell Joseph down into Egypt. All right, so now in chapter 46 verse 1, we find
that the brethren up there in Canaan are getting short of food. They’re hungry,
and Joseph has the granaries full in Egypt. Now, up until this time they were
warned constantly to never go down to Egypt, because Egypt was the biblical
picture of the world. God’s people don’t go to the world for their problems,
nor was Israel to go to Egypt. But now, after all these years of don’t go to Egypt, God changes it around and He gives the opposite directions. Genesis 46:1-3 “And Israel
(Jacob) took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba,
(Which is down south of Jerusalem, present day Jerusalem, about, I suppose,
75-80 miles, which makes it just due east from Egypt.) and offered
sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2. And God spake unto Israel in
the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. (Now,
look what God tells Jacob after all these years of saying go not down to Egypt.) 3. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there (in Egypt) make of you a great nation:” You know the rest of the
story. Jacob and the eleven brethren moved down into Goshen. Under Joseph’s
authority they prospered. They had the best producing area of Egypt up there in the delta, and they fared quite sumptuously for quite a few years. But
then the Scripture tells us that there was another Pharaoh “who knew not
Joseph” after he had died. Of course he brought in the extreme pressure
of the slavery that the children of Israel found themselves under. All right, let’s move on up,
for sake of time, to see how God is going to bring about a redemption of that
which He had lost. He has lost the Nation of Israel. They are out of fellowship
with Him. They are under Gentile dominion, but He’s going to buy them back.
Now, this is why I had to bypass the Book of Ruth. As we saw with Adam, we’re
going to see with Israel. We’re going to see with Christ and the work for the
whole human race. We’re going to see at the same time that when He pays off
old Satan’s mortgage in Revelation, there are always three parts of redemption. Number one, there has to be
a person. Now, you might want to write this in your notes. You have to
have a person. Number two, it has to be by blood. It has to be by
blood. That’s the only way God can redeem. The third one is power.
Power! This is why I cannot understand, as I’ve said it almost every taping
lately, why do even our evangelical people avoid the Resurrection? They’ll
speak of His death. They’ll speak of His forgiveness. But they just seemingly
are remiss in bringing up the Resurrection. That’s where the power lies! That’s
where the power is. You cannot have redemption without all three. It doesn’t do a bit of good to
have the shed blood if you don’t experience the power, and vice versa. We’re
going to the Book of Exodus. We’re going to jump in at, let’s see, I want to
go to chapter 11, I think. Exodus chapter 11 dropping down to verse 6, this is
the night when every firstborn of Egypt is being put to death. This is the
beginning of God redeeming His lost people and bringing them to Himself. Exodus 11:6-7 “And there shall be a
great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor
shall be like it anymore. 7. But against any of the children of Israel shall
not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the
LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” Now
verse 9. Exodus 11:9-10 “And the LORD said unto
Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in
the land of Egypt. 10. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before
Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children
of Israel go out of his land.” All right, now God is going to step in,
in chapter 12, with the first step of redemption. And what’s it going to be?
First, we have the person, which is Moses. That’s right off the bat in verse
1. Exodus 12:1-2 “And the LORD spake unto
Moses (He’s going to be the person God is going to use in this
instance.) and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2. This month shall be
unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to
you.” This, of course, is our month of April. Exodus 12:3-4 “Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take
to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an
house: 4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls;
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.”
These are the instructions leading up to the very first Passover. The night
that the Egyptians were losing their firstborn and Israel is gathered in their
little houses, their huts, whatever the case may be. It’s nighttime. They’re
not sitting at the table, they are what? They’re standing. Okay, let’s move on.
Exodus 12:5 “Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep,
or from the goats:” Now remember, they were to take it out on the tenth
day. They were to watch it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Of
course the whole purpose was to make sure that there was nothing remiss about
this little sacrificial animal. It had to be perfect. No injury. No sign of
sickness. It had to be absolutely perfect. Exodus 12:6-7a And ye shall keep it up
until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (Now, here comes
the next part of redemption.) 7. And they shall take of the blood,…”
Remember what we said in the first half hour? Hebrews says that “without
the shedding of blood there is no remission.” I wish I could give a
beautiful, simple illustration as to why God always demands the shed blood. I
can’t. I’ve got an idea, but I cannot explain it enough that everybody would
be satisfied. The closest I can come is that all through the process of
salvation, redemption, whatever the case may be, we have to have death, and out
of death comes life. Genesis tells us that “life is in the blood.”
This is not enough to satisfy everybody. I know it isn’t. But, it’s as far
as I can go. Since life is in the blood, that blood has to experience death,
so that out of death can come new life. We see it in the plant families
of the earth. When that seed is planted, it dies. Out of that death comes new
life. This is the only thing that I’m able to put on why does God always
demand the shed blood. It’s a fact of Scripture. We can’t escape it. Whether
they like it or not, you cannot take it away. All right, so here again we had
to have the sacrificial Passover lamb. Its blood had to be applied on the
doorposts of their little huts in Egypt. That blood would spare them and would
secure them from the death that was going across the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:7-9 “They shall take of the
blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the
houses, wherein they shall eat it (the Passover lamb). 8. And they
shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and
with bitter herbs shall they eat it. 9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden (or
boiled) at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and
with the purtenance thereof.” Exodus 12:10 “And ye shall let nothing
of it remain to the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye
shall burn with fire.” All right, now verse 12. While they are
enjoying the Passover Lamb with the blood of safety on the doorposts, God says: Exodus 12:12-13 “For I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, both man and beast; and against all of the gods (Plural -
everything in Egypt was a god, remember.) of Egypt I will execute
judgment: I am the LORD. 13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon
the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and
the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of
Egypt.” Now, that’s the beginning of
the Passover. Jews to this day are still celebrating Passover. Even though
they’re missing, I think for the most part, all of the spiritual ramifications.
Yet, this has always been part of Israel’s history. All the way since 1500 BC
and here is the reason. Verse 26 of this same chapter, and, oh, this just says
it all! Why do our Jewish people still practice Passover when they don’t
believe in the God of the Passover? Here it is in verse 26. Exodus 12:26a “And it shall come to
pass, when your children…” Now, are kids active in the Passover?
Absolutely they are! What do the parents hide? The piece of bread? They hide
the Matzo. And whose prerogative is it to go through the house and find it?
The children. They become an active part of the Passover feast. Okay, here’s
the reason. Oh, God knows how to do things! Exodus 12:26 “And it shall come to
pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean you by this service?”
Why are we doing this, Daddy? Why are you hiding something and then we go and
find it? Well, to get them involved and to give them an understanding. Now
verse 27, when the kids shall say why are we doing this? Then the Scripture
says: Exodus 12:27-28 “That ye shall say, it is
the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the
children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our
houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 And the children of
Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they
did.” All right, let’s just jump over
a little further and come down now to chapter 14 where Israel is now escaping Egypt. Miraculously! The whole scope of Israel, and I maintain that there
were six or seven million of them. Now, for the longest time I never heard
anybody say anything more than six or seven hundred thousand, but then it
wasn’t long and I heard people say three million. Then it wasn’t long and it
was four million. Now I’m reading more and more people who are agreeing with
me, it was more like seven million. I think that was pretty much
the average population of Israel all the way up through their history. Then lo
and behold, I was reading the editorial by the Jewish editorial writer
Krauthammer, and miracle of miracles, you know what Israel is close to today?
They are real close to six million people in Israel. Six million. There’s
fifteen million worldwide, but they’re getting close to six million now. The first thing I had to think
of, now I’m rambling, I’m chasing rabbits! Sorry about that. But you know I
had to think of what he said. Six million people in Israel - what was the
number of the men of war when Israel began winning everything all the way up
through their history? What was the number that they had to have? You know?
