:: Transcript - "God With Us"

Date: Thursday, September 20, 2007
Speaker: Charles Balbach (USA)
Key Text: Matthew 1:23

Good morning to each of you. We will take the word of God before we begin the business of this day. I want to thank God for being in this place. It is indeed a privilege to be at a delegation session. I have often thought that just to be here for the morning worship and to greet the brethren is worth the price of admission. It is worth the trip.

In the future, by God's grace, if I am not a delegate I shall make myself available as a translator, or perhaps the sound system—whatever I have to do—sweep the floors, to be here. I is truly a privilege to see the brethren, to hear their experiences, that happen in their places.

In the early 90s we were all eager to see our Romanian, Russian and Ukranian brethren. It was indeed wonderful privilege. This time we are very happy to see the brethren from China. May God bless the work in these countries.

Our heavenly Father has an intense desire to save us. For that He gave His only-begotten Son. All heaven invested in that. But He has a further desire, and that is to meet us, to be with us.

In the New Testament, "Emmanuel" is God with us. In the Old Testament also God wanted to meet with His people. When Adam was created, God breathed into his nostrils and the first thing that Adam saw was the beautiful face of his Creation. He would never forget that. And God loved to commune with Adam and Eve, and came regularly to meet with them.

Later on, as sin entered the world, man could not take all the glory of God and so He veiled Himself. But you remember what He said about His servant Moses—"With Moses I speak face to face."

You remember how, under the oak tree, Jesus came and two angels. Christ stayed and communed with Abraham. "Shall I hide this thing that I am about to do from my servant Abraham?"—the one whom He called His friend?

As we read in Exodus 25:8, "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them."

In John 14:3, we read "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Can you see God's desire, brethren? It is the desire to be with us. Can you fathom such love? We are insignificant to one another but to God we mean everything.

Zephaniah 3:17 is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible: "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."

Have you considered this verse? God is going to rejoice with you and me with singing, perhaps individually. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to have this one-on-one situation with God, where He is so glad to have us in the kingdom. We can see the intense desire that God has to be with us.

In the wilderness there was the pillar of cloud. There was also the fire that accompanied the Israelites. God was with them in this fashion. Remember Moses at the burning bush. He could have sent angels, but He longed to be with his people. Moses must have shared this with Joshua, and Joshua treasured the experience that Moses related to him about the burning bush. As Joshua is about to enter the promised land he meets the Captain of the Lord’s army and he hears the sweet words, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy" (Joshua 5:15). Joshua gladly takes off his shoes and knows that he is in the presence of the Great I AM, the same one whom Moses had met forty years before.

Remember Jacob, as he wrestled with the angel, all evening long, till the morning. Remember in Bethel where he saw the ladder to heaven? You know that Ellen White says in Patriarchs and Prophets, that Jacob would meditate and study this experience for the rest of his life. At this time he was 81. He lived to be 147. That vision was the study of his next 66 years.

It is no wonder Stephen Haskell writes that as he meditated of that Being at the top of the ladder, dressed in the garment of light of all colors of the rainbow, when he had a son that reflected the character of that being he made him a coat of many colors.

Now as we come to the New Testament all the figures were to end and now in Jesus God would be with man in person. A body was prepared and Jesus came in person at the fullness of time.

As the babe was to be born, the angels came. In The Desire of Ages, it says the angels hovered over Jerusalem. Who was waiting for the Messiah? Who could they announce it to? No one was interested. The angels were about to turn back when they were told to go to the hills of Bethlehem where David had tended his sheep, where there were a few shepherds who were praying for the Messiah. God wanted to be with men and only a few were ready to receive the Messiah.

Then you know the life of Jesus as He met with the rich, the poor, the crowds, the individuals like Nicodemus and the woman at the well. These that He met with were drinking of Jesus Christ. They were having the presence of Jesus with them, and they would be transformed by Him.

God wants to me with you and me. He has a special way that He wants to do this. He want s to take our sinful minds and give us the mind of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5 tells us, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh. But His mind was the mind of God, the mind of no sin, like Adam and Even in the garden, of perfect love and obedience toward God. But what what kind of minds are ours? Our minds are not like that. We find in Ephesians 2:1-3, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

This is how our minds are. This is the mind of man after sin. We inherited this with Adam and Christ wants to make an exchange with us. Let us turn in our Bibles to 1 John 5:20: "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding."

The German, Danish, Greek, and Young’s all give a different translation, like this: "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us a mind." It is His good pleasure to give us a mind—to take our mind and give us His mind. His mind is a mind of no sin.

