Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Today, on Richard Ellis talks. If you ever get clean and put on some clean clothes, you won't want to go back to that. Now sometimes we do. But then you wake up and you go, what am I doing here? You ever have that feeling as a Christian? What am I doing here? This stinks. I stink. I'm going home. I'm going to get my robe back. I'm going to get my shoes back, get my ring back. I'm going to be a son. I'm going to be his daughter. I want to go home.

Richard Ellis: You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's style is unlike anyone else, where he shares the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that's real, refreshing, focused, and fun. We know that life is pretty challenging these days, but these talks will help you meet those challenges head-on with biblical truth, encouragement, and direction.

Richard Ellis: Now, if you're not able to stick around with us for all of today's talk, you can always listen to, download, and even share this entire message with a friend right from our website, RichardEllis.com. So, let's jump right in with today's talk, here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is wardrobe malfunction. There's actually a definition, the failure of a costume to fully cover its wearer as intended. It can also be defined as an embarrassing situation caused by the clothes a person is wearing. Turn to Genesis chapter 3, and we're going to jump in verse one.

Richard Ellis: The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" So people say, "Well, she shouldn't have eaten it." You're not even supposed to touch it.

Richard Ellis: What does nobody say here is, what if she had eaten it? What if she had touched it? The same thing applies. When God says something, you don't eat it, you don't even touch it, stay away. Then the serpent said to the woman, "You shall not, what are you talking about? You're not going to die? You don't even know what there ain't any such thing as dying? What is dying?" Nobody's ever died.

Richard Ellis: For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. He's holding something back. And this idiot snake has been trying this same game for millennia. God is trying to keep something from you. He's trying to ruin your life. Don't do what he says.

Richard Ellis: So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, well, why wouldn't I? It's going to open my eyes. She took of its fruit and ate, she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and this is the first thing they noticed. Very fascinating. They dawned on them, they saw for the first time, oh my gosh, we're naked.

Richard Ellis: Now, that's always been very fascinating to me. The first thing you're going to notice after sinning is you're naked. You are uncovered. Isn't that interesting how that has not changed? There is something about sin that uncovers us. And we feel exposed, we feel like we are unprotected. Nothing to cover us.

Richard Ellis: And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Now this is another way of describing their own righteousness. They tried to fix their problem their way. And let's rig something up here. There's no one else to be naked in front of, there's only two people on the planet. And they had been fine before that.

Richard Ellis: You even talk to couples who fall in love and if sin gets in the middle of that relationship or something's not right. I've been into mansions where they got master bathroom and there's a whole another wing for her, a whole another wing for him. A few times I've seen where there's doors into the shower, but that's about the only time if you even wanted to hook up, you're only going to see each other in the shower, maybe. Why? They don't want to see each other. They've gotten away from that. They're covering up, they're hiding.

Richard Ellis: Keep reading and they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden. I pray you're not hiding today. If you're hiding from God today, then come on out and talk to him. You're not even getting anywhere hiding from God because you can't hide from God.

Richard Ellis: You say, "Well, I get in a really dark place and he can't see me." Really? That's like a child going like this, you can't see me, you can't they cover their eyes, right? Because you cover your eyes does not mean I can't see you. You're a crazy person, I can see you. But kids think that. You say, "Oh, that silly child." Silly us. Just because you get in the dark doesn't mean God can't see you.

Richard Ellis: Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him. Where are you? Not because he didn't know, he's trying to get Adam to talk to him. So he said, "I heard your voice in the garden, I was afraid because I was naked, I hid myself." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked?" There's no way you could know that. And of course he knew how he knew that.

Richard Ellis: Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded that you should not eat? Then the man said, "The woman, he blames the woman, who you gave to me, she gave me of the tree and I ate." And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me." They all start blaming, we've gone through this before, they all blame somebody else. It's not my responsibility. Oh, I'm all jacked up because my father did this. Okay, maybe so, but take responsibility.

Richard Ellis: So, everything that's happened to you is someone else's fault. What are you going to do about that? You either forgive him and let him go, or you die that way. Jump down to verse 21. Also for Adam and his wife. Look at this verse.

Richard Ellis: Now he's sentencing them basically, he's saying, "Here's the consequence to what you've done." But in the middle of the consequence list, to the woman, to the man, to the serpent even, in the middle of that, something's got to die to help them. And it's implicit in here. Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.

