Amazing Facts

Doug Batchelor: Tonight we have a very important presentation talking about the Decalogue and God's dilemma. Now the word Decalogue is another word, it's more of an older term for the Ten Commandments. Deca means ten, log, logos, words, the ten words, the ten commandments and the dilemma. I like to always start with a little amazing fact.

The largest man-made stone that we know of is in Lebanon and it's actually a series of stones called the Baalbek stones. Now these stones can be found under what was an ancient temple, a Roman temple built in the first hundred years AD. It was dedicated at one point to Jupiter and to Bacchus and their different gods, but the foundation stones were bigger than anything else the Romans had ever done.

The Romans used to brag about their architecture and their Colosseum and their aqueducts, but they never in their history mentioned these stones that were the biggest stones because it's believed these foundation stones were there and they just used it and built on top of it. So the question is who was it that could build these enormous stones? One of the stones is the biggest man-made stone in the world, 65 feet long, a rectangle carved, 12 feet wide, 18 feet, estimated at 1650 tons. It is absolutely massive and for some reason the largest of the stones they carved it but they never finished moving it to its site and there's something of a mystery there.

As I travel around the world, I love to go and videotape amazing facts in different locations. They've got some megalith massive stones that were carved, we don't even know how they did it. You go to South America where the Inca Indians were living and they have stones that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and you can't put a razor blade between them. I've been inside the Great Pyramid and you see the weather has not worn the stones on the inside, you can see it's all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. You think it's like laser cut. How did they do it? How did they move them?

I was in an island in the South Pacific called Pohnpei in Micronesia. Anyone here ever heard of Pohnpei? I've made two trips there and they've got a place called Nan Madol where they built this, they call it the Venice of the Pacific. It is a stone city that was abandoned before the natives ever got there and it's made out of these basalt stone logs, some of them are like 50 feet long. It's just incredible and you think about maybe some of these ancients had wisdom that we don't know about. And maybe when the Bible tells us that people were bigger and stronger and lived longer in ancient times, there's some truth to that.

But when I think about a big strong foundation stone, I don't think about the Baalbek stones, I think about the word of Christ. Jesus said a wise man is the man who digs deep, he gets down to the rock and he builds his house on the rock and when the storm comes and the wind blows and the water rushes, that house does not fall because it's founded on the rock. The foolish man builds on the sand and Christ and His word is that rock.

Friends, you notice in the parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 5 and in Luke, He says there's a storm that comes to a wise man and there's a storm who comes to the fool. Everybody is going to face the storm. The question is what are you building your life on? First few years of my life, I built on just the typical have fun and then die, the cares of life. It wasn't until I had my encounter with God reading the Bible someone left in a cave that my whole worldview changed and my abundant life began.

You're able to survive the storms of life when you're founded on the rock. Some of you have already been through some storms. The big storm is coming in the tribulation and we need to make sure our faith is rooted and grounded on the rock of God's word. And the rock is not just talking about the words of the Lord, the rock is talking about the law, the foundational law. Jesus wrote the Ten Commandments on stone.

Now there is a lot of controversy, believe it or not, in the Christian church about what do we do with the Ten Commandments. Even here in Texas, there's a great debate over whether or not they could put the commandments in the schools. So what do we do with the law of God? Is it pushing religion on the government and commingling church and state? Well, we went to our people on the street to get some insight on what is their view of the law of God and the commandments.

Guest (Male): Laws are basically the minimum of morality. Laws are a way of explaining moral concepts.

Guest (Female): So there's laws to make sure that we don't do anything to get ourselves hurt or get someone else hurt.

Guest (Female): I think that the importance of laws is mostly to keep people safe from each other, from themselves, and all together just to make sure that everyone is able to coexist.

Guest (Male): I believe we have them in place just to make sure we can function as a working society, we can function as a cohesive machine, we can function as one organism where we don't try to kill each other, we don't try to harm each other.

Guest (Female): I think laws give us structure in our daily lives. I think we need laws. I mean, I think it'd be total chaos and disorder if we didn't.

Guest (Male): We need laws. Morality is defunct. So laws help us define morality. And we do need that. We don't need to push it on everyone, but we've got to have some morality, and I think the world's showing us that right now.

Doug Batchelor: One thing I was wanting someone to address is if we have law, is there a penalty for breaking the law? And does a law have any force or teeth if there's no penalty for violating that law? You know, the Bible tells us that God has a law and there's a penalty for breaking that law.

