Participants: Calvin Rock
Series Code: 11POFCM
Program Code: 11POFCM000023
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00:48 And we do welcome you right here for the final
00:52 program tonight. And we are so excited 00:56 about the way the Lord has been with us all day. 00:59 Have you been blessed? 01:00 Amen. Amen. 01:02 One message from God right after another. 01:06 And when I heard you singing a few moments ago 01:10 When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! 01:14 I was singing at the top of my lungs back there. 01:18 They won't give me a mike when I'm singing... 01:20 they held it away from me but I enjoyed it. 01:25 And boy, I tell you, John preached his heart out 01:28 and you sang your heart out. 01:31 And Tim played his fingers off over there 01:34 and we just had a wonderful praise the Lord. We really did. 01:39 Well, we're going to enjoy some more really good music 01:43 in a moment. Before our music comes 01:46 I want to talk to you about Dr. Calvin Rock. 01:48 Dr. Calvin Rock has been professor - president actually - 01:54 of Oakwood University. 01:56 He served at that capacity for a number of years. 01:59 Before that a pastor, an evangelist. 02:02 And then he became vice president of the 02:05 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. 02:07 The whole world church he was vice president. 02:10 And when he retired nine years ago 02:15 he said: "I want to retire where I can reach people 02:21 for the Lord. " 02:23 Now he could have gone to Oakwood where people love him, 02:26 where he'd been president, 02:27 and been around a whole lot of friends. 02:30 He could have stayed in Washington, D.C. 02:32 where there are more Adventists than you can shake a stick with. 02:36 But... at. And I don't know how to say that 02:39 I messed that up. But anyway... 02:42 You don't want to start shaking sticks, do you? 02:46 But he said: "I'm going to go 02:50 where I believe that I can reach out and witness. " 02:55 And he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. 02:59 They asked him... they said: "Would you take the church 03:02 for about six months? " And he said: "Yes. " 03:04 That was nine years ago. 03:08 When the brethren ask you to do something for six months 03:11 look out, because... 03:13 But you know, he is retiring July 1 as far as that church 03:18 is concerned. Remember he already retired once... 03:22 but he's still going to be available to preach 03:26 wherever the Lord calls upon him to go 03:30 because he's given his life to the Lord Jesus. 03:34 This is a man that I appreciate very much. 03:37 I know his uncle: Elder Charles Bradford. 03:40 You know Elder Charles Bradford? 03:43 Elder Charles Bradford's oldest sister 03:47 is the mother of Calvin Rock. 03:51 And she went to sleep in Jesus a few years ago. 03:55 But this is a lady who had a powerful ministry 04:00 as a lay person in a church out in California 04:05 because I knew of so many people who knew her. 04:09 And this man... God has blessed him. 04:12 He has been used by the Lord mightily 04:16 through all of these years 04:19 and pastor now of the Abundant Life Church in Las Vegas. 04:24 And he's going to be speaking on The Millennium 04:27 and the End of Sin. 04:29 It's going to be all over tonight. 04:31 And that's a fitting subject for us to close this series with. 04:37 Before he does, Reggie Smith is going to come. 04:41 He's going to sing that song that he sang 04:44 at General Conference: I Have Fixed My Mind - 04:49 Amen - On Another Time. 04:51 Words of William Miller... Reggie. 10:15 Amen everybody? Amen! Praise the Lord. 10:20 Our final message for this encampment 10:24 is The Millennium. Shall we pray? 10:31 Our Father in heaven, 10:33 we thank Thee for the words of hope and comfort 10:37 that have been sung just now 10:40 and for all of the words, the preaching, the singing 10:44 that have cheered and encouraged and educated our hearts 10:48 during this encampment. 10:50 And as we come now to the final study 10:53 we ask that the Holy Spirit will once again 10:56 speak to us and through us to the good of the cross. 11:00 In Jesus' name, Amen. 11:05 The Millennium. 