Podcasts about seraphs

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2024 24:15

Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford discuss the what the Bible reveals about Cherubim and the Four Living Creatures. Support the showProduced by Calvary Fellowship Fountain Valley church. Learn more at www.CalvaryFountain.com

Archangels, Seraphim and Cherubim

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2024 24:49

Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford discuss the what the Bible reveals about Archangels, Seraphim and Cherubim. Support the showProduced by Calvary Fellowship Fountain Valley church. Learn more at www.CalvaryFountain.com

god jesus christ bible truth spiritual radio ministry angels biblical ephesians fellowship engage warfare calvary archangels seraphim cherubim cherub cherubs steve ford seraphs

The Spiritual World

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2024 25:16

Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford examine what the Bible reveals about Angels, Demons, Cherubs, Seraphs, the Four Living Creatures and more. Support the showProduced by Calvary Fellowship Fountain Valley church. Learn more at www.CalvaryFountain.com

Angels, Cherubim, Seraphim and the Hosts of Heaven

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2024 25:28

Lady of Starfire, Lady of Darkness Book 5 Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2024 57:45

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda wrap up their coverage of "Lady of Starfire," book 5 in Melissa Roehrich's Lady of Darkness series. The trio's feelings are still mixed on the series, but they weren't mixed on that that scene. IYKYK - the author definitely delivered with that couple. Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Lady of Starfire, Lady of Darkness Book 5 Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2024 65:53

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda give you part 1 of their discussion on "Lady of Starfire," the fifth and final book in Melissa Roehrich's Lady of Darkness series. Even though the series is about to end, there's still secrets and plans being uncovered, and they're all a little lost and not entirely sure they know what's going on. But what they do know is that they need Razik and his "mai dagrocen" to bang it out already. Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Lady of Embers - Lady of Darkness Book 4

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2024 80:44

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda continue their coverage of Melissa Roehrich's Lady of Darkness series with book 4, "Lady of Embers." We're finally getting answers to the mysteries surrounding our favorite Avonleyan soap opera, but there's also some extra unhinged commentary about Bluey and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And it's Hilda butchering names this episode - Cassius becomes Cassian, and why does Ashtine have an "e" at the end of her name when you're supposed to pronounced it Ash-ton? The mysteries just never end with this series. Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Lady of Ashes - Lady of Darkness Book 3

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2024 86:13

Bridget, Caitlin, and Hilda continue their coverage of Melissa Roehrich's Lady of Darkness series with book 3, "Lady of Ashes." Full disclosure: Only 2 of the 3 hosts finished the book and they both felt the same about it - the beginning and ending were good, the middle was meh. But you can listen now to get all their thoughts and mispronunciations - it wouldn't be a BookTok Made Me episode without them. Join our Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and let's be friends!Instagram > @Booktokmademe_podTikTok > @BooktokMadeMe

Touched by the Angels

Holy Watermelon

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2024 56:55

Angels in most traditions are heavenly messengers, and modern pop culture has greatly exaggerated almost every feature. While it makes sense to assume that there are female or feminine angels, each one named in Abrahamic scriptural tradition is a man.The word Angel comes from the Greek Aggelos (lit: messenger), and the Hebrew word Malak has the same meaning. In this episode we explore the groups of archangels listed in various sources, most notably Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, but also including Raguel, Sariel, Remiel, and the Metatron.But more than just a handful of favorite messengers, there are also different kinds of angels, from the baby-faced Cherubim (think of the Renaissance Cupid, though Ezekiel gave them interchangeable animal faces), to the brilliantly dazzling Seraphim (aka fire-folk), to the cosmic horrors known as the Ophanim (the famous "biblically accurate angels" that are simply haunting wheels of eyes and wings and twisted metal)--that last one is dubious in angelic status....Angels show up all over the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and the entire Quran is said to have been delivered by the same angel that brought Mary and Joseph the news of her pregnancy. In more recent times, works like Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy have contributed a lot to how we see angels in Western tradition.Angel is also a fair label for demi-god-like beings in other traditions, such as the Devas of Dharmic tradition, the Vördr of Norse tradition, the Yazata (lit: holy) of Mazdeism (aka Zoroastrianism), and the Daemons of Greco-Roman tradition. We consider each of these, and how some are better fits than others for this label.Interpreting Colossians 1:16 to contain a list of angels is ridiculous, and nobody should be that bad at reading.All this and more.... Support us on Patreon or you can get our merch at Spreadshop.Join the Community on Discord.Learn more great religion factoids on Facebook and Instagram. [00:00:11] Katie Dooley: There's a fine. You can go to jail if you... And a fine. There's both. [00:00:19] Preston Meyer: Oh, good. [00:00:19] Katie Dooley: Both a fine and jail. If your phone goes off. [00:00:23] Preston Meyer: That's a bad time. [00:00:24] Katie Dooley: Yeah. It is. You could always ask an angel for help if you go to jail. [00:00:34] Preston Meyer: Ah, there's a lot of stories of people meeting angels in jail. Makes you wonder about those angels, doesn't it? [00:00:39] Katie Dooley: Right. Well, we're gonna explain more on today's episode of. [00:00:43] Both Speakers: The Holy Watermelon Podcast. [00:00:47] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So. I like that. This is. I feel like we haven't done an episode like this in a minute where we talk about a whole bunch of. We talk about a concept in a whole bunch of religions. [00:01:03] Preston Meyer: Yeah, it has been a minute. [00:01:03] Katie Dooley: I'm excited. So we're talking about angels. [00:01:09] Preston Meyer: Say it ainn't so. [00:01:12] Katie Dooley: Or if you were a really bad speller in junior high an angle. [00:01:16] Preston Meyer: I feel like. Yeah, I must have shared it on our discord this Christmas of somebody who shared a collection of angles that they brought to their family. [00:01:25] Katie Dooley: Yeah, there was a girl in junior high with me. I won't call her a friend because she wasn't. But this was when everyone was on MSN, so you had everyone's email. And her email was sweet angle and then some number. I was like, oh boy. [00:01:41] Preston Meyer: Mhm. Yeah. Spelling is important. [00:01:45] Katie Dooley: Yeah. We all have those cringey emails. [00:01:47] Preston Meyer: Well, it's like most people just cannot spell rogue. [00:01:52] Katie Dooley: Almost every time I see somebody try to say rogue they spell rouge. Now, being a Star Wars fan in a French immersion program growing up, I was not going to make that mistake. Instead, I made all kinds of other mistakes of spelling words the French way in an English context. [00:02:07] Katie Dooley: Well, that's good. Um, but speaking of words, tell us where the word angel comes from. [00:02:13] Preston Meyer: So the word angel as it is known in English. Yes, the the word angel, as you know, it comes from the Greek word Angelos, spelt with no Ns but two G's. Huh? You can complain about that, but English does stupid things too. The word means messenger, which is speculated to have been derived from the older word for mounted courier, which I think is just a cool extra layer of meaning to that. The Hebrew word that typically gets translated into angel in the Greek Bibles is malak, which also means messenger. So there's also the last of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible prophets. In the Christian Bible format because remember they arrange the books differently is Malachi and he's got the perfect name it basically just means my messenger. Was that his name? We'll never know. [00:03:20] Katie Dooley: Interesting. And yeah, messenger, mounted courier. I'm getting a lot of mailman vibes. Even. Malak. Malak. Malak. Yeah. Mailman. [00:03:36] Preston Meyer: Most of the angels that we see in the Judeo-Christian tradition are men rather than women. So yeah, mailman's great. So the frustrating thing is that the ideas that come along with this word over centuries of thought and baggage collection there's there's a lot of variety and meaning. And most traditions have gotten to the point where the word doesn't mean messenger anymore. Uh, usually it it's just thought of as this is a demigod. The word means some sort of class of demigod, usually with multiple classes. We'll get into that later. And in a lot of religions, you'll see them treated basically as demigods that have dominion over various elements because they can't be gods, because usually you're looking at them in a monotheistic lens. [00:04:36] Katie Dooley: Yeah, I can, especially when when you said it, we'll get into the hierarchy of the angels. But like it's like, how does this even work in a monotheistic tradition to have all of these layers of divine beings? [00:04:50] Preston Meyer: Yeah, they're they're residents of heaven, so they're better than you and me, but they've got great powers, is the deal. [00:05:00] Katie Dooley: And I guess we don't worship angels. I guess saints would actually be a worse sort of like knock to the monotheistic than an angel. [00:05:09] Preston Meyer: Oh, but see, I think it's a mistake to separate them In the Catholic tradition specifically, or any of the the Orthodox, the saint traditions. Lutherans whatever. If you if you're into saints, Saint Michael is one of them. Michael the Archangel, he's a demigod, just like Mother Teresa. Yeah and maybe with better reasons. I. [00:05:43] Katie Dooley: Mean, can't be worse. [00:05:45] Preston Meyer: One has tales of actual divine power, the other is known to be just awful. [00:05:52] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Cleaned and reuse needles. Yeah. [00:05:54] Preston Meyer: I want to believe that there is a way to clean needles safely. But I know that actual health care professionals say, don't do that. And there's good reason for that. [00:06:04] Katie Dooley: I mean, you're probably right. I'm sure there is. But to, like, guarantee its safety is probably near impossible. Just donated blood this week. Right? Like it's such a small little needle. How would you make sure it was maybe the syringe part, but the little needle anyway. Gross. Don't do it, don't. Clean needles for all. [00:06:25] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Adding angels to monotheism. It does look an awful lot like demigods in a system where there is just one greater God. And we've had this conversation about how Hinduism, you've got a lot of lesser gods under Brahma. [00:06:44] Katie Dooley: Yeah. And I mean even Shinto, all the kami, there's greater kami, there's lesser kami. [00:06:51] Preston Meyer: It's complicated. And it just makes the argument for strict monotheism the way most people define it, a lot harder to argue. [00:07:01] Katie Dooley: Yes. And all the Abrahamic religions have angels, and those are the monotheistic ones. And people are vehement about the fact that they're monotheistic. And it's like, but then they're saints and angels, whether you group them together or not. I mean, even in Christianity, there's the Trinity. [00:07:22] Preston Meyer: Yeah, I saw a meme on Reddit the other day, and it was it was definitely a Mormon kid posting a meme slamming the Trinity in a group that has historically not been friendly to Mormons. And they roasted him hard in the comments, but all of the arguments they offered were absolute nonsense. It's frustrating. Like, it's it's okay to believe in the Trinity if you're going to believe in anything, whatever. But if you're going to slam somebody for not getting it, make sure you get it. [00:07:22] Katie Dooley: This is such an old movie, but in Bill Maher's Religulous. [00:08:07] Preston Meyer: Oh, that's a lot of fun. [00:08:08] Katie Dooley: It is. He asks one guy about the Trinity, and he, the guy explains it that it's like water. It can be ice, or it can be steam, or it can be water. And that's the Trinity. And I was like, well, that or Bill Maher was like, well, that sounds good on paper, but it really doesn't explain it. They're different, but they're the same. Anyway, we're digressing a bit, but let's jump into talking about angels in the Hebrew Bible. [00:08:32] Preston Meyer: Yeah. So there's. A lot of appearances of angels. It's kind of a recurring theme. [00:08:40] Katie Dooley: Yeah, and not just in the Hebrew Bible, but there are also angels in rabbinic literature and in the Apocrypha as well. [00:08:46] Preston Meyer: Oh for sure. Yeah, the angels are, I would say, a pretty prominent part of this faith. [00:08:51] Katie Dooley: Yeah. And from my research, it feels like there's more angels in the Hebrew Bible than in the Christian Bible. [00:08:59] Preston Meyer: There's definitely more angels named in the Hebrew tradition than there are in the New Testament. The New Testament names Gabriel outright and then just mentions, oh yeah, and other angels showed up for this event. [00:09:15] Katie Dooley: And I guess also like the whole last half of the Christian Bible is just letters. [00:09:24] Preston Meyer: Yeah, not a whole lot of narrative storytelling. Whereas the Hebrew Bible has a lot of really great storytelling in it. [00:09:32] Katie Dooley: Right. Uh, in the Hebrew Bible, the angels visit many people, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and Hagar, and they're typically used as messengers, like the name implies. But sometimes they appear as warriors and they're supposed to look like regular people without wings. [00:09:49] Preston Meyer: Yeah. It's just dudes. They're just here doing stuff. And not a whole lot of religions love that. They gotta have the wings. We talked about this before. We recorded the biblically accurate angels that are so popularly memed right now, specifically one type of type of angel. We'll talk about that later. These angels look like men. [00:10:12] Katie Dooley: Yes, but all the angels with wings don't just have a pair of wings. They have multiple pairs of wings. [00:10:18] Preston Meyer: Well, you got angels with one pair. You got angels with two pairs. You got angels with three pairs. Four pairs. And then you've got the absolute cosmic horrors. Lovecraftian nonsense with gears and wings and eyes without number. Yeah. There are options. [00:10:37] Katie Dooley: There is some frustrating ambiguity on angels in the Hebrew Bible, obscuring the relationship between Yahweh and the angels. [00:10:46] Preston Meyer: In our Patreon exclusive Bible study. We're not yet to the really interesting. Well, I guess we have covered a few scenes where this has happened for you. Um, there's going to be more. So the appearance of the Angel of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible does have a pattern to it that I think is really interesting, that it does make it hard to tell who we're talking about in the story because of everything that's going on when it happens. The narrator introduces the Angel of the Lord, and then this angel feels pretty godlike in the way he shows up. He does huge miracles, sometimes annihilating a whole army like in 2 Kings 19. It's pretty epic. Not a thing you'd expect somebody who isn't imbued with God-like power to accomplish. And then the witnesses worship him, which, whether he's the creator or not, you're going to receive a great deal of gratitude for saving a bunch of people from a devastating army. [00:11:54] Katie Dooley: Yeah, yeah, in that instance for sure. [00:11:56] Preston Meyer: And this is a pattern that goes on several times in the scriptures. And I think it's interesting. Though it's always treated as though he is the Lord himself, not a messenger and there's a couple of different explanations for what's going on there. But I think whaneighbourst's very likely happened is that this text tradition that we have simply originally said that the Lord showed up and did this thing he's called the Lord of armies. That's one of his titles, kind of a big deal. He was a God of war as far as the neighbours were concerned, and fairly so since they often lost to the Israelites. And then later editors, I think, decided that their God wouldn't do this thing himself. He's too far beyond us, so he would send an angel to do it. And so they added this Angel of the Lord. That's my hypothesis. Pretty hard to prove what an ancient editorial process would have been without variance in the text that back me. [00:13:08] Katie Dooley: Right? The Jewish scripture also introduces four angels that will become the Christian archangels that surround God's throne. So Michael shows up in the biblical book of Daniel as the victor in a battle between nations. The name means "Who is like God?" most prefer to read that as a question. Who is like God? [00:13:28] Preston Meyer: As a challenge. God is the greatest, which is a weird name. latter-dayThe Latter-Day Saint tradition says that this name was given to Adam because he was like God, not terribly popular in the broader Christian community. [00:13:47] Katie Dooley: Gabriel also shows up in Daniel more as a messenger than as a conqueror. The name indicates the power of God usually has a bearer. [00:14:00] Preston Meyer: Somebody who conveys. [00:14:01] Katie Dooley: I do know what the word means, but I'm like that feels like a lot of Rs. The name indicates the power of God usually has a bearer of an empowering message. These are the only two mentioned by name in the Bible. [00:14:14] Preston Meyer: Gabriel and Michael. But, you know, there's lots more angels. There was an angel that Jacob wrestled with who later came to be known as Israel. And maybe that was the Lord himself? Maybe it was just an angel. Maybe it was Michael. Maybe it was Gabriel. Maybe it was somebody else that we don't know their name because he's not outright named. Except for maybe that Angel of the Lordbusiness. [00:14:46] Katie Dooley: Right. Then there's Raphael, who's features prominently in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, a story with notable similarities to the Bhagavad Gita. The name Raphael highlights the healing power of God. I'm just thinking of the Lucifer TV series. I'm like, I know that character, Uriel. I think he was a bad guy in Lucifer. He rounds out the set of four showing up in the apocryphal additions to the writings of Ezra. His name means God is my light suitable to his role as guide and instructor. [00:15:19] Preston Meyer: But wait. There's more. [00:15:21] Katie Dooley: What? There's so many. [00:15:23] Preston Meyer: So for a long time, it was really nice that we had a set of four, and they matched the four cardinal points of the compass, the four corners of the world. They took care of the world and the dealings of men within it. And then we got our Enoch literature. And we throw away this need for four and say, well, wait, we can do better. There's seven. And one of the ideas that makes this look good is that it matches the lampstand that's in the temple that has seven branches. So that's kind of nice. And then we get Raguel, whose name means "God will pasture" like a shepherding kind of business. He's connected with justice. He's supposed to watch the damned to make sure they stay within their bounds, which is kind of weird. Like, I guess without him, demons would just absolutely ruin this planet. Like humans couldn't do well enough on our own. [00:16:24] Katie Dooley: It also gives me, like, big, like, Hades vibes. [00:16:26] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. He guards the demons that are locked away in Tartarus. Tartarus being a Greek place where the Titans are held. Yeah. You notice how there's going to be problems here of ideas crossing national boundaries. Yeah. Um, then we have Sariel. His name means "God is my Ruler". Uh, basically serves the same purpose as Raguel without being connected to the idea of justice so explicitly. Sidekick, I guess? Then there's Remiel, which means "God has Thundered". We talked about Thunder as a great nickname a couple episodes ago. I think that was. This is an interesting situation. He's connected to hope, and he's supposed to be the one responsible for all true visions, and he is also a bit of a psychopomp. That he would be the guide that takes you to heaven if that is your destination. Yeah, kind of interesting. This name is too similar to Ramiel, who, according to the same book, liked the human ladies too much and became the father of many of the watchers, the great giants in the early part of human history, when the one legendary version of our religious history has angels mating with humans to make giants, and they just ruined everything. [00:17:54] Katie Dooley: So there's Remiel and Ramiel. That is very confusing. [00:17:54] Preston Meyer: Especially when we're talking about a language that was originally written with no real differentiation between vowels. The vowel marks we have today are pretty new. So it's just a tradition. And so the confusion that exists today is certainly an old confusion. And then of course, there's lots of other angels that are named in the apocryphal literature. And some of them get multiple names, including some of the ones we've talked about. They're also known by other names sometimes. And the great thing about having a list of your favourite angels is you can swap them out sometimes and just say, no, this dude wrote this list. I don't like that one. I'm gonna pop in my guy over here. Just cause. Did you ever watch Dogma? [00:18:49] Katie Dooley: No. [00:18:50] Preston Meyer: We need to fix that. [00:18:51] Katie Dooley: Okay. Movie night? [00:18:53] Preston Meyer: Absolutely. Okay. Dogma is an absolute treasure. Part of Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob saga but this features Alanis Morissette as God and Alan Rickman as the Metatron, and oh, why can't I think of the names right now? Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are fallen angels. [00:19:18] Katie Dooley: Oh, wow. It's ridiculous, isn't it? [00:19:20] Preston Meyer: It is so much fun. But the Metatron is just this really weird figure in religious angeology. I guess it never made any sense to me ever. And my first exposure to it was Alan Rickman. [00:19:36] Katie Dooley: But it is in actual religion, the Metatron? [00:19:36] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Everything you see in dogma is taken from real religious ideas and then twisted for humor, which is great, except for I don't I haven't found yet any validation for the Golgotha poop demon but, the ideas behind it are validated in many religious ideas so there's that. But so this Metatron, according to Kabbalistic sources, is the name of Enoch after his transformation into an angel when he was promoted to the great office of Heavenly Scribe. So he would be the one who writes down the book of life for God. Which is completely different than the job that he has in dogma, where he speaks for God. Because if you were to hear the voice of God, your head would explode and you would die. A lot of religions actually really buy into this idea, even though it absolutely contradicts what we have in the biblical text. [00:20:44] Katie Dooley: Yeah, because God talks to a lot of people. [00:20:47] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Well, so the idea that a lot of people have bought into as well. Yeah, it says God talked to them, but he talked to them through the Metatron. It's a stretch that I don't love. The name I think is really interesting for the Metatron, and people are going to argue about it forever, probably because we still haven't come to a solid conclusion on it. Some say that it's the Hebrew word for some sort of keeper. Others say that it comes from the Greek construction of Meta Throne, so that we have the guy in the chair beside the chair. Remember, we've talked about the very obvious and well-documented polytheistic origins of the Israeli religion. Yahweh is the son of El. There was never only one throne. So the guy on the chair, beside the chair, beside the chair, beside the chair, who knows how many chairs there are? Whatever. [00:21:50] Katie Dooley: I mean a lot. There's a lot. [00:21:53] Preston Meyer: Right. Well, in the theology that is evident a little bit in the book of Job, there is a council of God. [00:22:03] Katie Dooley: I mean, because even they talk about Michael being the right hand of God, but Jesus is also the right hand of God. So they're going to wrestle over that. [00:22:09] Preston Meyer: Well, so that's something that the Jehovah's Witnesses think they've fixed. They say Jesus is Michael. [00:22:20] Katie Dooley: Perfect. Wrap it up. [00:22:21] Preston Meyer: Rather than admitting that the Bible is very clear that Jesus is Jehovah. Every time you try to come up with a really good, tight little bow to simplify things there's a really good chance you're screwing it up. [00:22:38] Katie Dooley: Yeah, because it's religion. [00:22:41] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Nothing's ever as simple as you want it to be. [00:22:44] Katie Dooley: So I just threw this wrench in our notes because I started explaining the angelology of the Hebrew Bible. And then I realized everyone has angelology and it just be easier to explain what that is right now. So angelology is the ranking system of angels. That's how many angels there are. [00:23:09] Preston Meyer: And it's never as simple as you want it to be. [00:23:11] Katie Dooley: No, it's like I saw a ranking and then I saw different rankings and then I saw different ranking. So I don't think we've included any rankings in here. [00:23:21] Preston Meyer: Just to keep it simple. Stick with the basics. [00:23:24] Katie Dooley: If you're curious on how angels are ranked, pick your favorite scholar and go for it. So in the Abrahamic religions, Islam has no standardized hierarchy, but scholars divide up the angels into different groups depending on the scholar. This can be anywhere from 8 to 14 different groups. So while they're all on par, there's different species of angels? Categories? [00:23:47] Preston Meyer: I think species is a fair classification, I guess we'll talk about some angels that definitely feel like they would be different species from others. [00:23:58] Katie Dooley: Then there are different types of angels that appear in Judaism and then therefore Christianity. And they have been ranked a variety of different ways depending on which rabbi or kabbalist you're reading. [00:24:14] Preston Meyer: Yay! Complicated. [00:24:16] Katie Dooley: Very complicated. [00:24:18] Preston Meyer: Um, the Hebrew Bible differentiates between different kinds of heavenly beings as well. And they're all called angels, generally speaking. But sometimes you'll get other great titles like Seraphs or Seraphim. [00:24:32] Katie Dooley: I think the best way to compare this is that there's dogs and then there's dog breeds, there's angels, and there's types of angels. [00:24:41] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. [00:24:43] Katie Dooley: They're all dogs. They're all angels. They're just... They got special features. [00:24:48] Preston Meyer: Sure. I don't know if it's a perfect analogy, but it definitely helps with explaining what's going on here, [00:24:53] Katie Dooley: That they're all angels, but there's cherubs and seraphs. [00:25:00] Preston Meyer: So my whole life I've, I've never heard people say cherubs. But that's definitely the way the word is spelled. Yeah. [00:25:13] Katie Dooley: