[Music] well if you're listening to the recording
of this uh you don't need to change your audio there's nothing wrong with your audio it's
probably fine but today my voice is trying to be different and we're going to just get
through this anyhow and next time you're here hopefully it'll be better Friday Sherry
and I were at The Crossroads Mall in Beckley we went to get a garden hose from Rural King
and some other things that needed to be done and as I was walking down the main aisle near
the center of the Court here are some ladies from a not too distant church and they had
these chocolate covered candy eggs they're selling and I go just a little further and I
see that we're getting pictures with the Easter Bunny and you know my mind is wondering just like
your mind has wondered or my mind has wondered in the past what do chocolate eggs and bunnies have
anything to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ they have nothing to do with it they
have everything to do with Pagan
fertility rights and practices and ceremonies
that were later incorporated into Christianity what do these Easter Sunrise services
that will be happening tomorrow and people will be going out and waiting for the sun to come up
and they'll be worshiping and having ham and egg dinners what does that really have to do with
the res resurrection of Jesus Christ well the fact is it has nothing to do with it but it
goes back again just like the rabbit and the eggs to Pagan fertility practices and
false
Christ I think probably most of us listening um we probably don't need a history lesson on this
today but the day before today that word I'm not saying well today that day before today Friday
we sometimes use the term Good Friday is a good Friday but was there not something very special
about that Friday and I say yes there was it was the death of Jesus Christ it was his atoning
death on the cross for us was it not is it not a pillar in the Plan of Salvation And of course
it was of
course it was and the resurrection of Jesus Christ could salvation be possible without
the resurrection and again I say no not at all these two great events were necessary as a part
of the Plan of Salvation and though Others May misunderstand these events and may have their
Easter bunnies and their Sunrise ham dinners and all those other things to go with them we
beloved must not let their misunderstandings stand in the way of our rejoicing in the work
of God and Christ in these events and
as I've thought about the Plan of Salvation And I think
as you have thought about the Plan of Salvation that we all realize that there are certain
Monumental pillars Monumental events in this whole Plan of Redemption that stand out and at
first I thought to try to present a a sweeping overview of all of these points today and I
realized that wasn't going to be possible for several reasons it would be too long and it would
be wonderful if we could take a Sabbath to go through all of these va
rious great mon Monumental
pillar events that I'd like to talk to today but we're going to look at some of them today and
all of these are essential we have bodies and in our bodies we have different various organs
we have a heart we have lungs we have kidneys a liver and we might think the heart is the
most important take it out you're gonna die but you can have a great healthy heart
but if your liver is diseased you're going to die too if you get lung cancer your
heart can be fine but yo
u're going to die unless it's cured obviously and so just
like in the Plan of Salvation whether it's the death of Christ his resurrection his
Ascension his high Priestly Ministry his coming back to this earth his second coming
all of these are important and today I want to look begin and my plan was to begin to look
at five and I don't know if we'll get that far today we'll just do what we can do amen but
some of these pillar events and the Plan of Salvation because they're all important
t
o us does anybody recognize this what is this skull skull heill yes
goala without that we have no salvation it is the focus of
our Redemption come on up you can come up here you come up here with Grandma Sherry I'd like to say the first Monumental
pillar of the Plan of Salvation begins in eternity past with what we call the Council
of peace and I don't say we call it that the Bible calls it that if you would turn with me
to Zechariah Chapter 6 and verse 13 Zechariah Chapter 6 and verse 13 i
s a prophecy about
Christ even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and He Shall bear the glory and shall
sit and Rule upon his throne and he shall be a priest upon his throne and the Council
of Peace shall be between them both the the Hebrew says two it's it's a Hebrew word for
two three not one two the father and the son counseling together in this Council and it's a
council of Peace designed to bring peace like the other pillars of Salvation the counsil
peace is one of the Eternal purp
oses of God in Acts chap 2 and verse 23 acts chap 2 verse
23 here Peter speaking on the day of Pentecost speaking of Christ as him being delivered by the
determined counsel and forn knowledge of God ye have taken and by Wicked hands have crucified
and slain Peter is saying that all this that happened it was through the determined counsel
and the forn knowledge of God that he would send his son to suffer this ignominious death so
