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Angels Couldn’t Cut It

“Angels Couldn’t Cut It”
By Tiger Todd

I’m relatively note-free today. I decided to just see what God had to say today. He’s either gonna use me, or fire me. So, let’s turn to John Chapter 1. Verse 29 says, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” I thought this scripture was interesting when I recently reread it, because we are taught that Jesus died for our sins, but that’s not exactly what the Bible says. After all, I was even born when Jesus walked the earth. But the Bible does say that Jesus died for the “sin” of the world. What do you suppose the “sin of the world” is? Today, let’s look at “sin” not as a bunch of things all of us do wrong, but as a specific thing not done when action was required.

The cross reference of my King James Bible says that “he (Jesus) bareth the sin of the world”, the translators still not altering the word “sin” from being singular. Once again, to make sure I’ve beat this thing into the ground, Jesus was sent to take away THE SIN OF THE WORLD.

What was so different about this one called Jesus? Throughout the scripture, we see that this Jesus was not the only one to raise the dead, or heal the sick, or move the hand of God in some supernatural fashion. Israelite soldiers once threw their comrade’s dead body into an open grave, one that happened to contain the body of the prophet Elisha. I don’t think they had even finished putting the dirt on top of poor Elisha, but when they threw the dead soldier in with him, the soldier came out alive. We’ve also others in the Bible bare the sins and iniquities of their people. Samson, for instance, on his last day, asked God if he could do just one more big thing. The power of God moves in Samson one more time and Samson catches up on all the work he was originally sent to do. Judges chapter 13 records that Samson was expressly designed to “begin to free Israel from bondage to the Philistines.” Many Bible characters were sent by God to bare a lot of things, but only this one called Jesus was sent to bare “the sin of the world.”

Does anyone know what this sin is, one that could be so bad that it took God’s only begotten son to get things fixed? Let’s find out. We should probably start our investigation near the beginning, in Genesis Chapter 3. Pardon the long scripture segment:

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons, And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. We talked about that “blame thing”. God says, Uh, who is that? And Adam says, It wasn’t me Lord, it was her. You gave her to me. You talk to her about it. So the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Whew! That was a long passage for a short message, but it does contain a lot of important information. There’s this whole mess-up by God’s favorite couple in the garden of Eden, and it is pretty easy to see those things that lead up to their punishment. But what is “the sin?” The only “single thing” that Adam does repeatedly in the face of God, who is trying to get him to come clean is blame. Adam never accepted the blame for violating what God had asked him to do and instead transferred that blame to others, from the woman, to the serpent, to God. If I were God, that would tick me off too. He said, “That woman you gave me. But because God’s couple blamed their disobedience on someone else, they put themselves in a position of never being able to be forgiven for this sin. It’s like a parent asking their son who broke the sliding mirror in his room. Since it cost the parents a fews days of their lives to earn the money that bought the mirror, they are justifiably upset and deserve accountability. But if the boy- who did break the mirror playing with his friends- blames his friends instead of accepts responsibility for not obey his parents whose rules included “All tackling must be done in the yard,” then the boy will go on in life harboring a sin that he could have been free from. Worse still is his friends gets the blame for breaking the mirror, which further shifts the emphasis from the real sin that separates children from their parents, blame.

I believe it’s Ezekiel that talks about the fall of Satan, known before as Lucifer the angel. Some of the texts like Judas and Thomas that have been unearthed deal with this dramatic fall were not allowed to be part of the 66 books approved by those assembling our current Bible. Suffice it to say that Lucifer apparently said some things that got him kicked out of heaven. He was designed originally as one of the three archangels, one of the three anointed cherubs. He was beautifully adorned, was charge of worship and praise, and was a closet narcissist. One day he saw himself in a mirror and said, “Wow, am I hot! I am so beautiful that God and the other angels should bow down and worship me.” What is it with mirrors, anyway? Since insubordination is not something that God nor Donald Trump tolerate, Lucifer was cast out of heaven but he took all those who were subordinate to him, er, it- like a third of all the angels- with him. Did you know that his new name, “Satan,” actually means “accuser?” This has some relevance here since Romans chapter 2 and verse one states that those who accuse- or blame- are guilty of that which they blame. No extra charge for that.