In Hebrew? [00:25:15] Preston Meyer: Yeah and even when we spelled it c h, it was meant to be like the ch in Loch Loch Ness. We just we've gotten used to doing all the CHs as cha- so we went with cherubs. [00:25:31] Katie Dooley: I'm going to start calling them cherubs at Christmas. [00:25:33] Preston Meyer: Absolutely. Even though a cherub is a thing you eat, that's fine. [00:25:39] Katie Dooley: Sorry. Go through your types of angels. [00:25:41] Preston Meyer: So cherubs are best known for being painted in Rome as children. That's just the deal. But it was one of these who protected the tree of life with a flaming sword in Genesis. We see cherubs on the the Ark of the Covenant with their wings and all that. Ezekiel gives them more wings than everybody else but Ezekiel was getting, maybe a little too much of that temple oil that we now know for sure had hallucinogens in it. [00:26:15] Katie Dooley: Nice. How many wings? Was this the three and four pairs? [00:26:20] Preston Meyer: I think Ezekiel's cherubs only had two pairs of wings. [00:26:24] Katie Dooley: That's still four full wings. [00:26:26] Preston Meyer: Right. He also gave them interchangeable faces of lions, oxes, men and eagles. It's a little bit weird. Um, the same faces that we have described in Ezekiel. They get used again in the Revelation of John. So the name cherub, hard to know for sure, it may have been derived from an Old Assyrian word caribou meaning mighty. [00:26:52] Katie Dooley: Interesting. So where we get caribou...? [00:26:54] Preston Meyer: No. Entirely different. [00:26:56] Katie Dooley: Okay. Well, because those are pretty mighty creatures. Yeah. Majestic even. [00:27:01] Preston Meyer: Haul Santa's fat ass across the sky at Christmas. [00:27:05] Katie Dooley: Um, tell me more about seraphs. [00:27:07] Preston Meyer: Seraphs, the name means burning, and they're always illustrated verbally or in art, in visual arts, as being surrounded by light. So these guys get described by Isaiah as having six wings. Other than that, they're people-shaped, but lots of wings. And so those are the two reasonable ones, because cherubs are always described as children for a long time as a kid or not as a kid, as a teenager trying to figure out angels from the Latter-Day Saint perspective, where we really don't talk about angels very much at all relative to the things we're talking about today. It's mostly you've got either spirits who haven't got bodies yet or people who have got bodies, died. And thus are still unembodied, or those great spirits who have come back resurrected with their bodies in full glory. And so you got cherubs would be the young ones who haven't got bodies yet. Seraphs are the glorified ones who have got their bodies and all the glory of God, whatever. Ophans have never been part of this discussion. The ophanim, the name means wheels, and this is a class of angels described only by Ezekiel and depending on your version of the Bible, you might not even recognize that he's talking about angels. So there's some argument on whether or not these even belong here. But when people talk about biblically accurate angels, the ones that are absolutely terrifying and monstrous, it's the ophanim. Sometimes they're called thrones because these gear monsters support the throne where God sits. And that's their deal. They don't visit Earth. They're not messengers. [00:29:07] Katie Dooley: Good, good. [00:29:09] Preston Meyer: So the whole be not afraid meme of no, this is the most terrifying moment of my life. The ophans. [00:29:16] Katie Dooley: Were not those messengers. That's good. They remind me of the Bhagavad Gita. The guy with infinite eyes and infinite mouths, like. I don't want to be visited by that. [00:29:28] Preston Meyer: No, I don't think anybody would. [00:29:30] Katie Dooley: I think... That's is that Krishna or Vishnu in their, like, real form? I think that's what it is. I forget now, but, um, someone will listen to our... [00:29:39] Preston Meyer: The Messenger was Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. So these these guys are just wild. It's really hard to know what Ezekiel was experiencing, but I feel like he was definitely getting the best of the temple oils and the way that eyes are described here with all these wing imagery. My instinct is to say that he was also seeing and failing to interpret correctly because of it, wonderful intoxication, a peacock. [00:30:18] Katie Dooley: That's interesting. Yeah. That's a not a terrible theory. [00:30:21] Preston Meyer: Well, so the the tail feathers, they all got eyes. Yeah. And wings might be hard to see where one wing ends and the next thing might be a wing if you're high, especially the peacock just feels right. [00:30:38] Katie Dooley: Okay. All right. [00:30:43] Preston Meyer: But yeah, so they are not visitors to Earth. They're not messengers. They're their own special thing built out of wheels and gears and eyeballs and feathers that support, apparently, according to Ezekiel's vision and some creative license and interpretation, the throne of God. And taking that into consideration and the description of the cherubs with the weird heads of all these various animals, it makes sense that there's some interesting sorts of ideas, like the they're chimeras of one sort or another, that we see all over the old world. And it makes sense that a lot of scholars would agree that some of these ideas are coming in they're very odd forms from neighboring nations. [00:31:35] Katie Dooley: Fair, you gotta make it popular to the public. [00:31:37] Preston Meyer: Right? Plus, people love stories about that. Weird monsters thing. So yeah, popular to the public helps. [00:31:46] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So in the Christian Bible, angels appear only as messengers and teachers, though there is a scene in the Revelation of John illustrating Heaven, where the four faces of Ezekiel described as cherubs, are represented. [00:32:02] Preston Meyer: We also get Gabriel. He's the one who showed up to Joseph and Mary, both of them separately, to let them know, "Hey, there's a baby in there. Don't freak out. It's Jesus." [00:32:16] Katie Dooley: Though I do love the memes about Joseph. [00:32:19] Preston Meyer: Yes, they are certainly entertaining. [00:32:22] Katie Dooley: Have you seen the one where Joseph is like, "I made you a cherry pie", and Mary's like, "we don't have cherries." And he was like, "God gave them to me. Do you see how stupid that sounds?" Uh, and then the stepdad, ones "I'm the dad that stepped up". [00:32:43] Preston Meyer: Oh, yeah, yeah. I feel weird about Joseph being left out of the story after the nativity. Like there's the sons of the carpenter or whatever, because Jesus had brothers. There's no arguing against that. But we never know about him dying. But also, he wasn't there when Jesus died. People just lost track of where his stepdad was. [00:33:09] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Angels who go undescribed appear at a few crucial points of the end of the Jesus story, presumably in regular human form. No wings. [00:33:20] Preston Meyer: Yeah. We got angels who were there when Jesus came out of the empty tomb. Well, when he made the tomb empty. We got angels standing around in Jerusalem when Jesus ascends up into the clouds. Reminding people. This what I'm doing, that they said he'll come back the same way he left. So if you find somebody claiming to be Jesus reborn, biblical contradiction. And then we have more angels in medieval writings. [00:33:55] Katie Dooley: Which is pretty cool. [00:33:56] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Have you ever read Paradise Lost? [00:34:00] Katie Dooley: I haven't, but I want to. [00:34:02] Preston Meyer: I also have not read Paradise Lost. I've only read about it. It's one of those great popular things that just hasn't hit my table yet. John Milton's Paradise Lost, written so, so long ago, 1667, was when it was published. Great couple of great poems. Angels are super important. We got the story of Satan / Lucifer. Because for so long, everybody just assumed Lucifer means Satan. [00:34:32] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So the two we're going to talk about, I, tell me if I'm wrong and maybe, maybe we don't know because we haven't read it, I think this is where the connection of Lucifer and the Bible is to the devil, because Lucifer in the Bible is not the devil, [00:34:45] Preston Meyer: Right? Lucifer in the Bible is not ever the devil. [00:34:48] Katie Dooley: So this must be where... [00:34:50] Preston Meyer: I feel like that's. [00:34:51] Katie Dooley: And even in, uh, Dante as well. [00:34:55] Preston Meyer: Yeah, I've talked with a couple of doctors of theology in my time at university, and there's not any solid consensus on whether Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy, was super influential on Christian theology, or if he was writing about things that he'd been learning at church. Um, there's not a strong consensus there, by the sounds of it, but very fascinating stuff. Not that Dante agrees with all of the thoughts on angels, but his thoughts are very well preserved. [00:35:34] Katie Dooley: Sorry, we are jumping ahead a little bit, but Paradise Lost is an epic poem. And yes, it talks about Satan, Lucifer. It also talks about Adam and Eve in a separate part. It outlines the hierarchy of angels. It talks about Lucifer, Satan's rebellion, the war in heaven, and what fallen angels are, which I read that there's parts of this all pulled from, like the Dead Sea Scrolls. So there is a... [00:36:00] Preston Meyer: Well, the Dead Sea Scrolls weren't available when Paradise Lost. It's been like 70 years. [00:36:08] Katie Dooley: But anyway it had biblical or Apocryphal references. [00:36:13] Preston Meyer: Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a lot of rabbinical literature that would have been some good source material for, [00:36:18] Katie Dooley: Because there is no fallen angels in the Bible. [00:36:22] Preston Meyer: There is a couple of passages that allude to huge swathes of angels being cast out of heaven before the foundation of the world. What that looks like is the matter of many hypotheses. [00:36:38] Katie Dooley: So we started talking about the Divine Comedy. [00:36:40] Preston Meyer: It's even older. [00:36:42] Katie Dooley: Yeah, and most people are familiar with Dante's Inferno, which is a part one of the three parts of... [00:36:47] Preston Meyer: Dante's Inferno, is great drama because it's the first part of a trilogy. And so if you're going to get tired and quit, at least you'll have read some of Inferno. But it's also the great part where Dante gets to slam on all the thinkers and popes that he didn't like and say, "Ha! You guys are in hell. I know, because I'm the dude who wrote the book". [00:37:12] Katie Dooley: So this is also written in a poem format, and he wrote it between 1308 and 1321, and it describes the afterlife. Obviously, the inferno is the hell part and Paradiso is the part that describes heaven. [00:37:29] Preston Meyer: And then there's the part in between. Purgatorial. For purgatory. [00:37:29] Katie Dooley: So Paradiso describes the nine spheres of heaven. There's what? Seven circles of hell. Nine circles of hell anyway. Inferno describes the circles of hell. I don't remember how many. And Paradiso describes the nine spheres of heaven in the ninth sphere. I'm reading the notes wrong. The ninth sphere of heaven is where the angels reside. It's called Prima Mobile. There's one more sphere where God resides. So according to Dante, angels are beings that are most familiar to God, and they are made of an immaterial. [00:38:07] Preston Meyer: Now, what sort of substance is immaterial, Katie? But light is matter as well. Light is a particle and a wave. It's like when people say that God exists outside of time and space. [00:38:21] Katie Dooley: I'm, uh. I'm rereading His Dark Materials. They're probably made of dust. Have you read? [00:38:21] Preston Meyer: No [00:38:29] Katie Dooley: Oh. They're great. They were very controversial when they came out of the 90s. [00:38:33] Preston Meyer: Sure. That's the, um, the Amber Spyglass. [00:38:37] Katie Dooley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so probably dust is what I'm going to call it. [00:38:40] Preston Meyer: Sure, but dust is matter too. [00:38:43] Katie Dooley: No, in the book it's a divine matter, but they call it dust. Capital D dust. [00:38:47] Preston Meyer: Okay. When I think of immaterial substance, it sounds like they're just holograms. But I'm always reminded of, I think it was Neil deGrasse Tyson who said, you know, if you if your God exists outside of time and space, that's how you describe a thing that does not exist. [00:39:06] Katie Dooley: So like tug on the collar... [00:39:08] Preston Meyer: It's a really popular description for a lot of Christians and people of other traditions as well. And I don't see the need to describe God as outside of time and space, especially when it causes you the problem of now you've described something that doesn't exist. [00:39:26] Katie Dooley: Maybe out of time, but definitely not out of space. [00:39:30] Preston Meyer: Even outside of time doesn't make any sense to me. [00:39:34] Katie Dooley: I guess time would be irrelevant for God, I guess is my point. [00:39:37] Preston Meyer: Right and yeah, if you live long enough, time might not matter but you still exist in a state where there's an event and things before and after that. [00:39:46] Katie Dooley: Now we're getting into the multiverse and.... It's all great in theory, but very confusing in practice. So we touched briefly on angels in Islam because of their non-hierarchy but groupings. In Islam, they believe they are heavenly beings originating directly from God. Like little God offspring. [00:40:08] Preston Meyer: Yeah, but usually in the creation sense, like molded because in the Islamic tradition, the Quran is very clear that God does not have children. The Quran is also very clear he had three daughters. [00:40:24] Katie Dooley: What a holy book that contradicts itself? Say it ain't so. Colour me shocked. [00:40:30] Preston Meyer: It's tricky. But they would have been angels, not gods, even though they were definitely figures that were recognized as goddesses among the heathens. [00:40:43] Katie Dooley: It's fine. So the Quran is the number one Islamic source referring to angels, but there's also angels in the hadiths and elsewhere in Islamic literature. [00:40:53] Preston Meyer: I mean, the whole thing wouldn't have happened if not for an angel at least allegedly appearing to Muhammad. Um, good old [00:41:02] Jibril. The same figure that we called Gabriel earlier in this [00:41:06] episode. They're messengers, servants for God. And Jibril is the greatest messenger. I don't remember hearing anything about Michael and looking up things in Islam. [00:41:18] Katie Dooley: Um, they have sort of a 1 to 1 comparison I put in the notes. Um. But I don't know where they appear in the Quran. [00:41:27] Preston Meyer: So, like in Judaism, angels are super great for protecting against terrible things. Angels are attracted to sacred places. The whole guardian thing makes sense. And every now and then, you'll find them protecting people. With it an angel will not enter an unclean place. This is pretty typical of most religions. That an angel that is supposed to be so good and pure, not going to go to places that could be called haram or go near a dog even because that's dirty. [00:42:04] Katie Dooley: My dog was an angel, so. [00:42:04] Preston Meyer: Many are. [00:42:10] Katie Dooley: I disagree with that. Maybe they're more powerful angels. And so other angels are scared to come by. [00:42:19] Preston Meyer: Uh, there are many classes of angels. Or maybe Paige was just a jinn. [00:42:24] Katie Dooley: Oh, wow. But it's probably more accurate anyway. Angels in Islam, are believed to be older than humans and the jinn that Preston mentioned. And they have no human desires. They don't tire, they don't get hungry. They're never angry. [00:42:38] Preston Meyer: So they're often described this way in Jewish literature and the trouble that I have with this idea is that they saw in most versions of early Judeo-Christian Abrahamic origins of the world. They saw the daughters of man and said, that's a really good place to play hide the sausage, and that's not an angel that doesn't have passions. Oh, well. [00:43:18] Katie Dooley: Um, Muslims do not believe in the concept of the fallen angel like in Christianity. Rather, they believe that angels are infallible. [00:43:25] Preston Meyer: Right? And the Iblis isn't a fallen angel, but a terrible jinn. I'm pretty sure, if I remember correctly. [00:43:34] Katie Dooley: So they, as Preston, sort of asked, Islam shares three out of the four archangels with Christianity. So we have Jibril, who's Gabriel; Mikhail, who's Michael; Israfil, who's Raphael. And then the fourth one is Azrail, or Azrael is the English name, but that's not Uriel. Those are their archangels. [00:43:57] Preston Meyer: And, um, Azrael would be a little bit more familiar with the Angel of death called sometimes Malak Hamad. There's another name that I can't remember, Samael, I think. I might be confusing with another angel. I have to look that up later. [00:44:16] Katie Dooley: I mean, that sounds correct to someone who watched the entire series of Lucifer, but that's my only frame of reference right now. That's terrible. [00:44:27] Preston Meyer: Popular culture is a great tool for education as long as it's well-written. [00:44:32] Katie Dooley: So the Quran describes angels as well-formed human beings. Nice build. Sure. Uh, made of pure light. And they have multiple pairs of wings. So I read two, three, four pairs of wings. [00:44:47] Preston Meyer: Right. So we get very similar descriptions for the jinn. But the jinn are newer and a lot more selfish and a lot more likely to do sexy things so than the angels in this tradition. And then we can change gears a little bit to Zoroastrianism. And I think a lot of the ideas of angels that we get in Judaism probably find a much more comfortable home in Zoroastrianism. Um, the writings of Ezekiel. Are generally thought to have come post-exile. And so this influence would have been definitely a part of this deal. If that is how that worked out. So then in Persian Zoroastrian tradition, there are several forms of yazata. I like that word. Any word that has a bunch of syllables and the same vowel every time. I don't know why it gets me just right. Like Canada. [00:45:52] Katie Dooley: How patriotic you are. Rococo. Rococo. [00:45:58] Preston Meyer: Rococo. That first I was a little soft, but I can appreciate it. [00:46:04] Katie Dooley: It's a great art movement. [00:46:05] Preston Meyer: So anyway, the Yazata are a class of beings defined nominally as worthy of worship. Gods, in the simplest sense. This is complicated by the fact that we still don't have a good definition of what is a God that everybody can agree on. If it is worshiped, it is a god. That's the deal. That's for today's discussion. I feel like that's pretty fair. So this same word, yazata is applied to all the really good things, including some plants and even prayer formats. So because of that, I feel like a really fair way to translate that into English instead of worthy of worship would be anything that is holy. [00:46:54] Katie Dooley: Holy, sacred, yeah. [00:46:55] Preston Meyer: Yeah, and like the Most Holy One, would be your Most High God, which in this case would be Ahura Mazda, the greatest of the Yazata. So in the earliest writings, Yazata is anything good, and in slightly later early writings the Yazatas are completely and absolutely divine, and so it quickly went from holy things as opposed to profane things, to holy things, as in the gods and God adjacent things in a religion that's mostly monotheistic but isn't quite either. Tricky business. We've talked about this in our Zoroastrian episode. The Persian, the Legend of Persian Zoro. Yeah. Tricky business. So the most popular yazatas received a formal ranking. Relatively late in the Zoroastrian time frame. In about the fourth or fifth century BCE, a calendar was instituted that used the names of the angelic Yazatas to name the months, the days, and even the portions of the days. There's five parts of the day, and each of them are named for various yazata angel figures and so based on that, we got what became of well known because everybody needs to know how you're measuring time, angelology. That was kind of nifty. And so for the Mazdaists, the seven Amesha Spenta, we've talked about them before, they're roughly equivalent to archangels. And so it feels like maybe the shift from 4 to 7 might have been influenced from this time of exile with the Babylonian. [00:48:56] Katie Dooley: Yeah. I mean, this is all happening in the same place at the same time in the world, so. [00:49:00] Preston Meyer: Yeah. And so Ahura Mazda is often described as the father of the Amesha Spenta, but it's generally not taken literally. Just like the Muslims say that Allah is the creator of these angels, not the father, father. [00:49:16] Katie Dooley: Though there was one Amesha Spenta that is described as his daughter. Do you remember that? [00:49:20] Preston Meyer: Well, they're all described as his children. [00:49:22] Preston Meyer: No, there was one specifically that was like, it's his daughter. [00:49:25] Preston Meyer: This one is definitely a daughter. Oh, and he's got other sons, too, right? But they're more godly and less angelic. But they are all yazata. Not that it's not confusing. [00:49:38] Katie Dooley: I haven't said this in a long time. A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square. [00:49:44] Preston Meyer: The trouble with that is that for a long time, a square was also called a rectangle. [00:49:52] Katie Dooley: Oh, I thought you were gonna, like, correct me on the yazata. Like, not all yazata are gods, but all gods are yazata. [00:49:59] Preston Meyer: No, that's... Yeah, you got that right. But there's even more. Because why stop with just the Judeo-Christian and immediately Judeo-Christian adjacent? There is other great ideas. [00:50:13] Katie Dooley: There's so many. So the Dharmic religions, this is Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism all have Devas, which means heavenly, shining or divine being. The word is generally applied to the gods of the Hindu peoples, as well as to cosmic principles that might manifest during meditation. It is a worthy goal to ascend from this human level and to be reincarnated as a deva. Devas are said to be mortal, expected to die after thousands of years, and be reborn if they don't escape samsara. [00:50:47] Preston Meyer: Imagine being demoted from Deva back to human. [00:50:50] Katie Dooley: I mean, it happens. [00:50:51] Preston Meyer: I mean, the story is that it must. [00:50:58] Katie Dooley: Each has their own... Each of the devas has their own identity, different than an avatar, right? So there's different avatars of Vishnu and different avatars of Krishna, which is a temporary embodiment of a god. [00:51:10] Preston Meyer: When they just come down for what for them is a weekend. And I think it's really interesting that for Zoroastrianism, the Devas are, well, not the Devas. Deva was an evil god. He's the bad guy. [00:51:30] Katie Dooley: Oh yeah. [00:51:32] Preston Meyer: So I'm curious if that label comes from conflict between the two nations. [00:51:40] Katie Dooley: I don't know. [00:51:41] Preston Meyer: And I haven't been able to find anything that says, oh yeah, sure, "this idea is good, Preston", but I still like it in my head. Next on our list, we have the border. In ancient Norse tradition, we have the Vördr as basically essentially guardian angels. Some of them will follow people around, some of them are trees that you might have in a yard that have been around for a while. And so they'll house minor guardian angels in their root. [00:52:13] Katie Dooley: That's cool. [00:52:14] Preston Meyer: It is kind of cool. The name Vördr basically evolved into what we have in English as warden means watcher, but the word wraith also comes from this root and wraiths, as far as I've been able to find meaning in it is like the scary. [00:52:35] Katie Dooley: Yeah, never positive. I always just think of the ringwraiths but... [00:52:38] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. Bad times. Yeah, they're they're not good friends, but the Vördr are our guardian angels, basically. It's hard to tell how much the idea changed when Christians showed up into their neighborhood, but it probably did change a little bit. Or maybe they're partly responsible for the way we see guardian angels in our Anglo tradition. [00:53:06] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Well. And then it's interesting. There's also demons in ancient Greek mythology spelled d-a-e-m-o-n-s so pronounced the same but not to be confused with demons. [00:53:19] Preston Meyer: In so many words we just drop that A it's interesting that we allow it to persist in this word, but I think there's a good reason for it. [00:53:30] Katie Dooley: Well, and then topical in His Dark Materials, in one of the worlds, everyone has a daemon, which is an animal spirit attached to you. [00:53:40] Preston Meyer: That's spelled with an A. [00:53:40] Katie Dooley: And it's spelt with an A. And when I was a kid in reading, I had no idea how to say it. [00:53:46] Preston Meyer: Did you say a damon the whole time? Yeah. That's fair. [00:53:52] Katie Dooley: So demons with an A are positive. And just like the Vördr, they are minor deities that would act as guides, guardian angels or whatever. And it's the same thing. We kind of have this, cuple of traditions that are very influential on Judeo-Christian and Western, therefore Western culture of this idea of guardian angel. [00:54:14] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Looking up angels across all these religious traditions has been pretty cool. There's something like the idea of an angel in almost every religious tradition, though naturally, they're not all going to be called angels. But the idea that there's somebody watching out for you is pretty universal. In the more primal religious traditions, it makes a lot of sense that usually we're talking about ancestors. [00:54:44] Katie Dooley: Right? Their ancestor worship. And we haven't actually talked about... I guess Shintoism, has some ancestor worship, but we haven't talked about Daoism at all, right. Which is a big ancestor worship religion. Maybe that's one we should add to our list right away. I think you're right. But that's basically Mulan. Where she... [00:55:05] Preston Meyer: The good animated one. [00:55:06] Katie Dooley: Yeah, absolutely. Where's she? lights some incense and prays to her ancestors for guidance. [00:55:13] Preston Meyer: And then has to try to keep a straight face while traveling with Eddie Murphy. Oh, now I want to watch Mulan. Thanks. Yeah, so that is a big. topical guardian angels. [00:55:29] Preston Meyer: Right. [00:55:29] Katie Dooley: Mushu is a guardian angel. [00:55:30] Preston Meyer: Here we are in a year of the Dragon. [00:55:32] Katie Dooley: What? It's all coming together. [00:55:35] Preston Meyer: But it's not the year of the Fire Dragon. In the 60 year cycle, it's the year of the Wood dragon. [00:55:40] Katie Dooley: Wow, interesting I didn't know that. You, dear listener, congregant, could be our guardian angels. [00:55:48] Preston Meyer: We would love it so much if you would support this podcast financially. [00:55:55] Katie Dooley: I was going to say you can do that a few ways. So, um, spreadshirt is great. If you want to buy someone a gift, buy yourself some merch, one time fee. You have our Patreon with bonus episodes, extra content from our interviews, if you like a subscription model, there's more coming down the pipe there as well. We also would love your support your warden watcher wraith on our social media. What social media are we on, Preston? [00:56:22] Preston Meyer: We are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and of course Discord, where we have some pretty great memes and discussions organized into great little channels. I love discord! You can also share this podcast with a friend and give us five stars on Apple Podcast. It's a great way to help us out. [00:56:39] Preston Meyer: Thank you so much for joining us. [00:56:41] Both Speakers: Peace be with you.

