Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000024A
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00:29 Hello, I'm Dwayne. And I'm Lance.
00:31 And we'd like to welcome you to another episode of TKS, 00:34 A True Knowledge of Self, 00:36 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:39 Now we're gonna have 00:40 a very exciting discussion right now. 00:42 And we're gonna be kind of contrasting 00:44 true knowledge of self versus 00:46 this idea in hip-hop culture of knowledge of self. 00:49 And so we're gonna kind of look 00:51 at what we refer to as the Great Controversy theme 00:54 and our desperate need to know ourselves 00:57 as God had originally intended. 01:00 And then, we're gonna contrast that 01:02 and look at this false concept of knowledge of self 01:05 as presented by hip-hop Culture. 01:07 So, Dwayne, when we think about these things 01:11 why is knowledge of self so important anyway? 01:14 Well, I think the best way to approach it 01:16 would be to look at it from a biblical perspective 01:18 because that's the emphasis of our program anyhow. 01:21 And if you were to consider even creation, 01:23 when God made not only the heavens and the earth 01:26 but he made the angels. 01:28 The Bible says something very specific 01:29 that we would do well to consider. 01:31 He says in Colossians 1 and this is in verse 16, 01:34 speaking about Jesus. 01:36 It says, "For by him were all things created, 01:39 that are in heaven, and that are in earth, 01:41 visible and invisible 01:43 whether they be thrones, or dominions, 01:45 or principalities, or powers, 01:47 all things were created by Him, and for Him." 01:50 So when you think about that, angels were even made by God, 01:54 but also for God to glorify Him, 01:57 to honor Him, to worship Him. 01:59 Well, the Bible makes it clear that there was an angel 02:02 by the name of Lucifer, and that angel or in fact, 02:04 he was of course, Lucifer the Light Bearer, 02:07 but eventually he became known as another being. 02:09 And Lucifer the Light Bearer was made by God to glorify God. 02:14 Yet, Lucifer, 02:16 according to the testimony of scripture, 02:18 lost a knowledge of himself and the reason we know that 02:21 is because when you get to Isaiah 14 02:24 the Bible says something about the condition of Lucifer, 02:27 something that happened to him. 02:28 And it says, in verse 12, 02:30 "How art thou fallen from heaven, 02:32 O Lucifer, son of the morning! 02:34 How art thou cut down to the ground 02:36 which didst weaken the nations! 02:38 For thou hast said in thine heart, 02:40 I will ascend into heaven. 02:42 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. 02:45 I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, 02:48 in the sides of the north. 02:49 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 02:52 I will be like the most high." 02:56 It was when Lucifer lost a knowledge of himself, 02:59 where his position was, why he was created, 03:02 his purpose in creation, 03:03 that he actually thought 03:04 that he could supersede the Creator himself. 03:06 That's right. 03:07 He lost the knowledge of himself, 03:08 and as a result of that he exalted himself. 03:11 And the Bible says, as a result of this 03:13 a war started in heaven. 03:14 Well, the problem is that 03:16 though the war started in heaven, 03:17 it landed on earth, according to Revelation 12:12. 03:20 All right. 03:21 So because of this fact, 03:23 Satan has waged war still against God, 03:25 but he is using humanity as the medium, 03:28 he is using us as the means to hurt God now. 03:30 So when humanity fell into the sin trap, 03:33 then something happened to us. 03:34 We live our live, though, as if our DNA changed. 03:37 And so we were created 03:38 in the image of God in His likeness, 03:40 but now we were made in the likeness of men, 03:42 and along with that was a sinful nature. 03:45 All right. 03:46 Well, the Bible speaks about this in Jeremiah 17:9, 03:49 and it says, 03:50 "That the heart" talking about the condition of man. 03:53 "The heart is deceitful above all things, 03:56 and desperately wicked, who can know it?" 03:59 This is the true condition of man. 04:01 This is what man needs right now, 04:03 they need a true knowledge of self 04:05 to understand that naturally I am wicked, 04:07 I am antichrist, I am against God, 04:09 and I'm certainly not godly. 04:11 And this is why 04:12 a true knowledge of self is important 04:15 so that we can understand we have fallen, 04:17 we have a fallen nature, and we need help. 04:20 So man can't be trusted on his own? 04:22 He cannot be trusted on his own. 04:23 He can't trust anything of, in and of himself. 