Love Languages | James Rafferty

[Music] free angels broadcasting network is pleased to bring you something better a faith-inspiring picture of a loving god from the book of hebrews welcome to 3abn's virtual homecoming camp meeting hello friends welcome back to 3abn fall camp meeting 2021 as you have found out we are here you are there we are having any a virtual event but we've discovered that the lord can work through any kind of connection because as greg marconi our president talked about in the first hour nothing can separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord that's why you need to stay tuned for the second hour because pastor james rafferty is our main speaker for this fall camp meeting and he's going to be talking about relationships something better and his message for this hour is about love languages what is your love language well you'll find out how significant it is to have a love language but we thank you for tuning in also it's not too late to invite your friends to tune in give them a call either through internet or radio or television we have a lot more coming up for our fall camp meeting 2021 but before we invite pastor james rafferty who's going to come and speak and he's also going to begin and pray before he speaks i want to invite ryan day and tim parton and we're going to begin this hour with a song entitled day star you know what's so significant about that song is everything we do if you notice there's a theme we sang shine on us now we're going to sing about day star when we allow the day star to shine through our lives only then can the love languages become a blessing listen to the song [Music] [Music] let your sweeter aroma feel my life [Music] rose of sharon show me how to grow in beauty in god's sight um [Music] ten thousand make me a reflection of your life [Music] let your love shine through me in the night lead me lord i'll follow any way you'll open up [Music] let your words speak to me show me what i've never seen [Music] cause lord i want to be a witness you can take what's wrong and make it right [Music] down on me let your love shine through me in the night [Music] lord i want to see your witness wounded by a master of deceit roping in the darkness haunted by the years of pasty fears [Music] but when i see you standing near me lord shining with compassion in [Music] oh let your love shine through me in the night [Music] [Music] let your words speak to me show me what i've never seen [Music] lord before want to be your witness you can take what's wrong and make it right [Music] let your love shine through me in the night [Music] let your love shine through me [Music] amen amen that was beautiful powerful i love that well good evening and welcome to three angels broadcasting fall camp meeting what a blessing it is to be in the word of god in the spring and in the fall and we here at 3abn are so thankful that you've joined us we were thinking about a theme for camp meeting and uh you know the last two years have been very difficult very difficult years you know for our country for our world and you know 3abn here we all felt really impressed that something better would be a great theme and that theme is found in the book of hebrews so that's going to be the focus of our camp meeting because of all that we've been going through in the last year or so you know for the next few days we're just going to really hone in on something better something different than all of the i guess trials and difficulties that we've been facing in our world today we need a fresh uh boost of hope and faith and love and that's what we're going to find here in the book of hebrews you know we believe that god is leading his people to study the book of hebrews in this present time in history in fact this book is going to be the focus of our sabbath school quarter for the first quarter the first three months of 2022. so it's kind of providential there and just a little plug here for salvation symbols and signs we also had decided a few months ago to let this book be our next study on the salvation and symbols and science series so we're really excited because this book has for us something better the theme is all through the book and we're going to see that as we jump in and study it this evening but before we do that let's pray and ask for a special anointing of the holy spirit father in heaven i just want to thank you again that you are the one who has every human being in your hands that you know the end from the beginning and you long to deliver us from the struggles from the trials from the difficulties that we face father this world is turned upside down just in the last couple of years we see a completely different picture than what we've experienced before this prior to this and we need your holy spirit we need the special blessing of the holy spirit not just to anoint us tonight and to speak to us tonight but to to move through the hearts and the minds of people in this nation and all over the world we're giving you that time right now that opportunity to speak to us through your word and we're especially focusing as our camp meeting theme on the book of hebrews and the theme of something better something noble or something stronger than what this world has to offer so we're just giving you this time right now we ask that you would fill us guide us that you would speak through me tonight that i would be laid aside and your spirit would would talk and communicate of your great love to us on this theme something better on this subject tonight of love languages do this we pray in jesus name amen well the languages of love is so powerful in relationship to how we communicate now i believe that this is a theme through the book of hebrews that is based on the idea of something better when we look at something better in the book of hebrews which by the way the word means something that is noble or something that is stronger we find that the book of hebrews uses this word better 13 times now there are 13 chapters in the book of hebrews so i think that's really interesting that 13 times that word is used in the 13 chapters it's not used in every chapter but it is used throughout the book of hebrews something better better better better better better better in fact in hebrews chapter 1 verse 4 we're told that our god is a better god in hebrews chapter 6 verse 9 we have better salvation in hebrews chapter 7 verse 7 we have a better priesthood verse 19 of chapter 7 a better hope and verse 22 of chapter 7 a better covenant in hebrews 8 verse 6 we have again the emphasis on a better covenant which is really