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Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! (Audio)

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Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2023

Pastor Andy Davis traces the angelic worship of Christ throughout the whole of scripture. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT- On May 21st, 1738, Charles Wesley lay seriously ill in bed fearing for his life. But as he lay there fearing for his life, he feared more for his eternal soul because at that point he had no assurance of salvation. He and his brother John, had been pursuing a religion of Christianized good works and morality. They were part of a group called the Oxford Holy Club, and they sought to earn their salvation by good works, by mission trips, by other things, but they had no assurance of salvation. They only had ever-increasing anxiety about eternal hell and destruction. For almost two years they sought this assurance. John and Charles Wesley had been on a mission trip to the New World and on the way back, they were in a serious storm with a group of Moravian believers. They saw the supernatural joy and peace and confidence even in the midst of that storm that those Moravians had. They had absolutely no fear of death, but that could not characterize the Wesleys at that point, so they began to study the religion of the Moravians who often spoke of the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the soul of a genuinely converted person. The Wesleys had seen that supernatural peace during that storm, and they longed to know it, a total freedom from death. The Moravians linked that sense of assurance to the promise in Romans 8:16, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children, but they had not experienced that testimony, that assurance at all. If anything, things just seemed to get worse and worse for them until that day, May 21st, 1738 for Charles Wesley, ironically, Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost Sunday commemorating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. Charles Wesley had been fighting for his life against his illness, but also pleading with God for assurance of salvation. As he lay alone in his bed between visits by his brother John and doctors and well-meaning friends, Charles had a personal encounter with God through the out-poured Holy Spirit that changed his life forever. Assurance flooded into his soul. He felt strange palpitations in his heart, and he cried aloud, "I believe, I believe." He wrote in his journal that day, "I have now found myself at peace with God and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ." Now his more famous brother John Wesley would soon have his own conversion experience at a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street there in London. Though John Wesley would become the leader and driving force of the movement known as Methodism, Charles Wesley would become the movement's poet and hymn writer. He wrote over 6,000 hymns seeking to put the theology of Christianity in lyrics that illiterate people could understand easily. Seven months after his conversion, Charles Wesley was walking through the streets of London on Christmas day. The bells were ringing, celebrating the birth of Christ. He hurried home and wrote the poem that would become arguably the most celebrated Christmas song of all time, now known as Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. The original poem that Charles wrote was, "Hark! How all the welkin rings. Glory to the King of Kings." Welkin means “heavens.” A number of years later in 1753, the greatest Methodist preacher of them all, George Whitfield changed the lyrics to what we know today, "Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mile God and sinners reconciled.” That improvement is well appreciated. It's already a challenge to have one obscure word, hark meaning “listen,” and even more obscure archaic word, “welkin,” would probably have sunk him for good. The heavens were indeed ringing with the praise of angelic army the night that Jesus was born. We can obey the word “hark" to listen to their celebration only by faith. Faith in the word of God. There is a listening of the soul with the ears of faith that we must do to be able to listen to them celebrating. There's a seeing to see the incarnate Christ laying there. There's a seeing we can only do by faith, faith in the word of God. I. Angelic Worship of Christ The call to listen to the angelic praise is a doorway into my Christmas meditation with you today. I want to trace out over all of redemptive history, even before history began, angelic worship of Christ. Angelic worship of Christ. My purpose is not that we will merely hark to angelic worship of Christ, but join with them in understanding the greatness in the majesty of Jesus Christ and that God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven through that worship. Hebrews 1 makes it plain. When God brought his son into the world, He wanted the angels to worship him. Hebrews 1:6 says, "When God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God's angels worship him.’" This is an amazing statement if you think about it. It's an open claim to God of God concerning the deity of his son. The scripture makes it plain that God commands all worshiping beings, angels and humans to worship him and serve him only. Worship is reserved for God, and yet here's God calling on the angels to worship his son when He brings him into the world. That is proof that the Son of God, the birth of Jesus is a matter for worship. This is deity coming into the world, and the angels complied. "The scripture makes it plain that God commands all worshiping beings, angels and humans to worship him and serve him only. Worship is reserved for God, and yet here's God calling on the angels to worship his son when He brings him into the world. " I want to trace out more fully the history of angelic worship of the second person of the Trinity and follow it in historical order in nine steps. First, angels worship the pre-incarnate Christ. Second, angels announced the coming Christ. Third, angels celebrated the birth of Christ. Fourth, angels protected the newborn Christ. Fifth, angels strengthened Christ in his weakness. Sixth, angels announced the resurrected Christ. Seventh, angels celebrated the heavenly ascension of Christ. Eighth, angels assisted in the spread of the gospel of Christ's kingdom. And then ninth, angels will celebrate Christ's glory for all eternity. II. Angels Worship the Pre-Incarnate Christ First, angels worship the pre-incarnate Christ. Christ alone of all human beings that's ever lived, made a voluntary choice, a willing choice to enter the world as a human being. He's the only one that that is true of. He made this assertion to Pontius Pilate when He was on trial before Pilate in John 18, “Jesus said to Pilate, ‘You are right in saying that I'm a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this, I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’" In other words, "I chose to enter the world and I chose to enter the world to build a kingdom based on truth and to invite people into that kingdom of truth." That was a choice that Jesus made. He's the only human being that ever was pre-existent before He took on a human body and chose to enter the world, and that is to build a kingdom of truth. So also this statement in John 6, Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise Him up at the last day." It is the same thing. "I chose to enter the world not to do my will, but to do the will of the Father. And this is the Father's will that I save all the elect that He has given me." Philippians 2 makes it plain that Jesus shared eternal glory with God on a heavenly throne of glory before He entered the world. He had equality with God, a radiant glory with Him. That's what Charles Wesley meant when he said, "Mild he lays his glory down, born that man no more may die." Before Jesus was born, the angels saw that glory and they worshiped him in his glory. Two key passages show this in the Old Testament, Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. First, Isaiah 6:1-3 says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs. Seraphs each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another. 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.'" The Lord the seraphim worshiped was Jesus. John 12:41 makes it plain that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. The seraphs are angels, an order of angels, the spirit beings of the word. The Hebrew word literally means “burning ones.” They're like on fire. They're brilliant, they're bright. This lines up with the statement made of them in Hebrews 1:7 in speaking of his angels, he says, "He makes his angels winds as servants, flames of fire." The seraphim are burning ones, they're on fire, a holy fire. This fiery terminology also lines up with the vision in Ezekiel 1 of cherubim, fiery beings that could almost defy description and who move mysteriously below a throne of glory. Ezekiel 1 says this, "I looked and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in that fire was what looked like four living creatures." Picture a cloud that is radiant and bright and in the center of it, it's on fire, a fiery cloud. In the center of that are these four living creatures called cherubim. These cherubim have four faces and two sets of wings, and there are these high mighty, awesome glorious wheels under them. Wheels sparkling like diamonds and the cherubim move like lightning with fire flashing back and forth among them. Ezekiel 1:13-14, “The appearance of the living creatures were like burning coals of"fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures. It was bright and lightning flashed out of it." The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. It's energetic, crackling with energy, crackling with light and fire, and that the cherub had moved north, south, east, and west with lightning speed and whatever direction the spirit moves them. High above those cherubim sat the enthroned pre-incarnate Christ. Ezekiel 1:22 and following, "Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice and awesome like a barrier, like a ceiling. And under the expanse, their wings were stretched out, one toward the other and each had two wings covering its body. And when the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings." This is awesome. They stood quiet under the voice of the one seated on the throne. There's a reverence that they have and a quietness. They lower their wings and they wait to hear him speak. They're ready to do His will. They're motionless, they're reverent. They're waiting on the voice of the pre-incarnate Christ. This is the description of that glorious throne, Ezekiel 1:26-28, "Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like glowing metal as if full of fire. And that from there down he looked like fire. And brilliant lights surrounded him like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day so was the radiance around him." This was the appearance of the likeness, of the glory of the Lord. ‘And when I saw it,’ says Ezekiel, ‘I fell face down.'" You have this angelic activity moving wheels within wheels that just defies description, and brightness and loud noise and power and then a barrier and then high above that a throne and one seated on it. That barrier represents the infinite gap between creator and creature. It's an infinite gap between God and the highest archangel and all creatures below. That gap represents that difference, the holiness of God, God, the creator over all creation. They recognize it, and they're quiet under it. Ezekiel the prophet was granted this vision of the pre-incarnate Christ on the throne of heavenly glory. This is the glory that Jesus laid aside when He entered the world and was born of the virgin and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. This is the glory laid by, this is the glory you wanted back at the end of his ministry. When He said in John 17:5, "And now Father glorify me with the glory I had with you before the creation of the world,” it's a glory He deserves. A radiant display of his greatness, which He laid by. Before Christ was even born, the angels in various orders of various types worshiped and served him. III. Angels Announced the Coming Christ Secondly, the angels announced the coming Christ. The word “angel “is just a transliteration of a Greek word, which means “messenger.” Those that are dispatched with a message from God to earth. God regularly in the Old Testament dispatched angels to bring messages from God. At the time of Christ being conceived, the angel Gabriel was dispatched. The angel Gabriel told in his encounter with John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, he said "I'm Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God." He has the honor of proximity, of closeness to the throne of God. That's Gabriel. He was sent also to the Virgin Mary with the most amazing message that any angel has ever carried to any human being. In Luke 1, he said to Mary, “'Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You'll be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.’ ‘How will this be’, Mary asked the angel, ‘since I'm a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high wall overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.’" This is a message that Gabriel spoke to Mary, the deepest theology ever communicated in the pages of scripture. “Mary, you'll have a baby and the baby will have no human Father. He'll be conceived miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit will overshadow your body and that's where this baby is going to come from. This baby will be the Son of David. He'll have a genealogy through you and also through Joseph, and he will be rightly called the Son of David. He'll be human because he is your baby and also descendant of David of the house and lineage of David. But he will also be divine because he's called the Son of God.” This is the mystery of the incarnation, the mystery of the virgin birth. It's central to our faith. Jesus Christ was born in the normal way, looked like any other human baby that was born, but He was conceived by the supernatural power of God on a virgin's body. And so this doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus as being fully God, fully man is central to the Christian faith, was initially announced by an angel, announced by an angel to Mary. The angel was also dispatched in a dream to Joseph, the guardian of that Holy Family to give him a different version of the same message. Matthew 1, “Joseph, Son of David, ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She'll give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.” The angelic message to Joseph concerning this baby's mission is a little bit different, but easily harmonizeable to Mary.’s The child born is going to reign on a throne forever. To Joseph, He's going to save His people from their sins and we know that that's by His death, His bloody death on the cross, but the theology of the essential nature of who this baby is is the same. I mean fully God, fully man is wrapped up in the word Emmanuel, “God with us”, conceived in a human mother by the power of the Holy Spirit. The angels were dispatched to carry this message and the theology of Jesus Christ to Mary into Joseph. IV. Angels Celebrate the Birth of Christ Third, angels celebrated when this baby was born, they were there to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the most famous angelic involvement. Angels were sent to Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born, and they were sent to worship Him. This is the direct and obvious fulfillment of God's command in Hebrews 1:6, when God brings his firstborn into the world, He says, "Let all God's angels worship Him." They came to do that in direct obedience to the command of God. First an angel, a single angel, is dispatched to the shepherds on the hills outside Bethlehem, as we’ve already heard. “There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. And this will be as sign to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Again, angels are given a role of dispensing theology to human beings. But this time it's simple working-class shepherds who are just out there at night watching over their flocks in the hills surrounding Bethlehem. Suddenly an angel comes with heavenly glory, a radiant display. This is one of the key texts for me. Understand that glory involves sometimes physical light, a radiant display. And so it is. This angel came with the glory of the Lord that shone around there at night, and it caused instant terror. The angel gives the message that Christ the Lord is born in Bethlehem. He is Christ, He is Lord, He's Savior. These terms are initially understandable. They immediately take root in the heart of any believer, but they will take all eternity to unpack in their fullness. The shepherds understood these words. The simple proof of the angel's words was the oddity of seeing a baby wrapped and laid in a feeding trough for animals. That's highly unusual. So when you go down and you see this baby wrapped up in swaddling clothes, that will be a sign that our words are true. “Then suddenly a huge multitude of the heavenly host appears. A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests." This must have been what Charles Wesley and George Whitfield had in mind when they wrote, “Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King." God told them to do it. It says, "Let all God's angels worship Him,” and they did it with gladness and with powerful voices. I want you to understand a word that is easy to misunderstand and that is the word “host.” I asked some people earlier this week, "What is a heavenly host?" And they said, "Well, when you host somebody, you're opening up your home, you're welcoming them." Friends, that is not what host means here. It's not like the angels are saying, "Hey, you all come." I know I'll never say it like you guys do, "Y'all come," saying, "I want you to come and enjoy." That's not what's going on. It's not what the Greek word means. The Greek word is “stratia”, which is a military term. This is an army, a huge army. Imagine how that would've looked to us rebels against heaven to have a heavenly army arrayed in military weaponry surrounding us. It really would be terrifying. It's not a choir of angels, it's an army of angels. If you want to see the kind of damage they can wreak on planet Earth, read the Book of Revelation. The kind of damage that they wreak gladly when God tells them to do it, pouring out wrath on the ecology and on the people of Earth before the Second Coming of Christ. It's an heavenly invasion. But not that night, though they could have done that kind of damage because we all deserved it. We're all rebels against the throne of God. They were there to celebrate the birth, effectively, of our and God's champion who came to fight on our behalf. They're there to celebrate as He went forth, as David did in the day when he defeated Goliath. He is the representative of heaven and of us, the people of God to fight our battle for us. They're there to celebrate, and there's lots of them. It's not a little, it's a huge army. They're not there to invade rebellious Earth and destroy it like we all deserve, but they're there to proclaim, "Glory to God and peace from God to those on whom his grace or his favor rests." That's the message. This is the same army of angels that will be dispatched in waves in Revelation to destroy all sinners at the end of the world. But at this point they're there to celebrate the birth of the Savior forth. V. Angels Protected the Newborn Christ God also dispatched an angel to warn Joseph in a dream to flee the murderous King Herod and his killing soldiers. Matthew 2, “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the Land of Israel for those who are trying to take the child's life are dead.’ So he got up and took the child's mother and went to the Land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judean places, his father Herod, he was afraid to go there having been warned in a dream. He withdrew to the district of Galilee and went and lived in a town called Nazareth.” An angel was dispatched to Joseph in a dream to say, "Get up and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you." They escaped just in time before the soldiers came and killed all the boy babies two years old and under. Then later, once Herod was dead and the danger had passed, the angel came and told Joseph to bring the child back. Certainly angels protected Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus at that point, but I'm certain that angels protected Jesus throughout the 30 years that He was growing up. The demons knew who He was. Satan knew who He was, and yet He lived a normal upbringing. He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God. When He grew up, He was a carpenter. When the time came, He was revealed out of obscurity by John the Baptist. But in all of that, there must have been a wall, an angelic wall of protection, around Jesus as He was growing up. Revelation 12 depicts the devil as a dragon ready to devour the male child who will rule over all the world the moment it was born, but he couldn't do it. VI. Angels Strengthened Christ in his Weakness Fifthly, during Jesus' life on earth, He was subjected to all the same weakness that we are— pain, weariness, hunger, thirst. At two key moments in Jesus' weakness, his physical bodily weakness, angels were dispatched to strengthen the King of angels. First, after his temptation by the devil in the desert. In Mark 1:13 it says, "He was in the desert forty days being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and angels attended him." It's an amazing thing how Jesus, the infinite King of glory, was so weakened by his fasting that God had to send angels to keep him alive and to feed him out in the desert. Second, in his agony in Gethsemane, in Luke 22 it says, "An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him and being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." We cannot fully understand what was happening in Gethsemane as Jesus was fully aware that He was about to drink the cup of God's wrath in our place on the cross and to shed His blood in our place. God, I believe, mysteriously revealed to Jesus' human mind what it would be like to be under the wrath of God and it just about killed Him, dropping Him to the ground, and He was growing faint. An angel was dispatched in some mysterious way to strengthen Him to survive that moment in Gethsemane as great drops of blood were pouring from His face. It is a marvelous and an amazing thing that this infinite King of glory needed help, physical help from angels at those two times. VII. Angels Announced the resurrected Christ After Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, angels were sent from heaven to tell his followers that Christ had risen just as He had predicted. In Matthew, an angel came down and rolled back the stone and sat on it. I've always loved that picture. He's very comfortable in the presence of Roman soldiers. He's not afraid of them at all. They're terrified of him and he just easily rolls a massive boulder and sits on it. It's just a beautiful picture. But he's there announcing the resurrection. The same thing in John's Gospel. You have two men dressed in white sitting in the empty tomb where Jesus' body had been. One at the head, the other at the feet. In Luke's gospel, the same thing as women went to finish the burial rituals that had been hurried because the Passover was coming. It says in Luke 24, "Suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, 'Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen just as he said.'" Angels are not usually dispatched to proclaim the facts of the gospel of Christ's death and his burial and his resurrection, though they would do an amazing job, ordinarily not. But here at the very beginning of the spread of the Gospel, after the resurrection of Christ from the dead, angels are dispatched to tell his immediate inner circle of followers what had happened. VIII. Angels Celebrated the Heavenly Ascension of Christ Seventhly, angels celebrated the heavenly ascension of Christ. After Christ rose from the dead, He spent forty days with His disciples, giving them many convincing proofs that He was alive.He was training them and teaching them and getting them ready for the spread of the Gospel worldwide to the ends of the Earth. After that, after He had given all of that proof, at the end of that time, forth days, He ascended from the surface of the Earth up through the sky, through the clouds, and ultimately into the heavenly realms. The Book of Hebrews tells us that He passed through the heavens, plural, through circles of heavens, so higher and higher. First, the atmosphere, and then beyond all the physical realms of heaven, what we call sky and outer space and beyond that into the circles of heaven, the heavenly spheres of existence in the spiritual realm. He passed through all that. The author of Hebrews gives us the language of passing through, and the scripture reveals that as He did, the angels celebrated his passing as a triumphant conqueror. In Psalm 47, it says, "God has ascended amid shouts of joy and the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King, sing praises." It's a marvelous picture we get of the angels celebrating the accomplishment of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. I also think it's interesting the angels were dispatched to tell the disciples to move along now and get on with their lives as they're standing there outside Jerusalem with their heads craning up, looking and waiting for the Second Coming of Christ 2000 years ago. God sent two angels to say, "Time to move along." “They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going when suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, ‘Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you've seen Him go into heaven.’” IX. Angels Assisted the Spread of Christ's Kingdom Eighth, as I just said, Scripture does not assign to angels the work of evangelism and missions. The ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, the followers of Christ. That's our job. It is our work to go to the ends of the earth and to proclaim the gospel. As the scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?" But it's not angels that do it. However, angels have consistently assisted that spread as they were dispatched from heaven to do. For example, in Acts 8, an angel working along with the Holy Spirit told Philip the Evangelist where to go so he could proclaim the Gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch. We can see angels dispatched to guide evangelism and missions in Acts 8. So also God dispatched an angel to rescue Peter and the Apostles from prison in Acts 5, and also Peter from prison in Acts 12, causing chains to fall off and making the twelve soldiers guarding him to fall into a deep sleep. Also an angel is dispatched to Cornelius the centurion, to tell him to send men to Joppa to find a man named Peter who would bring a message by which he and all his household would be saved. The angel was not dispatched to give the message. He could easily have done it, but instead to send messengers to get Peter to come and do it. So it was angels that did that. "The ministry of reconciliation has been entrusted to us, the followers of Christ. That's our job. It is our work to go to the ends of the earth and to proclaim the gospel." In heaven, we're going to find out throughout thousands of years of redemptive history, how active the angels have been in the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. As the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:14, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" They have helped the spread of the gospel for 2000 years. X. Angels Will Celebrate Chris’s Glory for All Eternity Ninth and finally, angels will celebrate Christ's glory for all eternity. As I said before Christ was born, angels worshiped and celebrated all along. As redemptive history has unfolded, we are told that angels were learning. "They long to look into these things," Peter tells us. 1 Peter 1:12, “Even angels long to look into these things.” They weren't omniscient. They didn't know where all this was heading. They were learning as events were unfolding. As we see for example in Daniel 12, one angel asks another angel about timing and timetable. They don't know when the timing is going to be for all of these things. They're eager to learn, and they are learning as events unfold on planet Earth. As those events unfold, they celebrate them, like the birth of Christ. They're celebrating. It's not like they didn't know it was coming, but now it's broken into history and they are celebrating. They're tracking events unfolding, and they're learning and they're celebrating with pure hearts. I believe that they're going to celebrate when all is said and done for all eternity. They're going to celebrate what was done to rescue a multitude of sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation. They're going to celebrate what God has done through the second and the third person of the Trinity. By the working of Jesus' bloodshed on the cross, by His resurrection and by the outpouring Holy Spirit on the people of God, the spread of the Gospel, the angels are going to celebrate every detail of what happened for all eternity. In Revelation 5:11-12, it says, "Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000, 100 million angels. They encircle the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And in a loud voice they sang, ‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.’" So there's 100 million angels celebrating the Slain Lamb, who by his blood rescued people for God. Just as it said earlier, "You are worthy because you were slain and with your blood, you purchase people for God from every tribe, language, people and nation." You're going to celebrate that, that radiant glory for all eternity they're going to celebrate. We wouldn't even know about it except that God had dispatched an angel to John to write the Book of Revelation. As it says in Revelation 1, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John." An angel was entrusted with the Book of Revelation to bring down to John and the island of Patmos. Then He says, at the end of Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and I'm the bright and morning star." Angels will be worshiping and celebrating Christ's victory at the cross for all eternity. Revelation 7 says, "After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the lamb. They're wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands and they cried out in a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne to the lamb.'" The next verse, "All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, they fell down on their faces before the throne. And they worship God saying, 'Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'" The angels are celebrating a redemption they didn't need. It wasn't for them that Christ became incarnate. Surely it is not angel He helped but the sons of Abraham, us, flesh and blood, and yet the angels are celebrating with every bit as much joy as if it had been them. They're going to celebrate it for all eternity. So what about you friends? What about you? We here at First Baptist Church do not believe in a secular Christmas. We believe in Christ at the center of it. We want to join in that angelic worship and celebration. We want to see who this child is, this incarnate son of God, and we want to join the angels in celebrating. What about you? What about you? I understand at Christmas time it's a time for people to go to church maybe with family and friends. My desire is that there'd be no person listening to my words today, who would be in a lost, dying state. All you have to do is hear all of this truth that you've been listening to of who Jesus is, of why He came. Of what He did at the cross and of how God raised him from the dead, and understand it is by simple faith in that story that you will be forgiven of your sins. There is no reason for anyone in this room to end up perishing eternally. To be terrified when that army does invade and punishes the rebels who never would yield to God and to Christ. There's no reason for that. All you need to do is cross over from death to life is simply listen and hear like, "Hark, the herald angels sing." What are they singing? "Glory to the newborn King." See this incarnate deity laying there. See in that, your own salvation. If you are already a Christian, I want to wish you all a wonderful merry Christmas. You're going to enjoy time with your family tomorrow, but as you do so, let's bring Christ right into the center of that time. I don't know what your traditions are, what your habits are, but in our family, we love to read scripture as part of our celebration, to talk about the actual facts of the birth of Christ, of the gospel. Choose some Scripture and read it together with the people that you're with. Make Christ the center of your celebration. Close with me now in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time of year in which we get to focus on a vital detail of our Christian faith, and that is the incarnation of Christ, the giving of the God man, the birth of Jesus as the savior of the world. We needed Christ. It was a rescue mission. As the angel said to Joseph, "You'll give him the name Jesus, because he will save His people from their sins." Lord, we need that. We thank you. I pray, oh Lord, that you would be working deeply in the hearts of people who hear this message that they would believe and trust and follow you. And for all of us who years ago did, Lord pray that you'd renew our faith and help us to celebrate as the angels did In Jesus' name, Amen.

What Dwells Beyond Our Realm Part 2

Think About It

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2023 9:05

✅ SAVE $200 On Our best-selling 3-Month Emergency Food Kit when you go to my special web site http://www.preparewiththinkaboutit.com

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Flying Dragons, Fallen Seraphs and Talking Snakes

Two-age Sojourner

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2023 68:00

Two-age Sojourner is hosted by Michael Beck, the pastor of Gracenet Community Church, Wellington, New Zealand (www.gracenet.co.nz). Each week (well, most weeks), Mike is joined on his pilgrimage by three co-hosts. Nick Clevely is the pastor of Covenant Grace Baptist Church in Timaru, New Zealand (www.covenantgracebaptist.church). André Beck (yes, he's Mike's brother), is pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church in Felixstowe, UK (www.bethesdafelixstowe.com). Music on this podcast was written by Jeremy Casella and performed by Indelible Grace. You can listen to more from Indelible Grace and Jeremy Casella by searching on Spotify or Apple Music." For more info, check out www.twoagesojourner.com. Mike's new book "Covenant Lord and Cultic Boundary: Meredith Kline and the Reformed Two-Kingdom Project" can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Lord-Cultic-Boundary-Two-Kingdom-ebook/dp/B0BV9KN5XT?ref_=ast_author_mpb

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Worship Feb 5

Worship from Seal Church

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2023 20:00

Join us for worship from Seal Church. A copy of the service sheet can be found on the church website. www.sealpeterandpaul.com Preacher: Canon Anne Le Bas Image: Isaiah the prophet predicts the return of the Jews from exile, by Maarten van Heemskerck https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Maarten_van_Heemskerck_-_Prophet_Isaiah_predicts_the_return_of_the_Jews_from_exile_1560-1565_FHM01_OS-I-173.jpg Today's hymn sung by St Martins in the Fields is: Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones 1 Ye watchers and ye holy ones, bright Seraphs, Cherubim and Thrones, raise the glad strain, Alleluia. Cry out, Dominions, Princedoms, Powers, Virtues, Archangels, Angels' choirs, Alleluia. 2 O higher than the Cherubim, more glorious than the Seraphim, lead their praises, Alleluia. Thou Bearer of the eternal Word, most gracious, magnify the Lord. Alleluia. 3 Respond, ye souls in endless rest, ye Patriarchs and Prophets blest, Alleluia, alleluia. Ye holy Twelve, ye Martyrs strong, all Saints triumphant, raise the song Alleluia. 4 O friends, in gladness let us sing, supernal anthems echoing, Alleluia, alleluia. To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Three in One, Alleluia. Athelstan Riley (1858-1945) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anne-le-bas/message

HGP #88: Seraphs, TWABs, and Horizons Oh My!

Hidden Guardians Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2023 85:31

Here we go: the penultimate week for Season of the Seraph gets a review, we chat about the first Bungie Weekly Update of 2023, Horizon Forbidden West is discussed again, plus there are an assortment of tangents we break off into. As an added bonus the audio isn't the best quality & we could not fix it in post. Sorry about that. Hopefully you still get something out of this & enjoy!

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Overtime

Branching Out Sports

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2022 68:45

St. Bonaventure High's football team won the Marmonte League championship by crushing Oaks Christian 40-28 in the regular-season finale on Oct. 27. St. Bonaventure stars Leilani Armenta, Joaquin “Juice” Johnson and Delon Thompson, along with head coach Joe Goyeneche, talk about the rivalry romp, the Seraphs' chemistry and the upcoming CIF-Southern Section playoffs. Sports editor Eliav Appelbaum and producer David Lopez later delve into the postseason football fiasco.Find us on Twitter The Acorn SportsEliav AppelbaumDavid Lopez

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Rock Invasion 6x04

Rock Invasion

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 9, 2022 115:49

Programa emitido el 9 de octubre de 2022 en www.rockinvasionradio.com Playlist: Shalom – Noches Mythosphere – King’s Call to Arms Witchfinder General – Free Country Trauma – Death of the Angel Worm – Shadowside Kingdom Fall of Seraphs – Psychotic Troubled Senses Cruz – Infamia Insular Ancst – Heerbann Calyx – Los negros vapores de la bilis Gomorra – War of Control Coven 6669 – Burn the Cross Skelator – Good Day to Die Heavy Load – Might for Right Iron Kingdom – In the Grip Of Nightmares The Rods – Waiting for Tomorrow

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Trying is the First Step Towards Failure

Grim Dystopian

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2022 89:57

S7E178: Trying is the First Step Towards Failure - Oz's birthday show recap, (non)hygienic dating, weird facts, wasted time, other random babblings, and heavy metal for your filthy earballs! *Available on your favorite streaming service* Special Thanks to: Komrads, SONG: Pocket Full of Knife Apparition, SONG: Soul Secretion Theotoxin, SONG: World, Burn for Us Vacuous, SONG: Body of Punishment Grandma's Pantry: Meshigane Corpse, SONG: Cigarettes Unmerciful, SONG: The Incineration Falls of Seraphs, SONG: The Eradication Dogma Exordium Mors, SONG: A Pyrrhic Sacrament Beyond the Catacombs, SONG: Terminate the Process Severed Boy, SONG: Sparse Forest of Memories Morbific, SONG: Bind- Torture- Snuff Body Void, SONG: Erased

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David Chalmers on seraphs, rephotograph, and logogram

Lexman Artificial

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2022 4:02

David Chalmers discusses seraphs, rephotograph, and logogram.

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MY ENCOUNTER IN HEAVEN -THE SERAPHS! || DR. OBED- THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANGELS PT 2

Christ Cosmopolitan Incorporated

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2022 32:48

Who are the Seraphs? What are the categories of the Seraphs? Is the blood of Christ the only means by which God purges? Dr. Obed takes you on this adventure into the heavenly realm as he open’s up the hierarchy of the angels and its effect on the believer. You will be enlightened as you […] The post MY ENCOUNTER IN HEAVEN -THE SERAPHS! || DR. OBED- THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANGELS PT 2 first appeared on Christ Cosmopolitan Incorporated.

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Let Down Your Nets - Sermon

Harvard-Epworth Church

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2022 19:19

Sermon by Rev. Mitch Hay and Rev. Barb Lemmel Hebrew Scripture Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!' Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.' Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!' Gospel Lesson Luke 5:1-11 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.' Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!' For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.' When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

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Ancient Flying Serpent Seraphs and You: A Primer

Solomon's Bookcase

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2021 20:41

Angels are often portrayed as messengers, yet the prophet Isaiah describes a very different type of "angelic" encounter with 6-winged flying creatures bathing in smoke. Isaiah doesn't even seem that surprised to see them - perhaps there's a reason for that? Oh, and we'll talk about the Angel of Death. Not his real name, but he's kind of a big deal. Books: 1. "Sarapu." In The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1962. Pgs. 102-5. 2. John Walton. "Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel." In Windows to the Ancient World of the Hebrew Bible. Bill Arnold, Nancy Erickson, and John Walton, eds. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2014. Pgs. 229-45. 3. T.N.D. Mettinger. "Seraphim." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter van Horst, eds. Leiden: Brill, 1999. Pgs. 742-4. Music: Clip from The Ten Commandments. Paramount Pictures, 1956. Clip from Evan Almighty. Universal Pictures, 2007. Alexander Nakarada. "Vopna." Creative Commons license. www.serpentsoundstudios.com Artwork: Seraphim, from the Hagia Sofia, Istanbul. Unknown date and artist.

May Catholics Read Horror Literature? (Dr. David Pinault)

The Catholic Current

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2021 52:15

Today we explore if Catholics should read horror literature with author Dr. David Pinault. We also discuss his unique new book entitled, Providence Blue from Ignatius Press. Providence Blue Catholicism meets H. P. Lovecraft Museum of Seraphs in Torment

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Listener Mail: Seraphs Sob at Vermin Fangs

Stuff To Blow Your Mind

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2021 28:39

Once more, it's time for a weekly dose of Stuff to Blow Your Mind and Weirdhouse Cinema listener mail... Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

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Angels Pt. 2 - Seraphim

5TH KIND PODCAST

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021 33:12

Today's teaching is brought to you today free. This will be a lesson contained within a course I am working on. The topic of today's podcast is about the Seraphim. The seraphim are mentioned in Isaiah 6:1-7. In today's podcast, we are going to look at the following: 1. How are they made2. Where do they reside?3. What is their function to man?If you like these series, please feel free to support me by giving at Venmo. You can find me at the handle: ENOCH-TLIf you have been touched by these series and would like to let me know, feel free to email me at enochtransformationalliving@gmail.comMy website is www.enochtransformaitonalliving.com I offer health and spiritual coaching, so if you would like to learn how to live like an Eagle, being able to soar above the fray, feel free to reach out to me at the email above. I would love to work with you on your journey.