So there was a big war over heaven, and everything all the way down to the holy utensils of worship in heaven were affected. It would be like like if one-third of the U.S. military attempted a coup. It would certainly be a mess at every level in our own country and abroad. This is similar to what the scriptures record happened in heaven. Lucifer was in charge of about 3.3 trillion angels under him if the estimates of 10 trillion total angels by Bible scholars is accurate. Here’s the whole picture. Lucifer thinks he should be like God; he felt he deserved worship because he was so hot. He ultimately learned what being “hot” really was, but we’re also getting closer to understanding what the “sin of the world” really was.

Our next clue comes from understanding what it was that Jesus actually accomplished. To find this, I want to look at this “world” thing. Let’s continue reading, verse 16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; You know, it’s not that God just beats around the bush, but what’s interesting is like what happened with David.

Remember when Nathan came to David because of that sin; that whole deal with Bathsheba? Remember the parable Nathan gave to King David about taking his only lamb? David said, That man should be killed. And Nathan said, That man is YOU. Well, God didn’t judge David for killing Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. He judged him for disobeying him and taking another man’s wife. So there’s something about what God sees, and what we see from the outside. Something else was more valuable in God’s eyes, or He would have said, You murdered this man! But that’s not what the Bible said at all. The sin was committed, and David was out of the anointing when he took Bathsheba to wife. In fact, I was reading in First Kings where David’s plan, actually, was to get Uriah. I’m not jumping around. You have to see this. David asked Uriah to wait at his gate until he could cover up his mess. He said, Wait here. He gave him instructions and then says, OK, now go home and spend the night with your wife. But Uriah disobeyed the King. Well, that’s death for disobedience, so David was justified in his murder, if you will. It’s not a murder, it was a killing. It was a justified death according to law in Israel.

What, exactly, was Adam’s sin? Was it blame? Or really, was it because he didn’t allow God’s plan to be fulfilled? God told Adam to keep and protect the garden, but instead, he let this interloper possess a serpent to start negotiating with the woman. You read it in Genesis 3:1. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent…

If you’re gardening and some snake starts to talk to you, how many of you guys are gonna be real comfortable with that? Eve was comfortable with it. Adam had named all the animals, but they didn’t talk back. The Bible is clear about when the donkey actually speaks, or when the serpent speaks. It’s not saying that the animals talked all night. So Eve was comfortable that this serpent had hung around, and hung around. And it looks like his motive is the same one that it was when he was cast out of heaven. What? He wanted to have people worship him. So basically, he’s trying to build a church with these two people in the garden. They had the authority that he wanted. Psalm 80 actually says, when the angels are prophesying and saying, What is man that you crowned him with glory and honor? So the world got messed up right here. The world. Chapter 4 begins where God makes man, and man makes the world. Adam knew his wife Eve. She conceived and bare Cain. She said,I have gotten a man from the Lord. She again bare his brother Abel. Abel was the keeper of the sheep, and now we’ve got all the begats and begats that start. So God makes the first couple, but then the first couple takes over and makes all the rest of the people. That is, intrinsically, what we know as “the world”. And Jesus died for the sin, singular, of the world.