that rebell rebellious people Sinners Like Us could have etern
al life Revelation chapter 13
and verse 8 it speaks about Jesus as being the lamb slain from the foundation of the world says
and all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Book of
Life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world the purpose and plan of Grace existed
from all eternity before the foundation of the world it was according to the determined
counsil of God that man should be created endowed with power to do the Divine will but
the
defection of man with all its consequences was not hidden from the unipotent and yet it
did not deter him from carrying caring out his eternal purpose for the Lord would establish
his throne in righteousness let me just pause before I continue with this quotation if
you'll think about God's great wisdom his omniscience his eternal nature it wasn't after in in a
sense that he decided to create man that he would then learn that man
would Rebel somehow in eternity past he has always known this
and he has
always planned for a solution to this problem God knows the end from the beginning known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world acts 15:18 therefore Redemption
was not an afterthought a plan formulated after the fall of Adam but an eternal purpose
to be wrought out for the blessing not only of this Adam of a world but for the good of all
the worlds which God has created signs of the times April 25 1892 paragraph 1 in The Book
of Job it speaks about how the s
ons of God came together to have a meeting and Satan
came representing this Earth and God said to him you know why don't you consider my
servant job he he is an upright man heeth evil and you remember the story right but Satan
wasn't the only one that was there there were other sons of God who'd come from other places
we don't know of Worlds that have intelligent beings are they like us we don't know but they're
intelligent they can love and serve God they've never rebelled against God they
've been faithful
to God only in this Earth has this plague of sin erupted the creation of the worlds this is
continuing the next paragraph the creation of the worlds The Mystery of the Gospel are for
one purpose to make manifest to all created intelligences through nature and through
Christ the glories of the Divine character by the marvelous display of his love and giving
his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life
the glory of God is
revealed to Lost humanity and to the intelligences of other worlds it's through
nature and through Christ how many other worlds are there I don't know the best estimate I've
heard concerning just the star in what we consider our known universe well they say that there's at
least a 100 billion galaxies and that's an old figure there it's probably been updated maybe as
many as 300 billion 400 billion and each of those galaxies there's three or 400 billion stars and
you start to multiply it o
ut and it's a pretty big number there's probably not a world like ours
on every one of them but there's some other worlds out there but he created systems of
stars like this spiral galaxy or this nebula this or some scientists have called it the eye
of God it doesn't look something like an eye wow he has created some of these things he
didn't need them all I mean what do we need we need one son one son that has a gravitational
warping of time space or however you want to call Einstein that
allows our planet to rotate
around it to create Seasons to give us the energy we need in every form to to sustain
ourselves we don't need the adonin Galaxy we don't need alpha centuri or any of these
other stars or systems out there and it's most likely these other worlds don't either
but God is a lover of beauty and even in the star systems he is created beauty beyond
our understanding and through these things through nature and through the revelation of
Christ we can understand the glori
es of his Divine character amen I'm thankful for that
they are all to declare the glory of God and this brings us to the second pillar event of the
Plan of Redemption and that is creation creation we know the very first verse of the Bible says
in the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth and the psalmist in Psalm 19 verses
1-4 explains to us how this creation is brought about to glorify God it says the
heavens declare the glory of God and the fate showeth his handiwork verse two da
y unto
day utter speech and night unto night showeth knowledge there is no speech nor language for
their voice is not heard their line is gone out through all the Earth and their words to the
end of the world in them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun I don't care where you live you
can stay here in American speak English you can be in Siberian speak Russian you can be on
the island of Borneo and speak something I don't even know what it is but you can look up in the
heavens and you can
see and understand and hear the language of God in creation amen and there
would be no life without creation no life to redeem without creation and God in his creative
work friends he gave to us a special Memorial at the end of the creative week so that we might
not forget his creative Works in Genesis chapter 2 and verses 1 through3 it says thus the heavens