Richard Ellis: Where did he get the skin? First sacrifice. Something in creation has to die because they screwed up. You see this? So God says, "You tried covering yourselves, it ain't going to work." Because when I throw you out of this garden, you're going to need more than leaves. You're going to need something to cover you. So I will provide for your covering. All right?

Richard Ellis: So he doesn't send him out naked, he doesn't leave him naked. And again, there's only the three of them. Well, there's technically five of them, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and these two, they're see what's going on, and plus all the angels in heaven, of course. And then they're sent out of the garden. Okay, go to Isaiah 7:14.

Richard Ellis: And this prophecy says this, "Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign." "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel." And Emmanuel means what? God with us. Okay, I'm going to read you these verses, I'm going to try to explain this. I have not a clue about this. I cannot get my little brain around this.

Richard Ellis: Because my understanding when I try to break this down is that you have Jesus, the Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, there's no even no beginning of time, there's just eternity. And somehow this deity, this God person Jesus, the Son of God, decides to compress himself, all of the majesty of being God, compresses himself basically into the size of a sperm.

Richard Ellis: One little microscopic thing. And that materializes inside the womb of a virgin, and God is on the planet, just like that. You say, "Yeah, but he wasn't born yet." He never ceased being God. So he's God when he's on the throne, he's God at the second of conception, there is no break. God cannot cease being God.

Richard Ellis: So if you're one of these people who think pro-life people are crazy, explain to me when he stopped being God and what he was doing in the womb, he was God in the flesh in that process. So you got him on the planet. He's inside of a womb of a woman, but he is God now materialized in human form, and now we'll go through the process that we all go through to get here. Okay, go to Matthew 1:23.

Richard Ellis: And now in Matthew, you're getting these same verses, and they know this is coming. Okay, everyone who knew the Old Testament knew was looking forward to this day. Whether they believe it's Jesus or not, you know, that's not the point, they know it's coming, they chose to believe or not. Matthew 1:23, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us."

Richard Ellis: So now this verse is now quoted, spoken of in regard to Jesus, so someone believed that this Jesus has shown up, that this is who it's going to be, born of a virgin, it's all coming together. Go to John chapter 1. Some people don't know the Christmas story is not just in Matthew and Luke, but it's also in John. It's one verse. But it's in there. John chapter 1, verse 14.

Richard Ellis: And here's the Christmas story in John 1:14. And the word became flesh. There's the Christmas story. That's what happened. Now the only way the word could become flesh was to be born of a virgin, that way God is the Father, and no man here is the Father. Okay? So when he is referred to as the Son of God, he is literally.

Richard Ellis: And by the way, let me just interject this. This is the craziest stuff you've ever heard in your life. You say, "Well, these world religions, that's just crazy stuff." You ought to read what these people believe. You ought to read what you believe. How in the world does God kind of do something with a virgin, whatever that is, the Holy Spirit came upon her, that's what the verse says, and we got a baby. What is that? Where was that?

Richard Ellis: You know, and you say you believe that? And you're going to talk someone else into believing that? You don't talk anybody into believing this. You either do or you don't. He either can or he can't. This is either true or it's not. Now it'll change your life if you do believe it. But just be aware, this is some crazy sounding stuff. Right?

Richard Ellis: Has anybody think about this anymore? See, I've been reading this stuff so long, I just assume it's true and every once I go, I said I believe that? The word became flesh, dwelt among us, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we saw him. I'd sure like to see him honestly. I'm okay with someone has already seen him, I'll take their word for it. But the good news, I get to see him one day.

Richard Ellis: I'll see him. Right now it's by faith. But this God-man exists. It's as real, this is not some little story someone made up to make Christians have something to do on Sundays. Romans chapter 1, go over there. Roman chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy scriptures.

Richard Ellis: Concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Okay? Fact. Born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Okay? Born. He came, go to Galatians chapter 4. Flip over there.

Richard Ellis: Galatians chapter 4, verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, is not different at all from a slave, though he is a master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father.

Richard Ellis: Okay? Again, he shows up. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Richard Ellis: Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And look out it's described. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery or a thing to be held on to the other translation may say, to be equal with God.

