Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: 09GYC
Program Code: 09GYC000007
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00:18 Music interlude.
00:31 Shall we gather at the River 00:38 where bright angel feet have trod 00:46 with its crystal tide for ever 00:54 flowing by the throne of God. 01:02 Yes we'll gather at the River 01:09 the beautiful, the beautiful river 01:17 gather with the Saints at the River 01:25 that flows by the throne of God 01:37 ere we reached the shinning River 01:45 Lay we lay every burden down 01:52 Makes our spirit ever 02:00 like a robe and crown 02:07 yes will gather at the River 02:15 the beautiful, the beautiful river, 02:22 gather with the Saints at the River 02:28 that flows by the throne of God. 02:41 Deep River 02:47 my heart is full of joy 02:54 deep River 03:02 I want to crossover it to campground, 03:13 till we reach the shining river 03:21 my song is overjoyed 03:27 soon our happy hearts for ever 03:34 with the melody of peace 03:42 yes we'll gather at the River 03:49 the beautiful, the beautiful river 03:56 gather with the Saints at the River 04:03 that flows by the throne of God, 04:13 that flows by the throne of God. 04:33 Audience: Amen! 04:40 Alright, good evening everyone. 04:42 Tonight's sermon will be a lengthy one. 04:45 Audience laughing! 04:49 It will be at least 15 minutes. 04:53 Alright, happy Sabbath. 04:54 Audience: happy Sabbath! 04:56 How is your GYC going? 04:57 Audience: great! 04:59 Aww that was, there we go, unpersuasive is what it was. 05:04 Well I'm having a great GYC. 05:07 I'm having an experience with Jesus, Amen! 05:12 How many of you are having the same? 05:15 And experience with Jesus you know, I just said today in 05:17 my seminar, that one of the things I most look forward to 05:21 when I come to venues like this it seeing friends that I 05:24 don't get to see all the time, and catching up, seeing 05:27 Esther, Ty and my friends. 05:29 I like that. I enjoy it. 05:30 I have purposed in my heart, before he came to this 05:34 particular GYC that I wanted this to be more than a 05:38 social interaction. 05:40 I wanted to be a spiritual interaction. Amen! 05:43 there is nothing wrong with that incident, there is 05:46 nothing wrong with wanting to see your friends. 05:48 In fact there is a great deal right with it. 05:50 Even the Bible says behold how good and pleasant it is 05:52 for brother, or brothers, to dwell together in unity. 05:55 That would include sisters, as well, of course. 05:57 So there is nothing wrong with that. 05:59 It is a wonderful thing to have friends, Hebrews 10 06:02 says that we should be meeting together more and more as 06:04 we see the day of Christ approaching. 06:06 Even with that, even with all the glorious social 06:10 fellowship that I am having, I am still laboring and 06:15 think succeeding to have this be primarily an 06:17 interaction, a social inter- action with Jesus and myself. 06:22 Amen! I hope you are having that same experience. 06:26 It is not just a time of the meeting friends. 06:27 It is not just a time of catching up. 06:29 It is a time of catching up with God. 06:32 I just want to reiterate again how powerful I think it 06:37 is that we have this over the New Year. 06:40 I cannot think of a better place or a better way to 06:43 usher in the New year than here at GYC with our theme which 06:48 is what? What is our theme? 06:49 Audience: Unashamed! 06:51 Very good, I just hear these people here. 06:53 Are you awake over there? What's our theme? 06:56 Audience: Unashamed! 06:58 Very good, they may have outdone you slightly. 07:02 Well, we are going to be talking tonight about the 07:05 creative Christ and we are going to spend just a little 07:08 bit of time in review. 07:10 Before we get into that review I'm looking forward very 07:13 much to tonight's presentation. 07:15 It is, I think, an important message and I want you to 07:19 know that this is something, this message in particular, 07:22 more than last night's message, and more than tomorrow 07:24 night, it is a message that is a precarious message in 07:28 the sense that I could very easily teeter into saying 07:32 something I will later regret. 07:34 Which happens at least every other sermon, incidentally. 07:38 So I have been praying and asking God, and asking Jesus, 07:43 let this come out right. 07:45 Help me to walk that line of biblical fidelity and 07:50 ecclesiastic unity. 07:53 I think by the grace of God we are going to see that 07:55 tonight, so I want to begin with the word of prayer 07:57 and then we are going to get into, what I think, will be 07:59 the most important messages that I have ever had the 08:03 privilege of preaching. 08:05 So let's pray together. 08:10 Father in heaven we are here at GYC. 08:14 The New Year is upon us and Father as we go into the 08:18 New Year we want to claim the promise of 2 Corinthians 08:22 5:17 that we are new creatures. 08:25 New creatures in the New Year with a new unashamed 08:30 experience with Jesus. 08:33 Father you have are already ministered to us, we have been 08:35 in our seminars, we have learned and You have given us 08:38 a pliable heart. 08:40 You have persuaded us that we can go higher and still 08:44 higher in our experience. 08:47 We have interacted with one another, we have had a rich 08:50 social, spiritual experience. 08:53 Father we come now in the Sabbath hours, and Father the 09:00 Sabbath is effrontery to modernity. 09:05 The Sabbath flies in the face of the whole current of 09:09 modern thought, we're stopping, we're resting, 09:15 we're worshiping. 09:18 Father we are coming to you as our Creator. 09:21 We come to You as Redeemer. 09:24 We come to You, not on our Sabbath, 09:28 but on Your Sabbath. 09:30 Please Father, help us to keep it holy. 09:33 Help us to keep it holy not just in our hands, 09:37 but in our hearts. 09:40 And Father as we look tonight to the Creator God, to You and 09:46 Your Son Jesus, may this be more than a series of 09:53 propositions, tonight may this interaction with You, 09:58 through Your word, be a worship experience. 10:03 May we meet with the Creator and may You meet with us. 10:09 Father it is not enough for us tonight for You to be 10:13 simply in this room. 10:14 We need You to be in our hearts, in the person of Your 10:18 Spirit, so please come and fill us and give us now Your 10:25 word is our prayer in Jesus name. 10:29 Let all of God's Sabbath keeping Saints say, Amen! 10:35 Audience: Amen! 10:40 Well I'd like to begin with a little bit of review. 10:42 We asked the question last night, what does it mean 10:47 to be unashamed? 