04:26 So if man can't be trusted, 04:28 then what was the original plan in other words 04:30 what had God originally designed 04:32 and intended? 04:33 That is a excellent question. 04:34 I mean, if you go way back to the beginning of time, 04:37 in Genesis 1:26 04:38 the Bible tells us very clear God's intent and purpose 04:42 when he made mankind. 04:43 The Bible says, "God made man in His image, 04:46 and in his likeness." 04:48 Man was called to reflect the image of God. 04:51 He was called to reflect the character of God. 04:53 And this was supposed to be brought forth 04:56 all throughout the planet earth 04:58 and throughout all of the creation 04:59 that would come through the earth, 05:01 and Man was to have dominion 05:02 over the creatures of the earth. 05:03 So God had a beautiful plan that was in the beginning, 05:06 He was able to create man to reflect his image, 05:09 but the problem is, 05:10 is that when man fell into sin, 05:13 as I stated, it caused a shift. 05:14 An example, 05:16 if we were to look at Genesis 5, 05:17 this is often 'cause you know, 05:19 I remember a time 05:20 I used to tell people this to say, 05:21 "Don't you know that you were created 05:23 in the image of God?" 05:24 And, you know, you say that to people, 05:25 but if the truth be told 05:28 we were created in the image of God 05:31 but something happened in history 05:33 that caused man to lose much of that image. 05:36 And as a result of that something else took place, 05:38 it's in Genesis 5. 05:40 It says right there in verses 1-3, 05:42 "This is the book of the generations of Adam. 05:45 In the day that God created man, 05:47 in the likeness of God made he him, 05:49 male and female created he them, 05:51 and blessed them, and called their name Adam, 05:53 in the day when they were created. 05:55 And Adam lived 130 years. 05:57 And begat a son in His own likeness, 06:01 after His image, and called his name Seth." 06:05 Once man fell into sin, 06:06 it was as if a literal DNA change took place. 06:09 So we were no longer 06:11 just directly and most emphatically 06:13 reflecting the image and likeness of God. 06:15 Now we're reflecting the image and likeness of Adam 06:18 with a fallen nature and, therefore, we need help. 06:21 This was not God's original plan. 06:23 When God made us in His image, 06:25 He wanted us to reflect that image. 06:27 And in Psalms 1-4 verses 1-2, 06:30 the Bible says something beautiful, 06:31 it says that 06:33 "God covers himself with light as with a garment." 06:37 God actually when He made men, 06:38 He wanted us to be light bearers, 06:40 He wanted us to be the ones to spread his light of love, 06:43 hope and righteousness, all throughout the world, 06:45 that was his original plan. 06:46 So when God made man in His image, 06:48 if God covers Himself with light, 06:50 then man was also to be covered with light. 06:52 Right. 06:54 Now there is a very specific function of light. 06:56 In Ephesians 5:13 the Bible says, 07:00 "Whatsoever makes manifest is light." 07:04 In other words, that's the purpose of light. 07:05 Light is designed to make something manifest, 07:08 to make something known. 07:09 So when God made man in His image, 07:11 and His likeness, 07:13 He covered man with the same light 07:14 that He had upon Himself, 07:15 and He wanted man to reflect that light 07:17 all throughout the world, to make something known. 07:20 The question is what? 07:21 What was it that the God wanted man 07:23 to make known all throughout the world? 07:25 It's found in the book of Micah chapter 7:9, 07:29 in Micah 7:9 it says, 07:31 "I will bear the indignation of the Lord 07:33 because I have sinned against Him." 07:34 And then it says, 07:36 "And then He will plead my cause, 07:37 before me, and present judgment." 07:39 And then it goes on to tell us, 07:41 "He will bring me forth to the light, 07:44 and I shall behold his righteousness." 07:48 Right. Righteousness. There you go. 07:49 So the light, the light that God wanted 07:51 to be emanated throughout the world 07:53 was none other than the light of His righteousness. 07:55 God covers Himself with light as with a garment. 07:58 God covers Himself with righteousness 08:00 as a garment. 08:01 When God made man, He covered man with light. 08:03 He covered man 08:05 with righteousness as a garment. 08:07 And God wanted that righteousness to shine 08:09 all throughout planet earth. 08:11 And this was God's plan in the beginning for man. 08:13 So God wanted to give man what He had? 08:17 That's right. 08:18 Man was made in His image, then what happened? 