Crisis of Leadership | Sabbath School Panel by 3ABN - Lesson 2 Q1 2021

hello and welcome once again to 3abn sabbah school panel we are so excited that you have joined us today in a wonderful study we're going to be on lesson number two we're going to encourage you how to get that lesson in just a moment we're going to be talking about crisis of leadership leadership is so so very important to all of us and this lesson brings out some very good points and i'm sure that you won't want to miss it get you a pencil and paper get your bible and you know check what the panel is saying to make sure it lines up with the word of god i think that's wonderful we can do that and if you don't have those study guides imperative that you get them at least in my opinion that way you can study right along with us you can download those at absg.adventist.org that's dot absg.adventist.org get yourself a copy and continue to study right along with us every week we know it's going to be a blessing because we believe the holy spirit of the living god is involved clean again glad you join us we're getting ready to start right now so get ready we'll see you in just a [Music] moment [Music] hello and welcome back it sure looks like you didn't go anyplace and i'm happy about that praise god it's again the study is just going to be excellent i know it is the material that we went over crisis of leadership now think about crisis of leadership what that really means i know in my own personal life i've i've need i need i need good leadership i need somebody that was willing to stand out there show the way set the example and when they didn't a lot of times i fell apart so maybe this lesson will help you as well as helping me so anyway we're glad that you're that you joined us introduce our panel shall we my left pastor john lowe mccain always a treat and a pleasure good to be with you pastor kenny don't you you love to study the word don't you oh yes isaiah is particularly a blessed book yeah i mean we did the first lesson already i'm just i'm i'm on a spiritual high amen this is number two and i think it's going to get better as we go to your left sister jill marconi blessings always good to have you and study with you privilege to be here and to open up god's word i am excited about the study oh absolutely and then on your left that's sister shelley quinn always the joy and the lord just bring something out of you at different times and this just blesses our heart thank you praise the lord and he'll bring some more out today we're relying on him to your left brother ryan day blessing blessing my brother i'm sure glad to have you here man me too i'm good to be here yeah you know sometimes we just it's just nice to know handling not that everybody knows everything we're all learning and we're in the school of christ and we'll be learning through the ceaseless ages but it seemed like here on the panel i get myself in the gym i can just point to any of you and say help me help me and you can do it by the grace of god so you see what i mean it's good to have that concreteness uh you know together as we we worship the lord together uh we want to pray i'm a believer in prayer and i know you are too pastor john would you pray for us please let's pray loving father in heaven thank you so much for the privilege and opportunity of opening your word we know that as we continue our trek through the book of isaiah lord help us to put on spiritual boots to be able to navigate a ground that may be familiar to us but is far deeper than we can ever imagine give us wisdom and understanding to glean from what you have written that we may not only see the historical aspects but how it may apply to our lives and give us guidance for this day we ask in jesus name amen amen praise the lord thank you and then we go right naturally right to our memory text which is it's like dynamite to me when you really look at it and sister jill would you read that for us please sure isaiah 6 verse 1 and the year that king uzziah died i saw the lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple [Music] i'm going to use it the lesson there is because there's several good questions that are asked and some answers that are worth pondering you know i like questions sometimes that make me think you know and this is that in this lesson i think it does it lesson number two it said when asked by one of his disciples about the ingredients of a of a good government confucius answers not sure about confucius i just don't care i'm reading it confucius answer and he said sufficient food right sufficient weapons and confidence in the common people so he threw out three things i think is very interesting that we might look at a little bit closer as we go but the ones that his followers ask but what what maybe if you had to get rid of one of those and get rid of which one would you get you know get rid of first and he said oh weapons i said oh okay get rid of weapons and then of course he was pressed a little bit farther if you had to get rid of another one which one would you get rid of there's only two left and he said the next one i'd get rid of food they said oh my get rid of food man you know people need food to go and to fight and to do whatever they do we all need good food and so then they ask him again they're talking about here i thought was interesting confucius that he replied food for the from of old hunger has been the lot of all men but a people that have no longer trust its rulers is lost in deed i thought that was interesting if we've lost our trust in our leaders were rulers were lost indeed in the church we need good rulers good leaders that's right you know in the government uh ev everything in the in the home you know in your home it needs to be somebody or both mom and dad good leaders there in the home because if we don't have that everybody kind of goes their own way so people do notice this as a people do indeed want strong trustworthy leadership when a soldier was signing up notice this for a second term i remember when i was in there and they are you going to sign up for a second term i was saying no as i was running wasn't about to you know but thank god a lot of them are but they was asking are you going to be able to sign up for your second