10:49 Because the title of our conference, the motto of our 10:54 conference is, what was it again? 10:56 Audience: Unashamed! 10:57 Very good, and we asked the question, what specifically 11:01 does it mean for us as Seventh-day Adventist Christians 11:05 in these times, to be unashamed of Christ? 11:09 We mention that the name, Seventh-day Adventist is 11:13 actually an interesting name. 11:15 It is a bit of a peculiar name. 11:18 It consists of two parts. 11:19 Now their are many church names that are more readily 11:23 available in terms of their meaning. 11:25 For example, Church of Christ, it is not a bad name 11:29 at all, Church of God, is not a bad name. 11:33 Assemblies of God, not a bad name and some churches 11:35 are named after their primary, historical figure. 11:39 You have the Lutheran Church, the Calvinist, the 11:44 Wesleyan's or the Methodist and here among all these, 11:48 not that all of them are this way, but many of these 11:51 names which are decidedly more normal and perhaps on the 11:56 surface understandable, we are called, of all things, 11:59 Seventh-day Adventists. 12:02 Now how many of us have been asked by somebody, oh your 12:07 are Christian? Oh I see you reading the Bible, perhaps 12:09 on the airplane, and they say what denomination are you? 12:13 Or what kind of Christian are you? 12:15 We say we are a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and have 12:19 had a look of utter, just total. 12:25 Oh, oh Salt Lake City right? 12:34 No! The way I try and explain Seventh-day Adventism to 12:40 people who don't really have a clue, is I say, have you 12:43 ever heard of a Methodist? 12:45 Oh yeah, my sister's husband is a Methodist. 12:48 I say great, I'm basically a Methodist that goes to 12:51 church on Saturday. Oh! 12:57 Seventh-day Adventist, the name is made up of two parts. 13:01 There are three central doctrines contained in this 13:04 name, Seventh-day is an unambiguous reference to the 13:08 Sabbath, to the what everyone? 13:10 Sabbath, and there are two, there are more, there are 13:13 two primary doctrines, or teachings that derive from the 13:18 Sabbath, 1. The redemption and 2. Creation or salvation. 13:24 Last night we looked at redemption. 13:25 Last night we learned that we are unashamed of the 13:28 crucified Christ, can you say Amen to that? 13:31 Audience: Amen! 13:32 Paul wrote to the Romans and he said, I am not ashamed 13:36 of the gospel of Christ. 13:37 Remember employing that rhetorical device like totes, 13:42 deriving an affirmative from the negation of its 13:44 contrary, sure many of you were using it just today. 13:49 But in addition to the redemptive development, 13:52 or the salvific element of the Sabbath, there is also the 13:55 creative elements. 13:56 So what does it mean for me, as a Seventh-day Adventist 13:59 Christian, to be unashamed of Jesus in 2010? 14:03 It not only means that I am unashamed of the crucified 14:06 Christ, which we talked about last night, it also means 14:09 I am unashamed of the creative Christ. 14:14 Of course the second part of the name Adventist, from 14:18 Latin Adventus, which means arrival. 14:21 We are anticipating the arrival of whom, everyone? 14:25 Jesus Christ, so tomorrow night we will talk about being 14:27 unashamed of the coming Christ. 14:29 The Bible says in Proverbs 22:1, that a good name is to 14:35 be desired more than great riches. 14:38 I am at least persuaded that the name Seventh-day 14:41 Adventist is a good name. 14:43 Audience: Amen! Amen! 14:46 Unashamed of the Creative Christ. 14:49 Are we tempted to be ashamed here? 14:53 Now I ask that question last night at the outset, 14:57 are we at times ashamed to be promoters of 15:03 the crucified Christ? 15:05 There was a silence, the silence was telling because 15:08 the answer is yes. 15:10 Are we at times tempted to be ashamed of the creative 15:16 Christ, and the answer is yes. 15:18 Because the entire current of contemporary thought 15:23 urges us to reconsider our naive, fundamentalist, 15:28 literalistic understanding of biblical history. 15:34 In virtually, in fact you don't even have to say 15:36 virtually, in every academic discipline we are told 15:40 that our understanding of history is at odds with what 15:44 really happened. 15:46 It is not just biology, it's not just anthropology, 15:50 it is not just geology, it's even theology and 15:53 psychology and every other ology 15:55 you can come up with. 15:56 The whole current of modern thought, in fact many 15:59 philosophers of science, and observers of science, 16:02 recognize that perhaps more than any other idea, 16:05 and there are a lot of heavyweights in the scientific 16:07 realm, we are talking about Newtonian physics, and the 16:10 theory of relativity, the laws of thermodynamics. 16:13 They say that perhaps more than any other idea in the 16:16 history of science, evolution has changed the way that 16:20 we view ourselves, that we view the world, 16:22 and ultimately the way we view God. 16:25 We are not able to exist outside of this ubiquitous 16:32 influence of evolutionary thought and evolutionary 16:36 thinking, and here we are as a group of naive, 16:40 backwater, literalistic, fundamentalist and any other 16:44 sort of almost negative connotation you want to say. 16:48 Here we are keeping the Sabbath because we have the temerity 16:54 and the audacity to say that the Bible gives us an 16:58 accurate picture of Earth's history. 17:03 We do not subscribe, as Seventh-day Adventist 17:05 Christians, to these notions of what is called Deep 17:08 Time, millions and millions and millions, 17:11 multiple even billions of years. 17:14 We believe that the earth is young, can you say amen 17:17 to that? Audience: Amen! 17:19 Now we do not have to put a date on it. 17:20 There are people in our ranks who are very persuasive 17:24 about the 6000 year theory. 17:26 I don't want to take issue with that. 17:27 There are others that say less than 10,000, less than 20,000 17:30 but whatever it is, whether we go with the 6 or the 10 17:33 or some other figure, we reject out of hand the notion 17:37 of multiplied millions of years. 17:40 Amen! but we need to understand, and of course we do, 17:45 this puts us decidedly at odds with the whole current of 17:49 contemporary thought. 17:51 Both academic, and in a sense, popular thoughts. 