The Greatest Scripture

Thank you, Bob. Very nice to be with all of you this afternoon. It's amazing when we think going back, I'm just reflecting that about this time, 40 years ago, my young wife, Kati and I arrived to serve here in the San Diego Church. So actually, we're celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. Very young at that time. I was 24, she was 23. She didn't even know how to speak very good English at all, but she learned here in San Diego. We were here almost for two years. We cut our teeth in the congregation, of course, the Millers, Bob, Sandy, and I went to college together. And of course, we have also the Smiths and some others that I can see. So it's a bit poignant and nostalgic to be back after 40 years. I think we came here maybe 10, 12 years ago once. But actually, I'm from the neighboring church here in Garden Grove. That's where I pastor. But as you know, now the freeways have got so bad that it really is tough any time to get around. So we wanted to visit you. We also have a full disclosure here. We have our family, Natalia, Omar, and three kids. And two of the kids are having this evening a piano recital, which we're not going to miss. So we thought we could come here and be able to this evening be with them as well. Hopefully, one day, they'll be pianists up here, just with the kids. Also, they'll be able to play the hymns. And that's a new generation coming along we've got to work on.

Besides what Bob mentioned, Cardi and I have the honor to serve the Latin American brethren. We serve eight different countries. That's all the way here from the border of Mexico. We have about six groups in Mexico itself. And then, of course, I basically supervise the pastors. Then we have three congregations in Guatemala. We have one congregation in El Salvador. We have two congregations in Colombia besides Bible study groups. And then in Bolivia, we have two congregations. In Chile, we also have two congregations and many Bible studies.

Argentina as well. So we try to visit them, perhaps once every year or year and a half as time goes. I just visited the brethren in Guatemala for the last day of Unleavened Bread. And so we are bilingual.

I was born in Cuba. I'm one of the fellows that, because of Fidel Castro, my father sent us when we were seven years old with my mother and sister. And we grew up here in the States. And then after graduating from Ambassador College, they hired me on as a minister and served here in the San Diego church and then shipped us out to Latin America. And we were there for 23 years before we came back. So giving you a little bit of background, we have around 600 brethren in that area of Latin America, five fisites.

I also want to mention something that sometimes people don't pay enough attention to. There are a lot of things going on in the world, but make sure you keep your eyes out for what is happening over there in Mount Arat in Turkey, where more and more explorations are going up there. And they have found the remnants of a ship about 4,000 meters, or it's a little bit like 13,000, 14,000 feet up there.

And that just recently, they had two expeditions back in 2014. One was a Dutch expedition, one was a Dutch archaeologist with a doctor that accompanied him. They went inside the structure. They said, this is not fake, this isn't a hoax, it's actually what it's being said. And then we had another, which is a biblical author, Philip Williams, who has written several books, of which I have one of them.

And he went up there in around October of 2014. And the Turkish guides, it's a hidden site because they don't want people to go up there and destroy it. And also, of course, they still haven't mounted a full-blown scientific expedition. But if you want to look up more information, look up the website arkinsight.com. And there you'll have all the themes and all of the different explorations that have gone up there. And one of these days, it's going to be announced. Now, the Turkish government knows what is there, but they're afraid that if they announce it to the world, they're going to have all of these thousands of fanatical evangelicals going over and basically up.

Yeah, exactly. So they're keeping it under tabs, but more and more expeditions are going up there. And so that is something that I believe is God's ace in the hole. Before he intervenes in the world, people are going to see that there was an ark. And then let's see what these scientists explain, how a ship that is up there about 14,000 feet, how it got up there.

Because nobody could haul it up. It had to have been dropped from the waters above. And it is evidence that God does intervene in the world and that he has already had to punish the world once. And just as the first message brought out that God's going to shake this world and then they're going to wake up. Philosophers on a full stomach can speculate a lot. Believe me, when things start getting shook up, we'll see what they're really made of.

And not arm-share philosophers. So I thought I'd update you about that. And I don't have much time, so I do want to cover a subject that if I only had one message to give you, this would be the one. Now, 40 years ago, when I started as a young man, of course I gave basic messages. But now, being around the block several times, you don't deal with basics so much.

Now you deal with the deeper spiritual principles. And that's what I've come here to bring you. Now, if there's one scripture that would be the most important scripture in the entire Bible, the greatest scripture in the Bible, what do you think it would be? I'd like to just open it up for a moment. What do you think is the greatest scripture in the Bible? The most important? Any suggestions? The commandments? That's very important. Yes, the back? That's very important. Victor? That's part of the purpose. That's certainly all of them. Yes? Okay, that's getting there. Yes? Believe in God? Reading the Bible? Okay, those are principles about God's commandments.