Six hundred thousand. When they reached six hundred thousand men of war,
nobody could beat them. And I think the same thing happened in 1967. Israel had the six hundred thousand men of war and nobody could beat them. Now, when I saw that there were
six million, that’s just another multiplication of six hundred thousand, so there’s
the mosaic. Everything fits. Okay, chapter 14, we’ve only got three minutes
left? They have now escaped out of Egypt. They’re gathered on the banks of
the Red Sea. Why bring us to the banks of the Red Sea? We don’t have boats.
We don’t have rafts. What are we going to do? I imagine about that time they
could see the dust clouds behind them of Pharaoh’s army. Can you see the
panic? Can you feel it? What are we going to do? There’s no place to go and
the Egyptians are coming. Verse 13, of all things to tell
seven million people. Now remember they had a chain of command. Moses didn’t
stand some place and yell at six or seven million people. But they had a chain
of command that just went like wildfire, and what was His command? Exodus 14:13a “And Moses said unto the
people, Fear ye not, stand still,…” Stand still? Are you kidding?!
The Egyptians are behind us! They’ll slaughter us. But God says, “Stand
still,” or Moses does by God’s instruction. Exodus 14:13 “And Moses said unto the
people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he
will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see
them again no more for ever.” Do you suppose those Jews had even an
inkling of what was about to happen? They had no idea. They couldn’t dream of
all of a sudden the waters parting, but they did. Now what’s this? We’ve had the
blood on the doorpost. We’ve have had Moses as God’s spokesman. Now what have
we got? Power! Power! The power of God opens that Red Sea, not just for forty
or fifty feet. It must have been for miles, because seven million people cross
on dry ground in a matter of hours. You see that? What a miracle! And of
course, it became part of Israel’s history. One of the greatest miracles in
all of Israel’s history was how God opened the Red Sea. All right, now in the minute we
have left, I hope I’ve got your imagination running. Here these seven million
walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. Not a drop of water touches them. And
as soon as they come up on the other side, the water comes back and destroys
their enemies. Now, what’s the picture for you and me? That’s our Salvation.
When we recognize that we’re a lost sinner, we’re undone. Does God say, get to
work and do something? Does God say, go find a preacher and get baptized?
Does God say, well, learn how to speak in tongues? What does He say? Don’t
try to do anything. I’ve done it all. I’ve done it for you. I’ve shed my
blood. I’ve already experienced the power of resurrection. I’m ready to give
it to you – if you’ll just stand still and believe it! I can’t make it any
plainer. This is the perfect picture
then of Israel losing their identity with God for ever so long, almost two
hundred and some years, and then God redeems them with the use of a person,
with the shed blood, and with the power of opening the Red Sea. Israel comes out on the other side now a redeemed Nation of people. For those of you joining us on
television again, we want to welcome you to a Bible Study that we trust will
help you to learn to study on your own. I’ve said over and over, it’s not that
difficult. Just learn to separate some of these things. You can’t just keep
it all jumbled up. It’s not an impossible Book, not by any stretch. Remember,
we use all the Bible for our learning, but Paul’s books, Romans – Philemon, are
for our Grace Age doctrine. We want to thank you for your
prayers, your letters, your financial help, every one of you. We love you. We
pray for you from coast to coast. We know that we couldn’t do it without you.
Same for all of you who come in for these tapings. How we appreciate this! We
know that the Lord is using you to use us. Okay, we’re going to continue
on with our theme of redemption. First we saw that Adam and Eve needed to be
restored to fellowship, but Adam of course plunged the whole human race into a
need for redemption. This is going to be our next program, how that Christ in
the work of the cross is going to redeem not just Israel but the whole human
race. After Israel experienced the national redemption of the Red Sea, we still have that hope of a spiritual redemption in their future. All right, we’re going to jump
in, to start this half hour, in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 20. We know that Job
spoke of a redeemer, one of the earliest books written in our Bible. But now,
Isaiah in verse 20 says: Isaiah 59:20a “And the Redeemer shall
come to Zion,…” That’s a future promise from Isaiah’s point in time
700 years before Christ. A redeemer would be coming to Jerusalem to Mount Zion. Isaiah 59:20b-21a “…and unto them that turn
from transgression in Jacob, (or in the Nation of Israel) saith
the LORD. 21. As for me, this is my covenant with them,…” That is Israel. Now, I can never emphasize enough, and you know that this has been my teaching
from day one, that with the onset of the Abrahamic Covenant all of God’s
dealing was primarily to the Jew. There were some Gentile exceptions, but
that’s what they were, they were exceptions. God has been dealing with the
Nation of Israel. He’s going to continue to deal with Israel even as Christ makes His appearance for His earthly ministry. Isaiah 29:21 “As for me, this is my
covenant with them, (Israel) saith the LORD; My spirit that is
upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of
thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s
seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” That’s almost a
word for word repetition from Jeremiah 31:31 where He calls it a “new
covenant I will make with the house of Israel.” All right, let’s jump all the
way up to our New Testament and jump into Luke chapter 1. Again, if you really
get this concept of Scripture, the four Gospels are not that much different
from the Old Testament, especially from Genesis chapter 12, the call of Abraham
on. It’s all tied to Israel. Everything is God dealing with Israel. He hasn’t left the Gentiles out of His mind, but He’s going to have to deal with Israel first, and then He’ll deal with the rest of the world. All right, Luke’s Gospel
chapter 1, and I want to drop in at verse 68. The setting for this little
portion of Scripture is the father of John the Baptist. He was one of the
priests laboring at the Temple. When the little fellow was born, they asked
the mother what his name would be. Elizabeth said, “John.”
Well, that threw them a curve. Nobody has ever been called John before. So
they look up old Zacharias who has been stricken speechless throughout the nine
months of gestation. They find him up at the Temple compound. They asked him,
what’s going to be the name of this baby? And he wrote the name, “John.”
Well, they were all shook up, of course, but now the Lord gives him back his
speech. I guess, in that case, we’d better start at verse 67. Now, Zacharias
has gotten his speech back. Look what he says. Luke 1:67-68 “And his father Zacharias
was filled with the Holy Spirit, (So, everything he says is God moved.
This isn’t just the voice of a wishful thinking Jew. This is the word that God
wanted spoken.) and prophesied, saying, (or he
spoke forth saying) 68. Blessed be the Lord God of (The world? No.
That’s not what it says.) Israel; (Now we’ve got to
keep Scripture in its context. We have no validity whatsoever in saying, well,
He meant everybody. No. He meant what He said.) Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel; for he hath visited and (What?) redeemed his people,”
Well, this is prophecy ready to
be fulfilled. Isaiah said, “The Redeemer would come to Jerusalem.”
And here He is! He’s in their midst. John the Baptist will in short order be
announcing Him to the Nation of Israel. “Your King is in your midst.”