11:08 The book of Revelation chapter 20 beginning at verse 1 11:12 as recorded in the New International version 11:16 reads as follows: 11:18 "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven 11:23 having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand 11:27 a great chain. 11:29 Besieged the devil, that ancient serpent, 11:34 the dragon, or Satan 11:38 and bound him for 1,000 years. 11:42 And he threw him into an abyss 11:46 and locked and sealed it over him 11:50 to keep him from deceiving the nations any more 11:54 until the 1,000 years were ended. 11:59 After that he must be set free 12:03 for a short time. " 12:08 Now, of course, the abyss referred to 12:11 in other versions as the bottomless pit 12:16 is symbolic of the earth's grim darkness 12:22 and the destruction that will be wrought in the wake 12:26 of Christ's second coming 12:29 when every mountain and island will be moved out of its place 12:33 and our planet chaotically convulsed. 12:39 The chain by which Satan is bound 12:43 is also mentioned in verse 1 12:46 and further detailed in verse 2, 12:49 and it is a chain of circumstances 12:54 and speaks to the fact that at Christ's second coming 12:57 the wicked living are slain. 13:01 Isaiah 11:4 and II Thessalonians 2:8. 13:06 And joining the wicked already dead. 13:10 And that the righteous dead 13:12 are raised at the sound of the archangel's shout 13:16 and the trumpet's sound. 13:18 Now mind you, this trumpet that will sound at the second coming 13:24 is different from any other trumpet that has ever sounded. 13:29 All other trumpets have assumed the faculty of sound, 13:35 but this trumpet supplies the faculty of hearing 13:39 and the dead in Christ shall rise. 13:42 Then joined by the translated living who follow them up 13:48 levitated into the presence of Christ. 13:53 So that with all the wicked down 13:57 and all the righteous up 14:01 there are no humans left for the devil to tempt and trouble. 14:06 No souls for him to corrupt. 14:08 No flesh for him to disease. 14:11 No bodies for him to mangle; no minds for him to confuse. 14:18 The seal mentioned in verse 3 14:22 symbolizes Satan's total quarantine or lockdown 14:26 to this desolated earth in the most miserable of circumstances. 14:31 Unable to trouble any other planet 14:34 and having at his disposal only the vast but already 14:39 irreversibly corrupted host of angels 14:42 who accompanied him in his fall, 14:45 he is stymied, stalled, shut up, and shut down 14:50 in this earth. 14:52 Frustrated and forlorn, he is left for 1,000 years 14:57 to stumble and stew amidst the devastated remains 15:02 of the once idyllic kingdom he rested from Adam's grasp. 15:08 There is more to be said about Satan's unhappy plight 15:12 and eventual destruction. 15:14 But the main character in this drama is not Satan, 15:18 the incarcerated, but Christ, the incarcerator. 15:22 The hero of Revelation 20 is not Lucifer the deceiver 15:27 but Christ the deliverer. 15:31 And that becomes starkly apparent in verse 4 15:34 which informs us that during the 1,000 years the devil 15:39 and his angels are confined to this devastated world 15:43 and the unhappy company of each other 15:46 while the redeemed are the guests of the Savior 15:51 living and reigning with Christ in heaven. 15:56 Now John does not detail for us the journey of the saved 16:00 from earth to glory, 16:02 but the prophet to the remnant - Ellen White - does portray 16:06 in glowing terms. And her description is that of the 16:11 redeemed after their rendezvous with Christ above the earth 16:16 being transported on clouds shaped like chariots 16:22 with wings on each side and wheels below 16:26 to their heavenly home. 16:28 And as the chariot rolls upward the wheels cry "holy" 16:32 and the wings cry "holy" 16:34 and the accompanying angels cry "holy, holy, holy. " 16:37 Story of Redemption page 412. 16:40 John does give a hint of travel activity 16:44 in Revelation 8:1 where in commenting on the opening 16:48 of the seventh seal which follows closely the events 16:52 leading to the second coming 16:54 he observes there was "silence in heaven 16:57 about the space of half an hour" 17:01 or prophetically speaking one week. 17:04 I like to think that the heavenly silence 17:07 speaks to unusual quiet in glory 17:10 because the angelic hosts are busy escorting the redeemed 17:14 to heaven and that since a week or seven days 17:18 will include a Sabbath - and we've been talking about that - 17:21 that somewhere on some happy hosting planet 17:25 the traveling saved will enjoy their first post-resurrection 17:31 or translation Sabbath worship before entering glory. 