Let’s jump over to Second Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast hem down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness Now what was their sin? The angels that sinned were just being obedient to Lucifer. Lucifer was the one saying, Hey look at me. I need some worship. So obviously, looking for self worship is a sin. But I know there’s more to that. For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, So now we have a reference to not A world, but an OLD world, meaning, we’ve got different periods like the Renaissance, etc. Well this was an old world during the time of Noah. It says spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness. I think that’s why he was saved. bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Now, this scripture is comparing the fall of the angels to, if you will, the fall of the people that led to the flood to wash away the sin from their fall. Anyone have the answer yet? Turn to Second Corinthians, and we’ll see if this is one of them. Chapter 5. One of the things that jumped out when I read that about the angels that fell is that angels different from people; the angelic class, We always say, Well, they don’t have a free will. Well, it’s not like they can’t choose unrighteousness. It’s that they don’t. See, we’ve had this thing where…and it says, Hebrews Chapters 1 and 2, it says they are like brute beasts made to kill and destroy. And I’ve heard it before, and I liken this example, I agree, testify to this example, that angels are machines. Anyone in the 20th century that records seeing an angel, usually have them at about 8 feet tall, wearing white clothes and white weapons. So I have likened angels as to machines. Psalm 103 says they hearken to the voice of the word of God. meaning, angels don’t hearken to anything other than the voice or the word of God. They’re stuck. That’s what they listen to. You could be having your house on fire, and say, Oh my God, the house is on fire. Well, that’s not the word of God. So angels might be there, but they’re standing idly by waiting for you to give them a command, like, A thousand may fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand, but have not come near me. That’s the word of God. They hearken to that.

Luke Chapter 4 And Jesus being full of the holy ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. Let’s see how he works. He’s a fallen angel. And in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. Was Jesus the son of God here? Yes. He never confessed it, because it would have delivered him, but yes, he was. He had the spirit of God in him, right? God is a spirit. Those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So inside the body of flesh Jesus must have been the son of God. To keep all the scriptures true. So he was. So what was his answer gonna be? OK, I’ll turn it into bread. No, Jesus responds with It is written, remember that they hearken to the word of God, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. So he quotes Deuteronomy 8:3. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Of the world at that time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. Now do you think Jesus knew that that was the truth or not? The devil is sitting there saying, Hey, this is all mine. All mine! It’s the Mount of Temptation. Jesus was being tempted. If it weren’t true, it wouldn’t have been a temptation.

Hold your place there. I want to read you a quickie. Hebrews Chapter 4:14 says Seeing then that we have a great high priest,that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. See? It was a temptation. Where, then do you think satan got that stuff? In the garden. God said to Adam, let’s make man in our image, and he’ll be fruitful, and multiply and have dominion over the earth and everything in it. So, satan got that from Adam. Satan is now showing it off in front of Jesus because that’s part of God’s plan. Satan got from Adam what God gave Adam. Jesus has come back to the earth, as Acts 10:30 says, to destroy the works of the devil. He rises from the dead, and he tells the disciples, All power both in heaven and in earth has been given unto me. So Jesus, in effect, is coming back to get back what the devil got from Adam…that God gave man. Are you clear on that?

So now, Jesus is sent knowing that’s what he is supposed to do, but he doesn’t necessarily know how to get it. See, if Jesus knew all the stuff we said he knew, how could you be tempted? It said he was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. If Jesus was God 100% of the time, not God exalted by the Father after resurrection, but, Oh, he was always the son of…, Well, he was always the son of God, truly, but he didn’t walk in full God-ship privileges, he walked in son of God privileges. Or he couldn’t have been tempted. He wouldn’t have been in the Garden of Gethsemane crying out drops of blood before he was crucified saying, Not my will, not what I want to do Father, but what you want to do. We have this idea that he ran this program, he knew everything that was going to happen from birth. Like we talked about the talking bubba doll…we’ve got Jesus right out of the womb quoting scripture. It just didn’t happen. He had Joseph leading him. It wasn’t so. See, the reason why he is a high priest is because he was tempted like we are. If he wasn’t the sacrifice for what we could be, we could not be redeemed by him. We can’t just send just all God down to do it, or God would have done it 6000 years earlier. So it had to be man. It had to fit law. It had to be OK. Anyway, the devil is finding this stuff out.

We’re still in Luke. Let’s read this again, to see how he works as a fallen angel. Verse 6 again, The devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Now look at this temptation. Offering all the stuff, Jesus is saying, Hey this is what I was supposed to get. I was supposed to get back all the stuff that we lost control and authority of. And he is offering it to me, and he’s saying, just go do this one thing. But this one thing is not the plan of God, and it is the very one thing that God kicked satan out of heaven for.