17:55 The question that I want to look at tonight, there are 17:58 many actually, but I want to take a look at the reasons 18:02 why we affirm creationism and the historicity, authentic 18:10 historicity of the biblical perspective of Earth in the 18:16 face of what many would tell us is scientific fact. 18:21 Open your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 1, that's 18:24 probably a great place to start. 18:26 It is the passage that we began with last night and from 18:31 which we derived our conferences theme and title. 18:37 That theme and title is what everyone? 18:40 Audience: Unashamed! Unashamed. 18:45 In Romans 1:16 and extending to verse 21, we find Paul 18:51 announcing his unashamed-ness of the gospel. 18:54 This raises the question in Pauline thought, in biblical 18:58 thought, why do we need a gospel at all? 19:02 Why do we need a salvation at all, and Paul gives us 19:06 an answer right in the immediate context of Romans 1. 19:10 The answer is that we have turned our back on God as 19:15 Creator, not just in Adam, not just in primordial 19:20 history and back to our first parents, 19:22 but every one of us, subsequent to Adam, walk as it were 19:26 in his footsteps and we have turned our back, to greater 19:30 or lesser degree, on God as Creator. 19:33 It is in that context that Paul says we need a gospel, 19:37 we need salvation. 19:39 Let's look at it. 19:41 Romans 1:16, "for I am not," what's the word everyone? 19:47 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," 19:50 we talked about that last night, 19:53 why frame it in a negative? 19:54 Paul is setting forth meticulously his case. 19:57 For, for, for, he is reasoning, he's alleging, 20:01 he's proving, "for I am not ashamed of the gospel of" 20:04 "Christ for is the power of God to salvation for every" 20:06 "one who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Greek. " 20:08 "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed" 20:13 "from faith to faith as it is written that the just shall" 20:15 "live by faith. " 20:16 Verse 18, "for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" 20:20 "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" 20:22 "who suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. " 20:25 The Greek here literally means they hold the truth down. 20:27 The image that has always come to my mind when I have read 20:30 this passage is, many of us have been in a swimming 20:32 pool, or a lake and are swimming and you have a ball, 20:35 or some kind of flotation device. 20:36 You have to hold them down, and the more air they have, 20:40 the harder they are to hold down. 20:41 It is the imagery that comes to mind here, it literally 20:44 means they suppress the truth, they hold it down. 20:46 It is not easy to do, to keep that ball under the water. 20:49 It requires attention, it requires effort. 20:52 Paul says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 20:54 against ungodliness, not because people are ignorant. 20:57 In fact, God holds no one in contempt for ignorance, 21:00 unless it is willful ignorance. 21:03 Can you say Amen? 21:04 So Paul says they suppress the truth, they hold the 21:06 truth in unrighteousness and he continues in verse 19. 21:11 "Because what may be known of God is manifested in them" 21:14 "for God has shown it to them. " 21:16 Paul is laying out very clinically and methodically his 21:21 case that people are rejecting a knowledge of God that 21:24 is readily available. 21:27 In fact Paul's theses is basically that God is ubiquitous 21:29 both internally with the inner witness of the Spirit, which 21:33 we will talk about in a bit, and externally in His 21:35 creative works and that is verse 20. 21:37 "For since the creation of the world," since the what 21:43 are those words there everyone? Audience: creation! 21:45 "For since the creation of the world, his invisible" 21:48 "attributes are very difficult to see and discern. " 21:52 Now what does your Bibles say? 21:56 Yeah, you're probably your Bible probably says something 21:59 like clearly seen, look at the language again. 22:00 "For since the creation of the world, his invisible" 22:03 "attributes are clearly seen. " 22:04 I want you to listen the paradoxical language here. 22:06 His invisible attributes are clearly seen. 22:10 Oh, what does the word invisible mean? 22:13 Audience: You can't be seen. 22:16 It means can't be seen. 22:18 So let's substitute that, the things that can't be seen 22:21 about God are clearly seen. 22:23 Well in what sense are they clearly seen? 22:26 He says, "being understood by the things that are," 22:30 what is the word everyone? "Made, even his eternal power" 22:34 "and Godhead;" look at how he concludes this. 22:37 "So they are without excuse. " 22:39 He goes on to say professing themselves be wise, they 22:41 become fools, so right here in Romans 1 we have a very 22:44 persuasive argumentation that Paul is setting forth. 22:48 He basically says that people have access to God. 22:50 People know that He is there, both from the 22:53 inter-witness of the Spirit, which he develops later 22:54 in the epistle, and also from the external evidence of 22:58 God's created works, and he goes so far as to say that 23:02 the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen, 23:06 so much so, the evidence is so persuasive to every, 23:10 man, woman, and child, that they are without, 23:12 what's the word everyone? excuse! 23:15 So in Pauline thought, we need a gospel, 23:18 we need salvation because we have turned our back 23:21 on the Creator. Are we clear everyone? 23:27 Unashamed of the creative Christ. 23:29 Is there temptation today to be ashamed of the creative 23:33 Christ? The answer is yes. 23:35 Last night I read to you just a brief section from this 23:39 first volume Romans chapter 1, D Martin Lloyd Jones preached 23:43 in Westminster Chapel on the book of Romans from 1955 23:46 till 1968, that is to say that he preached for 13 years, 23:50 virtually every Friday, on the book of Romans. 23:54 In Romans 1, I want you to hear what he has to say 23:57 because we sometimes think oh, we're Seventh-day 23:59 Adventist, we are the only ones who believe this. 24:01 Beloved, I have good news for you, there are lots of 24:04 not non-Adventist, but pre-Adventist who are out in the 24:09 world, faithful men and women of God who win the time is 24:13 right will come into the truth and are living up to the 24:16 truth they have been exposed to. 24:18 Can you say amen? Audience: amen! 24:20 It's absolutely biblical. 