How is it that Satan comes and tempts us? Satan tries to get to our mind through the flesh. And then the flesh will try to control the mind. How does God try to get to us? Through the mind. And so the question comes to us, what is it that controls our beings? Is it the flesh or the mind? Is it the "I want" or is it the wonderful principles of God’s holy law, of His character?

What controls our being, the mind or the flesh? Is it the appetite? Remember that was the first sin. Eve looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food. But was it good for food? God said it was not for food, but Eve was already hypnotized. The also thought that it would make her wise. But God said it was not good. Many times we are like that. We look at something and think it is good, but it is not. If God says that it is not good, then it is not good!

What is it that controlled Eve? It was the appetite, not the mind. Christ came, and after 40 days, the same temptation came over to him. But he did not allow His flesh to gain a victory over His mind, which was the mind of God. He offers us that same mind.

Scientists in universities have have performed studies, and are telling us the following. Once a thought enters our brain it carves a path. It is much easier the second time for that thought to run through our mind. And the third time—and the path becomes very smooth. But as with any road when it is abandoned, you can hardly tell there was a path. Finally you cannot even see there was a path. And so we are encouraged, whenever God shows us that we are allowing the flesh to have the control, let us go on our knees and ask God to take it away from us and give us His Holy Spirit so that we do not walk in that path any more. God is please to do that.

I would like to share from the study of A.T. Jones at the General Conference in 1895, just a few thoughts. This mind of the flesh is the minding of self. Here is an example he gives I want you to consider, because it really speaks to our daily lives.

"There are suggestions which rise that such and such things are 'too much for even a Christian to bear,' and that 'Christian humility is not intended to go as far as that.' Some one strikes you on the cheek, or breaks your wagon or tools, or he may stone your tent or meeting-house. Satan suggests, 'Now you send those fellows up; you take the law to them. Christians are not to bear such things as that in the world; that is not fair.' You answer him: 'That is so; there is no use of that; we will teach those fellows a lesson.'

"Yes, and perhaps you do. But what is that? That is self-defense; that is self-replying. No; keep back that wicked self; let God attend to the matter, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.' That is what Jesus Christ did. He was spit upon; he was taunted; he was struck upon the face; his hair was pulled; a crown of thorns was put upon his head; and in mockery the knee was bowed, with, 'Hail King of the Jews.' They blindfolded him, and then struck him, and cried: 'Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?' All that was put upon him.

"And in his human nature he bore all that, because his divine self was kept back.

"Was there any suggestion to him, suppose you, to drive back that riotous crowd? to let loose one manifestation of his divinity, and sweep away the whole wicked company? Satan was there to suggest it to him, if nothing else. What did he do? He stood defenseless as the Lamb of God. There was no assertion of his divine self, no sign of it,—only the man standing there, leaving all to God to do whatsoever he pleased. He said to Pilate: 'Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.' That is the faith of Jesus.”

When I considered these words, my brethren, I felt ashamed. How many times I have retaliated. How many times I have thought that my patience goes to a certain level and then I blow up. But Jesus Christ was not that way.

Do you notice how little power we have? It is because our power is measured by how much we leave to God. If we don't leave to God, we are powerless. But if we trust in God, depend in God as the three worthies depended upon God to do whatever He pleased with them, then the manifestation of God's power is seen. Then the character of Jesus Christ is manifested in us.

We have to keep back that wicked self of ours. How can we accomplish it? By surrendering it to Jesus Christ.

It was about 12 years ago I gave my heart to the Lord. For a number of years it was wonderful. The first love was wonderful—it was like flying on the clouds. But you know, the enemy has a way of bringing selfishness back to our lives.

Recently I noticed that God wanted my heart again, as He does every single morning. But I’m unwilling to give Him my heart, because I like some of those things in myself, and I think I need some of those things in myself.

About two or three months ago I walked into my study room one Sabbath morning. The sweet thought came to me, Charlie, remember the first time you gave Me your heart? Wasn’t I good to you? Why don’t you trust Me now?

My brethren, I could not help but agree with God! I rushed to my knees and said, "Lord, you were good to me. You have always been good to me. Please forgive me. Take my heart this day."

God wants us to have the experience of the apostle Paul, to die daily, to give Him our hearts every single day. If we do this our Lord will magnify His presence in our midst, we will give the message out in these last days. But the problem is we keep holding back to that self of ours. But God is greater than self, He is greater than our enemy.

Let us be honest with ourselves and with God. Let us fall on our knees and ask Him to take our hearts every single day and place in our minds the mind of Jesus Christ. Then we shall love Him and obey Him.