Made Well - Dr Robert Granger - 2407

Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter Dr. Robert Granger. Let's have a prayer before we go much further Dear Heavenly Father we want to thank you Lord for the opportunity of learning about you this morning. Of being challenged by your word and being changed by your word, being cleansed by your word. Instruct us this morning, I pray open up our eyes we pray in your wonderful name. Amen. It was a hot summer's day there in Adelaide. Darlin and I were members of a well it was a church, large physical structure with not that many people who were in attendance and those that were attended to be a few old folk. So it was a hot summer's day and we were sitting down we're on the right hand side of the church and there was a lady up front preaching and there was the aisle off to our left and a little to the front and left of us there was a little bit of a commotion and seeing this lady there and she's all just a little frail lady with her husband next door and she's all slumped over and I looked around and no one was making a move and my goodness, I'm a dermatologist, I'm not a first responder and thought well there's no one else here. I better do my dutiful thing as what happened to me a few weeks ago flying to Melbourne. It's just always like, I hate when this call happens. Is there a doctor on board the plane? And right at that instant there's this air hostess walking towards me and it's like you just feel this compulsion to. And I did. Yes and off you go. Anyway, so here's this lady and I start walking across to her because there's one thing that I've sort of learned from ambulance officers and paramedics. It seems like they never seem to run to the scene of an emergency and it's like will you hurry? And they're just walking along with their bag and they make their way there. So I just walked across to this lady and sat beside her and oh my goodness I'm listening for a breath and I'm feeling for the breath and I'm just listening trying to feel the pulse. No there's no pulse. And oh my goodness I'm thinking am I witnessing my first death in church? I'm serious. So I laid her down. That would be a good next move, wouldn't it? Lay her down, reassessed her. At that moment, around. About that time, her husband jumps up, turns around, starts walking towards the back of the church, and he says something that I will never forget, because it was just such, I guess, a stunning thing to say. Those words were just now etched in my memory as he spins around and starts walking down to the back of the church, turns around, and he says, I think she's had it. Well, as it turns out, she hadn't had it. Blood sugars were really low, didn't eat breakfast. She was dehydrated. It was a hot day, and she was finally roused and just in a deep sort of faint, and everything turned out good. Well, this morning, I want to share a story with you from scripture about a man who had nearly had it. In fact. It was a life changing encounter with Jesus. And I want to share this story with you because I think it's a pretty stunning story. Jesus interacts with all kinds of people. He interacts with those who are in trouble. That was not of their doing. Jesus also interacts with people who are in strife as a result of their own choices. And this man, well, he fell into that latter category. He was in trouble because of a series of choices that he had made earlier in his life. Let's not all be pious here with each other. Who hasn't made some tremendously stupid mistakes in their life? Like the time I had an old car, its handbrake wasn't working all that well. And there was a post box on the side of the road, and I had a letter to post, and I wanted to post that letter. And, like, I could have driven right up to it and popped it, were it not for the fact the little opening was just on the other side of the box, I thought, well, and the street was on a little bit of an incline. I thought, well, what can I do here? And so I schemed up this idea. Well, if I just kind of got the car running and gave it a little bit of momentum, I could quickly jump out, post the thing, get back into the car before it started rolling backwards. Because sometimes in life, I don't do things simply. I like a challenge for myself. I like life to be a little bit fun. And so I thought, okay, well, I just can't just do it. I'm going to have to practise this scheme. So you get a little bit of momentum up. Okay, right about now is probably when I'm going to bundle out of the car. How long is it going to take for the car to start slowing down? Okay, can I imagine myself posting letter by now? Am I going to be back in the car and not going to tell you the end of that story? Okay. The second story was when darling and I were living in Tassie and out in the front yard. I'm standing there one day noticing all of these wasps flying into a hole sort of in the lawn up against the fence. And I thought, wow, there's just not one or two. There's hundreds heading down to this little subterranean little nest. Can't have this. I mean, this could be a disaster walking past here and we could really get stung to pieces. I've got to do something about this. So I went and spoke with Darlene, said, would you like to take care of that wasp nest? Actually, I didn't. I said, I need to tackle this nest. What I need to do is I'm going to get all dressed up, I'm going to put multiple layers of clothes on. I'm going to then put on this nice Goretex over jacket. And I had these overpants, these Gore Tex pants, and I put those, and I got gum boots and we got some masking tape and we sort of masked up the gum boots to the overpants there. And I had on these leather gloves and we put all stuff around there to make sure nothing went in. I made sure that the jacket was also taped around the belly to make sure nothing went up inside. And then I got myself a crash helmet, put that on and then put a hood on top of that and a little cutout. And again, taped that all around the place and I was ready to go. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine what I was looking like? Well, you know what? You don't have to imagine much longer, because that's me. So there I was. And as I made my way towards that wasp nest, I started to think of what might be in tomorrow's headline in the mercury. There in Tasmania, student doctor dies from multiple wasp bites. And as I edged my way towards that wasp nest, I thought, nah, can't do it all that came off again, all the clothing. Instead, I made myself up a petrol bomb. And that was far more exciting. Now, notice that I didn't tell you some of my failures there. I sort of stopped short. I was like some what could have been some planned failures. But this story is written out in all of its raw detail and it's in the book of John. And at least turn to the book of know, John is an interesting book. This story is only found in John. There's four gospels, correct? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Matthew, Mark and Luke are what we call the synoptic gospels because their stories often parallel each other. If you find one in Matthew, there's a good chance you might find one in Luke. Or if Mark has one, it's probably in John. Sorry, probably in one of the other two. They kind of parallel each other. So hence the synoptic gospels. But John is very, very different. I remember I was a teenager. I would have been either 17 or 18 years of age and living in New Zealand at the time, during my last two years of high school there and getting up and doing a lot of skiing. And the time came for the conference to put and host on a ski camp. And so naturally, I was up there for that as well. And the spiritual mentor for the week was Pastor Jeffrey Garn, I think his name was that sound, right? He was the then editor of the record way back when. And he came across. And I remember, I remember, in fact, very few things from my teenage years, at least, of a spiritual nature. And I remember he shared a fact at that time. And it's for some bizarre reason, I've just remembered this statistic. I've never tried to validate that, but even if he's out by one or 2%, I guess it's still pretty impressive. And that is, he said that 94% of the book of John is unique to John. You're not going to find it in Matthew, Mark or Luke. Now, more than that, if you just come with me towards the last couple of chapters of the Book of John, chapter John, chapter 20. John, chapter 20. And I sure hope you've got your swords with you. If you don't have the printed word, open up your app in your phone. Follow along. It's going to be really important that you follow along John, chapter 20 and verse 30. And it said, and this is what John says. He says, and truly, jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. Well, if they're not written in this book, they're surely not written in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And then he says this, the very last verse of the last chapter of this gospel. This is what he says. John, chapter 21 and verse 25. And there are also many other things that Jesus did which, if they were written one by one, I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Wow. So what John is telling us is that the overwhelming majority of what Jesus did and said while he was here on this earth is not written. We don't have a record of it. It's just not there. And in fact, what it does also tell me is that what is written has been put down for an extremely important reason, that the Holy Spirit has impressed these authors to write down what they did for a really important reason. Perhaps what is written is representative of all of those other things that was not, in fact, written down. And I'd like you to turn to John, chapter five, because this is where we find our story. John, chapter five. And we'll start in verse one. After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there is in Jerusalem, by the sheepgate, a pool which is called, in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches, the meaning of Bethesda, house of Mercy, house of grace. And I can tell you what went on. There was everything but. And in these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed, waiting for the moving of the know. I think of really what's happening here at the pool, the pool of Bethesda. I really see this as being a representation of planet Earth. I see it as being the world. And I see this great multitude that is spoken about here as fallen humanity in need of healing. They're accustomed to life around the pool, unable to escape from it. And there was this common belief, and we see this in verse four, there was this common belief that an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. It may have been a strange belief. We have no idea if anyone was ever healed by that method. There's no