He’s ready to fulfill all the promises made to the Patriarchs and to the
prophets. Here He is! So, Israel is put on the spot. All right, let’s read a
few of these. Luke 1:69 “And He hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” Now again
I always ask the question. How many Gentiles in the House of David? Not a
one! This is all Jewish. This is Jewish ground. Luke 1:70-71 “As he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets, (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, you name
them.) who have been since the ages began: (What did the prophets
say?) 71. That we should be saved from our enemies, (The
physical enemies, their neighbors, the Arab world, the Roman world, Israel was to be saved from all those Gentiles enemies.) and from the hand of all
that hate us.” Which were, again, the same people. Luke 1:72-73 “To perform the mercy
promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73. The oath which
he swear to our father Abraham.” Now you see, everything goes back to
Genesis 12. You can’t separate it. It’s just an on flowing of those Old
Testament statements. Now verse 74. Luke 1:74-78 “That he would grant unto
us, that we (the Nation of Israel) being delivered out of the
hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75. In holiness and
righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76. And thou, child, (speaking
of John the Baptist) shall be called the prophet (the forth
teller) of the Highest: (John would be the forerunner of the
Messiah.) for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways; 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of
their sins, 78. Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from
on high hath visited us,” All right, so here is the
beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, which is directed completely to Israel with only two exceptions, the Canaanite woman and the Roman centurion. It was all Israel. Everything in His earthly ministry is spoken to the Jews who are now under the Old
Testament economy of the Law. The Temple is operating. The priesthood is
operating. Into that comes Jesus of Nazareth (Gal. 4:4). For the sake of our study this
afternoon, we haven’t got time to go through His earthly ministry, so we’re
going to jump all the way over to the Apostle Paul, because Israel has now rejected the Messiah out of hand when they said in so many words, “we’ll not
have this man to rule over us.” You know, once in a while the Lord is
patient with me. In His own time He revealed it. I made that statement on a
program a long time ago and people wrote and said, “Les, where did you get that
statement, we’ll not have this man to rule over us? It’s
not in the Bible.” And you know, I looked and I looked and I looked and I had
to admit, you know I’m wrong. I must have pulled that out of the woodwork
someplace. But the other night I was reading in one of the Gospels and there
it was! It was in one of His parables. When the husband went to a far country
and he sent his son and so forth and then the statement was made, “we’ll
not have this man to rule over us.” Well, it was a direct reference to
Christ, but I was remiss in quoting Him as such, although He is the one who
said it in the parable. So, they rejected Him. They
crucified Him. Peter comes back in the early chapters of Acts and he pleads - repent
of the horrible sin of killing your Messiah. I had someone write me the other
day. They said, “Peter preached death, burial, and resurrection.” And I have to
write right back and say, “But not for salvation!” He had to preach
resurrection. Otherwise, how could he tell the people of Israel that their king was still coming? A dead person can’t rule. So, the first thing Peter had
to convince Israel was the one they crucified was alive. Indeed He was. And
He would still come and fulfill the promises. But Peter never associated it
with salvation. Never. He just simply says, “the One you killed, God
raised from the dead.” He doesn’t say - believe it with all your heart
for your salvation like the next apostle, Paul, does. Paul says, you believe
it if you want salvation! All right, now we’re going to
look at the approach of this whole idea of redemption not just for Israel, not just for the Gentile, but for the whole human race. That’s why I’ve got it up
on the board now - Humanity. The whole sphere of humanity comes under this
work of redemption. That is when God the Son took on flesh and ministered for
three years to the Nation of Israel, was rejected, crucified, shed His blood.
He was buried, raised from the dead. All right, now what have you got? You’ve
got the three attributes, again, of redemption. The person? Jesus Christ.
The blood? Calvary’s cross. The power? Resurrection morning. Now we’re all
set to proclaim redemption to the whole human race. This is for everyone! All right, Romans chapter 3 and
I almost have to start, whenever I go into chapter 3, I just can’t leave verse
19 alone. I can’t help it. I wasn’t intending to use it today, but I’m going
to have to. Romans 3:19a “Now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law:”
Well, Beloved, there was only one group of people whom God put under the Law.
Who was it? Israel! Israel alone had the Temple. Israel alone had a
priesthood. Israel alone rested on the prophets and the Old Testament. That
has nothing to do with us Gentiles except as it’s going to unfold now through
this Apostle. Now Paul is making it so plain that Israel was under the Law,
the Ten Commandments. But, since it is God’s moral law for the human race, it
didn’t stop at Israel’s borders. It put the whole human race under
condemnation. Read on. Romans 3:19b-20 “…that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world (not just Israel now) may become
guilty before God. 20. Therefore by the deeds (or the keeping) of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is not
the knowledge (Of salvation? No, it’s the knowledge--) of sin.”
Now, this is the complete opposite of what even most of Christendom is
preaching today. “Just do the best you can. Keep the commandments and God
might let you in.” Isn’t that the hope of most people? What a travesty. The Law was never given to get
anybody to Heaven, except to bring him under condemnation where he recognizes
his need. That’s all the law the can do. The law is a convicting power. The
law condemns every one who breaks it. And how in the world do people think
they’re going to make it to Heaven by keeping something that no man can keep?
So, Paul makes it so plain that
“by the law there shall no flesh be justified.” Not one, because
only Christ Himself was sinless and never failed in the keeping of the Law.
All right, now verse 21, here’s the flipside. We covered it in one of our “But
Now’s”. Romans 3:21a “But now the
righteousness of God…” This is the verse we used when we were looking
at Adam’s salvation back in Genesis. That when God brought in the sacrificial
lamb and shed its blood and saw Adams’s faith, He clothed him with what?
Righteousness! Well, it’s the same righteousness that Paul deals with - “The
righteousness of God without the law.” Now don’t miss that. Romans 3:21 “The righteousness of God
without the law (Leave it where God put it, as a condemnation and
nothing more.) is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets.” Of course, this Bible is a progressive revelation. You
don’t take one page out of this Book. I’ll come back to the mosaic. You keep
every little stone of the mosaic in place. You don’t ever take a portion of
Scripture and say, well, that’s irrelevant. I can throw it away. No, you
can’t. It’s a complete composite of the Word of God. All right, now verse 22. Romans 3:22 “Even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ (The faithfulness that
Christ accomplished everything that needed to be done and it will never
faileth. Now we know that you can put money in banks and a bank can fail and
you lose it all. You can put your faith in an MD who is nothing but a
renegade. He’s not what he claims to be and you lose it all. And all through
life we can have experiences with men and women that are not faithful to what
they’re supposed to be. But God will never let us down. He is always
faithful. Romans 3:22 “Even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ (And this righteousness of
Christ is imputed to--) unto all and upon all them that believe:”
See how simple that is? There’s nothing else in there. This righteousness
comes upon all them that believe plus nothing. And, oh, they muddy it up.
They goof it up. But it’s so simple. It’s to those who place their faith or
believe it. Then verse 23, beginning with Adam, because of Adam-- Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God;” The Ten Commandments prove that. No
man can go through life without breaking those Ten Commandments. It just
proves that he’s a sin-natured individual. I made the comment in one of my
seminars here the other day. I haven’t done it for years and years on the
program. But you know, when that little baby is born and first brought in from
the hospital, they’re sweet. Oh, they’re innocent. They’re loving. They’re
cuddly. But how long until that Adamic nature shows its head? Not long and
they have a temper. Oh, they can get angry! Then it isn’t very long and
they can lie like a rug. Who teaches them to lie? I know no Mama is going to
say, “Now look honey, when I ask if you’ve taken a cookie, all you have to do
is just tell me no you haven’t.” That’s the way you do that? No, that isn’t
the way it works. They know how to lie. I’ll go one step further. They hear
the neighbor’s kid use a bad word. Do they know where to use it? You better
believe it! They know where to use it! You don’t have to teach them. Why?
We’re born with that Adamic sin nature. Everyone one of us is. All right,
now read on. Here’s the blessed hope. Romans 3:24 “Being justified freely
(without a cost) by his grace through the (What?) redemption
that is in Christ Jesus:” Redemption – the same word that Isaiah and
Moses used. It is the same word that Adam experienced. It’s the process where
God is going to buy back that which He lost. He’s going to pay the price.