significant and that they are based on better promises or that covenant is based on better promises and then in hebrews 9 23 we have a better sacrifice in hebrews 11 oh excuse me 10 34 we have a better substance in hebrews 11 16 we have a better country in verse 35 we have a better resurrection and in verse 40 we have a better experience and then in hebrews chapter 12 and verse 24 we have better things just better things the book of hebrews is just about better things it's about something better a better god better salvation a better priesthood a better hope better covenant better promises better sacrifice substance country resurrection experience just better things alleluia and amen god wants to get us onto a completely different way of navigating through this world he wants to get us focused on something better so let's apply this this principle that we find in hebrews this better theme of salvation and resurrection hope and experience and covenant let's apply this to each one of the chapters i just like us to break down the chapters chapter by chapter and go through the 13 to connect this theme with the focus of the chapter chapter 1 of hebrews is a focus on god god who takes the nature of humanity upon himself in order to legally and righteously take personal responsibility for the sins of humanity a god who does not sacrifice a third party but gives himself for us hebrews chapter 1 describes a better god hebrews chapter 2 describes this god manifest in the flesh in the person of jesus christ so we have hebrews chapter 1 describing a better god hebrews chapter 2 describing a better man jesus hebrews chapter 2 excuse me hebrews chapter 3 we find god here has built us a better home a better family a better community the emphasis here is that it is community a house a home that is free from condemnation and guilt so hebrews chapter 3 focuses on a better house a better god a better man a better house hebrews 4 hebrews 4 you know we are led to this home that's free of guilt and in being led there we find ourselves coming into our stepping into a better rest so hebrews chapter three or excuse me chapter four describes a better rest a salvation rest in jesus christ if you will hebrews chapter five we find here hebrews chapter 5 provides us with a better obedience jesus christ comes as a human and he obeys god as no other human ever has so christ becomes the author of our salvation a better obedience hebrews chapter 6 we find better promises promises that are made by god and fulfilled by god in us in spite of us hebrews chapter 7 our attention there is directed to a better priest and that is the priesthood of jesus christ who works incessantly on our behalf who is filled with the ability to completely save us from sin hebrews chapter 8 well we naturally flow into from better promises to a better covenant hebrews chapter 8 is all about this better covenant based on god's power rather than man's faulty promises hebrews chapter 9 directs us to a better sanctuary a heavenly sanctuary where christ stands in the presence of god for us hebrews chapter 10 better sacrifice not the sacrifices of animals not the sacrifices of bulls and goats but the sacrifice of god himself in the person of jesus christ and that gives way in hebrews chapter 11 to a better faith that's what we call the faith chapter or the hall of faith chapter hebrews chapter 11 focuses on a people whose failures and imperfections have been completely blotted out by their faith in jesus christ and it reveals in there a better experience you know we are relieved of the guilt and the shame of our sin we live in the light of god's love we live in obedience to god we have a completely different experience when we're when that guilt and that weight of sin is lifted off us and then of course hebrews chapter 12 takes us to a faith picture that points us to jesus as the author and the finisher of our faith you know sometimes we think well jesus does the beginning and we need to do the rest no the bible says he's the author he's the finisher and that's the better way that's the better way of hebrews to let jesus finish what jesus began and then finally we close in hebrews chapter 13 it's pretty powerful it's pretty simple it's pretty basic but it's something that's kind of changed my devotional life hebrews 13 specifically verse 15 tells us that out of all of these better things that god has provided for us it's going to lead us to a better praise we're going to give praise and thanksgiving to god when i wake up in the morning i go to the word of god i read a bible verse and i just start praising god for everything that's in that bible verse i just start thanking him for every little bit that he has put in that word in that verse for me and sometimes i praise him for everyone i just include the whole world in the things that god has done because god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son amen now covet 19 you know has brought upon this world a huge increase you know of sorrow of loss of conflict i mean depression is soaring suicide has shot up and so we need something better we need something better to focus on you know than this present world has to offer we need a huge dose of god's love to get through all this and at the same time we need to remember that that what's happening in this world reminds us that this world is not our home it never has been it never will be god has some better thing for us than all of this as we see it now he always has had something better when we look at the creation that god uh started with in this in this world we know that when he created this earth he created it without pain and sin and sorrow and we know that when god created this world in genesis 1 and genesis 2 he said it was good even very good and then all of a sudden we saw well we saw a pause we saw an interruption in god's plan and that's when sin came in sin is what brought the pain and the sorrow and evil not god and we know that god is working to restore us to the original plan so that by the time we get through the old testament and the new testament we get to the book of revelation chapters 21 and 22 guess what happens there's no more death there's no more pain there's no more sorrow and that picture is what keeps us that's what makes me a believer because between those bookends of genesis 1 and 2 and in revelation chapter 21 and 22 there's a whole bunch of evil and a whole bunch of pain and sometimes we want to say is god why are you letting all this stuff happen and what god is saying back to us is it was never my will from the beginning and it's not going to be my