24:21 So listen to what he has to say here. 24:23 He is speaking of salvation in Romans 1:16, the grace, 24:28 "for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the" 24:33 "power of God unto salvation. " 24:35 He is speaking just briefly here to that issue of 24:37 salvation and listen to what Dr. Lloyd Jones has to say. 24:40 "That then is the way in which you measure this great" 24:44 "term salvation. You start with the early chapters of" 24:49 "Genesis. " The early chapters of what everyone? Genesis! 24:53 Listen to this language, I love this language here. 24:55 "And that is why you cannot shed the book of Genesis. " 24:59 You can not, what's the word? Shed, you know like a dog 25:03 sheds it's hair, or a snake sheds it's skin. 25:05 He leaves it behind and moves on. 25:07 Listen to what he says, if were going to understand what 25:10 Paul is speaking of in Romans 1:16, when he uses the 25:13 word salvation, he says we cannot shed, what book was it? 25:16 The book of Genesis, but he goes a step further. 25:19 There're many modern theologians today who would say, oh 25:21 yes the book of Genesis, as long as we are talking about 25:24 Chapter 12 to Chapter 50. 25:27 The latter part of the book we have no problem there. 25:29 But listen to what he says, "or even the first three" 25:32 "chapters, if you do you are immediately detracting" 25:39 "from salvation. " 25:41 You are immediately detracting from what? 25:43 If you discard Genesis 1, 2 and 3? 25:45 From salvation, and in other words "if you believe in" 25:48 "the doctrine and theory of evolution, which says that" 25:51 "man is a creature that has evolved out of the animal," 25:54 "and is still evolving and has not yet arrived," 25:56 "well you cannot have a doctrine of salvation. " 25:59 "You will not know what Paul is speaking about in his" 26:01 "epistle to the Romans. In a sense, if the theory of" 26:05 "evolution is true, man does not need salvation. " 26:12 I'd say he's a pre-Adventist, in fact I would be 26:15 absolutely thrilled if everyone who had the name of 26:18 Seventh-day Adventist believed that. 26:19 This might be just a little radical and we will get to 26:23 my basic thesis in just a moment. 26:25 The reality is beloved, that I feel like I have 26:30 more in common with conservative Protestants than with 26:34 radically liberal Seventh-day Adventists. 26:37 Some one is going to say that is divisive, it is not divisive. 26:42 That is a statement of fact. 26:44 I believe that the Bible is God's inspired inerrant word and 26:49 if somebody else believes that I have a great deal in 26:50 common with them. 26:51 We may differ on articulation, we may differ on 26:55 doctrine, but if someone denies the inerrancy and 26:57 authenticity and historicity of Scripture, I don't have 27:00 has much in common with them, even if they have the 27:02 same name that I have. 27:04 I'm thrilled that Dr. Lloyd Jones and others say, 27:09 wait a minute, if we throw out the first 3 chapters of 27:11 Genesis, we have effectively pulled the rug out from 27:14 underneath salvation. 27:16 Now it is not only people like Dr. Jones 27:19 that say these things. 27:20 Fortunately, thankfully and wonderfully some 27:24 of the best and brightest minds in the Seventh-day 27:27 Adventist church agree, can you say amen? 27:30 I cannot tell you the courage and thrill, strength that 27:35 it gives to me to know that there are godly men and 27:40 women in churches, I'm talking at the local level. 27:44 Deacons and deaconesses and elders and pastors and even 27:50 conference Presidents, union presidents and their 27:52 divisions, at all levels. 27:53 I am thrilled to know there're people who affirm the 27:57 historic Adventist position of the historicity of 28:00 Genesis, even the first 11 chapters. 28:03 Now you might have heard there is a bit of a 28:06 controversy in the church. 28:08 I'm actually un-persuaded, I don't think there is a 28:11 controversy, where's the controversy? 28:14 The Church has never ever, ever deviated from its 28:17 position on the creation issue. 28:19 In light of this alleged controversy, there had been 28:22 numerous and repeated statements by church leaders and 28:25 others, absolutely un-ambiguously, unequivocally 28:29 affirming exactly what the church has always believed 28:33 in what the Bible has always taught. 28:37 So in this magazine that you might have heard of called 28:39 Adventist World, it's your official denominational 28:44 publication, July 2009. 28:47 Dr. Angel Rodríguez the director of the Biblical 28:51 Research Institute, kicking my books over, is asked a 28:57 question, he has a column of Bible questions. 29:00 The Bible question is, is it true that some Adventist 29:03 scientist and theologians no longer believe that God 29:06 created everything in six literal days? 29:08 I'm thrilled that the review had the guts, 29:11 that the Adventist world had the guts to meet 29:14 this question head-on. 29:15 Here's what he says, "the short answer is yes," 29:18 "it's true. " 29:19 Now let me read you his conclusion. 29:21 "Space does not allow me," says Dr. Rodriguez, 29:25 head of the Biblical Research Institute. 29:28 One of the brightest minds in the church. 29:31 One of our best theologians. 29:33 Not that he is authoritative, but he is authoritative 29:35 in as much as he speaks in harmony with Scripture, 29:38 can you say Amen! 29:39 Listen to the clarity here, and not just the clarity 29:43 but listen to the boldness. 29:45 I have never met Dr. Rodriguez but I want to personally 29:47 thank him for his statement here that he put in print. 29:51 "Space does not allow me to say more about the tragedy," 29:55 what's the word everyone? Tragedy! 29:59 "Space does not allow me to say more about the tragedy" 30:01 "of Adventists who are evolutionists. " 30:04 You see if I say that I might get in trouble because 30:06 who am I? I'm a nobody, but when the head of the 30:09 Biblical Research Institute says that it carries 30:11 just a little more weight. 30:13 "Space does not allow me to say more about the tragedy" 30:16 "of Adventist who are evolutionists, but I do want to" 30:19 "address the concern expressed in your communication" 30:21 "about what Adventist parents should do in this" 30:24 "situation. I agree that having teachers in our" 30:27 "colleges and universities arguing and supporting the idea" 30:29 "that natural evolution is the best alternative for the" 30:32 "understanding of origins is outrageous. " 30:36 Oh, I cannot tell you the joy that flooded my soul when 30:40 I read that word. 30:42 I was just like, Hallelujah, circle, underline, star, 30:46 checkmark, a happy face. 30:49 Audience laughing! 