1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,600 This is our final session of something that's been going on for about two and a half to 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:09,600 three weeks. 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:14,400 This is our 12th time together, this Forecasting Hope series. 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:19,200 And we're going to pass out some little cards that we've had each time, a little response 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,200 card. 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,320 If you have a question, a prayer request, whatever, we'll take those at the end and 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,340 there'll be a little handout as we complete our time together. 8 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:35,520 But let's bow our heads and we'll have a prayer as they're passing those out in just a moment. 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:40,280 Dear God, we thank you so much for a baptism that's going to take place. 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,900 We thank you for the cross that we heard a song about. 11 00:00:43,900 --> 00:00:47,040 We thank you for a year of ministry in this place. 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,360 What a privilege and a blessing it is. 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,800 But God, be with each one of us today as we open up your Word. 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:55,500 May we learn more about you. 15 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:57,360 In your name we pray. 16 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:58,680 Amen. 17 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:07,160 People have noticed that if you go online and begin to look for a church in your area, 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,840 that you could find a whole bunch of different options. 19 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,800 You can find hundreds and hundreds of churches. 20 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,160 There's some that you can't pronounce. 21 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,000 There's some maybe that you've heard of, maybe that you haven't heard of. 22 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,040 And some have said, you know, this is crazy. 23 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:22,280 This is insane. 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:23,680 And we mentioned this last night. 25 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,060 There's one Bible. 26 00:01:26,060 --> 00:01:27,760 There's one God. 27 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,200 How can there be so many different denominations? 28 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,520 And we're going to look in our final session together as we're studying the book of Revelation 29 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:43,600 and Bible prophecy, that Revelation actually predicted that something like this would happen, 30 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:50,640 that a church would go and it would begin to split up and it would leave us in the situation 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,000 that we are in today. 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,720 So we're going to look at prophecy and we're going to look at some history as well. 33 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,040 And so we're going to start in Revelation chapter 12. 34 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,320 Now we've been here a couple of times. 35 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:07,040 And as Kevin mentioned during the announcements, if you haven't seen any of this, you can go 36 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:12,080 back to our Facebook page and other places and catch up on that. 37 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,080 But we're going to look at Revelation chapter 12 at the beginning. 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:17,640 We've looked at the middle. 39 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,140 Last night we looked at the end, but we're going to start at the beginning. 40 00:02:21,140 --> 00:02:25,160 So we're going to look at Revelation 12 and verse 1. 41 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:30,000 And these verses will be on the screen, but please follow along as well. 42 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:37,400 So verse 1 of Revelation 12, the Bible says, now a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman 43 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:44,700 clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars. 44 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:52,680 And then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,040 And then verse 3 says, and another sign appeared in heaven. 46 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:04,240 Behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems or crowns 47 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:05,720 on his head. 48 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:10,120 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. 49 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:15,200 And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child 50 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,200 as soon as it was born. 51 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,840 She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child 52 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,840 was caught up to God and to his throne. 53 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,980 And so we can picture this. 54 00:03:28,980 --> 00:03:32,120 We can picture several different symbols. 55 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:37,860 There's a woman with a child, there's a dragon with heads and horns, and some of these things 56 00:03:37,860 --> 00:03:41,160 we've already interpreted through our time together. 57 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:47,360 And so if we put those together, we've seen that in Bible prophecy a woman represents 58 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:48,360 a church. 59 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:53,040 And if it's a pure woman, then it's a time when the church is being faithful. 60 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:58,180 If it's an impure woman, it's a time when perhaps the church is not being faithful. 61 00:03:58,180 --> 00:04:05,760 And then the Bible doesn't specify clearly, but the sun and the moon, many people look 62 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,960 at that and feel that that's talking about the righteousness of God. 63 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,800 Because the sun gives light and the moon reflects light. 64 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:21,960 And then again, it doesn't quite specify exactly, but 12 stars, people think, indicate that 65 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:27,440 this could perhaps be the 12 apostles, those that were followers of Jesus. 66 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,240 And then the next few the Bible is clear about. 67 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:37,560 This child, this male child that's talked about, this is clearly Jesus because it says 68 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:39,680 he rules nations. 69 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,000 He's caught up to God and to his throne. 70 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,040 And then we've already seen several times that this dragon clearly represents Satan. 71 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,020 And it even specifies that they are just a few verses later. 