plan in the end so keep your focus on the author and keep your focus on the finisher all of this stuff in between we're just going to have to navigate it but god's going to help us god is going to help us to navigate all of this because god loves us and he wants something better for us yet it's not always easy for us to understand god's love in fact we misunderstand god's law love more than we understand it and many of us don't actually think god loves us at all you know my wife and i were married now we just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary so 32 years ago september 3rd we were married and we experienced a lot of insecurity you know both of us came from dysfunctional families both of us came from dysfunctional backgrounds i was raised in a single-parent home reese was raised in a single-parent home so it wasn't easy for us we did everything right as far as we knew we followed the biblical principles and we figured that we were going we were stepping into something that was going to be far better than what a lot of people did but [Music] it was within one year that we were in marriage counseling which was very hard for me because you know i'm a pastor like i'm a preacher like a year into my marriage i need marriage counseling no i don't think so i'm not i'm not going there but i had to admit that i myself was exasperated with our situation see when i married reese and when reese married me i determined that i was going to make her know that she was loved i was going to provide for her like a husband should i was going to work i was going to bring you know bring home the the money take care of all the bills take care of her give her security and not only that but i was going to help her in the home i decided that i was going to help over the house work i said listen honey i'm going to vacuum i'm going to clean the bathroom it was kind of easy back then because we lived in a daylight basement and it had a living room kitchen bathroom bedroom so i'm going to vacuum you know i'm gonna clean the bathroom you know we got a couple bathrooms now and there's three bedrooms and well anyway i won't tell you the rest of that story maybe reecey can so the deal was that i was gonna be working 40 hours a week plus you know how it is pastors and that i was going to be helping in the home and i even volunteered to cook a meal once a week i'm not going to tell you how that turned out but in within one year my wife was insecure now for me i was loving her to my utmost i was communicating loved her i was really letting her know that i loved her but she was insecure she didn't feel loved at all and one of the things that made a huge difference in our lives was a little book called the five love languages and we started counseling with a pastor and he shared with us this book and some of the principles and it literally changed the whole direction of our marriage i cannot tell you how much that helped me and you know here i am a pastor that doesn't want to go to counseling because you know i don't yeah no every single one of us needs the counsel of others we need the help of one another we need to encourage one another hebrews says we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of such as especially as we see the day approaching and that's not just talking about church fellowship that's talking about the fellowship of fellow brothers and sisters that can help us with their experience and their wisdom etc and i feel like god has given reese and i some wisdom and we'd like to share with you tonight in the context of the book of hebrews and here it is i was loving risi with everything i had i was communicating love to her as loud as possible and she couldn't hear a single word you know why because i was loving her with acts of service that's how i was loving her that's a love language there are five love languages gifts physical touch quality time acts of service and words of affirmation these are the five love languages and by the way i decided because these were in a book written by a doctor that i wanted to find them in the bible and i turned to the book of hebrews because hebrews is a relational book and as i went to the book of hebrews to discover these love languages was which are here and we're going to find out about that as we move through it tonight i discovered two more you know god works in sevens not fives right god works so there's two more love languages that are clearly outlined in the book of hebrews and we're gonna look at those two so let's just go back to the five for now i was loving her with everything that i had i was i was communicating to her that i loved her but i was using the language of acts of service well guess what that wasn't reese's love language reese's love language was quality time now most people have a one and a two and then the next three and i'm going to say four and five are maybe lower so we have certain love languages that communicate to us more strongly than the others risi and i had these love languages that communicate to us more than others simply because of our background i was raised in a single parent home i was raised in london england and when i was a boy we didn't have any of the modern conveniences you know we didn't have a car we didn't really need one because in england and london you just take buses and trains but we didn't have a car we didn't have um a refrigerator we didn't have a vacuum cleaner we didn't have a telephone we didn't have a washer and dryer i would brush the carpets you know with a hand brush and we would go to the store almost every day to get food because it had to be fresh and we had milkman back there that would deliver milk you know in the mornings and you put it in water and tried to keep it cold and and we would use the bathtub to wash clothes and and then we'd hang them up on the line sometimes we'd go down to the laundromat you know if we had time or whatever and um what else you know telephones well you know we could yell pretty loud most of the neighbors could hear us we had four flats in our home and there were 13 kids and all in the in the entire place so we didn't need to you know get on twitter or text message or anything we just hey time to go out and play it now away we'd go even though i didn't have all those modern conveniences i had a pretty happy childhood in england things didn't change much in that way until i moved to america and that's a whole different story but the thing is that i wanted to communicate to you was my mom worked she was a teacher and she worked pretty hard and she needed help in the house you can imagine all