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A New Birth Is The Only Way Into God’s Kingdom

Rock of Ages

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2021 17:04

John 3:1-17 ● 2021-05-30 ● Trinity Sunday ● Print ● Listen ● (no video) That was an amazing picture that we read earlier in Isaiah, wasn't it? Isaiah saw the throne room of God. Seraphs, fiery angels, were covering their eyes and covering their feet as they flew above his throne. They were calling to … A New Birth Is The Only Way Into God's Kingdom Read More »

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A New Birth Is The Only Way Into God’s Kingdom

Rock of Ages

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2021 17:04

god kingdom new birth seraphs

The 1st Reading for Holy Trinity Sunday (Isaiah 6:1-8)

The Treadweary Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2021 9:23

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory.”The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of thy Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee, that thou wouldst keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

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Isaiah 6:1-8 l Steve Deur, Drew Deur & Amelia Marciniak

Bible Reading Plan Podcast by VictoryPoint

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2021 17:15

Today, Steve Deur, Drew Deur and Amelia Marciniak read and reflect on Isaiah 6:1-8. For the full VP Bible Reading Plan, head to https://victorypoint.org/next-steps/bible-reading-plan. For more on the context of today's passage go to https://bibleproject.com/explore/book-overviews. To find out more about VictoryPoint Church go to victorypoint.org. If you have comments on this episode or podcast send us an email at info@victorypoint.org. And be sure to subscribe to this podcast! Here's the full text from today's scripture: 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biblereadingplanvp/message

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Angels - part 3 (conclusion)

god jesus christ bible truth angels valley fellowship conclusion fountain calvary beings angelic archangels living creatures cherubs angelic beings steve ford seraphs

Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2021 24:48

In this concluding discussion on Angelic Beings, Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford discuss the 4 Living Creatures and their reverent worship of God. Support the show (https://www.calvaryfountain.com/give)

Angels - part 2

god jesus christ bible truth angels valley fellowship demons fountain calvary beings angelic archangels living creatures cherubs angelic beings steve ford seraphs

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 24:49

Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford discuss Angelic Beings including: Angels, Demons, Archangels, Seraphs, Cherubs, and both groups of 4 Living Creatures.Support the show (https://www.calvaryfountain.com/give)

Angels

This is a Pinback Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2021 26:14

Pastor John Bornschein and Dr. Steve Ford discuss the subject of Angels from a Biblical perspective. Support the show (https://www.calvaryfountain.com/give)

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Autumn of the Seraphs

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2021 154:22

Brian and Ben talk about Pinback's fourth full-length album, Autumn of the Seraphs. We learn what a Seraph is, about the time a dude took a flight on a lawn chair, and the mysteries of finding inner peace. Give a listen why not? Intro: 0:00From Nothing to Nowhere: 21:59Barnes: 39:08Good to Sea: 54:48How We Breathe: 1:07:35Walters: 1:17:06Subbing for Eden: 1:28:02Devil you Know: 1:37:57Blue Harvest: 1:47:37Torch: 1:55:12Bouquet: 2:02:23Off by 50: 2:11:23Outro: 2:20:30Talk to Us!pinbackpod@aol.comInstagram: @pinbackpodTwitter: @pinbackpod

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The King and the Prophet -- Haftorah Parshas Yisro

Parsha Treasures

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2021 18:22

בִּשְׁנַת־מוֹת֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ עֻזִּיָּ֔הוּ וָאֶרְאֶ֧ה אֶת־אֲדֹנָ֛י יֹשֵׁ֥ב עַל־כִּסֵּ֖א רָ֣ם וְנִשָּׂ֑א וְשׁוּלָ֖יו מְלֵאִ֥ים אֶת־הַהֵיכָֽל׃ In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple. שְׂרָפִ֨ים עֹמְדִ֤ים ׀ מִמַּ֙עַל֙ ל֔וֹ שֵׁ֧שׁ כְּנָפַ֛יִם שֵׁ֥שׁ כְּנָפַ֖יִם לְאֶחָ֑ד בִּשְׁתַּ֣יִם ׀ יְכַסֶּ֣ה פָנָ֗יו וּבִשְׁתַּ֛יִם יְכַסֶּ֥ה רַגְלָ֖יו וּבִשְׁתַּ֥יִם יְעוֹפֵֽף׃ Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly. וְקָרָ֨א זֶ֤ה אֶל־זֶה֙ וְאָמַ֔ר קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת מְלֹ֥א כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃ And one would call to the other, “Holy, holy, holy! The LORD of Hosts! His presence fills all the earth!” וַיָּנֻ֙עוּ֙ אַמּ֣וֹת הַסִּפִּ֔ים מִקּ֖וֹל הַקּוֹרֵ֑א וְהַבַּ֖יִת יִמָּלֵ֥א עָשָֽׁן׃ The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the House kept filling with smoke. וָאֹמַ֞ר אֽוֹי־לִ֣י כִֽי־נִדְמֵ֗יתִי כִּ֣י אִ֤ישׁ טְמֵֽא־שְׂפָתַ֙יִם֙ אָנֹ֔כִי וּבְתוֹךְ֙ עַם־טְמֵ֣א שְׂפָתַ֔יִם אָנֹכִ֖י יוֹשֵׁ֑ב כִּ֗י אֶת־הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת רָא֥וּ עֵינָֽי׃ I cried, “Woe is me; I am lost! For I am a man of unclean lips And I live among a people Of unclean lips; Yet my own eyes have beheld The King LORD of Hosts.” וַיָּ֣עָף אֵלַ֗י אֶחָד֙ מִן־הַשְּׂרָפִ֔ים וּבְיָד֖וֹ רִצְפָּ֑ה בְּמֶ֨לְקַחַ֔יִם לָקַ֖ח מֵעַ֥ל הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃ Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. וַיַּגַּ֣ע עַל־פִּ֔י וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הִנֵּ֛ה נָגַ֥ע זֶ֖ה עַל־שְׂפָתֶ֑יךָ וְסָ֣ר עֲוֺנֶ֔ךָ וְחַטָּאתְךָ֖ תְּכֻפָּֽר׃ He touched it to my lips and declared, “Now that this has touched your lips, Your guilt shall depart And your sin be purged away.” וָאֶשְׁמַ֞ע אֶת־ק֤וֹל אֲדֹנָי֙ אֹמֵ֔ר אֶת־מִ֥י אֶשְׁלַ֖ח וּמִ֣י יֵֽלֶךְ־לָ֑נוּ וָאֹמַ֖ר הִנְנִ֥י שְׁלָחֵֽנִי׃ Then I heard the voice of my Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me.” וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לֵ֥ךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֑ה שִׁמְע֤וּ שָׁמ֙וֹעַ֙ וְאַל־תָּבִ֔ינוּ וּרְא֥וּ רָא֖וֹ וְאַל־תֵּדָֽעוּ׃ And He said, “Go, say to that people: ‘Hear, indeed, but do not understand; See, indeed, but do not grasp.' הַשְׁמֵן֙ לֵב־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה וְאָזְנָ֥יו הַכְבֵּ֖ד וְעֵינָ֣יו הָשַׁ֑ע פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֨ה בְעֵינָ֜יו וּבְאָזְנָ֣יו יִשְׁמָ֗ע וּלְבָב֥וֹ יָבִ֛ין וָשָׁ֖ב וְרָ֥פָא לֽוֹ׃ Dull that people's mind, Stop its ears, And seal its eyes— Lest, seeing with its eyes And hearing with its ears, It also grasp with its mind, And repent and save itself.” וָאֹמַ֕ר עַד־מָתַ֖י אֲדֹנָ֑י וַיֹּ֡אמֶר עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר֩ אִם־שָׁא֨וּ עָרִ֜ים מֵאֵ֣ין יוֹשֵׁ֗ב וּבָתִּים֙ מֵאֵ֣ין אָדָ֔ם וְהָאֲדָמָ֖ה תִּשָּׁאֶ֥ה שְׁמָמָֽה׃ I asked, “How long, my Lord?” And He replied: “Till towns lie waste without inhabitants And houses without people, And the ground lies waste and desolate— וְרִחַ֥ק יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־הָאָדָ֑ם וְרַבָּ֥ה הָעֲזוּבָ֖ה בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ׃ For the LORD will banish the population— And deserted sites are many In the midst of the land. וְע֥וֹד בָּהּ֙ עֲשִׂ֣רִיָּ֔ה וְשָׁ֖בָה וְהָיְתָ֣ה לְבָעֵ֑ר כָּאֵלָ֣ה וְכָאַלּ֗וֹן אֲשֶׁ֤ר בְּשַׁלֶּ֙כֶת֙ מַצֶּ֣בֶת בָּ֔ם זֶ֥רַע קֹ֖דֶשׁ מַצַּבְתָּֽהּ׃ (פ) “But while a tenth part yet remains in it, it shall repent. It shall be ravaged like the terebinth and the oak, of which stumps are left even when they are felled: its stump shall be a holy seed.” 7 וַיְהִ֡י בִּימֵ֣י אָ֠חָז בֶּן־יוֹתָ֨ם בֶּן־עֻזִּיָּ֜הוּ מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֗ה עָלָ֣ה רְצִ֣ין מֶֽלֶךְ־אֲ֠רָם וּפֶ֨קַח בֶּן־רְמַלְיָ֤הוּ מֶֽלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עָלֶ֑יהָ וְלֹ֥א יָכֹ֖ל לְהִלָּחֵ֥ם עָלֶֽיהָ׃ In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel marched upon Jerusalem to attack it; but they were not able to attack it. וַיֻּגַּ֗ד לְבֵ֤ית דָּוִד֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר נָ֥חָֽה אֲרָ֖ם עַל־אֶפְרָ֑יִם...

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Episode 3: At Butt's Gate

Randime!

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2021 98:45

On this week's episode, Hideki's still a moron, Seraphs continue to end, Edo continues to have rockets and we continue to beg you to watch Appare-Ranman!!This week's shows:- Chobits episode 2- Appare-Ranman episode 3- Seraph of the End Episode 3- Oh! Edo Rocket Episode 3- Plus we look at the upcoming (at the time) anime of Winter 2021!Find us at:Rosen: http://linktr.ee/RosenThorneGomer: http://linktr.ee/Gomer21xxAstra: http://twitter.com/astranomicallOntarioku: http://twitter.com/ontariokuOur amazing editor Tazma: http://twitter.com/phantasmakiss

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S1E14: Spirits, Seraphs, and Satan, Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2020

In which we conclude 2020 with a warning not to chat with demons.

S1E14: Spirits, Seraphs, and Satan, Part 2

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2020 17:17

In which we conclude 2020 with a warning not to chat with demons.

S1E13: Spirits, Seraphs, and Satan, Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2020

In which I address some beloved but inaccurate beliefs about angels.

S1E13: Spirits, Seraphs, and Satan, Part 1

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2020 19:46

In which I address some beloved but inaccurate beliefs about angels.

36.2: "Unity," Humans, Seraphs, and Free Will (and our very last subtext episode!)

The Fangirl Business

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2020 48:47

*S15E17 SPOILERS BELOW*In this episode (the last one before the subtext became the text!), Chrisha and Catherine discuss the parallels between Adam and Seraphina and Dean and Cas and consider the implications of Chuck's revelations about Amara and Castiel from a shipping perspective.Supernatural audio clip credits: The CW

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S1E54 - Dr. Lance Plyler on Isaiah 6:1-7 – “Commissioned to Do God’s Work on Earth”

The Rabbi's Husband

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2020 27:41

Mark is delighted to welcome his good friend and humanitarian hero, Dr. Lance Plyler to today’s episode. As the Director of World Medical Missions for Samaritan’s Purse, Lance treats victims of war, typhoons, infectious diseases, almost anything, really, in places as diverse as, but definitely not limited to Haiti, Nepal, Liberia, and New York City. In Mark’s opinion, Lance is the star of Facing Darkness, a genuinely great documentary regarding Lance’s work in Liberia in 2014 that brilliantly demonstrates religious faith and love of God in action, and which Mark highly recommends for everyone to watch. The passage that Lance has selected to discuss is Isaiah 6:1-7. They begin their conversation by discussing both the movie and Lance’s work in Liberia before Lance shares his summary of today’s passage and its importance for him. They also engage in a fascinating discussion of their differing interpretations of one part of the passage, and Mark identifies another part that reminds him of Lance and his work. Lance shares his calling to do God’s work on Earth, the common feeling of being inadequate to do God’s work, his ability to overcome fear, and the lessons he has learned about mankind. As this episode makes crystal clear, Dr. Lance Plyler is a devout Christian medical missionary whose selfless work, at great physical risk to himself, brings today’s passage to vivid life. Episode Highlights: Facing Darkness and Lance’s story of his time in Liberia Lance’s summary of the passage and its importance for him Differing interpretations of the symbolism of the angels’ ability to fly The part of the passage which reminds Mark of Lance Lance’s calling to do God’s work on Earth Feeling inadequate to do God’s work Overcoming fear The lessons about mankind that Lance has learned Quotes: “God makes an appearance in the film.” “It was the hand of God…miracle after miracle after miracle.” “Basically it’s a commissioning of the prophet Isaiah to do the work for the…people of Israel.” “It’s a recognition of the holiness of God and our iniquity.” “If we want to be Godly, we do His work on Earth.” “He calls us to go forward into the loneliest places, the darkest places.” “Isaiah enthusiastically embraces the call.” “There’s great rationale, great reason, why we’re not qualified to do God’s work.” “Throughout the Bible, God uses the weak to do the mighty.” “True courage is stepping forward in the face of fear.” “My hope is in my faith.” Isaiah 6:1-7 In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple. Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly. And one would call to the other, “Holy, holy, holy! The LORD of Hosts! His presence fills all the earth!” The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the House kept filling with smoke. I cried, “Woe is me; I am lost! For I am a man of unclean lips And I live among a people Of unclean lips; Yet my own eyes have beheld The King LORD of Hosts.” Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched it to my lips and declared, “Now that this has touched your lips, Your guilt shall depart And your sin be purged away.” https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.6.1-7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Links: The Rabbi’s Husband homepage: http://therabbishusband.com/ Mark’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/markgerson?lang=en

Kill Temptation Before It Kills You (James Sermon 2) (Audio)