The wages for sin are what? Death. That's pretty serious. So we're going to talk about this dilemma. All have sinned according to the Bible, we've all broken God's law, we're all under a death sentence, but we're not dead right now because Jesus on the cross purchased us probation to make an eternal decision. So we're going to discuss some of the tension in the understanding between the law and grace and salvation.

Really when you think about it, this topic tonight, it does fit into Revelation and it is one of the most important subjects we can study. You get to the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation, blessed are those who do His commandments that they might have a right to the tree of life and enter through the gates of the city. How many of you want to eat from that tree and enter into the gates of that city?

Well, what law is he talking about? You know, there are many different laws in the Bible, so we're going to find out about what is the gospel, what is the problem, and what is the solution? All right, number one, going to Revelation chapter five, verse six. Who is symbolized by the Lamb that you find in Revelation 5:6?

Let me read this to you. It says, "And I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders," these are the 24 elders, "stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." And He came and He took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. The only one who could open the scroll containing the names in the Book of Life we believe is this Lamb.

Now, does everyone understand a Lamb with seven eyes and seven horns and seven spirits is symbolic language? The key to understanding these things is found other places in the Bible. That Lamb is Christ. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the guilt of the world." We are under a death penalty.

He's got the seven eyes representing that God is all knowing, He sees everything. You can read in the Bible where a prophet said, "The eyes of the Lord do run to and fro through the whole earth to show himself mighty in behalf of him whose heart is loyal to Him." The eyes of God see everything, you cannot run from God like Jonah tried.

What about the seven spirits? People wonder is there one Holy Spirit or seven Holy Spirits? Well, the Holy Spirit is one. The Bible says one Lord, one faith, one baptism, there's one God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Why does it say seven spirits? These are seven facets or attributes of the Holy Spirit. You can find them listed in Isaiah chapter 11.

Remember, the Old Testament has the keys. "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him," count that as one. "The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." Different facets of the Holy Spirit. When Solomon said, "Lord, give me wisdom," well, that's a gift of the Spirit, the Bible tells us.

Blessed be the Lord God. What about the horns? This Lamb's got seven horns. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David." A horn of salvation. For the Hebrews, they were largely a nation of shepherds and they would see that the male goats and the rams they had horns and that's where their strength was, the oxen had horns, that's where their power was.

You even use the expression on the horns of a dilemma. And in Texas you do bull riding, you got to watch for the horns, right? Because that's where the power is. And so it's talking about the power of Christ, the all-knowing of Christ, the facets of the Holy Spirit. And so this is a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

John said, John 1:29, he saw Jesus, he says this twice by the way, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Right there in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, Adam and Eve were not streaking naked around the garden as many people try to portray. They always have pictures and paintings of Adam and Eve and you've got strategically positioned leaves to cover things so you can read the books to the children.

Adam and Eve had a garment of light. When Moses was talking to God, he came down the mountain, he was shining so bright they had to veil his face so it wouldn't shine at them so much. Adam and Eve in their holiness, they had garments, robes of glory. But when they sinned, the light went out and they saw their nakedness and they tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves.

Now keep in mind, up until then nothing had died. They probably thought this would last, but once they picked them, they started to wither and they thought it's not good. By the way, it says they made themselves aprons of fig leaves. Aprons would mean mini-skirts. That's the word, it's like a little apron that a butcher might use. And God said that will not do and God gave them coats, tunics of skin.

Now up to this point, nothing had ever died. Where did God get the skin? Revelation talks about the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. God instituted the sacrificial system there in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve and it took the death of a lamb to cover their nakedness. You remember, Abel brought a lamb. They already knew about the sacrificial system way back in the beginning and Cain didn't want to do that.

God accepted Abel's sacrifice, He did not accept Cain's sacrifice. And so the covering of this lamb, the death of the lamb, they were looking through history for when God's Lamb would come and Jesus is that Lamb. I remember hearing a story years ago about a lighthouse keeper in Scotland and he had this very high lighthouse, 150 feet high, that was on a rocky bluff on a meadow overlooking the sea, green grass and sheep grazing below.

Every now and then you've got to clean the lighthouse windows and so he was out walking around the railing and he was trying to clean up the window and he leaned back against the railing not knowing that the rust had worn through the rivets and the railing gave way and he tumbled 150 feet down and smacked down on the ground. Soon he regained consciousness, he was looking up and he saw the puffy white clouds in the blue sky.

He thought I must be in heaven. And then he thought, but if I'm in heaven, why does my back hurt so much? And then he came to his senses, he got up and he realized he had landed on top of one of the sheep. It broke his fall. The sheep died, but he lived. And the Lamb of God had to die so that we could live.