08:22 I mean basically we're in a situation 08:24 where we looked at Jeremiah 17:9, 08:26 and we see, "That the heart is deceitful above all things 08:29 and desperately wicked." 08:30 We see the corruption now that we're facing 08:32 and this deception, if you will, 08:34 that we know ourselves when we really don't 08:36 because we don't understand God original plan. 08:37 That's right. 08:39 So what happened, why the change, what happened? 08:40 Well, if you go back to Genesis 3 08:42 the Bible speaks on this. 08:44 Because what you see happening in Genesis 3, 08:46 you can literally see happening in our society today. 08:49 I mean, it is absolutely parallel. 08:51 When God made Adam and Eve, 08:53 you remember in Genesis 2, actually, 08:55 I'll go there first. 08:56 In Genesis 2:25, 08:57 it says something pretty powerful. 08:59 It says, "And they were both naked, 09:01 the man and his wife, and were not ashamed". 09:05 Now I don't know if people understand this, 09:06 but this is actually a very strange statement 09:09 when it comes to scripture. 09:10 Because for someone to be naked and not ashamed is not normal. 09:14 Right. 09:16 You know, in our day and age today, 09:17 you know, if you're naked that's a shameful thing. 09:19 And even in the Bible when the Bible talked about 09:21 those who are inflicted with the disease of Laodicea, 09:24 it says in Revelation 3:18 when it talks about 09:26 the beautiful natural remedies of God, 09:28 it talks about, 09:30 "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, 09:32 that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, 09:35 that thou mayest be clothed, 09:36 and that the shame of thy nakedness 09:38 do not appear." 09:40 So shame and nakedness normally go together. 09:42 But here, before sin touched this planet, 09:44 it literally says, 09:45 "That man was naked and not ashamed." 09:47 He had a covering, 09:48 and we just found out what the covering was. 09:50 It was God's light. 09:51 'Cause remember, God covers Himself like a garment, 09:53 man was covered with light like a garment, 09:55 that light was God's righteousness, 09:57 but when man chose to sin, 10:00 we got to pay attention to the text. 10:02 All right. 10:03 In Genesis 3, now, it says right there in verse 6, 10:06 "And when the woman saw 10:08 that the tree was good for food, 10:09 and that it was pleasant to the eyes, 10:11 and a tree to be desired to make one wise, 10:14 she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, 10:17 and gave also unto her husband with her, 10:19 and he did eat." 10:20 Verse 7, is key, 10:22 "And the eyes of them both were opened, 10:24 and they knew that they were naked, 10:27 and they sewed fig leaves together, 10:29 and made themselves aprons." 10:31 So here it is that the Bible is literally showing 10:34 that in the beginning of time, 10:36 man when he was in right standing with God, 10:38 he could be naked before God 10:39 and not ashamed because he has the right covering. 10:41 It's kind of like you and I, 10:42 we're on a televised program right now, 10:45 and if the truth be told, we are both naked. 10:48 But we're not ashamed of it 10:49 because we have a covering called clothing, 10:51 the clothing covers our nakedness 10:52 it's the same principle. 10:54 Adam and Eve they were naked, 10:55 but they were not ashamed because they had a covering, 10:57 it was God's righteousness. 10:58 When they fell into sin they lost the covering, 11:02 that's what the Bible's saying, now the eyes are open, 11:04 they lost the covering, they lost God's righteousness. 11:06 Sin can remove God's righteousness. 11:09 Yep. 11:11 And as a result of this, now Adam and Eve, 11:13 they see their nakedness but they do something 11:15 that was absolutely unwise, 11:17 and humanity today is doing something 11:21 that is absolutely unwise. 11:23 Adam tried to cover himself. 11:26 He made something called aprons. 11:28 These aprons were obviously insufficient 11:31 in covering his nakedness because even after he made it, 11:34 and put it on, 11:35 what does it says in Genesis 3:10? 11:37 It says in Genesis 3:10, 11:39 after God was calling for Adam and looking for him it says, 11:42 "And he said, 11:43 I heard thy voice in the garden, 11:46 and I was afraid 11:48 because I was naked and I hid myself." 11:51 Even when Adam and Eve had on a new garment, 11:54 if you will, it was still not sufficient 11:56 because God later on in verse 21 of Genesis 3 11:59 had to make a new clothing for them. 12:01 It says, "Unto Adam and also to his wife 12:03 did the Lord God make coats of skins, 12:05 and clothed them" all over again. 