Participants:
Series Code: LGS
Program Code: LGS200405S
|
00:01 Hello, I'm Mike Browning. Welcome to Let God Speak.
00:03 Have you ever wanted to know and see God's face 00:07 to stand in awe and adoration before the Almighty? 00:10 Well, as sinners, we can't see God now, 00:12 but we can know what He's like in character. 00:15 Now study the Bible today, we'll explore that. 00:43 So, folks, on our panel today, we have Rod Butler, 00:46 and we have his daughter, Kaysie Butler. 00:48 And as we've been discussing, 00:50 this is the first time on our program 00:51 we've had a father and daughter team. 00:53 So thank you for coming to share with us today. 00:55 Welcome. 00:57 Would invite everyone to join with us in prayer 00:58 before we open the Scripture. 01:01 Father in heaven, we thank You for the beautiful day 01:03 that You've given us and the life You have given us. 01:07 And now we want to look at the life of Jesus 01:08 and I pray that You will guide us 01:10 by Your Holy Spirit today in our discussion, 01:13 we pray in Jesus' name. 01:15 Amen. 01:17 Right, folks, we'll look, 01:19 the fact is that God has already given us 01:21 quite an amazing look at Himself. 01:24 And He sent His Son Jesus 01:26 to reveal what God is really like. 01:28 Now, I'd like us to refer to a scripture 01:30 in 2 Corinthians 4:6 to begin with today. 01:35 2 Corinthians 4:6, which says, 01:39 "For it is the God who commanded light 01:41 to shine out of darkness, 01:43 who has shone in our hearts to give the light 01:46 of the knowledge," 01:47 and watch this, 01:49 "the knowledge of the glory of God 01:50 in the face of Jesus Christ." 01:53 This is a really interesting verse, 01:55 Rod, what is it saying to us? 01:57 Well, it's saying to us, Mike, 01:58 that we can indeed know what God is like, 02:01 if we observe what Jesus did, 02:04 and how He acted in His acts on the earth. 02:08 There's another text which I'd like to also read. 02:11 That's in John 1:18. 02:15 And it says, "No man has seen God at any time. 02:18 The only begotten Son, 02:20 which is in the bosom of the Father, 02:21 He hath declared Him." 02:23 So Jesus is able to show what God is like 02:25 as He's been there. 02:26 He's been with Him. Okay. 02:28 Thank you very much for that. 02:29 That's a very interesting insight. 02:32 A lot of scriptures talk about Jesus 02:35 and who He actually was and is. 02:38 Another one is in Hebrews Chapter 1, 02:40 and the first three verses of Hebrews are very deep. 02:44 I'm just going to read verse 2 and 3 of Hebrews 1, 02:47 which says, talking about God Himself, 02:51 and says, "He has in these last days 02:53 spoken to us by His Son, 02:55 whom He has appointed heir of all things, 02:58 through whom also He made the worlds, " 03:00 which is very interesting. 03:01 And then verse 3 says, 03:03 "Who being the brightness of His glory 03:06 and the express image of His person, 03:10 and upholding all things by the word of His power, 03:13 when He had by Himself purged our sins, 03:15 He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." 03:20 So, Kaysie, what does it mean in verse 3 there 03:24 where it talks about the brightness 03:28 of His glory or reflection of His glory, 03:30 what is He saying to us? 03:31 Yeah. 03:32 So when He's talking about the reflection of His glory, 03:34 we know from when you look at Exodus Chapter 33 and 34, 03:38 that God's glory is actually His character. 03:41 And so when we see here that Christ is reflecting 03:44 God's character, 03:47 He is showing, you know, what God is like, 03:50 you know, that He's holy, He's perfect, 03:52 He's without sin and everything. 03:53 Now, the interesting thing is that, 03:55 as sinful human beings 03:58 we cannot actually see 03:59 the fullness of God's character, 04:01 it's too much for us. 04:02 So when God sent Jesus, 04:06 He actually made it 04:08 so that Jesus sort of toned down 04:11 the reflection of God's character. 04:13 So that was something we could handle. 04:15 And I like to think of it like the, like the sun. 04:19 So, you know, it's the sun is too bright for us. 04:22 We can't look directly at it, it'll damage our eyes. 04:25 But we can look directly at the moon, 04:28 which is reflecting the light from the sun. 04:30 And so it's, yeah, it's a similar sort of thing 04:33 in terms of Christ 04:34 is showing the character of God in a way 04:36 that we can actually see it, and it won't overwhelm us. 04:39 You know, thank you for that. That's lovely. 04:41 I really appreciate that. 04:43 Going back to verse 3 in Hebrews Chapter 1 here, Rod. 04:48 It also talks about Jesus being the express image 04:52 of God's person. 