second you know second term and he said right here i tried to civilian life i got out of service i tried civilian life but you know nobody's in charge out there [Music] so there are a lot of people who love to be in something that's organized you like to have someone that's in charge someone that you know that you can go to someone that you can trust someone that's going to be there someone that is consistent and i think that's probably what we're looking at in this week's lesson we'll look at judah's crisis of leadership and the sad results that followed we'll go to sunday's lesson there's so much here and we won't have time to do it all but i in sunday's lesson is entitled the king is dead long live the king not sure what all that means but sure as we dig into it we'll find out notice our memory text we read here talks about the the death of king azaya notice this he to get a better picture of the significance of the king's death i think we turn to second chronicles 26. now it wants you really to do the whole chapter and really it takes too long to read the whole chapter he'd say it that way but it takes a long time to read it so we're going to pick through i think some valuable verses that will help us to understand what was going on we'll look at this foundation we'll look at this i'm going to call it a fact that this sets up he reigned for a very the king rang for a long time didn't he now i wonder why he reigned for a long time because he was doing the right things you know and that's what it is in any aspect of our life if we do the right thing god has promised to bless he's promised to open things up he's promised to open the windows of heaven and pour out great blessings and not room enough to receive but again on condition of obedience to doing what god would have us to do but sometimes even in i think he reigned for 52 years wasn't it that's a long time for a king to do but along the way something happened and sometime it happens in our christian experience along our walk with god something happens and in this instance he uh he lost his power it got he got out of control he pride came in and so he lost it and pride is very very dangerous we know that the bible tells us that pride leads you know to destruction proverbs 16 verse 18 says pride cometh before what before holy spirit or destruction so pride comes there and then destruction and you see all throughout scripture that's very consistent god allows man to go he doesn't come in and just change things all at once he he gives us time to get things right and to get back with him and i'm very grateful and thankful for that and i'm sure you are too he didn't cut me off you see when i fall down he's still there to reach his hand down to pick us up if we're willing to do that proverbs 29 verse 23 says my man's pride shall bring him low didn't say it would elevate him to man's pride would do what lamb low and we know the story certainly of nebuchadnezzar what happened you don't want to eat grass out in the field for seven years do you you know until we come to our senses i look at pride and i put equal presumption presumptuous person think about that that means you're when you're presumptu you overstep and a lot of times we we overstep even in the cause of christ we overstep more than what god has called us to do this may hurt some people's feelings not trying to do that but sometimes we where we're not even supposed to be that god never called us but we want to be there and so we pushed to do that and this is certainly what happened to the king as you well know overstepping or taking something for granted we never want to do that in the cause of christ so second chronicles 26 1-5 just again we're not going to read that but i want you to read it there and just let's go over it's again it's a uh it talks about the king says he was 16 years old when he began to reign interesting about an early age i don't know if i mean 16 year olds could do maybe what they did then or whatever but it's it's early it's very early and very young to begin to reign again 52 years and he did that which was most of the time went right in the eyes of god number three he sought god and as long as he did god prospered him and so i could just say that if we get nothing else out if you do what is right i guarantee you god will prosper you we all want to prosper don't we we always say want to be in health but we have to do the right things by the grace of god listed out and certainly in his word a second chronicles 26 just jotted down 16-15 it tells how the king what became strong it's like that would be good for all of us if we want to be strong in the lord not in the world but in the lord second chronicles 26 16 starts out tells of his downfall so we can read that pride took control he became oh i say sometimes he became too big for his britches his head got too big for his crown we could use other things but you know that happens sometime it even happens in the religious realm and certainly it should not we don't want to get to try to get too big for god because you you know god's bigger than anything that we think we can we can do now read this verse in second chronicles 26 16 i just want to read this because i've referred to it here it said but when he was strong talking about the king here notice his heart was lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the lord what his god he went into the temple of the oh notice what he started doing here god never asked him to go in there he may have been the king they had big britches they had a big crown god never asked him to go in there but he went he's going to go in there and you know because when he went in there because he's going to burn what was incense upon the altar and i think he had everything which he needed to burn the incense so he meant business he went in there he started to go in there to do it but what happened at the priest the priest praised god some of the priests stopped him and said hey you can't go in there you're not authorized to go in there so this makes us think about certain things that god has authorized us to do and other things he has not authorized us to do even in the ministry my opinion we have to be very careful about that the king he became very angry like you can't tell