W.D. Frazee

W.D. Frazee Sermons Ministry

God’s Thoughts On Life and Death

We'll begin our study with the 55th of Isaiah, verses 8 and 9.

Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Now notice God is comparing, or rather contrasting here, his thoughts and our thoughts.

Now which do you think ought to change his mind?

You know there are millions of people in this world that are trying to get God to change his mind?

Have you ever stopped to think that much of what is called religion is devoted to an endeavor to get God to change his mind?

You've seen them over there, haven't you, brother?

They go there by the thousands and the millions, and they do all sorts of things and pray all sorts of prayers, put themselves through various tortures even, make all sorts of sacrifices in an endeavor to get God or the gods, many of them have the plural idea, but the point is they are endeavoring to get the deity to change its mind.

Well you and I believe at least in 1 part of our minds that all that is futile, fruitless, that it can't accomplish anything and would be too bad if it could.

We believe what the Bible says, I am the Lord, I change not, Malachi 3.6.

And he adds, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Our hope is in the unchangeable character of God.

What a strange universe we would have, friends, if God would do something today because of the whims of some individual, and tomorrow another should be more earnest, engage in greater intercession, and he should change because of their ideas and petitions.

Life would be very uncertain, wouldn't it?

Now God says that his thoughts are not like our thoughts.

Now that does not mean that it's impossible for us ever to learn to think as God thinks.

Paul tells us in Philippians, the second chapter, in the fifth verse, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

That's a process of training and education, transformation.

But certainly, when we reach the place that we think as God thinks, our thoughts will be as different from the world around us as God says his thoughts are different from our thoughts now.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." And eventually everybody in the universe is going to recognize that there will be a unanimous agreement that God knows what he's doing, that he has known all along.

Now let's see if we can look at a few examples of how God's thoughts are different from man's thoughts.

You remember the prophet Elijah, out there under the juniper tree, prayed a certain prayer.

Take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.

He wanted him to live, he wanted him to never die.

Was Elijah that day under the juniper tree thinking like God.

No, my plan for you is not for you to die at all.

Think of it, and yet he's the man that prayed, what?

1 of the few men in the Bible of whom that's recorded.

Do you see what I mean, that God's thoughts are not like our thoughts?

He prayed about this problem of life and death, too, and he prayed to live.

He said, Oh Lord, let me live and go over to Jordan and see that goodly land and the mountain and Lebanon and all that.

Elijah prayed to die, and God said, No, Elijah, you've got to live and never die.

Moses prayed to live, and God said, No, Moses, you've got to die.

He kept right after the Lord on the matter, until finally God told him what?

Now, of course, we understand that God took no pleasure in the death of Moses.

We understand that God would have been very happy if he'd never had to die.

But under the circumstances, don't forget that thought, Under the circumstances, it was the best thing for Moses to what?

And yet in all that, God had a mysterious providence.

And while he didn't save him from dying, he did save him from death.

He didn't save him from dying, but he saved him from death.

Jesus came down, and although challenged by Satan, he disputed about the body of Moses.

And Christ brought him forth from the grave, took him to heaven, very soon after he laid down his life there at the top of Pisgah on the mountain.

What was there about the experience of Moses that broke that reign of death?

Why Moses was the first 1 that ever went into the grave and came through and came out.

Do you think Moses was satisfied after he got to heaven?

By the way, did those 2 men Elijah and Moses ever meet?

Do we have at least 1 proof that they met?

H.M.S. Richards

Voice Of Prophecy

The Future Unveiled

Lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring, Jesus is coming again.

Cheer up you pilgrims, be joyful and sing, Jesus is coming again.

This is the voice of prophecy, a voice crying in the wilderness of these modern days.

Coming again, coming again, Jesus is coming again.

From our Voice of Prophecy Studios in Los Angeles, California.

We welcome you to this half hour of inspiration and music with the King's Herald's Del Delker, Brad Braley, and HMS Richards, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, the voice of prophecy speaker.

♪ I am walking every day with Jesus, I feel his presence sweetly near.

Unto me he whispers words of wisdom That banish doubt and quiet fear.

For I am walking every day with Jesus, with Jesus my Savior.

For I am walking every day with Jesus, I'll go with him, with him all the way.

I am walking every day with Jesus, although his face I cannot see.

For I am walking For I am walking every day with Jesus, with Jesus my Savior.

For I am walking every day with Jesus, I'll go with him, with him, all the way.

Our Heavenly Father, we pray to Thee, we who are here in the studio and we who listen to the radio, We seek thee for thy blessing today.

We pray for the peace of the world and for everyone who needs thy help and blessing physically or spiritually.

ALL SINGERS SING There is a place of quiet rest Near to the heart of God A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us who bow before Thee, near to the heart of God.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Miss Delker's song now is full of hope for everyone.