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2020

Introduction Well, it's exciting to be able to be with you a week later, as Andy said, to be at a higher level. Grateful to be way up here with you folks, and to be able to share how exciting it is what God is doing in our church. And I'd like to ask that you turn in your Bibles to James 1 as we continue our study in the Book of James. And this morning we're going to be looking at the deadly power of temptation. And one of the things, a healthy church, a good church will do with its members is equip each member for spiritual warfare. And so, you've come this morning we hope to an armory of truth, that you have instruction in the Word of God to put on spiritual armor, that you are equipped to fight, and fight you must. All of us are going to be assaulted this week by the world, the flesh and the devil. It's inevitable, it will come. And the best thing that I can do this morning is to equip you to fight. Sirens and Sin In Greek mythology there were creatures named sirens, they were half-bird, half-woman. They lived near rocky shoals, and cliffs of islands, and they had the deadly skill of singing so enticingly and so alluringly that they could lure sailors to sail their ships too close to the rocky shoals because they were drawn in by the beauty of the music, and so they would dash themselves and their ships to pieces. In Homer's Odyssey, the hero Odysseus had heard about this alluring siren song and wanted to hear it so much, but didn't want to endanger his ship, so he commanded his men to lash himself to the mast and then that each of his sailors would fill their ear with wax, so that they wouldn't themselves be enticed, and in this way, he hoped to hear the song of the sirens. Now, this intoxicating pull toward shipwreck is an illustration from myth and legend of an actual spiritual danger that each one of us faces as Christians in this world, the danger of temptation. We walk every single day on a path surrounded by various siren songs. Satan has crafted a world system and assaults us with the temptations of the world and his own crafty temptations. And then we have the enemy within, our own lust, which the text is going to focus on, which responds to those alluring songs. Taking Responsibility for Our Sin Now it is human nature for all of us to blame others for our sins. That we're going to blame others to escape taking responsibility for our sins, looking for a scapegoat, a fall guy. This is obviously so unjust, and it's corrupt, and it's weak on our part. But worst of all, worse than blaming other people is to blame God for our temptations and for our sins. And this happened from the very beginning, the first sin that Adam fell into, when he ate from the forbidden tree, he ate fruit from the forbidden tree. The first sin that happened after that was a sin of blame shifting. You remember how God confronted him and said, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from it?" And in Genesis 3:12, he said, "The woman you put here with me, she gave me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate it." So that is terrible. At that point he's blaming not only Eve for his sin, the woman for the sin, but he is ultimately blaming God for his own sin. We are world-class excuse-makers for our own corruptions. Like a thief blaming his economic situations for his thieving, or a serial rapist blaming his abusive father for his career in crime. But it's even worse when we do it to God. The Book of Proverbs makes this tendency clear in Proverbs 19:3. Proverbs 19:3 says, "A man's folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord." Isn't that a powerful proverb? We do damage to our own lives and then we turn around and blame God for it. We're constantly surrounded by the forces that are pulling on our bodies. Physical forces like the force of gravity that's pulling us down or force of moving objects that smash into us, or deflect us from our course, or the force of atmospheric pressure, 14.7 pounds per square inch, pushing on us at every moment. But the force of temptation pulling us toward evil and toward death is the most significant spiritual force that we have to combat in our journey of salvation. It's like a magnetic pull that lures us to our deaths, and as we come to James 1:13-18, James is helping us to understand the true origin of our temptations, and it's not coming from the pure heart of God. And it's coming from within ourselves. God wants us to take responsibility for our own temptations, and to kill them before they kill us. And He does this by teaching us the true nature of temptation. I. God Never Tempts Us Tested vs. Tempted So as we look at our outline this morning, the first point is going to be this: God never tempts us. Verse 13, "When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone." So we come immediately here in verse 13, in the Greek language, to a difficult word, and an issue between being tested and being tempted. What's amazing is the Greek word is the same. So you have to look at the context. We were just told in verse 2 of chapter 1, that we “face trials of many kinds.” That is the same Greek word. And then verse 12 uses it again. God actually does in fact test us. And He does try us, He puts us through trying circumstances. Now, the testing of our faith, we're told, develops perseverance. It purifies our faith, it strengthens us, makes us more purely devoted to God. Temptations however are something else altogether, and we have to make a distinction. A temptation is, as I've been saying, a magnetic attraction toward evil, a pulling toward wickedness. There are many examples of temptation in the Bible. We think about Joseph and Potiphar's wife, how day after day, she sought to persuade him to have sex with her, day after day to allure him, even grabbing him by the garment at one point. Or we have in Proverbs chapter 7, it seems like Solomon is looking down into the streets of the city and sees a young man through the lattice, a young man he says lacking sense, not aware of what war zone he's about to walk into. And then there's this alluring seductress who comes out crafty and with deceitful intent, and she's dressed, and she's enticing and she begins to talk to him. The whole thing is laid out for us in Proverbs 7. She says, "My husband has taken a big bag of money, he's going to be gone until the new moon. It's going to be a long time, and I've fulfilled my vows to God today." Meaning, “I have some meat that I can offer, the very thing that you want.” And so, she persuades him, and she allures him. It says in Proverbs 7:21, "With persuasive words she led him astray and she seduced him with her smooth talk." And the book says, "All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life." So that's just a whole case study of seduction, a case study of alluring. You have the same thing in Proverbs 1, with a different sin, where highway robbers are enticing this man's son and saying, "Hey come on, join us in laying wait for someone and we'll share a common purse." It's a different kind of seduction, but the same kind of thing. So we have all of these examples of alluring and temptation that happens, but the text says, "Don't ever say God is doing that to me." God is no seductress, He doesn't seduce us toward evil, He doesn't allure us toward wickedness. He never does this. God definitely tests us, like He tested Abraham to see the strength of his faith and to develop his faith. And he orchestrates circumstances to test us, that is true. But He never seduces us toward the thing that He hates with a perfect hatred. The Perfect Purity of God Look at verse 13, it says, "God cannot be tempted by evil." The basic nature of evil is as far from the perfect purity of Almighty God as we can imagine. It's as far as the east is from the west. It's as far as one end of the universe is from the other. Cosmologists tell us 47 billion light years across. God is further from wickedness and evil than that. It says in Habakkuk 1:13, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong." Even better for our purposes, 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." It's a double negative in the Greek. There's not the tiniest particle of evil in God, ever. He is not divided within His nature, He is one, perfectly one. He is perfectly light all the time. But us, we are deeply divided. To the core of God's being, He is light. And in the core of His being, there is no darkness at all. It's an interesting expression in Isaiah 1:14, where God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah and He's talking about the machinery of corrupt religion going on in Israel at the time. And this is what He says. It's a very interesting expression. He says, "Your appointed feast my soul hates." It's a very interesting expression, the soul of God. Well, God doesn't have a soul anymore than He has a hand, or eyes, or feet. These are what theologians call anthropomorphism, but they help us to understand the nature of God and when He says, "My soul hates it," it means to the core of my being, I hate evil and wickedness. The holiness of God may be the single most important attribute for us in our sinfulness to understand. The Holiness of God We have the account of the call of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 6, where it says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple, and above Him there were Seraphs, each with six wings, and with two wings they covered their faces. And with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying." One theologian said, "Notice that four of the six wings of the six-winged Seraph are given toward some acknowledgement of the holiness of God." And these are beings that have never sinned, they've never rebelled, they're perfectly holy themselves, separate from evil, but they still have a sense of the intense holiness of God. It is the most important attribute because they cry aloud to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory!" It is the only attribute of God which is said three times, “holy, holy, holy.” God is perfectly separated from evil. It is the essence then, of the saving work He does in us to get us to be holy because He is holy. God Never Tempts Anyone And therefore, verse 13 says, "God is untemptable by evil." There is nothing inside God that is attracted to wickedness or darkness at all. Nor does He tempt anyone. Evil has no allure from God, doesn't pull on His heartstrings. He's not attracted to it. Therefore He's not singing some siren song to get us to divert from His path of righteousness, and disobey His commands, that just doesn't come from God ever. Now you may ask, thoughtful among you are probably already thinking about this, "What about the Lord's Prayer? Remember how we're told to pray, "Lead us O Lord, not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." So you prayed that for years, you never knew there was a problem with that verse, did you? You're like wait a minute now, "If God never tempts us toward evil, then why do we have to ask Him to not lead us into temptation?" But here's the thing, in prayer, we're not rolling out something that we have no idea what God thinks about it. Prayers are always biblically informed, and so, we could pray with the Psalmists, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever.” “Not sure whether it will or not, but may it happen. Hope it does.” Friends, that's not how prayer works. So we learn instead, God hates evil, "May you O Lord, continue to hate it as you will, and continue to lead me in such a way that I am not tempted." But really in the end it comes back to us, doesn't it? It teaches us, it reminds us of the holiness of God. It reminds us of our own susceptibility to temptation, like this text is teaching, and oh God, that we would not lead ourselves into temptation, put ourselves in tempting situations or walk like we're blockheads and have no idea what's going on and find ourselves trapped when we shouldn't be. That's the way I understand, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." God Allows Satan’s Temptations Now, the evil one, Satan, God does permit him to tempt us and he does tempt us. However, we've already learned from 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, “He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but with the temptation, He will make a way of escape so that we can stand up under it.” Look, oh dear friends, look for that way of escape every time. Say, "Oh God, allow me to stand firm in this hour of temptation. I don't want to cave in." II. The True Origin of Temptation: Our Lusts Now, the second outline point is the true origin of temptation is our own lust. Look at verse 14, "Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, or lust, he is dragged away and enticed." So our temptations come from our own lust, our own evil desires. Now we were made in the image of God to be filled with desires. It is a good thing to have desire, it's a defective thing to have no desire in life at all. And so, we were made to have desires, not even weak desires, passionate desires. God is a God that's filled with passionate desires. Now, given our physical nature we are going to have normal physical desires, but what sin does, is it corrupts the normal desires and pushes them beyond boundaries that God has set up. So that desire becomes lust, and that's the origin of our temptation. Our Temptations Come from Our Own Evil Desires So we have a desire for food. There's nothing wrong with that, there's everything right with that. But then the sin nature, the flesh, pushes it beyond boundaries into gluttony. We have the desire for rest, we need rest. The sleep of a laborer is pleasant to his soul and God gives sleep to those that He loves. This is a good gift, but the flesh pushes it beyond normal boundaries, so that we become the sluggard, “and like the door on its hinges, we turn on our beds.” I love the Proverbs about the sluggard. What an interesting individual the sluggard is, but here's an individual who is intoxicated by sleep. He just can't get enough. Then there's the desire for marital relations, it's normal, God put it in all normal men and women to have sexual relations within covenant marriage. That's normal. But the sin nature of the flesh pushes that into forbidden territories, and that becomes sexual lust, and it corrupts us. Now all of us have to deal with the enemy within. And Romans Chapter 7, in the second half of that chapter, Paul unfolds the battle that all of us are going to have the rest of our lives. We have an enemy within. And Paul says in Romans 7, in verse 15, "I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." He then says, "As it is, it's no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me that is so repulsive." Like you've got this disgusting virus or parasite, worse than any parasite living inside us. Paul says, "I know that nothing good lives in me, [that is, in my flesh] for I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do, this is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Well, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, someday dear friends, we are going to be delivered from this body of death. In Heaven, we will not have any struggle with lust, it will be done. And you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. If you're a genuine Christian, if you're genuinely born again, you're yearning for that day when you will never sin again. And it will come, you'll be released. If you should die before the Second Coming of Christ, you'll be among those that are absent from the body, present with the Lord, and it says in Hebrews that you will be the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and you'll never have an evil thought again or evil desire, you'll be completely conformed to Jesus Christ. But in the meantime, while you are in this body, in this present world, you must fight and you must seek the deliverance that only God can give. And so it says, "So then I myself in my mind am a slave to the law of God but in my flesh a slave to the law of sin." So this is sin living in us. Dragged Away and Enticed by Lust Now, James describes it forcefully. “Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, his own lust, he is...” The translation I have here is, “dragged away and enticed.” I find that an interesting kind of reversal, so let's just reverse it, “enticed and dragged away.” And these are two very forceful words. You get a sense here of a baited hook, almost like we are fish. We are fish and there's a lure, there's the bait, there's an enticement, some kind of pleasure, something that fits your nature, your flesh, and it's enticing. It's a lure. There is a magnetism, there's a gravitational pull toward it, it attracts the eye, it attracts the heart. You begin to ponder the bait, you begin to play with the bait a little bit, nibble at it, lick it I guess. I don't know what the fish do. What do they do? But something has caught the fish's attention and it's pulling on it a little bit. In my entire life, I've caught one fish. Alright, so I don't know what I'm talking about, at any rate. But they're playing with the bait and so, they're enticed and then dragged away. So you get part two is the bait is in the mouth of the fish and the angler, the fisherman knows it and is able to hook the fish with a jerk, and the fish is now hooked and dragged where the fish doesn't want to go. So these are the images that we have. These Lusts Wage War on Your Soul So, I have so many images that have been in my mind for years of this pull toward evil. This past year, there was a free solo rock climber named Alex Honnold that climbed without any equipment up the face of the El Capitan, the Half Dome. Crazy person, crazy person. But there is every single moment, every fingerhold, all that gravity is pulling on him toward his own death. Every single one. Or you think about salmon swimming upstream. Some of those salmon swim 900-1000 miles, and they're going against the whitewater, against the raging current of the mountain rivers that they're going, they're jumping falls the wrong way. And so all the force of the water, all the force of the gravity is against the journey they're trying to make. Our journey's harder than that, friends. Harder. I was converted in October of 1982. So began the war on my soul. I'm still a Christian, but only by the grace of God. My soul has been assaulted every day of my Christian life by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And here I stand, but I stand very humble, aware that if the Lord had given me over to my lusts and my temptations I would have been gone a long time ago, and so would you. And you're going to get saved, in the end God's going to win. Praise God, He's going to win over you, and He's going to get you there, and when you get to Heaven, you'll realize how much He saved you. And to God be the glory. That's what's going on. So these lusts, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:12 that they,“wage war against your soul.” The best thing I can do as a pastor, the best thing we can do as brothers and sisters in the church is help you fight that battle. III. The True Destination of Temptation: Death Lusts Get Stronger the More You Indulge in Them So we come to the third outline point, and that is the true destination of temptation is death. Look at verses 15 and 16, "Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers." So, the lusts get stronger the more you indulge them. If you yield to a lust today, it will come back stronger tomorrow. This is the way it is. Conversely, if you fight, if you kill the lust today, it will come back but weaker. And this is how we fight. It'll never be totally gone. You'll never be totally free from any categorical lust while you live in this world, you'll never be able to say, "I will never sin in that way again," while you live. You can't say that. You got to be vigilant all the time. “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” But the ultimate end of all this, the true destination is death. Likened to Childbirth and Child Development Now James likens it to the process of childbirth and child development. He says that desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and then he speaks of sin becoming fully grown. So it's like you're watching it grow up and develop. It's completed, it's fully developed, so it's continuing on. And so, sin has an intentionality. Sin is frequently in a number of places in the New Testament, personified. Like, “sin deceived me and through the commandment put me to death,” it says in Romans. So, sin has an intelligence, it's given a personification. Alright, so sin has a plan for you, and that is, to assassinate your soul. Sin wants to take you to Hell, it wants to destroy your life in this world and then destroy your soul in eternity. That's why John Owen said, "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." The Deceitfulness of Sin And so we must see in verse 16 the deceitfulness of all this. “Don't be deceived, dear brothers. You have to be aware of what's happening to you. Don't allow yourself to be lied to, don't be deceived. Sin lies to us, it promises us pleasure, but it is secretly poisoning us, little by little poisoning us. It's deceiving us.” Hebrews 3:13 says that we should, “encourage one another daily so that none of us may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” That's powerful, isn't it? Hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Sin doesn't tell the truth about where we're going with all this. John Owen said this about sin, "Sin not only wants to be constantly acting, but if let alone, it will bring forth great, cursed, scandalous and soul-destroying sins. It always aims at the utmost. It's not trying to do a little thing in your soul, it's trying to take you the whole way, and in this way it doesn't tell you the truth, it deceives you. The Final Destination of Such a Life is Hell So I think about what the Nazis did in World War II to get the people to quietly file onto the trains that would take them to their death. They were told that they were being transported to Relocation Camps. They're using this kind of language and they were told, and this comes out very plainly in the movie, Schindler's List, they were told to take all of your luggage and carefully label it and stack it up neatly on the platform, and it would be transported to their final destination. It's a very eerie scene in that movie where the people begin their journey to what we know is the death camps: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, somewhere. Off they go. And then after they're gone, then a bunch of workers come in and grab the luggage and throw it in a warehouse, and they start opening up and dumping the contents and organizing them to see if there's any valuables. We know as the movie watchers, they'll never see their stuff again, they're going to die, we know it. Well, sin is like that. It uses complacent language about what's happening, you minimize it. You use different adjectives, different words to describe it, and you minimize it. It's not a big deal. And this is very much the hardening of sin's deceitfulness. So, your heart, you didn't even know that your heart is getting harder toward God, toward Christ, toward Bible reading, toward prayer, toward fellowship, you don't want to do it as much, it's not as enjoyable to you. You pray shorter, you are tempted to forsake the assembling of yourself together with other Christians, there's a hardening. The opposite is a softening, which has to do with a yieldedness toward God, you're yielding to what the indwelling Spirit is telling you to do, that the prompting of the Spirit finds submission in you. You're not stiff-necked, like the Jews were said of old, to be stiff-necked, which is to rebel. Instead, you're soft and yielded, but sin does the opposite, it makes you stiff-necked, it makes you hard-hearted. That's the deceitfulness. And the final destination of this is death. Now, we should not misunderstand and think we're just talking about physical death. We understand biblically that there is something called the second death. There is physical death, and we're all going to die. If the Lord doesn't return in our lifetime, we will die physically, that's true. But this is talking about that but much more than that. We must not be deceived. Verse 16 mentioned self-deception, "Do not be deceived, my brothers." Verse 22 of the same chapter, he says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." And then verse 26 of the same chapter, three times in one short section, the problem of deception, of being deceived. He says, "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." So this is just the whole project of the Book of James, is to get you to understand what kind of faith saves you and what life comes from that. And this is a life that fights temptation, it fights sin, you recognize what's happening. So, those of us that battle, let's say sexual immorality, Jesus was very, very plain with this about lust. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.” Then he says, "If your right hand causes you to sin, then cut it off and throw it away, it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Hell." So that's what we're talking about. Hell is the second death, that's where temptation will take us. We Need These Warnings So the Bible doesn't shrink back from warning us about where we're headed and what lust and sin leads to. And part of the way that the Bible does this is by giving us sober-minded warnings like this text, that's what this is, it's a sober-minded warning. And some people wrestle theologically, "I don't understand, Pastor. I thought once saved, always saved. I thought I was secure." All these kind of things and they have a hard time reading warnings, but you need to understand the warnings are essential to the salvation process of the unglorified elect, the unglorified saved elect. We're still in a war zone, and the warnings do what they need to do to the souls of those who are elect that are chosen that will, in the end, make it through. We heed the warnings. Who takes the warnings seriously? We do. So, if you are elect, if you're genuinely converted, you'll read James 1:13-18 and take it seriously. And you'll say, "I've got to be killing these lusts, I've got to be killing sin or sin will be killing me." IV. God’s Good and Perfect Gifts God is Not an Alluring Siren Alright, outline point four is, Instead look at God's good gifts and His perfect gifts. So God's not trying to destroy you, God's trying to save you. He's not trying to give you death, He's trying to give you life, that's who God is. And so these are some of the most beautiful verses you'll ever find on the generosity and the love of God. Look at verse 17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights who does not change, like shifting shadows." So God's not an alluring siren, enticing you to your own destruction, not at all. Jesus the Good Shepherd said, "The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly." So this text says about the same thing. God's perfect nature, God is the Father of the lights. So, good gifts come down, so you have this, your eyes are lifted up, you look up at the heavens, and what do you see? You see the sun and you see the moon and the stars, which God created on the fourth day. He created the greater light to govern the day, the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. One of the great understatements in all of history. He also made the stars. And it says that He set them in the heavens to give light to the Earth. He's very Earth-centered. God’s Generosity So I know, I know about Nicholas Copernicus and he told us, "Guess what? The earth is not the center of the solar system, the sun is." The earth is not the physical center, but it is the spiritual center of everything, and He created the sun, and the moon, and the stars expressly to give light to the Earth. And when their time is done, they will be done. And in Heaven, in the new heaven, new earth He will give His own light directly, He will not delegate it anymore to the sun or the moon or the stars or any lamp, but He will illuminate Heaven with His own glory. That's the generosity and the love of God, He is very generous. I mean look at the sun. Sun is very generous, don't you think? I mean, it's been helping us out all this time. Day after day it gives us light, it gives us warmth, and it's doing just fine. It could keep going like this for a while. Cosmologists tell us that it could keep going at the present rate for another 5 billion years. So here, I'm going to bring in my eschatology and theology, I think we'll be all set by then, friends. We will have come to the end of this phase of history and gone on to eternity by then. So I think the sun is set up to run for a while and God sends down that light, He is the Father of the lights from Heaven, and He keeps them burning. And He keeps all of the stars with their twinkling light and He keeps the moon with its beautiful glow, the Harvest Moon, how beautiful is that? And God gives this generosity to us day after day. This is the nature of God's limitless love. He says, "I pray that you may grasp," Ephesians 3, "how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and that you would know that love that surpasses knowledge, that you would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Isn't that what you get out of verse 17? He's giving you gifts, He's giving you good gifts, and perfect gifts. And He never changes. He's immutable. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change like shifting shadows, James tells us. Malachi 3:6, "I the Lord do not change." Before the foundation of the world, He set His love on you, child of God. "I have loved you with an everlasting love," he says in Jeremiah 31:3. "Therefore I'm drawing you in loving kindness." He loves you. And so He says, "Every good gift comes down from above." What Are God’s Good Gifts? What are good gifts? I look on these as common grace blessings: Food, clothing, shelter, beautiful scenery, intelligence, talents, skills, opportunities, finances. These are good gifts, and He gives them to everybody, His enemies and His friends alike. “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” He just is so generous and He just lavishes generous gifts to everyone whether they thank Him or not. The non-Christians don't thank Him. But we can thank Him for these good gifts. But then there's the perfect gift, and what is the perfect gift? Well, the perfect gift is salvation. Look at verse 18. "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." So, verse 18, this is the perfect gift that comes from the unchanging God and that is that He wants to give you eternal life, He has given you eternal life, you're born again and He will protect that life until it's consummated in glory in Heaven. And verse 18 begins with God's free will not yours, isn't that wonderful? It's all about what God chose to do. Like, "Well, Pastor, you're saying you don't believe in free will?" It's like, "Well, I just need to know what you mean." Just tell me what that word means to you, free from what? Alright, we'll get to that another time, another sermon. Alright? But I am, thank God, not free from God's effective influence on my soul. I am not free from the fact that He did a surgery in my heart and took out my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. And now, He is working in that and gives me good holy desires after Him. That's what this birth is like. Like He said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." And so this is the birth that must happen to you. Have You Been Born Again? I have to ask you, has that happened to you? Just because you're sitting here in church, I don't know that you're born again. Have you received the gift of life by hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that God sent His only begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, who lived a sinless life, and died on the cross for our sins and lusts, and all that wickedness that we've committed, that His blood atones for our sins? And all you have to do is believe in Him and you'll be forgiven. Are you born again? Have you received this perfect gift? That's what it's talking about here, that God chose to give us life so that we might be the best of all He created, the pinnacle, the cream of the crop, the firstfruits of His creation. He sets His sons and daughters redeemed by His sovereign grace, redeemed by His blood above everything else. As it says in Isaiah 43:6-7, "Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." We are the apple of His eye. He's engraved us in the palm of His hand, and He delights in us. That's who God is. So He's not luring you off the path of righteousness, He is feeding your soul to stay on the path of righteousness. Application Beware of the Danger of Temptation! Now application, if I can just speak to you, brothers and sisters. I've already invited those that walked in here, perhaps lost, to find Christ. But now I'm just urging you who are already Christians to just get busy to fight. Fight. I don't say fight tomorrow, I don't say fight this week, I say fight right now. Fight as soon as church is over. Because your soul, like mine, is under assault and will be while you live. The world, the flesh, and the devil will be assaulting you, and so you need to be aware of that. Every sin pattern, every identifiable sin has attendant temptations that lead to it. So take prayerlessness for example, you're having a quiet time, you're kneeling in prayer. Have you ever felt a force on you to stop praying? You feel it in your lower back if you get older. Alright. But you feel it in your wandering mind, and you're like, "Alright, I prayed long enough." And there's this pull, pull, pull, like that gravitational pull to stop praying. And then you find it isn't just stop that prayer time, but you don't need to pray as much, or you don't need to pray right now. It's prayerlessness, but there's a temptation that leads toward it. Fighting Specific Temptations What about anxiety? It's a sin. Are there any temptations toward anxiety? You better believe there are. You may be having a financial difficulty, a medical trouble for yourself or a loved one, and you find yourself ruminating, "What shall we do? What shall we do? What shall we do?" And there's temptations to ponder in an unbelieving way your condition and your situation. There's temptations toward every sin. What about forsaking the assembling of ourselves together? Deciding not to go to worship. It could start innocently. You've worked really hard this week, or this. I don't know what excuses for why you don't go to church. And I'm not saying if you miss church one time that you're definitely in wickedness. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying there is a process by which people forsake assembling of themselves together in corporate worship. What about arguing in your marriage? Some of you may do that, okay? Some of you may argue with your parents, or you parents with your kids. Arguing is a sin. "Do everything without complaining or arguing." There are temptations toward it. Have you ever felt that you're in the middle of a marital discussion, and some cool ideas to win the argument pop up in your mind? Ever wondered about that? Some creative ways where you're going to checkmate and win forever that particular point. Only guess what? It didn't happen because I think if we could see in the invisible spiritual realms, there's a demon feeding each side, keeping the fire going and there are temptations toward those kinds of arguments and conflicts. There are temptations toward sexual immorality of all sorts. Some of you are really battling Internet pornography. And you know exactly what this pull feels like. You know it's evil, you know it's wrong, and you want to continue to use the computer to do your work and all that, but every time you click on, you start feeling that pull. And perhaps because you've indulged it many times before it's stronger than ever. You have to fight for your soul. You have to fight for it. What about fornication? It's still a sin 21st century. But you could see couples together, the young people, maybe they're in high school, maybe they're in college. They're not married, and they're being told that it's not a sin to have sex together. They use different euphemisms, ‘hooking up;’ different other things, etcetera, and they minimize it. And we see all kinds of damage that happens for years to come after that, even if the couple ends up married, there's still things that happen as a result. And what about adultery? We've had to pick up the pieces on some of that recently. It's devastating. Man or woman, person's out, they're enticed, they're in a moment of vulnerability, they meet someone, one thing leads to another, they don't nip it in the bud, and then they get somewhere, and then they make excuses. "It was like a freight train, I couldn't stop myself." Well, that's garbage. You saw it coming, and you didn't nip that in the bud, you didn't see your own enticements, and lurings, and all that, and you didn't kill it when you should have. What about bitterness toward God? Some of you may be dealing with that. You've had some trials, some pain, or some other thing and God hasn't answered prayer and you're being tempted, tempted, tempted, tempted toward hardness toward God, toward bitterness toward God. What about unforgiveness toward another person? You're being tempted in that direction too. You keep going over it, and ruminating on what they did to you, and you just can't forgive it seems. It's temptation. There's temptations toward all sin patterns. What about gossip? You know something juicy about somebody and you find yourself talking and next thing you know, the words are on the tip of your tongue, and you don't even realize how many times you've done it in the past, slandered somebody or gossiped, and you said some things. We are being tempted in so many different directions. God is With Us Brothers and sisters, God, the God, the Father of lights, this pure, holy God is with you, commanding you to be holy in all of these areas and all the rest, and equipping you and empowering you to kill these temptations so that they will not in the end kill you. Prayer Close with me in prayer. Father, thank You for this time to study Your word. Thank You for the serious warnings there are in texts like this. Thank You for James writing down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who You are, how pure You are, how generous and how loving, and who we are, how corruptible we are, how in danger we are every moment. Help my brothers and sisters here. Help us to fight sin for your glory, for our own good, for our own fruitfulness. In Jesus' name. Amen.

god jesus christ friends father lord israel earth internet bible spirit man prayer hell gospel christians food holy spirit evil romans holy satan sin meaning greek corinthians biblical world war ii ephesians sun nazis jews proverbs sermon fight hebrews danger pastor new testament temptation grateful holiness iv amen good shepherd harder deciding verse kills odyssey habakkuk temptations second coming nicodemus o lord auschwitz bibles arguing conversely praise god childbirth in jesus virgin mary almighty god final destination sirens schindler taking responsibility oh god odysseus potiphar lord almighty el capitan harvest moon good gifts hardened king uzziah john owen alex honnold seraph in heaven half dome treblinka cosmologists psalmists enticed andy davis sobibor two journeys seraphs internal journey james 1:13-18

Doin' It With Flair

Wishful Booking

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2019 55:51

This week we preview Elimination Chamber*, discuss some general notes on go-home TV & what it means for Mania... But of course, we start off this week with an in depth convo reacting to the utter mess of a situation-as some might call it- created by Mr. McMahon's 'announcement' just before RAW went off the air Monday night. Suffice to say, feelings were had. Share & subscribe!*Predictions subject to change bc of ppl since getting arrestedFollow & interact on twitter: @WishfulBooking @meupto11 @DrMorecraftLike us on fb: @WishfulBookingPod Email in: wishfulbooking@gmail.comSpecial thanks to artist Pinback for the song "Devil You Know" from the album Autumn of the Seraphs (used w/out permission)Find out more on the Wishful Booking website.This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Sermon: Finding Your Worth Again

Advent Sermons & Conversations

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2019 11:00

Find us online at: AdventNYC.orgEmail us at: Podcast@AdventNYC.orgTalk with us at: Advent Sermons & Conversations on FacebookCome to a service and hear the sermons live and in person Sunday morning 9am and 11am in English and 12:30pm in Spanish at 93rd and Broadway.Readings for this week:Isaiah 6:1-13In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory.”The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people:‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;keep looking, but do not understand.’Make the mind of this people dull,and stop their ears,and shut their eyes,so that they may not look with their eyes,and listen with their ears,and comprehend with their minds,and turn and be healed.”Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:“Until cities lie wastewithout inhabitant,and houses without people,and the land is utterly desolate;until the Lord sends everyone far away,and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.Even if a tenth part remain in it,it will be burned again,like a terebinth or an oakwhose stump remains standingwhen it is felled.”The holy seed is its stump.1 Corinthians 15:1-11Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.Luke 5:1-11Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

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Can you hear him? - Episode 9-06, February 11, 2019

A Little Walk With God

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2019 10:12

Join us as we explore God's ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church. I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening. Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee. As we continue looking at scripture references that come from the common lectionary, this week's readings included a familiar passage from Isaiah 6 in which the prophet gets a glimpse into the throne room of heaven. It tells us of the time and place of his commission as a prophet. The words are best told from his mouth so here is how Isaiah expresses the experience in chapter six. 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" 6:9 And he said, "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' 6:10 Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed." 6:11 Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; 6:12 until the LORD sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. 6:13 Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be Isaiah at that moment? At times I think I would like to have accompanied him on that trip to see the throne. Most of the time, though, I think I'm glad I haven't had that experience. Take a look at his words and the terrible fear he felt being in God's presence. Why? Because he like all of us find it impossible to bear the weight of our sins in the presence of a holy God. He is so pure, so innocent, so incredibly good, that in his presence we see only how base and sinful and how far short we are from the lives he desires for us. We are unworthy to come near him, yet he invites us to come. We are unworthy to carry his message of forgiveness, yet his plan is for us to do just that. We are so away from the kind of life he wants us to portray as a life of godliness and holiness, but he gives us the command to go make disciples and teach them by our example. Why would God ever choose to put the hope of mankind in our hands? Why would he choose people so desperate for forgiveness and so hungry for cleansing from the filth of sin to share his message? I think the answer is simple. When we are forgiven, we can forgive. When we experience his mercy, we can show mercy. When we have a taste of his grace in our lives, we can spread his grace to those around us so they can get a small taste of who God is and what he wants for all mankind. So we see Isaiah at his lowest. “God, how can I be here in your presence as a sinful man? Even though a priest, I will die because I am so far from your holiness. I am undone!” But God ignores Isaiah's self incrimination. He looks around and asks a simple question, “Who will carry my message?” “Here I am, choose me.” I can picture Isaiah standing at the very back of the room trying to hide behind the angels. I can see him just peeking around those giant messengers of God trying not to be seen lest he encounter God's wrath because of his distance from true heart purity. But the question reaches his ears and in the moment I can see him frantically waving his arms above his head and screaming out, “Here I am. Look I don't want to hide anymore. You have touched me and done something in me that I never dreamed possible. You've taken away my guilt and cleaned up my heart. You made me whole again. Here I am, way back in the back. God, look. Send me. Let me do whatever it is you want done.” That's what it's like what God does his work in your heart. When he cleans us up, we can't help but be ready to do his bidding. When we are freed from the stain and guilt of sin, we can't help but jump up and down, wave our arms in the air, and volunteer for the God who does all things well. We can't help but give ourselves to him in complete obedience. Was Isaiah's life easy after that? Far from it. Being a prophet for God is hard. No one wants to listen to you. No one wants to believe the message you say is from God. Most will think you are a bit crazy. Many will be ready to kill you because of the message. That is the way it was from Isaiah and that is the way it still is today. In fact, there are more martyrs for the cause of Christ every year today than there have ever been in all of history. Living for God is hard. Jesus told us the world would hate us because of him. He told us we might lose everything because of him. He told us we would have to take up our cross and follow him. For some that means a literal cross on which we sacrifice our flesh and blood for him. For others the cross means giving up our assets or our families or our livelihood or a host of other things. The cross we bear is different for everyone, but we must all take up the cross that belongs to us. We must carry it and realize it is part of God's plan for us to do so. It was hard for Isaiah. It was hard for Jeremiah. It was hard for the disciples and for Paul. It is hard for anyone and everyone who picks up the mantle God gives. But is it worth it? That is the question to be answered when at the end of the day fatigue sets in and progress seems so small. And what is the answer? Ask Isaiah. Ask Jeremiah. Ask Paul and all those who have gone before us. The will give you a resounding answer, “Yes! Absolutely!” Isaiah stood at the very foot of the throne of God and saw him high and lifted up. What a sight. Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus. What an opportunity. God speaks to his people. It may be through his written word. It may be through a dear Christian friend or through circumstances surrounding you. It may be in a thousand different ways, but when we listen intently for his voice, we will hear him. And when he speaks to his children, very often he has a chore for us to do. He doesn't want us standing around idle. He wants us busy at his purpose. He wants us to be part of his plan. He wants us to spread the message of forgiveness to all who will believe and follow him. So what is he telling you? Can you hear him calling? Can you sense the task he has for you today? Step up. Believe he will help you. Understand, like Isaiah, that God wants to use you to carry his message by your actions to a lost world that desperately needs his love and forgiveness. He speaks today. Listen for his voice, then obey his command. I will tell you on God's authority that it won't be easy, but it will certainly be worth it. You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

god jesus christ lord bible living forgiveness holy obedience prophet san antonio commission throne o lord damascus woe nazarene saf king uzziah seraphs little walk richard agee san antonio first church

Sermon: What is the Holy Trinity?

Advent Sermons & Conversations

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2018 13:01

Find us online at: AdventNYC.orgEmail us at: Podcast@AdventNYC.orgTalk with us at: Advent Sermons & Conversations on FacebookCome to a service and hear the sermons live and in person Sunday morning 9am and 11am in English and 12:30pm in Spanish at 93rd and Broadway.Readings for this week:Isaiah 6:1-8In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory.”The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”Psalm 29Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;worship the Lord in holy splendor.The voice of the Lord is over the waters;the God of glory thunders,the Lord, over mighty waters.The voice of the Lord is powerful;the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,and Sirion like a young wild ox.The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,and strips the forest bare;and in his temple all say, “Glory!”The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.May the Lord give strength to his people!May the Lord bless his people with peace!Romans 8:12-17So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.John 3:1-17Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Ep 132 - Seraph Tech

Focused Fire Chat, a Destiny Lore Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2018 118:39

This week, the team heads out to visit Futurescape to look into the technology of Rasputin, known to some as Seraph technology. We examine some of the information also that has been presented to us in the new DLC about the Warmind itself - as well as chat about the underlying meaning of the term "Seraph" and what implications might be from that. As usual, thank you again for giving our ramblings a listen! Please be sure to let us know how we're doing over on iTunes or through the below email. Weekly Question for Next Episode (Extra Lore Summary: HALO) Do you consider Halsey, within the context of the HALO universe, to be a good person? Discussion Timestamps 0:04:45 | Community Feedback 0:06:45 | Weekly Community Question 0:08:30 | Topic Intro 0:11:45 | Lost Lore: Etymology of "Seraphim" 0:25:15 | Seraphs in Destiny 0:41:30 | Information from Destiny 1 0:52:30 | Weapons of Rasputin 1:08:00 | Look at the Valkyrie 1:23:00 | Seraph Tech & Ascension 1:40:30 | Team Shoutouts & Final Thoughts Contact Info Email: FocusedFireChat@gmail.com Twitter: @FocusedFireChat Facebook: /FocusedFireChat Instagram: @FocusedFireChat Please be sure to also check out the other podcasts in the Guardian Radio Network! Other Lore Resources Ishtar-Collective The Seraphim Archive r/DestinyLore r/TheCryptarchs Show Sponsors & Affiliates Audible LootCrate (Offer Code BRIDGE10)

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740 BC: Isaiah's Encounter

Message to Kings - A Biblical History of Man

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2017 13:41

In preparation for a life of visions and prophecies, Isaiah has a most powerful heavenly encounter. Tune in as Isaiah encounters the Lord in a heavenly vision and we recount other prophets and their experiences in heaven and we meet the four living creatures who reside at God's throne in heaven. Isaiah 6 www.messagetokings.com

god lord encounter seraphim seraphs

Who May Dwell with the Infinitely High and Holy God? (Isaiah Sermon 69 of 81) (Audio)