the things that need to be done when you don't have a refrigerator you don't have the washer you don't have a phone you don't so i did a lot of the stuff the acts of service stuff i did a lot of that growing up i just had to as a young man seven eight nine ten years old i was you know doing a lot of those things and so that was an area where i where i grew i was strong in that area and that to me was my natural go-to my mom really appreciated that i helped her you know she really felt that you know here's a kid that loves his mom you know he's helping her loves yeah so so that was a strong love language for me before i even know what love languages were i'm saying i'm going to make sure my wife is loved the way my mom was loved if you know what i'm saying that was my natural go-to risi was raised in a home with a single-parent mom and you know her mom loved her and said her but her dad was gone her dad wasn't around you know i had uh issues that were more like um you know neglect my mom just wasn't there to take care of the things whatever reese had all those things but she felt more issues of abandonment like her dad wasn't there for her and so her love language i don't know if you could figure it out but her love language was quality time she wanted me to spend time with her now we're talking about this with the bastard i'm thinking oh my this is amazing you know i am so busy working 40 hours a week and doing the extra stuff that pastors have to do and i'm so busy you know cleaning the house and cleaning the bathroom and doing the things that you know i know my wife is going to make her feel secure and make her know that she loves me that i don't have time to sit down and just talk i don't i don't have time to just quality time that seems like a waste of time what do you mean just sit around and just connect that's what you're saying i need to do it was such an eye-opener for me i just and it was phenomenal how it changed our lives our marriage so i started focusing on that quality time because what i found out was because i was communicating in my love language i was really manifesting love for me i wasn't manifesting love for my wife and i was exasperated because i thought how could my wife be insecure i'm doing all these things for her but i wasn't speaking her love language i'm going to give you a challenge tonight okay find out what the love language is of your spouse of your husband of your kids family members people in your community see if you can find out what their love language is and learn how to speak to people in their love language because sometimes when we communicate with people we communicate in such a way that it doesn't really help them or encourage them because it's not they're not hearing us it's like we're speaking french and they're understanding only english and we want to get on the wavelength of others when we communicate them to them this language of love so again i was really eager to understand it was it was such a game changer for us and by the way reese and i share the same second love language which is physical touch so it was really nice it's nice when a husband and wife share at least one love language i've met couples that don't share any i've met other couples uh because we do a lot of marriage counseling they'll share one but not the other and i say really it's it's nice when you have one that's compatible even though the other one might be different and it's hard for me because i'm uh i'm an ask i'm a doer guy and so to slow down and just sit with my wife at 32 years now i've really gotten into it sometimes i'll say to her hey honey you want to spend some time together honey you know you're busy you want to do some things together you want to you know have some pillow talk or whatever things have things have kind of switched here haven't they yes so the reason we have maybe uh stronger love languages than you know others do maybe because of our past so we need to consider our past why is it that we feel insecure in certain areas why do we need maybe you know some father called us a dummy all our lives you dummy dummy dummy you'll never get anywhere out to anything you're never going to be any good well that person would be that one of their love languages might be words of affirmation because they've always been criticized and put down they need to be spoken into they need to be affirmed and by the way that's my weakest love language can i confess that publicly my weakest love language is words of affirmation i'm kind of a perfectionist i'll come home and the whole house is clean but there's one thing not done i'm like how come that didn't get done whoops you know words of affirmation so we're going to have strong love languages we're going to have weak love languages love languages that we need to focus on or we need to build up strengthen well guess what there are no dysfunctional languages with god god has no dysfunctional history so he speaks to us in all of the love languages and that's what we're going to see in the book of hebrews the book of hebrews is not just a theological book in fact it's it's less of a theological book than it is a book about relationship i believe paul's the author there's a controversy that's not major you know some theologians believe he is some believe he isn't there's a lot of parallels with hebrews and other epistles that paul wrote that tell us that he's the author so i believe he's the author and he is i think communicating to the hebrews to israel to people who have really been almost dogmatically legalistic about their relationship with god you know got to do this you got to do that you go to this you got to do that you got to make sure all your t's are crossed and all your eyes are dotted and paul is moving away from that and he's transitioning them into a relationship experience with god that's his primary goal in the book of hebrews and i believe that we need that today more than ever you know legalism isn't just in religious circles legalism is it you can be an agnostic and be a legalist you can be an atheist to be a legalist it's when you're really draconian really uh picky really focused on rules and regulations and you can't give any wiggle room no mercy uh to other people around you and i see that happening more and more in our society if you don't match up if you don't you know if your words aren't in harmony with if your actions aren't in harmony with if you're not supporting what everyone else is doing then we're going to cancel you and the book of hebrews is moving us away from that it's moving us into this relationship with god where we