Redemption without Restoration is Not Salvation Pt 1: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 This session is called restoration. We’re going to see the start of the promise restoration, the problems that stopped the restoration, the source of the problem, and the solution to the problem. And I got a statement up there, “Redemption without restoration is not salvation.” Is it? If Christ purchased me by His blood and could not deliver me from alcohol and drugs and sexual immorality, then salvation is deliverance. He has to restore me back to His image and back to His likeness, back to right. Amen? And He has a restoration process, and we’re going to see it here in these three books.

▶ 0:54 First, we’re going to find six steps to this restoration. How many steps? Six. All right. First, there has to be a proc- proclamation, a declaration to build the temple. Okay? And we have it. Ezra, chapter 1. In the first year of Cyrus, that’s in 539 BC, a heathen king, so that the word of the Lord would be fulfilled by Moses and by Jeremiah and by Daniel, the prophets, God stirred up the spirit of a heathen king of Persia and told that king to make a proclamation that the Lord God of heaven has given me, this heathen king, all the kingdoms of the earth and charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judea.

▶ 1:58 Now, here he’s using a heathen king to make a proclamation of what God is going to do. With every future prophet or future prophecy, I should say, there’s always a sign. Okay? So, these prophets today you know, watch out these people that give themselves a title of a office of a prophet. Who can predict the future and they try and they miss all the time. Prophets don’t miss. You got that? That’s what Deuteronomy says. If it doesn’t come to pass, don’t be afraid of the prophet. They They miss all the time. Anyway, the office of a prophet is someone that can predict the future and it happens, the plans of God.

▶ 2:49 It is different when you say the baptism Holy Ghost is poured out on all flesh and they can prophesy. That’s for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Everybody can do that. All right. Prophets placing into the body of Christ is a step up from that. All right. Now, in Isaiah 44:28, we have the sign. 160 years before Cyrus, a heathen king, was even born. 160 years before, God said by the Isaiah the prophet, “Cyrus is my shepherd and shall perform all of my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built and to the temple, your foundation shall be laid.” In verse chapter 45:4, “I have named you Cyrus, though you have not known me.” God let them know that it’s going to be a heathen king that did not even believe in God.

▶ 3:48 That’s going to be used of God to do this work. You got it? Now, how many you know that’s a super sign? When God can come to a heathen and do something in his plans, that has to be God. All right? So, there’s a sign. First, there’s a proclamation, then there’s a sign that this thing has come. Now, Daniel chapter 10 verse 1, you remember, in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel. So, where’s Daniel? At when the proclamation of the temple is to be built. He’s in Babylon. He didn’t come with the captives. There’s another Daniel that came listed in the genealogies, but not this Daniel.

▶ 4:41 He still back in Babylon for some reason. We don’t know. Okay? Now, the Ezra chapter 1 verse 5 says, “Then rose up the chiefs of Judah, Benjamin, the priest, and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had raised up.” So, secondly, we have God stirring up, raising up the spirits of people to respond to the proclamation. God gets involved to go and build the house of the Lord. 49,637 to be exact. Left Babylon, and only like 6,000 and some went in. And they come back to Jerusalem, and they supported it with their finances in those verses. And the king of Babylon gave all the vessels that they had brought from the temple, God’s temple, when they destroyed it, gave it back to them, and sent them back to put them back into the temple.

▶ 5:43 So, and uh chapter 3 verse 1, they built the altar. That’s the first thing they built was the altar in the seventh month in the first year. See, Daniel is still back in Babylon. The second thing they did is they built the foundation in the second year, the second month. Okay, and the Bible says that they could hear the noise afar off from those rejoicing and those weeping. Do you remember that verse? Chapter 3, the last verse. They could hear them afar off. The ones that were older were weeping because they had seen the temple before and they were moved deeply in their spirit to see it being be rebuilt. The younger ones were just rejoicing and excited about the temple being built.

▶ 6:38 So, in a church service when God is moving, if there’s weeping and there’s joy, is it okay? Yeah. Depends on where you’re at. Both things can happen. All right. Now, adversaries. Ezra chapter 4 verses 1 through 4. Their adversaries, people of the land, said, “Let us build with you. We want to help you build God’s house after they got back to Jerusalem.” Now, these people of the land that said, “You know, we worship God, your God, like you do.” They were really people that were brought from different nations by the king of Assyria years before. And 2 Kings chapter 17 verse 33 explains what these people were.

