All right, good evening everyone. I want to welcome you back to our sixth and
final presentation for Three Angels, One Message. This has been quite the journey.
We have covered so many different things. We have looked at wonderful topics. We
have looked at concerning topics, but most importantly we have seen Jesus in
the midst of all of it, and I for one have been encouraged by it. I hope you
have too. I hope if you're watching on Facebook you have been encouraged with
these as well, that maybe if this is the first time you've studied this in-depth
in this particular singular passage in the Bible, Revelation 14 verses 6 and
onwards, that you will have walked away with something. You will have walked away
with an increased faith. You will have walked away with an increased
appreciation for the book of Revelation. Maybe that's not where you typically go
the epistles from Paul are a favorite. Old Testament narratives are a favorite.
The Gospels are of course one of my favorites, but that doesn't mean that we
should stay away from Revelation. We've seen that it's rich. We've seen that it's
deep, and we've seen that it's important and vital for right now. So tonight we're
going to finish this up. We're going to have a slightly shorter, probably
noticeably shorter compared to the last two presentations. Tonight's title just
simply, Don't Worry, Look to Jesus. Let's pray before we begin. Heavenly Father, we
thank you for a beautiful Sabbath afternoon. We thank you for the rest
that we could enjoy, the fellowship with family and with friends, and so we pray
now that you would be with us as we close out today. Be with us as we look one
more time at these important passages and words from your inspired writings of
the Bible, for we pray in Jesus name, amen. Amen. One of the more significant
events of World War I was the sinking of the Cunardosian liner, the RMS
Lusitania. It occurred on Friday, May 7, 1915, as Germany waged submarine warfare
against the United Kingdom. Good evening, come on in. Great Britain, Ireland, and
the British Royal Navy had blockaded Germany. The ship was identified and
torpedoed by a German U-boat, and it sank in only 18 minutes. The vessel went down
11 miles off of Kinzale, Ireland, killing 1,198 people and leaving 761 survivors.
It's pretty tragic really by any measurement. The sinking turned public
opinion in many countries against Germany. This contributed to the American
entry into World War I, and it became an iconic symbol in military recruiting
campaigns as to why the war was even being fought to begin with. I guess this
would be World War I's Pearl Harbor, if you will. A story associated with this
disaster has relevance for Bible-believing Christians, especially
for Seventh-day Adventists living in last days of human history. Lord Joseph
Duveen was the head of a prestigious art firm in the United States. In 1915, he
planned to send one of his experts to England to examine some ancient pottery.
He booked passage for his associate on the Lusitania. The German Embassy had
issued a warning that the ocean liner might be torpedoed. Lord Duveen wanted to
call off the trip. I can't take the risk of you being killed, he said to his young
pottery expert. Generally, if a country that is waging war with so many other
nations says, I might torpedo that boat if it comes this way, one should probably
listen. So you can hardly fault Lord Duveen for not wanting his young
associate on that ship with the looming threat. Don't worry, the young man
replied. I am a strong swimmer. When I read what was happening in the Atlantic,
I began hardening myself by spending time every day in a tub of ice. If you've
ever done any of this, I mean that's common for like athletes, you know,
they're sore, they get in that ice bathtub at the end and it helps with the
inflammation and so on. I could not do that, at least not initially. This man was
taking the initiative though. He says that at first I could stand it for only
a few minutes, but this morning I stayed in that tub for nearly two hours. A long
time. I don't know how you kept that ice frozen, seems like it would have melted
off and become a little bit more tepid, but he was conditioning himself, he says.
Naturally Lord Duveen laughed, it sounded preposterous, but the young man sailed,
the Lusitania was torpedoed, we know. The amazing thing is that the young man was
rescued after five hours in the chilly waters of the Atlantic, still in
excellent condition. Just as this young man took the warnings seriously and
prepared himself in advance for the tough times that were coming, so Jesus
gives a message in advance to prepare us for his soon return. We've studied them.
It has been our focus for these previous five presentations. The three angels
message, flying in midair with the everlasting gospel to preach to
everybody on the planet, is especially designed by Christ to prepare each one
of us for his second coming. It is, and it's a way of preparing us in the
most vital of senses, whose allegiance do we pledge ourselves to? Is it to God
in Christ, or is it to something else? These end time messages are heaven's last
appeals to a dying planet. I'm gonna be honest, I'm kind of ready for the planet
to kick the bucket. If it's dying, it might as well get over it because I'm
sick of the results of sin. I'm tired of it. The hurricane, as they are, I'm sure
they will be finding lost loved ones as they clean up from this hurricane. As we
have earthquakes and we have riots that turn violent, as we have the various
increases in crime and overdoses and loneliness and depression, all of it
comes to an end when Jesus returns. Come Lord Jesus is my cry. But before then, we
have to listen to God's last appeal. We ignore them at our own peril. They come
to us from God's heart of divine love and to casually set them aside or to
treat them with careless indifference is to risk eternal loss. We are not playing
around with light semantics or hyperbole with this my friends. It is this
important. Paul writing to the church in Thessalonica writes this, but you
brethren are not in darkness so that this day, that would be the day of Christ's
return, that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and
sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not
sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober. There is much talk in
evangelical Christianity about Christ's return coming as a thief. Paul is telling
us that we should not be caught as a thief. Christians should know when it's
coming. Christians should be looking for his coming. Christians should be prepared
for Christ's coming so that it doesn't catch us as a thief. The Christians who
are looking for Jesus to come as a thief are the Christians who aren't looking at
all. That's what this amounts to. We have no excuse Paul says. We are not of the
night. We should not be asleep. We should be prepared for it. These messages help us
do that. They should be a wake-up call. If you have found yourself spiritually
slumbering and these messages have been that ringing in your ears, wake up and
pay attention, praise God for these messages. We should thank him for it. They
are of little use if we hit the snooze button and carelessly dismiss them. They
are of little use if we ignore them. They are of little use if they do not
radically change our lives. We read this from Testimonies Volume 8 commenting on
the nearness of Christ's return and the importance of being prepared. The end is
very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break
upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. Note that the surprise breaks
upon the world. We who are prepared are not going to be caught as if we were
overwhelmingly surprised. That's for them, not for us she says. Well how do we do
that? Jesus in John 17 says, you sanctify them by your truth. Your word is
truth. That's where we start our preparation. We start by digging into the
truth of God's word. He also says, and you shall know the truth and then the truth
shall make you free. I have heard people say that it's better that I don't read
the Bible so then I can claim the bliss of ignorance. God winks at us in our
moments of ignorance. Well my friends, if you choose to be ignorant, you are
choosing the opposite of freedom. If you choose the ignorance, then you are
choosing to be what the Bible says as a slave to sin rather than a bond servant
to Christ. Because when you are linked up with Jesus, only then can you truly be
free. Because the truth that we find in him is liberating. It's restful. It's
peaceful. It says I've forgiven you and not only that but I've cleansed you from
the unrighteousness. The truth that we find in Jesus, the truth that we've
studied through these passages, that we've seen that the gospel permeates
each of these angels messages, is that it will bring us to a place where
we can have hope in something beyond this world. We can have something higher
than us. But what it also means is that these messages don't leave room for
compromise. They don't. Because we either have the truth as it is in Jesus or we
don't have truth at all. We've looked at Babylonian truth and that's really
truth mixed with error. Compromised truth. Confusion. These messages appeal to
us to decide for Christ and not falsehood. Truth not error. Scripture not
tradition. The teachings of God's Word and not the traditions of men and the
freedom of the Lamb, not the coercion of the beast. That's what these messages
call us to. When you have allied yourself to Christ, not turned aside by any means
but wholly consecrated to Him in His service, then you are proudly displayed
as one of His saints. And God wants to show you off. Here is the patience of the
saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus. In your own way, when you are found among these people, in your own way
you will pick up the banner long held by faithful Christians throughout history.