It’s funny about the names: we’ve got Lucifer, satan, devil. Satan means accuser. Devil really, most of the time, means adversary. Of course, Lucifer means son of the morning, which are the words they called him. So he was Lucifer, fell, became satan, and he is, by class, a devil; i.e, fallen angel. Just so you know. If thou wilt worship all shall be thine. Jesus answered and said unto him…Now Jesus did not entertain him like Adam and his wife did in the garden. Jesus is sorely tempted, but his answer, even when he does not know what the deal is, his answer is the word of God, and he’ll either find out whether the offer is accurate or not accurate, i/e stick to the plan. And we’ve got this rogue thinking in the church today. See, Jesus could have said, Yo satan, what up? and then go do it. Jesus could have done that. Jesus could have, but he chose not to. Angels have one chance at that choice. And they only messed up that one day when they all fell. See, they don’t have that right. We have that right. Sometimes we wish we didn’t have that right. We wish we could just always do the will of God without even having to….isn’t that true? We just wish that, no one out there wants to sin. No one wants what sin pays off with, which is death. No one wants that. No one wants sickness and disease; all the things that came on the curse. No one wants to be in debt. No one wants any of that, and here we have this privilege, and all the while, we are just sitting there saying, Boy I wish I could just….Praise the Lord…and just go to work and be perfect. Hi, God Bless You, even if you hate their guts. We just really wish we could do that.

But we have a choice here, and God is trying to show us that that choice is the God-ship satan was after. Did you get that? Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: Don’t you hate it when the devil is like a Bible student? Well, it’s like the woman in church doesn’t want to marry the Christian brother, he’s kind of dorky, but he’s pushing her and pushing her. So she tries to find a good Bible NO, and she sees where the Apostle Paul says, I would not have you ignorant Brother! So, we’re looking for these good Bible no’s, these scriptures out of context to kind of just prove what we want to do.

I found one about the Fords the other day - we’ve got the Explorer and the Bronco. But I haven’t polished it enough yet. You wouldn’t laugh anyway, so…I get more laughs talking about how not funny I am, so I’ll just keep using that.

For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: Remember Psalm 91 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Back to Luke 4:12 What do you do? Stick with the plan. Stick with the scripture. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus established, actually from the Levitical law, it says out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. That’s why you don’t just take one thing, and go marry the guy, because you’ve found a scripture, you ignorant brother. You don’t go buy a Honda because they were all of one Accord. You don’t go playing tennis because David served in the King’s courts. What was the one about David’s motorcycles? David’s triumph was heard throughout all the land. So, you don’t go doing all that out of one scripture. You go to find the establishing witnesses, and Jesus, we find out all through scripture that the temptations and these struggles all happened in threes. See, that’s for our benefit. Well, I don’t think that when the first attack of the devil is trying to get me in some season. He’s trying to get me to go back to Egypt and go do something stupid. I don’t sit and think, Oh glory to God! I’ve got two more coming! I mean, I don’t think that way, but we need to start thinking that way, because it is out ability to be right.

Let’s go to Second Corinthians Chapter 5 I wonder, once I found out that the Bible wasn’t written on day one, all in one work, once I found out that a lot of this stuff shouldn’t have happened…some people have this idea that it’s all done from the end to the beginning, and you find out that God’s good, everything he made was good, he called it good when he got done with doing his stuff, and then he rested. And now we’ve got 66 books minus two chapters that are just a mess, trying to fix it. So I start wondering how much stuff was unnecessary, and how many times God tried to fix the sin of the world, and let’s read this before we go on, verse 14 of Second Corinthians Chapter 5 For the love of Christ constraineth us; It’s like a combination of two words - it’s like compel and restrain at the same time. It propels us towards stuff we need to be in, and it restrains us from somewhere you shouldn’t be walking. For the love of Christ constraineth us: People who do not have this love, hence, are tossed about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men with cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. We are lambs to the slaughter. Romans Chapter 8 says We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. So with this love of Christ, it constrains us. because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: The Bible says Jesus died for all. And what had happened was, that one singular sin in the garden, I mean everything came through that coupled. So really, one sin messed up everything from that point.