17:35 Now the mileage and route and travel time 17:38 and stops along the way if any 17:40 are not otherwise detailed by inspiration 17:43 but the events of our arrival there are. 17:47 "Our entrance into glory... " inspiration says, 17:50 Early Writings page 288... 17:52 "will be preceded by a welcome ceremony in which the saints 17:57 will be arranged in a wide expansive square 18:01 before the gates of glory. 18:03 Christ the Redeemer, who positions Himself in the middle 18:06 of the square will then requisition for each redeemed 18:10 a crown on which is written 18:14 HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD 18:18 and with it the new name promised overcomers 18:22 in Revelation 2:17. 18:24 And that crown gilded with stars 18:28 representing others each recipient led to salvation 18:32 will be placed on the head of every waiting saint. 18:37 He who as undeserving victim wore a crown of thorns 18:42 now as undisputed victor hands to every saint 18:47 a crown of glory and a golden harp. 18:49 And the redeemed will break forth in loud, long, rapturous 18:55 joyous praise to the Savior. " 18:58 I find the arranging of the saints in a square 19:01 with Christ in the middle highly suggestive. 19:06 In ancient Israel the sanctuary where the Shekinah glowed 19:10 was squarely in the middle of the formation 19:13 that positioned the tribes. 19:15 And the altar in Solomon's splendid temple 19:19 on the top of which God's presence shown was built 19:22 in a perfect square. 19:24 The prototypical temple described by Ezekiel 19:28 in the last 9 chapters of his book 19:31 contained an altar built foursquare 19:34 in the middle of which was a hearth or pit 19:37 designed for the burning of sacrifices. 19:40 And of course the habitation above 19:43 to which the saints are journeying now. 19:46 That place built by God's own hands will be the 19:50 bejeweled city where Jesus Himself is King 19:54 and according to 19:57 is a city foursquare. 20:00 Christ positioning Himself squarely in the middle 20:03 of structural arrangements of both ancient Israel 20:07 and the future redeemed is a forceful reminder 20:11 that He was and is indeed God with us. 20:17 God in the middle. 20:19 He is the centerpiece of our salvation: 20:22 equidistance from all His children, 20:25 equally available to every petitioner. 20:28 That in all our trials, all our striving, 20:32 all of our overcomings, He - Christ - is squarely 20:38 in the midst. That He is not an absentee landlord 20:42 occupying broad space in some far-away antiseptic kingdom 20:47 that we cannot see or reach 20:49 but rather He is ever nigh 20:52 unto all that call upon Him in truth. 20:55 Psalm 145:18. 20:57 And please notice that the number of those served 21:01 by Jesus with crowns and harps 21:04 is according to Revelation 7:9 21:07 a number that no man can number. 21:11 And yet we are promised that each will be personally served 21:15 by Him. Now in human time 21:19 this process of crowning and harping 21:22 would require an unimaginably- lengthy period. 21:26 But in millennial time, it will be but a happy, happy instant. 21:32 The saints will have crossed over from beginnings and 21:37 endings. From weary days to the never-ending joys 21:42 of chartless tomorrows. 21:45 Chronology will have given way to eternity, 21:48 and eternity past will have collapsed into eternity future. 21:53 And time - the tragic interruption of God's plan 21:57 for the human race - will be no more. 21:59 It is then, when the welcome ceremony has concluded, 22:04 that the radiant Savior will swing open the pearly gates 22:08 and in the words of Matthew 25:34 22:12 say to His church - once militant, now triumphant - 22:15 "Come, ye blessed of My Father. 22:18 Inherit the kingdom prepared for you 22:21 from the foundation of the world. " 22:23 And then it happens. 