me whether i can go in there and and you know do what was it to burn incense you can't tell me that verse 19 the king became very angry he'd already had the sensor in his hand and notice this when the king refused reproved notice what happened what did god god does this sometime sometimes immediately god steps in and stops the situation with the king immediately he turned leopard right leopard he was oh my leprosy how long did he have the leprosy the rest of his life he thought he'd go in and do what god had not asked him to do and god said no he's not going to it separated him from the church that's right separated him from his people he had to live as it were by himself he was cut off from the house of god because he's tried to do that which god did not ask him to do so i think we have to be very careful about that don't you as we just do that what god asked us to do i'm going to read this quickly in the last minute or so here i like this review in herald august the 14th 1900 notice what this says the case of the king as it were that revealed how god will punish the sin of presumption notice the lord has ordained men to certain positions in the church and he would have not have them step out of the place to which he has appointed them when the lord gives them a measure of success somebody listen up they are not to become lifted up and think themselves qualified to do a work for which they are not fitted and to which god has not called them that's right some of us surely we wouldn't want to do that we don't want the frown right of god and to me in the isaiah is giving warnings here that we need to fit and i encourage you to fit where god wants you to fit where you know where he's called you and don't go beyond that just stay within that now tell you sometimes men will try to hold you back if god has ordained it the other way man cannot hold you back don't worry about that god opens doors he sends you through those doors he blesses you allows you to do things that maybe man wouldn't allow you to do but you know what we cling to the arm right of god not of flesh so we need to look at this you know the difference i wish we had time we don't to look at the difference between the the contrast between the king and isaiah the king for trying to force his way in there what isaiah he set back and he said i'm going to wait on god and he'll take care of him pastor john yes wow thank you pastor kenny you went over one of my favorite stories the story of uzziah not favor favorite because of how it turned out but favorite because uzziah is the only one that was second in line when it came to wealth in the bible when it based on solomon's usa was that one and beginning to reign when he was 16 years old mercy monday's lesson is entitled holy holy holy now why is isaiah 6 1-4 so vitally important is because god gave isaiah this vision to remind him of who is in charge yes you know sometimes when difficulty comes and the nation is in disarray well oh okay let me not even take that exit god has to remind us that he is still in charge amen i've often said to people and you know as we talk about this lesson it's amazing how 2020 was an amazing year for us but god is still in charge i want to make it very very clear men come and go dynasties rise and fall kingdoms crumble and kingdoms are built presidents come and presidents go but isaiah and uzziah are parlayed for a particular reason and as i studied this pastor kenny i discovered one of the reasons why isaiah 6 1 begins the way it does is because isaiah says in the year that king uzziah died isaiah 6 1 i saw the lord now i came to discover that the emphasis is on i i saw the lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple what i discovered in the story becoming familiar with uzziah's life all the way through is the vision that god had for uzziah he gave it to isaiah instead because uzziah forfeited the blessing that god has as i mentioned in one of prior lessons god's blessings are always conditional uzziah went where god never sent him wanted what god never gave him and wanted to occupy a position that god never qualified him for and by the way 80 priests came to the door and chased uzziah out of the temple and then god booted him out and when the leprosy broke out and broke out on uzziah's forehead the very place where the problem was it was not what people thought about uzziah but it was what uzziah thought about himself yes uh he was feared when he was an honorable man but he experienced the fear of the lord when he lost his honor the honor that god intended for him to have let's go to isaiah 6 now let's begin to unpack why this is so vitally important why is the vision of understanding who is in charge vitally important for the people of god today i'm going to read verses one to four i just read verse one but i'll go ahead and look at the context the setting in which this vision was given verse 2 of isaiah 6. above it that's above the throne stood seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another and said notice holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the post of the door was shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke the vision that isaiah is isaiah sees is the same vision that was synonymous with the people of god in israel whenever god's presence was in the temple smoke filled the temple and it was important for them to see in the smoke through which they couldn't see the holiness of god god's holiness isaiah is given the vision after the deaths after the death of uzziah but god gives him a vision while the nation is in turbulence in political turbulence at that but god reminds isaiah who is in charge while the assyrians are on the war path and this is something that's really important because you know there were great nations that opposed israel great nations that opposed judah and for a time it looked like the opposing nations were about to uh wipe out the existence of the nation through which the blessings of god would were going to come but when they got to that brink where it could have spelled the end of judah or the end of israel god said wait a minute all right i'm still on the throne i'm still the one fly and lift it up in the midst of a crumbling political world of isaiah's day as well as in