Transcript

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Greetings again friends, and welcome to this episode of the Chaplain's Chair. Last week, we dove right in and I came right out. Master, who is God and can we know him?

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And we covered some basic theological definitions and we asked some logical questions. And then we spoke about the general revelation that God has given to me, namely nature.

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Conscience and his presence in history now in this podcast, we're gonna get a little deeper and look at special revelation. Well, what is that?

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Well, special revelation is God directly inserting himself into our world, into our humanity and showing himself either visibly or by voice. And the way in which he.

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Does that are?

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Are are terms. You may or may not be familiar with, so let's first introduce those to you. The first one is going to be miracles, and I'll use a Webster's definition.

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Because I think they're they're pretty good and he was a reverent Christian man. And and I I like his dictionary an awful lot. Miracles defined by Webster in theology and event or effect.

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Contrary to the established Constitution and coercive things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature, a supernatural event, miracles can be wrought only by almighty power. Now, that's a miracle. How about prophecy? Prophecy is another one of the special revelations. Now, this is not the same as the.

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The the lesser definition of prophecy, which means to preach or public interpretation of scriptures, exhortation or or instruction. You'll see that word used by men in the pulpit. You know they're they have a prophetic voice when they they preach, but they're referring to preaching. This is this is not what I'm talking about.

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The definition is best given in Websters again, which means a foretelling a prediction, a declaration of something to come.

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As God only knows future events with certainty, no. Being but God or some person informed by him can utter a real prophecy.

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The Prophets recorded inscription when fulfilled, afford most convincing evidence of the divine original of the scriptures as those who uttered the prophecies could not have four known the events predicted without supernatural instruction, and we're going to look at all of these more closely here. But I want to lay the.

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Definitions out first.

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And the third special revelation is the person in.

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Ah, Jesus Christ, the son of.

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We also have the testimony of the scriptures, which is the embodiment of all revelations. And lastly, we have personal experience. Now those are the five special revelation and miracles, prophecy, Jesus Christ, the Bible itself and the individual. And that's a little bit more nuance.

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But we're going.

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To get into that later and what I'm going to give you is, is an example of each one. This is not meant to be exhaustive.

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I mean the scripture, the Scriptures have, you know, thousands of verses. This is not an exhaustive study in into those things. It's more of, OK, here's here's a survey view of what we're going to.

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Each one of the topics that I just listed here is a seminary course all of themselves. You can. You can go to seminary and and you can take a Christology courses, which is all about the person of Jesus Christ and you could probably take 4 semesters of that. There's so much there. The same thing with the bibliology or descriptions. You you take seminary courses just on the Bible.

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Self and miracles. So I'm not going to be exhausted. There's just too too much material here. But let's let's take a look at the special revelation in miracles now.

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There are two.

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Of miracles, spurious and genuine, there are some objections to miracles. The atheist Hume, who was British, claimed that miracles are impossible since they violate the laws of nature. He just didn't believe that could.

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Happen if you are a deist, they might insist the universe is a great self-sustaining.

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Machine that doesn't need any miracles.

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Let's get back to spurious and genuine. What's a spurious miracle? Well, it's.

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A freak of power lot for.

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Show only we have a couple of scriptural examples of that that I want to look at. We look at Exodus chapter seven. We will see that Moses got in front of the Pharaoh and the the Pharaohs. Enchanters were able to duplicate.

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Some of.

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Moses's miracles, although it doesn't specify what the similarities were but not others, and it was just the show when it was false show because eventually they couldn't keep up with the miracles that that Moses was exhibiting through the power of God. If we look at acts Chapter 8 and verses 9 through 11 and I'm going to read that it says it was a certain man.

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Called Simon, which before time in the city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest saying this man is a great power of God, and to him they have a God, because that a long time he bewitched them with sorceries. Now this is a a false miracle.

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That is not a genuine miracle, the early church founder origin defined A genuine miracle as an unusual event, accomplishing some art. Excuse me, accomplishing some useful work and revealing the presence and power of God. But probably the best examples I'm going to use here for that is we look at Exodus 4 versus 2 through 5.

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This is this is Moses and the burning Bush encounter, and the Lord said unto him, what is that in?

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Thy hand and he said a rod.

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And he said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground. It became a.

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Serpent and Moses fled from before it, and the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail, and he put forth his hand, and he caught it, and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of us, again the God of Jacob.

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Hath appeared unto thee, what was the purpose of the miracle?