72 00:04:53,020 --> 00:05:00,000 And then there's another creature that's there as well, that also represents Satan as well. 73 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:06,000 And so when we picture this, when we put all of this together, we have a picture, excuse 74 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:14,360 me, I misspoke there, that the dragon represents Satan, the beast, I misspoke there, is working 75 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,720 with Satan, but it represents Rome. 76 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,640 Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself. 77 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:29,480 And so what we see here is that Jesus and his church in chapter 12 are being attacked 78 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,240 by Satan through the Roman Empire. 79 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,660 That's how Revelation 12 begins. 80 00:05:35,660 --> 00:05:41,960 This beast is attacking this child and attacking this woman. 81 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,700 We spent a whole night looking at that beast power a few nights ago. 82 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:49,600 And so the question is, did this happen? 83 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,640 Did this occur? 84 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:57,520 And you can think to when Jesus was born, we remember that story. 85 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,120 When Jesus was still a baby, Mary and Joseph had to leave. 86 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:02,600 They had to go somewhere different. 87 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,760 Do you remember where they went? 88 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:05,760 They went to Egypt. 89 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,760 Why did they flee to Egypt? 90 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:15,680 Because Herod, who was working with the Roman government, sent soldiers in to kill all the 91 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,920 babies, all the male babies who were two years and younger. 92 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:25,860 So at a very young age as a baby, Jesus was being attacked. 93 00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:31,640 And throughout his life, he suffered different attacks and different people after him until 94 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:38,000 finally of course we recognize that there was a time when Jesus was arrested by Roman 95 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,280 soldiers. 96 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:46,040 He was tried in a Roman court by a Roman governor and he was nailed to a Roman cross. 97 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,320 But thankfully as Jesus was placed in that tomb, he did not remain there. 98 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:55,860 And three days later, he resurrected and he gained victory over death and victory over 99 00:06:55,860 --> 00:06:59,280 sin and he promises that for us as well. 100 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:02,160 And that is good, good news. 101 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:07,680 And when Jesus laid down his life, it sealed the devil's fate. 102 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:14,760 And so then Jesus ascended back to heaven and now Satan recognizes, I can't get Jesus 103 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:15,760 anymore. 104 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:16,760 I can't touch Jesus. 105 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:22,040 I can't conquer that male child there in Revelation 12. 106 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:28,320 And so then Satan, the dragon, turned his attention in a different direction. 107 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:33,600 If I can't get Jesus, then maybe I can go after his followers. 108 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,720 I can go after the church. 109 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:42,920 And in those early days of Christianity, the first and second and third century, there 110 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:49,800 was intense persecution against those who stood for Jesus and wanted to follow him because 111 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:55,360 it was illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire in those days. 112 00:07:55,360 --> 00:08:00,280 And this structure in Rome is an example of that. 113 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:01,960 And what structure is this? 114 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,080 Many of you have seen that. 115 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:05,880 Maybe some have been there. 116 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:07,520 That's the Roman Coliseum. 117 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,920 You can see circled there in the corner, a little car. 118 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,280 So you can see how immense this structure is. 119 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,660 Supposedly it could seat 60 or 70,000 people. 120 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:22,700 So think about a football stadium today or a baseball stadium. 121 00:08:22,700 --> 00:08:29,200 That was the size, except instead of hitting home runs or catching touchdowns, the people 122 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:37,560 were there to see people die, basically, whether it was gladiators fighting or criminals being 123 00:08:37,560 --> 00:08:41,720 thrown to gladiators or to wild animals. 124 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,960 Criminals such as Christians. 125 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:51,260 And that area under the field was tunnels and halls that they would keep those hungry 126 00:08:51,260 --> 00:08:57,720 animals there until it was time to sick them, to open up the gates and allow them to go 127 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,400 and eat the criminals, the Christians. 128 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:08,680 And there were people who were willing to stand for Jesus and say, no, I will not burn 129 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:10,720 incense to the emperor. 130 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:16,520 I'm going to stand for Jesus and his truth even if it means I'm risking my life, even 131 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:21,480 if it means I die, I'm not going to give up the truth of scripture. 132 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,760 And so the dragon was not able to defeat the male child. 133 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:30,720 And even through this, the dragon was not able to conquer the woman. 134 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:37,480 Because history tells us that there's a phrase that says the blood of the martyrs watered 135 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:43,520 the situation, watered the church and caused the church to grow. 136 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:48,000 Because for every Christian that died, three or four more said, you know what, I'm going 137 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,200 to stand for that Jesus. 138 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:56,560 I'm going to stand for him as well, even if it costs me my life. 139 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:04,000 And so that dragon, Satan, kind of followed that old saying, if you can't beat them, join 140 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:05,240 them. 141 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,120 And so that's exactly what happened. 