record of it. It was probably just simply one of those stories. Just like today. There are a lot of stories, there's a lot of religions, there's a lot of doctrines out there, a lot of teachings about how we can escape the pool. It doesn't mean they're correct, doesn't mean that they're truthful. I understand that there's something like over 4000 religions in the world, but it depends on how you classify things, because I've seen another statistic which says that there are approximately 35,000 religions on planet Earth. All have got their own little take on things, as did this group called Heaven's Gate. Anyone remember heaven's Gate? You would remember that being an American. Carol. Heaven's Gate, founded by this lady and a man, and very strange background. But they set about. They were in, at that stage in the San Diego area, in California, southern California, and they came up with an idea as how they were going to escape planet Earth. They discovered that there was a comet with a trajectory coming towards planet Earth. Was never going to hit here, of course. It was still a long way away, but it swung around and it was coming towards planet Earth. And they came up with a scheme where what they were going to do is get onto the planet, onto the comet, and make their way out into the universe. But before they did that, they had to leave their bodies on this earth, and the whole 39 of them entered into a suicide pact, and that's how the authorities found them. 1997. Some speak about the Bible, which I kind of like this, the Bible bi, as an acronym for basic instructions before leaving Earth. I kind of like that. Basic instructions before leaving Earth. Here we find this man. He's wanting to escape the pool. And we find here in verse four, as we just read that after the stirring of the water, whoever was made well of whatever disease he had, that's what would happen to that individual if they get into the water first, he'd be made well. Now, I want you to pay close attention. Have you got your Bible with you? I want you to read through with me as we make our way through this. And I'm just asking whoever, I want you to count how many times that we come across this phrase, depending on how it's mentioned in your version. Mine is new King James Version. And it speaks of, this is of being made. Well, yours might be the word healed, it might be some other variant of that. But follow along with me, count how many times we go through. At the very end, when I call on it, the first person to come up here and tell me the correct number is going to walk away with a little gift. So here we go. All right, here it is. All right, so let's take a look now in verse five. It's kind of interesting because in verse five, it says that now, a certain man. Why did it use the word certain? I would have been just quite happy if it simply read, now, a man was there who had an infirmity. 38 years, that would have read just perfectly fine. Correct. But it says, now a certain man. Why did it say a certain man? Well, I believe because there was a degree of notoriety about this individual. This was just no regular man. This was a certain man. This man had a history. It's kind of good to be famous for the right reason rather than for the wrong reason. If you get what you know. Someone like Ralph Harris was famous for the right reason and then quickly turned to becoming famous for the wrong reason. You get the drift. You want to be famous for the right reason. And this man may not have been famous for the right reason. We don't know why he had that notoriety. Maybe he was one of the individuals who had been around the pool for the longest period of time, the longest serving tenant there at the pool of Bethesda. Maybe everyone recognised his history, where he had come from. Maybe it was his physical state, just the worst of the worst. Whatever is the case, this certain man had been there for 38 years. Now, I'm interested in what Ellen White had to actually say on this section. If you've never read the book desire of ages, if you do not own a copy of that book, desire of ages, please speak with me after because I'll be very happy to help you out. But in that book, I appreciate how she describes this man. She says that when Jesus saw him, he saw in this man a case. She writes, jesus saw in this man a case of supreme wretchedness. Supreme wretchedness. Here he was, this wizoned up little old man trapped on his little mat on the floor. Probably the kind of bloke who couldn't easily get to the public facilities in time and who knows what there was around him. It would not have been a pleasant sight. And Jesus comes up to him, verse six, and sees him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time. How did Jesus know that? Was this man so well known throughout Jerusalem? Had his disciples already warned him? As Jesus makes his way into the pool, lord, are you sure you want to go in there? Because, oh, my goodness. You might come across this man. You don't want to see this man. Could it be that the father spoke to Jesus on the prior evening as Jesus was in prayer with his father? And the father says to him, son, want you to go to the pool of Bethesda tomorrow. You're going to see a man there. He's been there for 38 years. You know what to do. I don't know. I just don't know. And Jesus asks him, he says, do you want to be made well? Do you want to be made well? In scripture there