He’s going to exert the power necessary to get it done. That’s our
redemption. That’s where we are. “Through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus.” Now, what did Christ Jesus do? Romans 3:25a “Whom God hath set forth to
be a propitiation through faith in his blood,…” His shed blood - you
can’t take that out of the Gospel of salvation. Denominations take it out,
but this Book doesn’t. Some of the new translations take it out. But God’s
Word in its original purity hasn’t. So, we have to have faith that His Divine
sinless blood was shed as the redemption price for our salvation. Never forget
that! That’s why we have to maintain
Christ’s Deity, that His blood was Divine. It was sinless blood. That’s why
He had to be virgin born. Have you ever thought of that? Had He been born of
an earthly father, his blood wouldn’t have been any more perfect than mine or
yours. I mean, it’s impossible for a human being to have the Divine blood that
was necessary for redemption. So, he had to be absent a human father. That’s
where the virgin birth came in. Mary was impregnated by an act of God. Not by
a human father. That’s intrinsic to our whole plan of salvation. He had to be
virgin born, without an earthly father to pollute his blood. All right, so it
was through His Divine sinless blood that He could-- Romans 3:25b “…to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance
of God;” All right, now that word “propitiation” I don’t
dare just fluff off. I’ve got to show that. If you’ve ever done a study with
me, or anybody else, of the tabernacle out there in the wilderness, I hope you
can picture it in your mind’s eye. Here was that beautiful white fence all
around the altar and the little tent in the center with the laver of cleansing,
and all these things that made up the Temple or the tabernacle complex. Every
last jot and tittle of it was a picture of Christ in one form of His work of
redemption or another. Every last bit of it was a picture of Christ. Well, not only was it a picture
of Christ the person, the Redeemer, it was a picture of His finished work. In
other words, when the animal was killed and the blood was shed and it was laid
on the altar, what was it a picture of? His own death at the cross. When the
priest comes in and stops at the laver of cleansing, what was it a picture of?
Who alone can cleanse us from our sins? God the Son. All the things in the
tabernacle, everything about it, were not only a picture of Christ Himself in
His physical appearance, but in His work. Everything He did was right there in
that little tabernacle. Everything! And that’s the word – propitiation.
All of that comes together for the act of redemption for us even today, for the
whole human race. All right, now I can’t leave
without using verse 26, even though we’re moving on from the word redemption
now. But in verse 26 Paul says: Romans 3:26 “To declare, I say, at
this time his (the Redeemer’s) righteousness: that he
(the Redeemer, God the Son, Jesus the Christ) might be just,
(absolutely fair) and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.”
Do you see that? God will never cut corners when it comes to our sin. He’s
going to deal with it. But He’s going to deal with it and declare us just and
justified, not when we’ve kept the commandments, but when we’ve what? Believed
Paul’s Gospel. That’s all. Then God moves in and does all the work of
transforming our lives and our appetites and all that goes with it. All right, now let’s move ahead
a little bit in the few minutes we have left to Galatians chapter 3. We have
yet another reference to this work of redemption. Galatians chapter 3, let’s
start at verse 10. Galatians 3:10a “For as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse:…” Now Beloved, stop and
think a minute. How many people today are exactly in that position? It’s
sobering. It’s frightening. The multitudes of Christendom are trying to
approach God with a works religion. That’s law. And what are they under? The
curse of God. Now that’s strong language, but that’s what the Book says. Not
my idea. If you’re going to make Heaven by keeping the commandments, you’re
not going to make Heaven. You’re going to be under the curse. Galatians 3:10b “…for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.” In other words, if you’re
going to make Heaven keeping the Ten Commandments, and you so much as steal a
dime’s worth of something, you’re doomed. You’ve broken the Law. You’re under
condemnation. You’re under the curse. All right, now verse 11, but that’s not
the way it is. Praise the Lord, that’s not the way it is! Galatians 3:11-12 But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, (Why?
Because even from the Old Testament economy--) The just shall live by (What?)
faith. 12. And the law is not of faith: (The law is works. Do
this and do that and don’t do that and so forth, that’s law. That’s not
faith.) The man that doeth them shall live in them.” Again, if
you’re going to make Heaven with works, then you can’t break one single
commandment one time in your whole life. Well, you know, it’s impossible.
Okay, now here comes the word we’re looking for. Galatians 3:13a “Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law,…” What’s the word? Redeemed us! He has
paid the price of redemption with His shed blood on the cross of Calvary. And you and I have been set scot-free. Now, we’ve got more verses to look at,
but we’ll have to pick that up in the next half-hour, because I’m not ready to
let this drop. We’ve got to come back in our next program. Okay, program number 4 and
again I just want to thank all of you folks from near and far for coming in
this afternoon. It’s just been a pleasure on my part. I hope you’ve enjoyed
it as much as I have. For those of you joining us on television, we’re an
informal Bible study. We’ve got nobody that underwrites us. We just depend on
the gifts of God’s people, and amazingly, He supplies all our needs. We never
have to beg or borrow. We just give Him all the praise. Thank you, folks, for
everything that you do for us. We appreciate the prayers. They’re just as
important as the financial. Okay, we’re in a Bible study.
We’re looking today at the whole concept of redemption from Genesis through
Revelation. I didn’t feel like I quite wound up in the last half-hour the
whole idea of the redemption work of Christ and the cross. So, I’m going to
come back to where we left off in the closing seconds of the program, Galatians
chapter 3 verse 13 once again. Remember now that the three facets of
redemption are: it takes a person; it takes blood; and it takes power. Of course the Lord Himself
fulfilled all that when He went to the work of the cross, not just to redeem Israel, not just to redeem the Gentile, but to redeem the whole human race. This is a
concept, I think, that probably shakes people up every time I say it. You want
to remember that the work of the cross passed forgiveness to the whole human
race. From Adam to the end of time every sin has been forgiven. It was laid
on Christ at the cross. Every alienated person has been reconciled to God, so
far as God is concerned. Every human being now has access to this salvation,
but it has to be appropriated by their personal faith. It isn’t just a blanket
statement that oh well, God’s going to bring everyone into glory sooner or
later. No, the Scripture doesn’t teach that. The Scripture makes it so plain
that even though God has accomplished the work for all the human race, it has
to be appropriated by faith. He redeemed the whole human race. He paid the
price of redemption for everybody, but it doesn’t do them any good until they
appropriate it with their own personal faith. All right, back to Galatians
chapter 3 where we left off in verse 13. Galatians 3:13 “Christ has (past
tense) redeemed us from the curse of the law,…” Now, do you get
the impact of that? What does the Law do to the human race? It puts a curse
on them. It doesn’t lead them to Heaven. My, I can’t imagine how Satan
has been so successful in twisting this whole approach to the Law by giving
people the idea that if they do the best they can, if they keep the
Commandments, God will let them into His Heaven. That’s not what the Law was
given for. The Law was given to convict every individual of his law-breaking,
his failure, his sinfulness, and that only the work of the cross can compensate
for it. All right, so again, “Christ hath redeemed us.” He has
bought us back. He’s paid the price. Galatians 3:13a “Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:…” Now see, there
again, you’ve heard me say it over and over, especially those of you here in Oklahoma. There is no way any human being can comprehend what Christ suffered at that
cross. The “Passion of the Christ”
didn’t even scratch the surface, because that was merely from the physical point
of view. What they could not show is how He suffered from the spiritual side.
Whereupon being God Himself, being the Creator, He alone was capable of it. He
suffered the sin debt of the whole human race. We can’t comprehend that. But
that’s what the Scripture teaches. That He suffered being sin for us, He who
knew no sin. Galatians 3:13b “…for it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree:” Well, what’s it directing at?