Now, basically, we can sum all of this up with one scripture, 1 John 4, 8, and 16. God is love. Now, that explains His nature. We didn't create this universe. We didn't create ourselves. But if the being that created all things describes himself as love, that is the most important, because it tells us about His very nature. Aren't we thankful that that is God's essential quality, that He is love?

Now, to me, that is the most encouraging statement, much more than any scientific or philosophical or whatever Socrates or Plato they came up with speculating. Well, to understand that God is love is the right premise and starting point to develop a person's beliefs, ideas, and that's what I want to bring out today. Now, what is love in the Bible? Let's go to a definition. This comes from the word study dictionary. The word in the New Testament, hagape, means to love, to have affectionate regard, goodwill, and benevolence. In other words, it's something wonderful. It's what a father and mother feel with their baby.

It's what a husband feels toward the wife of a loving relationship. The most high standards in this life is a loving relationship. There's nothing greater. No amount of money in the world can equal experiencing true love and giving true love. That's what God is. He created us for that purpose, to share His very nature. Now, like I said, back 40 years ago, I probably would have started with the basics and how it has to do with the commandments.

But that is not where I'm at here. I'm dealing with things. Once you get the basics down, now you're dealing with the deeper principles. It's not just like you're learning the piano. You learn the basic chords. You learn the basic commandments. But later on, when you're playing Mozart and Beethoven, it's not these simple chords. It's this beautiful harmony, melody, and thought behind a musical masterpiece, which God's Word is. I'd like to give you five results that happen because God is love. These are five consequences of God's love toward us. It applies to every human being here.

It applies to every human being on earth. Although they don't understand it right now, one day they will because God is love. He has that outgoing concern for the others. He is not self-centered. He is other-centered. The first point is, because God is love, we know all things eventually will work out for the best. How? This is something that, again, the philosophers have tried to explain. Why there is evil and suffering in the world. Maybe why God doesn't appear to every person that is born and just shows up.

If an angel shows up, it would be very simple to do something like that. But God has a contingency plan for every human being. What does that mean? It means the whole gig, the whole purpose of life is not finished in this life. There are babies that are dying right now in a hospital here in San Diego.

That baby never had a real chance to live. But God is love. Jesus Christ did die for that baby. There is a contingency plan for that baby. They are not lost forever. They will experience God's love. Maybe not in this first stage, but certainly the second stage. What we understand about the resurrection and the second resurrection, where that baby will come back to life, as it mentions in Revelation 20, verses 11 and 12. After the thousand year period, he says that he saw the small and great. That's talking about the world's great leaders, the great philosophers. Socrates will be there in the second resurrection.

I think he didn't do anything to disqualify himself. The small means the most insignificant little baby. Who knows how many more even unborn will appear at that time? I'm not going to go to that detail right now, but the point is that upon repentance, people have an opportunity for salvation. Because God is love. He thought up. This isn't just a one-shot deal in life. That if people don't know about God or in Africa and in China, where they don't even know what the Bible is, they live and die like little animals.

Well, God is going to one day reveal himself to them. Romans 8.28 says that we know that to those that love God, all things will work for good. Now, it says to those who love him, those are the promises that will ultimately work out for good. It doesn't say everything is going to be pleasant and pain-free or tragedy-free. Just ultimately, in the end, it will work out for good in God's plan of salvation and for eternity.

We can't see that far out yet.

We have to trust him. He knows what he's doing.

Now, it doesn't say that for everybody in this life, everything works out for good. It says for those who love him, who are part of his program, he is working now, salvation, and he's putting us through trials and tests because there is a great purpose behind that. But for the rest of the world, there's this contingency plan. I once read about the Mercedes-Benz method of producing their very fine cars. They have modernized that, but before they had two factories. One where everybody put together the Mercedes-Benz, and after it was all finished, then they took it to the second factory, where they had the best engineers. That's where they fixed all the things that this other group had messed up. So you only got the Mercedes-Benz after the finishing process, the perfecting process. That's when it got to the dealership. Well, God has this, too. People have made messes of themselves, but they're going to go through this second finishing process, the perfecting process. And people don't know that yet.

And so, God has a great plan because He is love. Secondly, because God is love, here comes what people have brought out. He wants us to obey His commandments as amplified by His Son.

It's for our own good.