You don't have to be the street corner preacher or the the evangelist who
stands on the stage. You don't have to be the writer just going at it for
hundreds and hundreds of pages to be published and scattered abroad like the
leaves in autumn. If that's not you, that's okay. Maybe you're a prayer warrior.
Maybe you're someone who serves and you you like to rake leaves as a gift to
someone else free of charge. Because then you can tell them about how God saved
you free of charge. In your own way, when you are counted among the saints, you
will pick up the banner long held by faithful Christians throughout history.
And in your own way, you will add your voice to the proclamation chorus. You
don't have to be like someone else. Be like you. That's enough for God and He
wants to proudly put you on display. Truths long obscured by the darkness of
error and tradition, including the true Bible Sabbath, will be proclaimed to the
world just before the return of our Lord. God's people are identified as a body of
Christ-centered believers, filled with the faith of Jesus who lovingly keep
His commandments, including the fourth one, the Sabbath. God's people, though,
will not be proclaiming the gospel alone. God's people will not be facing
persecution alone. God will move mightily among His people to combat the enemy of
souls because there's going to come a time when God will say enough to that
enemy. Enough! You've ruled long enough, sir! That's what God will say to Satan.
You see, the three angels of Revelation 14 are joined by another in Revelation
18. Revelation 18, this angel gives power to the proclamation of the three angels
so that the earth is lighted with the glory of God. Revelation 18 focuses on
the major events leading up to the climax of human history and the final
ultimate triumph of the gospel. Let's look at these briefly. Revelation 18 in
verse 1, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven with great
authority and the earth was illuminated with his glory. Illuminated, mighty,
powerful was this angelic host. The angel comes down from the glorious presence of
God in the throne room of the sanctuary. Commissioned to proclaim God's last
message of mercy and to warn the inhabitants of the earth what is coming
upon this planet. If we look just for a moment about this great authority, the
great authority here in this verse comes from the New Testament Greek word
excusia. Jesus uses this word, this very word, excusia in the gospel of
Matthew in connection with sending out the disciples. Let's see how Jesus uses
it then. Matthew 10, 1, when he had called his 12 disciples to him he gave them power,
excusia over sicknesses, other maladies and cripplings, but hear this, and over
the evil spirits so they could cast them out of the men and women possessed by
the devil. In other words, God ascends his disciples out with the divine power to
be victorious in the battle between good and evil. Satan and his demonic forces
could not stand before the disciples because God, because Jesus had given
them his excusia, his great authority, his holy power. And so when they said get
out of her in the name of Jesus Christ or get out of him, the spirits obeyed.
They didn't have a choice. They could not stand up to the authority from on high. In
Matthew 28, 18, and 19 he once again takes up this word, excusia, as he sends
out his disciples, but this time he sends them everywhere because that is the
Great Commission. Everywhere with all authority in heaven and on earth to go
and to make disciples of all nations. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit,
going forth with the authority of the risen living Christ, the New Testament
Church lighted the earth with the glory of God. In a few short years, the
disciples had proclaimed the gospel in the then known world. We know, we know,
that there were civilizations in far-off Asia and South America and I'm certain
North America at that point. In terms of the scope of the Christian movement, in a
couple of short years, the Christian faith had gone throughout the mightiest
empire on the planet at that time. The seat of development at that time, Western
Europe, the Middle East and then up into the Roman Empire. That's what we mean by
the then known world. Colossians 1.23, Paul makes this clear. At the end time,
the Holy Spirit will be poured out in unprecedented power. The gospel will
rapidly be spread to the ends of the earth. What we will, what we did see back
then, that will be repeated again right before Jesus comes back. That same
excuse you, that same authority is going to be given to God's people today as we
take up that banner and proclaim the gospel like the disciples did. Thousands
will be converted in a day. God's grace and truth will impact the entire planet.
Well, if this is true, and it is, if it is true, and it is, it is not wise for us to
open our hearts to receive, or is it not wise for us to open our hearts to receive
the outpouring of the Spirit to finish the work of God on earth. Again, aren't we
tired of Satan wreaking havoc amongst God's people? Would you like to help move
it along and tie it up with a bow? God wants you to join him in this. Is it not
wise to ask Jesus to take anything out of our lives that would hinder this
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, whatever it is, and everybody usually has at least
one thing that we can, we can self-reflect on and say, I'd kind of like
that scrubbed. Could a magic eraser be taken to it and Mr. Clean applied?