04:54 What's He saying to us here? 04:55 Well, I like, there's another translation 04:58 of that word the express image. 05:00 I think the New Revised Standard 05:03 says the exact imprint. 05:05 And I think of an exact imprint being a perfect copy, 05:09 a perfect facsimile, a perfect clone. 05:13 And whilst it's probably a crude analogy 05:15 when you're referring to Jesus, 05:17 but when we looked at Jesus, 05:18 we see a perfect example of God, 05:22 an exact imprint, the express image. 05:25 And we can have the confidence as we look to Jesus 05:29 that we are seeing God. 05:30 Okay. Thank you for that. 05:31 I appreciate that. 05:34 I'm going to go back to another scripture 05:36 in 2 Corinthians. 05:38 We looked in a moment ago in Chapter 4 and verse earlier, 05:42 we looked at verse 6. 05:44 I want to go back to 4:4. 05:45 So 2 Corinthians 4:4, which says this, 05:50 "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, 05:54 who do not believe, 05:55 lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, " 05:58 and talking about the glory of Christ now, 06:00 "Who is the image of God, should shine on them." 06:04 And we read verse 6 now just remind us of those words, 06:07 "It is God who commands light to shine out of darkness." 06:11 And it talks there about the knowledge 06:13 of the glory of God also, which is interesting. 06:16 So who is Jesus really? 06:18 Who is this... 06:19 What is this trying to say to us, Kaysie? 06:22 So Jesus was someone who came from God. 06:25 He actually is God, we know that from Scripture. 06:28 But it's interesting what He says about Himself. 06:30 If we have a look at John 6:46, 06:35 it says that, 06:38 "No man has seen the Father, except He which is of God, 06:41 He has seen the Father." 06:43 So there's no human being on earth 06:46 who has ever seen God, 06:47 except for Jesus who came as a human. 06:49 And because He is the only one who is truly known God, 06:55 He is the only one who can truly show us 06:57 what God is like. 06:59 Yes, and we can rely on His what He tells us, 07:01 reveals to us. 07:03 That's wonderful. Thank you. 07:04 I noticed too in Luke 10 now, Rod, 07:10 and verse 22. 07:12 We read this. 07:14 Jesus Himself is talking here, and He says, 07:16 "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. 07:21 No one knows who the Son is except the Father, 07:25 and who the Father is except the Son, " 07:28 which gives us some idea of the closeness 07:30 between the Father and Son. 07:32 "And the one to whom the Son wills 07:34 to reveal Him." 07:36 And that's really interesting also, isn't it? 07:38 What is this trying to tell us, Rod, this is very deep. 07:41 Well, it's saying 07:43 that Jesus is making it very clear 07:45 that He is revealing God. 07:48 And when, again, 07:50 when we look at the life of Christ, 07:51 how He healed people with disease, 07:53 how He taught people, He restored lives. 07:57 Every act that Jesus did which was an act of love, 08:00 which was service for others. 08:02 This is giving us a glimpse of the way 08:05 God the Father relates to us. 08:07 And it's, again, 08:10 an incredible insight to the love that God has. 08:13 Because when we look at Jesus, we think, 08:14 well, how could anybody do that? 08:16 The love that Jesus must have had 08:18 or God the Father has that love? 08:20 And, yeah, that verse gives us an insight. 08:23 Yes, it's a beautiful insight into the character of God. 08:27 Our God is a God of love and mercy as you pointed out, 08:30 and how wonderful that God is like that. 08:33 Anything else? 08:34 Of course, just you don't want to think about 08:36 but it's not like that. 08:37 He's the beautiful, loving, merciful God 08:41 that we find projected in Jesus' life. 08:44 All right. 08:45 Thank you so much, Rod, for that. 08:47 So Jesus is revealing the Father to us 08:51 and, of course, to the world. 08:53 In that context, I want to read a scripture 08:56 in Ephesians Chapter 5, 08:59 and I'm going to read verse 1. 09:00 Ephesians 5:1, very simple little verse, 09:04 And all it says is this, 09:06 "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children." 09:10 Now He's addressing fellow believers here, 09:12 be imitators of God? 09:16 So what do you think of that as a command in a sense? 09:22 Yeah, well, Jesus, actually, when He was on earth, 09:26 we've just been talking about how He revealed the Father. 09:29 But Jesus isn't on earth anymore. 09:31 So if God wants the rest of the world, 09:33 who's currently, 09:35 the rest of the people in the world 09:36 who are here currently to know what He is like, 09:39 He has to have another way of revealing Himself. 