is this nice relationship between health and salvation. In fact, truly, they can be interchangeable terms often throughout scripture. Save, healing, salvation, health. In fact, it's pretty explicit in one section. If I could just read to you from Jeremiah, chapter 17 and verse 14. It says this Jeremiah praying for deliverance, he says, heal me, o Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me and I shall be saved. Just simply illustrating this relationship between those two words. In other words, when Jesus was extending an invitation, and it was an invitation, this was not something that Jesus was going to foist on this individual. It was an invitation. And Jesus, when he is asking him, do you want to be made? Well, in effect, Jesus may as well have been asking him, do you want to be saved? Do you want to be saved? It's an interesting question, and for those of us who are sort of in the health related kind of domain, as a profession at least, and you need not even be that to appreciate what I'm about to say, and that is that. And it might seem a strange thing to you as I say this, but it's true that not everyone who is sick wants to be healed of their malady. There are some people who are just very content and very happy to just go on with just the way they are, because at the end of the day, there are some benefits in playing or somehow being involved in what we'd refer to as the sick role. You might attract a little bit more attention. People might fluff around you a little bit more. There might potentially be the loss of certain financial benefits that come from being made well. And trust me, I have seen individuals just, I've got a medication that will absolutely clear your skin of this condition. You don't have to suffer with this. No, it's okay. Just get me a little bit more comfortable, but don't eradicate it. I find that a phenomenal thing, but it's true. And Jesus was making absolutely no assumption when he came to this man and said, do you want to be made? Well? Do you want to be saved? And a question like this surely demands one of two responses. What are they? It's gotta be a yes or a no. Do you want to be made well? Yes or no? The man doesn't answer that way. We see the response of this man. The sick man answered him, sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. But while I am coming another steps down before me. His response to me suggests a man in deep despair. It suggests someone who is, who is at well. He's just feeling totally helpless. He's feeling close to being had. It, he's tried it, it doesn't work. He's frustrated by his failed attempts at saving himself, at healing himself. We left to ourself. You know that, I know that. We know that. We cannot save ourselves. We don't get to leave the pool on our terms. Divine intervention is needed. In fact, more than this, I believe that the response from this man, the implicit response that is, it's not explicit, it's not written down, it's implied. I believe that he was really asking a question. This man was really saying, I've tried, I've failed. I'm still here, sir. What must I do to be saved? You know that question, don't you? Who else asked that question? Remember the rich young ruler? Yep, that's the one that's mentioned in two of the synoptic gospels. Mark chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19, and also mark chapter ten. I kind of like the mark version because of one particular word that's being used there. Mark chapter ten. And this is starting in verse 17, where the rich young ruler comes running out to Jesus, kneels down before him, says, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? What must I do to be saved? And Jesus gives him a response. And I love how in verse 21, it says this. Jesus, looking at him, loved him. This was a really, really special person. Jesus saw in this man, this rich young man who probably had a lot of very genuine friends around him because he was probably an incredibly likeable bloke, thought, here is someone who could follow me. He could make up one of my group of disciples. He was a special man. And you probably have in your life someone who's really special. And I don't mean a spouse, I mean like another friend. And you just bond a little bit, like, say, david and Jonathan. They loved each other like they loved their own flesh. There's just something. And Jesus bonded with this young man and loved him. But Jesus said, you lack one thing, friend. I just want you to go sell what you have, give it to the poor, put treasure into heaven and take up the cross, and I want you to follow me. And the story was that that man, at that point, he turned away, very sorrowful because, in fact, he had so many possessions and couldn't see the sense in what Jesus had said. But someone else asked that question in the New Testament. Can you think of who else said, asked that question, what must I do to be saved? Can anyone think of where else that is in scripture? I'll give you a hint. Paul and Silas, remember, they were locked up there in the jail of Philippi. And you'll see that story in acts chapter 16. And that earthquake came and shook the place and everyone was out and about to escape. And Paul calls out to the jailer, he says, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Jailer turns around and says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? And then Jesus back in John, chapter five, heals the man. He heals him. He says, rise, take up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made. Well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. And one of the main points, in fact, of this whole thing is about the Sabbath, which we are not, in fact, going to touch on, but the man was made. Well, let me ask you a question. Who is the maker of all things? Who made all things? Can you give me a verse in scripture that speaks about Jesus? Who made all things? Oh, it's still here in John. John, chapter one, verse one. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things. Now catch this. It's said three times in this verse, chapter one, and verse three of John. All things were made through him. And without him, nothing was made that was made. Here we have the creator of the universe here with this man. And I don't believe that Jesus was as. And I love Nathan Green's artwork, and I'm probably going to buy one of these ones and hang that on my wall as I have some other Nathan greens at work. I kind of don't think. I don't think, and I've got no reason to really believe this, but I just don't see that Jesus is standing at the foot of this man and just saying, hey, do you want to be made? Well, let me just. Here, I'll give you a hand up here. I kind of think that Jesus sort of squatted down in amongst. The stench came to him face to face. Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be made? Well, well, rise. Take up your bed and walk. This man trusted Jesus to make him whole. He acted on the word of Jesus and was made whole. Jesus, the maker of all things. And I just love this in Isaiah. Isaiah, chapter 54. Follow this one with me. Isaiah, chapter 54, and verse five. Count the different names of Jesus. Here we go. Isaiah, chapter 54, and verse five. For your maker. That's number one. For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth. Six different names of Jesus right there in that one verse. This is the man that the paralytic is interacting with. Rise, take up your bed. And walk. And he believed it. You know what? We are no more able to live a holy life than this pulsied man was able to walk apart from Christ. It was impossible for him physically, and it is impossible for us spiritually. It's simply not going to happen apart from Christ. And then we read on. The Jews said, oh, it's not lawful for this to happen on the sabbath. And he answered them, verse eleven, he who made me well said to me, take up your bed and walk. And then they said, well, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? But the one who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, there being a multitude in that place. Verse 14. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. And the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well, sin no more. Some people will struggle with that, but at the very least, jesus is saying, you know what? Put yourself into this problem. You know what? You're just going to have to do a 180 and you got to head in the other direction. The things that you found appealing in the past, the music that you listen to, you're no longer going to enjoy that when you're with me. The entertainment that you experienced in the past. No, it's not going to have a patch on how you're going to interrelate with me. The food that you once enjoy. You know what? I've got this whole banquet here of this other stuff that you're going to enjoy and relish. And I suspect the man was starting in that brief interaction, started to understand and appreciate that Jesus wanted to live a different existence. First one up here. Tell me how many times made well was mentioned. First time. Okay, first one up. First one up. Oh, Angela. Angela. Well, you know what? Okay, go ahead, try your best. How many? Six. Who else got six? Who else got six? Aha. All right, well, guess what? I have a second book just for you as well, so you're going to get one later, okay? In fact, Angela, can you take one down to one of the ones who raised Anne and you get a gift? But you know what? I'm giving it to you this time. But you're actually wrong. You're actually wrong. It's actually seven. It's seven. But the 7th is not in the passage that we just read. Come to me. Come with me. In John, chapter seven and verse 23, we see the end of the story. John chapter seven and verse 23. And this is where all the church leaders at the time were given Jesus a hard time. And Jesus finally like that's it. And he starts speaking out. Verse 23. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? That's who's talking about. Now notice the first six times this man was made. Well. Okay, here we go. Made. Well made. Well made. Well made. Well made. Well made. Well six times. Now what does it say there in chapter seven and verse 23? It wasn't just simply made well. How well was he made? He was made. It says completely well. I love how the King James version says it. Who's got a King James version? What does it say, jesse, what does it say? Every wit hole. I love that, that old English, every wit hole. There was nothing about this man that wasn't whole. He had been made whole physically. He had been made whole spiritually. And in know the interesting thing is that John, the greek word for well is this word hugius. That's the Greek. Probably not pronouncing it quite right, but from which we get our english word hygiene. John uses that word in all of his gospel, the gospel