142 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:08,840 Satan's strategy changed. 143 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:15,520 If I can't beat them down, if I can't cause people to reject Jesus, then let me shift 144 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:16,520 just a little bit. 145 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,660 Let me go with a different plan. 146 00:10:18,660 --> 00:10:25,920 And so about 300, a little bit after 300, the emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire 147 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:27,320 became a Christian. 148 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,880 Yay, that seems like a good thing. 149 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,720 Soon Christianity became legal. 150 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:38,600 In fact, in 313, the Edict of Milan, they could build churches, they could meet. 151 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:39,960 It was now legal. 152 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,120 And he would think that would be a good thing. 153 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:47,280 Except Constantine had grown up pagan. 154 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:54,160 And as he was wanting to unite this empire, he was bringing pagan teachings alongside 155 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:58,520 with Christian teachings and mixing them together. 156 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:04,160 And Satan didn't care if people were following that, because if they were following different 157 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:11,520 pagan teachings disguised as Christianity, then it was taking them away from Jesus. 158 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:17,980 And through the years, more and more, this Christian faith in Rome became a mixture of 159 00:11:17,980 --> 00:11:19,940 truth and error. 160 00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:27,320 And it became a system where the traditions of man became equal or even above the commands 161 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:28,720 of God. 162 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:36,200 And from this Roman Empire, this religious system became known as the Church of Rome 163 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:43,480 or the papacy or the Roman Catholic Church as it combined different traditions with Christian 164 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,240 teachings. 165 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:49,920 And this was the time when church and state became united. 166 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:54,000 The civil government united with the church government. 167 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:01,800 And so this papal Rome became a persecuting power and spread the doctrines through the 168 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:02,800 time. 169 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:10,200 And this union lasted for 1,260 days or 1,260 years. 170 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:14,040 And we can read that as we go on in Revelation 12 verse 6. 171 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:21,320 It says, then the woman, the church, God's followers, fled into the wilderness where 172 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:30,880 she has a place prepared for her that they should feed her there for 1,260 days. 173 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:32,960 And we've seen that a day equals a year. 174 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:40,760 So that 1,260 years, those 42 months, that time, time and a half a time as we've studied 175 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:49,720 it lasted from 538 when the emperor gave that leader of the Church of Rome civil authority 176 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:56,800 down until 1798 when France, General Berthier came and arrested the pope. 177 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:03,580 It lasted for that same time period just as was prophesied here in the book of Revelation. 178 00:13:03,580 --> 00:13:09,320 And so that union of church and state, we refer to it as the middle ages or the dark 179 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:14,540 ages because during that time the Bible was forbidden. 180 00:13:14,540 --> 00:13:15,600 You couldn't read the Bible. 181 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,000 You couldn't have the Bible in your own language. 182 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,260 You couldn't follow the Bible. 183 00:13:20,260 --> 00:13:25,240 And it was a time of spiritual darkness, the dark ages. 184 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:27,800 Let me just give a little example of what that was like. 185 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,560 We're going to put a quote up here during this dark age time. 186 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:36,800 This is a quote from a fairly famous book known as Fox's Book of Martyrs. 187 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:43,260 And it tells stories of people through the years who gave their life, who died as a martyr. 188 00:13:43,260 --> 00:13:47,000 So here's just one story from Fox's Book of Martyrs. 189 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,120 It says a Spaniard named, I'm going to say Juliano because he's Spanish. 190 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,040 I'm not sure if that's the right pronunciation or not. 191 00:13:55,040 --> 00:14:02,640 He traveled into Germany and there became a convert to the Reformed religion. 192 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:04,560 That's the Protestant faith. 193 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:09,700 He's talking about Protestantism, those who were wanting to get back to the Bible. 194 00:14:09,700 --> 00:14:16,800 And it goes on to say, when he went back to Spain, he took with him to Seville a number 195 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,360 of Bibles. 196 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:24,600 And he succeeded in this dangerous enterprise so far as getting books into the hands of 197 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,840 a great number of people. 198 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:32,920 Juliano was immediately seized and put to the most cruel tortures to make him confess 199 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:39,400 the names of all to whom he had given the hated books. 200 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,000 What book had he given away? 201 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,220 The Bible. 202 00:14:43,220 --> 00:14:46,700 And it's called the most hated book. 203 00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:53,360 And for that simple act of owning a Bible or sharing a Bible, he was persecuted and 204 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:54,880 people risked their life. 205 00:14:54,880 --> 00:15:00,640 They were living in that time of darkness, that time of the dark ages. 206 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,960 So that's Revelation 12. 207 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:03,960 Let's turn over now. 208 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:10,400 We're going to look at another woman in Revelation, Revelation chapter 17. 209 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:17,720 Revelation 12, the woman was a pure woman, a faithful church, faithful followers of God. 210 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,320 But in Revelation 17, it's a totally different picture. 