09:41 And so, 09:42 God actually wants to reveal Himself through His followers. 09:47 And it's interesting if we have a look 09:50 at Galatians 1:16. 09:55 Paul is talking here about himself, 09:57 his own experience 09:58 and how this is exactly what God is doing through him. 10:02 He says, "God called me by His grace" in verse 15. 10:05 And then 16 says, "to reveal His Son in me." 10:09 And so this is what Paul's experience was that, 10:11 you know, God was going to be revealing 10:13 what Christ is like through Him. 10:15 And it's a big task for us to do. 10:19 Yeah, yeah, that we had that privilege. 10:21 To reveal God, imitate God? 10:24 And this is the original purpose 10:25 that God had for us. 10:27 You know, in the beginning, He made us in His image, 10:28 He wanted us to exemplify His character. 10:32 Of course, that's been messed up with sin. 10:34 But God still has that purpose for us. 10:37 And through the grace of God, it is possible for us. 10:40 And what I really like about the verse read before 10:44 in Ephesians 5:1, where it says, 10:48 "To be imitators of God as dear children." 10:50 I like that little bit at the end, 10:52 as dear children, 10:53 because what do children like to do? 10:55 They like to watch and then copy, right? 10:58 And so, that's how we can be like Christ, 11:01 if we watch what He does, 11:02 and how He lives and His Spirit, 11:04 and then copy that, 11:06 then we can then be able to exemplify 11:08 what He's like in the world. 11:09 It's an amazing privilege that we have. 11:11 And, of course, this is where the indwelling Holy Spirit 11:14 is so vital in our experience, 11:16 because it's going to take a miracle for us 11:18 to be imitators of God, 11:19 but God is in the business of that kind of miracle 11:21 which is great, isn't it? 11:23 It is. 11:26 Did you have anything, Rod, to add to that? 11:28 Yeah, just picking up on what Kaysie was saying. 11:31 In the King James, it says, 11:33 "Be followers, 11:34 be ye therefore followers of God." 11:37 And as a follower, 11:39 we are to model our life on the life of Jesus. 11:43 And one of the things which Jesus had 11:47 which was amazing in His life, He had unaffected humility. 11:53 And when you compare the life of Jesus 11:56 to the life of the world, 11:57 as worldlings, if I can use that term, 12:00 it's all about self. 12:02 It's all about projecting ourselves 12:03 and exalting ourselves. 12:05 Christ did exactly the opposite. 12:06 He humbled Himself. 12:08 I've just got some, I bought some quotes here 12:10 from a book The Desire of Ages, 12:12 which deals with His humility, just a few quotes. 12:16 Says, "He shunned display, 12:18 He did not strive for worldly greatness 12:20 and even in the lowest position He was content. 12:23 He did not contend for His rights. 12:25 He weeded out all vanity from life. 12:27 He took no measures to bring himself into," 12:29 notice, "His manners were gentle and unassuming. 12:32 In that life, there was no noisy disputation, 12:35 no ostentatious worship, no act to gain applause. 12:39 He remained true to the humble lot 12:40 He had accepted and so on." 12:42 Now, this is pretty powerful because in my own, 12:45 you know, a natural state, I don't think that way, 12:49 I want to project self. 12:51 But as be followers of Christ, 12:53 that means we have to have that humility. 12:56 Yes. 12:57 And that's a very powerful thing. 12:59 It is a very powerful thing. 13:01 And it's a very, it's an amazing thing, 13:03 because it's so opposite. 13:04 He was Jesus, the Almighty in humanity. 13:08 And He was taking the humble lowest place. 13:11 It's interesting, one of His followers, 13:13 John the Baptist had that humility, 13:15 because He was being pushed to be to project himself, 13:18 but he said, He must increase, 13:20 I must decrease in referring to the work of Jesus, 13:23 which was at that stage increasing. 13:25 So John was prepared to take that back seat 13:28 to humble himself. 13:30 And again, another example for us. 13:32 Yeah, it is another example for us. 13:33 And that's in John 3:30. Yeah, yeah. 13:36 And God Himself was actually veiled 13:40 in the inscrutable divinity of Christ. 13:45 And He, and He was, 13:46 and He was able to combine that with visible humanity. 13:50 How did He do that? 13:52 Well, it's amazing 13:54 because the Bible's really bold. 13:56 I mean, Jesus was the creator, He's God. 14:00 And yet, when He was, 14:02 He came to the earth in an obscure country, 14:05 He lived in an obscure little village 14:06 of Nazareth. 