One of the chapters on Predestination that we wrote is called “Satan’s Timing”. Like, why then? Why did Satan come then? Remember Ecclesiastes 3:1, To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose unto heaven. Well, you don’t think they were out of the will of God before Satan got there? Probably not. What happened was, they were getting ready to have kids: be fruitful and multiply. Satan saw this as the only way to see to it that the sin affected everybody. Do you see that? What if it happened after Abel? See, if Satan got to Adam after Abel was born, Abel would have been a loose cannon. He could have been in church today, OK? Because the sin that caused death was not in him. It would not have been in him. But hence, it still was, because Satan got there at that time. Why did Satan pick that time? Because they were getting ready to sow, to every thing there is a season and time to every purpose unto heaven. A time to plant, a time to sow, a time to reap. See, so he was about ready to do that, and that’s why he had to act then, and that’s why he acted them. But it says here, If one died for all. Well, one caused the deal, so one with a miraculous God plan to fix the deal…but one died for all, that means that all must have been dead. I mean, if we were at the mall, and everyone was locked in, terrorists at every gate, and they had planted a bomb and it was about ready to go off and the people were about ready to sacrifice themselves with this bomb, and I ran over here and tripped on something and fell and accidentally disconnected it, I’ve saved all of your lives. Do you know what that means? When the three seconds ticked off that thing, you were dead. You were as good as dead before the three seconds, because that thing was going to tick off and blow up. So, this is where we get the idea of owing somebody your life. Well, we were dead in sin. We were dead from the beginning. And this is why we owe our life…

Now unlike angels, we still have a right to choose to serve him. Romans Chapter 10 says you have to confess Jesus as Lord. God still honors that God-like thing in us that allows us to maintain individual sovereignty over our situation. Only you can make Jesus your Lord. God can’t make Jesus his Lord. God has made us in a class that the angels have no idea about. That’s why it’s so much fun to sing those devil butt-kicking songs. Because they don’t have that thing in us. We’ve looked at it as a detriment, and it’s not. It’s the part that separates us from the angels. It’s the part that makes us like God. Angels will never be called Sons of God. But the Bible says, now are WE the Sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he shall appear, we will be like him. So we have this advantage, we have this thing, and that thing is still a choice. It’s a done deal, but…keep reading here. ...that if one died for all, then were all dead: See, even though our life is not our own, because our life was saved, I mean, if you guys were all in the Mall, maybe half of you would come back, and any time I need something, you’d say, Oh, I’ll do that. Well, a lot of you do it now. You’ve laid down your life for me. So let’s just say, typical Mall shoppers on a typical Sunday afternoon…they’d be, oh, thanks a lot, I’ve gotta go. I’ve got homework to do. No, you didn’t have homework to do when that bomb went off three seconds ago. You didn’t have a future. I GAVE you a future, thereby, you do owe me that debt, even if I just tripped and fell and disconnected the thing. See, this is something we need to realize, is that, wait a minute, you didn’t have a future. Jesus did not come selling himself. He only came selling the Father, and we are supposed to give glory to the Father, but let’s look today at what Jesus did. He could have chosen, Hey, no crosses for me, man, too heavy, man. No way, man. Take the thief! But he didn’t. He was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. I don’t want to get up. You have that choice, but you don’t have that right to make that choice.

And he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again… I believe that is the sin…the sin of the world was living unto themselves. I think the same thing was true of Lucifer. He wanted his own deity. Isn’t that what you want when you want your own deity? That’s why you guys don’t share cars. You all want to be God over this car. It’s in us to be this way. But God has a plan. He says, No, no, you humble yourself under my hand. I’ll exalt you in due time. Don’t you worry about what you’re gonna eat, what you’re gonna drink, what you’re gonna wear. Don’t worry about that. You seek first this kingdom, and then all those other things, I’ll just add to you. See, that’s the plan. You’ll get it with authority. You won’t be pierced through with many sorrows. And you’ll know it’s yours when you get it. No one will take it away from you. GMC Motor Credit won’t be pulling up to be towing it away, and claiming God-ship or Lordship over your car.