211 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,320 So we're going to pick up the story in verse 1. 212 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,820 Revelation 17 and verse 1. 213 00:15:28,820 --> 00:15:34,760 The Bible says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with 214 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:40,920 me saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot. 215 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:46,800 This is an unfaithful woman who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed 216 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,560 fornication. 217 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:53,700 And the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 218 00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:58,080 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. 219 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:04,800 And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having 220 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,880 seven heads and ten horns. 221 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:14,320 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones 222 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:22,200 and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her 223 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:23,640 fornication. 224 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:28,360 Whatever this means, this does not sound like a good picture here, a good situation. 225 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:35,360 But what we have is now an impure woman dressed in particular colors, wearing different things. 226 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:41,040 She's holding a cup of fornication here and representing unfaithfulness. 227 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,360 And so again, we've got a woman, a church. 228 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:46,500 But this is not a pure woman. 229 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:49,300 This is an unfaithful woman. 230 00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:55,200 And just like today, certain people dress in certain ways, so in Bible times, harlots 231 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,760 are prostitutes dressed in a certain way. 232 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,320 And this echoes that clothing that they would wear. 233 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:08,760 And of course, her cup, it says clearly, is fornication, unfaithfulness. 234 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:14,480 And then once again, we have a beast power representing that beast of Revelation 13, 235 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,820 which we saw represents Rome. 236 00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:24,520 And so we can put all of these things together, and we can see that this woman is unfaithful. 237 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,360 She's a harlot. 238 00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:29,200 She's got this cup of fornication. 239 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,500 And so she's unfaithful to God and to his word. 240 00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:40,400 And so this is a picture of a church in the Middle Ages acting like a harlot, joining 241 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:47,640 now with this beast power and accepting different eras and traditions. 242 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:55,760 And this is a picture of this union of church and state coming together in one thing. 243 00:17:55,760 --> 00:18:02,520 And as I've said over and over, any time church and state come together in history, no matter 244 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:08,560 the church, no matter the state, it has never been a good thing. 245 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,080 And so here we see this woman. 246 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,680 She is riding on the beast. 247 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:19,300 In chapter 12, the beast was attacking the woman. 248 00:18:19,300 --> 00:18:26,740 But now this church has joined in with this empire, with this state, and is willing to 249 00:18:26,740 --> 00:18:29,240 persecute other people. 250 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,680 And so we have a pure woman in Revelation 12. 251 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:39,080 We have an unfaithful woman, an unfaithful church in chapter 17. 252 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:47,000 And during those Middle Ages, it was easier sometimes for people to just go along, to 253 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:53,840 just follow along with whatever the government, whatever the church was saying to them. 254 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,560 Because if you went along, you could go about your daily life. 255 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,680 You could conduct business. 256 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:05,640 But if you stood for Jesus, oftentimes you would be persecuted. 257 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:10,800 And there was only a few who were willing to stand for God. 258 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,760 And could it be that even in our day and age, that we have to take a stand? 259 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:22,040 We have to be willing to suffer, not in the same way. 260 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,040 But sometimes when we stand for God, maybe we'll be criticized. 261 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,840 Maybe someone will talk about us. 262 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:33,840 And so we need to make sure that we are willing to stand for Jesus no matter what. 263 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:34,840 But let's go on. 264 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,200 Revelation 17 verse 5 here. 265 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,040 Revelation 17 verse 5. 266 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,720 It says, and on her forehead a name was written. 267 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:44,720 This is the name. 268 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:45,720 Mystery. 269 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,640 Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. 270 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:58,100 And so we begin to see here what the Bible is prophesying about. 271 00:19:58,100 --> 00:19:59,100 What is Babylon? 272 00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:05,640 Well, last night we looked and we were reminded that Babylon is about confusion. 273 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:12,120 Babylon is about that group that's opposed to God as Jerusalem was conquered by the nation 274 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:13,920 of Babylon. 275 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:19,960 And during this time period that's represented, during this middle age time period, there's 276 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,280 religious confusion. 277 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,900 Because human authority is placed above God's authority. 278 00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:28,360 So it's Babylon the Great. 279 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:33,600 But then it also says the mother of harlots. 280 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:38,120 And so this unfaithful woman gives birth to daughters. 