30:51 Look at what he says next. 30:53 And this is the point here, it is not just about what 30:55 David says, it is not what Chester Clark has said, 30:57 and Amy Sheppard has said, and Dr. Christina Harris 31:00 has said, and what Dr. Rodriguez says. 31:02 Listen to what he says here, "they not only violate the" 31:05 "meaning of the biblical text," that is what we are 31:09 talking about, "they also violate the trust the church" 31:13 "has placed in them by calling them to teach our" 31:16 "young people. " Audience: Amen! 31:18 Can you send Amen? Audience: Amen! 31:21 Praise the Lord that that kind of clarity can be printed 31:24 in a denominational publication and I want to say again, 31:27 praise God for godly men and women in positions of 31:30 church leadership who are not being divisive, who are 31:33 not being unkind, who are not attacking, but they are 31:36 stating what has always been and by the grace of God 31:39 will always be the position of the Seventh-day Adventist 31:42 church in relationship to creation and origins. 31:46 Can you say Amen! Audience: Amen! 31:48 Now, what would happen if we decided to become more 31:53 pluralistic in our evaluation? 31:56 What would happen if Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Lloyd Jones, 32:00 what would happen if we tried in the name of unity and 32:04 the name of plurality, and in the name of the magnanimity, 32:07 what would happen if we tried to incorporate 32:11 long ages, deep time evolution into biblical history? 32:15 Now you need to be aware, if you are not already, that 32:19 most in conservative evangelical have already done that. 32:22 Men and women that I have a high degree of respect for 32:27 have already accepted both biblical history and somehow 32:31 astonishingly have also accepted long ages evolution. 32:35 I think there is a fundamental disconnect. 32:38 What would be involved in trying to incorporate, trying 32:40 to marry these two anti-thetical notions? 32:46 First of all it would call for a dramatic reevaluation of at 32:50 least 10 things. 32:52 You just tell me how you feel about this. 32:54 First of all it will call for a dramatic re-evaluation of 32:57 the nature of the Bible. 32:59 We would have to re-evaluate how we understand Scripture. 33:02 Number 2, a dramatic re-evaluation of the nature 33:06 of God, because He speaks plainly in language less than 33:10 clear and it raises serious questions about the nature of 33:14 a God who would create through the process of predation, 33:18 parasitism and a variety of other mechanisms only to lead 33:22 up to His idyllic Edenic couple? 33:26 Number 3, it would cause us to evaluate the nature of 33:30 mankind, are we really made in the image of God or are we 33:35 as is suggested, a product of evolutionary processes from 33:39 our a simian brothers? 33:43 Number 4, the nature of the law and especially the nature 33:46 of the Sabbath command. 33:48 We are here honoring the Sabbath, worshiping on the 33:52 Sabbath, laboring to keep holy with both hand and heart 33:55 the Sabbath because we believe that God created in 6 33:59 literal and rested on a seventh liberal. 34:01 Can you say Amen! Audience: Amen! 34:03 Well this will call for dramatic re-evaluation of both the 34:06 law and the Sabbath if the Sabbath is in fact some kind of 34:08 memorial of creation. 34:11 Number 5, it would cause us to re-evaluate the nature of sin 34:14 and death, the Bible says in the most plainest and 34:19 unambiguous of language in Romans 6:23. 34:21 This is fundamental to Pauline's theology which is 34:23 exactly what we just read in Romans chapter 1. 34:26 You can finish this for me, a child can understand this, 34:29 "the wages of sin is death". 34:33 Now on the basis of that simple statement, that simple 34:35 articulation of Scripture, let me ask you this question. 34:38 What came first, death or sin? 34:41 Biblically speaking what came first, death or sin? 34:44 Audience: sin. Sin! 34:46 Sin preceded death, sin gave way to death. 34:49 Now in the evolutionary scheme, in the evolutionary 34:53 perspective death not only preceded sin, if in fact Adam 34:56 and Eve are clear down there at the end of multiplied 35:00 tens of millions of years of evolutionary process, 35:03 you don't just have death, you have the death of hundreds 35:07 and thousands, and tens of thousands, and millions of 35:11 sentient creatures that God has made. 35:13 So it is not just death, it is the death of such a 35:17 magnitude that is seriously calls into question the whole 35:21 nature of salvation. 35:25 It is a little like the old question, what came first, 35:26 the chicken or the egg? 35:28 Our question is what came first, sin or death? 35:30 If death preceded sin, the biblical account appears to be 35:34 inaccurate. Number 6, it would therefore cause us to 35:39 re-evaluate the nature of salvation. 35:41 Let me just pause here, I've got a book here from another 35:46 Evangelical, somebody well-known perhaps even well known 35:50 to you, but I assure you in the evangelical world, he is 35:54 extremely well known. 35:55 A young pastor, probably about my age from Grand Rapids 36:00 Michigan, a man by the name of Rob Bell. 36:02 Probably some of you have see his new series it might be 36:06 familiar with them. 36:07 A man in many regards and many ways I respect his ministry, 36:11 but in his book titled very provocatively perhaps and 36:14 certainly interestingly, Velvet Elvis he says this. 36:17 I want you to just listen to his line of reasoning. 36:21 "He said somebody recently gave me a videotape of a lecture" 36:26 "given by a man who travels around speaking about the" 36:31 "creation of the world. At one point in his lecture he" 36:36 "said, if you deny that God created the world in 6 literal" 36:41 "days then you are denying that Jesus ever needed to die on" 36:46 "the cross. " Listen to what he says, "it is a bizarre leap" 36:51 "of logic to make. But he was serious. " 36:55 Now isn't this interesting? 36:58 He says, "it is a bizarre leap of logic to suggest that if" 37:03 "creation is not true, the biblical mode of creation," 37:07 "the biblical perspective of creation, that this would call" 37:10 "into question salvation. " 37:11 He says "that is a bizarre leap of logic", with all due 37:14 respect to pastor Bell, I don't think it is either bizarre 37:17 or you leap of logic, I think it's just logical. 37:20 Audience: Amen! 37:22 How do we justify a Savior who came to save us from both 37:27 death and that which eventuates in death, sin if in fact 37:32 the whole interrelationship and nature of sin and death 37:36 are not as universally taught in Scripture? 