12:06 The apron was insufficient. 12:09 Now if the first garment Adam and Eve had 12:11 was a garment of righteousness, 12:13 then when they made this second garment, 12:16 that they were trying to cover themselves with, 12:18 this is obviously a garment 12:19 that is demonstrative of self-righteousness. 12:21 Self-righteousness. 12:23 A man trying to cover his own nakedness 12:24 in and of his own merits, 12:26 and this is something that obviously 12:28 is unacceptable with God. 12:30 God cannot accept it. 12:31 And a true knowledge of self, helps me, helps you, 12:35 helps everyone, to understand 12:37 in and of myself there is nothing I can do 12:40 or ever will do 12:41 that can make me righteous with God. 12:43 Righteousness starts with God, 12:45 righteousness is maintained with God, 12:47 and righteousness finishes with God. 12:49 So, what we're looking at is a situation 12:52 where true knowledge of self the object is God? 12:56 That's right. 12:58 Everything originates from Him, and everything that we have, 13:01 comes from Him and everything that we have, we owe to Him. 13:04 That's right. 13:05 Knowledge of self, 13:07 as is presented in hip-hop culture, 13:08 and we're talking about that, 13:09 you know, more later on, in future episodes. 13:11 But knowledge of self in an earthly sense, is self, 13:17 you know, we become the objects. 13:19 That's right. 13:20 So we become the dictators, 13:21 we become the origins of truth in what righteousness is. 13:25 And it's extremely deceptive as we looked at in the Bible. 13:29 So now that we're talking about this righteousness 13:32 and what God is presenting, what's the Bible is presenting, 13:36 what is righteousness? 13:38 Well, as we prepare to go ahead and answer that question, 13:41 I want us to consider this. 13:43 If we would have tried to take 13:44 these little points of scripture 13:45 that we put together thus far, 13:48 the plan of salvation, that the Bible presents, 13:51 is a plan where God is seeking to help man 13:54 put his clothes back on. 13:55 All right. 13:57 You know, if I could put in real layman's terms, 13:58 that this is what God is doing right now. 14:00 He's on a mission to help man get his clothes back on. 14:02 Because man started 14:05 with the right clothing but man, unfortunately, 14:07 is wearing the wrong clothing today. 14:08 And that wrong clothing 14:10 is what we can simply term Adam's apron. 14:12 Any time an individual tries to make themselves righteous 14:16 or in right standing with God 14:17 because of some deed that they do, 14:20 or because of some concept that they conjecture, 14:22 or anything like that 14:24 these are all various forms of self-righteousness. 14:26 I can make myself in right standing, 14:28 with God and man, 14:29 independent of God, independent of His word, 14:31 independent of His ways. 14:32 All of this represents Adam's apron. 14:35 God's plan is to get that apron off of us, 14:37 and to clothe us, 14:38 He wants to re-clothe us with His righteousness. 14:41 So when we think about what really is righteousness, 14:44 it is something that man cannot answer himself, 14:46 God has to answer that question. 14:48 And it requires a spirit and mind of humility 14:52 that one can be able to say, "All right. 14:53 I don't have the answers, God has the answers, 14:56 and it causes me to submit 14:58 and surrender my thoughts and my processes, 15:01 and let God's will be done." 15:03 Because Proverbs 14:12 tells us, 15:05 clear as day, 15:06 "There is a way that seems right unto a man." 15:10 I can take the word right and put righteous there. 15:12 There is a way that seems righteous unto a man, 15:15 but the end, thereof, are the ways of death. 15:18 And the Bible didn't say it once it said it twice. 15:19 Proverbs 14:12, 15:21 "There is a way that seems right unto a man, 15:22 but the end here of are the ways of death." 15:24 Proverbs 16:25, "There is a way that seems right unto a man, 15:27 but the end there of are the ways of death." 15:29 God literally had to repeat Himself 15:30 to try to get us to understand 15:32 I know what I'm talking about and I mean what I say. 15:34 So true knowledge of self is really, 15:36 we're really talking about total dependence? 15:38 That's right. 15:40 Whereas, the self righteousness in this worldly knowledge 15:43 of self is really this independence? 15:45 That's correct. 15:46 And so we have to be afraid of total dependence on God, 15:50 and all of His ways, and all of His word, 15:52 and all of His righteousness. 15:54 So again we need to understand what is righteousness is, 15:56 so, you know, break that down. 15:57 Absolutely. 