281 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:40,560 She's the mother of harlots. 282 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:45,320 And isn't it interesting that that church in Rome is even still today often referred 283 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,640 to as the mother church. 284 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:54,280 But what we're going to see in just a moment is that as the middle ages were coming to 285 00:20:54,280 --> 00:21:01,000 an end there would be groups of people wanting to get back to the Bible, wanting to break 286 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,040 away from this harlot that they saw. 287 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:12,380 And yet during this time the devil wanted to make sure that he continued to have them. 288 00:21:12,380 --> 00:21:16,960 And so as they were wanting to change the church of Rome, Rome wouldn't have it. 289 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,840 And so that is why people begun to break away. 290 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:26,500 And why we can look online and see hundreds and hundreds of different denominations. 291 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:33,960 And that is the beginning, the foundation, the ignition of the Protestant Reformation. 292 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:41,020 Because people were rebelling against the idea that man's word could be placed above 293 00:21:41,020 --> 00:21:42,560 God's word. 294 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:48,820 And when that Protestant Reformation, that Protestant, that protesting, that Reformation, 295 00:21:48,820 --> 00:21:53,680 that change, they wanted to bring people back to the Bible. 296 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,040 And so they had to separate. 297 00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:03,280 But sometimes that separation only went so far and we see that this woman gave birth 298 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,200 to other daughters, to other churches. 299 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:11,320 So we're going to take a moment here and we're going to trace some history. 300 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,280 We're going to go in two different directions. 301 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:19,680 We're going to trace history where the church stepped away from God. 302 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:24,240 And then we're going to thankfully reverse that and we're going to see how bit by bit 303 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,160 God brought people back to him. 304 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,520 We're going to start by going to 2 Thessalonians. 305 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,040 Second Thessalonians, we've looked at this a couple times. 306 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,520 Second Thessalonians chapter 2. 307 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,840 So kind of right in the heart of the New Testament. 308 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:45,280 Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3. 309 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:46,280 Notice what it says. 310 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,000 Let me see if I can get there. 311 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,560 Second Thessalonians chapter 2. 312 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,640 Let me get to the right one. 313 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,140 I'm at first Thessalonians. 314 00:22:55,140 --> 00:22:56,760 Chapter 2 and verse 3. 315 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:02,720 It says, let no one deceive you by any means for that day, the day of Jesus coming again 316 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:09,560 in the context, that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of 317 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,720 sin is revealed, the son of perdition. 318 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:20,480 Paul is saying that before Jesus comes, something's going to happen and God's people are going 319 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,200 to drift away, are going to fall away. 320 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:30,560 And it was even happening in Paul's life because many of the books of the New Testament are 321 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:34,480 letters that Paul wrote to churches. 322 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:39,880 And in many of those letters he's addressing different challenges, different things that 323 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,400 they were already beginning to lose sight of. 324 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:49,320 And he knew through prophecy, and prophecy proclaims that after the death of the disciples 325 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,580 and the apostles, that that would just accelerate. 326 00:23:52,580 --> 00:23:54,960 So here's some examples. 327 00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:01,320 From 100, in the 100s, 100 to 200 AD there was something called Arianism. 328 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:09,240 And that has to do with a teacher who was teaching that Jesus was not divine, that Jesus 329 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,840 was simply a man, he wasn't fully divine. 330 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:18,960 And then in 321, that's when Emperor Constantine passed that first Sunday law. 331 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:24,360 In 327 they began to bring images into the church even though the second commandment 332 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:26,400 says something different. 333 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:33,080 In 538, as we already mentioned today, church and state united and began to enforce, you 334 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,160 better do what we say. 335 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:42,960 In 590, a teaching about purgatory, some sort of in-between place between heaven and hell 336 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,200 was invented basically to raise funds. 337 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:53,760 And we go on, 850, they began to teach that Mary could be an intercessor. 338 00:24:53,760 --> 00:25:00,560 Simply doing away with the true intercessor, Jesus our only mediator and our heavenly high 339 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:01,560 priest. 340 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:08,320 And then in 1198, well now you can go and confess to a priest, to a man, instead of 341 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:13,800 going to the one that we're supposed to confess to, Jesus, and have mercy. 342 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:19,280 In 1229, the Bible is banned. 343 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:21,440 You're not supposed to have a Bible anymore. 344 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:27,760 1311, well let's introduce some different types of baptism to replace that immersion. 345 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:35,200 And finally 1480, a horrific event that begun known as the Spanish Inquisition where true 346 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:41,800 believers in what the Bible said were persecuted and that intensified and that became more 347 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,640 and more. 348 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,780 What a depressing story. 349 00:25:45,780 --> 00:25:51,760 You would think that when the Bible was banned that all hope would be lost at that point. 