And whether you accept it or not, you know Jesus died for your sins. What a shame that He would die for your sins and you would die for your sins too. Talk about a waste. I remember once going out to eat with my father-in-law and we each wanted to be magnanimous and so I went up and I gave my credit card to pay for the dinner for the family and he snuck up and he paid, he gave, and somehow it came out as we were going down the road we had both paid and they didn't bother to tell us.

Boy, that really hurt. It'd be a shame to have it paid for twice. Jesus has paid for your sins. You need to embrace that and cash the check, friend. Amen? He is called the Lamb of God. When Abraham, God said, "Abraham, Abraham," Exodus chapter 22, "Here I am, Lord. Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love, bring him onto the mountains of Moriah and there sacrifice him to me. Offer him as a burnt offering."

Now this is the child he and Sarah had been waiting for, Abraham a hundred years and now he's over a hundred years old and God is saying all of your posterity, a great nation is going to come through this son, I want you to sacrifice him. Abraham probably didn't even wake up Sarah, he took some servants, he took his son, he took the mules with some wood and supplies and they went a three-day journey to the mountains of Moriah.

At the base of the mountain, they told the servants stay here and Abraham said, "The lad and I will come to you again." Notice he said the lad and I will come to you again. He didn't know how God was going to get him out of that, but God had said a nation would come through Isaac and he believed. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. And if you read in Hebrews, it says in Hebrews 11, Abraham believed that even if he killed Isaac, God would raise him up, which was a type of Christ.

So then they go half a day up the mountain, notice three and a half days. A day in prophecy is a year, Jesus ministered three and a half years. The wood is put on Isaac's back, the cross was put on Jesus' back. They get to the top. Abraham has to explain to his son, Abraham did not jump Isaac and wrap him up like a rodeo expert. He said, "Here's what's going on, God has told me to offer you." He was a willing sacrifice like Jesus.

And he put him on the wood and just before the knife came down, God said, oh wait, I left out the best part. On the way up the mountain, Isaac is putting two and two together, he's gone to sacrifice with his father because everywhere Abraham went he built an altar. And on the way up the mountain, Isaac's looking around, he said, "Well, we've got the wood and we've got what it takes to make the fire, but we're missing the sacrifice."

And he said, "My father," he says, "we've got the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb?" And Abraham said in those immortal words that have gone down through time, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb." God the Son, Jesus, provided himself a lamb. And just before the knife comes down, symbol of the cross, the angel stops Abraham and says, "Don't do it, don't harm your son. Now I know you fear me."

Of course God already knew, this is a demonstration to all of us that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of his child, which is what God did for you to save us. And then God directed Abraham's attention to a ram that was caught by his horns in a thicket, the word thicket means a thorn bush. You've got a ram with a crown of thorns like Jesus. This whole story is an allegory of the cross, the father and the son going to the place of sacrifice together. And this is how much God loves us, that he would give his son to save us.

Number two, why was it necessary for Jesus to suffer and die? I think most of you know this. Romans 3:23, for how many? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've all sinned, everyone except Jesus. And what is the penalty? Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death. It is the most serious penalty because sin is a terribly contagious, deadly disease that God cannot allow to go unchecked in His universe.

Everybody is sort of born into life knowing there is right and wrong. Paul says in Romans chapter 1, even the barbarians, even the pagans have a conscience. Even of them, some of them who don't have the law of God, they have that inward law, they know inherently some things are wrong. And you know as you travel through the world in the primitive days and they would discover different cultures, people seemed to sort of understand that murder was wrong and lying was wrong and stealing was wrong and the Ten Commandments are the best summary of any national law.

That's why when you go to the Supreme Court at the pinnacle of the building, you're going to see Moses holding two tables of stone on his lap because the foundation for all earthly law springs back to that great man Moses who received the law from God. The Bible says, 1 Corinthians 15:3, "Christ died for our sins according to the scripture."

And again, Isaiah 53:6, "All we, everybody, like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid upon him, the Lord placed upon him the iniquity, the sin of us all." Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Now it's hard for us to comprehend that somehow the Lord could carry the buckets filled with the sin and the guilt of the whole world when he suffered and then died on the cross.

But he didn't suffer as a man suffers, he suffered as a God suffers because he's the creator. And friends, don't forget that if Christ's sacrifice was adequate to cover the sins of the whole world, then he has enough for you, doesn't he? Don't think my sins are just too much, Lord, I don't think you can handle it. If he can handle the sins of the whole human race all through history, he can handle yours. Amen?