15:59 Now, if we go to Psalms 1:19, 16:00 Jesus said a statement a long time ago 16:02 that I believe is still relevant 16:03 to the people of God today. 16:05 In Psalms 119:172, 16:07 the Bible tells us clear as day what is righteousness. 16:11 And this is imperative for anybody 16:12 who really wants true righteousness. 16:14 But you have to have a true knowledge of self 16:16 to see your need for righteousness. 16:17 All right, So in Psalms 119:172 the Bible clearly says, 16:23 "My tongue shall speak of thy word, 16:26 for all thy commandments are righteousness." 16:31 So when we think about what is righteousness, 16:34 it's not enough to say, right doing. 16:35 And the reason why is because 16:38 who says what you're doing is right. 16:39 Exactly. 16:40 A man can literally walk up to another man take a gun 16:42 and kill him and say, 16:43 "What I did was right, I had to do it." 16:45 A person can go to a store, steal food, and say, 16:48 "I did, what I did was right, I had to do it." 16:51 People can rationalize 16:52 and that's the world we live in right now. 16:53 People can rationalize almost every wicked deed. 16:56 We are living in a time of Isaiah 5:20. 17:00 "Woe unto those who call good evil, 17:02 and evil good." 17:03 Today there's evil things that's happening 17:05 and people have the nerve to call it good. 17:06 There are things that good things are happening, 17:08 and people have the nerve to call it evil. 17:10 Our minds are exceptionally frail, 17:13 and again, when we have a true knowledge of self, 17:15 we understand 17:16 I can't even determine what's right or wrong. 17:18 Right. So we have to let God do it. 17:20 And when God does it through His word, 17:22 He says, "All my commandments, 17:24 all my commandments are righteousness." 17:27 So when I think of what is righteousness, 17:30 I can sum it up 17:31 in God's commandments, specifically, 17:34 these Ten Commandments. 17:35 This is why Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 17:38 makes it blazingly clear, 17:40 "Fear God and keep His commandments 17:43 for this is the whole duty of man". 17:46 So God wants to make it clear, listen, my understanding, 17:50 my concept of righteousness 17:52 is encased in these blessed principles 17:56 that we call the Ten Commandments 17:57 that has been given unto man 17:59 that is our whole entire duty to follow. 18:01 If we follow these principles, 18:03 we would find ourselves in a much better position 18:06 than we see ourselves in today. 18:07 So in a sense, the commandments of the God, 18:11 now clearly defined as His righteousness, 18:14 or our righteousness, 18:15 then the commandments of God 18:18 ultimately a reflection of his character? 18:20 That is correct. Think about it. 18:22 When you go to the Book of Romans 7, 18:25 the Bible says in Romans 7 right there in verse 7. 18:29 Paul makes it clear, I like to read it, in fact. 18:31 I think it's important to look at it. 18:32 Well look at Romans 7:7, and then Romans 7:12. 18:34 Okay. 18:35 In Romans 7:7 the Bible says, 18:39 "What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? 18:42 God Forbid. 18:43 Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, 18:45 for I had not known lust, 18:47 except the law had said, thou shalt not covet." 18:49 And then when you go down to verse 12 it says, 18:50 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, 18:54 and just, and good." 18:56 Now literally each phase of what the Bible 18:59 just called God's commandments is literally in, as you said, 19:03 a definition on inscription of His character. 19:06 God is just, Deuteronomy 32:4, God is good, Matthew 19:17, 19:11 God is just, Deuteronomy 32 again 19:14 and James 2 as well. 19:15 So God is just, God is good, God is holy. 19:19 1 Peter, 1:15-16. 19:20 So if God is all of these things 19:22 or since God is all these things 19:24 and the commandments are all these things, 19:26 clearly the Ten Commandments 19:28 are therefore a transcript of God's character, 19:30 which it was Adam and Eve's job to bear, 19:34 to shine, all throughout the world. 19:36 And so now, if that's very clear, 19:39 so God's character and His commandments 19:43 are essentially one and the same, 19:45 and His righteousness is essentially 19:48 one and the same. 19:49 So if God's character is holy, 19:51 and just, and good, 19:53 and his commandments are holy, and just, and good, 19:54 then righteousness is holy, and just, and good. 19:58 And, therefore, 20:00 a human being cannot produce inherently righteousness, 20:05 and justice, and holiness, and goodness. 