Spiritually speaking, we understand. Is it not wise to seek God for the heart
cleansing necessary to receive the latter rain of the Spirit in all his
fullness? The great controversy between good and evil in the universe is about
God's honor. The only reason we care about worship is because it honors God
when we worship him. You can't divorce them. It is about God's honor, his
reputation. Satan, as a rebellious angel, declared that God was unjust, that he
demands worship, but he gives little in return. The evil one declares that God's
law is arbitrary, restricting our freedom and limiting our joy, and people pick up
those same accusations today verbatim and they hurl them heavenward all over
again. It hasn't stopped just because time has passed. In fact, there are just
now more people on the planet to pick up the chorus. But the cross, Jesus
self-sacrificing, condescension from heaven to earth as a baby, a life serving
others, a ministry directing minds heavenward, finally outstretched hands
and bleeding wrists and feet and brow, the cross, that old rugged cross, that
proved the myth. It proved the lie to be a lie because when he came forth in glory
from that tomb, resurrected and made majestic again, he demonstrated just how
far God's love would go in self-sacrifice, contrary to the lie, to
redeem fallen humanity. It exposed the myth of Satan. On the
cross, Jesus answered Satan's charges and he demonstrated that God is loving and
just. Well, God's people charmed by that love, concerned about God's honor, his
end-time people will reveal his glory. That's what we are to reveal, his loving
self-sacrificing character. We're to reveal it to a self-centered, godless
world. The earth is illuminated by the character of God when we do that. What a
wonderful calling. I can't imagine a more noble cause to be involved in than to
demonstrate the character, the glory of God to others. That's awesome. That's
certainly better than displaying your favorite brand of t-shirt or your
favorite sports team, even if we like sports. Oh, show people God. Show people
love. Show people his glory and his character. That's a noble calling. Moses
had asked God to show him his glory back in Exodus 33 and God replied with, I will
make all my goodness pass before you. And so in addition to physically showing
himself, just a portion of his backside, it's all sinful humanity could behold.
God declared himself. When he says, my goodness is going to pass before you, he
then goes on to say, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and just, and just,
forgiving the sinner. He declared his character and he equated that with his
glory as God's goodness is his character. At the end time, the Holy Spirit will be
poured out in unprecedented power. The gospel will rapidly be spread to the
ends of the earth and God's people will be filled and the earth then will be
filled with the glory of God when we are so completely overwhelmed with his love,
when we so totally comprehend its depth and so fully grasp how amazing that
grace is that our characters are changed by that redeeming love. When we
exemplify that, then the earth is filled with the glory of God. As the Apostle
John declares in 1st John 3, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
on us, that we should be called the children of God. There are a lot of
titles that people strive for today. I would encourage every one of us to strive
for this child, or for this title, a child of God, a son or a daughter of the most
high. Revealing his love in our personal lives reveals his glory, his character.
Ellen White says this in January 28 of 1893, the message of Christ's righteousness
is to sound from one end of the earth to the other. The message of Christ's
righteousness is to sound from one end of the earth to the other. That's the
proclamation of the gospel. This is the glory of God which closes the work of
the third angel. It's so connected to the messages that we have been studying, you
cannot divorce them. So let us ask, where are we in the stream of time? Where are
we in the great panorama of last-day events? When you read through the books
of Daniel and Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel even has connections to today. If you look
through Revelation and what Paul talks about in Thessalonians 1 and 2 about
the end times, what Peter talks about, John calling out the Antichrist, all of
those macro discussions about the end times. Where are we? Where are we in the
march of history? Well my friends, we are poised on the verge of a religious,
political, and an economic union. This union is one that is unholy, it is
unsanctified of God because inevitably or ultimately it will be used to
persecute God's people. This unholy union of religion, politics, and economics will
be used to bring God's people to heal. That's where we are and I do believe
that we are on the verge of it. I do believe and we've presented some
evidence to support this, that a lot of the groundwork is being laid for, again,
I believe rapid movements in this direction. The accumulated figures of
sin are rapidly reaching their limit in God's record book. His grace lasts long
towards this earth and I believe our sins are just piling high exponentially
today. It's rather startling. God is preparing a people to proclaim the
marvels of His grace, the greatness of His love, the goodness of His character,
the righteousness of His law, and the beauty of His truth. Bathed in His
righteousness, God's people are justified by His grace and sanctified through His
power. They love His truth, live His truth, and then we proclaim His truth.
That's what God's people do and He is preparing us for that today. Can we say
like Paul, for me to live is Christ? For me to count all things but loss for
Christ. Christ is our all in all. Do you care not for earthly fame or human
accolades? Position, prestige, and earthly praise. Does it mean little to you? Is
this your catchphrase, if you will? For me to live is Christ. Are you empowered by
His Spirit? Do you proclaim His love and share His grace? Well, the earth will then
be lighted with the glory of the character of God when this is your
battle cry. For me to live is Christ. The Holy Spirit is poured out in lather rain
power. Hearts are touched, lives are changed, the world is reached, and Jesus
comes again. I look forward to that day. I do. The title for tonight's presentation
is just don't worry, look to Jesus. It's very simple and it's very true. We aren't
going to go into all of everything that proves that Jesus is going to come back
in the ample evidence in the Bible. It's so saturated with it. I would encourage
you to study on your own, but Jesus is coming back soon and we should be
prepared for it. Look to Him, focus on Him, and a lot of the other cares will
start to fade out of the periphery. It's very true. The story goes like this many
years ago. Lord Cecil, a first cousin of the late Queen Victoria, was converted
to Christ. His life was dramatically changed as many lives are after being
converted to a faith in Jesus Christ. He now had a burning passion to share the
Christ who had done so much for Him. Has Christ done so much for you? It's worth
asking. Lord Cecil's one desire was to preach the gospel. He traveled to
North America, he spent much of his time in Canada, he shared the love of Christ
everywhere he went, in large cities, in remote villages, among farmers, in the
lumber camps, and in quiet seaside towns. He was a man who knew what he wanted to
do, and everywhere he went, he did it. Let me tell you about Jesus. Lord Cecil
tells the story of one day passing the house of a man whom he knew was
once a Christian, but had seriously drifted away from Christ. Maybe we know
someone like that. Maybe we are someone like that, or have been. It's a relatable
story for many, many people. Lord Cecil saw the man at his woodpile,
industriously chopping wood for his cook stove. Knowing the man to be a
backslider, one who had once been a faithful witness for his Savior, but now
was no longer attending church, Lord Cecil paused and shouted to him a
simple sermon. The Lord is coming brother, the Lord is coming. He said no more, and
he continued walking. A simple sermon. Well the admonition of the Lord is
coming burned its way into that man's soul. The words reached the core of his
being. Like a two-edged sword, it pierced his heart. His conscience smote him. These
words echoed again and again in his mind. The Lord is coming. It seemed he could
not forget them. That urgent appeal from God's servant that the coming of the
Lord was near so impressed the man that he recommitted his life to Christ and
he returned to church. Living in the light of the second coming of Christ is
powerful and it changes lives. My friends, the Lord is coming. The Lord is coming.