37:41 Now I appreciate that he differs he disagrees that is why 37:43 he can disagree with me and I fully respect anyone's 37:46 right to disagree with me, but the point is if we are going 37:50 to abide by the principle of Solis Scriptoria, 37:53 what is the phrase everyone? Solis Scriptoria then we are 37:58 going to have to, he is going to have to justify his 38:02 statement that this is somehow a bizarre leap of logic. 38:05 Not only is it not bizarre, it is not a leap. 38:08 It is perfectly logical. 38:11 In what meaningful sense is Jesus rescuing from sin and 38:16 death, if death is part of God's cosmic scheme? 38:21 So in number 6 we would need to re-evaluate salvation. 38:24 Number 7, we would have to re-evaluate the words and works 38:27 of Jesus, as we are going to discover in just a moment, 38:31 Jesus absolutely affirmed the Genesis creation account 38:34 and the authenticity of the Mosaic account. 38:37 Number 8, we would have to redefine the nature of the 38:41 Seventh-day Adventist church and its mission. 38:44 What after all, are we doing here? 38:47 Number 9, we would have to redefine the nature of Ellen 38:50 White's prophetic ministry since she stated repeatedly 38:54 and unambiguously that evolutionary deep time is 38:58 totally antithetical to the biblical record. 39:02 And finally we would have to evaluate, number 10, the 39:05 nature of Adventism's unique end-time perspective, 39:08 so I don't know how this makes you feel. 39:09 Are you ready to re-evaluate God, the Bible, mankind, 39:12 the law, the Sabbath, sin, death, salvation, 39:14 the words and works of Jesus, the Seventh-day Adventist church 39:17 and its mission, Ellen White's prophetic ministry and 39:19 Adventism's unique end-time perspective? 39:22 Just to accommodate the present, pervasive, prospective 39:28 of the day? Evolution! 39:30 That's not a sacrifice I'm willing to make. 39:32 Audience: Amen! 39:37 I'm thrilled to discover and to know there are many in our 39:40 ranks of our administration that agree. 39:42 Here's a marvelous book that is probably a book you should 39:46 be aware of, titled, Creation, Evolution, and Theology, 39:50 again by one of our theologians that teaches there at the 39:54 seminary, Dr. Fernando Luis Canale. 39:56 I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this book. 39:59 It is scholarly, it is difficult to read at times. 40:01 I enjoyed it thoroughly but you may find it difficult 40:03 to read at times. 40:06 The nature of Dr. Canales setting forth the radical 40:12 evaluation of Adventism that would have to take place 40:17 is very clear. 40:19 Let me read to you a couple statements. 40:21 He says, "eventually the acceptance of these" 40:26 "evolutionary presuppositions would lead to the re-formation" 40:29 "of the entire body of Christian doctrine. " 40:32 In other words we are not tacking on an idea that is easy 40:37 to harmonize with Scripture. 40:39 He says we will have to re-evaluate the whole 40:40 corpus of Christian belief. 40:42 He says again, "evolution theory destroys the biblical" 40:47 "history of salvation as a redemptive process that moves" 40:51 "creation to new creation. " 40:53 He appears to take the exact odds of Rob Bell. 40:56 I have respect for Rob Bell and appreciate him as a human 40:59 being, a minister of the gospel, however, given the 41:02 opportunity to take Dr. Fernando Canale or Rob Bell in 41:05 terms of which is logical, I'm going to take Dr. Canale. 41:09 He is exactly right, the undermining of creation destroys 41:13 the picture of salvation from a biblical perspective that 41:17 moves from creation to new creation. 41:20 He continues, "accommodation to the theory of evolutionary" 41:25 "history implies rejecting and replacing the theological" 41:30 "revolution from which Adventism originated in turn the" 41:34 " the community will lose the uniqueness that is its" 41:37 "reason for existing. " He sounds almost prophetic. 41:43 Then finally, "harmonizing Scripture to evolution then" 41:46 "requires harmonization of the Adventist theological method" 41:49 to the always changing dictates of human science and tradition. 41:53 "In turn methodological changes will require a" 41:57 "reformulation of the entire corpus of Adventist doctrine. " 42:00 "And eventually the re-formulation of all 42:02 28 fundamental beliefs. " 42:05 "Before seeking harmonization between the creation" 42:07 "an evolution metanarratives, Adventist should seriously think 42:11 "whether they are willing to give up their reason" 42:12 "for existence. " 42:15 Beloved, are we clear that this is not simply an addition 42:20 of something that basically is consistent with Scripture. 42:25 This is a radical reinter- pretation, re-evaluation of what 42:29 we have always believed and affirmed. 42:31 Are we clear everyone yes or no? 42:33 Audience: yes! 42:35 There are very, very good reasons to reject evolutionary 42:39 long ages, let me just give you a couple of them. 42:42 First of all, what we are talking about here, that is 42:46 biblical fidelity, can you say Amen! 42:49 Audience: Amen! 42:50 We regard Genesis 1 through 11 as historical and authentic. 42:55 More significantly still, Jesus Himself affirms repeatedly 42:59 the historicity and authenticity of the Mosaic account. 43:03 To put it in very simple language, Jesus treated Moses 43:07 record of creation as if it were true and authoritative. 43:11 Are we wiser than Jesus? I remind you that Jesus is God. 43:19 Jesus said in the plainest of language, Matthew 19:4, 5 43:23 "that He made them in the beginning," 43:26 "made them male and female. " 43:29 Paul writes of the death that came in as the result of 43:34 Adams transgression and persisted until the time of 43:36 Moses in Romans 5. 43:38 Evidence after evidence could be marshaled that the way 43:41 the New Testament writers understood the old testament was 43:45 in terms of its authenticity, it's historicity, in other 43:48 words not only is there no room for these millions and 43:51 billions of years in the Old Testament's, not one of the 43:54 New Testament writers understood the Old Testament in the 43:57 way that some of our modern scholars would like us to. 44:02 I don't know how you feel about that but I'm going to take 44:05 the inspired perspective of the New Testament writers, 44:07 and particularly the perspective of Jesus Himself 44:10 over any scientist and any theologian that calls for a 44:15 radical reevaluation of how we understand the Old Testament. 44:18 I'm going to put my faith in what Jesus said. 44:21 Audience: Amen! 44:23 So reason number 1 that we rejected it is that we hold to 44:27 Biblical fidelity, now this phrase is what is referred to as 44:31 Solis Scriptoria. 