Not Against Us Program No SPEAKER: JOHN BRADSHAW

Transcription

1 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 1 Not Against Us Program No SPEAKER: JOHN BRADSHAW Kim Philby was destined to make his mark in the world. The son of a rather brilliant father, he was educated at the best schools in England, including Trinity College in Cambridge. For 30 years, Philby worked for British intelligence, rising to a very high rank in the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. He ran its entire counterespionage program that is, he was in charge of stopping spies collecting information on Britain and he set up the section that spied on the Soviet Union. But what nobody knew was that while Kim Philby was in charge of an important part of Great Britain s spy program, he himself was in fact a double agent. While supposedly protecting Britain from spies, Philby was a spy himself, working for the Soviet Union. He provided a lot of information to the Soviets that led to the deaths of many agents, and he inflicted real damage to both American and British intelligence. Kim Philby died in Moscow in 1988 a brilliant man, a capable man, but a double agent. Nobody really knew just whose side he was on. I ve often wondered just how many people know whose side God is on. I m not suggesting for a second that God is a double agent just that many people aren t entirely sure just whose side He is on as life plays out here on Planet Earth. God gets blamed for an enormous amount of bad things. In 2005, not long after Hurricane Katrina, Time magazine featured an article titled, Where Was God? It investigated the responses from people about the cause of the calamity. Many felt that it was God s judgment for just about everything. After the Asian tsunami, the Archbishop of Canterbury said, Of course, this makes us doubt God s existence. So very often when personal tragedy strikes, the question asked is, Why did God allow this? Now, that s not always a bad question even Jesus cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? But all too often, present in the question is the suggestion that God is the villain.

2 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 2 And the question gets murky for some when we start to wrestle with matters of personal sin. Does God still care for me? Does God still love me? Is God still with me after what I ve done? How far does the love, patience and acceptance of God stretch in the case of sinners committing sin? Those are serious questions, and the Bible provides us with serious answers. You don t really have to go too far in the Bible to figure this out. John chapter 8 describes how Jesus handled a broken life. We find Jesus in the temple where you d expect it to be very reverent and very quiet when something strange happens. A group of apparently upstanding men bring Jesus a woman who had just been caught in an act of immorality. So the scene is set with angry men and a cowering perhaps weeping woman. There is tension in the air as justice is being demanded. Here s how John describes the scene (John 8:3-5): Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say? Well, what could He say? If she s guilty, she s guilty. Really, that settles it. But aren t you glad that doesn t actually settle it in the mind of God? If guilt settled it, our collective goose would have been well and truly cooked a long time ago. According to the Bible, we re all in the same situation. Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If our misdeeds settled it, if our sins settled it, none of us would ever have the slightest hope of going to Heaven. We d be done! So how did Jesus respond? We pick it up in John 8 (John 8: 6, 7): This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. Now, they were right. She was a sinful woman, and she had done wrong. But Jesus challenges those individuals and tells them to go right ahead and stone this poor creature as long as they themselves are without sin. You know, when that woman heard what Jesus had said, she no doubt thought she was dead. These holy, righteous men, she might have thought. They come off as being so holy, they ll probably all be throwing rocks at me. It ll be a blizzard!

3 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 3 But instead, they drop their rocks and walk away leaving Jesus, the perfect, holy, righteous Son of God God in the flesh alone with this miserable, wicked, corrupt individual, who really did deserve to have the book thrown at her. Now let s see how this story ends (John 8:10, 11): When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more. Can you imagine how she felt?! You know how good you feel when you get pulled over for speeding and the police officer lets you off with just a warning, right? All you avoided there was a fine. This woman escaped with her life. Now, why did Jesus do that? Because that s whose side Jesus is on. We remember that famous verse in John 3:16, but what about John 3:17? It says this (John 3:17): For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. God is in the business of saving people. In fact, God gives us an incredible illustration to help us understand just whose side He is on today. God had Israel build Him a dwelling place, a sanctuary. In Exodus 25:8 the Bible says this: And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. God wanted to spend time with His people. This sanctuary was mobile it traveled with the Israelites through the wilderness. It was also magnificent gold-plated boards set in sockets of silver, fine linen, beautiful curtains, golden candlesticks with seven lamps giving light day and night, gold-plated furniture, and items of pure gold. And most magnificently of all, the Shekinah Glory was in there the presence of God Himself. Of course, in time, the mobile sanctuary was superseded by the temple. Yet you ll remember that when Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn in two by an act of God. God was signifying that the temple services were now obsolete the True Lamb had come and died. As such, it was redundant for God s people to offer animal sacrifices anymore. In fact, you could say it was offensive to have faith in a lamb sacrifice would be to fail to recognize that the True Lamb had died. The temple had really served its purpose. So what is the Bible talking about when it talks about a sanctuary that is still important to us today? In the book of Hebrews, we discover a sanctuary in Heaven.