▶ 7:35 When these people came, because they worshipped their own gods, God sent beasts among them to destroy them and so they you know, they they got the priest to find out what’s wrong and they found out what the problem was and so they they acknowledge God. See, they went to the temple and they went through the rituals and they went through the ceremonies, but 2 Kings says they feared the Lord and served their own gods in 17:33. And so the the people of God said, “No, you’re not building with us.” Now, how many of you know the people of God had had idols all the time from coming out of Egypt to the captivity and in the captivity. Yeah. Okay. So, here they don’t want these heathen helping build the temple, but they had worshipped idols also.

▶ 8:35 Anyway, so when they were told no, these adversaries, the Bible says in Ezra chapter 4, weakened them, troubled them, hired counselors, legal counselors to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, who died in 530 BC. So, they had 9 years. They had the source of the proclamation still living, Cyrus the king. They could have went directly to Cyrus the king and shut these people’s mouths. And they didn’t. Now, are we living in a generation where our enemies are troubling us, weakening our hands, hiring legal counselors to stop the promotion of the Bible and Jesus Christ?

▶ 9:31 Isn’t that true? Yeah. What do you think all these things are written for? So, you can learn and know how to respond when these things happen in your generation. Now, verse 24, then ceased the work of the house of God to the second year of Darius the Great in 522 BC king of Persia, 17 years. The temple has gone with just an altar and the foundation, and that’s it. Nothing else done. All right? So, we have the proclamation of the restoration and now we have the sign and the adversity. And then the work ceased.

▶ 10:25 And that’s your typical Christian in America. Oh, it’s true. You know, they want out of drugs or they want something from God, you know, they want to get saved from sin that is destroying their life and they come, “Oh, yeah, I’ll restore and restore.” And then bam. A little opposition you give them the sign, Christ dying on the cross and all that, then a little opposition, bam. They stop in their tracks. How many met those kind of Christians? Yeah. You probably one up. Stop being involved in God’s house. Now, why did they start rebuilding is my next question. Why all of a sudden after 17 years they start rebuilding the house of God? Is that a good question?

▶ 11:17 Because if we can answer that question, then we can answer the question for us why we aren’t building the God’s house. Haggai chapter 1 verse 1. Okay? In the second year of Darius, in the first day of the sixth month, Haggai prophesied to Zerubbabel, the civil leader, to Joshua, the high priest, the temple leader, the spiritual leaders. And this is why they started rebuilding.

▶ 12:10 Someone lifted up their voice to encourage, inspire, and to build. And when the word of the Lord began to be spoken, then they got stirred to build the house. Do we need voices today proclaiming the things of God to us? Or do we need more psychology? Now, the second question is why did they stop building in the first place? Why did they stop? At the very beginning of their goal, and this is what I’ve seen in my 40 some years of serving God.

▶ 13:01 I’ve seen them come in. I’ve seen a genuine meeting with God, genuine salvation in all denominations I’ve preached in, and I’ve preached in almost every denomination there is and independent churches. And then a little time goes by and they’re just religious people. Have you seen that? People on fire, and then people dead on a doornail. This is why they stopped rebuilding. This is the source of the problem. Yes, they had adversity. Yes, they had people frustrating them, hiring counselors against them, weakening them, attacking them, but here is the real reason they stopped. Are you ready? Haggai prophesied and says, “This people say the time is not come that the Lord’s house should be built.” They decided it’s not the timing.

▶ 14:05 They had the proclamation, they had the sign, they had a little opposition, and then they decide, “Well, it’s just not the right time to do this.” Hallelujah. You call it excuses. You know, I got a family to raise now. I’m not a teenager anymore. I got to be a responsible worker. I got to be a responsible mother. And I I haven’t got time. When I get older, all these excuses. And we’re not building the house of God in America. We’re going from church to church. When we don’t like a church, we go to another one.