44:33 There are several battle cries of the reformation that are 44:37 usually communicated as Sola Fide, Only by faith. 44:41 Sola gracia, only by grace. 44:43 Sola Dei Gloria, only to the glory of God. 44:46 As Solis scriptoria, but the most important of these four 44:50 battle cries of reformation must certainly be 44:53 Solis scriptoria because once we have established a 44:56 foundation upon which to build, then we can progress to 45:00 Sola Fide, Sola gracia, Sola Dei Gloria, in other words 45:04 that was the root, that was the bedrock foundation of the 45:07 Protestant Reformation when the church, the mother church 45:11 would protest and say, but tradition, but we have always, 45:14 but this is the way we do it. 45:16 Martin Luther and other godly men would stand and say but 45:20 show me according to Scripture. 45:23 Audience: Amen! 45:25 when are Adventist pioneers sat down in the 1840s and 50s 45:30 and moving into the early 1860s, they took a radical 45:33 prospectus of Solis scriptoria. 45:35 Dr. Canale calls it a revolutionary perspective. 45:42 In the book the Great Controversy we read this I think 45:45 it is one of the clearest and most persuasive articulation 45:48 of Solis scriptoria you will ever find. 45:50 Page 595, "but God will have a people upon the earth to" 45:55 "maintain the Bible and the Bible only. " 45:59 Maybe you would like to say that with me. 46:03 Audience joins: The Bible and the Bible only. 46:06 Perhaps we can say it with a little more enthusiasm. 46:09 Audience joins: the Bible and the Bible only. 46:13 She goes on, "as the standard of all doctrines. " 46:17 Audience: Amen! 46:18 "and the bases of all reforms. " 46:22 There are some clever in our midst that would call for us to 46:26 adopt the kind of theistic evolution and then they say that 46:29 Ellen White says we don't have all the light, that new light 46:32 is to be revealed. 46:33 As if incorporating evolution into our perspective is 46:37 new light, it is a total perversion of Scripture, a 46:40 perversion of the writings of Ellen White, and frankly 46:43 totally dishonest. Audience: Amen! 46:47 "The opinions of learned men," that means smart, 46:51 "The opinions of smart men and the deductions of science" 46:57 we will return to that in a moment, "the creeds or" 47:01 "decisions of ecclesiastical counsels as numerous and" 47:05 "disaccorded as the churches represent the voice of the" 47:09 "majority. Not one, nor all of these should be regarded" 47:13 "as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. " 47:17 "Before accepting any doctrine or precept we should" 47:22 "demand," I wonder if you know how this ends? 47:24 Does anyone know how this ends? 47:25 Before adopting any precept of religious faith we should 47:30 demand a, does anyone know? 47:32 Audience: a plain thus saith the Lord. 47:39 Adventists have always held to a very radical understanding 47:43 of Solis scriptoria, even the more radical, the magisterial 47:48 and radical reformers, it is such a radical, 47:51 and incidentally I believe one of the reasons we do that 47:54 is God gave us the lesser light as it were pounded into our 47:57 skulls the importance of sticking to Scripture. 48:00 Martin Luther used to say that the great truths of 48:02 righteousness by faith needed to be pounded into 48:05 the heads of the people. 48:06 Pounded into the heads of people because they we're 48:08 so liable to forget it. 48:09 Today if anything needs to be injected continually, 48:13 persuasively, and repeatedly into our minds is that the 48:17 Bible in the Bible only is the standard upon which we can, 48:21 listen to the language, safely proceed into the future. 48:26 So number 1, we absolutely, totally reject evolutionary 48:30 long ages as in anyway being incorporated into Adventism 48:34 based on biblical fidelity. 48:36 Number 2, how about prophetic fidelity? 48:39 Open your Bibles to Revelation 14 if you would. 48:45 Seventh-day Adventist Bible interpretation has always been 48:47 driven by the conviction that Seventh-day Adventism is a 48:51 prophetically foretold movement with a prophetic message. 48:54 I want you to say that with me. 48:56 A prophetic movement with a prophetic message. 48:59 Let's say it together. 49:00 Audience joining: a prophetic movement with a 49:02 prophetic message. 49:03 One more time, a prophetic movement with 49:06 a prophetic message. 49:08 We have always believed that. 49:09 As historicists we have believed that this in the scheme of 49:14 time, in the great sweep of time, beginning in Revelation 10 49:18 which we have always affirmed actually anticipated the 49:21 Millerite movement. 49:22 I really hope I'm not telling you something here that you 49:24 do not know, that would break my heart. 49:26 I think it would break the heart of God. 49:30 Revelation 10, Revelation 11 is a bit of a side note moving 49:33 into 12, 13 and 14 and we have always seen this sweep 49:37 moving toward prophetic movement with a what? 49:41 A prophetic message. 49:42 And we have called that prophetic message, appropriately 49:45 the three, I wonder if you could finish that for me? 49:48 The three Angels messages. 49:50 Well right here in the first of the three angels messages 49:53 we are told the very first thing that He has the 49:55 everlasting gospel and after that it says that His call 49:58 is to worship Him that made... now here is 50:03 something very interesting. 50:04 Scholars of Revelation, historicizes scholars of 50:07 Revelation, people like John Paul Lee and others, have very 50:10 clearly communicated, and I believe demonstrated, that in 50:14 the structure of Revelation, Revelation 12, 13 and 14 and 50:18 especially 14 is the climax of the whole book. 50:22 You have what actually they've called a Chiastic structure 50:24 which basically means, I will give you the quick version, 50:27 that we moving in from this direction, chapter 1, 50:30 and we are moving in from this direction, chapter 22 and 50:33 the great themes of Revelation converge in the middle, 50:37 and you have the climax, you have the apex, you have the 50:40 summit of the whole book in Revelation chapter 14. 50:43 Now it gets even more amazing still. 50:45 When we get to Revelation 13 and 14 we find repeated calls 50:50 to worship, repeated calls to what everyone? 50:53 Audience: to worship. 50:55 Perhaps you would like to join me in Revelation 13:4. 50:59 So they worshiped, the Dragon, Bible students tell me who 51:04 the Dragon is? 51:05 That serpent of all called the devil and Satan. 