Friend, the Lord is coming. Are you ready for his return? Are you ready for that
day when Jesus will stream down the corridors of heaven, splitting open the
eastern sky, riding on a cloud of angels, singing his praise. This time not as a
lamb to the slaughter but as a king conquering and victorious. Glorified, not
bloodied. He is coming to take his own back home. Will you be found among them?
Look to Jesus, my friends. Are you ready for the day when the earth will be
lightened with the glory of God? Do you want to help in lightening the earth
with the glory of God? This world is on a collision course and there is only one
hope. The hope of the coming of Jesus. We look forward to that day and I pray that
as we do, you don't worry but you look to Jesus. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we
thank you so much for these encouraging words. We thank you that even though
there seems to be so much chaos and noise all around us, we can find the
solace in you. So Lord, I pray for that peace from on high. I pray for the
presence of your Holy Spirit. I pray that we as your people will be prepared for
your soon return so that we look at you with open and welcoming arms. Not
something to fear. Certainly not a day that should catch us unawares. Lord, may
we be faithful to you through to the end and may we also in our own way proclaim
the Lord is coming to any who would hear. As we pray in Jesus name, Amen.
That does conclude our series. I want to thank you for attending. We've had some
things, I think several of us have made every one. That's very good. If I had gold
stars, I don't. I told you we would have a Q&A time. There might be a possibility
of someone looking online. If anyone is watching us live, you can type into the
chat box a question and we'll do our best to read it out and include it. I
wanted to kick us off with something. I wanted to kick us off with a verse that
comes right after the passage that we've been studying. Most people when they talk
about the three angels messages, they talk about Revelation 14 verses 6 to 12.
Rightfully so. It's a great place to end. It kind of leads right up to it. It's
kind of a crescendo. It's the patience of the saints, those who keep the
commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and so on. It's a beautiful way of
doing it. I like to also include in that verse 13. I want to lead into it by
saying that I really don't know why very many people preach on it. Maybe you've
read it and you've wondered about it. Maybe you've looked at it and you said,
I don't really know what to think about it. So I want to give it a minute or two's
consideration. It reads like this, and I heard a voice from heaven. This
is after, immediately after. Here is the patience or the endurance of the saints,
those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Right after
that we have, I heard a voice from heaven saying, right this, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed says the Spirit that they may
rest from their labors for their deeds follow them. I came to that one day and
I've read it several times and usually I just kind of skip past it. For the most
part if you are reading a three angels message you just get to 12 and you're
like, I'm done. But this comes right on the heels of, here's the description of
God's saints and then it's, and then it's blessed are those who die, yeah right
there, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Well it seems like
an interesting thing to follow after. Here are the saints who do all of these
things. Here's why I think it is there.
John is writing at a time shortly after Paul was addressing concerns. Revelation
was most likely the last book of the Bible ever written. It was probably
written around a hundred AD-ish, right before the Apostle John died. Before that
Paul had all of his writings. Well in one of Paul's epistles he talks about, he
talks to the people, he writes to the church, then they are obviously concerned
with loved ones dying. And he goes, well take heart, hold on, and then he talks
about the resurrection, right. That's the context. Hold on, you don't have to lose
heart, you are not ignorant of what happens when people die because the
resurrection, all right. There will come a day we'll all be reunited and caught up
in the air, and those if you live until Jesus comes back you're not going to go
ahead of your dead loved ones, we all get to go together. That's the
errant, tralfa paraphrase. You know John is probably dealing with something
similar a couple of years after Paul, where people are still maybe concerned
one, that Jesus hadn't come back. They believed in the early church that in
that singular generation Jesus was going to go to heaven, maybe hang out for a
year or five or ten, and come right back. The Bible writes about Christ's return
as imminent and also be patient for it. They focused on the imminence of it, and
they believed that to be now, my generation. They also believed that
there was a little bit of Greek misunderstanding with things, that
there wasn't perhaps a resurrection. Paul handled that. John writes, you know, at
the ending of the first century AD, and I'm sure some Christians
were still concerned that their loved ones were dying and Jesus hadn't come
back. What is going on, John? So he writes after the description of the saints,
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, that they may rest from
their labors for their deeds follow them. In other words, it is sad when we lose a
loved one, but if someone dies with the faith of Jesus, that won't be the last
time we get to see them. That faith follows them. God remembers them in the
grave. He knows them by name, and those deeds, if you will, the keeping, the
deeds being the keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, those two
things would be counted as deeds. That follows them through time, however long
time takes to pass, and then Jesus comes back and they get resurrected. I have
heard it said before that God in His mercy is going to allow some saints of
His to fall asleep in death so that they don't have to go through the tough
persecution times of the end. That it's gracious of God to let His loved ones
die the death of sleep knowing that He knows them by name, that their faith
stays with them through the grave, and they will be resurrected. The next
thing they know, they're just going to see Jesus and angels and everyone's
shouting hallelujah, and here we go and off you go.
That's, you know, we have this, we have sometimes this notion that we bend all of
our energies in keeping people alive and alive and alive and alive. I think
sometimes we lose the nobility or the possible nobility in giving them a
gracious death. Sometimes it's better to just allow someone to die keeping this
part in mind, because when a heavenly angel says blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from now on, why should I look to violate that? I've kind of been
convicted of that. That's not to say that we're looking to, we don't want it to end
prematurely, we're not saying that, but we are keeping things in the context of
how Scripture tells us to treat death. It is very sad. We don't mean to diminish
the sadness of losing a loved one. I went through that just this last year when
when my last grandfather passed away, so I don't have a grandparent alive anymore.