350 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:59,000 But the good news is that when it seems like all hope is lost, that's when God steps in. 351 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:05,640 Because as people were taken, the Bible was taken from them, it's at that time that God 352 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:11,240 began to ignite something that we refer to as the Protestant Reformation. 353 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:13,120 And so we're going to take some time now. 354 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,960 We've seen the church drifting away. 355 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,940 Let's reverse that course and let's see how God brings it back. 356 00:26:21,940 --> 00:26:26,320 And so we're going to trace down through some centuries and there's many other names that 357 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:27,640 we could mention. 358 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,480 But what about John Wycliffe? 359 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,080 John Wycliffe was a priest. 360 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:38,000 He was a parish priest and he didn't appreciate that the people, his people couldn't have 361 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,420 access to the Bible. 362 00:26:40,420 --> 00:26:44,360 They weren't allowed to have a Bible and even if they had one, it was in Latin. 363 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:46,400 Most people couldn't read Latin. 364 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:51,640 And so John Wycliffe began to translate the Bible into English. 365 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:57,680 And the fact that most of us here have an English Bible, we can say thank you to John 366 00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:58,680 Wycliffe. 367 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:03,760 He wanted to get God's Word into the people's hands because he knew that if people could 368 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,600 read the Bible that faith comes by hearing. 369 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,740 And he began to do that at the risk of his own life. 370 00:27:10,740 --> 00:27:17,480 And after John Wycliffe died, the Church of Rome realized what he had done, that he had 371 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,960 begun to get the Bible into the people's hands. 372 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,120 And so an incredible thing, they dug up his bones after he died. 373 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:29,060 They burned his bones and they threw the ashes into the river. 374 00:27:29,060 --> 00:27:30,880 Just to say we spite you. 375 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,640 We don't like what you did. 376 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:37,540 But he started that as the morning star of the Reformation. 377 00:27:37,540 --> 00:27:42,740 And then one of his followers, one of his disciples was someone named John Huss. 378 00:27:42,740 --> 00:27:44,280 And John Huss said, you know what? 379 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,880 We need to live our life according to the Bible. 380 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,520 The Bible is the highest authority. 381 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,040 And we would say, well of course it is. 382 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,140 Now we would say that. 383 00:27:54,140 --> 00:27:55,440 But in those days, no. 384 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,560 It was the authority of the Church and then the Bible. 385 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,280 And so he began to teach people, no, you need to live your life according to the Bible. 386 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:11,920 And because he did that, because he taught people that, in 1415 he was burned at the 387 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:17,280 stake simply for telling people to live their life by the Bible. 388 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:22,200 Simply for telling people that the Church doesn't change the Bible, but the Bible should 389 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,360 change the Church. 390 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:30,460 And then the 1500s, we come across someone named Martin Luther, perhaps the most famous 391 00:28:30,460 --> 00:28:32,720 of the reformers. 392 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:34,760 And let's take just a minute here. 393 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,520 I know we're a little bit late here, but let's talk about one of his stories. 394 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,160 He was also a priest, a parish priest. 395 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:47,060 He also didn't appreciate that the people didn't have access to God's Word. 396 00:28:47,060 --> 00:28:51,680 And he was one that felt no assurance in salvation. 397 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,120 He never felt like he was forgiven. 398 00:28:55,120 --> 00:29:00,440 But one day he found a Bible chained to the wall of the convent. 399 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:06,640 And he was looking through it, and there was one verse that he read that changed his life 400 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,000 and changed the world. 401 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,880 And it comes from Romans chapter 1 and verse 17. 402 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:17,080 And the verse says, the just shall live by faith. 403 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:18,840 That's a whole new concept. 404 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:25,180 The salvation is not by works, not by penance, it's not by going to a human leader, but eternal 405 00:29:25,180 --> 00:29:27,540 life comes by faith. 406 00:29:27,540 --> 00:29:30,280 Faith in Jesus as a personal Savior. 407 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:35,880 And for the first time, Luther realized that he as an individual could go to Jesus and 408 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:42,420 find forgiveness and that Jesus' perfect life would cover his sinful life. 409 00:29:42,420 --> 00:29:47,720 And as he began to proclaim that, we can look back and be thankful because we can recognize 410 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,860 that even though I have made mistakes and you have made mistakes, that when we accept 411 00:29:52,860 --> 00:29:58,640 Jesus as our Savior, his perfect life covers our life. 412 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:05,520 And that verse transformed his ministry as Luther began preaching about the cross. 413 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:11,040 Now there was someone else at that same time who had a totally different mindset. 414 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:16,920 And he believed in, in fact, his role, his job was to sell indulgences. 415 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:23,120 That if you pay enough money, you could buy your salvation or I could buy your salvation. 416 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,160 And his name was Tetzel. 417 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:30,920 And Tetzel went around trying to scare people into buying these indulgences. 418 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,200 And one day he came to Luther's town. 419 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:37,200 And how many indulgences do you think they sold? 420 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,640 They didn't sell any because Luther had been telling people, you don't need that. 421 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,940 You only need to go to the cross of Jesus. 