4 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 4 And according the book of Exodus, Moses was told by God to build the earthly sanctuary and pattern it after the heavenly one. Now why is that important? The simple existence of the building itself isn t the item of the most importance. What s most important is what s going on in that sanctuary. What s going on there shows us where God s mind is toward the sinners of this world. I ll tell you in a moment where Jesus is and what He is doing. And the answer will bless you incredibly. BIBLE QUESTION: I heard a preacher say that hell is not a real place and that God is so loving that in the end everyone will be saved, since they are all his children and a loving God wouldn t kill any of them. Do you agree with that? Let me tell you this. Jesus certainly believed in hell. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. It isn t a pleasant thought at all, but the truth is that the wages of sin is death. According to the Bible, sinners ultimately will be destroyed in a lake of fire. You read that in the book of Revelation. Yes, God is loving. Yes, God wants everyone to come to repentance. But for those who do not, God isn t going to drag them kicking and screaming into Heaven. If someone really doesn t want to go there, God is not going to drag them there. I d like to prod your thinking a bit. Hell has been a favorite for some preachers. They ll preach up the hottest hell and then almost scare people into accepting Jesus just so they can avoid the fires of hell. That s what we might call, Fire Escape Religion, the idea of embracing religion just to escape the fire. Now, I do believe that hell ought to act as a disincentive to sinful living, that s for sure. But it isn t even nearly the best disincentive to sinful living. The best inducement to draw a sinner away from sin and to the heart of Jesus is the love of God. And you know something? Even hellfire, when you understand it correctly, is a manifestation of the love of God. There is a hell, and it is hot, but I think it is important to try to really accurately understand hellfire, and to see that all God does is a reflection of His character and a revelation of what He is really like. I d love for you to read an article I ve written about hell. You can download it from our website, RETURN TO PROGRAM:

5 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 5 After Jesus died on the Cross, we know where He went. He went to the grave. I know it says in the Apostles Creed that, He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again... But that s true in the Biblical sense where the word hell is often used to mean the grave. Jesus descended into the grave. When He died, He didn t go to some hot place in the center of the earth. That s just fantasy, with no Biblical basis at all. The wonderful news, though, is that the grave could not hold Jesus! He came forth triumphant then where d He go? He went to Heaven. And what did He go to Heaven for? Was it just to bide His time as He waited for the Second Coming? No, Jesus went to Heaven to do far more than that. According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus is performing a specific role in Heaven. Hebrews 4:14 says: Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Jesus went to heaven to be our High Priest. Now let s look at Hebrews 8:1, 2: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; Jesus has gone to heaven, to the heavenly sanctuary that God made, so that He can be our High Priest. Now think about what that means for us. The old sanctuary service was essentially the Gospel in types and shadows. How could God help Israel understand what the plan of salvation was really all about? He taught them. It s like this, He said. Sin causes death. I want to show you how it will cause the death of my Son, so I ll put that in the figure of the death of a lamb. Because of your sin, the lamb dies. Here s what they d do: The sinner would take a lamb to this sanctuary. He d confess his sins over the lamb, and his sins would be transferred figuratively, obviously to the lamb. The lamb would be killed, and some of the blood would be taken inside the sanctuary. In that way, the sin was transferred into the sanctuary. At the end of the year, the entire sin record would be dealt with, on the Day of Atonement. The sanctuary would be cleansed, and the people would rejoice that they stood before God absolutely pure and clean. Does this relate to our salvation today? You bet it does.