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That they might believe the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham. Isaac.

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And Jacob John 536, Jesus said. But I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the father hath sent me. These are powerful miracles that cannot be duplicated, and they have one purpose to bear witness of Almighty God.

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If we look in acts Chapter 2, it says you men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, is the key point by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as he yourselves.

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Also, no. So these miracles have a purpose. If they are genuine, they are to reveal the revelation of God. They are to reveal the presence of God. They are to give proof of the existence and the presence of God. So let's move on to the special revelation of prophecy.

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Office, you know.

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How is that defined a four or four telling of events by virtue of direct communication?

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From God now there are many, many examples of that in the Bible, and I'm going to give you just two to to get us get us going, get this foundation underneath underneath us and it's going to concern the 1st and the 2nd coming of Christ.

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And the first one is Micah 5/2, the minor prophet Micah in Chapter 5, verse two says but thou Bethlehem Alfreda though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And this is the first coming of Christ.

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Obviously, we know that one already happened. We celebrate Christmas every year, so we know that that one is a fulfilled prophecy. But here's another one on the second coming of Christ. Revelation 1911 through 13 says I saw heaven open to behold a White Horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he duffed judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.

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And he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself.

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And he was clothed with a Vester dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. Now obviously we know that that one has not been fulfilled. If anybody can point to me in history when this event happened, I'm all ears. So we have miracles. We have prophecy. The next one we have the special revelation that is in Jesus Christ, and we find the best examples.

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One of the best examples I chose to use in the scriptures, the first one is in Matthew 5.

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Verse 27.

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Where Jesus said all things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man, no, what the son but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father save the son, and he, to whomsoever the son will reveal.

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Him Jesus Christ came to reveal God. That is a special revelation.

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We're going to get into Christology down the road, but I got a couple more verses here to kind of illustrate also and and reinforce this in John Chapter 14 verses 9 through 11. And Jesus said it says Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you and yet?

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You have not.

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Known me, Philip. He that hath seen me, hath seen the father.

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And how sayest thou then showest the father's believest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak unto you. I speak not of myself, but the father that dwells in me. He do with the works. Believe me, that I am in the father and the.

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Father in me.

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Or else, believe me, for the very works's sake.

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Jesus is telling me apostles in John chapter 14. If you want to see God, look at me.

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Hebrews 1 verses one and two. The book says God who at sundry times and in divers man has spake in time, passed unto the fathers by the prophets.

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Key point here half in these last days, spoken unto us by his son.

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Jesus Christ came into the world to reveal God, some other things but God.

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Well, Jesus did three things when he was here to reveal God, to show him to mankind, to give us something that we could see, touch and hear.

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Ministry of Christ the presence of Christ, Christ being born into the world as a man revealed.

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Three things about God. First, it revealed God's existence. If we look into John Chapter 8, we'll see a long discourse with Jesus there, and they're religiously designed, bites you to go read that. But he gets to a point in that verse where he said.

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Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was, I am, and I don't have a lot of time to get into that, but what that really means is that goes back to.

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Who Moses and God and the burning Bush, where Moses said, well, who am I going to tell him? This is sent me and he said I am you tell them I am sent you unto them. So Jesus is referencing this and he's validating the existence of God by.

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That he was God. If we look in John Chapter 3 and John Chapter 17, and if you have a Bible, I want you to maybe follow along with me. But if we look in John chapter three first it it gives a little bit of a.

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Option about what God is like and what God wants to do that that God is light, that Jesus was sent, that that God may reveal his love. That man might believe on the son and have everlasting life.

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It also talks a little bit about the wrath of God for those that don't accept Christ. If we go into John Chapter 17, we see Jesus offering a a prayer, and he's he's talking about some of the attributes of God, the nature of God. What does he like? And he goes through when he and he calls and first he calls him his father.

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And then he he talks about.

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The power over all flesh.

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He talks about what is life eternal.

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He talks about being glorified with God. He talks about being manifested, that the name of God might be given to men.

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He calls him Holy Father, he points out his attributes that God is holy.

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If we look at Matthew 548, we see Jesus says, be ye therefore perfect, easier even as your father, which is in heaven is perfect, God is holy.

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Man is sinful if we look. We'll look at Luke 13. One to five. It said they were present that season. Some that told him of the Galileans whose blood pilot had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, supposedly that these galileans were sinners above all the galileans, because they suffered such things. I tell you name, and except you repent ye shall all likewise perish when those 18.