and the Earth were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day God ended his work
which he had made and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made and God
blessed the seventh day now I want to tell you something friends you can read this in more than
one place in the Bible but you never read where he put a blessing on any other single day of
the week including what is called commonly the first day of the week or Sunday never in
the Bible does it say that he blessed the first day of the week and called upon people
to remember that day even though Millions do today God blessed the seventh
day it doesn't say
here even that he blessed the Sabbath day because you know people might say well the Sabbath's been
changed he's blessed the sabath but no it says he blessed the seventh day and he Sanctified it
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made but of course
there's always the objector looking for some way to excuse themselves from the obligations
of God and they'll say well you know how do we know which day is the seventh day anymore they
al
l change you know and you hear this from the preachers the Sunday preachers especially but if
you ask him which day did Jesus uh die on when he was crucified always he's crucified on Good
Friday they know that day for sure and what day did he was he resurrected on way he's resurrected
on Sunday morning they know that day quite well too but they seem to somehow forget to this day
between but friends you and this is so important because uniquely tied to creation is redemption
because God's Re
demption comes through creation to us David understood this in Psalms 51 and verse
10 he said create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right Spirit within me he said create a
new heart in me I I got this old heart it doesn't work anymore it's no good it's filthy I need a
new heart in the New Testament the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 therefore If any man
be in Christ he is a new creature now the only way friends to get a new creature is to have a
new creation old things are
passed away behold all things are become new all things are become
new the Sabbath rest reminds us of God's creative power to take absolutely nothing that's us too
by the way and make something very good from it the Bible says that by the word of the Lord were
the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth where he spake and it was
done he commanded it stood fast says Psalms 33: 6 and N God took nothing and he made these
galaxies these worlds and he can take nothing th
at's me that's you he can take a sinful human
being that has nothing good to offer and he can make something beautiful from us the world would
wait approximately 4,000 years before the next great pillar event of Salvation would occur and
that is the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the term Incarnation it comes from two Latin words incarnus
in flesh or In the Flesh that Jesus Christ would come and be born as a baby in Bethlehem in John
chapter 1 verse one it says in the beginning was the word an
d the Word was with God and the Word
was God Amen and this word in verse 14 of that same chapter says and the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full
of grace and truth the word was made flesh Jesus Christ was the sent of God he was sent of God to
become a human baby born with all the felties of humanity I remember talking to a minister one
time and wanting to discuss the Incarnation with him and he saids oh you kno
w we shouldn't
study the Incarnation that's not good I said really no no no is in fact he even said he had a
inspired statement saying we shouldn't study the Incarnation but let me just say what inspired
statement does say this is from manuscript and letters volume 18 manuscript 76 of 19003 paragraph
18 when we want a deep problem to study let us fix our minds on the most marvelous thing that ever
took place in Earth or Heaven the Incarnation of the Son of God now this statement doesn't say
it's
the greatest thing that ever happened doesn't say it's the most important thing I'm I'm not trying
Edwards but it does say it's the most marvelous thing God gave his son to die for sinful human
beings a death of inom minity and shame he who was commander in the Heavenly courts laid aside
his Royal robe and kingly Crown and clothing his divinity with Humanity came to this world to stand
at the head of the human race as the pattern man and he couldn't have done that friends unless he
b
ecame flesh and dwelt Among Us Christ had to be born he just couldn't come like an angel could he
had to come and be born in human flesh and then he had to live like we have to live and he lived
a life of obedience and he set an example for us after all you know we say what would Jesus do
remember the what would Jesus do thing why do we ask that even unless that we're going to do what
Jesus did you see in First Peter chapter 2 veres 21-22 he says for even here unto were you called
because C
hrist also suffered for us leaving us what an example that you should follow his steps
who did no sin neither was gu found in his mouth and so the the example that Jesus gave for us the
example of his steps that we are to walk in is one that doesn't sin is one that doesn't have G in
its mouth and you might say well that's too much that's too big that's too hard well the question