51:08 So they worshiped the devil he's saying, that is staggering. 51:12 "So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the" 51:14 "beast and they worshiped the beast. " 51:16 vs. "All that dwell upon the earth will worship him," 51:20 that is the beast, how about verse 12. 51:24 "He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his" 51:25 "presence and causes the earth in those that dwell in" 51:27 "it to worship the first beast. " 51:29 Verse 15, "he was granted power to give breath 51:32 to the image of the beast, 51:33 "that image of these should both speak and cause many that" 51:35 "would not worship the image of the beast. " 51:37 Jump down to chapter 14 and look at verse 9. 51:40 "And the third angel called them saying with a loud voice" 51:42 what is the word everyone? "Worshiped the beast. " 51:44 How about verse 11, "and they smoke of their torment" 51:46 "ascends forever and ever and they have no rest day or" 51:48 "night for whoever worships the beast," 51:51 Seven times, seven times in Revelation 13 and 14, I remind 51:57 you again that the structure of Revelation is that it 52:00 is the climax of the book. 52:01 As we arrive at the peak, as we arrive at the summit, 52:04 we are crawling over to see with this book is all about. 52:07 What's the word that hits you right in the face like a 52:10 breath of fresh air? What is the word? 52:11 Worship, worship, worship, worship, worship, seven times. 52:17 I think he is trying to make a point. 52:18 But here's the interesting thing, right amidst this 52:22 cacophony it calls to worship the beast and to worship the 52:27 antichrist, there is a single call. 52:31 There is a what word everyone? There is a single call. 52:35 Just one, one call to worship the true God. 52:40 That one call to worship the true God we just read in 52:44 Revelation 14, and isn't it fascinating that amongst this 52:48 cacophony of calls to false worship, there is a single call 52:51 to true worship, and how are we told to worship God? 52:55 "Worship him that made," 52:58 now here it gets even more amazing. 53:01 "Worship him that made the heaven, the earth, the sea," 53:06 "and fountains of waters. " 53:08 Keep your finger right here and we are going to go to 53:10 Exodus 20, so keep your finger or some kind of ribbon here 53:16 and go with me to Exodus 20 and notice with me the 53:21 linguistic parallels between the Sabbath command, 53:25 of the 10 Commandments and the first Angels message 53:29 of Revelation 14. 53:31 Beginning in verse 8, "remember the Sabbath day to keep it" 53:33 "holy, six days you shall labor and do all your work, but" 53:35 "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. " 53:38 "In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your" 53:40 "daughter nor your manservant, nor your maidservant," 53:42 "nor your cattle nor the stranger who is within your 53:44 gates," "for in six days the Lord," what is the word? "Made" 53:51 "the heavens, and the earth," very interesting, and the sea. " 53:58 Now watch this, "and all that is in them is. " 54:02 Now, first of all this is the Sabbath commandment. 54:06 I hope I do not need to remind you that this is written on 54:09 tables of stone by the finger of God and placed in the ark. 54:12 In other words, IT IS IMPORTANT! 54:14 Are we together on that? 54:17 Did God trust Moses to take an accurate account of the 54:20 things then He said? Of course He did. 54:22 Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. 54:25 He wrote Genesis, he wrote Exodus, he wrote Leviticus, 54:27 he wrote numbers, he wrote Deuteronomy, but when it came 54:29 time to write this it is as if God says, you know what 54:32 Moses you are not qualified. 54:34 If I went in and apply for a position as a computer 54:37 scientist more like Dr. Harris, a chemist, I would go in 54:41 and they would say, so what, you seem like a nice guy, 54:45 we have looked at your application, 54:47 so what is your experience? 54:48 I don't know anything about chemistry, I know water is H20. 54:52 They would look at me like I was just ridiculous. 54:56 They would say you are nice guy and we like your glasses, 54:59 and your tie, you look great. 55:00 The problem is you are not qualified. 55:03 You are not what? Audience: qualified. 55:06 That appears to be what God is saying here. 55:08 He basically says, Moses write your heart out, but wait a 55:12 minute, this I am going to write. 55:15 Go get me two tables of stone. 55:17 Bring them up in the morning and I will show you My glory. 55:20 I will hide you in the cleft of the rock, let Me write this. 55:23 Beloved this is written on tables of stone with the very 55:26 finger of God, can you say Amen! 55:28 Audience: Amen! 55:29 So look at the language here, four linguistic parallels. 55:32 Now go back to Revelation 14 and notice them here. 55:36 Verse 6, verse 7 rather, "worship him who made," that is 55:42 the first word, "the heavens," number 2, "the Earth," 55:48 number 3, "and as seas," number 4. 55:50 Basically this is a direct quotation of the Sabbath command 55:55 and this is widely understood and confirmed by cutting edge 56:00 New Testament scholarship. 56:02 Let me give it to you very simply, John is quoting from the 56:06 Sabbath commandment, are we together on that? 56:09 Now wait a minute, let's just pause here and take in the 56:11 significance of this. 56:13 Revelation is building from the front toward the center. 56:17 It is building from the back toward the center. 56:19 As we arrive at Revelation 12, 13 and 14, we are looking at 56:23 the climax of the ages. 56:25 This is historicist basically always understood Revelation 56:28 12, 13 and 14 and we are confronted by this word. 56:31 What is the word everyone? Worship! Worship, but it is 56:34 always false worship, worship the beast, worship the image, 56:37 worship the beast and the image, and amidst this cacophony 56:40 it calls to false worship, there is a what kind of call, 56:43 do you remember? A single call to worship the true God. 56:46 In that single call to worship the true God, I remind you 56:49 just before the second coming of Jesus, which begins in 56:52 verse 14, John quotes the Sabbath commandment. 56:59 Surely this is significant, no! it is more than 57:02 significant, it is absolutely, totally and completely amazing. 57:08 If ever there was a time when we should not be objecting 57:11 the Sabbath, not be objecting the foundation of the Sabbath 57:15 which is a biblical account of creation, historicity of 57:18 the creation, that time is now. 57:21 This is our finest hour! |
Revised 2014-12-17