6 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 6 When we need cleansing from sin, we come to Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and then prompts us to come to God. We come we are drawn to Him by God Himself. We confess our sins. Who takes our sins? Jesus, the Lamb. He died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sins once and for all. So we come to Christ, we profess faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb when Jesus died on the cross, and God takes our sins away. Now, back in the Old Testament time, when the sinner confessed, there was a middle man a priest or a high priest. Today, there s a Middle Man our High Priest, Jesus. Look at what we read in 1 John. The Bible says (1 John 2:1): My little children, I write these things to you that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. As our High Priest in Heaven, Jesus intercedes for us. We come to Him with our sins, repentant. He takes our sins from us, appeals to God on our behalf, and gives His own perfect righteousness in place of our sins. What this tells us is that in Heaven, there is a Savior who invites us to come to Him, just as we are, knowing that He will have mercy on us. Remember what it said back in Hebrews 4:14? Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. If you re a sinner who has faith in Jesus and you ve got your struggles, the answer is not to let go! The knowledge that holy, righteous Jesus is your High Priest in Heaven absolutely must inspire you to hang on tight! The Greek word that is translated into hold fast means to cling to tenaciously. That s like a barnacle clinging to the side of a ship. You can hardly pry those things off! And when you know that Jesus is on your side in Heaven, then that ought to give you confidence to live in such a way that nothing can pry you off. Continuing in Hebrews 4:16: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. We are to come with confidence, because Jesus is our High Priest, and our Intercessor. I spoke with someone recently who said to me, I hope I m good enough to go to Heaven. And you know what I told this person?

7 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 7 I said, You ll never be good enough. That s why we need Jesus! And in fact, if you re hoping to ever be good enough for God to save you, you need to stop hoping that right now. Now, if what you mean is that you hope to be ready, or you hope to see Jesus, that s fine. But if you re hoping to be good enough to go to Heaven, you ve got another thing coming. Now this might surprise you, but I ve taught my children that they should never pray that God will help them to be good. Now why would I say that? I have taught my children to never pray to be good. I remember my little boy praying Dear Jesus, help me to be good. And I said, No, we are not going to pray that way. Not that I want my children to pray to be bad, you understand! But what happens if you pray to be good? You re doomed to fail. In Romans chapter 3, Paul is quoting the Psalms when he writes these words (Romans 3:10): As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one. And then verse 12 adds (Romans 3:12): There is none that doeth good, no, not one. The person who prays to be good is sooner or later going to figure out that such an approach cannot work, and before long, one of a couple of things is going to happen: they re either going to give up on God, or just as bad, they re going to stay in the church and be miserable and feel condemned. But God didn t ever ask us to be good. He asked us to be HOLY! And where are you going to get holiness from? Not from yourself, that s for sure! I ve encouraged my children to pray instead that Christ will live in their hearts that God would forgive them and give them new hearts. See, if you are praying to be good, it ll never work. If you pray for Jesus to live in your heart, it ll never fail! When Jesus comes into your life He brings His goodness, His righteousness, His power and His holiness. That s what we need. And we can get that sinners like us! We can receive Christ s holiness freely when we come confidently to the throne of grace. So what s the worst thing that can happen if you admit to God that you are a sinner? Do you think God is going to be shocked to find that out? I don t think so! When Jesus said in Matthew 11:28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

8 It Is Written Script: 1211 Not Against Us Page 8...He wasn t referring to just the holy folks! If you are burdened, if you are weary, if you are feeling crushed by the weight of the mess in your life, come to Jesus, just as you are! Hebrews 9:24 is a powerful text. It tells us that Jesus has gone......into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Now, I m not attempting to minimize the seriousness of the spiritual mess we find ourselves in, but I m telling you it is impossible to overstate the importance of the wonderful truth that Jesus is in Heaven, as our High Priest, for us! Not against us, but for us! That means He will give you spiritual help. He will provide emotional help. He will not cast you off the moment you make a mess. Hebrews 7:25 says this: Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jesus lives to make intercession for us. You can know where Jesus is He is in Heaven. You can know what He is doing He is acting as your High Priest. And you can know that He is for you, and not against you. That s good news. I want to thank Him for that right now. And as we pray, why don t we commit ourselves to accepting Christ and His ministry as our High Priest? And let s also pray that whenever we ask God for help, we will trust that Jesus through His ministry will do in our lives everything He wants to do. Let s pray together. PRAYER: Our Father in Heaven, we thank you today that we have a High Priest in Heaven. Jesus isn t AWOL; He isn t missing. We know where He is in Heaven s temple, Heaven s sanctuary. And we know what He is doing. He is not sitting around on a fluffy cloud eating grapes, hanging out with angels, just waiting to return to this earth. No, He is actively engaged in our salvation. Interceding for us in your presence. So we thank you. We thank you for His blood shed that we might be cleansed from all of our sins. Lord, give us grace to have faith in you. Give us confidence knowing Jesus is in Heaven for us and not against us. And we pray with thanks today in Jesus name, Amen.

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