He is a better savior than you are a sinner. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust. He took our weakness and gives us his strength, he took our death and he gives us his life, he took our impurity and he gives us his holiness. He traded places with us. Number three, what is Revelation called the plan to save people from death? We're going back to Revelation again. Revelation 14:6.

By the way, just before the Second Coming in Revelation 14, it says, "I looked and behold one sat on the cloud like the Son of Man." It pictures Jesus coming. What do you read just before it pictures Jesus coming? These angels have a message that they're being proclaimed from heaven with a loud voice. That's where you get the word megaphone, megaphona, a Greek word, this loud voice going to the whole world, saying they have the Everlasting Gospel.

The gospel is going to the world, Jesus said, "then the end will come." This is happening today, friends. The gospel is being proclaimed everywhere through all these incredible communication means right now. Having the Everlasting Gospel, it's never changed from the time that Adam sinned and he went out of the garden wearing lambskin to the present day. Everybody saved is saved by the Lamb. Please do not miss this.

Now I come from a Jewish background and I'm amazed sometimes to hear people say, "well yeah, and the Jews were saved by works." No, they weren't. No Jew believes that. I mean, everyone wants to do good works and there's even some legalistic Christians, but they all trusted in the atonement. The whole sanctuary was built around God's mercy and forgiveness. "His mercy endures forever" is what the Jews taught.

They knew they would never make it with their mercies, they needed to repent and turn and trust in God's mercy because if we get God's justice, we're all doomed. They were saved by faith looking forward to the cross. Abraham believed God, he's the father of the faithful. We are saved by faith looking back to the cross. The gospel has not changed. Abel was saved by the blood of Christ. Nobody's going to get to heaven and say I worked my way in. Is that right? There's only one name given among men whereby we must be saved.

Number four, according to the Bible, what is sin and how do we recognize it? Here's like a dictionary definition. 1 John 3:4, sin is, got it on the screen? Sin is what? Lawlessness. If you have the King James Version, it says "sin is the transgression of the law," which is lawlessness. And you read in Romans 3:20, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Friend, God is offering you peace and eternal life. How? Well, it all begins by simply turning towards the Lord. The Bible promises that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. You can turn to Him right now and ask for forgiveness in a new heart, and He's ready to forgive and receive you. That's why Jesus came. Whether you know it or not, He's always been your best friend. A new life is only a prayer away. Just ask Him now.

Guest (Male): And how come we don't really see anybody keeping the Sabbath or being told to keep the Sabbath until after Mount Sinai? Because you know, like, I don't remember any major command to observe the Sabbath with those guys until the Ten Commandments were given. Why is that? I hope I'm wrong.

Doug Batchelor: Well, I got good news, you're wrong. Sorry. But first of all, in the very beginning, we can assume Adam kept it because God blessed it, you know, He makes Adam on the sixth day and says God rested, He blessed it and made it holy. Now, He didn't make it holy for Him, He made it holy for man, so we can safely assume Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath day. Then you read about Abraham, it says "Abraham kept my commandments, my laws, my statutes, and my judgments." So God had laws even before you get to Mount Sinai.

Then if you look in Exodus when Moses first comes and he goes and he meets with the elders of Israel before he meets with the Pharaoh and then he goes to the Pharaoh and the Pharaoh said, "you are making the people Shabbat," the word there in Hebrew is rest. He says you have caused the, so when Moses came and met with the elders, he says, "Look you guys have drifted from the Lord, He's about to work for you, you need to start keeping the Sabbath again."

Why else would the Pharaoh say "you're making them Shabbat and I'm going to give you more work to do"? But then if you get Exodus 16 before you get to Mount Sinai, God said, "I'll rain bread down from heaven six days a week, on the sixth day I'll let you collect twice as much so you don't have to gather it on the seventh because there will be none on the seventh." That's Exodus 16.

So they were knowing about the Sabbath and then when they went out looking for food on the Sabbath day, God says "how long will you refuse to keep my laws?" So here God calls the Sabbath a law before they ever get to Mount Sinai. So I think that, you know, it's what you call a self-evident truth that there was a day of rest that God's people were keeping, it was just never questioned, you don't see it being a conflict up until you get to Mount Sinai and after.

Guest (Male): And of course the commandment itself says "remember the Sabbath day." So it's as if God is saying remember something you know or knew about. So that would assume that it was there before.

Doug Batchelor: The fact He says keep it holy means I made it holy, I want you to keep it the way I made it. So it's looking back even in the commandment. Good point.