the midst of a crumbling world in our day angels confirm that god's glory is still intact but the question was asked by the writer where is the glory of god well isaiah is reminded that god's glory is where it always has been on the universals on the throne of the universe look at isaiah chapter 46 it's a good lesson this lesson really calibrates our mind in a world that we're facing now we are not secure because of presidents princes prime ministers or dictators we are secure because god is still in charge of the universe amen i was saying to someone just the other day and i say this to you the story is going to end the way that god wrote it that's right amen it's not going to end any other way that's right isaiah 46 9-10 remember the former things of old for i am god and there is no other don't forget that i am god and there is none like me why should we keep trusting god in the midst of a crumbling world yes declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done what is god saying my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure matter of fact go with me to revelation what just brought this to me uh you know the revelation scenario doesn't take into consideration political party or power or wealth or anything of the nature let's look at uh revelation chapter 17 and look at a couple of verses here revelation chapter 17 this is not in my notes this is extra no charge okay here it is isaiah revelation chapter 17 and it says in verse 13 speaking about the coalition of babylon it says these are of one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast but verse 14 says but don't forget these will make war with the lamb and the lamb will overcome them for he is the lord of lords and king of kings and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful you might wonder what with such a threatening coalition how is it that the lamb wins well look at verse 17. look at verse 17 for god echoing the words of isaiah 46 verse 9 and 10 for god has put it into their hearts to fulfill his purpose to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of god are fulfilled don't forget that he says i'll do all my pleasure god says even if you go on the wrong direction i'm going to put it in your mind to fulfill my will that's powerful we have to remember that because right now in this world that's being built back better or being reset there you go god is saying i am still in charge good news we are living in fearful times for the people of god so why would the lord make an appearance to isaiah in the temple as opposed to any place else exodus chapter 25 and verse 8 tells us why why would god make an appearance to isaiah in the temple as opposed to any place else isaiah exodus 25 verse 8 and let them make me a sanctuary that i may dwell among them god appears where god knows his appearance makes a difference he wants to dwell among us so he appears in the very place where one day panel this is going to be beautiful we often talk about this but we know that there's no earthly sanctuary services now but one day we're going to see the face of god and the glory of god we're going to finally realize what moses saw when god gave him the pattern to build the temple what isaiah saw when when uzziah lost his reign and what we're going to see one day let's go to another text in the bible exodus chapter 14 god shows isaiah that through the vision this is a time of pause sometimes god has to cause us to pause to allow us to recalibrate our vision of his glory yes exodus 40 verse 34 to 38. then the cloud covered the tabernacle of the meeting and the glory of the lord filled the tabernacle and moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the lord filled the tabernacle whenever whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle the children of israel would go onward in all their journeys but if the cloud was not taken up then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up for the cloud of the lord was above the tabernacle by day and fire was over it by night in the sight of all the house of israel throughout all their journeys now what was that cloud saying i'll transition on this passage zechariah chapter 2 and verse 13. you know it's difficult to look into the future when a world is turbulent but god says to isaiah he said it to moses and he says to us in my transitional text to zechariah 2 and verse 13 these words of encouragement be silent all flesh before the lord for he is aroused from his holy habitation god is still on the throne amen praise the lord that's exciting isn't it now you don't want to go away because we're going to be right back in just a second [Music] ever wish you could watch a 3abn sabbah school panel again or share it on facebook instagram or twitter well you can by visiting 3abnsabbaschoolpanel.com a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share a link save a life for eternity i see you didn't go anywhere praise god for that we're going to get right into tuesday's lesson with sister joe marconi a new personality new personality absolutely i love that the transforming grace of god we're in isaiah 6 we're going to look at verses 5 through 7. thank you both so much for that foundation laid because it's pivotal for what takes place here we know that isaiah is in in this vision he's in the sanctuary in the temple as it were we know that this is right after king uzziah died and it's a time of great national apostasy the people at that time and isaiah says let's just jump in verse five he says woe is me for i am undone because i am a man of unclean lips and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts so when i read that verse my question is why did isaiah react the way that he did now if you or i had seen seraphims and had seen celestial beings crying holy holy holy if we had seen this vision of the sanctuary or the temple we would have been overcome oh yeah right but to understand the significance in isaiah's mind we have to look just a bit at israel's history at the sanctuary service and specifically as the lesson brought out the day of atonement so we're going to look at four quick things before we really jump into the takeaways of this passage number one there was an appointed time to enter the holy of holies turn with me to