20:07 So that's the ultimate question is, 20:09 can we make ourselves righteous? 20:11 Well, the truth of the matter is that we can. 20:13 In fact, when you look at Romans 3, right? 20:15 If you look at Romans the 3 chapter 20:17 you will notice in the 10 verse, 20:19 it says, "As it is written, 20:22 there is none righteous, no, not one." 20:25 The Bible says, in verse 23 that "All have sinned," 20:30 all have fallen into unrighteousness, 20:32 "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." 20:35 And I remember this growing up in hip-hop culture, 20:37 I was of somebody who was taught that I am a God. 20:41 I was taught that there are lots of things 20:42 that I can do that is godly 20:44 in a demonstration of a godlike character. 20:46 But when I compare it 20:47 to God's law especially magnified, 20:50 I saw incredible contradiction. 20:52 God's law says, 20:54 "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 20:56 Which means be loyal, remain faithful, 20:59 and here it is that in hip-hop culture 21:01 that as I experienced it, 21:02 I was told that having sex with somebody 21:04 that's not my wife is perfectly all right. 21:06 In fact, that's demonstrated in hip-hop culture today. 21:09 The biggest names in hip-hop today all of them, 21:12 advocate fornication, 21:14 1 Thessalonians 4:3 is a clear text it says, 21:17 very clearly, "This is the will of God, 21:19 even your sanctification 21:21 that you might flee fornication." 21:23 But yet in hip-hop culture it is often made known 21:25 that it's all right to fornicate. 21:27 You don't have to be married to one person 21:29 and commit your life to them all your life, 21:31 etcetera, you can go ahead 21:32 and as long as you care about the person and don't... 21:35 Once you can make up 21:36 your own rules, and close the book, 21:39 then we're like the people in the Book of Judges, 21:41 everybody does what's right in their own eyes, 21:44 but the problem 21:45 is there's not a true knowledge of self. 21:47 Our hearts are deceitful, we can't trust ourselves, 21:50 we are bent on making 21:51 the wrong decisions over, and over, and over again, 21:54 and I believe almost anyone 21:55 that takes a faithful look at their own lives 21:57 can see the truth of the Bible in their own reality. 21:59 Making decisions you look back at it and you say, 22:01 "Man, I wish, I never made that decision, 22:03 I really deceived myself." 22:04 But the Bible already told us that a true knowledge of self 22:07 helps me see how messed up I am, 22:10 that I can go to someone who's not missed up, 22:12 that he can clean me up. 22:13 Right. 22:14 But if I'm stuck 22:16 in the "Knowledge of self that I am God, 22:17 and I am the supreme being and I'm the one 22:20 that has the knowledge wisdom 22:22 and the so-called overstanding", 22:23 then I'm not gonna go ahead and go to 22:26 this one and only God, and submit myself to him, 22:28 and let not my will, 22:30 but His be done even if it means 22:32 I must be faithful unto death. 22:33 I'm not gonna let those things be a reality for them. 22:36 So this is the deception of knowledge of self 22:38 in comparison to the reality and the truth 22:40 of true knowledge of self. 22:42 So we can't get our own righteousness, 22:46 we need to get it from God, so the question, 22:48 the next question is, "How do we get it?" 22:49 How do we get it? 22:51 Well, let's consider what the Bible says. 22:52 If we were to look right back at Romans 3, 22:55 just consider verse 22, I think it's very clear. 22:58 In Romans the 3:22, 23:02 how then do we get righteousness, 23:04 considering that we need it, 23:05 it was God's original plan we fell from it, 23:08 we've tried to establish our own, 23:10 we have failed miserably. 23:12 And now we are at a point, where we're seeing, 23:14 "Lord, okay, how then do I get what you want me to get?" 23:17 The Bible says, in Romans 3:22, 23:20 "Even the righteousness of God 23:22 which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all 23:28 and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference." 23:33 So the Bible makes it clear that righteousness can come 23:35 to a man today, 23:37 but it can only come by faith, 23:39 and it has to come by faith of Jesus Christ. 23:42 This is why Christianity is the solution. 23:45 We know that 23:47 they are perversions to Christianity. 23:48 I mean, I'm a black man and there are people 23:49 who literally will say that there are things 23:51 that are "Black" 23:52 that I can look back, and say, excuse me, I'm not like that. 23:55 You know, there are things that we are told a way a person 23:58 talks, dresses, acts, and they'll say, 24:00 "Oh, he's talking, or addressing, 24:01 or acting like a black man." 24:02 I'm like, "Excuse me, I'm a black man, 24:04 and I don't talk, dress, or act like that" 24:05 so I find that to be disrespectful, 24:07 in fact insulting. 