That's a whole generation gone for me and my family. It was very sad, you know,
we cried, we mourned, you know, we visited and we reminisced, but this is, this
right here was the passage that I preached on for his memorial service,
because Paul also says that we should comfort one another with the words of
the resurrection. So that's, I actually think we should give it a little bit
more consideration than we do perhaps at the back end of these these passages, so
I wanted to start off the Q&A section with that. I'm going to turn it over now,
do we have anything, don't have anything online? That's fine, is there anyone here
who has a question?
A special resurrection?
Before Jesus comes, before he died, he told to the people that crucified him that this,
that when he's gonna come back for second time, they're gonna see him again.
Yes.
So I heard some preacher says that this applied to that, because it's supposed,
according to the Bible, in the second, no, the first day, the first
resurrection, I mean, is when Jesus is coming back, right? But there's gonna be
special people that is gonna resurrect a little bit before he's coming to fulfill
that prophecy that Jesus said.
Okay, so we've heard that there is a special resurrection for some people,
you've heard it applied to the verse that we just discussed. Here's, I don't
believe that, right up front, I don't think that's the case. Here's why I don't
think that's the case. The verse that we just studied says, blessed are those who
die in the Lord, right? In other words, those would be saints, okay? Jesus told
the Pharisees, those that went out of their way to condemn and crucify him, that
you will see the Son of Man returning back, right? Coming in glory, right? Okay.
That one could not imagine that the Pharisees who were the guiltiest of them
all for crucifying the Son of God would then be called blessed in another part of
the Bible, okay? The Bible talks about two resurrections. You have a second,
that's the one that's actually called a second, which means you automatically
apply first to the other ones. You have two main resurrections in the Bible. One
are the righteous, that's the first resurrection. The righteous are raised to
dead and then they are in their glorified bodies, reunited with the living
righteous. They are caught up together in the air and then they join Jesus and off
they go. That's the first resurrection. The Bible then accounts for a thousand
years, a millennia. Time will pass. We come back to earth with the new Jerusalem
and then you have the second resurrection. That would be for the wicked,
the unrighteous. They are raised back to life to face their judgment. Their
reward, if you will, for having been wicked and pledging their allegiance to
the enemy of souls rather than the life giver. The Bible doesn't tell us how
long time passes. I actually believe that some time passes between the second
resurrection and the lake of fire, but that's when the final judgment scene
occurs in the Bible. So two resurrections. Jesus in a special way does tell
these Pharisees that they will get to see him return in glory. There's some
debate over whether that means that they will see him and the new Jerusalem and
everybody returning in glory at the second resurrection or if it means that
for that subset of people because their sin was that egregious in condemning the
son of man to die and lying about him and so on that they will be resurrected as
a part of the first resurrection but not to glory only to see Jesus glorified
because the last time that they saw him he was bleeding and bruised and so on. So
in other words it would be a very specific and very unique circumstance for
that small subset of humans because they just kept saying you're not God, you're
not God, you're not God and they got everybody else to rally around that and
he'll go well you'll get to see but that seems to be restricted to that. It
certainly wouldn't apply to this because that would not be a blessed
a blessed thing. Anything else? Paul says no he's got it all figured out. He's
gonna write books. Alright is there anything I mean it doesn't even have to
be about these passages is there some other spiritual question or end time
events things or so on and so forth? Yes. So I had a good friend pass away last
week childhood friends with a bunch of friends with that and so through
conversation and everybody's Catholic and every you know I kept hearing well
he's in heaven and in all these things and I was so to the point where I didn't
know when or what to say on this when I heard this and talked about it because
it was talked about you know that was their comfort and so I was just
wondering when is a good time to actually discuss the state of the dead
and what have you with some of my friends. I don't know what you know where
to go from there I never I never counted this at my time where I am right now
yeah wanting to I want to say is because we're we're we're talking to friends I'm
talking to friends I haven't even talked to in a while and from and it just
seems like it's almost like an opportunity that's in front of me to
take that this whole scenario further beyond you know just what's happening
now so so I wait a while do I do this what I mean I don't even know
generally speaking the worst time to do an apologetic study on the state of the
dead is when people are mourning the dead that's the worst time to do it why
because when when the state of the dead what happens when you die the biblical
teaching that people are resting in a sleep-like state unconscious not with a
detached ethereal spirit that goes somewhere else continuing on in
consciousness but the Bible does say that that the dead know nothing they
don't return to their house their thoughts perish with them their emotions
perish with them God knows them but that's it that's how the Bible talks
about it that that we get to go to heaven at the first resurrection that's
what the Bible says if you believe otherwise though if you do believe that
when you die and you go to heaven because I mean really how many people go
to hell when they die if you believe that your your friend your loved one
goes to heaven when he dies and then you sit down and you say let me tell you
what the Bible says just like that you have yanked someone's best friend right
out of heavenly halls and right into the dirt when you are mourning a person and
you're remembering and you're reflecting on them that is not the time to do that
that takes a lot of reconfiguring a worldview spiritually speaking so we
we on that category if there are differences of understanding we comfort
one another in the faith that the person had in Jesus we comfort one another in
knowing that we will be reunited with them again in heaven we take solace in
some of the common ground that we do have and then you let some time pass and
then maybe bring it up in a future conversation but in the moment is really
one of the easiest ways to turn someone away from studying the Bible is if
they're mourning and they're working through it and you go well on top all of
that let me up in your worldview and that's basically what that would be yeah
yeah no I and I don't disagree and someone may come to that your friends
may come to that in the moment of mourning is what I'm saying is when it's
it's usually not the time that they're going to be comforted yeah yeah yeah
yeah no I would I would I would say I would say prayerfully ask that the Holy
Spirit grant you the discernment and the opportunity to take advantage of the
next moment when it comes you don't have to wait forever seven years maybe too
long but the next time it rolls around if you are praying each day God I want a
chance to offer the hope that how the Bible says death is one let the
opportunity come and then to help me to take advantage of it in a loving and
kind and gracious way God God will answer those kinds of prayers so so be
praying for that pray and pray and pray is the best thing but for them to be
talking to somebody out of town you can't really communicate that well over
the phone unless the spirit wants you to yeah that is I mean I'm you know if
your friends are you know maybe you need to get on on zoom or FaceTime that
usually is a little bit better than than just over the phone but again if the
opportunity presents itself and the Holy Spirit speaks then then by all means
take advantage of it where they in New York some of them okay what do you see
going on there Kevin nothing oh no oh okay a pause is okay what is the