is not how bad I am that's not the question we already know how bad I am the question is how
great is our God How
Great Is Our Savior is he truly able to save to the uttermost all who come
to go to him through God and I say yes he is the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews in the second
chapter writing upon the humanity of Christ he says in verse 14 for as much then as the children
are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage he friends he wanted to deliver us from
death Deliver Us from the devil and in verse 16 he goes on to say for verily took not on him
the nature of angels then come this Earth as even the angels could but he took on him the Seed
of Abraham the seed of a fallen human being seed of a man that made many errors in his life many
mistakes did some bad things even but by God's grace became a saint wherefore in some things
what does the text say in all things it behooved
him and that word behooved in the Greek means
means he is under Solomon obligation that word that we translate beh means that he had to take
this he was under obligation to be made like to his Brethren why that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people for in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able to sucker or to help them
which are tempted that sinless life that he lived in the flesh it brou
ght him into direct
opposition to the church leadership of his day did didn't it he told those people that these people
they're they're taxing you and they're they're making heavy burdens to be put upon you
but my yoke is easy and my burden is light he dared to even criticize the mission program of
the church he said you know you you cross Land and Sea to get one proelite when you've made
him you made him tomb for mold the child of hell he dared to criticize the leaders
of the church he ch
urch he called them Hypocrites Oh my he called them snakes and Sons of snakes it put him on a path directly to the next
pillar event in the Plan of Salvation the death of the cross the death of the cross in Matthew Chap
27:33 and when they were come to a place called gatha that is to say a place of a skull the Greek
word that we translate skull is cryon CR cranon we get our word Cranium from it the head you know the
skull interestingly in Luke 23:33 and when they were come to a place which i
s called Calvary cron
There They Crucified him and the malactor one on the right hand and the other on the left the word
Calvary the new the King James version is not a new New Testament place name but rather it's the
Latin translation of cron most translations use skull instead of Calvary here but we're accustomed
to Calvary we like it we name churches after you know Calvary Baptist Church Methodist Calvary
Methodist Church you know uh but just means skull mean skull because the mountain t
hat Christ
was crucified it sort of had an appearance of a skull but it was that death on that Hill called skull that became the central Focus point of
the whole Plan of Salvation in Philippians chapter 2 the Apostle Paul says in verse 5 to
let this mind be you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him
the form of a servant or the Greek says a slave and he was made in the likene
ss of men
and why was all of this done and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death not just any death the death of the Cross Jesus Paid the wages of sin which
is death for every person who has ever or will ever live we know that Romans chapter 3 verse
23 says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that's that's me it's you
it's every one of us and Hebrews 9:22 it says and almost all things are by the law purged
with blood and wi
thout shedding of blood is no remission without the death of the Son of
God there would be no salvation by his cruel death he has ransomed Humanity back to God and not
only us but he has brought all the universe into peace and harmony with God we mention these
other worlds that we know very little about we just have hints about them right W you know
something Paul said in Colossians 1 and verse 20 he says and having made peace having made peace
remember it was a council of Peace wasn't it h
ow was this Council of Peace affected through the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile how much all things unto himself by him I say whether they
be things in Earth or things in heaven in heaven what need reconciled in heaven Satan and his
host were already cast out of Heaven by this time if if I was to come in here today and I
always to say about brother Michael Woodward you know brother Mike he's a pretty good
guy just be careful what you say around him just watch what you say around hi
m
what have I done I I've implanted in your mind that there's something conniving
about him and you've got to be careful in a way that you didn't think you had to
be careful before Satan had insinuated things about God and his character and even
though there were Angels who didn't Rebel and didn't follow him in their minds there was
maybe not a doubt in a sense but there was some kind of a hesitancy to be able to have the
full fellowship with God the open fellowship with God that was that
was needed and at the cross
it was clearly demonstrated who Satan was and what his character was and what the character