We are encouraged to look ahead to the day when Jesus comes, some bright morning.

Morning, some glad morning, when the sun is shining in the eternal sky.

Some bright morning, some glad morning, glad morning.

We shall see the Lord of harvest by and by.

Oh, what a time of rejoicing will come some glad morning, Some, some glad morning, when all the ransomed are gathered at home.

Some bright morning, some bright morning, some glad morning, glad morning when the sun is shining in the eternal sky.

Some bright morning, some glad morning, We shall see the Lord of harvest by and by.

A ship's librarian on receiving a package of food from home tried to hide his treasure where the other sailors would not find it.

When he opened a cabinet in the library, he found 50 dusty Bibles.

The books apparently had not been opened.

1 by 1, he tossed them out of the porthole, planning to store his gift package where they had been kept.

Just as soon as he closed the cabinet door, he heard the voice booming down the hatch.

Come up on deck and see why, commanded the officer.

To his surprise, he saw a fleet of Bibles floating about 10 yards apart in a beautiful, slow-moving ark.

He said, I'm sorry, Captain, I thought they would sink.

The atheist, infidel, agnostic, evolutionist, and other critics have always thought the same thing, but the Word of God will never sink.

Because it has stood the attack of time, we ought to know more about the Bible and its message for us.

Lead me gently home, Father, lead me gently home.

When life's toils are ended and parting days have come, sin no more shall tempt me, ne'er from thee I'll roam.

If thou'd only lead me, Father, Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, father, lead me gently home, father, Lest I fall upon the wayside.

In life's darkest hours, Father, In life's darkest hours, Father, when life's troubles come, keep my feet from wandering, lest from thee I roam.

Lest from thee I roam, Lest I fall upon the wayside.

This week our speaker HMS Richards is conducting an evangelistic campaign in Battle Creek, Michigan at the Battle Creek Tabernacle at 19 North Washington Avenue.

Everyone living in the Battle Creek, Michigan area is invited to attend tonight's meeting and the meetings throughout the week.

Continue to pray, won't you, that many will find Christ during this campaign.

Now here is HMS Richards, his subject, The Future Unveiled.

Now the first great vision of future things given in the book of Revelation is the prophecy of the 7 churches.

We shall consider here the second great vision, the breaking of the 7 seals.

It begins in Revelation 5 and goes on through several chapters.

He sees a vision of him opening this book which no other man could open.

Because of our Savior's atoning death upon the cross, he and he alone has the right to open the book of the future.

Jesus breaks the seals 1 after another and lets us look around the corner of tomorrow.

I saw when the Lamb opened 1 of the seals, and behold, a white horse.

His rider has a bow, a crown is given to him.

This represents the first period of the Christian Church from AD 31 when Christ was crucified to about 100 AD, the death of the last apostle.

Think of the tremendous work that early Christian Church did in 1 lifetime carrying the gospel to all the civilized world, conquering unto conquer it did go.

In spite of persecution, it spread the glorious message of a crucified Jesus to Earth's remotest bounds.

But a change comes, and when he had opened the second seal, he sees another horse which is red.

This horse represents the beginning of the decline and apostasy in the Christian faith During this period from about 100 AD to 323 AD when the Roman Empire officially professed Christianity, the terrors of pagan persecution began and ceased during this period.

Worldly prosperity came and brought evil to God's people.

At the beginning of this period of church history, there was terrible bloodshed, the red color fitly representing the terrible years of pagan persecution in which thousands of Christians were done to death in the amphitheaters of the Roman Empire.

The emperor himself professes Christianity.

Notice as Jesus opens the third seal and here he sees a black horse, a pair of balances in his hand.

The next verse speaks of the commercialism that was coming in at that time.

Remember this is highly figurative, symbols and signs showing the apostasy of that age in which blackness compared with whiteness shows us what happened.

From the time when the empire became popularly Christian until about 538, when there was a great political and official union between church and state.

This pair of balances in the hand of the writer shows the financial and commercial characteristics of those days.

In fact, we are told that sometimes even position in the Church became a matter of money.

The Christian religion was infested not only with commercialism but with heathen, non-christian doctrines and customs.

Jeremiah

The Ambassador Group

04. Jeremiah: Rebuke and Retribution

Welcome to another in-depth exploration of the Book of Jeremiah.

Edited for audio and produced by the Ambassador Group.

Exploration 4 Rebuke and Retribution Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.

Save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

Jeremiah Chapter 17, Verse 14, New King James Version Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 9 in the English Standard Version tells us, What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

This is especially true when it comes to the lives and work of God's prophets, who were often called to deliver words of warning and rebuke to those who should have known better.

Those seeking to be faithful to their calling, the prophets for the most part faced fervent opposition, even retribution, often from the spiritual leaders, those who should have been the first to listen to them.