leviticus 16. of course leviticus 16 specifically talks about the day of atonement leviticus 16 verse 2 and the lord said to moses tell aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark lest he die for i will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat of course we know the day of atonement happened once a year but there was an appointed time they couldn't just wander and anytime they felt like it there was an appointed time to enter the holy of holies number two only the high priest could enter the holy of holies hebrews keep your finger in leviticus we're coming right back there but hebrews chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 says now when these things have been thus prepared the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services but into the second part the high priest went alone once a year not without blood which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance so you notice not anybody was allowed in just the high priest point number three a cloud of glory was required even then or the high priest would have died they needed that protective smoke screen as it were of incense back to leviticus leviticus 16 verses 12 and 13 then he aaron the high priest would take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the lord with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine and bring it inside the veil and he shall put the incense on the fire before the lord that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony lest he die and why was that important because point number four sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy god genesis chapter 3 remember adam and eve when they sinned in the garden and genesis 3 verse 8 what does the word of god say adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord god among the trees of the garden why is that because sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy god we get all the way down to the last book of the bible in revelation revelation 6 and we see this imagery of the second coming of christ and the wicked what do they do in revelation 6 verse 16 they cry out fall on us to the rocks they want to hide hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand so the four things that isaiah would have remembered from his context from what he knew was that there was an appointed time to enter the holy of holies only the high priest could enter the holy of holies that a cloud of glory was required even then or the high priest would die and that sin cannot exist in the presence of god and i can't see inside his mind so this is jill's opposition but if i were there i would think it's not the day of atonement i'm not the high priest there's clearly a cloud here but i am a sinner in the presence of a holy god i am unclean i am unworthy god cleaned me amen god cleanse me god sanctify me that's right that's why he said that i am undone i have unclean lips my people are sinners god please and so we see verse six what does god do then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and he said behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged so what are the lessons that we see from this passage i see four lessons lesson number one recognition of god precedes recognition of my own sinfulness recognition of god of who he is of his mightiness and glory of his purity and holiness that always precedes recognition of my own sinfulness isaiah said what did he say i am undone i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips why because my eyes had seen the glory of god because he had gotten just a tiny glimpse of god's holiness of god's character that led him to that recognition of his own sinfulness by contrast romans 2 what does it say romans 2 4 the goodness of god leads us to repentance lesson number two repentance precedes cleansing always repentance comes before cleansing the seraphim came with a coal from the altar after isaiah said woe is me i am undone and i am unclean first john 1 9 if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness confession and repentance precede forgiveness and cleansing that's right lesson number three fire precedes purification that's right number 31 verse 23 everything that can endure fire you shall put through the fire and it shall be clean so why is it put through the fire that purification process in the fire makes something clean which makes us pure zechariah 13 verse 9 this is in the new living translation i will bring that group through the fire and make them pure i will refine them like silver and purify them like gold that the the coal from the altar was symbolic of that purification process that god wants to do in your life and in mine first peter 1 7 peter puts it this way the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ so the coal from the altar that the seraphim took purified isaiah prepared him for his mission now this is kind of a side note but this is very fascinating to me with uzziah remember uzziah the king received leprosy why because he took the coals from the altar and he tried to offer them as incense isaiah received purification because the seraphim used the coal from the same altar and they made isaiah himself the incense so uzziah wanted to offer incense but isaiah he became the incense lesson number four final lesson holiness precedes any sending forth you know we're not called isaiah was not called we call isaiah 6 what the call of isaiah he was not called because he was talented or special or extraordinary you and i are not called to serve jesus we are not called to evangelize or to witness because we are talented or special or extraordinary that's right we are called because god has touched us and purified us for service amen god doesn't call the qualified but he qualifies those whom he calls true and this is what we see before the call went forth to isaiah we see this purification this cleansing process that had to take place so recognition of god his character and holiness precedes recognition of my own sinfulness repentance precedes cleansing fire precedes purification and holiness precedes any sending forth and shelley you have the call thank you for setting that up so we're going to look at wednesday's lesson is the royal commission and we will look at isaiah 6 and