don't see him just relating to us in this draconian way this legalistic way where he's we see him entering into a relationship with us and having an experience with us and walking with us and we see this right from the get-go in hebrews chapter one let's just read these first verses here in hebrews chapter one uh we'll read hebrews chapter one beginning with verse one it says god who at sundry times and in diverse manners i'm speaking uh reading from the kjv here i love the kjv sundry times and diver's manners what does that mean i don't know but it's really beautiful it's really poetic it actually means you know different times in various manners um spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets and has in these last days verse 2 spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds now verse 3 who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high this is relational language through and through do you hear do you see it in here god spake god communicated when adam and eve sinned they were hiding they had broken relationship with god they were feeling guilty they were feeling shame they went away from god they were hiding they didn't want to talk to god they want to come in contact with them and god comes looking for them adam eve where are you see that's communication that that invokes relation right where are you are you want to talk to you want to see you want to connect with you right that's what god has been doing from the beginning and all the way now to the very end of time he's been reaching out to us that's what hebrews 1 says he's been speaking to us through the prophets and then eventually he sent his own son he himself came in the person of jesus christ to communicate to us because communication is love you know when when my wife and i have you know a disagreement we don't fight we just have intense moments of fellowship right when we have this disagreement we have a king-sized bed and we can go to sleep because i don't want to talk i'm just the guys want to stuff it right well this is back now this isn't after 32. this is 20 years uh back in 20 years of of marriage not 32 years 32 years now i'm willing to talk but but back in the day we had enough room between us at night for both of our kids to move into the bed with us you know i'm on one side she's on the other side and no one's talking i'm laying there and quiet she's laying there and quiet i can't sleep she can't sleep and eventually say something like she'll say james are you awake and i won't say anything you know because i'm asleep and she'll say a few few minutes later james i know you're awake and i'll say no i'm not i'm sleeping and we'll begin to communicate you see that is what love does that's what relationship does it communicates and so right from the get-go in hebrews chapter 1 verses 1-3 god is communicating to us and that communication that he has with us is an indication of his love love speaks in different ways in a variety of ways at different times and it does it according to the need that's why it's different that's why it's in a variety of ways and it comes in different forms and shapes because god speaks to us according to the need in revelation 14 verse 6 the everlasting gospel which is very basically a distillation of the languages of love god is communicating to every nation kindred tongue and people what does that mean he's an inclusive god he's not leaving anyone out see that's the kind of god we serve he's communicating to every nation kinder tongue and people the everlasting gospel of his love in revelation 18 love communicates a call to come out of babylon come out of confusion come out of this dependence on the world and its economy in its system because it's coming down and depend on god in revelation uh 18 revelation 14 then in matthew 24 we have another communication from god of the everlasting gospel the gospel that's going to go to all the world and we're told there that love endures it perseveres it keeps communicating through war through pestilence through famine through earthquakes to natural disasters through all of the afflictions taking place on planet earth love does not stop communicating it keeps on communicating it endures to the worst of times and by the way all of those aspects of god's love in in revelation 14 and matthew 24 and revelation 18 that is the love that god wants to put into us he wants to infuse us with that same love that he has he's the one doing this but he wants us to be part of doing this and that's what 3abn is all about that's what three angels broadcasting is all about that's what we're all about here at 3abn because we want to team up with god to communicate love to the world so love is a verb love is action love is not just an emotional feeling that's here today and and gone tomorrow as we read matthew chapter 24 we see that love endures that's what it says in verse 13. it says he that endures to the end but he has to do with love a love that's waxing cold in others that continues to endure in god's people and this is i think why love has languages love speaks love communicates in practical ways so that's why it was so important for me to understand why my wife was insecure because i wasn't speaking love to her i was speaking i was speaking french and she's hispanic she's puerto rican mexican well she doesn't speak spanish but that's beside the point you get the illustration she was not hearing my love coming to her because everything i was saying i was saying to myself because i was speaking in my life language it was like i was talking to myself and not talking to my wife so are we speaking the biblical language of love when we tell people that god is going to burn them in hell forever for all eternity are we speaking the biblical language in love when we tell people that god has favorites who he's predestined to be saved and others who he's chosen to be lost are we speaking the biblical language of love when we communicate that god has tossed out his law at calvary so it doesn't matter how you live you can continue to lie and cheat and steal commit adultery it doesn't matter how you treat people because you're saved by grace i don't think so you know too often the language we speak about god as christians doesn't really communicate love it doesn't communicate god's love too often religious people claim to follow a god of love but communicate a loveless lawless exclusive god that's why we here at 3abn want you to understand what the bible says about hell and salvation and god's 10 commandment law and that's why we have these books focus on truth and you know greg and