14:07 He was an itinerant rabbi, He didn't own anything. 14:13 He called Himself the Son of man. 14:14 He identified with humanity so completely, 14:18 and didn't in any way project Himself, 14:20 He veiled His divinity by being so obscure. 14:25 And, you know, we think to the time 14:27 where He fed the 5,000 14:29 they wanted to, they wanted to crown Him King. 14:33 Well He immediately departed, 14:34 He did not want any projection of Himself 14:37 other than His mission, 14:39 which was to reach and save sinners. 14:41 So His divinity was veiled by His humility 14:45 and staying out of without projecting Himself. 14:48 Yeah, it couldn't be hidden, could it? 14:50 And that's the other interesting thing 14:52 about it. 14:54 John 1:14 makes an interesting statement. 14:56 This is the Apostle John writing, 14:58 Chapter 1 and verse 14, 15:01 talking about Jesus and refers to Him as the Word, 15:03 the Word of God. 15:05 And it says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, " 15:08 that's what we've just been talking about, 15:11 "and we beheld His glory, 15:13 the glory 15:14 as of the only begotten of the Father, 15:16 full of grace, and truth." 15:20 Can you expand on that for us, Kaysie? 15:21 What is that saying? 15:23 So it's saying 15:24 that if we would want to understand 15:26 God's character, that's what God's glory is. 15:28 And if we want to get a true picture 15:30 of God's character, 15:32 we need to look at Christ 15:33 because He reveals it in balance. 15:35 I mean, it talks about Christ there 15:37 being full of grace and truth. 15:39 You know, it wasn't that Jesus was all grace, 15:41 He came to reveal the truth about God too. 15:44 And it wasn't that He was showing all truth 15:46 and no grace either, 15:47 you know, it was a balance here. 15:49 So Christ is revealing what God is like 15:51 in the fullness of His love, 15:52 at the same time, the fullness of His holiness. 15:55 Yeah, that's wonderful. Thank you. 15:57 And there's an interesting question. 16:02 And we started off today by talking about the, 16:05 how our desire to see God's face. 16:08 And we've moved into talking about 16:10 how He was actually revealed to us 16:12 in Jesus, His Son, 16:14 but it's not unusual 16:16 that people should feel that way. 16:17 In John 14:8, 16:20 Jesus is having a discussion with His disciples, 16:23 and Philip comes up with a question. 16:26 This is it, John 14:8, "Philip said to Jesus, 16:29 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." 16:36 What do you think about that request, Rod? 16:39 Well, I feel sorry for Philip. 16:44 In putting this in context, 16:46 this is actually in the context of the Last Supper. 16:49 Christ is hours away from the agony of Gethsemane 16:51 and, of course, the crucifixion the next day. 16:54 And so, this is the last major conversation 16:57 He's having with His disciples. 17:00 And they've been with Him for over three years. 17:02 And Philip still does not understand 17:05 that Jesus is reflecting God the Father. 17:09 And I guess the lesson there for me is that, 17:14 how long have I known about Jesus? 17:16 And am I also prone to forget 17:21 that Jesus reflects God the Father. 17:23 Philips response, whilst, I guess embarrassing for him, 17:28 just shows his humanity. 17:29 He had a preconceived idea 17:31 about what Christ should be doing, 17:33 which took his focus off what God was doing, 17:37 what Jesus was doing to reflect God's character. 17:40 So to know Jesus is to know the Lord is to know, sorry, 17:44 is to know the Father, 17:45 and Philip didn't understand at that stage. 17:48 Yeah. 17:50 And I thank you for that too. 17:52 It's true 17:53 eternity is not going to be long enough to understand 17:55 and plumb the depths of Jesus and God's character too. 17:59 So, but how closely do you think 18:01 we do know Jesus ourselves? 18:03 Yeah, well, it's interesting what it says 18:05 that in 1 Corinthians 13:12. 18:10 It says that we see through a mirror dimly. 18:13 So the best that we can see of Christ here now 18:17 is really only a dim little bit 18:19 compared to what we will see in His fullness 18:21 in all eternity when we see Him face to face. 18:25 And, yeah, it's always going to be, 18:26 it's like the sunrise, 18:28 it's, it comes upon us slowly our understanding 18:31 and vision of God and His character 18:34 as we can handle it. 18:35 And it will continue to grow throughout eternity, It will. 18:38 And, of course, reading the Scripture 18:39 and reading about Jesus' life 18:40 gives the Holy Spirit opportunities to prompt us 18:43 to open our understanding to things 18:45 that we've may have missed before. 