Verse 13 again And he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for him and rose again. He dies, he says, OK, he handles the deal, he leaves you his will, and then he comes back to tell you how to walk you through how the thing’s gonna go. That’s a cool deal. We thought about doing that. When Ron was talking about a steward tip, I don’t usually get invited to do memorial services. I did, because it was someone we knew, and usually, I get invited to raise the dead. So, I told somebody I had to do a memorial service, and they said, You’re gonna do a memorial service? So I’m talking to this family about this thing, and my Bible is wide open, and I’m showing them what the scripture says, and I’m feeling like I’m on the Mount of Temptation with these people. They’re wanting a memorial service for someone that they just really, really, really, really, really wanted dead. They didn’t just want this person dead, these were the former in-laws that were wanting this. They wanted numbers from the Bible, most likely, on how hot it really was in hell. They are trying to site things he did to try to put him on the afterburner list. Let me tell you what delivered me from being able to do that memorial service. It is written…It is written…It is written. She said, Are you trying to tell me that…No, I said, Deuteronomy 30:19 just told you that. Well, I don’t believe that, she said. Well, I gave her about 12-14 of them, and I was just glad I wasn’t doing a memorial service. There might have been more of them there like her.

But anyway, back to the “rose again” part, I had a mind to just go to the mortuary and just get him up. I said, God, can we just get him up out of here, go knock on the in-laws door and say, Now what did you mean about that thing? Wouldn’t that just be the way to do it? That’s not even a greater work. Jesus said, the works I do and greater than these shall you do, because I go to my Father. That’s not even a greater work. He did that with Lazarus. Raised him from the dead, and then the Pharisees were so mad that Lazarus had become preacher of the hour, he said, The whole world’s gonna believe! They’re saying, What should we do? Kill him!!! I don’t want to do some great works that I stress over, I want to do some greater works that I can have fun with. And boy, that would be just too much fun.

I’ll keep reading. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Do you know what that means? That means, Jesus is not coming back to do anything for you. He did the deal. It worked. Now, it’s talking about the us, who are supposed to take up our crosses and act like him. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Don’t keep thinking about it, then. When I learned to confess a sin and get rid of it, I learned that God put it as far from the east to the west immediately. What am I doing still hanging around, still playing with it? God is faithful and just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. So, if God’s gonna say that all things are passed away, they’re passed away. Passed away. Dead. That means, don’t go back in the coffin and get Dracula up and talk like you used to talk. Don’t do it. Leave him alone. Be the new creature. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

God, in the garden, used to walk with Adam in the cool of the day. I don’t know that God could care less about the earth. The thing that God, the Father missed most, was now this one creation he made for fellowship, he didn’t have the fellowship anymore. He didn’t have a friend. Because he found one, right? Abraham. he had to make a friend. I need a friend. He has to be Jewish. OK, You! That’s what he did! And this reconciliation reconciled us to himself. Yeah, that was the thing that God missed most about the tragedy in the garden. He could handle the blame, the shame, the murder, all the other stuff that ensued, all the dumb kids, whatever else. But just don’t let anything get in the way of what’s important to God.

I have found that there are just not many, I call them minor sins, murder, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, you can go down the list…minor sins are not what messes people up with God. That messes you up with you. God clearly says that the only sin that he says the calling, what God called you to do, and the gifts he put inside you, he says those are the only things that if you don’t walk in them, are without repentance. As soon as you sin, get back up, and get to your starting blocks again as fast as you can, and start running the race that’s set for you.