church's belief for when the three angels messages like have come to pass
like we believe that they've already come to pass but then the second angel
says Babylon is fallen but it hasn't technically fallen yet right so how
what's the timeline of the three right so one in English is fallen is is like a
completed action okay in the Greek you can phrase things where it's it is an
action that has started and then it continues until completion so it would
be like falling it's just not it's not translated falling because it's probably
not a preposition is it the preposition no it's not the preposition blanking on
it see Greek was always tough for me something like that yeah yeah the
present continual way of writing things so you don't do in that sense that takes
a different form but it still kind of denotes a starting and an ongoing
traditionally the Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that the the three angels
messages in their importance in their end time relevance in their uniqueness
for the Seventh-day Adventist Church kind of kicked off in the early part of
the 1800s we believe that that I believe it was the first angel we believe you
don't you don't pinpoint dates for these things but we believe that the first
angel was a part of the early Miller right movement because that really was a
call back to a better understanding of what it is to to fear God to look for
his return to kind of like we need to get out of this this relative lethargy
that we are in and get going then shortly after the disappointment when
the Seventh-day Adventist Church or when the people who are yes disappointed but
they were still trying to figure out things all of a sudden the light about
the Sabbath the light about food reform the light about what happens when you
die the light about the sanctuary and heaven the light about all these other
things in other words it's bringing clarity back into what had been
confusion that's the second angel so we believe that roughly the timing of the
second angel applies to the back end of the Miller right movement and the early
Adventist movement so that that's kind of when a lot of those things that long
believed and long understood but also long forgotten we're coming right back
to the forefront and then as we kept preaching on the Sabbath as we kept
preaching on some of these other doctrines and we looked around and we're
like well we've got blue laws on the books you know those blue laws many
states many local areas still have Sunday blue laws that require businesses
to be closed you can't do laundry you can't do this you can't do that they're
just simply not enforced well as our church saw those and and really they had
a lot of pushback on the Sabbath message early on the second and the second
angels message really rolls into the third rather quickly and rather
seamlessly because if you're saying that religious confusion is falling and we
should get out of it well quickly if you're if you're pointing a finger and
saying don't do that well the institutions that are involved in that
aren't going to generally take that kindly and so then they're going to say
well you need to stop it hush down be quiet get in line etc etc so then that
would be the third angel you know we believe that while they had kind of a
rough starting point in that in the in the early mid 1800s they don't actually
end until Christ comes back that that is an ongoing process until Jesus returned
the reason why it's fairly unique to Seventh-day Adventism one no one else
preaches on it I've talked to people out of the Church of Christ out of Baptist
Catholics certainly don't preach on a Methodist don't preach on it I don't
know another denomination that preaches from these passages certainly in the way
that we do not with the urgency not with the detail not with the personal
application to God's people as a message in preparation for Christ's return very
unique to Seventh-day Adventism does that answer your question okay I heard
it mentioned today I'll go ahead I don't want to with that in mind thinking about
this the true Sabbath and how that's gonna become clear to everybody in the
world what do you think that's gonna look like for people who have worshiped
on Sunday their entire life it's hard for me to kind of wrap my head around
that idea that they're going to understand that they've been wrong all
of this time and how is that going I mean what do you think I mean it's
just it's just conjecture I know but what do you think it's gonna look like
because I have a lot of I have a lot of family that are Sunday keepers I
grew up a Sunday keeper so I just I'm curious as to what that light bulb
moment is going to be yeah because we're guessing we're guessing on a lot of this
one reason why I believe it's so important we preach on it is because one
there are millions of Seventh-day Adventists around the globe that are
preaching on this and and then in addition to that our radio waves are
going everywhere our pamphlets are going everywhere is getting to a point where
ignorance is tough to claim in our own personal lives the reason why I believe
we should at least at least reference it at least live it out faithfully is
because as we get closer to a time of a deciding point and that deciding point
is probably going to be when you start to hear chatter like the world is such a
hot mess we can all get we we should all have a rest day it'll give the the
environment a break it'll help the families they're a mess it will help our
mental psyche everybody is depressed and anxious right now it will do all of that
oh by the way look at this everybody's already you know keeping the same day
let's just do that when it comes to that when you actually start to hear the
legislation I believe that's going to be an attention grabber for the individuals
that have just kind of been hearing it all these years and not yet making a
choice because then they will look at it and go ah I remember so-and-so telling
me that this might happen one day and I know I kind of dismissed it but here it
is you know today it is it sounds crazy to say that that some of these things
are going to happen five years ago three years ago it sounded crazy to suggest
that because of a virus everyone was going to be forced to stay home three
years ago that was crazy talk that the government was just going to make you
stay home over a pandemic we've had pandemics no one was ever forced to stay
home before like that you know from sea to shining sea now we know what happens
so so I mean that's really not a big surprise anymore if people want to
suggest it right now it sounds like it could be crazy to think you know
worship could be forced but like I proposed in a previous message if they
can make you stay home to worship why can't they also make you go on that day
to worship I mean they've already demonstrated that they will enforce a
type of worship all we've got to do is expand that into the next arena I don't
and I believe that that that it's going to come out basically the mark of the
beast is the culminating focal point of decision that's what it is because when
a legislation is passed people have to choose do I keep with the legislation
the legislation because they say so or do I recognize that it violates a
freedom of conscience and I need to look at this a little bit more why are they
asking me to violate a freedom of conscience if you all you if all you do
is ask the question why are they asking me to violate this then you might be led
into something else I just encourage people to ask the question sometimes and
again if we are faithfully sharing that message someone's gonna go hey I've heard
this before I've talked to some the back burner but it seems to seems to be
coming up we've got the microphone here and then I think I saw a hand here and
then we'll go backwards okay so we'll go in that order so just keeping with that
topic you know we all have friends and family that that we know that you know
our Sunday keepers a lot of folks I know family included our Catholics you know
you just said there at the end that that there's going to be a point where
there's legislation put in place that you're gonna be forced to you know to
keep Sunday or whatnot and and at that point the decision needs to be made or
need to ask questions or whatever and and the mark of the beast comes into
play there okay look right now maybe there are legislation but nobody keeps
it or you know it's very loosely kept but you know I guess my question is you
know folks that are are keeping Sunday or you know use of this tradition that