18:46 Now that's so important to do that. 18:49 I wanna look now at Jesus 18:51 as the master teacher of mankind now. 18:54 So we're moving on little bit here. 18:56 He was reflecting obviously the concerns 18:59 that God the Father has as well. 19:01 Question is, what was His greatest concern, 19:05 particularly for His followers and His people? 19:08 Rod, did you pick anything up on that? 19:09 Well, again, if you go to the Book of John, 19:13 and this is again, in context, 19:16 the Last Supper 19:18 in the very first part of John Chapter 18. 19:21 They're walking up into Gethsemane, 19:22 they're crossing the brook Kidron. 19:25 And Jesus is having this prayer in Chapter 17. 19:28 And in verses 20-23, 19:33 Jesus prays, is praying by the way, 19:35 and Jesus says this. 19:37 So this is clearly on His heart, 19:40 " That they all may be one, 19:42 as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 19:45 that they also may be one in us: 19:47 that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 19:50 And the glory which thou gavest me 19:52 I have given them, 19:54 that they may be one, even as we are one: 19:56 I in them, and thou in me, 19:58 and they may be made perfect in one, 20:01 and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, 20:04 and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." 20:06 Jesus concern was, 20:08 it was so important for His disciples 20:11 to reflect love, just like Jesus, 20:14 and the Father had love that was, 20:16 though, so interconnected. 20:20 We had to have that same love for Jesus. 20:22 Be imitators of God as we talked about earlier. 20:24 Yes, yes. 20:25 And this was very important to Christ 20:27 to get this message across. 20:28 And again, shortly after this, it's all over. 20:32 There's no more big discourses for Jesus for His disciples, 20:35 this is His parting message to His disciples, 20:37 Thank you for picking that up. That's a very good one. 20:39 Appreciate that. 20:41 I'm going to read from Philippians Chapter 2 now. 20:44 And I'm going to read there verse 3 and 4, 20:49 which talks about our relationship 20:51 with one another, 20:53 building on what you've just said. 20:55 "Let nothing be done 20:56 through selfish ambition or conceit, 20:59 but in lowliness of mind," now this is humility here, 21:03 "let each esteem others better than himself." 21:06 That's interesting. 21:08 And then verse 4, 21:09 "Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, 21:12 but also for the interest of others." 21:14 And it goes on to say, "Let this mind be in you, 21:16 which was also in Christ Jesus Himself." 21:19 So it's a lovely picture that we have here. 21:24 Jesus Himself, of course, 21:25 did this stuff, didn't He, Kaysie? 21:26 Yeah. 21:28 This is how Jesus lived His life, as we, 21:30 and we are encouraged to do the same again. 21:32 Most definitely. He left heaven. 21:35 You know, with all the glory of that, 21:36 and the purity of the place and the adoration of angels, 21:38 He left that and came to this dark and dismal earth, 21:42 became a human, says that in verse, verse 7, 21:46 "He was made in the likeness of man," 21:48 in Philippians 2. 21:49 And that was such a humbling thing to do. 21:55 But He did that for us. 21:57 And so His focus was on others and not Himself. 22:00 Taking on Himself humanity, 22:01 He became a dependent human being 22:05 as we are for eternity. 22:07 There was no turning back. 22:09 He was a new person, if you like, the God man, 22:12 Christ Jesus, thank You for that. 22:14 Very beautiful. 22:15 So there's a description here of humanity. 22:18 And is it possible for us to be like that, Rod, 22:21 I mean can we? 22:22 Can we have this kind of humanity 22:24 where we esteem others better than ourselves? 22:29 Well, in our own strength, probably no, no. 22:33 But, yes, as we behold Christ, 22:37 and as we meditate on Him 22:40 and the Holy Spirit performs, a miracle in our heart, 22:45 yes, we can be like Christ. 22:47 Yes, we can be imitators of His humility. 22:49 In our own strength, it's no. 22:51 It's all to do with the Holy Spirit 22:52 living in us. 22:54 And I just like to bring another verse, 22:57 if I refer to 2 Corinthians 3:18. 23:03 It says, "But we all, 23:05 with open face beholding as in a glass 23:06 the glory of the Lord." 23:08 Now, I'm reading from the King James, 23:09 that word glass is really mirror. 23:12 "So behold we're all with an open face beholding 23:14 as in a mirror, 23:15 the glory of the Lord are changed 23:17 into the same image, 23:19 from glory to glory, 23:21 even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 23:23 So as we behold Christ, 23:25 and the Spirit works in us, we are changed. 