Verse 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. Notice, the work’s done, you can take the offer, it’s on the table, will you? Will you take the offer, because you have that right. It’s still you saying, I will! It’s an act of your will. Be ye reconciled unto God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. If you’ve taken him up on the offer, the righteousness is back. It’s back the minute you say, I will. If you sin, as soon as you go and confess it, It’s back! You’re just trying to convince your own mind that it’s not. The righteousness was not like the difference between being happy and being joyful. Jesse duPlantis is full of joy. People who get a new car are happy. Till the payments come. Then happiness is a fleeting thing, so we’re talking about righteousness. We’re talking about a done deal. You are the righteousness of God in him. The only thing you had to do was get in him.

I want to close talking about how stupid those devils are. Sometimes showing the flip side, one of the books, I mean, we have 12 titles that we’re working on, and one of the ways we are going to sell this book, we’re going to try to push it through a denomination that we know would get really made. Because you know, even negative press is press! Everyone will buy the book to read it to just get madder. Because that’s how they do it out there. We’ve just got to play along to get the word out. Sometimes you can find out how a truth works if you look at the other side and here in First Corinthians Chapter 2…Needless to say, all of the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and all of the wicked spirits in heavenly places that Ephesians talks about,are the rank and file of demon, devils, etc. that fell; fallen angels. If they had known the secret to the plan, obviously, they would not have been overtaken and lose all that power. Obviously, they were gearing up their best to keep it from happening,. But it says here, look at verse 6, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Do you remember when that was? Genesis 3:15. See, the world in the Greek and Hebrew is literally, decoration. Not the earth, the dirt, but the stuff on it. And the old world perished. The earth was still here, right? Just all the people that lived during Noah’s time perished. Only Noah lived, a preacher of righteousness. So, when God ordained the hidden wisdom, the hidden wisdom was this thing was about “this woman is going to have a seed, and the seed is going to do this, and tall this stuff was like a mystery…seed, sowing, farming. And the next verse says, that’s exactly what it meant…Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Well, I guess not! Everyone, Satan included, got spanked, badly. Jesus used these words, “for the prince of this world is judged.” He really doesn’t have a choice to make this thing change. Because there is a big “The End” in the back of the book here. So he doesn’t have a choice. The Lake of Fire is waiting for him. All he can do is prolong it. We could have one more testament if we don’t do something. He is judged, but all he can do is prolong this thing. I just don’t want to prolong it any longer than we have to. God didn’t want it to take four thousand to get to here.

Turn back to Genesis Chapter 4. I just want to shore that up. Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Hold your place at Genesis 4:1, and look to the left to Genesis 3:15, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The easiest way to read your New Testament from now on…there’s no extra charge for this, this is just one of Tiger’s tips, Is Genesis 3:15 before Genesis 4:1. Yes! All the confident ones said, Yes! Adam knew his wife Eve, she conceived, bare Cain, and we can go down the list about Cain…Cain bare, Enoch bare….Erod…etc. and all of a sudden you see the foundation of the world. So we need to realize that when you are in your New Testament reading “before the foundation of the world”, it’s referring to, before Genesis 4:1, because man made the world, God made man. So Genesis 3:15 is usually “before the foundation of the world”. So that is the verse where, not only did God find out…

Go to Job Chapter 1. Someone is pushing me, spiritually, to do this. Verse 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. What does Romans Chapter 8:14 say that Sons of God are? Those that are led by the spirit of God. it says, Those that are led by the spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. Well, we’ve had this thing that they are angels. Angels cannot be sons of God because they are dumb. They are dumb! They are like brute beasts. They couldn’t figure out the Genesis 3:15 deal. So there were some sons of God there. ...the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? (What are you doing here?) Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. I have authority! I have authority! And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Now a ton of stuff has been preached on that verse. But the one thing that I see, is that God is rubbing it in! In spite of all the control you think you have, Satan, it is still possible for a man to serve me and be upright in everything, and prosper. How much more should we do today now that this thing is fixed. I think God was just rubbing it in.

Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hey, Yo, Loser, Idiot, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; (you big dork). He didn’t even know. he had no idea how far reaching the authority he got from Adam was. Satan himself, not just the low level demons, but Satan himself. Dumb as a stump, and just really thought that God had done this great work, and all the while, he didn’t know what he had. It’s like when somebody is showing me their new car. How many of you ever read the manual of your new car? You get in a new car, riding in it, and you’re saying, Hey, it’s got one of those gadgets on it. Well, that’s kind of like it was with Satan. He didn’t know. There’s still stuff he doesn’t know, but it doesn’t matter. But he’s just really dumb.