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Upon whom the towed Salon fell and slew them. Think they that they were sin? As above, all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, some of the revelation about the will of God here.

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For man to.

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Be perfect and to repent of their sins is the will of God for man. Now this takes us into the discussion of the Holiness of God, which we're going to address a.

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Little bit further down.

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The road. But I want to say something. If we don't understand the holiness of God alongside the sinfulness of man in the state of the creation because of that truth, you never going to understand.

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Salvation and the purpose and the Ministry of Christ.

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So Christ came to give us that special revelation that we might know when to understand these things, let's move on to the special revelation of the Scriptures. Now I'm going to give it to us here. Then I'm going to comment here for a brief second because we don't really have time to address a lot of the things that come with this. But second, ten through 316 says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

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And is profitable for doctrine.

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Will approve for correction, for instruction and.

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Righteousness it's the embodiment of all revelation. All that God wants man to know and understand is in the scriptures, and I'm not going to take the time today defending the authority of the scriptures or to refute some of the vapid arguments that are offered against its truth and its supernatural origin. Not today. Certainly another day, but not today. I want to look at.

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Personal experience because that is a special revelation. I'm going to tell you exactly what that means, and I'm going to comment a little bit on that and then and then I will summarize some some thoughts for you. But let's take it a a couple of examples of personal experience and we're going to use.

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Nick and Noah in Genesis Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, let's look at Genesis 522 to 24 and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters in all the days of Enoch were 360 in five years, and Enoch.

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Walked with God.

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And he was not for God took.

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In Genesis 6 verse 13, it says and God said unto.

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Noah, the end of all flushes come before me. For the earth is filled with violence. Through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. And this is a different interaction than God walking with Adam. This is after the fall man has been banished from the garden. But God has reached into humanity and interacted with select people.

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We see that with Abram slash Abraham in Genesis 12 and we see another example of that in Isaiah Chapter 6. There are all kinds of examples in the Bible I want to highlight those because I I think those are the the best example for what I'm trying to get across today.

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Jesus had a personal experience with God, Enoch and Noah. God spoke with them. Enoch walked with God. God spoke with them in, in, in the example of Jesus and Matthew, Chapter 3, verses 16 to 17. It said in Jesus when he was baptized, went up straight away out of the water, low the heavens were opened unto him when he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him and low voice.

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In heaven, saying this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

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So in the person of Jesus we have, we have God speaking out in a voice that can be heard if we look in Mark nine chapter seven, we see Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration and it said there was a cloud that overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my beloved son. Hear him.

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Paul in acts Chapter 9 has this Damascus Rd. experience as he's on his way to go persecute Christians. This light knocks him off his horse and he hears the word of of Jesus. The Jesus that has ascended into heaven to stop persecuting him and to go to a certain place and follow the instructions that he's giving the.

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So in these examples, we see God's voice and presence. It pierces into temporal humanity and allows certain people to hear his voice.

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Now I want to.

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Be careful here. What do I mean by personal experience in the individual Christian today, the Christian experience is unique to each individual. Everyone comes from a different background with a different story of a change.

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That that's valid spiritual discernment that comes from God is valid, and my only caution is that the personal experience each one of us has.

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Us with the Almighty, with God, with Christ, must conform to biblical standards before we could be absolutely certain that it comes from God. What does God still speak to man today? The short answer is yes. So his word.

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Can we feel?

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Lead of God to follow a certain path. You know that's unique to you that maybe is not a perfect example like you might find in the scriptures. Again, I would answer yes, my own personal experience is that I I have heard what the Bible calls that still small voice nudging me in certain directions.

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As I'm praying or reading the Bible, seeking guidance in certain areas of my life. But my caution is this. You need to examine your meaning through the lens of the scriptures. Never forget that your flesh, our flesh, your carnal sinful body that we all still live in, though we have salvation in Christ, can still deceive you, your flesh.

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And your mind can still deceive you. The Bible says our flesh is still wicked, the spiritual world and the domain of demons can still deceive you.

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Now those subjects are going to be addressed, I'm sure in other podcasts, but that's all I'm going to say on that for today. I want to thank you all for listening. Invite you to come back next week. We're going to be moving on to the existence of God and some of the non Christian views and the Christian views and facts concerning the existence of God. So invite you to come back.

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And listen to that. But this is chapter 10. Signing off today. May the Lord bless you and good day.