Holy Trinity Anglican Church Podcasts

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2016

One the Greatest Verses In the Bible So as we come this morning to Isaiah 57, I'm going to bring us immediately right to the middle of the chapter. Verse 15 this is one of the great verses in the Bible. And without any delay, I want to go right to the marrow of the bone or the colonel of the nut. I want you to look with me at the words of the text that you just heard read, Isaiah 57:15, "For this is what the high and lofty one says. He who lives forever and who's name is holy. I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." So in this amazing verse, the God of the universe, infinitely high, infinitely holy, describes himself for us. He tells us what he's like. And not only that, he describes his dwelling place, he describes where he lives. And beyond that, and this is incredibly gracious, he describes people he's willing to live with in that high and holy place. People who are contrite, broken hearted because of their sins. Now this verse is going to occupy a good deal of our attention right at the beginning of the sermon, but really just going to look on it for just a few minutes. We're only going to have a few minutes to swim in the sea of this truth, to drink in the beauty of it and the glory of it. But it's vast and soaring truths are going to occupy our minds for all eternity. We're going to spend actually eternity thinking about these things. We will see in eternity how pure and holy and exalted and lifted up God is. We'll see it with our own eyes. And not only that, but we will have a sense even in heaven, I believe without any regret, without any pain, a sense of how sinful we were and how much we needed a redeemer, Jesus. And that understanding of the holiness of God and our own sinfulness will work together to make us eternally peaceful and filled with praise and glory to God. That'll go on for all eternity, I believe. We are going to fall down in humble adoration at the amazing grace that saved us and brought us to such a holy place. We're going to be amazed, and we're going to fall down as an Isaac Watts' hymn that we're going to sing at the end of this worship time. How sweet and awful is the place? How sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors. While everlasting love displays the choices of her stores, while all our hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of us cry with thankful tongues, "Lord, why was I a guest?" As we unfold, Isaiah 57 we're going to see how sweet and awful heaven is. Awful, I think Isaac Watts meant they're breathtakingly are inspiring, something like that. A kind of holy awe should come over us. I think it came over Isaiah as he wrote these words, when he saw the holy exalted lord on his throne. We sinners can say with Isaiah, "Woe is me for I am ruined. Why am I not destroyed by such exalted holiness? We sinners, how would we ever be permitted to enter such a holy place? Lord, why was I, why was I a guest? How could it be that I would be a guest?" Now this chapter continues the rhythm that we began seeing last time I preached to you, Isaiah 56. The two chapters really go together is there's this rhythm from the wheat to the weeds and back to the wheat again into the weeds. The righteous and the wicked, the righteous and the wicked because this goes back and forth between the two. Remember how I talked about that a few weeks ago from the parable of the weed and the weeds? Matthew 13, Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a field that a man sowed with good seed, but at night the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. And then when the wheat sprouted and formed heads in the weeds were also made evident, and this gives us that sense of the mixed up nature of the world we live in. Much of the distress we feel as Christians, even in the political process is because of the mixed up nature of the world. The wheat and the weeds in close proximity. And we know that in the end, as the text says in Matthew 13, the son of man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all of those who do evil. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. That's where we're heading. That's where it's going. Now when we are there in that high and holy place and when we are shining radially with the glory that's not ours. It's the glory of Christ in us. And we will be mindful of the fact that our sins were as great as those that were condemned, no difference ultimately. And we will be filled with awe at God and this high and holy person in this dwelling place. Now the more we can do that now the better. So that's just the whole thesis of my sermon here. The more we can just have a sense right now of the exalted nature of God and of his holy place and of our sinfulness and the grace he's shown us in Christ, the better. II. A Stunning Invitation from the Infinitely High and Holy King (vs. 15) So let's start and look in detail at verse 15. We have a stunning invitation here from the infinitely high and holy king. I actually think verse 15, if you look at it rightly, is a Gospel invitation. Look again at the words of verse 15, "For this is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever and whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite." So as I've said, God describes himself, his dwelling place, and the people he delights to dwell with. Now you may ask a pastor, "Those are three points. Why don't you just preach that as your sermon?" It would have been a great sermon, but there's more in that chapter than that. And I want to see all that there is in the chapter. So we're not going to be able to spend as much time on each of those three sub-points as I'd like to. But first, look at how God describes himself. He says he is the high and lofty one. God is infinitely greater than we are. He's so much vastly above all of his creation that the gap between God the creator and every creature is infinite. The gap exists between God and even his holy angels that have never sinned, and there's no defilement in them at all. That's why the seraphim I think in Isaiah six, cover their faces and their feet in His presence. They'd never sinned, they'd never violated any of God's laws. And yet they recognize the holiness of God means that He is infinitely above them. A. W. Tozer, put it in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he said, "Forever God stands apart in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel is above a caterpillar. For the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar, is but finite. While the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite." That's the holiness of God. It's the very thing, the exalted nature, of God that Isaiah saw in his calling to be a prophet. "In the year the King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. And above Him there were Seraphs each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two, they were flying and they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.' And at the sound of their voices the door posts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." Holiness of God. And it's portrayed often in scripture, as exaltation, lofty-ness, height. I remember years ago, I was in Pakistan 1987, I was in the North-West Frontier province. I saw the second highest mountain range in the world, the Karakoram mountains. And I took the Karakoram highway and went through those mountains from Pakistan and China. In order to make that journey cross that border I went through the Khunjerav pass. The Khunjerav pass is the highest border passing between two nations on earth. It's 15,397 feet above sea level, almost 16,000 feet above sea level. It's the highest I've ever stood on the ground. And yet for all of that, as that highway snaked its way up to that pass, and then down into China, for much of that journey, the Karakoram mountains were right up against the highway, and towered vastly above the highway hundreds even several thousand feet right up off the highway. That has the power to make you feel real small, insignificant. Now listen, if finite mountains can do that, how much more of this infinite God who made them. The greatness of God. So the loftiness of God, the exaltation of God is meant to make us feel small, it's meant to humble us. This is what the high and lofty one says. That's how He identifies Himself. He is high and lofty. He also says that He inhabits eternity. I like that translation a little bit better than lives forever. He inhabits eternity. It's kind of like eternity is His personal playground. He's very at home in eternity, it's His living room, that's what eternity is like for God. He dwells in eternity. The eternality of God, He lives unchanged forever and ever. There are no limits to God. He is an infinite being. This is beyond anything we can comprehend. One thing we simply can say, is He cannot die, He is immortal, He inhabits eternity, meaning He will live forever and ever. Hebrews 6:18 says it's impossible for God to lie. I think this text says it's impossible for God to die. He is immortal. He inhabits eternity. He lives forever. His kingdom will have no end. As the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar wrote, "I praised the Most High, I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion as kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?'" That's the kingship of God. That was the most powerful man on earth. Daniel chapter four. Nebuchadnezzar writing those words, he was in awe of the eternal king, and that is God. His kingdom, will never end because He lives forever. Also he says His name is holy. That means His reputation is holy. His name is set apart, it's a unique name, a special name. So His reputation, because of His person and His accomplishments because of who He is and what He's done, His name is Holy. It's set apart. So in the 10 commandments we are not permitted to take His name in vain. We should honor and revere the name of Almighty God. And so in the Lord's Prayer, we say "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be thy name," may your name be held in honor, on earth as it is in heaven. That's the sense of the greatness of the holiness of the name of God. And His name is holy, it means that He is a holy being, separate from all creation, but especially separate from evil, from all wickedness. His eyes are too pure to look on evil, He cannot tolerate wrong. Habakkuk 1:13. "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5. And it says in Hebrews 12, "Let us worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." The picture of God is a consuming fire, has a sense of His Holiness. This is the God of the Bible, this is how He describes Himself. God Describes His Dwelling Place But He also describes in this verse his dwelling place. He says, "I live in a high and holy place." Let me tell you about my home, let me tell you about my throne room. I want you to picture it in your mind, I want you to understand where I live. God's dwelling place is as lofty is exalted as He is, it is unreachable, absolutely unreachable by any creature-ly efforts. Satan tried didn't he, tried to scale the heights. He tried to scale the heights of divine grandeur and topple God from His throne, he didn't make it. He was cast down to the earth, and condemned. Arrogant humans tried to build a tower to reach God and they didn't come close. God had to go way down and see this little tower that they were making, this tower of Babel. I mean, God dwells in a high and holy place, we can't reach Him through human efforts we can't even scale there in our minds through philosophy. It's just impossible for God to be reached by human wisdom. God dwells in a high and holy place. He's completely set apart from all creation. He's pure, he's set apart from sin, free from any kind of evil, and his capital city in the coming world, the new Jerusalem, will be as holy as He is. Absolutely free, radiantly glorious, free from all evil. Revelation 21:27 says, "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Those are the only ones that will enter that Holy City. So this is the dwelling place, the throne-room of God. Now, I want you to picture this in your minds eye. I often talk about this in evangelism. I picture the throne-room of God in a kind of a physical way, because that's about all my mind can do. So I picture it this way: A majestic throne-room, like maybe one of those great oriental polatench, something like that. And he's up on this beautiful exalted throne, a glorious throne. There's this Heavenly courtroom with holy angels all around. I always in this image picture a perfectly white, beautiful, silk carpet just filling the throne-room. I picture it that way. And there's a guardian at the door with a fiery sword flashing back and forth to guard the entrance. The place is perfectly clean, it's free from all the filthiness. But here I come, I am a pig farmer. I've been feeding pigs. I'm covered with pig filth, I'm covered with dung, I'm covered with mud, and I approach the throne-room and I'm immediately stopped by the guardian with his flaming sword. You can't get in here, not like that. I'm aware vaguely at that moment of my filth. So I reach into my pocket and I pull out a mostly clean handkerchief, and start to wipe my brow and my face and my hands. "Stop", the guardian says, "There's nothing you can do to clean yourself up. Nothing." This is the plight of the human race. God's described what kind of place he lives in, and we are the prodigal sons and daughters who have traded our Father's inheritance for riotous living with whores and banquets and alcohol, and all manner of wickedness. We squandered the wealth until it was gone, and we found ourselves starving and feeding pigs and covered with filth. And can we clean ourselves up? Now we cannot. The wonder therefore of the Gospel is not that everyone doesn't get saved, it's how does anyone get saved? How does anyone of us, we race of pig farmer, how does any of us get in through the door? How do we end up in that high and holy place? Well, this is the grace of God in Christ. If you will humble yourself, if you will, with broken-hearted repentance look to the atonement of Jesus Christ, His blood shed on the cross is sufficient to clean us of all of our filth. If you will just simply by faith confess that you are a defiled sinner, and you have no hope of making it into that throne-room, but that God can cleanse you and fit you for heaven, and if you'll just accept it as a gift, he will give it to you freely. That's the Gospel, that Jesus shed his blood to clean up filthy rebellious sinners like us, and He will escort you into that high and holy place, and He will dwell with you forever. I live in a high and holy place, but also with Him who is humble and contrite in spirit. To revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite, that's the God that we worship. He will dwell with the humble broken-hearted sinner. You remember the parable Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector that went to pray, remember that? Luke 18, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself." I always felt that must have been a favorite topic. "Prayed about himself: 'God I think you that I'm not like other men: Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all that I get. But the tax collector stood off at a distance, beat his breast and would not even look up to Heaven, but said, 'Be merciful to me oh God, the sinner.' I tell you, this man went home justified and not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Do you not see it's the same teaching. It's the exact same teaching. God dwells with people who will humble themselves, and by repentance and faith accept His grace. God actually will live with sinners. The question is, what about you my friend? What about you? Has that happened to you? Have you seen in the law of God, in the mirror of God's law that you're a defiled broken sinner, no different, no better than anyone else. Have you seen that? And do you realize you have no way, no hope of getting yourself cleaned up enough for Heaven? You can't, it's just too pure and perfect, and you're defiled. Have you seen that God sent his Son to be a savior, the savior, the only savior for sinners like you and me. And have you put your trust in Jesus for the cleansing of your soul and the forgiveness of your sins, and the gift of righteousness? I'm going to talk more about that one more time at the end. III. Righteous People Rescued by Death (vs. 1-2) Now that's verse 15. We've already gone to the kernel of the nut and eaten it, we've already drawn the marrow from the bone and received sustenance from it. Now let's look at the whole chapter briefly. He begins at verse one and two by speaking to righteous people. Now friends, pay attention to these verses. These are some of the most helpful verses for those that grieve at the loss of Christian loved ones. Let me say that again, these are some of the most helpful verses you will find in the Bible for those that grieve at the loss of Christian loved ones. Look what he says, "The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart. Devout men are take away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace, they find rest as they lie in death." Oh, those are comforting verses aren't they? Is talking about the death of the righteous, it begins right away that chapter begins the righteous perish by this we don't mean like John 3:16, perishing eternally, just means they die, they die, maybe of cancer, maybe of a tragic car accident, maybe of some other way, maybe just simply of old age, they die, the righteous perish and some people do not fully understand why, they are troubled by it, they don't think about it, they don't ponder it properly. No one ponders it properly, they don't take it and ponder it in their heart, they misunderstand what God is doing. They know that death should have been and was in some sense defeated by Christ, they don't ponder that death is the final enemy to be destroyed and we're going to have to co-exist in some mysterious way with death until the very end of the world and so death is going to hurt us again and again and again death is the final enemy, it's an enemy but it's the final enemy. Now Jesus destroyed that enemy at the cross, praise God, Hallelujah! He destroyed it. Hebrews 2:14, 15 says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." So this thing of death has been removed by Christ 1 Corinthians 15, says, "Where O death is your victory, Where O death is your sting?" death has been swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The ultimate triumph over death is given as a gift to those who have faith in Jesus. He said, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Now, the text says that the righteous perish, they actually die. Godly people die, upright people who walked in righteousness die, we know that. And this verse God shows His gracious kindness to them, they die to be delivered from evil, do you see that? God is being good to them. Effectively the text says, you've suffered enough dear son, dear daughter, it's time for you to come home. No more suffering, no more death or mourning or crying or pain you're done with that forever, you'll never have a divided heart again, you'll never struggle with sin again. The world, the flesh and the devil can touch you no longer, you're free, you're spared from evil, that's why God does it and it's good for us to celebrate that. For me said Paul, to live is Christ and to die is what, gain hallelujah. So what does that mean for us? Don't grieve like those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4, "We don't want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, that is die or grieve like the rest of humanity that has no hope. We believe Jesus died and rose again and so we believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him." So yes, we must grieve, we will grieve we must weep, It's appropriate to cry but don't cry like those who have no hope, it's kind of a mystery its sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Hope filled tears, maybe you're just weeping for yourself, I think you probably are, you're weeping for yourself because you weren't delivered yet. And now you have to deal with the world of flesh and the devil minus one of the greatest helps God's ever given you that Godly person and it is going to be harder for you and so you grieve and it's appropriate but just know this, God is with you, He'll never leave you, He'll never forsake you, He will continue to protect you and someday He's going to do for you what He did for that person, He's going to deliver you from evil. Verse 1 and 2 hold on to it, go back to it later study it, it's going to be useful to you sometime in the future. IV. Idolatrous People Exposed and Blown Away (57:3-13a) Now, in Verses 3-13, he goes back to the weeds, he talks about the wicked. We go from the wheat to the weeds to the wheat to the weeds back and forth in these two chapters. Look what he says here in Verse 3 and 4, "But you come here you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes, whom are you mocking and whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars?" Now I don't deny that Isaiah is a challenging book to read but I think here he's turned away from the topic of the righteous perishing and how they're delivered to talk about the wicked who were probably at least in part, instrumental in making life miserable for the righteous. And he calls them false worshipers, he calls them sons of sorceress, Now the Jews of Isaiah's day and beyond were constantly tempted to mingle Canaanite pagan religions with the true religion, that's called syncretism, to mix together the religion of the surrounding culture with the biblical religion. And they mixed it together and they generally leaned more and more toward pagan Canaanite-ish type practices in their religions and it was very tragic. God is a jealous God, He's jealous over the affections of his bride and He becomes very passionate and angry when His bride Israel gets drawn away into wickedness and paganism. And so these Jews who are following these Canaanite pagan worship practice, are called out here. They mock the true worshippers, they stick out their tongues in mockery, they sneer, they attack, they slander, they lie and they live lives of rebellion against God's commands and they are summoned in verse 3 and 4 to judgment by Almighty God. "Come here, you sons of a sorceress" He calls them for judgment and He exposes their idolatrous worship in Verses 5-13, these Verses describe the wickedness of the pagan worship practices of those days, they included sexual immorality, they included child sacrifice, they included occult practices and pagan rituals, dark things. Look in verse 5-10, He says, "You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree. You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags. The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion. Yes, they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings. In the light of these things, should I relent? You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill. There you went up to offer your sacrifices. Behind your doors and your door posts you have put your pagan symbols." You see this hidden paganism in this wickedness and sexual immorality and child sacrifice. That's what He's calling them out for. "I see everything you do. I see it all." And God speaks as a spiritual husband who is deeply offended by the adultery, spiritual adultery, of His people. Look what He says. "Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened wide. You made a pact with those whose beds you love and you looked on their nakedness. You went to Molech with olive oil and increase your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away, you descended to the grave itself. You are wearied by all your ways, but you would not say it is hopeless. You found renewal of your strength and so you did not faint." Isn't it amazing? All this wickedness, these bad religious practices, this immorality. And they grew weary of it, but they didn't repent. They said, "All right, we got to try harder. And these things are not satisfying us, so we'll do them even more. Maybe they will satisfy." The wickedness and the foolishness. They refused to give them up. They renewed their strength in sin and they kept on doing it. Now verse 11 in the NIV I think is very, very helpful. I know it's different than the ESV, but just follow the NIV translation for a minute. It is very powerful. This is God speaking to unbelievers. "Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?" It's powerful, isn't it? Let me say it again. "Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?" It's because God seems to do nothing. It's like He seems to not even exist because he doesn't respond, especially to evil. He just seems to just do nothing. And they misunderstand the apparent silence of God. Atheists think that because God doesn't speak and strike down the wicked right away that He doesn't exist. Some time ago I came across the story of an atheist public speaker named Robert Ingersoll, and he used to do these challenging debates and discussions in which he would challenge God and he would utter horrible blasphemies and he culminated in this display. He said, "Now I read in the Bible how God struck blasphemers dead for their blasphemy. I'm going to give God five minutes to strike me dead for all of the blasphemies I've spoken today." And it's very dramatic, you know, he counts off the minutes. One minute, two minutes. Five minutes is a long time for public speaking. If I did it right now, you'd be like, "Please don't do that, pastor." That's a long time to wait in silence. But it was very dramatic at that point. I mean, people fainting, people screaming, all of that. Well, at any rate, the five minutes passed and Robert Ingersoll was not struck dead. The story was later told to Joseph Parker, a British pastor, who said this. "And did the American gentleman think that he could exhaust the patience of the infinite God in just five minutes?" Now you can't, even by great wickedness, exhaust God's patience in five minutes, but at some point it will end. Ingersoll's dead, he's been dead for a century and a half. "Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?" Elie Wiesel, a Jewish writer after the Holocaust, wrote his book called Night. I saw this in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. This is what he wrote. "Blessed be God's name," question mark. "Blessed be God's name? Why, why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because he kept six crematoria working day and night, including the Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz and Birkenau and Buna and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations, yes, chose us to be tortured, day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, ended up in the furnaces? But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I now felt very strong. I was the accuser and God was the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God and without man." Well, I think Isaiah 57:11 addresses that. It's because God was silent and seemed to do nothing that he did not fear Him. The hiddenness of God, especially when so much suffering happens in the world, is distressing to many. It's distressing to Psalmist. How many Psalmists basically complain about why God seems to do nothing? It's in there a lot, like Psalm 44, "Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep? Rouse yourself, do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?" But here God says, "That's why you don't fear me, because I seem to have done nothing. But someday, though now I only speak through the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms and I speak through Scripture, someday I will speak plainly and you'll see what I think of wickedness. There'll be no doubt at that point what I think, and it will be clear. In the meantime, what you have is you have the Scripture." And God will speak to you through that Scripture and you'll hear Him speak in Scripture, or you will not hear Him at all and you'll think that He's silent. Idolatrous Worshipers Blown Away with their Idols Now, these idolaters worshippers are going to be blown away with their idols. Look at verse 12 and 13, "I will expose your righteousness and your works and they will not benefit you, and when you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you. The wind will carry all of them off a mere breath will blow them away." So, idolaters who follow idols are light weight and the wind of God's judgment will blow them away, and there'll be nothing left. Nothing left of all of their efforts and their works, all of them gone. Now, right in the middle of verse 13 do you notice he switches back to the weed again or back to the righteous, "But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain." V. God Dwells with Humbled and Healed Sinners (57:13b-19) And so, there we have in the middle of that section, this beautiful verse 15, that we begin with. The humble and contrite are welcome to dwell with God. God addresses the man who humbles himself, and makes God his refuge his true refuge. He will not be blown away in the judgment. The wind of judgment will not blow him away. He will survive that. He will inherit the land and possess God's holy mountain. More than that, he will effectively build up roads or highways along which the righteous will travel. Look at verse 14 and it will be said "Build up, build up, prepare the road, remove the obstacles out of the way of my people." Now you may think he's talking about the restoration of the Jews back to the promised land, and it may be, but let me tell you these words soar far above that. Why? because the very next verse. Look at the combination of verse 14 and 15. And it will be said "Buildup, buildup prepare the road remove the obstacles out of the way of my people. For this is what the high and holy one says, He who lives forever and whose name is Holy: 'I live in a high and holy place. But also with the contrite and lowly.'" The connection between the two verses is the highway that's built up in verse 14 is the journey by which we get to that high and holy place. And friends. I'll tell you his name, His name is Jesus. He says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And I get to be, and so to all of you who are believers in Christ, the righteous road constructors who lay the road of Jesus in front of lost people and say, this is the road travel in it. This is Jesus. This is the way you're going to get to the high and holy place. There's no other road that leads to heaven. We get to be spiritual civil engineers and build these roads for lost people." That's what's going to happen. Now, these contrite sinners, they have a lot to be contrite about. I remember Winston Churchill was talking about a fellow member of Parliament. He said he's a humble man with much to be humble about. I thought, "Man, he's a mean guy. I would not want him as a friend, a humble man, with much to be humble about." Well, we are contrite people with much to be contrite about. That's the point of verse 16 through 19. Do you see it? I will, this is God speaking about the righteous. "I will not accuse forever nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me, the breath of man that I created." Look at Verse 17, "I was enraged by his sinful greed. I punished him and hit my face and anger yet he kept on in his willful ways." Verse 18, "I have seen his ways but I will heal him. I will guide him and restore comfort to him." Verse 19: "Creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel, 'Peace, peace to those far and near' says the Lord 'And I will heal them.'" So this is talking about the righteous who are the humble and contrite that God will spend eternity with. He was really angry with them. He had a record of their sins. They were wicked in his sight. They pushed his patience. So they were idolaters. They had a record of sins that was standing against them and it says in Colossians 2, that God took that record of sins that stood against us and was opposed to us and nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ and were free. And God's anger is gone forever. He is propitiated. His wrath is gone. He is not angry at us. He will not always accuse and instead He will heal us of our wayward ways. I have seen God is saying "Your wayward crooked ways and I will heal you." You already said how in Isaiah 53. Jesus "was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." What's the next part? "By His wounds we are healed." I've seen his ways. Isaiah 57, "And I will heal him through Jesus, through his wounds I will heal you." That's the promise he's making here. It's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. Jesus came to heal us of sin and He will. And so in our text. Look at Verse 18, and 19 "I have seen his ways but I will heal him, I will guide him. I will restore comfort to him creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. 'Peace, peace, to those far near,' says the Lord. ‘And I will heal them." So, the result of all this? We get to spend eternity at peace with God and praising him for our salvation. He's going to create praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. We're going to spend eternity mindful of our sins, but not hurt by them, instead worshipping God for our salvation. He's going to create praise on our lips and we're going to be at peace with him forever. For it says in Romans 51, "Having been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And not only that. But he's going to do it for those near and far. Do you see those words there? Oh, don't miss significance of that. "Creating praise in the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace to those far and near. For me as a gentile adopted son of Abraham, I'm really excited about that." You know from Ephesians 2, it speaks to Gentile believers in Christ, Ephesians 2-12-13, it says, "Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." That's who you were, you were far away. "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ," creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Those both near and far, that's us Gentiles and Jewish believers in Christ praise for God for the salvation He has worked. And He will heal us. You know what? He's going to give peace to the healed. The healing goes together with the peace. Go on in your willful wicked idolatrous sinful ways, He will not give you peace. There's no peace in that way. But as He is healing you through sanctification, He's strengthening your righteous living, he pours out a sense of peace in your conscience and a sense of the peace of God, the peacefulness that comes from your status of peace with God. He heals you and you know you have peace and some day you're going to be totally healed. Like I've already said, when you die and you depart from evil, you'll be free forever. VI. God Condemns the Wicked to Endless Restlessness (57:20-21) Now, the chapter ends going back to the weeds one more time. Look at verse 20 and 21: "But the wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 'There is no peace' says my God for the wicked." Friends, these words describe the world. Do you not see it? This is a churning tumultuous wicked difficult world in which we live, and these two verses at the end of Isaiah 57 describe why. These people, these lost people that we live with have no rest, no peace inside their hearts. They're churning and restless and never satisfied. They don't find what life is all about. And so they are restless like Satan roaming over the surface of the earth or like the demons that go through the... Go out of the man in Matthew 12 and they go through arid places seeking rest and they don't find it. And they're restless and they're looking for something. Think about all the political unrest in the world. Think about the riots and the demonstrations and the violence. Think about the restlessness of the Muslim world leading many young Muslim men in particular, to seek an outlet for their restlessness and their rage in Jihad and terrorism. Think about the constant turmoil of nation rising against nation, a series of wars after wars after wars and it never seems to end. And why? Because people are restless in their hearts. Think about the simple restlessness of the world as seen in the nightly news reports, local news and CNN, whatever. Local and worldwide, restlessness, no peace. They are like the churning sea casting up mire and muck. They're looking, constantly looking for something. Think about the restless hearts of people who are addicted to prescription, pain medications. And they can never get enough. They seek their peace in the narcotic. Stunning levels of people who are addicted now to these opioids. Also, more and more people addicted to heroin and morphine, they're seeking peace in the drug. It's not any different than those that seek it in alcohol. They're looking for an escape, peace and they're not finding it. Think about restless people who look for peace through psychiatry and psychology and counseling. It's estimated over 600 million people suffer from anxiety or depression, clinical depression, 600 million. Many of them are literally restless, they can't sleep at night. They have chronic insomnia. They're filled with anxiety, they go to psychiatrists and counselors and psychologists and get drugs, and there's no peace. Think about the relentless drive and ambition of even successful, wealthy people who attain all their goals and they don't satisfy them. Some time ago, I saw an interview and many of you perhaps have seen it, with Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback after he won his third Super Bowl. There's a 60 minutes interview with journalist Steve Croft and he said these stunning words. When I was going over the sermon this morning, it's hard for me to read this even without crying. Brady said this. This is Tom Brady: "So a lot of times, I think I get very frustrated and introverted and there's times where I'm not the person that I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people say, 'Hey man, this is what it is, this is it.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think. God, there's got to be more than this. I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be, can it? I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. And what else is there for me?" I mean, he's saying this on tape. Croft said, "What's the answer?" And he said, "I wish I knew." I wish I knew. Friends, I'm telling you there are people like that around you every day. They're like, "I don't... Even when things go well, for me, I know there's nothing in it. It's emptiness." I mean, this man's as successful as you could ever want to be in a worldly sort of way but he says, "I wish I knew." Well, I'll tell you what it is. It's living in a high and holy place with God by faith in Christ. That's what is satisfying, nothing else. What else matters? Few verses capture the reason for the world's misery better than this one: "The wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. There is no peace says my God for the wicked." Now that last verse of the chapter seems to read to me like a decree. There can be no peace says my God for the wicked. Not as such. VII. An Invitation from the High and Holy So God gives us an invitation. Go back one more time, as we close to verse 15. This is what the high and lofty one says. He who lives forever, whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place but also with him who is humble and contrite in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite. God has promised in this text, He's seen all your ways, he's promised to heal you. He knows how you live, he knows what you do, he knows everything. He said I'm going to heal you, verse 18, I will guide you, and I will restore comfort to you. And I will not always accuse, I will not always be angry. Effectively, the New Testament invitation that lines up with this, is this one, Matthew 11. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened said Jesus and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am humble in heart and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So that's my appeal to you as non Christians. For you Christians, I would urge you to meditate deeply on verse 1 and 2. Get it ready for when you lose a loved one in Christ. Just get ready for it, or when you face your own death. Just realize God is good to take righteous people out of this sinful world. He's just... He's just good. Secondly, see if there's any restlessness in you like that of the wicked, and repent from it. God's not going to bless that kind of wickedness, even in his own children. He will discipline you out of it, so the sooner you repent from it, you will find peace in your repentance. Thirdly, meditate much on the staggering words of verse 15. I just give them to you as a gift, they're not mine to give, but I just like, here they are, read them. Just read verse 15 and swim in the ocean of greatness. And then finally, at the very end, the last two verses, understand the turmoil of the world is essentially spiritual. It's because people are out of fellowship with God that they don't know what life is about and they are so churning. We need to give them peace in Christ. Whatever happens on Tuesday, whatever happens with the election, just understand this, true peace is found only in the kingdom of God. Close with me in prayer.