Where was Christ hung? On a tree. That’s why it had to be a cross. He had to
be hung on a tree to fulfill the cursedness of having been hung on a tree. Now
look at verse 14. Galatians 3:14 “That the blessing of
Abraham (Who also was under that redemption that happened to Israel.) might come on the Gentiles (not through the law) through Jesus
Christ; that we (as Gentiles) might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.” Not law-keeping. Not Temple worship. Not sacrifices. All right, now skip across,
still in this same little letter to the Galatians, to chapter 4 verses 4 and
5. This is the only time that the Apostle Paul makes reference to Christ’s
birth at Bethlehem. The only time. Why? Because Christ’s earthly ministry
was not for the Gentiles. That was for Israel. We are concerned with His finished
work of the cross. So for us, it’s from the cross on. Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of
the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
(Where?) under the law,” My, how many times have you heard me
say it? Everything that Jesus said and did was according to the Law. He
lived, He preached, and He practiced under the Law. He was in the Synagogue on
the seventh day (Sabbath day). He went to the Temple. When he preformed the
miracle of healing the lepers, ten of them, what did He tell them? “Go
show yourself to the priest according to the law.” Everything He preached was
according to the Law. That’s why Paul now teaches--I didn’t intend to do this,
but these things come up and I have to hit them. II Corinthians chapter 5 and
a lot of preachers hate this. I know they do. I hear it. II Corinthians
chapter 5, but as Peter says, everything that Paul wrote is Scripture. And if
it’s Scripture, it’s what? The Word of God. And if it’s the Word of
God, we’d better pay attention, or else you’re going to be misleading people. All right, II Corinthians
chapter 5, I almost have to start at verse 14 to pick up the flow. Paul is
writing to the Gentile church at Corinth. He’s writing to us. II Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ
constraineth us; because we thus judge, (or conclude) that if one
died for all, then were all dead: (That is spiritually.) 15. And
that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth (That is
from their salvation on.) live unto themselves, but unto him who died for
them, and rose again.” There’s Paul’s gospel. Now look at verse 16,
and, oh, so many preachers and teachers don’t like it. It makes them mad. But
I can’t help it. II Corinthians 5:16a “Wherefore henceforth
(from this point of the resurrection forward) know we no man after the
flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,…” His three
years of earthly ministry. Old Saul of Tarsus knew what Jesus
of Nazareth was doing. I’ll bet he was on the fringes just infuriated over
what he was seeing Jesus do. He was a good Pharisee. So, when he writes
something like this, even though it’s inspired of the Spirit, it was still
apropos from his own experience. Paul knew all about it. But now look at the
rest of the verse. II Corinthians 5:16b “…yet now henceforth
(From this time forward. Not from John the Baptist. Not from Peter, James,
and John’s call up there at Galilee, but from this time of this revelation of
this Gospel of Grace.) know we him no more.” That’s why Paul
never refers to Bethlehem. He doesn’t refer to His earthy ministry. He
doesn’t refer to His miracles, because that’s moot. That was all for Israel. What counts for us are the work of the cross and the power of His resurrection. All right, back to Galatians
chapter 4 a minute, chapter 4 verse 5. Then we’re going to move on to our next
point on the board – the Redemption of the planet. That’s coming next. But
now we’re dealing with the redemption of the human race, our need, spiritually,
as lost people. All right, verse 5. Galatians 4:5 “To redeem (to
buy back, to pay the price of redemption) them who were under the law,
that we might (experience redemption and) receive the adoption
(or the placement) of sons.” As a child of God, and that’s all
part of redemption, He bought us back from the slave market. That again was
what Paul pictured back there in Romans. It was the slave market that was such
an apropos illustration for his day, because they were operating all over the Roman Empire. Slavery was a mundane thing.
These people would be captured, probably in war, and they’d be brought back to Rome or other places and were immediately placed into a slave market. They were treated
like animals, the same kind of slavery that carried all through human history. All right, now once they were
in the slave market, they only had two alternatives. One was death by one way
or another, whether it was the lions in the Coliseum or whatever. The other
alternative was that some rich Roman would buy them out and pay the price of
redemption. Hopefully, taking them to a beautiful villa and giving them light
work. That was the hope of a slave in a slave market. Well, Paul draws the
analogy - that’s the lost person. We’re in Satan’s slave market. Satan is only
going to give us one alternative. Death! Eternal doom! That’s where Satan
wants us. But God by His grace instituted redemption. By faith He bought us
out of Satan’s slave market. That’s why I’m always
emphasizing, what all was involved in the power of His resurrection? Defeating
all these forces of Satan that have such a hold on the human being. The
resurrection power had to break that. Well, let’s just use the slave market as
another step. Here we are in Satan’s slave market. Satan is jealous of his
subjects. He doesn’t want anyone to take one of them away from him. But, you
see, the power of resurrection was able to do it. The power of resurrection
breaks the chains of Satan. It sets us free. Then this is the glory of the
life of a believer: when we become a believer and we’re set free, are we
confined with a whole bunch of rules and regulations? No, we’re free!
We now have the Holy Spirit to guide us, to direct us. But we don’t have walls
of limitation. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. It’s the liberty that we
experience when we’ve been bought out of the slave market. Okay, so much for that. We’ve
got thirteen minutes. I don’t know if I can do justice. I doubt it. We’ll
have to go to the text taping session next month, but let’s go back quickly to
Revelation. No, I’m going to stop at Peter. I’ve got to do justice to Peter.
Peter uses the term just as well as Paul does and just as well as Isaiah, so
we’re going to use it. I Peter chapter 1 verse 18. Remember that Peter is
writing to scattered Jews. They were driven out of Jerusalem because of Saul’s
persecution. Now he writes these little letters, that we’ve been addressing in
our daily programs, to the Nation of Israel who are believers that Jesus was
the Christ. They’re in little synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire. This is where this letter is directed. All right, verse 18, we have the
same concept. It doesn’t matter if you’re Jew or Gentile. I Peter 1:18 “Forasmuch as ye know
that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from
your vain conversation (manner of living) received by tradition
from your fathers;” See how Jewish this is? This wouldn’t apply to us
Gentiles. We’re not resting on the tradition of the Old Testament Gentile
people. Heaven forbid! But for the Jew, they were resting on the tradition of
the fathers, ever since Abraham. But Peter says, that’s not what redeemed
you. These believing Jews were redeemed with--now verse 19. I Peter 1:19 “But (you were
redeemed, you were bought back) with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot:” Aren’t you glad we went back
to Exodus a little while ago? That’s just exactly what they had to look for.