422 00:30:43,940 --> 00:30:48,160 You only need to confess your sins before him. 423 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,640 And because of that, Martin Luther did something. 424 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,980 He wrote down 95 theses. 425 00:30:54,980 --> 00:31:00,620 Now this is not Reese's peanut butter cups, but theses, statements. 426 00:31:00,620 --> 00:31:05,520 He wrote down 95 ways that the church was in error. 427 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,720 And he went and he nailed it to the door of the church in Wittenberg. 428 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:13,000 I apologize if I'm saying that wrong. 429 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,920 Why would he nail it to the church? 430 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,560 Well because that was the community bulletin board. 431 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:23,700 That was like putting it on the internet so it could go viral. 432 00:31:23,700 --> 00:31:29,060 And as the printing press was just becoming more and more available, sure enough, it did 433 00:31:29,060 --> 00:31:30,760 go viral. 434 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:41,280 And so believe it or not, on October 31, 1517, if my math is correct, that's 507 years ago. 435 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,240 This week is when that happened. 436 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:51,000 And many people look at this as the opening day, the first day of the Protestant Reformation 437 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:57,280 because this is when those teachings begin to really get more and more popular. 438 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:03,620 And eventually Luther was called before the leaders and they wanted him to recant. 439 00:32:03,620 --> 00:32:06,400 They wanted him to turn his back on this. 440 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,320 And if he didn't, he was at risk with his life and this is what he said. 441 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:18,000 He said, unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I am 442 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,800 bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of God. 443 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:31,320 I cannot and I will not recant of anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against 444 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:32,480 my conscience. 445 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,140 May God help me. 446 00:32:34,140 --> 00:32:38,520 I cannot and I will not recant. 447 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,120 And Martin Luther ended up dying a natural death. 448 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,400 He died of old age because God was with him. 449 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:52,160 And we could talk about more and more people and we could mention more and more reformers, 450 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,600 but we don't have time to do that. 451 00:32:53,600 --> 00:33:00,500 So I'll just throw up here Roger Williams, a Baptist preacher who actually came to America. 452 00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:07,680 And he reintroduced this idea of baptism by immersion from the Anabaptists and this idea 453 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:14,320 of religious liberty as he started the colony of Rhode Island which gave even more religious 454 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,880 liberty than other colonies. 455 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,680 And what about a local Georgia boy here, John Wesley? 456 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,440 Yes, he did come and he preached in Georgia. 457 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:28,520 And he was the founder along with his brother of the Methodist Church. 458 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:35,800 And he began to talk about being born again and about walking as a disciple and overcoming 459 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:41,000 sin and how we need to systematically study the Bible. 460 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:48,240 And his classes became a forerunner of what we would refer to as Sunday school or Sabbath 461 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:49,240 school. 462 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:54,440 And then William Miller, maybe less known, but in the 1800s, again another Baptist lay 463 00:33:54,440 --> 00:34:01,060 preacher and he began to emphasize at this time people were studying the prophecies of 464 00:34:01,060 --> 00:34:03,200 Daniel and Revelation. 465 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:08,320 But people thought that Jesus wasn't coming for a thousand years or more. 466 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:09,920 But he began to say, you know what? 467 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:15,240 I think that these prophecies are saying that Jesus is coming soon. 468 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:18,440 And Jesus didn't bring these truths back all at once. 469 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:24,120 The authority of scripture, righteousness by faith, baptism, all these different things 470 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,640 because it would be too much, too fast. 471 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:33,240 But unfortunately, century by century, something happened. 472 00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:39,120 Those followers of those reformers got frozen in place. 473 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:44,840 And those that were following John Huss didn't necessarily want to follow Martin Luther. 474 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:50,360 And those who followed Martin Luther as the next person got more teachings, they became 475 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:51,360 Lutherans. 476 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,280 You know, we don't need what Roger Williams says and so forth. 477 00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:01,920 And they began to corral themselves around a leader instead of around a new truth that 478 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:04,600 was discovered bit by bit. 479 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:11,560 And we need to make sure that we are not following a leader, but that we are following God. 480 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:17,840 And so as we come through our course in history, that leads us to Revelation 12 and verse 17, 481 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,940 which we looked at last night. 482 00:35:19,940 --> 00:35:25,720 The dragon was angry, was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her 483 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:31,920 seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. 484 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:38,840 And so after that 1260 year period, when the church was hiding in the wilderness, the next 485 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:45,600 verse says that at that time, this remnant would arise, this remnant would come up and 486 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:51,980 it says it would keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. 487 00:35:51,980 --> 00:35:58,100 And as you study through church history, that's what happened in the 1800s. 488 00:35:58,100 --> 00:36:03,060 During the Middle Ages, people were forbidden to have the Bible. 