and jill shared these with you earlier so i don't have to say a lot about them but i you know god is love and so a god of love does not torture people in a burning hell for all eternity love does not exclude people from the opportunity of salvation love does not toss out the moral standard of his ten commandments that impact how we treat people and how we relate to our creators so i want to encourage you again get these books because they really it's not just about doctrine it's not just about what the bible teaches about hell what the bible teaches about the commandments what the bible teaches about salvation this is about god it's about his character it's about what kind of god he is and if indeed he is a god of love all right hebrews chapter one here's where we're going to look now remember i told you i wanted to see if these love languages were biblical i wanted them from the bible i didn't want them just to be in some book that someone wrote even if they were a christian i want to be biblically based and so i was looking for the languages of love and i found the first one in hebrews chapter 1. hebrews chapter 1 is all about god giving himself as a gift of salvation god takes care of the salvation we need himself he's the one that gives us this gift you know and sometimes when we think about jesus dying for us on calvary we think about jesus as a third party because of the use of the word son you know god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and but that word son communicates relational closeness not physical origin the father did not birth jesus the use of this title the son of god indicates a close personal connection such as the experience between a healthy relationship of a father and a son and that's what god is trying to tell us that that god the father god the son god the holy spirit they are one they are one in character they are one in principle they are one in purpose their wills are one but they're three separate individuals but they're one and this is not anything like paganism or some kind of you know polytheism this is the oneness that the bible teaches of course we did a whole meeting on that at our last camp meeting if you'd like to look at that you can but hebrews chapter one emphasizes this again and again and again i mean jesus is god that's the whole point of hebrews chapter one jesus is god jesus is god just in case you're you're thinking that this is some kind of pagan deity that takes his son and makes him pay a penalty for you know for for us that this is a third-party interaction it's not it's god and us and god looks at us and he says okay you've sinned ways of sin is death so you deserve to die and the only way that uh you can get out of that is if i take the consequence of your sin if i actually experience that and so i'm gonna do that i'm gonna i've got a plan i'm gonna do that and so god takes upon himself it doesn't give to somebody else he takes it upon himself jesus is god this is paul's argument right here and he says it in almost every single verse of hebrews 1. i'm just going to highlight let's just look at verses 8 through 10 in hebrews chapter one just to highlight this point it's found all over the bible philippians two are some of my favorite verses verses five through eight but let's just look here in hebrews chapter one verses eight through ten here's what paul says but under the sun talking about jesus he the father says thy throne o god is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom verse 9 thou the father talking about the son has loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore god even thy god the father hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows and thou lord speaking of the son thou lord in the beginning has laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands over and over again hebrews chapter one tells us that jesus is better than the angels that he is to be worshipped by the angels no one gets worshipped by the end you know lucifer wanted to be worshipped by the angels no one gets worshipped by the angels unless it's god and so this focus is powerful because this is the language of gifts god has given a gift to us he loves us and many times people are mostly mainly impacted in in the communication of love through gifts they love to receive gifts some people that's their number one language like if you my daughter that's big a big thing for her if you know words of affirmation and gifts and so god is communicating to us here through the love language of gifts he's given us a gift what kind of gift is it it's the greatest gift that was ever given it's the gift of himself he's given he's poured out all of heaven in this gift why because he loves us that's why he absolutely and completely loves us so god is in the person of jesus christ he gives himself for us and and jesus is god he's one with the father so this is the gift of love god give himself to us in jesus christ it's the greatest of all gifts and god's love is revealed in this gift just like it's going to be revealed in every one of the other languages of love just like it's going to be revealed in every one of the other gifts that god is communicating by the way i just want to remind you it's going to be a fun experience for you to try to figure out the love languages of people that you're close to if you haven't figured it out already it's a great exercise because it really makes a huge difference in relationships all right what about the next chapter of hebrews hebrews chapter 2. now hebrews chapter 2 is really powerful because it connects with hebrews chapter one it tells us how salvation was worked out with the father and the son it tells us what had to happen in order for god to justly and righteously receive the consequences of our sins because you know we sin not god so how can he take our sins that doesn't seem right or fair and so hebrews chapter 2 describes basically goes back to genesis if you want to look here with me in hebrews chapter two beginning with verse nine let's just look there hebrews chapter two and beginning with verse nine or excuse me verse six and we'll read through verse nine hebrews two six through nine uh it goes back to the creation but one in a certain place testifies saying what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visits him thou madest him a little lower than the angels as his creation thou crownest him with glory and honor you set him over the works of your hands you put verse eight all things in subjection under him that means the whole world was given to us all things injection under him for in that he put