of John. He uses it seven times only. Seven times only. All in reference to this one man. Isn't that beautiful? This roundness, this perfection, this number seven. It's absolutely beautiful. And I believe that at that point as that man stood before Jesus, now in his wholeness, I believe that that man was ready for to, as we sort of close up here, I want to share with you and this probably, if anything, is maybe the main point of what I was wanting to share with you today. And that is I want to share with you what I believe is one of the greatest paradoxes in with let's have no misgivings, healing of this man, the salvation of this man, the salvation of us from beginning to end, is all about Jesus. Correct. It's Jesus from start to finish. Jesus did the invitation. He offered the invitation. Jesus healed him. Jesus provided the aftercare, he said, gave him instructions. This is what you need to do from now know, just after I finish a surgery, you do this. You always have got to talk about aftercare. This is what you need to do to keep the wound clean. This is what you need. You need to come back. We're going to get the stitches out. It's going to take about a month to get that graft or healed. There's aftercare. Jesus provided the aftercare. Everything was about Jesus. And as that paralytic was healed, we are also saved. It's all about Jesus. But here is the paradox. What does paradox even mean? Hey, Siri. Hey, Siri. Google the meaning of paradox, okay? I found this on the web. For the meaning of paradox. Cheque it out. A situation or statement that seems impossible or is difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics. I see paradoxes in medicine. I have patients who come to me, for example, with the referred as got a rash. Your Sasson said, yeah, okay. All right. This person has psoriasis. 100% it's psoriasis. But the strange thing is that they're on a medication that was started by another doctor, for example, a gastroenterologist for their, let's say, ulcerative colitis. And they've been put on, for example, a biologic medication such as adelimumumab. That's the very same medication that we use to treat psoriasis. And it works spectacularly well and it clears their disease. But here a person put onto that medication for another reason and up comes psoriasis. And so I write back to the referring doctor. Yeah, thanks for referring Jane to Sumi. This is an interesting situation, but unfortunately, she has experienced a paradoxical reaction to adolemab for treatment of her ulcerative colitis. I suggest that. And on the letter goes, well, here is the paradox. Here it is. We've just established that our salvation, our healing, is fully dependent upon Jesus. And here's the paradox. And I don't want you to shoot me down. Give me space, give me time. Give me time to finish off what I was going to say. But our salvation is also fully dependent upon ourselves. Whoa, where's Rob going with this? Let's have a look. I'm going to share with you from one of my favourite little books called steps to Christ. Look at this. And I'm going to read you this little passage. It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we have sunken. In this context, we could probably say it's impossible of ourselves to escape from this cesspool of sin that we're lounging around. Our hearts are evil. We cannot change them. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behaviour. But they cannot change the heart, they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above before men can be changed from sin to holiness. And that power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul and attract it to God and to holiness. But now let's see the other side to that. And I'm just going forward just a little bit more to a page here, and I don't mind, I won't share the details, but I've got to confess that last year I had a few little struggles because I started to doubt, how am I to make the surrender of myself to God? And in fact, this is the way in which this paragraph starts. Many are inquiring, how am I to make the surrender of myself to know? It's an interesting paragraph because this is one of the very few occasions where the author, Ellen White, actually uses italics, has some italicised words, and it starts off the word how is italicised? So when I say it in other words, it's wanting some emphasis. It's not just simply how am I to make the surrender of myself to. No, I meant to emphasise that word. It's meant to be something like, how am I to make the surrender of myself to God? A few years ago I was visiting an evangelist church on the eastern states, mid Coast, Central Coast, New South Wales, and guests there and Sabbath school, little discussion group, ten od adults sitting around a circle. And somehow this kind of discussion came up and this elderly gentleman, who would have been approximately 80, says, you know what? He says, the older I get, this whole sin thing is just such a cinch. It's just like. Just temptations don't seem to faze me much. And I've just found that I just get older and I just seem to just get the victory. I'm thinking to myself, sure hasn't been my experience, maybe it should have been. And I couldn't help myself. I sort of blurted out at that point, I said, so, sir, do you suggest sort of a new doctrine, one of salvation by senility? Probably at that point they probably should have kicked me out of the Sabbath school