They had to find a lamb that was perfect, with no injuries, no visible signs of
anything being wrong with it. They watched it for four days to make sure it
was perfect. All right, that’s what Christ did in His three years of earthly
ministry. He showed His sinlessness. He showed that He was the perfect,
spotless Lamb of God. All right, now Peter makes
reference to it as he writes to fellow Jews, “But with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb (like the Passover lamb) without blemish
and without spot.” Well, hopefully that will settle the
whole act of redemption, first of Adam, and then of the Nation of Israel out of
Egypt, and then the human race as the work of the cross paid the price. Now, we’re going to look at the
redemption of the planet. Because as soon as Adam fell, who took over the
dominion that Adam enjoyed? Well, Satan did. Satan became the god of this
world. Immediately! We made reference to it in our last taping. Maybe I
should go back and show it. Keep your hand in Revelation, if you’ve already
found it. Come back with me to Matthew a
minute, because when I make a statement like this, I know people will say,
“Well, now wait a minute, Les, where do you get this?” Come all the way back
to Matthew chapter 4. Satan is tempting Christ. For sake of time, again,
let’s bring it all the way down to verse 8. Now remember, this is in His
earthly ministry. This is Christ in the flesh, the God-Man, totally man,
totally God. Now verse 8. Matthew 4:8 “Again, the devil taketh
him (Jesus) up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;” The Roman
Empire as it was then existing. In the realm of the spirit, he could probably
rehearse the Greek Empire, the Medes, and the Babylonians. Maybe he even had
the wherewithal to look ahead a few hundred years. But the whole concept was
that Satan is now showing Jesus in His earthly ministry, in the realm, I think,
of the spiritual, all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Not the
hideous part. Not the slum sections, not the ghettos. The glory of them. The
good part. Now verse 9, the audacity that Satan approached the Lord Jesus
Christ. Matthew 4:9 “And saith unto him, All
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
Isn’t that amazing? Now you know, I always stop right here and ask the
question. You’ve heard me say it a hundred times. Were they his to give?
Yes! He’s the god of this world! Now, another verse comes to
mind. Then we’ll go back to Revelation in the few minutes we’ve got left.
We’re not going to have much time are we? II Corinthians chapter 4, a lot of
church people don’t want to recognize that Satan is the god of this world. But
he is. This planet is under his thumb. It’s under his power. It’s under his
control. II Corinthians 4:3-4 “But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost:” A saved person doesn’t have any
trouble understanding the Gospel. He knows that he is what he is because of
it. But for lost people, hey, they haven’t got a clue. Even church people,
I’m finding, are getting a little more ignorant all the time. My goodness,
back when I was a teenager, everybody knew what you were talking about when you
talked about a Damascus Road experience. Talk to your average teenager today.
Do they know what it is? They don’t know what you’re talking about. I think I passed on what one of
the poll takers had found out not too many month’s ago. It was a poll taken
only among Sunday School kids of supposedly evangelical churches. He asked the
question whether they believed in the Biblical God, the God of Creation. And I
was aghast. I stand to be corrected, but if I’m not mistaken, it was something
like 80% of our teenagers in Sunday School knew nothing of the God of this
Book. They were what we call deists What’s a deist? They recognize that
there’s a power, that there’s a providence, but a personal God? They know
nothing of that. All right, so Satan is the god of this world, back to your
text, verse 4. II Corinthians 4:4a “In whom the god of this
world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not,…” Who blinds
them? Satan does. Hey, listen, he’s a smooth operator. He’s brilliant.
Don’t ever picture him as a little monkey in a red suit with a pitchfork.
That’s the worst. He is a brilliant shining angel. And he has power, limited
only, of course, by God’s Sovereign power. I’ve taught it for forty years,
ten years before I ever started anything else, that this Satan will use all the
beautiful things of this world to confuse the issue. Drive through a beautiful
city park paid for by the taxes of the people. Is it a work of God or a work
of Satan? I’m not tricking you. That’s a work of Satan. Oh, he loves that.
He loves to put out beautiful things - beautiful libraries, beautiful this,
beautiful campuses. In his so doing, who does he get people to forget? God.
He puts all the emphasis on himself. Hey, I’m not kidding you. He is the god
of this world. He is sharp. He knows exactly how to confuse the issues. That’s why the Lord himself and
I mentioned this in the last taping, the Lord Himself used the example “broad
is the way, wide is the gate that leadeth to (What?) destruction,
and many go in thereat.” What’s the next verse? “But
narrow is the way, straight is the gate, and few there be that find it.” Beloved,
it’s enough to scare you down to your socks that the vast majority of the human
race is missing it because the god of this world is so subtle. My, look at our
kids today. Sunday morning is the best time in the world to have a baseball
tournament. Do you know that? Yeah! Why Sunday morning? Because Satan
doesn’t want them in a Sunday School someplace. Why, when we were kids they
never dreamed of doing things like that on Sunday morning. But now it’s the
norm. Hey, the god of this world, he’s in control. The only thing we can hope
for is that we’ll have the wherewithal to have the Holy Spirit enlighten us,
convict us, and bring us out of the slave market of sin and be one of the
fortunate few that are finding the narrow way which leads to life eternal. Well, I haven’t really got time
to go back to Revelation. Just to whet your appetite, we’ll go back to
Revelation chapter 5. I’m going to give you just enough so that you can do
like I’ve been doing for the last few months. Now, take Revelation chapter 5
and then go back to the Book of Ruth, and then you’ll have my next taping!
Because this is where we’re going to pick it up. Revelation chapter 5 and
we’re going to start at verse 1. Now, this is at the very beginning of the
Tribulation. It hasn’t really started yet. This is the beginning of the seven
years. Revelation 5:1 “And I saw in the right
hand of him who sat on the throne a book (or a scroll) written
within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.” Now, it’s
unfortunate that it’s called a book, because a scroll gives you a better
picture. What are we talking about? A mortgage! We’re talking about a
mortgage. The mortgage is written on the inside that is not visible, and it’s
written on the outside and then sealed with seven seals, so it won’t unroll.
All right, read on. Revelation 5:2-5 “And I saw strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll, and to loose
the seals thereof? 3. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, nor under the earth,
was able to open the scroll, neither to look thereupon. 4. And I wept much,
because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, (or to
pay off this mortgage) neither to look thereon. Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders
saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
David, hath prevailed to open the book, (the scroll) and to loose
the seven seals thereof.” Now again, where are our references taking
us? Old Testament. We’re not going back to the writings of Paul for this.
We’re going back to the Old Testament to pick up the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of King David, and then verse 6. Revelation 5:6-7 “And I beheld, and, lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7. And he (this
Lamb of God) came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him that
sat upon the throne.” Now come down to verse 10, and it says: Revelation 5:10 “And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Why?
Because the One who took the scroll had died and shed His blood and was raised
from the dead. Now, we’ll pick that up in the Book of Ruth in our next taping. It is good to see everybody in
again this afternoon. We’ve got folks from Minnesota, California, and Alabama. Did I miss anybody? Florida? Yeah, Jim right here is from Florida. Okay, for those of you out in
television, in case you’re a new listener, we’re an informal Bible study. We
try not to get preachy. I don’t want to get theological, per se, but we just
want to teach the Book verse by verse, line upon line, and precept upon
precept. And we have been blessed! My, we are getting so many people that are
seeing things they have never seen before! My goodness, you know, I see
things that I never, never heard 30-40 years ago. That’s the whole idea. So,
those of you joining us we again thank you for your prayers. That’s most of
all. We thank you for your kind letters, and then we thank you for your
financial help. After all these things do have to be paid for, and you’ve been
picking up the bill every month. We thank you from the depths of our heart.
Okay, we’re going to continue on with the redemption of the planet from the
last taping. Now, we talked about the
redemption that God promised back in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve were
first out of the Garden. Then we spoke of some other times of redemption, like
Israel coming out of Egypt. That was an act of redemption. Then we looked at
the work of the cross, how that in itself is the work of redemption for the
whole human race. And it can be appropriated only by faith. Now we have to make that clear,
because I had the question come in again the other day. Since God performed
the work of the cross, which was sufficient for every human being, does that
mean that sooner or later everybody’s going to get to Heaven? Don’t you ever
think it! It is only those who appropriate this finished work by faith. I’m always giving the
illustration that Congress can appropriate billions and billions of dollars for
a particular purpose. We’ll say for highways. But the states have to make
application. They have to appropriate that which Congress has set aside.