all in subjection unto him he left nothing that is not put under him but before we get to the butt let's just think about this god created us and gave us dominion over all the earth and he said this is good this is very good be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth just just have a great time and i'll connect with you every evening and we'll spend a special day together on sabbath right but this is verse 9 again or verse 8 now we see not yet all things under him what happened genesis chapter 3 the fall satan came in to kill to steal and to destroy that's what we're told in john chapter 10 and verse 10. so satan came in he deceived that eve at the tree and through eve he won adam's disobedience both of them now have in a sense handed all of the dominion over the earth to satan that's why jesus christ called him the prince of this world but remember god the creator is still the ultimate owner of planet earth and of each one of us and he has redeemed us he's put a plan in place so we don't but we don't see all things under him that notice the next but verse 9 but we see jesus praise god amen but we see jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god should taste death for every man that's just a mini three verses whole plan of salvation right there you know we were given dominion we were created to have this earth as ours it was good it was a blessing was very good satan came in deceived us led us to disobedience he became the prince of this world but jesus came in jesus came in and he redeemed us he tasted death for every man so the consequence of sin is death and that eternal separation from god is what we deserved that consequence carried out is a manifestation of justice now when we're talking about god's love we have to recognize that justice is not contrary to love justice is part of love god is merciful he's gracious he's and he's just he's righteous he's fair and those two components make up the foundation of god's character they are equally a demonstration a revelation of god's love so another word for justice we could say is righteousness doing what's right doing what's just doing what's fair you know my kids were younger my daughter always that's not fair that's not fair how come he gets my son was five years old how come he gets to do that well he's five years older that's why he can drive a car you're you know you're 11. he's 16 right that's not fair but god always does what's fair now as parents we don't always navigate as well as we should but god always navigates and does what's right what's just and what is fair so what's right what's just and what is fair means that adam and eve should have died in the garden of eden that would have been the end of that and it would have been just and right and fair no one could have faulted god for doing that for allowing that to happen however the bible tells us that god had a plan b amen god had a plan b for the human race he had a backup plan revelation 13 8 this is shelley quinn's favorite verse i can't help but mention that or one of her favorite verses it says that jesus christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world right there in revelation's final crisis you know the mark of the beast can't buy or sell you're going to die we have the cross we have calvary right there to help us to guide us so that we don't follow the world and this points us to god's plan b you know jesus christ is the lamb slain from earth's foundation so you know we've just shown that jesus christ is god that mankind sinned that mankind only should receive the consequences for that sin because that's what's right and that's what's just right so in order for jesus to justly and righteously take our consequences he must become mankind not just temporarily but permanently not just for 33 years but for all eternity jesus must become a human he must become the human race to receive the consequences that belong to the human race and that's exactly what he did jesus christ became a human being and as a human being jesus christ became for us sin second corinthians 5 21 tells us that jesus became sin the human race had sinned adam and eve had sinned but jesus took sins consequence legally ethically by becoming the new adam the new head of the human race the second adam the second atom now you can read about this in second or first corinthians chapter 15 verses 45 to 47. he is the second adam the bible tells us so in these verses in first corinthians 15 45 to 47 we're running out of time so i'm just going to give you the references otherwise i'd read them these verses identify jesus as the second adam and show us that he started the whole human race again all over again in himself as humans were born with a choice between the destiny of the first adam and the legacy of the first adam and the destiny of the second adam and the legacy of the second adam and when we become christians when we accept jesus christ we say i'm not going to receive the legacy and the destiny of this first adam that i'm born into i'm going to receive i'm going to choose the legacy and the destiny of the second adam and the second adam has paid the consequences for our sin the first adam hasn't the consequences are still coming if you stay in the first adam you're going to receive the consequences for your sins and that's going to be eternal death but if you step into the second adam consequence is taken care of and that's what the plan of salvation is really all about it's about stepping in to jesus christ it's about stepping into the person who's received our consequences in christ justice was satisfied in christ believing in christ we are saved from the death that sin brings and that's why the bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and merciful to forgive our sins are you listening out there this evening what does it say he's faithful and just it's only just it's only fair it's only righteous for god to forgive our sins if we step into jesus because jesus already paid the consequences for our sins it wouldn't be fair it wouldn't be righteous it wouldn't be just for us to receive those consequences when we step into jesus that's double jeopardy that it doesn't work that way we only receive the consequences if we're outside of jesus but we step into jesus he's faithful and he's just look at these verses though and see here what it took for jesus to step into the human race this is back in hebrews chapter 2 14 to 17. i'm watching the clock there so i'm making sure we have time it says here for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he's talking about us right he jesus