they've known their whole life maybe have heard about the Sabbath right you
know I'm thinking my family they know something about the Sabbath because of
us they may not know at all right some may some folks that we've had deep
discussions with may know about the Sabbath and for whatever reason haven't
chosen to follow the Sabbath or you know just stayed with their tradition that
they're used to their whole life my question there is is the mark of the
beast in play there so the mark of the beast is not in play right now I'd
firmly unequivocally believe that to be the case right now in the United States
you can freely go on Sunday through Saturday whichever day you want to
worship you can claim that as your day of worship and you can go and you're
allowed to do so so so no you know that's that's not the point that we're
at right now people who are following in their traditions what we understand is
if you are aware of a truth and you choose to ignore the truth the longer
you ignore it the less sensitive you become to it right that's why we
encourage to regularly kind of bring it up because each time you bring it up
that reintroduces it we don't have to be rude about this but in a kind way if we
are bringing it up or if we are demonstrating faithfully each time we do
that that places it right in front of a person at least as an FYI which means
that as time passes and things get much more difficult than they are right now
we prayerfully hope that they will remember each of those moments we placed
it in front of them that's what we that's what we remember the reason why
and and here's the mark of the beast as a deciding moment is not for I would say
it's not for people like you and I right now for those of us who are sitting here
and we are listening to these things and maybe we have already pledged ourselves
to faithful worship of the Creator God the mark of the beast is not going to be
that we will have we will have gotten to that point and we shouldn't be making
our decision then right now we're making our decisions and then we're trying to
strengthen our faith in those decisions that's the best process when I talk
about that will be like a culminating deciding point will be for people who are
still just kind of kind of just going about their days they're going through
the motions they're doing their traditions maybe they've listened maybe
they've studied maybe they've dug into it and I go well maybe you know not for
today this seems at the mark of the beast as as a final deciding point is
for people like that yeah there aren't there aren't any consequences the only
the only consequence that I would see right now is you do slowly start to
callous you callous yourself against the spirits prompting each time that
biblical truth is set before you and right now we're using the Sabbath as the
example but fill in the blank with any other biblical truth each time the truth
is laid before us and we go I get it but not today we callous ourselves just a
little bit that's why when we when we talked to this morning about the slow
compromises that get us to a point of failing the devil rarely hits us with
the largest big we are not offering up you know living people before a statue of
Baphomet the first day as a as a as a temptation you know we may never get
there but the devil doesn't care you know he cares that we give up something
no matter how small it is because that does callous us to the Holy Spirit's
promptings so that's it is it is tough and I've got family you know I would
love for some of my family to come around to things to what I of course
accept as Bible truth I wouldn't be the pastor in an Adventist church otherwise
but I accepted I would love for them to one it's true two I do believe that it
is more freeing than some of the alternative conclusions the alternative
beliefs three I do believe that it gives us greater comfort in the tough times
like when someone dies I do accept all of that but how I've talked to my
friends and to my family members is I look for ways to lay it out so they
can't claim ignorance so maybe it gives them something that they can reflect on
and choose maybe they'll come back and they'll ask more and I've got some
family members where that just simply started with hey Seventh-day Adventists
are not weirdos hey we just we studied the Bible and we have slightly different
conclusions but I also have a great deal of respect for Methodists and some
Catholics and I do so I don't know that was a long-winded way around did that
answer your question absolutely that that can see be some of the most
powerful apologetics if you will is not to sit down and go let me give you the
ABCs of this particular doctrine because first and foremost we are called to
demonstrate God's character to the world what is his character love grace mercy
long-suffering kindness gentleness meekness etc if all you do is look at
the fruits of the Spirit you will not find PhD level scholarly type studies
and proving people wrong you will find God's character displayed in his people
to show to others that will do more if that is your starting point your middle
point your ending point and everything else just kind of gets built on it
absolutely correct yeah
I'm semi familiar with that quote again I don't remember exactly but but there's
a lot of truth to that it you know you can say all the things and in fact right
now there's a there's a lot of scandal in many of of our country's biggest
churches with our prompt most prominent speakers because on the platform or even
in their studies and in their books they said all the right things and then they
don't live godly lives they are caught up in fraud or unfaithfulness or you know
something of that and so then then people go well how can I even listen to
the words they have to say if it were the other way around maybe you're not
the most eloquent speaker but you live a godly life that's the best sermon
someone can give I know we had we had one back there well it's not really a
question it was just a comment I have the same question many times before what
what grace is said but I think so that reading the spirit of prophecy we need
to trust in the Lord and that is gonna come they later grain and when that
happened I think so God is gonna give us the they know the will not the power by
ourselves but his power so the people can see Jesus in us and that is what is
gonna convert people of the truth because so far if you ask me what I'm
experiencing in at work there's people from many denominations and what it for
all the things that they're going on so one day I arrived to the break room and
I just throw the question do you think that Jesus is coming soon and all of
them believe that Jesus is really coming soon before it was just a seven-day
Adventist but now people from other denominations and even people that they
don't believe in God they know that something is something is gonna happen
and the spirit of prophecy even mentioned that so the same than the
things are going on I think so we don't get yet to the probation day but I
think so the lorries start talking to the hearts of the people and if now is
not the end the time that we're living now is not the end we're not making like
you say that a choice and right now I mean that can bring consequences but
we're calm I mean it's coming that day in the Lord is preparing his people yeah
so our only refuge is trusting God and like you say living a godly life and
allows that the Holy Spirit be poor of over us when the time it comes and
because the people is gonna turn to Jesus because they're gonna see in the
gods people the Christ character yeah so the Holy Spirit is the one is gonna
convert the others for the truth only we need to pray for them if maybe we cannot
talk to some of them I have family who doesn't have a family that is is not
Catholic is Catholic or is from another denominations and for me is like Lord
how can I reach them I have a cousin that she is Catholic but at the same
time it's very it's like a new age of this some blended of all of that which I
think she's worse because she believes really that we are starting another era
that is gonna bring a lot of peace in a better life yeah so in the same time she
believes in the Mary Mary the Virgin Mary and so it's like how can I reach her
Lord you know yeah but I the Lord put in my heart just to pray for her pray for
her and share whatever you think that is not gonna hurt the feelings of the other
people but tell them about the the love of God and there's there's show them one
the Bible tells us that we need to worry about those that that you know clamor for