No wonder Jesus said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

In this exploration, we will start to look at the trials of Jeremiah, whose ministry seemed to consist of nothing but rebuke and rebuke and retribution.

He giving the rebuke, the leaders giving him retribution.

The 2 Ways From the earliest chapters of Genesis to the last chapters of Revelation, the Bible presents to us only 2 options on how to live.

We either follow the Lord with all our heart and soul, or we don't.

As Jesus said, in words that many have found troubling, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

This is a powerfully unambiguous statement about spiritual realities greater than what appears to the naked eye or than what common sense would seem to tell us.

It's the great controversy theme at its most basic level.

And yet, in 1 sense, Jesus isn't saying anything new or radical.

Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5 through 10 in the New Living Translation are headlined with the words, Wisdom from the Lord.

This is what the Lord says, Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.

They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future.

They will live in the barren wilderness in an uninhabited salty land.

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a river bank with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought, their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.

But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.

I give all people their due rewards according to what their actions deserve.

What crucial spiritual principles did you hear in these verses, especially in light of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

The immediate context of these words probably reflects Judah's political dalliances and the Lord wanted them to understand that their only help was in God, not in political or military powers, a point that they would later learn, but only after it was far too late.

Though the Lord can and does use other people to help us, in the end we must always put our trust only in Him.

We can never know for sure the motives of others.

We can always know God's intentions for us.

With good reason, Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 warns about the deceitfulness of the human heart.

The Hebrew text says that the heart is more deceitful than everything.

The horrific physical effects of sin, as bad as they are, aren't as bad as the moral and spiritual effects.

The problem is, because our hearts are already so deceitful, we can't fully know just how bad they really are.

Jeremiah was soon to see for himself how very bad human intentions can be.

How can you learn to trust in the Lord more than you have before?

What are the ways that you can step out in faith right now and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Certainly, Jeremiah's task was not going to be easy.

Maybe some people might find perverse pleasure in pointing out people's sins, but most would find it to be very unappealing work, especially because of the reactions their words would provoke.

Though some, when they hear the words of rebuke, might repent and reform, that's usually not the case, especially when the rebuke itself is very pointed and strong.

And indeed, as with all the prophets, the words of Jeremiah were just that, pointed and strong.

Let's listen to Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 1-4.

What were some of the warnings that Jeremiah gave to the people?

Judah's Sin and Punishment The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel, engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.

Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.

So I will hand over my holy mountain, along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines, as plunder to your enemies.

The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands.

I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land, for my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever." The imagery of the sin engraved on the heart is especially powerful.

The idea isn't just that the sin is written there as with a pen, but that it is engraved there, etched in with a tool.

This all becomes even more powerful when 1 remembers the words of the Lord to Judah's ancestors written in Deuteronomy 30.10, in the New International Version.

If you obey the Lord your God and keep His commands and decrees that are written in this book of the law, and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Let's compare those words with Psalm 40 8 and Jeremiah 31 33.

Psalms 40 8, I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.

Jeremiah 31 33 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people." It was out of their hearts that they were to love God and obey His law.

Now, instead, their sin, the violation of that law, is etched in their hearts.

Let none who claim to be the depositaries of God's law flatter themselves that the Chapter 3, verse 4 from the exercise of divine justice.

Let none refuse to be reproved for evil, nor charge the servants of God with being too zealous in endeavoring to cleanse the camp from evil doing.

A sin-hating God calls upon those who claim to keep his law to depart from all iniquity.

White in her book entitled, Prophets and Kings, on page 416.

What does that image say about just how deep and intense the work of purifying our hearts is?

♪♪ ♪♪ The Warning to Jeremiah And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3 19 The sad story of Jeremiah is that the opposition he faced came from the very ones that, through him, the Lord was trying to save.

The Lord wanted to spare them the disaster that was sure to come.

The problem, though, is that people often don't want to hear what they need to hear because it cuts against their sinful and corrupt desires.

What does some of the imagery remind you of?

Then the Lord told me about the plots my enemies were making against me.

I was like a lamb being led to the slaughter.

I had no idea they were planning to kill me.

Let's destroy this man and all his words, they said.

Let's cut him down so his name will be forgotten forever.

O Lord of heaven's armies, you make righteous judgments, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.

Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.

This is what the Lord says about the men of Anathoth who wanted me dead.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

God’s Thoughts On Life and Death

49m

The Future Unveiled

29m

04. Jeremiah: Rebuke and Retribution

41m

Who Is My Neighbor?

55m

Scary Mary, Cheater Peter

38m

Balm of Gilead- Part 2

50m

Balm of Gilead- Part 1

47m

Why Not to Worry… Four Reasons for Christians

27m

Everyone a Sower

1h 10m

Twenty Mile March

50m

The Six Stages of Marriage

36m

Identity Matters

53m

Sound Doctrine