Richard Ellis: So he's in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, in other words, coming down as the lowest common denominator, a poor kid born in a stable literally. And coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Richard Ellis: Now I'm not going to forget this, but I'm going to say it in case I did. In Genesis, an animal has to die to cover them. In Jesus, a man has to die to cover us. If you do not put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are naked. You are exposed. That's why you are afraid, that's why life is so scary. There is something about being wrapped up in Jesus.

Richard Ellis: And until you've done that, you don't know what I'm talking about. Some of the most horrific pictures you will ever see, and it's very interesting. There's some kind of nudity that is classified as pornography. There is some kind of nudity that is just crazy, makes you nuts, and it's back when you look at naked people like in a concentration camp. There is nothing more humiliating than to be stripped down, completely exposed naked and not be able to do anything about that. You are uncovered.

Richard Ellis: And that is how people who do not have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ feel. And they spend their whole lives trying to cover up that nakedness. Surround themselves with someone else, other people, multiple people. Buy things, accessorize kind of their nakedness. But they always are exposed. Because if you really get right down to it, they got nothing to cover them.

Richard Ellis: The Passion of the Christ, the movie that Mel Gibson made. There is one inaccuracy that if they had made it accurate, no one could have seen that movie. The violence is easy for us. If you hang him on a cross naked, there is no one, we would all cover our eyes, you could not look on him naked. And he hung there naked, exposed. You can't even find an artist who will do it right.

Richard Ellis: Because we are so offended by that. Because we would not want to be strung up on a cross somewhere exposed in that way, right? So why would he come down here? He took on the form of a servant to live and die, be buried and raised from the dead, and hang there exposed to literally be able to cover our nakedness, which was the problem from scratch.

Richard Ellis: When we lived kind of south of downtown, and one day we looked out the window. And a prostitute was turning a trick out in a pickup truck, and something went wrong and she jumped out of the truck. And she had nothing on. This poor little girl, you say, "Well, poor, whatever, she got herself in that situation." You know what? Please don't judge people, you don't know their situation.

Richard Ellis: You know, ask some questions, see how she got there, and even if she got there in the wrong way, how are you going to help her get out? So she's running up down the street naked. And you think, "Well, but wasn't that the whole point? Naked in her profession's not a bad thing, is it?" At some point, naked is just not a good thing. She's running, trying to get away, nothing on. And a homeless guy out on the street who had a trash bag. A trash bag.

Richard Ellis: poked a hole in the top and two holes for her arms and gave her something, rigged something to cover her nakedness. You say, "Well," That's kind of rigged. It's all she had. Now, not to embarrass my wife. But my wife looked out the window and as a woman said, something goes off in a woman in that situation. I've got to do something.

Richard Ellis: She went in her closet, she found some shoes, some clothes. And we went and found the girl a few blocks away. And she went around the back of a house, she didn't hear and she put on some clothes. You say, "Well, that's pretty simple." Yeah, that's pretty simple. And see, if you don't know Jesus, and you got no relationship with God, you're running around naked.

Richard Ellis: And you don't know why it is such a nightmare and you're trying to find things to fix it. And all you got to do is find Jesus and put him on. And put him on. And he will cover everything. Just like that. Let me read you a few more verses. Isaiah 61. And this Jesus read in the flesh, it was about him in the Old Testament and he read in the New Testament.

Richard Ellis: Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good tidings to the poor." He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. To console those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes.

Richard Ellis: You burn your whole life up, you got a pile of ashes and God goes, "I'll trade you some beauty for those ashes." What do you think? Let's make a deal. How about you? The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Richard Ellis: And listen to what he says, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation." He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. I'm covered. I love Luke 15. And I always end up back in Luke 15.

Richard Ellis: In the story of the prodigal son. That boy went out there and got exposed. And he was feeding pigs. Jewish boy, feeding pigs, not a good thing. He probably smelled bad, he probably looked bad. He's clothes probably were a mess. But he decides, I will arise and go to my father. And it says he arose and went to his father, when he got back, the old man sees his son coming, you know what? Nothing else matters.

Richard Ellis: We're not worried about a bath, we're not worried about where he's been. We know where he's been. He's been out there by himself. He's home. Come here, boy. Run, throw your arms around him, kiss him on the neck. My boy's back. And before we bathe him, get me a robe. Let's get him looking like he's supposed to look. A robe, a ring, some shoes, get this boy dressed. Cuz that ain't my boy right there. We're going to get him looking like my boy, my kid.