verse 8. so he says also i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us and then he said then said i here i am send me you know to me it's a remarkable contrast that it goes from the personal singular pronoun who shall i send to the plural pronoun us and that doesn't prove the triune god but i think it implies it pretty strongly so isaiah has this unforgettable vision of god in the holy sanctuary and the closer you get to god the more you know god the more you will recognize your own sin and you know what recognizing our sins painful oh but the repentance is so joyful i've got a teaching that i call the joy of repentance people always say what the joy of repentance repentance is joyful so here his tongue is touched with this burning coal which was symbolic of cleansing and you know what happens once isaiah has seen this perfectly sinless pure holy god he is ready to consecrate his life to god's service he this holy boldness comes on him and he takes god's statement who shall i send who will go for us he takes that as a personal invitation you know we should too that's right jesus has the great commission he has sent us out but he was eager to go wherever god wanted to send him and he was humbled by the experience to do that multiple places in the scripture give us evidence that god's sanctuary is a place of encouragement psalm 73 if you want to turn there let me set this up what's going on in psalm 73 the psalmist is wallowing in self-pity have you ever done that but the reason he's wallowing in self-pity is because it seems like the wicked are prospering while the righteous are those who are living a righteous life are having difficulties then look at verse 17 psalm 73 17 he said he's he's struggling with this until i went into the sanctuary and then i understood their end so his attitude completely changes because once he's in the sanctuary he's realizing that the whole world is under god's sovereign control and he recognizes hey i'm on the right side of things so he gained victory over temptation when he recognized god's purpose now let's look at hebrews 4 14-16 probably one of my favorite passages in the new testament hebrews 4 verse 14. this gives us another vision of the heavenly sanctuary it says seeing then that we have a great high priest speaking of jesus who has passed through the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin when you envision jesus god became a man he became the son of man he became the son of god the covenant son of god do you realize the reason that we can come boldly before the throne is because we have christ our high priest sitting at the right hand of the throne and he knows he understands you when you're feeling weak when you're feeling tempted he was tempted and always as we are yet he was without sin but he's got that heart for us he understands and he knows how to certainly intercede and mediate on our behalf so then it says in verse 16 because because you've got this high priest let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need you know god invites you as his child to come before him with boldness that means with security in your heart with assurance that he's on your side he has your eternal benefit in mind now we should come with reverence we don't take god for granted but come with reverence but don't hesitate come before him so hebrews 10 let's look at that while we're there hebrews 10 19-23 says therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of jesus here the the high priest could only go in once a year but now we've got this this privilege why verse 20 we've got we can enter with boldness by a new and living way which was consecrated for us through the veil that is through the flesh of jesus christ and then he says let us hold fast in verse 23 the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful it is through the sacrifice of jesus christ that the veil was ripped open into the holy of holies that gives us permission to go in with confidence with boldness as a child of god we come and sit right at his feet and we can have utter confidence in his promises so here's one more very quickly we've got a few minutes a couple of minutes left here's a a turn to revelation chapter 5 this is a throne room scene of the heavenly throne room what's happening is john sees this scroll this book that's got these sealed with seven seals and in this book this regards god's plans to solve the sin problem to save fallen humanity this is it contains the full mystery of what's going to occur at christ's second coming but he's looking around and he's going who's worthy there's no man in heaven on earth who's worthy to open this except one that's right the son of man the son of god amen the lion of judah the root the root of david he had prevailed he had conquered so verse 6 this is revelation 5 and verse 6. john says i looked and behold and in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain having seven horns seven eyes which are the seven spirits of god sent out and then he says these seven horns that's perfect authority seven's the number of perfection perfect wisdom this is worthy is the lamb and then verse 9 once they recognize that this sinless lamb is worthy he's gained victory for us vicariously verse 9 says oh they sang a new song you're worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain and then every creature is worshiping now here's what our author of the uh quarterly had to say not only does god's sanctuary throb with awesome power it's a place where weak and faulty people such as we can find refuge we can be reassured by knowing that god is working to rescue us through christ our high priest and he says john saw christ represented as a sacrificial lamb that been had been slaughtered not a pretty sight but the description makes the point that although christ was raised from the dead ascended to heaven he continually carries the cross event with him he is still lifted up in order to draw all people to himself at his office amen praise the lord now my goodness yeah well i love that i love this story it just seems like yesterday i was i was in the the uh my class in afco we were at afco a few years ago when i was going through the amazing facts center of evangelism and our class got to sit in on one of