also himself likewise took part of the same any doubt about that he was going to annihilate jesus christ became one with the human race he took part of the same flesh and blood then it goes on to say that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them that salvation right here we're talking about who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage isn't that a powerful bible verse that god has given us here for verily he took on not on him the nature of angels but he took upon him the seed of abraham wherefore in all things verse 17 it uh it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to god to make reconciliation for the sins of the people i love this jesus is the second adam yes but he didn't start with the second adam started in a perfect sinless garden that was gone when jesus came to this earth he came to our fallen sin parched world four thousand years after sin right so jesus became part of the fallen human race he took our weaknesses he came in the likeness of sinful flesh that's what it says in romans chapter 8 verse 3. matthew chapter 26 says that jesus had to surrender his human will to god and it took him three times to do it have you ever struggled with surrendering your will to god well jesus wrestled with it in the garden of gethsemane he had to say it once not my will but time be done god i really don't want to do this but not my will without me done god i really don't want to do this but not my will but then be done i don't want to move there i don't want to go to as a missionary there i don't want to go witness to that person i don't want to you know do that bible study whatever it is in our lives that god is calling us to do for his glory our natural human will sometimes shrink from them jesus fought that battle he became one with us on the level of the will and he always always surrendered that will to god jesus never failed like adam and he failed in the garden of eden with the surrender of the will he was holy he was harmless he was separate from sinners he was that holy thing amen i mean from his very inception to his death he consecrated himself to god not my will but thine be done was the battle cry of jesus he never failed to do god's will and that's why we have salvation our salvation is not only the death of jesus our salvation is in the life of jesus because his life tells us that we too can surrender our wills to god his life tells us that we too can live a victorious life and when we fail and if we fail if we sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous he's the propitiation for our sins first john chapter 2 verse 1 says so we have a perfect righteousness that backs us up but again we don't want to just toss the law of god and say well it doesn't matter we're saved by grace no we want to live for a god who loves us like he loves us we want to live for a god who's given everything for us so this is how he became our savior he worked out a perfect character and as a human being he as a new head of the human race he started humanity all over again where adam and he failed and this is how the godhead loves us in the area of physical touch you see jesus has become part of our human race permanently he's connected with us physically for all eternity after his resurrection remember jesus comes to the disciples after his resurrection in a human body thomas is really upset because jesus has revealed himself to the other disciples but not to thomas thomas like why couldn't you wait till i was with him well maybe jesus just couldn't wait to show himself to the disciples maybe thomas you should have been with him you know you shouldn't have missed prayer meeting right you should have been in church that sabbath you should have been there with the guys but you weren't but he'll get to you he's not going to leave anyone out that wants to see him that wants to know him when he comes to thomas he says touch me put your hand into my side and feel my wounds put your hands in your fingers into my hands and feel those wounds and believe he is in flesh and blood we know that because decades later he appears to john on the isle of patmos in human form as the son of god so the sacrifice of jesus christ is an eternal sacrifice an omnipresent god becoming present in humanity for all eternity we can't even understand that sacrifice can you imagine if you were omnipresent someone said hey you know would you be willing to kind of give that up you know joe's in some trouble and in order for you to help him you know if you could just give that up like because you know jesus would have died for one he would have given that up for one he has physically touched us he's become one with us and this is an amazing love you know god loves us he loves us through gifts he loves us through physical touch and his love is tangible god loves us practically god speaks to us in love languages in the language of love never doubt that god has given himself for us in the person of jesus christ god does not require a sacrifice for sin he provides the sacrifice for sin he is the sacrifice for sin that was always god's plan b the gift of love god became one with the human race forever god did not become a man for 33 years and say well i'm going to go back to heaven and you know all things will continue as they were no god in jesus christ became permanently part of the human race and this is love and these are the languages of love and they're powerful and god wants us to hear them and then he wants us to communicate them and tonight as we kick off our camp meeting we're going to be continuing to move through this theme of something better a better god and a better man and the plan of salvation that god has laid out for us and i'm praying that god will speak to each one of us and help us to get our eyes on him on heaven and off the things of this world that have been so discouraging let's pray together father in heaven thank you this evening for your love thank you for your grace thank you for the gift you've given us in jesus christ thank you for being a god that speaks to us and communicates to us even to the very end that endures whose love endures whose love calls us whose love isn't exclusive but is inclusive guide each one who's hearing this message touch their hearts with this everlasting gospel we pray in jesus name amen [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 12,449

Rating: 4.9494948 out of 5

Keywords: Love Languages, Biblical love, God's love, James Rafferty, 3ABN, 3ABN Virtual Homecoming Camp Meeting 2021

Id: OBGDq5yu-TE

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 24 2021