Richard Ellis: Romans 13. verse 10, let's jump in there. Just give you some context. Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

Richard Ellis: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. The Bible talks in terms of literally taking off the old man and putting on something else. You say, "Well, I like the way I stink, I like that." Really? Really? Well, see, it's okay because I only run around with people who smell like me because then we don't notice. It's just we get used to the stench.

Richard Ellis: Have you ever smelled so bad you could smell yourself? You know what I'm talking about? You kind of raise your arm, you've been working in the garage or something, you raise your arm to put something up and you go, "Who, who is that?" Because that cannot possibly be me smelling that way. And then you kind of chase yourself around, smelling your pits, and then you, you know, people start noticing the waft when you come through the room.

Richard Ellis: You know, I can remember stinking, mowing the lawn, whatever I was doing, you know, I can go back to places working on the highway, shoveling asphalt, where I smelled so bad, but everybody smelled bad around me. But I'm going to tell you something, when I got home and burned those clothes, you take that stuff off and you have to put them outside or stand it up in the corner kind of thing. And you get in the shower. And you start scrubbing, you start cleaning, and all of a sudden, you can remember being, you can remember smelling bad.

Richard Ellis: And that stench, but all of a sudden you feel clean. Get clean. Get clean for Christ's sake. For your sake. Stop running around with people who stink just to run around them so they don't show you up. If you ever get clean and put on some clean clothes, you won't want to go back to that. Now sometimes we do. But then you wake up and you go, "What am I doing here?" You ever have that feeling as a Christian? What am I doing here? This stinks. I stink. I'm going home.

Richard Ellis: I'm going to get my robe back. I'm going to get my shoes back, get my ring back. I'm going to be a son. I'm going to be his daughter. I want to go home. Let's do Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4, let's do 17. This I say therefore and testifying in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.

Richard Ellis: Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. And by the way, stop judging people for not living Christian lives. You're a Christian and you can barely do it. How are you going to expect a non-believing person who doesn't even believe this Jesus stuff? You want them, and if you expect that, that means you're trying to act like one.

Richard Ellis: You're supposed to live like a Christian, and if you're living like a Christian, you're not judging other people who are not Christians for not living like a Christian. Because you know if your heart doesn't change, your life isn't going to change, and your heart, supposedly my heart is changed, and I still do idiotic things. All right, where were we? Ephesians 4.

Richard Ellis: Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Who being past feeling, have giving themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. They're past, you say, "Well, they should feel bad." They don't feel bad maybe anymore. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.

Richard Ellis: That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. And you say, "Well, why does he depict it this way?" Because it's something we can understand. You take off the dirty clothes, you take off the past, all of that, you lay it down, you get clean, he makes you clean from the inside out, and then you literally put him on.

Richard Ellis: And you walk out of the house, you walk out of the house every morning saying, "Lord Jesus, I am putting you on." And I am not living another day naked, I am not living another day exposed, uncovered, afraid. I am putting you on. And then you walk out into the world, you wonder why no one sees Jesus in your life, you may not be putting him on.

Richard Ellis: And they can't see him. You say, "Well, but he's inside me." How they going to know that? When you put him on, he shows up.

Richard Ellis: We'll get back to Richard in a moment to close out today's talk. But first, I want to share something with you about the program. Our mission is actually very simple, to take the planet. So, it's our prayer that these daily talks from Richard aren't something you only hear and enjoy, but that they inspire you to share with others. Together we can do this, the message of the gospel is something everyone needs to hear.

Richard Ellis: And that's why it's a huge priority to us. And you can join us in this important mission, call us at 855-6 Richard. or you can get on board with us through our website, RichardEllis.com. Well, here's Richard with some closing thoughts for us.

Richard Ellis: Simply put this, Jesus put on man so that man could put on Jesus. That's why he came. To take on flesh. Be God in a man, man but still God. I don't know how that works, but he did it. And thank God he did it because there was no other way. It wasn't an animal that had to die to make up for the fig leaves. It is the son of God, slain before the foundation of the world, it was him who had to come and live and die. And now because of that, we can be clothed in his righteousness. Be made clean from the inside out and be covered.

Richard Ellis: Thanks for listening today to Richard Ellis Talks. We're confident that the program blessed you, and we want to hear about it. One way is to give us a call and let us know. The number is 855-6 Richard. Another way is to drop us an email, jump on over to our website, RichardEllis.com and click on the connect tab at the top. We'd love to hear from you.

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