Now, the commandments are not an end to themselves. That, forty years ago, maybe I didn't have it too clear. I was maybe saying, look, all I have to do is just keep the commandments. But, no, the commandments can be kept in a very carnal way. Or, like the Pharisees did, in a very legalistic way. The Pharisees kept the Sabbath. They kept the Holy Days. They were very zealous, but they didn't do it with the right attitude. They were self-righteous. They used God's commandments to bludgeon people over the head with them, and also to feel much better.

See, God's commandments have to be kept with the right attitude, with humility, with fear and trembling, and not with haughtiness, or looking down on other people that don't have this understanding. Notice, in 1 John 3, verse 22, it says, And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So, what we're doing is we are seeking to please God. When we keep the Sabbath, it's not just something that is automatic, and we just quit working and just rest.

No, it's a time of fellowship. It's a time of spiritual renewal. It's a time to get closer to God, to have that spiritual fellowship with him. That maybe during the week we're running around, filled with schedules and deadlines, but on the Sabbath we're supposed to have down time. To be able to converse with our father, with our elder brother, and have a rich fellowship with him. To realize how much they love us, they care for us. And so, the Sabbath, again, is a place where you can fill it with spiritual thinking and spiritual actions, or it can just be another rest day, another vacation time.

To go, maybe, to a place and listen and sign off afterwards, but that's not the purpose. The Sabbath was created for a spiritual renewal to recharge our spiritual batteries. In 1 John 5, verses 2 and 3, it says, By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Here you have the opposite side of the coin. One thing is we do these things that are pleasing to him.

And the other side is they're not burdensome. They're not something that, oh, we have to walk around with big heavy weight and yoke. Some people thought that was the case. They just wanted to throw off keeping the Sabbath or the Holy Days, or not tithing, or not getting close to God. They just, oh, I want liberty. What you're getting is slavery. Now you're going back to a slavery of the flesh, of doing your own thing, of being centered on yourself.

And so we see here that it is not burdensome, because again, it has to do with spiritual renewal. Now we have to understand that people develop spiritually, even if they don't understand God's laws. They can grow to a certain degree. So it's not something that is just contingent and limited to us. Because if a person serves as fellow man and helps other people and does right things, well, there's a certain relationship and reward. The problem is that it isn't exactly rightly done.

It's not going to get everything like God expects. And so I'd rather be keeping Sunday than being an atheist. But keeping Sunday has so many wrong things. First of all, it's not God's day. So you're not really respecting God's day of rest. And so you're just going to get a little bit of benefit. But boy, when it says Sabbath, now you're driving a spiritual Mercedes Benz, designed by your creator. This is what he designed from the very start. You get so much more out of it if you are spiritually minded.

Because if it's just a physical obligation that you're not really connected to it, you're not going to have that much. So again, there's a spiritual dimension to God's law. It's not just the physical. The physical is essential. Those are the basics, but God wants us to progress to the weightier matters of the law. Then thirdly, because God is love, we can better appreciate the creation all around us. See His love.

Now, this was brought up in the first message. The way God created things, philosophy is the study of nature and why things are the way they are.

In Psalms 104, verses 24 and 25, I'd like to read it to you from the contemporary English version. It says, Our Lord, by your wisdom you made so many things. The whole earth is covered with your living creatures. But what about the ocean, so big and wide? It is alive with creatures, large and small. So you see the philosophers, they can talk about, Oh, maybe we shouldn't believe in God. Who made all of those fish out there? Did the philosophers make them? Have any of the laboratories in the world been able to reproduce a human hair? No! They just talk about things that have already been created. It's like that old story about this evolutionist, and he's saying that, Oh, I'd like to argue with God about creation, and then God appeared to him and said, Well, you wanted to talk to me about evolution, that you think I'm not necessary? And the philosopher, the scientist, Yes, yes, well, we've created so many things in the lab. We've been able to put together so many forms now, and we're developing cloning techniques and all of this. And God said, Okay, well, let's see how well you do now. Let's start by creating dirt. And the scientist said, Oh, okay, I'll go to the laboratory. And God said, No, no, you have to start from scratch. See? You don't start out with my dirt. No, you make the dirt first. And then we can talk. And it's the same way. It talks about all the oceans, they're filled. There's a book called Nature's Destiny by the biologist Michael Denton, where he says that, from marine biologists and others who have studied the subject, he says that basically the Earth is completely covered with living things. There's no place that you can't find some type of a living creature, and that you have what they call constraints or limits, because each creature, if you had too many of the others, they couldn't live there. But they said that basically everything that could have been created on the Earth, and its different habitats, has been. It's almost to the maximum amount of living things. Even these volcanic ocean vents with tremendous amount of heat, you go there, and there are still some creatures that live and thrive on that. Now, that takes a lot of intelligence to be able to make every creature on Earth, in the oceans, and basically they're all filled. In other words, when God put this Earth here, it's a cradle, and I tell you, He decorated that whole room up. Just like a mother would do, she wants to have all the decorations for the baby, right? You don't just want to have this little cradle in this empty room. I know many of my daughters, boy, they painted murals and all of the things. Well, God did the same thing. There's a good book out. If I had to teach a class on creation versus evolution, it would be a book I'm finishing. It's called House of Cards by Tom Bethel. B-E-T-H-E-L-L. You can get a Kindle edition. It's well worth it. If I had to teach a class as a textbook, I would use this one, because it's very complete. I have a very soft spot for Tom Bethel, because back over 20 years ago, I got a book from my brother when I visited that he had finished in college. It was called The Craft of Prose. I read it, and there was an article by Tom Bethel at that time. It talked about how evolution was not fulfilling many of the claims that it had, and how he just went down the line. His article was used in this textbook on how to write. I remember that got my curiosity going. It was one of the books that got me studying much more on the subject, because this man is a famous writer. Now, over 20 years later, he writes this house of cards, refuting every point on evolution. By the way, he's not really a Christian. He's just a very fine writer.