of God was the death of the Cross proved God's love for us in 1 John 4 and verse 9 the Bible
says that we love him because he first loved us and that love was demonstrated at Calvary
wasn't it that love is what motivates us as Believers in 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the Love
of Christ constrain us that means motivates us propels us Christ the son of God is the
perfect revelat
ion of the character of God when Paul beheld Jesus lifted up on on the
cross he didn't see simply Jesus alone but the father himself crucified with his son not
that the father died physically but rather his message at the cross was a revelation of the
Eternal unselfish principles of the character of God through Christ and through that he has
declared the father has declared that he will serve even the creatures he has made who have
rebelled against him no matter what the personal inconvenie
nce pain and suffering to himself is he
is willing to serve and save man at any cost to himself but you say it was his son who died it's probably been about 20 years ago
I suppose I couldn't tell you the exact time Heidi no it's beyond that Heidi's
brother was at uh the University of Virginia Charlotte hospital and he had had to have a a terrible operation he had to have
a a Halo literally screwed into his his skull and he had to have this terrible surgery
and he comes out this surgery he's
wearing this Halo and he's got a ventilator tube in and hoses
and wires and can't imagine what looked up to the kid I think I can honestly tell
you it was harder on me than him he was the bravest kid I ever saw in my life
I mean that I mean you know everybody like think their own kid is best but I'm not saying he's
the best he's the bravest kid I ever saw never complained but what was it to the father
to allow his son to go through this think of think of you those of you who are
parents w
ho have children what if you were allowing your child to do this
knowing the pain the agony not just physically you know the I believe that
the the the mental torture this spiritual experience that Christ went through on
the cross was so terrible that I don't think he hardly felt the physical pain
as bad as the physical pain was this was worse because you know we look at this in
the past and we think you know this is a done deal he knew everything but friends
when he said my God my God why
hast Thou forsaken me this wasn't the Cry of some actor
just staying aart knowing it's all going to be okay in the end all he can see at this point
is nothing the portals of the Tomb are shut to him and he thinks sin is so bad I am going
to suffer the wages of this sin I'm going to die eternally and I will not be resurrected
I will have no fellowship with my father ever again and he makes the decision if this is what
it costs to save you and to save me I will do this that's right and the f
ather allowed him
to do this and the father saw this suffering and you know I've tried to I've tried to somehow
put this in a human way that I can understand and I probably have said this before to some of
you but I've just thought like you know that day that Hans was on that ventilator what if
I'd walked into that room and unplugged that ventilator and just turned around walked away and
said nothing what would he think my father why have you forsaken me what would that do to me as
a fathe
r knowing I had to do that to save others and knowing that's what he's going to experience
I don't think we begin to understand Calvary at all satan had accused God of requiring self-denial
of the Angels when he knew nothing of what it meant himself and when he would not himself make
any self-sacrifice for Brothers this was the accusation that Satan made against God in heaven
and after the evil one was expelled from Heaven he continually charged the Lord with exacting service
which he would
not render himself Christ came to the world to meet these false accusations and
to reveal the father and by God's grace he did amen he did I said something to Sher last night
she said I don't understand I'll have to try to explain it today because you may not understand
it either but the the when you think of all the Plan of Salvation the cross uh if I could just
say this in the words of man it's the straw that stir the drink it's what puts it all together and
makes it work and blends it a
ll and makes it a perfect union together that's why Paul could say
in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and I Brethren when I came unto you came not with Excellency a speech
or of wisdom declaring un you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among
you save Jesus Christ and what him crucified but I keep under my body or I keep my body
under or in into subjection lest that by any means when I preached to others I myself
should be a Cast Away the clamors of the flesh he says I have
to keep into subjection
in Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 and two he says I beseech you therefore Brethren by the
mercies of God that you present your body as a Living Sacrifice friends don't think
that the Plan of Salvation is only to redeem your spirit or your soul whatever
God has a holistic plan he's a holistic doctor and he wants our bodies redeemed
now I may not sound like the best example of that today and I apologize for that
you know but I would hope that if we have visitors come