class. But, friends, Jesus doesn't save us just simply because we're getting older, friends, there's going to be a lot of 100 year olds who go down to the grave and are not going to be resurrected to form part of his kingdom. It is not an ageing process, friends, that saves us. And it goes on to say you desire to give yourself to him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery, to doubt and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. And last year, when I was going through a little difficulty, I thought, you know what? I'm going to go to a few resources, and one of them was this book, steps to Christ. And I picked up another version of steps to Christ that I had. And this was given to me many, many years ago when I was a professional observer at Weimar Institute there in California, which ultimately then led to my employment afterwards being there. But I went through with the new start guests as a guest and as professional observer. And at the end of the programme, all the guests, and they are not necessarily even christian, certainly not 7th day Venice. They could be, from whatever background they are all given this little book, steps to Christ. And this was the very version that I was given. And everyone writes in there who are the facilitators, so the doctors, the nurses, the physiotherapists, the exercise physiologists, they all write a little something here to each guest in their own little special little book. And I came across a statement in here by an elderly doctor at that time who one smart cookie and passed away now. But I really appreciate Dr. Milton Crane. And he wrote this. He says, dear Robert, may God bless you and keep you in all his ways. See page 47 for the secret of success. And that's what I'm reading from right now as we go through this paragraph. This is the guts of page 47. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you. But you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men, it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot, of yourself, give to God its affections. And then here is something interesting. She uses a second italicised word in the same paragraph, a habit that she rarely did in all of her writings. She uses another italicised word. It's as though the first italicised word presents the problem, the second italicised word presents the solution. And here it is. Let's read that sentence again. You cannot change your heart. You cannot of yourself give to God its affections, but you can choose to serve him. You can give him your will. He will then work in you to will and to do according to his good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the spirit of Christ. Your affections will be centred upon him. Your thoughts will be in harmony with him. And so we see this interplay between divinity and humanity. There's God's part and there's our part. We cannot do God's part, although we often try, and God cannot do our part. God does his thing beautifully, and God has an expectation of us. God's part. He invites our part, we respond, we choose to serve him, we give him our will. God forgives and sanctifies our part. We obey. And I love. And if I could just go forward just a little bit more in this wonderful book, I just want to share a couple more quick thoughts. Notice here that obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love. And skipping forward, we do not earn salvation by our obedience, for salvation is the free gift of God to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith. God's part, our part, the truth, as it is in Jesus, is profoundly deep on the one hand, yet amazingly simple on the other. And unfortunately, we've distorted that truth. Like Luther for years and years, thought a process of self flagellation would get him closer to God. Or as he climbed up the sanctuscala, the holy stairs on his knees, as today even people today would be doing there in Rome, climb up those stairs. I'm going to earn myself some little brownie point somewhere. Do the rosary, do something. And yet you have some people who say God did it all. There's nothing for us at all to do. God has predestined some to be saved and some to be lost. And then you have the opposite extreme. You know what? God's got nothing to do with it. It's all about what I can do and what I should do. But God has told us plainly in his word, he will heal us. He will save us if you choose him and if you give him your will. Dear heavenly Father, I just want to thank you, Lord, for being the wonderful saviour to us that you are. If this sermon this morning was designed for no one else but myself, then praise be God. But if there happens to be someone here who has not chosen Jesus has not wanted to surrender his or her will. Lord, we here, as elders would be happy to pray for that one, if that one is happy to come up front. Dear Jesus, we just want to thank you for the wonderful interventions that you have done across our lives, and we just look forward to more uplifting experiences as we go through this week and as we prepare to leave earth for the real kingdom of God. Thank you so much. Dear Lord, thank you for calling us. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for empowering us, and thank you for all that you've done for us. We pray in your wonderful name. Amen. This message was made available by the Bunbury Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page. Bunbury SDA.