▶ 14:59 But we are not building and involved in building God’s house in America, and this is the reason. We got some excuse. Can I hear an amen? Well, I’m young. I’m going to college and all. Well, so what? You throw God out of your life because you’re going to college learning a job skill? Are you with me? Well, I’m old now. I’m I’m ready for retirement. Show me one person in the Bible that retired from spiritual activity. Give me one. But that’s our mentality. Excuses. Can you say the word excuses? Well, you didn’t say it with very much enthusiasm. Well, I don’t like to what they preach at my church, so I’m just not going.

▶ 15:51 Is that an excuse? That’s an excuse. Is it viable before God? No. You’re supposed to come and contribute to solving the problem. Amen. Now, and so the prophet said, “Is it time for you to live in your own houses and build your own houses while my house is laid waste? You got time to build your own house and you don’t have time to build mine?” Is that a good argument from God? Yeah. I mean, the adversaries didn’t stop them from building their own house. The adversaries didn’t stop them from getting a job and working and and all and and and providing and all that didn’t stop them at all, but boy, no, it’s not the time for God’s house.

▶ 16:43 Boy, God’s got a good argument here, doesn’t he? He says, “Consider your ways. You’ve not have not enough to eat. You clothe yourself, but you’re not warm. You earn wages to put it in bags with holes because I called for a famine, a drought because of mine house that is laid waste and all run into their own houses.” And then he says, “Build my house.” Is he saying that to the Christians of America? Yes. “Build my house.” “I will take pleasure in it. I will be honored and I am with you.” Hallelujah.

▶ 17:37 How many like that statement? “I’m on your side. I’m with you. I’ll add the ingredient that you’re lacking. Just get busy building.” Hallelujah. And from that prophecy the Lord backed it up and stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the civil leader, Joshua, the spiritual temple leader, and all the remnant of the people. How many of you know what the remnant of God is? In Revelations it tells us what the remnant are. They that have the testimony of Jesus and keep his commandments. How many of you have the testimony of Jesus? How many of you have a goal to keep his commandments? Yeah.

▶ 18:28 Then you’re the remnant. And he says he stirred up the remnant, the remainder, to get busy on the house of God. And so they came and did the work of the house on the 24th day of the sixth month. It took them 24 days to get organized and get fired up, you know, they had a few revival meetings, I guess, and all that. Come on, Haggai, prophesy a little more. Yeah, come on, let’s have Oh, when you got CHARGED UP OH, OKAY, WE’RE READY. I KNOW Christians THAT’S 24 years and they haven’t moved. Let alone 24 days. Hallelujah. Haggai chapter 2 verses 1 through 4.

▶ 19:27 In the seventh month, the next month, 21st day, Haggai comes to them. They’re working on the building. Hallelujah, they’re all working on the temple and everything. Haggai comes along and says, “Thus saith the Lord, be strong, Zerubbabel. COME ON, BE STRONG. UH GOD HASN’T GIVEN YOU A SPIRIT of fear, but of POWER AND A LOVE AND A STRONG MIND. COME ON, Zerubbabel, be strong.” And he said, “BE STRONG, OH Joshua, TO THE HIGH PRIEST, the spiritual leader. Be strong, all you people of the land, not just the remnant. Maybe you don’t have a goal to keep the commandments of God, but you got the testimony of Jesus.” He said, “All of you, get with the program.” Amen. Be strong. Don’t be weak.

▶ 20:18 Don’t let your adversaries weaken you, frustrate you. Don’t give excuses. He says, “Be strong.” And then that magic word called work. Say it. Work. Work takes effort. You can’t build the house of God sitting at home. It takes effort. You got to get involved. And you can’t build the house of God without tools. So, you what? Need to learn the word. The Bible says, “My word is a hammer.” Some of us need a little bashing. You know, shape us. That’s what they do with a hammer. They shape the metal into something beautiful. Isn’t that right? “My word is a fire. Some of us need baked.

▶ 21:13 You know, we fall apart too easy. We need some firmness in us. The fire will bake you, get some strength in you, and will beautify you. How many you know with the pottery pottery comes out from the fire, it has a sheen to it. It has a beautiful look to it. And I can go on and on. We need the tools. And the word of God is our tools. Acts chapter 2, he says, “And again he says, I am with you.” Acts 2:17, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” See, Haggai prophesied. He spoke for edification, exhortation, and comfort to the body of Christ. And the body of Christ responded. And here’s where us spirit-filled people really missed it for years. We put so much emphasis on tongues and not on prophecy. Tongues without interpretation does not give anyone understanding.