in among us someday that
they wouldn't look at us and then leave and then say boy you know they that preacher
doesn't ever preach on health reform does he that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice
wholly acceptable on God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be
transformed how by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and uh acceptable
and perfect will of God he says that you have your minds renewed and you do that by having t
his
mind which was in the mind of Christ Jesus right to keep it holy you can scan your Bible
from Genesis to Revelation you can get cr's concordance you can get Strong's Concordance
you can get Young's concordance you get any electronic concordance you want and you never
find him ever doing that you never find him blessing the first day but here is Jesus the
Creator the one through whom God created all things who rested on that first seventh day
and now in the great Plan of Redemption he's
now resting again on the seventh day in the
Tomb we are told at last Jesus was at rest the long day of Shame and torture was ended
as the last Ray of the Setting Sun ushered in the Sabbath The Son of God lay in quietude
in Joseph's tomb his work completed his hands folded in peace he rested through the
sacred hours of the Sabbath day SV is 769.41 the Creator and all Heavenly beings
rejoiced in contemplation of the Glorious scene the morning star sang together and all the sons of
God shout
ed for Jo Joy job 38:7 now Jesus rested from the work of redemption and though there was
grief among those who loved him on Earth yet there was joy in heaven glorious to the eye of heavenly
beings was the promise of the future a restored creation a redeemed race that having conquered
sin could never fall this the result to flow from Christ's completed work God and angels saw
with this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked for his work is perfect
and whatsoever God doeth it
shall be forever Deuteronomy 32:4 and Ecclesiastes 3:14 when there
shall be a restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets and
world began acts 3:21 their creation Sabbath the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph's tomb
will still be a day of rest and rejoicing amen Heaven and Earth will unite In Praise as from
one Sabbath to another Isaiah 6623 the nations of the saved shall bow in Joy joyful worship to
God and the lamb you know it's interesting
every Theologian will admit that from the creation till
the time of the cross the Sabbath was kept and was to be kept and they're all admit that the Bible
says in the new heaven new Earth we're going to keep the Sabbath but somehow they can't explain
why all that stops in between here why didn't we keep the first day of the week before why don't
we keep the first day of the week in heaven it doesn't say that it doesn't say that but all
would have been lost friends all that Jesus did would
have been lost if he had stayed in
the Tomb but because of what happened after the Sabbath hope became alive and well within the
disciples and with us and next week we're going to pick up and talk about the next Monumental
pillar event of Salvation the resurrection of Christ I'd like to I would like to to to speak to each one of you in some personal
way and I can't do that easily today too often times we allow institutionalism
to be a substitute for a vibrant living personal relationship wi
th God and with his son
Christ Our Savior we think that coming to a church or even tuning into a broadcast
somehow connects us to God of itself and it doesn't now does God command and even command
us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together it absolutely does it's important but
it's not a substitute for day by day having that personal relationship with Christ and if
you know you're not living like you should if you know today that you have not acknowledge
the creation of God as
you should have and recognize the seventh day as the Sabbath of
the Lord thy God in it Thou shalt not do any work then I want to encourage you
today to confess your failings and your sin to God and not just for
the fourth Commandment but for all the Commandments of God if
you've been living a life of a thievery you know you can do that without
taking money from any person how would you do that if you'd taken it from God instead you
you read about that in the Book of Malachi he robbed me in
tithes and offerings whatever
whatever God lays upon your heart based upon his word friends repent of it today find Christ
today he is a living savior he did not stay in Joseph's new Tomb amen he came forth and he
can change your life he changed my life some of you would not want to have known me 46
47 48 years ago you would not have wanted to know me at all you would have looked upon
me with scorn if you had known me well but by God's grace I'm here today and by God's grace
if he Wills I
'll be here next week and finish hopefully finish this message and my voice will
be a little better you pray for me I'm going to be praying for you but make that decision for
Christ whatever it is in your life and even if you think that you're a committed Christian
even if you think that you've been serving Christ friends use this opportunity to examine
yourselves to see whether you're of the faith or not is
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