pastor doug's series that he entitled formula for faith and he used this conversion experience of isaiah powerful wow and as i'm hearing you guys go through this it's setting us up for thursday's lesson which is entitled appalling appeal well and it is quite an interesting appeal and you could just imagine i could imagine uh you know the reader anybody reading this or maybe even perhaps the humanity of of isaiah as he's hearing all of the all experiencing all these wonderful things you know he sees god he sees god's righteousness and it causes him to see his unrighteousness his filthy rags what's his response woe is me so he has this repentance experience this confession which he pours his heart out to god i'm a man of unclean lips and then god says but who are we who am i going to send out who's going to represent me and isaiah says pick me my lord me i'll go i'll go and what is his first message what is his first message that god sends him to declare oh boy here it is isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. notice what the bible says it says and he said go and tell this people i love it keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return to be healed well i can imagine you know again the humanity did i hear that correct lord you want the very first message you want me to go tell these people is that they have eyes they can't see oh boy ears they can't hear their hearts are dull their mind and hearts can't perceive what this is the message you want me to deliver and just in case you might think that you know maybe maybe it's not really what he's saying jesus reiterates this in the gospel in fact let's go there right now matthew chapter 13 we're going to read verses 13 through 15. it's interesting because jesus makes mention of this after he's just delivered the parable of the sower and he's giving them this parable and the disciples said jesus why the world you speaking to these people in parables that doesn't make any sense notice what how jesus responds matthew 13 verses 13 through 15 it says therefore this is jesus speaking he says therefore i speak to them in parables because no tell me if these words sound familiar because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear it goes on to say nor do they understand and in them the prophecy of isaiah is fulfilled which says and then he quotes that prophecy hearing you will hear and shall not understand and seeing you will see and not perceive and you say why why is that why why is god declaring this somewhat of a judgment upon them because again they have ears they can't hear they have eyes they can't see why is this i think christ explains it right here verse 15 notice it says for the hearts of this people have grown dull their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes they have closed okay so there's a choice on the part of the people yes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that i should heal them well and so what we're reading here is the condition of the people in isaiah's time and then there's another application of this as jesus now applies this upon the pharisees the people that he's trying to witness to in his day they're not listening either so jesus says man well is the the prophecy of isaiah fulfilled right here right now because you have ears that can't hear you have eyes that can't see and until those are open so that you can't see and that you will soften your heart and heart you're not going to be able to perceive the things which i want to speak to you oh my this reminds me of pharaoh remember pharaoh the bible says i think it's around nine times nine or ten times it says that god hardened pharaoh's heart and when you read that kind of on the surface it makes it kind of sound like man god that's tough you're tough on people lord you harden that person's heart but the truth of the matter is god allowed pharaoh's heart to be hardened because of pharaoh's choices same thing in isaiah that we're reading here same thing here that jesus is declaring to the people in his day he will allow a person's heart to become hardened if they are not allowing their ears and their eyes to see and to hear and to comprehend the way of the lord for their life what i see happening here what god is essentially spelling out is probably the most scary condition that one person could ever experience and jesus speaks of this in matthew chapter 12 verses 31 and 32 you might have heard it something like blasphemy of the holy spirit in which you reach a point in which your heart is so hardened you have created a spiritual callous upon your ear that you are no longer allowing the holy spirit to speak to you i want to talk about this for just a moment because what we see here being addressed in this passage is something that a lot of people it's kind of it's it's somewhat of a creeping compromise of a situation it's a subtle creeping effect that happens on the heart of a person because they they constantly over a period of time begin to turn away their heart from the lord they begin to create as i said that spiritual callous on their ears they're no longer they they hear the holy spirit but then they turn that council away they read the word of god and then they ignore that counsel or they ignore the commandments or they ignore the word of the lord and over a period of time their heart becomes spiritually hardened where the lord cannot penetrate that heart anymore i'm thinking of john chapter 16 verse 13 if we're talking about how this happens how does this occur why is jesus speaking the way he did to the pharisees why does god send isaiah out to deliver this message to the people uh there's this process has occurred and i want to spell that out in the remaining minutes that i have here notice what jesus says here in john chapter 16 we've read it many times verse 13 jesus says however when he the spirit of the spirit of truth has come yes what is his job why has he come he has come to guide you into how much truth oh all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things so why does god send the holy spirit to to lead us to guide us to shape and mold our thinking our minds our hearts to be more like that of jesus christ but if we are as paul writes in ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 