▶ 22:09 And it divided the church. Because they were so persistent about tongues being the magical sign. When Acts chapter 2 says, “Your sons and your daughters will what?” Prophesy. “Your servants and your maidservants will prophesy. Speak the encouraging living word of God and it will stir people to build themselves and others up in God.” Hallelujah. Didn’t Paul said you could all prophesy one by one? Yeah, he’s not talking about the office of a prophet there. He’s talking about edification, exhortation, and comfort. Hallelujah. Can we do it today? Yes. Now, in the eighth month, in the second year, Darius, in the second year of Darius the Great, this is uh 17 years later.

▶ 23:10 Came the word of the Lord into Zechariah’s. Out of two or three witnesses, let everything be established. So, here comes Zechariah, man. He comes in on the eighth month in the second year. And he says, “The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers.” In Zechariah 1:1 through six. He’s displeased with your forefathers. Therefore, say unto them. Who’s them? The remnant, the people, all the people of the land. Say to all the people of the land, “Turn unto me and I will turn to you.” Seek me and I’ll find you. See? Repent unto me and I will turn, repent unto you. Is that a good statement? See? People are saying they’re waiting on God.

▶ 24:02 You know, God’s been waiting on us for a long time. And then he says, “Be not as your fathers, they did not listen to me nor turn from their evil ways.” Is And Israel didn’t. They didn’t listen and they didn’t turn from their evil ways. But my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? What does he mean by that? God promised through the prophets, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, that they’re going to go into captivity for disobeying God. And they went into captivity. Moses said in Deuteronomy, “In that captivity, if you will repent and turn and admit you were wrong and you’re in captivity because of your sin, then I will forgive and heal and bring you out of captivity.

▶ 25:00 That’s what God spoke through Moses hundreds of years before they went into captivity. And Zechariah is reminding them, “Don’t be like your forefathers and play spiritual games because God held them accountable and brought them into captivity and punished them and corrected them for their sin.” Got it? Is that clear? Now, in that captivity, they returned. You see? How many of you know it’s a little late, but it’s better late than never? I mean, why put your children and those around you into difficult and painful situations when you can avoid them? Amen?

▶ 25:52 But in the captivity, they turned. And this is the prayer that Daniel prayed. He is quoting the prayer that Daniel prayed. You remember the prayer that Daniel prayed when we Hallelujah. Well, anyway, read it. Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doing, so he has dealt with us. That’s exactly what Daniel said. If you don’t remember that. And then he says in verse 16, “I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built.” The word shall is a very powerful word. Nothing can stop it. It’s going to happen. “I’m with you,” says the Lord of hosts.

▶ 26:43 Now, 1 Corinthians 10:11, just to remind you, all these things that happened unto Israel happened for examples. And they are written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come. Are we at the ends of the world? Yes. So, we can learn from their story, correct? Romans 15:4, things written aforetime were written for whose learning? Our learning. So, what do we learn? Well, we learn that God’s going to make a proclamation to build a temple, his house. He’s going to give a sign. He’s going to stir up our spirits. Adversaries are going to oppose us. The work of God is going to cease because of excuses.

▶ 27:35 And then we’re going to overcome the excuses and get the building, the house again. That’s what we learn. Now, let’s see if it happened. Jesus proclaimed to build his church. Matthew 16:18, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You can’t get a more powerful declaration than that. Are we more powerful than the kingdom of darkness? According to this scripture, they’re nothing to us. Ain’t that right? Are we more powerful than our adversaries? According to this scripture, they’re nothing. They’re bread for us. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. First Corinthians 3:9, we are laborers together with God. You are God’s building. Who is God’s building? You are. We are. Yeah. Hebrews 3:6, Christ is a son over his own house.

▶ 28:29 Whose house? We are. See, God is not talking about a natural building. He’s talking about what? A people building. And then Peter makes it very clear in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5. You as living stones are built up a what? Spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up what? Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We don’t do those old natural law things anyway. We do the fulfillment of them. Hallelujah. So, we are the temple of God. God, the Bible says, was never interested in buildings made with hands. He was interested in people. He gave us natural buildings to illustrate his spiritual building, people. Got it? Yes.