23:27 We can imitate, 23:29 we can overcome through the power 23:31 of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. 23:32 Now, thank you for that. 23:35 Moving along, and we're running, 23:37 sort of running out of time, I'm gonna hurry today. 23:39 I want to read a scripture. It's in Matthew 20:25. 23:44 Matthew 20:25. 23:46 Jesus is talking and He's talking about 23:48 how His followers should lead. 23:51 And it's very interesting what he said, 23:53 "He called the disciples to Himself and said, 23:57 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles 23:59 lord it over them, 24:01 and those who are great exercise authority over them. 24:05 Yet it shall not be so among you, 24:07 but whoever desires to become great among you, 24:10 let him be your servant." 24:11 Now that sounds like a contradiction in terms, 24:13 but let's go on. 24:15 "And whoever desires to be first among you, 24:17 let him be your slave, 24:19 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, 24:22 but to serve, 24:24 and to give His life a ransom for many." 24:26 And this is an insight into God's character. 24:29 That is quite incredible, isn't it? 24:30 What do you think about that, Kaysie? 24:32 Well, it's totally the opposite of how we normally think. 24:36 It is, isn't it? Yes. 24:38 Like in terms of greatness in how we think of it 24:40 in the world sense. 24:41 We think that if you're great, 24:43 there's going to be more people who serve you. 24:46 But Christ's way of greatness is no, you're great. 24:50 That means you actually serve more. 24:52 Totally flipped around. 24:54 And this is really showing us 24:57 how that God's ways are different to ours. 24:59 And even the Scripture record has a divine origin 25:03 because it's just so contrary to how we would normally work. 25:06 And as we have this attitude also, 25:09 it contributes to us being able to be united 25:11 with one another. 25:12 Thank you for that. 25:14 Now, look, I'm going to get to do 25:15 a fast forward here. 25:17 And I'm going to read from Colossians Chapter 1. 25:21 And I want to read a scripture here 25:24 that is very interesting. 25:26 Colossians 1:20. 25:30 And I'm going to come back to you, Rod, on this one. 25:33 Colossians 1:20. 25:35 Here, Jesus, I'm sorry, 25:37 Paul is writing about Jesus 25:40 reconciling all things to himself that says, 25:44 "Whether things on earth or things in heaven," 25:46 this has a universal application, 25:49 Jesus' death on the cross for us, 25:51 "having made peace 25:53 through the blood of His cross, " 25:54 achieved all that. 25:56 And then still reading on, verse 21, 25:59 "And you, who once were alienated 26:01 and enemies in your mind by wicked works, 26:04 yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh 26:08 through death, to present you holy, blameless, 26:11 and above reproach in His sight." 26:14 Now, what is unique about the way 26:17 God reconciles His enemies to Himself? 26:21 He describes the lost as enemies of His. 26:24 Well, God's approach was, He's innocent, 26:28 but He'll take the blame 26:30 or responsibility for the guilty. 26:32 Yes. 26:33 And that's a powerful, powerful thing. 26:36 It's amazing, isn't it? 26:37 For us, we weren't in our natural state 26:39 won't do that. 26:40 But Christ did that for us. 26:43 We were away from Him. 26:45 We were, yeah, we were away, we were lost. 26:48 And He took care of us. 26:50 He took our sin, 26:51 and bore that and He paid the price for it. 26:53 And there's the model for us to follow in our lives. 26:56 So we're very grateful to have that. 26:58 Well, folks, we're going to have to wind up 27:00 our discussion right there. 27:01 Thank you very much for joining with us today. 27:04 Certainly, developing a likeness to Jesus 27:07 is the greatest goal of true education in life. 27:11 And this will flow over into our treatment of people, 27:14 our care of the needy. 27:16 And the influence of a life 27:18 that is lived in union with Jesus, 27:20 folks, will tell His story. 27:23 And the impression made 27:24 on the hearts of people around us 27:25 will last into eternity as a result of that. 27:29 Well, we're glad you tuned in to Let God Speak today. 27:32 You can watch this or any past programs 27:35 on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. 27:39 Teachers' notes can be downloaded there. 27:41 If you wish to send an email, you can do so. 27:44 And we'd like you to join us next time. 27:46 God bless. |
Revised 2020-11-09