when we're grieving the holy spirit okay and i'm just going to reference that ephesians 4 30 where paul says and do not grieve the holy spirit of god for by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption when you grieve the holy spirit what are you doing you're pushing away the life source of truth you're pushing away the spirit of the lord even paul again echoes this in first thessalonians chapter 5 19 one of the shortest but most powerful texts in all of scripture it sends a powerful message paul just says do not quench the spirit do not quench the spirit in other words is it possible the fact that he's saying do not do this it must be possible that you can indeed quench the spirit of the lord and then the sad thing is that's exactly what was happening in the days of isaiah when all of this apostasy had come in they had completely forsaken the way of the lord they had completely forsaken the covenant of the lord and so god says you know he has this wonderful conversion experience isaiah in the presence of the lord and he says look if you're going to go out and you're going to speak for me yes lord i'll speak for you send me this is the message i want you to tell them and here it is their hearts are hard they've turned away their ear they can't they have ears but they can't hear they have eyes but they can't see because they have hardened their hearts yes i also think of you talking about god hardening the heart of pharaoh again it's not that the lord is bestowing this upon someone because it's his plan or it's his choice it's because of our choice and we see this as paul also talks on this point in second thessalonians chapter 2 verses 10 through 12 it says and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish and why are they perishing because they did not receive the love of the troops that they might be saved and for this reason god here it is same thing he did to pharaoh god will send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they may all be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness why did they not believe the truth because they quenched the spirit of truth because they pushed away the spirit of truth because they neglected the counsel and the leadership and the guidance of the holy spirit that god had sent them yeah also think of first timothy 4 verses 1 and 2. again paul paul had a lot to say on this notice what he says here now the spirit expresses expressly says in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving or seducing spirits and doctrines of demons but notice what he says here speaking lies in hypocrisy having their own conscious seer conscience seared with a hot iron what is happening here it's that spiritual callus that hardening of the heart it's almost like the searing of a hot iron kind of like carterizing a womb when you're on the battlefield and you see somebody in the movies and or you hear of them cauterizing what are they doing that hoon is not healed they're sealing up that wound that we are sealing up our hearing our vision our understanding when we are not listening and obeying the lord so make sure your eyes are open make sure your ears can hear and listen to the holy spirit today unless we fall into this same trap yeah praise the lord we need another an hour yeah i'll tell you study in isaiah is good we pray it's been a blessing to you we're gonna we've got a couple of minutes we want to go by and i'm sure the holy spirit has given each one just another little tidbit that might help us along the way well all of us have been in discouraging situations at one point or another that's just the way the bible is it looks at man it reads man i said don't let don't just read your bible that your bible reads you and in discouraging days in which we live i like as uh isaiah jeremiah ezekiel daniel but lamentations a book that spells lament brings us encouraging words and discouraging times lamentations 3 21-24 he says this i recall to mind therefore i have hope through the lord's mercies we are not consumed because his compassions they'll not they are new every morning great is your faithfulness the lord is my portion says my soul therefore i have hope in him in discouraging times like this get a vision of the lord as isaiah did and you'll still have hope amen amen verses in ezekiel ezekiel chapter 11 god says that he does not have any pleasure in the death of the wicked and then it says turn turn from your evil ways for why should you die for house of israel and i think that's god's appeal to each one of us so when we see that holiness of god when we see his purity to just come and say would you cleanse me would you bring a coal from your altar and touch me and transform my life amen amen and i believe that god is still today looking down and saying whom shall i send who will go for us and i think jesus answered the question who is supposed to be sent in matthew 28 verse 19. he says and he's speaking to you he's speaking to me he's speaking to all christians therefore go and make this is matthew 28 19 go and make disciples of all nations yes teach baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and teaching them to observe all that i've commanded amen amen um i'm just going to echo the words of paul in first thessalonians 5 19 do not quench the spirit we cannot begin to adopt the spiritual eyesight of the lord the spiritual hearing of god the spiritual mind of christ if we are not led by the holy spirit don't harm your hearts but open it up to the leading guiding power of god amen praise the lord it's encouraging i pray that the lesson has been encouraging to each one of you uh you've been inspired to get into the word and dig a little bit deeper isaiah has so much to offer as the holy spirit spoke to him and these things were written down for each one of us so we pray it's just been a big blessing for you now listen you won't want to miss next week's lesson we're going to be talking about when your world is falling apart you don't want to miss it be sure and join us thank you for joining us three being sabbath school panel see you next [Music] time [Music] do you

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Length: 59min 40sec (3580 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021