god jesus christ american death friends father lord israel china master peace bible man washington prayer super bowl british gospel kingdom christians dc local romans holy universe satan revelation psalm night jewish scripture blessed corinthians biblical jerusalem cnn ephesians jews kingdom of god sermon hebrews muslims tom brady psalms lamb sabbath new testament invitation theology colossians godly holiness wicked thessalonians pakistan iv pharisees holocaust gentiles new england patriots prophets verse parliament habakkuk faith in jesus babel awake awful atheists almighty hallelujah verses o lord winston churchill auschwitz stunning our father dwell niv build up robbers canaanites esv most high woe prayed almighty god nebuchadnezzar humbled holy god jihad psalmist vii arrogant hallowed croft rouse lord almighty holy city holy days tozer blown away his holiness god isaiah infinitely forsaking king uzziah devout elie wiesel molech ingersoll buna doctrine of god joseph parker isaac watts holocaust museum birkenau psalmists andy davis karakoram two journeys seraphs robert ingersoll internal journey steve croft

1870 - 023 : seraphim study update

1870 Biblestudy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2015 78:15

in 2014 i went into a deep study of the devil, the beast, and the false prophet. spending months digging through every reference, reading them in context, and formulating my own theology. along the way i noticed several odd things about the seraphim. this episode is an update and a challenge to my theories on the seraphim. the 2 main references will be isaiah 6 and revelation 4 - 5

study seraphim seraphs

06/03/2012 - Fr. Joe Boysel - Getting Ready - Isaiah 6:1-8

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2012 17:12

Isaiah 6:1-8In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;the whole earth is full of his glory."The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holdinga live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

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Without Holiness No One Will See The Lord (Hebrews Sermon 65 of 74) (Audio)

GotQuestions.org Audio Pages - Archive 2009-2010

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2012

The Puritan Thomas Brooks: 58 Sermons on This One Verse I can't tell you how excited I am to preach this message. This is something that God has worked in my heart. I preach today about holiness for the glory of God and for your happiness and your fruit. Some time in early 1662, a Puritan pastor named Thomas Brooks began a sermon series, a new series with these words or these thoughts. "If I were the fittest man in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and if I had some high mountain for my pulpit, from whence I might have a prospect of all the world in my view, and if I were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpet of the Archangel that all the world might hear me, I would choose to preach on no other text than Hebrews 12:14." "Wow," I thought as I read those words. Hebrews 12:14, "Pursue peace with all men and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." One text. This is an amazing statement. When you think about it, there are over 31,000 verses in the Bible. There are many verses that are far more famous than this one. In my opinion, there are other verses that capture the gospel a little more directly. I don't know that I would choose this one text, but this is what Thomas Brooks said. And what's even more amazing is that he proceeded to preach 58 sermons from this one verse. 58. It's in volume four of the collected works of Thomas Brooks, the entire volume, 400 little font pages, single spaced. 400. 58 sermons is over 13 months of preaching on one verse. Now, I'm not intending to nail you in one place for the next 13 months. You may be glad to hear that. Maybe you'd want to see if I could actually pull it off. I don't think I could, but the question that's in front of us is, why did this godly man, this veteran preacher, this pastor, think it worthwhile? What did he see in this one verse? What's here that he thought was worth 400 pages and 58 sermons? What can we learn from this text? What does this text say to our souls today? That's the business in front of us. Brooks in his sermon immediately began to answer some of those questions by zeroing in on the salvation of souls. This one verse, being an urgent trumpet call to all who heard him, to make sure that you have salvation, genuine salvation in Jesus Christ. That you are not self-deceived, that you haven't been deceived by the Devil concerning this. Brooks poured out like molten lava his convictions about this. As you read it your heart is convicted and strengthened. He said this, "The salvation of souls is that which should be first and foremost in a minister's eye and that which should lie closest to a minister's heart. O, beloved friends, our dear Lord Jesus was infinitely tender of souls. He left his father's bosom for souls. He trod the wine press of the wrath of God Almighty for souls. He prayed for souls, he sweated for souls, he bled out his heart's blood for souls. He made himself an offering for souls. And what an overwhelming encouragement this should be to all faithful messengers to plead for souls, to mourn for souls, to study for souls and in preaching to spend and be spent for the salvation of souls." So that's his answer why he thought it was worthwhile to zero in on Hebrews 12:14. 58 sermons. For us, it's just this one morning, this morning. To look at it and to have it speak to us, to be convicted by it, to look after the health of our souls, to look horizontally at others for the health of their souls, to be concerned for that. I. What Is Commanded? Now, what is commanded in this one verse? Well, look at the words again. The best translation for the first is pursue, we talked about this last week. "Pursue peace with all men and the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." The word pursue means to chase after something, to hunt it down as a huntsman would his quarry or as a persecutor would the one they're seeking to persecute, frequently translated persecute here, but it's a total focus of the mind and heart on chasing something and going after something. So life focus, pursue it diligently with everything you have. Pursue what? Well, two things in the text. "Peace with all," it says, "and the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." Now, we dealt with peace with all last week. I'm not going to say a word about it this morning. Instead I want to just focus on the rest of it and just connect the word pursue to the rest. Pursue, diligently seek after, chase or hunt down the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And so we have this idea of pursuing a holiness. What is that holiness, that's going to be very much the message of this sermon. What is the holiness the author has in mind here, and what does it mean without which no one will see the Lord? And this is my simple doctrine from this one verse, there is a personal holiness that comes as a result of diligent effort, diligent striving and pursuit, diligent labor. There is a personal holiness that comes from sincere diligent labor that is absolutely required in order to spend eternity with God in heaven. That's the doctrine. Simply put, there's a holiness you strive for and if you don't have it, you're not going to heaven. II. What Is the Holiness We Must Pursue? So what is this holiness that we must pursue? Well, first, let's talk about what it is not. The holiness that we must pursue is not the legal holiness that Adam had in the Garden of Eden, by this I mean the holiness that comes from perfectly obeying all of God's commands. This is the legal righteousness that Adam had in the Garden of Eden before he fell. But since he fell, not a single one of his descendants has had it. All of us sinned in Adam, all of us fell in him. Of course, Christ being excepted, who is without sin in every way. But we are sons and daughters of Adam, and we have no legal holiness with which we can stand before God. As it is written, "There is no one righteous. Not even one." Neither is it the imaginary holiness that secular people think they have that they think will be enough on Judgment Day, when they say, "I'm basically a good person." This kind of holiness. It's not that imaginary holiness, that's based on some arbitrary standard of morality that they mostly keep. Based on their moral achievements, their hard work, their diligence, their frugality, their generosity to the poor, the few hours they gave to the YMCA last summer, it's not based on any of those things. They do not realize the truth of the situation. Proverbs 30 in verse 12, "There are those who are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not cleaned of their filth." How can that be? But it's true, there are some people that are pure in their own eyes, and yet they are filthy in the sight of God. Revelation 3:17, speaking to church people, "You say, 'I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." Neither is it that outward visible external sanctity of life, free from scandalous vices, filled with religious duties and responsibilities, that characterize frankly, genuinely holy people, such as Job and Zechariah and Elizabeth, so it's said of them that they are blameless in their generation, etcetera. And the apostles who preached to the Thessalonians say, "You can testify how holy blameless we were among you who believe." So it's an outward invisible holiness. I'm going to argue that it's going to be part of that, but that's not enough, it's not sufficient. Because think of the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 23, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way on the outside you appear to men as righteous, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Now, that's not what Hebrews 12:14 is talking about, that's not the holiness we have to pursue. Neither is it referring to the set-apartness of the people of God, as they are set apart for his prized possession. That is something that God did with the Jews. It is something he does with the church, it is a beautiful thing, it is a wonderful thing, but that's not what it's talking about here. In Exodus 19, "Out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession, although the whole Earth is mine, you will be for me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," set apart under God. Think about how in the Old Covenant, the words "holy to the Lord" are vital to the sacrificial system. Many things, it was even written on those elements, this or that was holy to the Lord. Think about the sacred incense, the holy incense, the recipe for which is in Exodus 30. You can find out what the ingredients are, you can mix them together, you can grind them into a fine powder. But if you did that as a Jew in the Old Covenant you'd be sinning greatly. Because that incense was to be holy to the Lord, it was set apart for his own personal possession, it wasn't to be used in a common way. That is not what this verse is talking about, although that certainly comes and it's part of God's sovereign action on the church, on individuals, but that's not what this verse is referring to. And this is the hardest one of all, but if I can say it directly, this is not referring to the imputed righteousness of Christ that comes by faith in Jesus. It's not referring to that. That imputed righteousness is the centerpiece of the Gospel. It is justification righteousness, it's yours by simple faith in Jesus. The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, the righteousness that is from faith to faith. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." That is absolute perfect holiness, that is perfect righteousness, that is yours by simple faith in Jesus. Without this holiness, the holiness of imputed righteousness, you have no hope of Heaven at all. But it's not the holiness referred to in this verse. Now, I say without that holiness this holiness will never happen. First, there must be justification holiness, then there must be sanctification holiness, and that's what this verse is talking about. The imputed righteousness of Christ does not come by labor or effort or striving or chasing or pursuing or any of the verbs that you could use to translate this Greek verb in 12:14. No, as a matter of fact, we're told in Romans 4:3, "What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." And it says a few verses later, "However, to the man who does not work, but trusts God… his faith is credited to him as righteousness." There's no working, no striving, no effort, nothing, just simple faith in Jesus. But that's not what the author is talking about here. Because he says, it's a holiness we must pursue, it's a holiness we must chase and hunt down and make our quarry, and we the huntsman the rest of our lives chasing after this holiness. That's what the author is talking about. So what is it? Well, it's an inherent internal qualitative holiness, something that actually describes you. And it comes in two parts, one from God and one from yourself. From God it consists in the infusing of holy principles, holy graces by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, making the new heart filled with new desires, new loves, new hatreds, something that the Spirit works in us, all of these workings are holy. And from that comes a holy use of those new principles, a pattern of holy lifestyle, holy living, holy walking, as the scripture says, walking as he walks, walking in the light because the Lord is in the light, not walking in darkness, that's what we're talking about. A holy lifestyle, as defined by the Word of God, it is ultimately Christ-likeness. It's becoming actually in fact like Jesus, whereas justification righteousness, that is just credited to you. It's written in your bank account, your heavenly bank account is how God sees you with his eyes. But it's not how you actually are, how you actually behave. No, that comes immediately after justification with sanctification, that growing. This is a holiness we are to chase after and hunt down the rest of our lives. I think it's very much the issue of Hebrews 12:1. You're still in the chapter, if you look up at the beginning, it says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith..." Same thing, 12:1 and 12:14 are teaching the exact same thing. All that's happening in 12:14 is saying, "If you're not running that race, you're not going to heaven." That's what it's saying. III. What Is At Stake? So what's at stake? By the way, this is not perfection either. You're never going to fully attain it. You'll be chasing it down the rest of your life. And I also want you to say, "Thanks be to God, you're not going to stand before God on the basis of your own holiness. Even as a Christian, it's not enough. You've never had a single hour of holiness that's holy enough for heaven. I'm not trying to be insulting, friends, I'm just telling you the truth. There's not been a single hour, in which your motives have been pure, you've lived only for the glory of God, you've perfectly obeyed all of his commands and you've stayed away from all of his prohibitions, and you've just... I don't think you've had one perfect hour. If you think you have then you had one holy hour. But what about the rest of your life? The fact of the matter is, our holiness is insufficient for heaven. Only Christ's perfect holiness is enough for heaven. Please don't misunderstand. You're not going to go to heaven based on this holiness you're chasing and hunting down. All we're saying is, if you're not hunting it down, if you're not chasing it, if you're not growing in holiness, you're not going to heaven, that's all I'm saying. I'm describing the kind of life that leads to heaven. So that you can be sure you're living that kind of life, so you don't go to hell, rather than heaven. That's what's at stake here. Why do I say that? Because of what the verse says, "Pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Now, what does that mean? Without which no one will see the Lord, what does it mean to see the Lord? Well, I think this is nothing less than spending eternity in the presence of God, looking on the face of God, seeing him. Seeing him in his glory, seeing him in his majesty. Seeing him high and lifted up on his throne, seeing the radiance of his glory streaming down, God who dwells in unapproachable light streaming into your eyes, seeing that glory. It's described in Revelation 22:3-4, "The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve Him. They will see his face. And his name will be on their foreheads." That should fill you with a holy longing to see the face of God. It's the very thing Jesus prayed for in John 17:24, "Father, I want those whom you have given me, to be with me where I am and to see my glory. The glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." It is the seeing of God that's implied or spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now, we see, but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face-to-face. Now, we know in part, then we show know fully even as we have been fully known." This is the very thing that filled Job with a yearning desire in the midst of his afflictions. In Job 19, he said, "After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes, I and not another. How my heart yearns within me." It's the very thing that Moses asked of God up on that holy mountain, after he had interceded successfully for Israel that God would not destroy them in his holy zeal for his own name, and he interceded, he said this, "Now, show me your glory." God says, "I'll cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, and I'll proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." But it's what Moses wanted. God, I want to see your face, I want to see your glory. It's the very thing that will fill our hearts with eternal bliss, eternal happiness. The sight will be so awesome, it will be so incredible, so transforming that you'll be instantaneously made like Jesus just by seeing him. " Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." That's the third final stage, that's glorification, when you see him instantaneous you will be transformed and made like Jesus in all respects, you will be holy and perfect completely. That's the great hope of the Gospel. And what does it? In 1 John 3:2, it's seeing Jesus as he really is, not by faith anymore, but face-to-face. It will be so powerful a vision that you will be instantaneously transformed forever. But look at the next verse, in your mind, listen to it. Everyone, 1 John 3:3, "Everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifiers himself as he is pure." That's what Hebrews 12:14 is all about. Do you see it? The ones who hope to go to heaven are purifying themselves now, in preparation for it. If that's not going on, then you're not going there, see, or you have no assurance that you've begun your salvation journey, put it that way. It's a consistent teaching, to see the Lord, then, means to go back to the source of all the happiness you've ever experienced in your life. To trace it back. Have you ever had that? You've had some happy moment. Think about these young parents that stood in front of us and they're holding their little babies, and already these little sons and daughters have made them really, really happy. But oh, happy mothers and happy fathers, you ain't seen nothing yet when it comes to happiness. Trace that happiness back to its source, the source is God himself. Go back to the source of the river, of all the happiness you've ever had in your life, it's God himself. C. S. Lewis, in his book, "Till We Have Faces" captures this idea, one of the characters says to another about it, he said this, "It was when I was happiest that I actually longed the most. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to reach the mountain, to find the place where all this beauty comes from. My country, my home and native land, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing? All that longing, the longing for a home? For indeed now, it feels not like going, but actually more like going back." It's a longing for heaven. It's in the heart of all true genuine Christians. But what this verse says is that without holiness, you'll never see God's face. And notice what it says. What does it mean that no one? It means it doesn't matter who you are, there will be no exceptions to this. It doesn't matter your financial situation, rich or poor. It doesn't matter your station in life, you might be master, you might be servant, you might be potentate, you might be subject, doesn't make a difference. IV. Why Is It True that This Holiness is Required for Heaven? You might be the most average person on the earth, does not matter. Without this holiness, no one will see the Lord. It's true of everyone. Why is this the case? Why? Why such a strong statement? Well, it has to do with the nature of God himself, it has to do with who he is. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were Seraphs," that means "burning ones," "each with six wings. With two wings they cover their faces, and with two they cover their feet, and with two they were flying, and they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.'" Now, these Seraphim, as they're calling to one another, they just can't stop talking about the holiness of God, and it's very much linked to his glory. And God called it on the mountain with Moses his goodness, it all flows together, the perfect holiness of God. It has to do with the essence of God himself, he is holy and he cannot dwell with any wickedness. "God is light, and in him, there's no darkness at all. And if we claim to walk with him, and yet live in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin." You see, you don't have to be sinless and perfect on this earth to be walking in the light, isn't that good news? I mean, you may think 1 John is teaching perfectionism, I'm not perfect, what can I do? It isn't teaching perfectionism. You can walk in the light, and still need to be constantly cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and you do. But if you're walking in darkness, you're lying to yourself. That's what this text is teaching. Because of the nature of God, because of what God has done in the past, how one rebellion kicked Satan and all of his angels, the demons, out of heaven. How one sin by Adam and Eve, God evicted them from the Garden of Eden. How one sin by Akin caused the Jews to fall into defeat in front of their enemies on the other side of the Jordan. How one sin by Ananias and Sapphira, God evicted them from life. God is holy, he's communicated this very plainly, and he's made these kinds of assertions. God has described heaven, he says in Isaiah 57:15, "This is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever and whose name is holy, 'I live in a high and a holy place.'" Stop right there. I mean, that just says it to me. God's telling us what kind of place he lives in, and he lives in a high and holy place, "but also..." Oh, those are sweet words, aren't they? "I live with some people there, "also with him who is humble and contrite in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and revive the heart of the contrite." So those that are broken-hearted and those that are faith-filled and flee to Jesus, he saves them, imputes righteousness to them, and he lives with them in a high and holy place. But it is a high and holy place. And so therefore he tells us plainly in various warning passages, what kind of people will not inherit the Kingdom of God. He's not saying it out of hatefulness, no, out of love and mercy he tells us. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified." You see, that's what God does, he saves you out of the life. He sanctifies you, he makes you different. Again, Galatians 5:19-21, "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.I warn you as I did before, that people who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God." And why also? Because of the essence of the unholy person, what is he or she really like? Well, Colossians 1:21 says, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds as demonstrated by your evil behavior." There's a link between the evil behavior and the mind, and God will not dwell with people who are enemies in their minds to him, he's not going to dwell with them. Now, the sweetness of the Gospel is he says, "Once you were like that, now you have been transformed by the Gospel." Isn't that glorious? That's what you used to be. V. How Does This Relate to Justification by Faith Alone? So you may ask, "How does this relate to justification by faith alone?" I feel like I've already explained that, but maybe we just can't explain it enough. We need to really understand salvation. It's simple enough, but it still takes study, it takes God opening your heart and mind. Perfect righteousness is a gift of God, not by works. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ, it's a gift, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace." At justification, guilty sinners like us are made righteous positionally in the sight of God, and in that righteousness, we go to heaven. It's the imputed righteousness of Christ. But at that exact same time he transforms our hearts, regeneration, makes us new creations, gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit, and then commands us to run in the path of his commands, for he's set our hearts free, tells us to live a holy life. That's how they relate. So you can ask the question, "If we are perfectly righteous in God's sight by faith, apart from works, how can you teach that there is a holiness that I must strive for, and that if I don't have it, I'm not going to heaven?" Well, I can teach it, because that's what the text says. Do you see it? I hope you see it at this point, it's what the text says, but there are other answers. It's what James 2 says. It says, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?" Can such a faith save him? Clearly, the answer is no, a faith without holy deeds is dead, he says, it's dead. Faith apart from deeds is dead. Answer number three. The transformation of salvation results in a changed life, every time, not some of the time, every time. So much so that when Zacchaeus was transformed by the Gospel and pledged to change his life, Jesus said, "Today, salvation is come to this house." You remember the story? Zacchaeus, a tax collector, a wicked man living for money, an idolater, an enemy to his own countrymen, a man short of stature, couldn't see Jesus, climbs up in a tree. You guys know the children's story. And he sees Jesus and Jesus goes right to the tree where he's sitting, saying, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately, for I must stay at your house today." And so they go. Alright, but what happens after that? That's what I'm interested in. Afterwards, Zacchaeus stands up and says, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Now, what did Jesus say? "Today, salvation has come to this house, for this man too is a son of Abraham." And then he said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10. So save means, save into a transformed life; without that transformed life you haven't been saved, does that make sense? Answer number four, many verses in the New Testament teach the striving after holiness and righteousness that this same verse teaches, it's not just one verse here. For example, 1 Timothy 6:11-12, "But you man of God flee from all this and pursue righteousness." Wow, he's already a man of God, he's already a pastor, and Paul is commanding him to flee wickedness, and pursue, does that sound familiar? Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and endurance and gentleness, "Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called." That's exactly what we're teaching here. Run and go get it, Timothy, go get your eternal life. Pursue it, run it, chase it down, you man of God. See, justification and sanctification, they go together. Romans 6 teaches it, "Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to wickedness and ever increasing ungodliness, so now offer yourselves to God and the parts of your body as instruments to ever-increasing righteousness." Or it says, "Leading to holiness." It's teaching the same thing. And so justification inevitably leads to sanctification, which inevitably leads to glorification, that's it. Everyone who is justified will be, is sanctified, and everyone who is being sanctified in that way will be glorified. No one is lost, to God be the glory. And so I just want to say to you if you are here today, and you don't know that you've been justified, if you're afraid that your sins will sink you down to hell, you've never come to the cross in justifying faith, can I urge you to flee the wrath to come. Can I urge you to come by simple faith in Jesus and take hold of Christ, take hold of Jesus, if you see that there is none of this holiness in your life, then flee to Christ, and he will save you. You don't need to do anything, as I've said five times in the sermon, just trust in him and his righteousness will be given you as a gift. VI. How May We Be Sure We Have This Holiness? Now, how may we be sure that we have this holiness? By the way, in that 400-page book, I'm about at page 30 right now. "It's Mother's Day, Pastor, we have lunch reservations." I know you probably do. If you've been here any length of time, I hope you didn't make them for 12:30. You just must know. But how can we be sure? Brooks gives 16 answers to that; I'm going to cut it down to 12 and I'm going to give you each one in about 45 seconds, each one. How do you know that this kind of holiness is in you? Deep Delight and Admiration of the Holiness of God First, you have a deep delight in the holiness of God, it's not just his love, or his mercy, or his power, or his omniscience that interests you or attracts you, you are actually attracted to the holiness of God, it's enticing to you to be with such a holy being. You want to be in the light, as he is in the light. Having a Holiness That Spreads to All Areas of Life Secondly, you have a holiness that spreads over all areas of your life, there's not a pocket, or a corner, or a darkness in your life that you don't want Jesus invading. There are no dark corners, there are no dark basements, there are no dark closets. You've basically thrown open the doors of your life, and said, "Lord, make it all light." I want it all to flow, I want the aroma of holiness in every room of the house, it pervades everything. Setting Highest Esteem on Holy Things Thirdly, there is inside you a constant yearning to be holier than you are. It's a relentless yearning. You may sin, you know you do sin, but you are so hungry and thirsty for holiness, you want to be free from sin, it would be the deepest desire of your life to no longer sin, to never sin again. Matthew and I were talking right before worship, and I said to him, I was just saying, "Wouldn't it be incredible to have one week free from sin? In which, just as two men, as husbands and fathers, we didn't sin at all?" And our wives are going to say, "Boy, I could get used to this. Wow, what a husband, what a father." And then to go back, to what it was before, maybe that's why God doesn't do it, but at any rate, the delight you have is a thought, a hungering and a thirsting that someday you will be righteous. You'll be pure in heart, it's in you, you're yearning for it, even though you may not be able to achieve it. And so, there's a constant drive. You never say holiness enough. That's enough holiness, you never would say it. Like Paul in Philippians 3, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead, you press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus. And that is perfection, that's what you want, every day you want perfection in Jesus. And you just strive after it. That's the pursuing we're talking about. Constantly Yearning to be Holier Still Fourth, you have a true hatred for all sin and wickedness, you just hate it. All sins are equally detestable. Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness, you do to. You love righteousness and you hate wickedness. And three specific types of sins in particular that I'm mentioning here. Secret sins, those secret things that you struggle with, or you dally with, or you play with, or whatever. Those secret patterns of sin in your life, you hate them. And you would like them out. Little sins, so to speak. There are some sins that are greater than others, we know that. But the little sins, the little lies, the little gossip, the little slander, the little complaining habit you have, the irritability. I just am irritable before I have my coffee in the morning, whatever it is. How we make excuses for our sins, those little sins. You hate them, you'd like them out of your life. And then there's habitual sins, the ones that you're tempted to stick a white flag and say, "I just can't do anything about this, it's going to be with me the rest of my life." Now, this holiness is, I'm going to fight sin wherever I see it in my life, wherever. I'm at war with sin. True Hatred for All Ungodliness and Wickedness: All Sins Are Equally Detestable And then fifth, I'm deeply grieved and troubled by my sins. I don't take it lightly, I don't take it as a small thing. It really grieves me. As David said in Psalm 38:18, "I confess my iniquity, I am troubled by my sin, it bothers me that I sin." 2 Corinthians 7:10, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." You know what that means? The road of salvation is filled with godly sorrow. If you're going to be continually repenting, then you're going to be continually grieving over sin. Now, you're also going to be continually rejoicing, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. All those sins are forgiven, someday you'll be free from them, you have the power to defeat all of them. There's a joy in all of that. But still there's a grief that you hate your sins, and they cause you grief. Deeply Grieved and Troubled by Their Own Unholiness... Not Merely the Consequences of Sin Sixthly, you are attracted to, and delighted with holy duties. They're not a burden to you, it's not a burden to come to church. It's not a burden to listen to a sermon, it's not a burden to study scripture. It's not a burden to have a good prayer time. These things are a holy delight to you, you're attracted to them, it's not a burden to be with the family of God, you enjoy being with the people of God. Attracted to and Delighted in Holy Duties: Prayer, Bible, Worship, Witnessing Seventh, you labor to make other people holy, it matters to you whether other people are holy or not. And so, you exert effort, you pray for the holiness of others, you witness to other people who are not saved, so that they can be holy too. Laboring to Make Other People Holy And connected with that, eighth, is other people's unholiness causes you grief. It's a misery to you to see the wickedness of the world, it's a misery to you, like Lot, that righteous man who is tormented, it says, in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. Now, I might have given him some advice, "Why don't you move out of Sodom? Just a thought." Would have been good advice. He didn't take any; it damaged, in some ways destroyed his family. But he, 2 Peter 2 tells us, was a righteous man, and he was tormented. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119, that rivers of tears flow down his eyes because God’s law is not obeyed. Conformed to the holiness of Christ Ninth, this holiness is conformable to Christ. Conformed to Christ, it's a Christ-likeness. We were predestined to be conformed to his image, and so therefore it is Christ-likeness, the Holy Spirit of Christ is in us. And so it's more than just what would Jesus do? It's just a yearning to be like Christ, to have the mind of Christ, to have the heart of Christ, to have the holy lifestyle of Christ. Delighted in the Word of God, Especially in its Holiness and Purity Tenth, it's delight in God's word, especially in the holiness and purity of the word, it's the word of God, and you yearn for it, you feed for it. Like newborn babies, you crave the nourishing milk of the word, you feed on it and it delights you. God's word is all of your delight. Regularly Making God’s Glory the Ultimate End of All the Person Does Eleventh, regularly making God's glory the ultimate aim of all you do, you do what you do that God may be glorified, that his attributes may be put on display. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you do it all for the glory of God. The glory of God is the overriding desire of your heart. Speaking a Holy Language; A Mouth Filled With Holy Things And then twelfth and final from my list, you speak a holy language. You just talk holy things, you speak the language of Zion, friends, you speak the language of the heavenly Jerusalem, you talk about Jesus, you talk about the scripture, you talk about what you've learned in your quiet time. You talk about how God has saved you. Jesus said, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him. The evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." And so you just are filled with holy thoughts and actions and all of that, and you just speak it, it just flows out. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. James tells us only perfect people are never at fault in what they say, but still there's just a holy language here. VII. How Must We Make the Most of This Verse? Alright, so how must we make the most of this verse? Well, come to Christ, come to Christ and come to Christ again and again, I've already pleaded with you who are lost right now. You've come here today by the providence of God, maybe to see a family member dedicated. Maybe it's you that needs to be dedicated today. Maybe you need to come to Christ and find full forgiveness of sins. Jesus is a merciful Savior. His blood is shed for sinners like you and me. We're no different, we're the same. Flee to Christ. But for those of you who are claiming to be Christians, your claim may be a valid one. It's good to have a valid claim to be a Christian, but I'm just urging you, examine yourself, to see if you're in the faith, "test yourself," 2 Corinthians 13. This is the test, this is it, this is the test you're supposed to use, the holiness test. Ask this simple question, 'Am I holy? Am I holy?'" Give careful attention to the sin areas of your life. Are you at war with these sins, are you fighting them? How is it going? Are you sexually pure? Are you careful what you look at on the internet? Are you careful what you're doing, what comes into your eyes, what are you filling your minds with? What about your speech purity, are you a gossip, are you slandering, are you depressing to be around Because you complain all the time? Are you arguing, are you an arguer, fighter? These are sins, put them to death, kill them. What about your relationships? Are you harboring bitterness, unforgiveness, are you unkind to people? Are you holding back fellowship with others because of something they said or did? Are you in the thralls of bitterness? Fight it, put these sins to death. Are you ensnared by some kind of lawful pleasure that's become an addiction for you now? Materialism, gluttony, drinking, hobbies, money. I don't know what. Be holy. Focus on Christ above all else, apart from Jesus there is no holiness, he has become for us justification and sanctification. You won't get holy apart from Jesus, he is the vine and you are the branch in the holiness plant, the holiness grapevine. As soon as you're justified, you got engrafted into him, and the life-giving sap of holiness began flowing through you, abide in him, abide in Jesus, moment by moment focus on Jesus. You can't remember this list of 12 things. Okay, don't. Focus on Jesus, trust in Jesus. Zero in on him and say, "Jesus, make me holy. Jesus, make me holy. I want to walk with you. I'm a branch, you're the vine, just flow through me." And my final words to you is the delight, the delight of all this. I could preach this in a way that would just be scathing and crushing and convicting. I could flay your souls with it, and mine too. I'd be no different. All of us sin every day, we stumble in many ways. My desire is to give you delight in Jesus. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. We can now, the holier we are, by faith, turn our eyes upon Jesus, and see him. Look full in his wonderful face. You'll see more by faith now of Christ, and you'll be happier and happier. The things that are afflicting you are your sins. If you'll defensively put them to death, and be strong in this area, you will be happy and fruitful in Christ. So yesterday, I was mowing the lawn. And I was listening to my ear buds and I had my headphones on, and I'm listening to Christian worship, and I was thinking about this sermon. And the Lord opened my heart and poured out his grace in my heart, and said, "You're going to make some of my people really happy tomorrow. Go do it." So, be happy by being holy. Fight for joy, fight for fruit, be a holy people. Close with me in prayer.

god jesus christ father lord israel earth peace bible spirit man mother secret gospel speaking christians holy spirit worship devil focus gardens romans holy satan revelation psalm greek corinthians biblical jerusalem exodus jews savior run proverbs kingdom of god sermon fight hebrews philippians pastor lamb consequences galatians new testament boy colossians dear godly holiness thessalonians iv pharisees gentiles pursue required faith in jesus justification troubled zacchaeus sermons sodom flee ymca pure in heart ananias faith in jesus christ judgment day woe materialism faith alone psalmist vii attracted god almighty god first old covenant scribes puritan archangel delighted akin conformed lord almighty admiration in exodus laboring like paul seraphim king uzziah only christ in job andy davis till we have faces all areas thomas brooks lord hebrews two journeys ultimate end seraphs internal journey

What are seraphim? Are seraphs angels?