Turn to Hebrews 1:1, and we’ll close there. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds: 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 on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. Verse 8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; When Ron was talking in his steward tip, you’re either in faith, or you’re in unbelief. We don’t say doubt, you’re in unbelief. Because you are choosing, really, not to believe. That’s not doubt, that’s a choice of unbelief. And here, when you are trying to walk in righteousness, you’ve really got to learn to hate iniquity. You don’t hate iniquity for iniquity’s sake. You hate iniquity because it will come back to bite you. And that’s no good. So Jesus, here, he hated iniquity. He didn’t have any trouble, though, going down and finding, remember he was hanging out with the sinners.

I told you about that Sociology class out at the Community College. I had one heckler. The message was on love, Bible love. Two words out of my mouth, and the girl in the far corner, the mother hen of the classroom, starts heckling from the get-go. She turned out to be the only professed Christian in the room. I don’t blame Jesus for hanging out in the world. You could give someone without a preconceived notion and a “I will not believe Thomas Syndrome”, you could just go out there with the truth of the gospel, just the simple stuff, the ministry of reconciliation, something that Jesus had already provided and laid out…you didn’t really have to do any work. Now you have to work to get it. You could just go out there and just lay it out to all of them, and they’d just receive it. They’ve been looking for this. Who else is going to tell them that they have a calling in them that God wants them to fulfill? I think about this whenever I’m alone and needy…I need help, I really wish someone could do this for me. I look at all the people in my past that I didn’t go minister to, because those very people could have been called by God to handle the stuff for me, so I didn’t have to do it all. God said that there would never be a test, a temptation or a trial that would come on you that he wouldn’t give a way of escape. He wouldn’t give you a call or a plan or a course to take without providing the equipment to do it. So the equipment’s got to be out there, and that’s why we’ve not got to draw back. The equipment is out there, and if you keep your faith on the equipment, it’s out there. I haven’t found it yet, but I know it’s out there, it won’t be long before I find it. How many people get so close to the Promised Land, and then they draw back because they think God must know. No, everything’s got an answer. Everything works out, and God’s always good.

Let me just finish this. Let’s look at verse 12, And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Angels, fallen angels, demons…are not heirs. We are heirs. Jesus is the first begotten from the dead. First born among many brethren. Now are we the sons of God, the Father, as implied in First John. The angels are supposed to be our servants. They never had a right to get in that, and that’s why it took one mess-up. Here we are, we’re servants to everything from bank cards to mortgages (death grip, in the Latin), We’re servant to all these things, and all the while, there are ministering spirits sent forth to provide, to set us free, we just had to want it, and believe we could. God having providing some better thing for us. And I think if there is anything we can do today, one thing is, we’re not living for ourselves. Today, if just today, think about living your life for somebody else. Not just God, but somebody else. See if they need something before you do. Just to practice that, and that really puts you in such a place of real authority instead of trying to protect what little authority you’ve got. We’re always trying to get, and we never get it. That’s just not going to work. Well, we have it all: the deal has been done, and I think we’ll close here.

Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, I ask that as we pray right now, you will speak to us. However you speak to us, we desire to know what you would have us know for today. Give us each a word, or give us a word together. Thank you for your word. He said, I’m just so glad to have you back as my sons and daughters. Well God, we thank you, and we give you the praise and the glory for restoring your family in the earth. Show us how we can be better kids. Show us how to respect the work that Jesus did. Whatever our own cross is to bare, make it real to us, light it up, put stars around it, so that every day when we wake up, we do not forget what manner of men and women we are. We receive the answer to this prayer, and we dedicate everything we do with our hands and say with our mouths and wherever our feet tread, we’ll do it all for to establish your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you for this time with you. We pray this according to the word of Jesus. Amen