489 00:36:03,060 --> 00:36:07,080 But then suddenly the Bible is being translated into different languages. 490 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:11,360 The printing press is printing more and more Bibles. 491 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:18,280 Bible societies are printing Bibles and selling Bibles so that more and more people have access 492 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:19,720 to the scripture. 493 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:25,720 And so people of different backgrounds and different denominations begin to study. 494 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:29,560 Wow, we can read the Bible for ourselves. 495 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:35,440 And so Episcopalians and Catholics and Baptists and Methodists come together and begin to 496 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:36,820 study the Bible. 497 00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:38,400 We have religious liberty. 498 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:39,720 We have the scripture. 499 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:44,640 Let's see what the Bible says instead of what tradition says. 500 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:50,900 And so a mighty movement came together as people began to rediscover these truths from 501 00:36:50,900 --> 00:36:53,680 different churches, from different places. 502 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:58,360 And it was about this time that two of the truths that we've talked about here, the soon 503 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:06,040 return of Jesus and the seventh day Sabbath began to be rediscovered, began to be found 504 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:13,280 again, because that group would keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. 505 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,480 And these Christians, as they studied the Bible, many of them went back to their churches 506 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:23,120 just like the Reformers and they wanted to bring this knowledge and change them. 507 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:31,440 But too often those folks were rejected, were disfellowshipped, were excommunicated, were 508 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,340 kicked out of their church. 509 00:37:33,340 --> 00:37:37,720 And so they began to gather together, to band together. 510 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,980 And one of the groups that came from that is none other than the Seventh-day Adventist 511 00:37:41,980 --> 00:37:48,780 Church that came just at that time that Bible prophecy was saying these truths would be 512 00:37:48,780 --> 00:37:50,460 gathered back together. 513 00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:56,720 And I think that that is a fulfillment of this as we see people standing for the Word 514 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:58,160 of God. 515 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:03,820 We see people standing to follow Jesus and not the traditions of men. 516 00:38:03,820 --> 00:38:09,240 And we can see that as God has used people in many different churches, we can see that 517 00:38:09,240 --> 00:38:15,760 yes even the Seventh-day Adventist Church fits in to this end time scenario. 518 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,400 And I want to end with a verse here, Revelation chapter 18. 519 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,280 We talked about this one last night as well. 520 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:31,280 But Revelation 18 reminds us that God has people everywhere and God calls us to come 521 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:36,920 out of religious confusion and to come and stand on the Word of God. 522 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:42,000 Revelation 18 in verse 1, it says, After these things I saw another angel coming down from 523 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:48,320 heaven having great authority and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 524 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:54,920 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. 525 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:59,800 And then verse 3 picks up and says, For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath 526 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:05,600 of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. 527 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:13,160 These false religious systems meant to confuse people, meant to uplift the traditions of 528 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:18,440 man and put down the truth of God like we saw in the church in the Middle Ages. 529 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,520 But there's an invitation. 530 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:27,360 Verse 4, I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you 531 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,960 share in her sins and lest you receive her plagues. 532 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,800 Jesus says, I have people everywhere. 533 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:43,880 I have people that are walking in different paths, but I invite them to come and to be 534 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:51,160 a part, to come out of Babylon, to come and to place yourself above these false teachings, 535 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:56,720 above these traditions, and to make sure that you are following the Word of God. 536 00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:00,640 And that is God's invitation to each one of us. 537 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:07,720 So as we close our forecasting hope series, as we close our sermon today, you've got a 538 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:08,720 card. 539 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,080 And so we've been doing this each night. 540 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:11,920 This card's a little bit different. 541 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:18,680 If you've got questions, if you've got comments, if you want to take a next step, whatever 542 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:20,360 that next step is. 543 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,300 For Mariela, her next step is to be baptized. 544 00:40:23,300 --> 00:40:25,320 Maybe that's the same for you. 545 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,700 I think there's something there that we can all check. 546 00:40:28,700 --> 00:40:36,640 I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and should be our guide. 547 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:43,700 So just prayerfully look through that and respond in the way that Jesus is leading you 548 00:40:43,700 --> 00:40:44,700 today. 549 00:40:44,700 --> 00:40:52,120 Dear God, what a story that even though people have walked down a path away from you, that 550 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:53,840 you did not abandon them. 551 00:40:53,840 --> 00:41:00,880 And that bit by bit, year by year, century by century, you have led us back to you. 552 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,120 And Lord, be with each one of us here. 553 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:08,560 Help us to recommit ourselves to you, to take the next step with you, whatever that may 554 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:09,560 be. 555 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:14,360 And Lord, we just pray that your fount of every blessing will be poured out upon us. 556 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:27,600 In your name we pray, amen.