Let's go to the fourth point. Because God is love, sometimes he has to discipline us for our own good.

Even righteous Job had lessons to learn. And, apparently, only through discipline was he going to learn it. God put Job through so many tests, but at the end, was Job embittered? Was he mad at God for all the things that he had lost? No! He says, I used to know you at this dimension. Now I see the grandeur. Now I see the tapestry of your plan. And I repent and dust and ashes. See, he learned a lot about not thinking so highly of himself. Even though he was a dedicated and righteous man, the problem was he knew about it! And he felt proud about it! And so, later he just realized, boy, I'm nothing before God. In Hebrews 12, verses 5-11, I'd like to read it again in the contemporary English version. He says, But you have forgotten that the Scriptures say to God's children, When the Lord punishes you, don't make light of it, And when he corrects you, don't be discouraged. The Lord corrects the people he loves and disciplines those he calls his own. Be patient when you are being corrected. This is how God treats his children. Don't all parents correct their children? God corrects all of his children, and if he doesn't correct you, then you really don't belong to him. Our earthly fathers correct us, and we still respect them. Isn't it even better to be given true life by letting our spiritual father correct us? Our human fathers correct us for a short time, and they do it as they think best. But God corrects us for our own good, because he wants us to be holy, as he is. It is never fun to be corrected. In fact, at the time it is always painful. But if we learn to obey by being corrected, we will do right and live at peace. So again, God cares for us, because he is love. He doesn't just let us go astray. He always gets our attention. He's always trying to get us back, bring us back into the fold when we start straying.

And finally, because God is love, what he most wants is for us to enjoy his kingdom and enjoy us.

Here, a couple of miles north of here, and quite close to where we live, we have Disneyland. Walt Disney was a human man. He had his imperfections. We know that. But one thing, when he designed Disneyland, he wanted to see people enjoy themselves. He had been happy with the different amusement parks of his day when he'd take his two daughters. He wanted the parents to also have fun. And right there at the beginning, as you enter the main square, there's this fire house. There were firemen. And on the second floor there, he built his own little apartments where he would bring his wife and kids. And they would just look and thrill to see people having a wonderful time. And if a man like him, with all of his foibles, could enjoy that, God has so much greater prepared for us to enjoy in his kingdom and forever. So he created all of this so he could enjoy our fellowship and to see us enjoy what he has created. Notice what it says in Hebrews. Let's go here to a scripture that I wanted to bring out.

No, no, I'm sorry. It's Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. We're finishing up here. Colossians chapter 1. We'll finish with this scripture. It's quite appropriate. I could have given you a lot more, but of course I'm short of time, so that's all you can get today. But Colossians chapter 1 verse 12 says, It says, They love each other. They created things not for us to be miserable. They created us to have fun and enjoy. The only thing is with sin, of course, it's not possible right now to have it fully. Notice verse 14, In verse 16, it says, Talking about Jesus Christ, So you see, it wasn't made for us directly. It was made for Jesus Christ to be able to have this fellowship, and God the Father, with all of us. So because God is love, we should be encouraged through the trials that we're going through. And let's never forget the greatest scripture, which, at least in my opinion, we find in the Bible, God is love, and all will turn out for the best in the end.