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2009

What are seraphim? Are seraphs angels? Are the seraphim the highest order of angels?

angels seraphim seraphs

The Potter's Freedom (Romans Sermon 69 of 120) (Audio)

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2005

Introduction This morning we are looking this morning at Romans 9:19-23. One of the things my family and I like to do is to go to historic places like Williamsburg or Conner Prairie in Indiana or some of these other places where they do crafts from the colonial era. Some of you enjoy doing that kind of thing too. I like to see the blacksmith make an iron hinge or the gunsmith make a rifle barrel with a long kind of interesting drill. I like to see the joiners making furniture and cabinets. That's really an amazing thing. The tailor sitting cross legged on a table all day long, sewing. I wonder how they do that. It looks like a stiff position, but that's where they are and they're just working. But I especially love to see the potters doing their work, you know what I mean? The skilled potter, who takes some clay out of some container of clay, and then slaps it down on the wheel as it's spinning, and then with just artful fingers he just makes the thing seemingly come to life. I love that moment where he puts his fingers inside and just pulls up and it just grows right in front of you. Have you seen that before? It's an amazing thing. And out of this lump of clay comes a pitcher or a bowl or something according to his skill and his vision, what it is he's trying to make, it's a marvelous thing. And that is the image that the apostle Paul uses to talk about what God is doing in the world with people. And it's an incredible thing, and we need to understand it in context. I. A Deep and Confirming Objection Paul here in Romans 9, is dealing with a very deep and significant question. The question has to do with whether God's Word has failed. And the issue is that the Jews in large number, are, were and still are, rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they're not just any people, but they are people that had received great privileges and amazing promises and prophetic warnings and all kinds of things and here they're rejecting Christ. And so Paul is dealing with that. Now we as Christians, we cherish the promises of God, don't we. And all the incredible things that God has said to us, like in Romans 8, "And we are assured that nothing else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus." Isn't that wonderful. Those are just words. But for me, they're not words. That's the foundation of my hope, that's what gives me joy. I cling to that. But Paul has to take up this problem, if God's Word has failed to the Jews, how do I know it's not going to fail to me? And so, he's dealing with that question. Has the Word of God failed? And he strongly answers it in verse 6 of chapter 9, "It is not as though God's Word has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." And so, he sets up this category, where there are the physical descendants of Israel, the Jews, physically and nationally, but then within that a subset of the true Israel. "Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." And then he brings us to the mystery of unconditional election. He goes beyond just saying that, he says that God decides who's in each category. And he makes that decision before any of us are born or do anything good or bad. It's the doctrine of unconditional election. The case study was Jacob and Esau. "Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works but by Him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger just as it is written. Jacob, I love and Esau I hated." This is the doctrine of unconditional election. In order to deal with that though, up comes the question of God's justice. It seems unjust for God to do this. Unconditional election seems unjust and so he has to raise the question and answer it in verses 14-16. Is God unjust? And He deals with the issue of, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It makes an amazing summary statement in verse 16. It does not, therefore, depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God, who has mercy. It doesn't depend on human will, it doesn't depend on human effort, it depends on God, who has mercy. And then he deals with the negative side as we did the last time, two weeks ago, that we looked at the hardening of Pharaoh's heart and how God doesn't just deal in the lives of the Jacobs but he also deals in the lives of the Esaus. And he deals with the doctrine there of hardening. And the summary then, after dealing with the case of Pharaoh, in verse 18, he sums it all up saying, "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wills to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wills to harden." There it is, in verse 18. And we covered that last time. Now, as Paul frequently does, he raises up an objection to his doctrine. Now, I've mentioned before he does this because he's a veteran evangelist and apologist, defender of the Christian faith, he's going from place to place in all these synagogues, he has heard this before. "One of you at this point is going to say this to me..." And isn't it refreshing that he does that? I want the doctrine tested, I want the answers that are popping up in my mind to be dealt with. And so he brings up this incredibly deep and I think confirming objection. "One of you will say to me, that why does God still blame us for who resists His will?" That's the objection that Paul is dealing with here in verse 19. Now, what is the objection? Well, the way I understand it is this basically, if God is so all powerful as you're saying, Paul, if everything just comes down to His will. If He can do anything He wants, then why does anybody go to hell, frankly. Why does He blame anybody? For who resists His will? Why doesn't He just save everyone? Has that question ever occurred to you? I know it's occurred to some of you, because you come and talk to me about it. And so, yes, it's on our minds, we're trying to understand it. Why doesn't he just save everybody? If it doesn't depend on the man desires or wills but on God who has mercy, why doesn't He just have universal mercy? Oh yes, you know the question's in your mind, you have this question. And I remember the first time I read this thinking, "Oh good, I'm going to get an answer. And instead, I get a security alert clearance and I'm not allowed to go in the room. "Who are you oh man to talk back to God?" I'm not cleared for that room, it seems. And yet, amazingly, he goes beyond, and starts to give some of his reasons even past that statement. So it's remarkable what God's doing here in Romans 9, but He's dealing with this objection. Now, as I look at the objection in my opinion, as I look at it, there's a true aspect to it, and a false one. The objection contains a truth and it also contains a falsehood. What is the truth to the objection? No one can resist the will of God. That is true. God gets what He wants. Some call it the doctrine of irresistible grace. I like effectual grace better. None of us are dragged kicking and screaming to faith in Christ, we run and embrace him don't we? But I look on that as effectual grace, it has an effect on us, effectual grace. So the true aspect is, who resists His will? More on that in a minute. The false aspect is, if God is so sovereign, absolute sovereignty must nullify human responsibility so that there can be no Judgment Day. That is false. Now how those go together, I don't know. And I challenge you to find any human being who does. I can't put it all together. And if you want the removal of mystery you've come to the wrong place, and you're listening to the wrong sermon. I'm not here to remove mystery there is mystery in our faith isn't there? There's limitations to these brains and so there's limit. But truth, I believe God's will is final. The scriptures teach it over and over again. But one of the clearest passages on this, is Isaiah 14:24-27. Don't turn there, but just listen. There Isaiah is dealing with the problem of the Assyrian empire. And Assyria, a mighty empire, was invading and took over the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was going to come right up to the neck, it says in Isaiah, of taking over Judah as well. But God says, this far, you go and no further and then I'm going to crush you, that's what He says in Isaiah 14 to the Assyrian. Very interesting, but these are the statements that He makes. Isaiah 14:24, "The Lord Almighty has sworn," very strong statement. "The Lord Almighty has sworn, surely as I have planned, so it will be. And as I have purposed, so it will stand." Now, what is that saying? Means, I'm the king. I rule. What I plan stands. I was talking to one of my children about that this morning, I said. "What would you think of a child in a home getting up and telling his or her parents, "Well these are my plans today. I'm going to eat such and such for breakfast, I want to make bacon and eggs and all that, and have some toast, maybe some yogurt. And after I get done, I'm going to go play with the neighbor kids for a while, and then I'll do some of my school work and when I get done with that, I'm not sure what I'd like to do. I would like to spread some mulch on the yard and maybe cut the grass a little bit, and then when I get done... " He'd stand there in amazement saying, "Excuse me? Well, those are wonderful plans. They're subject to change. Okay, why? Because I'm the daddy. That's why. You don't get to decide, you don't get to choose." So there's an issue of authority. The highest authority however, isn't subject to change. What He plans, it stands. What He purposes that's the way it's going to go. And He says It openly over and over in Scripture. He says later in that same section, Isaiah 14:27, "For the Lord Almighty has purposed and who can thwart Him. His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" Answer, No one. So that is true. The objection is true. Who resist His will? But the conclusion from the objection is not. That means we're all free, we're all robots, none of us is responsible for the things we do. That. My friends, is not true. We will give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word that we have spoken. That is a fact. So the objection is put together in a package of truth and error and we have to try to understand it. Now in my opinion, this very objection kind of proves the interpretation we've been giving all along in Romans 9, of God's absolute sovereignty in salvation. A free will approach to salvation does not have to answer this question. Somebody would never even think to say, "Well then why does God still find fault for who resists His will in a freewill scheme?" It would never come up. If people make their ultimate choices, then they get the ultimate conclusion of those choices and that's it. But here, this objection proves we are dealing with absolute sovereignty, aren't we? As if the open texts weren't enough that openly say it, he raises this question. Now, as I look at this, I see basically, four parts to the answer. And it's just amazing how they all begin with R, isn't it amazing when that happens? But I tell you this, I like alliteration, but I don't ever want to force a text under certain letter schemes. Certain letters are better than others. Q is really bad. I've never been able to do Q but R is good. And in this case, I think it does lay out the text, pretty well for us. First, we're going to see God's Rebuke. Second, we're going to see God's Role. Third, God's Rights. And fourth, but not really this week, probably more like next week, God willing, we'll see God's Reason for all of this. Okay? II. God’s Rebuke First, God's Rebuke. Basically, this begins with God putting humanity in its place. We are put in our place here. Look at verse 20. "But who are you, Oh man, to talk back to God?" This is a rebuke. "Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, Why did you make me like this?" The focus here is on our weakness, our frailty as created beings, our mortality. The human race has forgotten itself and it's wisdom to know who we are, isn't it? So, as we deal with the issue of God's sovereignty in salvation, it's good for us to have an attitude check at a certain point. We are, uppity. Is that a good word? We're uppity. Human beings are uppity. We don't stay in the place that God created us for. There's an upward mobility in the spiritual realm, just like the devil when he said, "I will ascend to the most high, I'll sit on God's throne." We have that in us, and so we don't stay in our place, we are uppity. And so therefore, it's good for us to be humbled, to be quieted at a certain point. Because we misunderstand our relationship with God as a result. And so there are some things that God has designed to humble us. For example, in Psalm 8:3-4, David said, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers. The moon and the stars, which you have set in place, you know what I think? I think what am I? What is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Now, that's humbling. A nice walk under a star strewn sky, that'll do it. Or look at a mountain range, that will put you in your place. Look at the ocean as it's raging on a stormy night, that'll put you in your place. And then there's just theology. Just as you read scripture. In Ecclesiastes 5:2 it says, "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you, you're on earth. So let your words be few." There's a humbling there. I actually think that Isaiah 40 through 49, those 10 chapters, are written to humble us so that we remember that, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people are like grasshoppers in front of Him. All the nations are like a drop in the bucket, he weighs them like they're dust on the scale." Does that not put you and me in our place? It does. And so therefore, God wants to humble us. But one of the number one things that God does to the people that He loves is He begins by humbling them. I already talked to you about Moses. "Stop, don't come any closer. Take off your sandals." And Moses is trembling on the ground. He can't even look, he's so fearful. God did that to Abraham in Genesis 15 when He was going to appear to him and confirm the covenant. A thick and dreadful darkness came over Abraham and he was afraid. It was a fear. He did that with Isaiah when Isaiah saw a vision of Christ seated on His throne and the train of His robe filled the temple, and there were Seraphs, each with six wings and they were calling to one another, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty. And the door posts and thresholds shook with the voice of the angels. And Isaiah says, reasonably, I think, "Woe is me. I'm a sinner." He means to humble Isaiah there. He meant to humble the Israelites at Mount Sinai with that display of power when He came down in a cloud, and there was lightning, and thunder, and there was a loud voice and a trumpet and the whole ground under their feet shook. And the people were terrified. Don't tell me God wasn't trying for fear there. He was. He was trying to bring the fear of God in the hearts of people. And it worked, because they said, as God began to speak to them, they begged to not hear His voice anymore, and God said, "It's a good thing. Oh, that they would always fear me and obey my commands." So God does mean to humble us and He means to keep us in our place. Why? For our own good, because it is reality. He is God and we are not. He sits on the throne and we will not, except in that we sit on Christ's throne through redemption. But He is God. And so we need to be humbled. Therefore we have to have the right attitude. Martin Lloyd Jones put it this ways so beautifully. Talking about this whole difficult chapter of Romans 9, he says this, “You cannot understand? You are tempted to question and to argue, and to query? The reply to you is, ‘Who are you, O man, that replies against God! Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why have you made me like this?’ ‘But that,’ you may say, ‘is not a fair argument. It is rather a prohibition of argument, and the exertion of an unfair authority.’ To which I reply that we were never meant to argue with God, and that we should never have started from the assumption that it was to be a discussion between two equal disputants. God is in heaven, and we are upon the earth. God is holy and we are sinful. God knows all things, and sees the end from the beginning.... God needs no defense, for He is on the throne. He is the Judge of all the earth. His Kingdom is without end. Cease to question and to argue! Bow down before Him! Worship Him! Get into the right attitude yourself, and you will begin to understand His actions.” Lloyd Jones is right. And that's all that happens today in this sermon, is that you feel a humbling in a downward direction, like it says in Psalm 95. "Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker. For He is our God and we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." Oh, that's a good thing, isn't it, to be humbled. There's a sweet feeling that comes from that. Now, the issue here is, is God on trial? Is he needing to answer our cross examination? Are we the district attorney pacing back and forth and thinking of our next question, as we orchestrate this debate with God and make Him dance to our logical tune? Is that what's going on here? "Enough." says Romans 9. Stop. Remember, who you are. Remember who you're speaking to. Think. You're dust, created, and if you're a Christian, you're a vessel fitted for glory by His power. That's marvelous. But we are not in any position to talk back to God. The word means here, doesn't mean ask an honest question. That's not what we're talking about here. Doesn't mean, I have a question I really would like to know. I'm trying to understand, that's all fine. I lack wisdom, James says He gives honestly, and generously out without rebuke. He's not going to rebuke you for asking for wisdom. But that's not what this verse is talking about. Here we're talking about answering back or arguing back, or in the parental child relationship, talking back you know. There's the back talking and that is cut off here. We are not to talk back to God. This is, I think a rebuke that refreshes us. It doesn't sting, it actually heals us, friends. It heals us. It's a good thing to be in our place, because the place that God made is good. And so after God had rebuked Job, Job repented in sackcloth and ashes. He said his disputations with God, were over forever. You're not going to argue anymore. And so it says in Job 40, "The Lord said to Job. Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer him." And then Job answered the Lord. "I am unworthy. How can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once but have no answer. Twice but I will say no more." Job said, I don't have anything else to say. I've seen the Lord and He has quieted me. And so friends, let's start with the rebuke. "Who are you oh man to argue against God?" Let's not argue anymore. III. God’s Role The second is God's role. God is the potter and we are the clay. I love that song. Wasn't that beautiful? I mean it's delightful, the sense of God at work in our lives, is one of the most encouraging ones you'll ever find in your life. And to know that God is wise about what He's doing in your life, His hands are on the events of your life, nothing comes to you except through His fingers, and He's wise, He is the potter we are the clay. It's such a beautiful thought. And it is all true for us as Christians as you listen to all the words of the song. It's true. But I think Paul is using it differently here in Romans 9, a little bit. The thought itself is the same, but he's dealing here with vessels of mercy, and vessels of wrath and what God is doing there. And here it says, "God is the potter and we are the clay." It says, "Shall what is formed," verse 20, "say to Him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" The Greek word is plasma from which we get the word plastic, and all that. There's a sense of something moldable, shapeable, you can work with it. We're being molded and shaped, and fashioned. The point is essentially our changeability. We are moldable, we are changeable. Every day then, we are shaped and molded and changed in some way. By things we read, by conversations we have with people, by experiences that we have out in the world. All of those things mold us, shape us, affect us. Christian, non-christian everybody, all over the world. That's what it is we are moldable, we are shapeable. The contrast is God, He never changes, never. Nothing molds and shapes God. God isn't progressing, He's not improving, He's not getting worse either. He is the same yesterday, and today and forever, always. God is fashioning us after His own purpose. He is working on us by His own internal vision. Many testimonies of people, craftsmen and artists talk about the artistic process. One French artist was talking this way, he said, "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him, the image of a cathedral." It was a rock pile, it could eventually, 128 years later be a cathedral. But there's a vision. The artist working. Michael Angelo was talking about one of the angels that he carved out of marble and he said, "Well, I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." Isn't that marvelous. Another time, Michael Angelo was asked while he was sculpting his David, "How do you know what to carve away?" His response was reported to be, "I simply remove everything that doesn't look like David." See there it is, you know. Sculpting in one easy step. I don't know how he gets the veins and tendons and how it looks like it's actually skin on the marble, that's amazing that he was gifted. But that's what... He's got an internal vision and he works with the block of marble until it is the way he saw. That is what God is doing in the world. God, God, God's medium, is people. That's what He's working in. Michelangelo worked with marble there making that statue. Others work with canvas, and oil-based paints. God works with people. He is the potter and we are the clay. We're moldable. And what is He doing in the elect? What's He doing in we who believe in Jesus Christ? Well, it says in Romans 8:29, "Those God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He, Christ, might be the first born among many brothers." So God's internal vision is his own Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And what is he doing? Well, basically, I take everything out of him or her that doesn't look like Jesus. That's it, that's sanctification, that's the work that He's doing. He's fitting us for glory. More about that God willing next week. But he is the potter and we're the clay. Look at verses 20-21. "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use?" Now, pottery is an ancient art, it's been around for a long, long time. Ancient, ancient art. The potter and the clay is a strong image from Old Testament days. The human race, Adam originally came out of the dirt. And God, in an amazing way, shaped out of clay Adam's body. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:47, "The first man is from the earth." He's earthy. That's us. Okay, but then the prophets especially Isaiah, have the image of the potter and the clay for example, Isaiah 29, "Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think who sees us? Who will know?You turn things upside down. As if the potter were thought to be like the clay. "Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, 'He did not make me.' Can the pot say to the potter, 'He knows nothing.'" But that's what a sinner does. The pot, (we) say of the potter, he doesn't know anything. Similarly, in Isaiah 45, it says, "Woe to him who quarrels with his maker. To him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground." The image is the same. And then in Isaiah 64:8, "Yet O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay You are the potter. We are all the work of your hand." But the best is in Jeremiah 18. "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord." So the Word of the Lord is coming to Jeremiah, but not there. He says, "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me." So first, he is watching this thing. What does this have to do with anything? And then the Word of the Lord came and this is what it was, "O House of Israel, can I not do with you, as this potter does, declares the Lord. Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O House of Israel." Don't I have the right to do this? That's what the potter did with his pot, he reshaped it, he remolded it, he did something different with it. And you didn't cry out an objection, you didn't say, "That's unjust what you're doing there." Of course, he's the potter, that's his clay. He can do that. Now, I want to make a key distinction and I think this will be essential to you understanding Romans 9. Martin Lloyd Jones makes this point, and I think he's right. "We are not dealing here with original creation, God originally making man. I don't think so. Rather, we're dealing with man, the human race, as sinful after the fall." That's an important distinction to make. God did not create Adam evil, He created him good. He gave Adam a will and put him in the garden and tested him. Adam chose to sin. In him, the entire human race sinned and became corrupt, all of us. That's the doctrine of original sin. As soon as each individual human being has the opportunity to choose and to obey or disobey the law of God, we sin, all of us. When the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. And so we sin as a result of being in Adam, but also from actual choices, as well. The whole human race then, is the massive lump of sinful clay. Not shaped or made sinful by God for God cannot make any one evil. It says in James 1:13, "When tempted no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He tempt anyone." Lloyd Jones put it this way. "This is essentially different from the original creation, because in the original creation it was not only creation from nothing, but still more important, God created man in His own image and likeness.’ That is the opposite of dishonor. He looked upon man, as He looked upon the whole of creation, and we are told that He saw that it was good. God never created anything unto dishonor, but here we are dealing with a potter who makes one vessel unto dishonor. And that proves we cannot be dealing with human nature as such, still less with man as he was made at the beginning. It is an account of what God does with fallen humanity. So there is the key to the whole explanation of this statement that has mystified so many people. They get hold of the idea that God has deliberately made some people that they might go to hell. That is a lie! It is not taught anywhere in the Scripture... The lump of clay is not 'humanity'; it is 'fallen humanity.'" It is as though God found this disgusting pile of rejected stinking clay good for nothing, and chose to do something with some of it. He chose to take some of that lump that defiled and evil pile of useless clay, and fashioned it into the perfect image of His Son. But he did more than that, the rest He gave over to the natural proclivities of their heart hardening them as vessels of wrath. He gave them over to what they wanted to be. He could have saved them all, he could have exerted His sovereign power in an awesome way. He could have transformed them all, but He chose not to. Why? We'll talk about that next week. I told you already, I'm not going to remove all the mystery, but we will discuss it more. His reasons, next week. But here is God a molder and shaper of unregenerate people, and a hardener and judge of unregenerate reprobate people. The key insight here then is that God does not fashion and shape every one for glory. Some are crafted as vessels of honor, some are hardened as vessels of dishonor. Some are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, others are vessels of mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory. IV. God’s Rights A final point I want to make today is God's rights. Verse 21. "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use?" God has a right of ownership here. The potter/clay analogy is one of sovereign rights of ownership and craftsmanship. God owns the clay. He can make anything He wants out of it. The Greek word here is 'exousia,' power, authority. Not so much like the dynamite power that we get later in verse 22. "What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, [like dynamite] bore with great patience the objects of His wrath." Here it's rather authority, God has the authority to do this. He has the right to do it, He's the king, He's the owner, He owns all things. God can do what He wants with what He's made. And you live by this, don't you? Suppose the government came without due process of law and confiscated your house. Would you not feel a sense of injustice? Oh yes, you would. And so also in all the other areas of your property. Communism was an utter failure because it violated this basic principle of rights of ownership. Without due process of law, things were confiscated and put into a big collective pot. But God here declares His rights over the whole human race. Now when we deal with this issue of the same lump of clay, this is remarkable, and it is humbling. Basically, God doesn't find a pocket of the rejected clay and say, "Oh here's something I can work with. Well, here's some good clay. Just, right there and pull out some good clay and work with it. And those are the Christians. No, it's the same lump folks. The same lump, as those that are going to hell. Does that not humble us? Does it not teach that there's no difference between us and them? Out of the same lump of clay God has power to do this. And what is He doing in us? Well, He's making us a vessel of honor, and I want to end with that. God is working in the believers, that we would be containers or vessels of glory. That we would have the delight and the glory of the knowledge of God inside of us. That we would hear that voice saying, "Come up here and I will show you my glory." And that we will see it. We're being fitted and prepared for glory. And if you're a child of God, no matter what is going on in your life, no matter what suffering, no matter what struggles and temptations you're fighting, you are being fitted and prepared for glory. You are being prepared in advance for honor. And oh is that so encouraging and so sweet. Next week, I want to talk about God's reason for all of this. V. Application Application. First, humbly ask God, humbly ask God for the proper attitude. Say, "Lord, you know I've had the tendency to argue against doctrine. I've had the tendency to reject the doctrine of your sovereignty. Will you please humble me? Like You did Job. Well, maybe not exactly like you did Job. But do a humbling work in me. I'm not asking for all of that. But humble me Lord. Do what you need to do in me to make me humble before You. To accept anything You say. Also Lord, I want to confess a sin of arrogance that I have fought against the doctrine, fought against Scripture. I want to just accept what your Word teaches." Christians, will you praise God for His incredible skill. He is working on you, right now, He's working on you. He's going to be working on you all this upcoming week. He is feeding you and preparing you for glory. And is that not a marvelous thought? Does it not take some of the sting out of the trial that you're going through? And unbelievers, if you're here and you've never trusted in Christ, He could fit you for glory too. He has the power to transform anybody's life. Come to Christ, trust in Him, believe in Him for the salvation of your soul. Close with me in prayer.

The Secret of Christian Contentment, Part 2 (Philippians Sermon 22 of 24) (Audio)