Otherwise, it just stays there. Well, now that’s the work of salvation. God
has finished it. It’s satisfactory for every human being that’s on the planet
to personally appropriate it – by faith. That’s what we keep emphasizing. If
I’ve got time this afternoon, I’m hoping to get into one of my favorite Gospel
passages – I Corinthians 15:1-4. I just can’t imagine why it’s not used more
often, but it isn’t. But we’re going to if I have time. So anyway, then we
looked at redemption, I think as Paul perceived it in Galatians when he said, “He
came to redeem them who were under the Law.” Now, we’re looking at the
redemption of the planet. We’re going to have to go to the Book of Ruth after
a bit, because when we come down to the redemption of the planet, we have to
understand that when Adam fell and he lost that dominion…now, I guess we’d
better look at that. I know I’ve got everybody in Revelation 5, don’t I?
Well, let’s go back to chapter 1 of Genesis. Keep your hand in Revelation.
I’ll be right back. I remember years ago when we
were still in the original studio and a gentleman and his wife, who have now
moved to Phoenix. They aren’t on the program any more, but Monty and Helen
always used to sit on the front row. And I would do just like I did today –
okay, I’m going to be starting out in such and such chapter and such and such a
verse, and Monty would look up and say, “You want to bet on it?” But, that’s
the way I teach. I can’t help it. Okay, back to Genesis chapter 1 when God
is now making the promises to Adam in chapter 1 verse 28. Genesis 1:28a “And God blessed them,
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth
(or fill it up), and subdue it: (Now, look at the
next statement. This is to Adam.) and have dominion over…” The
Garden of Eden? Is that what your Bible says? No! That’s what everybody’s
idea is, that the only place that Adam had any authority was in the Garden.
No! He had the whole planet. That was his dominion. Genesis 1:28b “…and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.” Was all that in Eden? Well, of course
not! So, what does that tell you? Adam’s dominion was the whole planet. It
was all his to have control of, under God of course. All right, but when Adam
sinned, when he disobeyed God by the simple act of eating of the tree, what
happened to that dominion? He lost it! Who picked it up? Satan! Never
forget that. Adam dropped the ball, and just that quick Satan picked it up.
So consequently, for the last 6,000 years, who’s been the god of this world?
Satan! Oh, under God’s Sovereignty. We don’t take anything away from that,
but Satan has been the god of this world for the last 6,000 years. Now, somebody is going to say,
now where do you find that in Scripture? Well, there are several places.
Let’s stop first at one in Matthew chapter 4, because I want to establish with
my whole television and radio and internet audience that Satan has been the god
of this world for the last 6,000 years. And the only way that God can wrest
control from him is to redeem it. He’s going to pay the price. All right, Matthew chapter 4
and this is when the Lord is being tempted by Satan. But we’ll just look at one
of them, verse 8. Matthew 4 verse 8 and as you look at these different
Scriptures, don’t forget what we’re talking about. We’re going to show that
Satan is in control of this world. This is in Christ’s earthly ministry. Matthew 4:8a “Again, the devil taketh
him up into an exceeding high mountain,…” Now, as I was mulling this
over the last few days, how many of you have seen a picture of the globe from
outer space? I’m sure you all have - that beautiful, round blue and white
globe. Well, I like to think that whatever this high mountain was, it was high
enough that Jesus, in His human form with Satan, could see the whole planet.
Now, that’s just my own idea. But, whatever – he takes him up to an exceeding
high mountain and shows him all. See, that’s why I have to think that it had
to be from a tremendously high vantage point. Matthew 4:8b “…and showeth him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;” Now, that means what it
says and it says what it means. He saw them all. Since they were both eternal
creatures, Satan as well as the Lord Himself, I think Satan took Him, mentally
at least, all the way past the empire of Rome which was now on the scene, and
back through the Greek Empire, the Mede Empire, and the Babylonians, all of the
beauty of that. I also think he projected into the future. So, he gives the
Lord Jesus this whole view of planet earth in all of its empires. Now, look what this creature
says. I was just about to say something that wouldn’t have been kind. But
Satan is a rascal. Look what he says! Matthew 4:9 “And saith unto him, All
these things (Everything pertaining to the planet and the empires and
the cities and the parks and you name it.) I will give thee, (Now
remember who’s talking? Satan! He’s telling Jesus that all these things that
they’ve been viewing of planet earth he says, I will give them to you.) if
thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Well, now you’ve heard me ask the
question more than once. Were they Satan’s to give? Well, of course! He’s
the god of this world. But you see, the Lord could very well have said, that’s
fine, Satan, I’m going to have them some day without you. But He didn’t. Now let’s move ahead a little
bit to Corinthians. Go to II Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. Now, this
is what the Book says! Whenever I put out something that I think, it’s my own
idea, I’m always hopeful anyway that I express it that way. But when the Book
says it, I want you to know it’s what the Book says. II Corinthians 4:3-4a “But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost: (Why? Next verse--) 4. In whom
(lost people of this world) the god of this world (Who’s he
talking about? Satan! The Devil) hath blinded the minds of them who
believe not,…” Has he got the power to do it? Absolutely! That’s why
we’re always emphasizing that it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to come
through and open the understanding of the lost person, because Satan’s power is
going to do everything he can to keep them from it. And it is the same way when I’m
always exclaiming the power of the resurrection. Why do I put so much on the
power of the resurrection? Because Christ had to break through all the powers
of the Satanic forces in order to overcome and become victorious. Well, the
same way here. The lost of this world are literally encompassed with the power
of Satan. He’s going to keep them there if he possibly can. But the Spirit is
still above the powers of Satan. The Spirit can still break through and open
the hearts and minds to bring people to a knowledge, or at least have the
opportunity to have the knowledge of, salvation. All right, so always remember
that when Adam dropped the ball, when he sinned and lost dominion over the
planet earth, Satan picked it up. And he’s been enjoying that now for 6,000
years. But the day is coming, and we think we’re getting closer and closer,
when Christ is going to pay off that mortgage that Satan has been holding on
the planet. That’s what the Scripture is picturing here. He’s holding his
control of the planet just like a mortgage. And the reason is that it was
something that was God’s and He handed over to Adam and what happened? They
lost it! Satan picked it up. Now, you know I’m always giving
the simple illustration of losing control of something that you’ve owned. That
is – if you take it to a hock shop and you take whatever they’ll give you for
it. But the understanding is that you’ll someday be able to come back and
redeem it by buying it back, by paying the price. Well, that’s the perfect
picture of redemption all through Scripture. Something that was fully owned is
lost and now has to be redeemed. Now, is that so hard to understand? All
right, the planet was God’s. He gave it to Adam. They lost it. Satan picks
it up. Now God is going to pay the price to redeem it. Now, we’re going to have to go
to the Book of Ruth after a bit, because that explains what chapter 5 is
talking about. Without the Book of Ruth it would be pretty hard to define what
we’re talking about in Revelation 5. But we’re going to stay in Revelation 5
first. So don’t go back to Ruth just yet. Okay, Revelation chapter 5 verse
1. And John writes: Revelation 5:1a “And I saw in the right
hand of him who sat on the throne…” Now, there again I have to stop,
because of all the questions I get of what people are saying. Christ is not
sitting on the throne in Glory. Who is? Figuratively speaking now, I’m sure
that you don’t have a literal throne chair and God the Father is sitting there
over all the ends of time and then a smaller chair here on which Christ is
sitting. But the analogy is that God the Father is seated on the throne in
Glory and God the Son is beside him. “Sitting at the right hand of the
Majesty on High,” that’s the way the Scripture puts it. Okay, let’s just jump in at
verse 7, where we have God the Son going to approach God the Father with the
idea in mind of taking the scroll and paying it off. But first let’s jump back
to Daniel and pick up pretty much the same kind of a scene in Heaven, which
many commentators call identical, but I don’t. I just can’t see that it’s the
same one, because this taking of the scroll in Revelation is at the beginning
of the Tribulation getting ready for the horrors that are going to follow. In
Daniel it seems like the same thing, but it can’t be, because Daniel’s vision
is now ready for him to take up the Kingdom which comes immediately after the
Tribulation. So, let’s go back to Daniel chapter 7 to pick up the scene in
Heaven, how that God the Son comes before God the Father. I guess I should go
up to verse 13. Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in the night
visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man (That’s the Son of God,
that’s Jesus the Christ.) came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the
Ancient of Days, and they brought him (God the Son) near before
him (God the Father). 14. And there was given him (the
Son) dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve him: His dominion is an everlasting
dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed.” Now that’s obvious He’s now
ready to take over the Kingdom. Well, back here in Revelation, even though it
seems like the same, and some commentaries will say it is, it can’t be, because
in Revelation He’s getting ready to introduce the paying off of the mortgage,
which is in reality the Tribulation, as we’re going to see. Okay, so come
back with me to Revelation chapter 5 and repeat verse 7. Revelation 5:7-8 “And he came (God
the Son comes before God the Father) and took the book out of the right hand
of him who sat upon the throne. 8. And when he had taken the book,
(this mortgage) the four creatures and the four and twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of
odors (the incense you know) which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5:9a. “And they sang a new
song, saying, (Now watch this!) Thou (speaking of God the
Son) art worthy to take the book, (the mortgage) and to
open the seals thereof: (And here’s the reason He’s worthy.) for
thou wast slain, (The death of the cross) and hast redeemed us
(These are some of the believers here gathered around the throne. So they’ve
already experienced the redemption.) to God by thy blood…” You
remember in our last programs, in the last taping anyway, that was one of the
redemptions we looked at - the price of redemption which was the blood of the
Lamb. All right, reading on. Revelation 5:9b “…for thou wast slain, and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation;” See, that doesn’t confine it here to the Jew.