24:08 Well, there's a lot of disrespect 24:09 and insult given to Christianity. 24:11 You often hear the story, 24:12 even told many a times to hip-hop culture, 24:15 it was the Christians 24:17 that enslaved the Africans, and etcetera. 24:18 I can guarantee you 24:20 those people were not Christians. 24:21 You know, they were putting up a front 24:22 they were a bunch of actors. 24:24 But they were not Christians. 24:25 True biblical Christianity is the solution 24:29 on how mankind can receive righteousness, 24:32 but it's only gonna come by faith 24:34 in that man, name Jesus Christ. 24:37 All right, so essentially 24:39 we're kind of unwrapping some deeper layers here. 24:43 Essentially then the gospel 24:46 or Jesus Christ is the central theme, 24:49 this idea of salvation 24:50 is the central theme of the Bible, 24:52 or the central theme of everything? 24:53 That's correct. 24:55 I love a statement that I read in the book Education. 24:56 In the book Education it was on page 125 24:59 that it made a very profound statement. 25:01 I'm gonna read it. Okay. 25:02 It states, "The central theme of the Bible, 25:06 the theme about which every other 25:09 in the whole book clusters is the redemption plan, 25:13 the restoration in the human soul 25:15 of the image of God. 25:16 From the first intimation of hope 25:18 in the sentence pronounced in Eden 25:20 to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, 25:23 they shall see His face, 25:24 and His name shall be in their foreheads, 25:26 the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible 25:30 is the unfolding of this wondrous theme. 25:33 Man's uplifting, the power of God, 25:36 which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 25:40 So this is the theme of the Bible. 25:43 This is the emphasis of scripture. 25:45 This is why our Lord Jesus has admonished us, 25:48 don't live by bread alone but live by every word 25:52 that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 25:55 So since this is the goal, 25:59 it was imperative 26:00 that God would then create a lifestyle, 26:04 a way to live so that we aren't simply left with all of these, 26:08 you know, precious truths in this reality 26:10 that's presented to us, 26:12 and then all the sudden we just got to figure it out. 26:14 You know, how do we walk, talk, eat, 26:16 dress because it is important so, 26:17 you know, by definition when we talk about culture, 26:20 it's essentially how humans live. 26:23 That's right. 26:24 You know, everything that they do is part of culture, 26:27 so God is going to then give a culture. 26:31 He's not going to just leave us cultureless. 26:34 That's right. 26:36 So we're not coming into a situation 26:37 where we're saying, 26:38 culture is not important, 26:40 culture is essential and it's vitally important, 26:42 but culture is dictated and it's a reality 26:44 that was given us by God himself. 26:46 That's correct. 26:48 So we're gonna be talking about this culture of Christianity, 26:51 and we're gonna be moving forward 26:53 and contrasting that with the hip-hop culture. 26:55 That's right. 26:56 Because we have to realize, and we have to understand that, 27:01 just because it's rich, and it's cultured, 27:04 and it's powerful, and it affects people, 27:06 and it changes lives, doesn't mean it's right. 27:08 That's right. 27:10 And that's what we have to be able to differentiate. 27:12 God has given a superior culture 27:14 and we have to acknowledge that. 27:16 So when we come back in our next episode, 27:19 we're gonna be talking about 27:21 more of this knowledge of self versus 27:22 true knowledge of self. 27:23 We're going to look at hip-hop culture 27:25 because myself and Dwayne came up 27:27 in hip-hop culture, 27:28 we valued it we thought it was the most important thing 27:31 on the planet to represent, and to demonstrate, 27:34 and to exemplify. 27:35 And we're gonna talk about that. 27:38 So I want to encourage you to join us again 27:40 in our next episode, 27:42 and I also want you to always remember, 27:44 as it is written in Proverbs Chapter 2:6, 27:48 "It is the Lord that gives wisdom 27:51 and out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." 27:55 I can't wait to see you again. 27:56 And as we continue next time, we want you to be enriched, 28:01 and obtain a true knowledge of self. |
Revised 2017-06-08