peace or say that peace is coming because they will say peace peace and
then sudden destruction that's what the Bible says there there are times and
this is where we pray for the discernment there are times the first
general rule is we are kind and we are gracious and we are unoffensive and all
these other things you pray that the Holy Spirit helps you because there there
there can be the danger of being too kind if for example you knew that there
was a road that had been washed out and you had already seen a one-car drive off
of it you might do all you can screaming shouting spike strips to blow tires you
might be willing to do whatever it takes to stop the next car from going off even
at the risk of harming someone's feelings there are times when we need to
be when you pray for these moments but sometimes you look at someone and you go
you know the truth why aren't we picking it you know why do we continue to stay
in the way that we have been even though you know better and sometimes that's
an appropriate thing and again you go back and you pray about those times
because if you do that too soon or in the wrong time then you can someone will
just instantly plug their ears and you won't ever have that audience again I
want to I want to make one one final comment and then if there's a quick
question I will I would take it but I want to I want to remark on this just
for a moment some times people look around of the world and they say aha
here it is it's ushering in the last movements after Katrina people said there
we go this is the worst storm in New Orleans and so we get big hurricanes
that come up into the Gulf they obviously hadn't done the levees
correctly I actually think it's human foolishness to build a city below below
sea level and then just kind of hang out there for all those years you're kind of
asking for trouble you know and time kind of passed after 9-11 people also
said here we go we're ushering in World War three this is going to bring in
apocalypse and then Jesus is coming etc etc well obviously that that
manifested itself in a type of war kind of a new type of war the war on terror
you know we have these these various occurrences earthquakes the pandemic
when when COVID started to was was really kind of going in spring of 2020
my goodness how many questions probably came to various institutions that said
is this one of the last plagues of the Bible the short answer is no that COVID
was not it was a bad virus sadly it killed far too many people I'm glad we're
at a different portion of dealing with this virus but in a nutshell no it was
not one of the last plagues the Bible tells us that we should be looking for
Jesus tells us in in Matthew 24 you look for wars and rumors of wars political
strife nation fighting against nation you look for natural disasters pestilences
plagues you look for famines right now we've got we've got famines all over the
globe incredible droughts out west they are talking now about a very real food
shortage coming on the near horizon because of the war in Ukraine it's one
of the major bread producers or grain producers in the world right around
there that it's tough it's you know getting things in and out they need
their resources they're probably not exporting right now and that with the
other you know people people ask you know with Putin's aggression in in
Ukraine he's talking about rebuilding the Soviet Union they're kind of
reinvigorating talk that we heard a lot during the Cold War you know communism
versus the West this is ushering in World War three and and that great battle
of Armageddon and well then the curtain fell and all of those those cries kind
of disappeared well they're being rekindled again you know the Bible talks
about the kings of the north and the kings of the south and how they will
fight against God's people and and and sometimes sometimes men and women in
desperation trying to find a name to attach to what the Bible clearly has in
symbols we point a finger at Putin and we go there's the king of the north and
he's going to usher in what the Bible talks about or if we we look at Ian you
know Ian for the state of Florida boy they haven't had a major hurricane like
this in a long long time Florida's had a very quiet hurricane season for at least
three or four years I think the last two years they really didn't have anything
at all come across that state and then Ian comes through well people are
looking people are sometimes I believe in desperation looking to put a name on
something from the Bible when we are reading through prophecy we need to
understand that God isn't giving us a lot of the micro details in these things
that's why as we've been doing these presentations we've plugged in some
things quotes references statistics I have shared when I've that started to
kind of blur the line between what we know in my opinion because I have some
opinion on where I think some cogs are starting to come together but I would
caution us to not jump to naming naming names too quickly when the Bible is
talking about the King of the North and the King of the South we remember
anciently what that meant the King of the South that was the biggest threat to
Israel was Egypt Egypt in Bible prophecy Egypt in terms of symbolism has long
meant spiritual paganism of spiritualism if you will the the unbiblical belief of
what happens when you die the different stages to heavens and the different
stages to hells and disembodied spirits and offering your babies up to idols and
spiritualism is often represented with Egypt the King of the South the King of
the North is where Babylon invaded Israel to carry them into captivity
there's a giant trying to have to reverse this on this side of Israel
there's a big desert Babylon in order to invade Israel had to go over the desert
and down south from the north that's where they invaded so the King of the
North is a common reference to Babylon well Babylon and prophecy as we've
studied is religious confusion different than spiritualism if the one is a cultic
paganism the other one would be confused Christianity if you will where they are
wrong on the conclusions from the Bible and the truth and error is mixed and
that is kind of confusing and perverting Christianity around the globe so we
should be looking for these macro movements and maybe we'll see some micro
details as we go along but I would add a little bit of caution that we don't jump
to these conclusions too quickly we have hurricanes we've had hurricanes long
before one the 21st century we had hurricanes that probably came off of
the coast of Africa or off of North of South America and it went into the
Caribbean and it came up into the US that's been going on for a long time
just because Ian happened and it was the first one of this kind in a while
doesn't mean it was the first one ever for the state of Florida just because
COVID was was big and we had some unprecedented responses to it doesn't
mean it was the first pandemic ever and the Bible tells us we should be seeing
these things as we see them this is what Jesus says as we see them we should not
be looking to to put a finger on that we should be looking at these things and
then going how am I prepared for his return and then how am I helping others
be prepared for his return if you end up figuring everything out about what the
enemy is doing but you are unprepared that's a sad day for you it is so much
more important that you are prepared and you are not distracted with other things
to the expense of your preparedness you know don't don't don't choose to be
naive about things but also don't get caught up in the weeds does that make
sense I like to caution that because I think Seventh-day Adventists in a
special way like to look at prophecy and and just go I can figure it out this is
this and this person is that and next thing you know they are spending all of
their hours trying to trying to prove that Putin is the King of the North if
Putin dies tomorrow all of a sudden that theory makes other people not trust you
that's why I add some caution as we study prophecy if you know it okay
otherwise let's make sure that we are sticking with being prepared by keeping
our our eyes on Jesus is there one short final question if not we are done thank
you if anyone is watching online or will soon be watching we're glad you could
join us this is our last presentation for three angels one message may you be
richly blessed may y'all be richly blessed and I hope to see you again
someday very soon have a good night