This has already reached out to the whole human race in redemption. All right, now just for the
sake of interest let’s turn the page, at least in my Bible, and go on into
chapter 6 for a moment. I’m not going to make another study of the seals, but
I want you to see that this is the mortgage that Satan is holding on planet
earth and Christ is going to pay it off with the horrors of the Tribulation.
Now, I know that’s probably hard on the surface to explain, but just think. For 6,000 years what has Satan
promoted on planet earth? Misery. And turmoil. And heartache. And death.
And destruction. That’s Satan’s bag. Now, in so many words, what’s God going
to tell him? I’m going to pay you back in full. You’re going to get paid back
with more misery than you could ever dream of. You’re going to get paid back
with more death and destruction than you ever dreamed of. That’s what the
Tribulation is going to do. All right, so in chapter 6 this
is the first seal taken off of that mortgage. Now, you can’t look at the
details of the mortgage until you take the seals off. So the first thing that
happens in response to taking off the seal is the introduction of the
antichrist. There again, that’s why I feel people are totally wrong when they
think this is the real Christ. It can’t be. This is the counterfeit. This is
the antichrist. I’m always emphasizing that the word “anti” throws a curve at
people. They just think it’s against Christ. No, the word “anti” is
best defined as the false, or the counterfeit, Christ. And look how he does
it. Revelation 6:1 “And I saw when the Lamb
(Christ) opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of
thunder, one of the four creatures saying, Come and see.” Now, this is
the first opening event of the Tribulation. And what is it? The appearance of
the antichrist. Revelation 6:2a “And I saw, and behold a
white horse:…” A counterfeit. The true Christ is going to come on a
white horse, absolutely He is. At least symbolically in Revelation 20, so the
antichrist is going to be a counterfeit, so he does the same thing. He makes
his appearance on a white horse. Revelation 6:2b “…and he that sat on him
(that is on the horse) had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; (He’s
going to have great authority.) and he went forth conquering, and to
conquer.” Well, that’s the first seal,
the opening part of the Tribulation. Well, that leads into the second seal.
We’ll just take a couple of these, and then we’ve got to get back into--no,
only six minutes left. All right, so now you take the second seal. Revelation 6:3-4a “And when he had opened
the second seal, I heard the second creature say, Come and see. 4. And there
went out another horse (Another event in this seven year period of
horror) that was red: (The first one was white, speaking of the
counterfeit. But now here comes the red horse.) and power was given to
him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,…” Well, what’s the
opposite of peace? War! So, even though we just signed a seven-year peace
treaty, seemingly, up in verse 2, this next event is the absence of peace.
It’s going to have to be war. Well, those of you who have
heard me teach over the years, I feel that this is the great northern invasion
of Ezekiel 38 and 39. It’s going to be headed up by Russia, and, I think, now
as we see everything coming together so fast there in the Middle East, I think
it will be Russia and the Muslim world. They’re going to come together
according to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and they’re going to invade Israel. But there’s an interesting little tidbit back there in Ezekiel 38. And that is that of all
the Muslim nations that are listed as coming in with Russia, there is one that
is glaringly absent. And who is it? Iraq. Babylon. They’re not in there.
All the rest of them are. That’s why I’ve been saying now for the last year,
this may not be Bush’s war after all. This is God’s war, because we have to
get Iraq ready for--“Babylon, Babylon is fallen, that great city.” Well, now what did that all
depict back in the Book of Revelation here? That Babylon would be the great
commercial center, not just one like a New York, but it’ll be the great
commercial center. It’ll be a city so beautiful it’d knock your eyes out. But
in the final hours of these seven years, it too is going to fall. And that’s
what Revelation 18 says, “Babylon, Babylon is fallen, that great city.”
And the sailors, I think they’re out on the Persian Gulf, will be able to see
the smoke of its burning. And, oh, it’s coming so fast. Now, you’ve got to stop and use
some common sense. If all this begins to gel and we get peace in Iraq, they’ve got the second largest reserve of oil in the whole world. Now, if oil goes
up to $70-$80-$90-$100 a barrel, can you imagine the wealth that will be
flowing into Baghdad? It’s beyond human comprehension. Well you see, with
that kind of money to play with, they’ll be able to build a city like mankind
has never built before, and they’ll do it in probably less than a year. That’s
what I’m looking for. I’m looking for this ancient city of Babylon to suddenly
just blossom out there in the desert. Old Saddam Hussein already had
a pretty good start, you know, on some of his palaces out there. With all the
oil money flowing into it, you just wait and see. Now, that’s my own idea.
See, there’s one of those things. I don’t set that in concrete and say, this
is what the Bible says. But I think I’m on the right track that this great war here
in the “red horse” and in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be that invasion
of the Russians and the Muslim world. God will destroy them, of course, on the
mountains of Israel. Well, we’ll just take one or
two more of these and then this half-hour is gone. Move on down to verse 5,
the third seal. It, too, is a horse. Revelation 6:5-6 “And when he had opened
theLESSON ONE * PART I
REDEEM, REDEEMED, REDEMPTION
Various Scripture References
LESSON ONE * PART II
REDEEM, REDEEMED, REDEMPTION
Various Scripture References
LESSON ONE * PART III
REDEEM, REDEEMED, REDEMPTION
Various Scripture References
LESSON ONE * PART IV
REDEEM, REDEEMED, REDEMPTION
Various Scripture References
LESSON TWO * PART I
KINSMAN REDEEMER
Revelation 5; Ruth; I Corinthians
15:1-4