Out from under the leash

In Malachi 3:6 is the testimony, “For I am the LORD, I change not.” Who is this "I Am" that doesn’t change? Hebrews 13:8, one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible, says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever."

"You know the one who, if He says it never changes His Word, it’s Jehovah, who is Jesus. They’re the same. So when Jesus says that to the religious muckity-mucks in John 8, they got it and understood it, but He meant it, too, and what He said was, ‘I am Jehovah God.’ "

Jeremiah 23:5 says, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”

The Messiah was going to be Jehovah, their Redeemer. That’s what Jesus is saying. “I’m Him; I’m the hope of Israel.” Jordan says, “If anybody ever tells you that Jesus never claimed to be God, there’s a verse where He did! Proved Himself to be! Anybody who ever tells you the Bible doesn’t say Jesus was God, yawn real big and tell them, ‘You need to get a life. Wake up!’

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Paul makes long-range plans. In Romans 15, he said, ‘I’m going to take that offering to Jerusalem and I’m going to come by you and then I’m going to Spain.' I mean, this guy’s planning to go to Spain, and church history says he went all the way to the British Isles.

“Do you know that in church history, there’s evidence that the Apostle Paul visited the British Isles? Now that would be a stroke, wouldn’t it? I know he went to Spain. He lays it out in the Scripture and says, ‘I’m going to be refreshed by you and let you help me and I’m on my way to Spain.’

"He didn’t quit. He said, ‘I’ve already preached over here in Europe and Asia and everywhere I can preach where I’m not laying on another man’s foundation—I’m off to the regions beyond.’ And he wasn’t a teenager when he said that, by the way. He’d been in the ministry about 30 years when he said that. He can quit.

“He’s like old Caleb. Old Caleb over there; he’s 85 years old and he says, ‘I want that mountain with the big giants on it. Moses promised me that, Joshua, and you’re not going to keep it away from me, are you?! I want that mountain with those big dudes!’

" ‘I thought we should have gone in there 40 years ago,’ Caleb says, ‘and I was going to go with those guys, and my hand’s just as strong, and my eyes just as good ,’ and you know he’s just lying.

“You know he didn’t see as good. He didn’t have 20/20 vision anymore. Maybe he did, but it’s very unlikely, you know. I know it says their shoes didn’t wear out, but it didn’t say their eyes didn’t get dim. They all grew old and died. Paul’s that way.

"What’s he doing? He’s got a heart motivated by Christ and he takes the truth and he says, ‘I’m going to apply it and go!’ He makes the long-range plans. But, you see, it wasn’t self-willed activity. That’s the point in I Cor. 4:19.

“Paul lived not self-willed. You see, when you talk to people about doing the will of God and being out from under this leash, and that you’re free to make choices, not governed by some pre-arranged plan, people immediately think, ‘Oh, well you CAN just go and live self-willed,’ and Paul said, ‘No, it’s not a self-willed life; it’s a God’s-willed life!' "