22:27 In full view of the transfixed redeemed 22:31 there in the foyer of glory 22:34 the two Adams meet: 22:36 the Adam who pulled us down and the Adam who turned us around. 22:40 The Adam who started our strife and the Adam who gave us life. 22:45 The Adam who failed his race and the Adam who took his place. 22:49 The Adam who started the trouble 22:51 and the Adam who pulled us from the rubble. 22:54 The Adam in whom we sinned and the Adam by whom we win. 22:58 The Adam who saddled us with loss 23:01 and the Adam who saved us by the cross. 23:04 They meet in wondrous interaction. 23:07 The first Adam who was banished from the garden 23:11 after sin is then presented that for which the last centuries 23:15 of his sorrowful life he longed and lamented: 23:18 the Garden of Eden. 23:20 Third Spiritual Gifts page 83 informs us 23:24 that the garden was kept safe, unentered by any human being 23:29 from Adam's expulsion until just before the flood 23:33 when it was taken from the earth and preserved in heaven. 23:37 But now Adam is reinstated in his paradise lost. 23:40 He and his glorified descendants joyfully inspect 23:45 its provisions and then begin 1,000 years of reveling 23:50 in the environs of glory. 23:52 Walking upon the sea of glass. Eating from the Tree of Life. 23:56 Bowing before the great white throne. 23:59 Singing praises to the holy Lamb. 24:01 Renewing happy acquaintance with family and friends. 24:05 Studying with fascinated attraction the wonders 24:08 of nature and the science of salvation 24:11 and judging the records of the wicked. 24:14 Revelation 20:4. 24:16 All recorded - the deeds of the wicked - in what 24:21 Ellen White called the Books of Death. 24:24 Great Controversy, 661. 24:28 More accurately stated 24:31 this process will be a matter of the righteous 24:35 given modern technology - the saints - 24:38 judging the wicked based upon information 24:41 stored in the databases viewed from the desktops 24:47 of their personal thrones. 24:49 And what a gesture of absolute grace and fairness that is. 24:53 God the Father, who never walked in our moccasins, 24:57 who does not know what it is to be born of a woman 25:01 and to live in a world of sin, 25:03 gives judgment to the Son according to John 5:22. 25:07 But then Jesus, who does know what it's like to be born 25:12 and to live and die in our world, 25:14 Jesus who came in our flesh and ate our food 25:19 and breathed our air and drank our water 25:22 and suffered our pain and died our death... 25:26 He, the compassionate Savior, 25:28 He who was temped in all points as are we - Hebrews 4:12- 25:33 but who never sinned. 25:35 Who repented and was baptized symbolically 25:38 gives the last word of judgment to those for whom repentance 25:42 was real and necessary... to you and for me. 25:46 He who came in Adam's sinless innocence 25:49 but with our physical debilities 25:52 and lived in a world that was as wantonly wicked 25:57 as was Adam's perfectly pure... 26:00 He who overcome under circumstances 26:03 infinitely more drastic than those that Adam endured 26:07 and suffered temptations 100 times more intense 26:11 than he or we... He who in the wilderness felt the strength 26:16 of our evil cravings 26:19 whose corpuscles and cells and sinews 26:22 after 40 days and nights of fasting 26:25 cried out for satisfaction with the same force 26:29 with which the addict craves for a fix... 26:32 He who though hounded, harassed, and hassled by Satan 26:35 every step of His life never yielded to temptation 26:39 commits judgment to those who did 26:42 but who in sorrow accepted His forgiveness 26:45 and yielded to the ongoing process of sanctification 26:49 or daily growth. THOUGH, while they were growing, 26:54 while we are growing, 26:57 already perfected - Hebrews 10:14 says - 27:00 by the robe of His righteousness. 27:04 And when the process of judgment is completed 27:09 the thousand years will expire. 27:12 That is when, verse 7 of Revelation 20 informs us, 27:18 Christ will return back to the earth 27:22 and Satan will be loosed from his prison. 27:28 Now this coming to the earth is labeled as His 3rd coming. 27:33 And that is correct in terms of His appearances 27:37 with global visibility and global mission. 27:41 However, He has visited this earth on many other memorable 27:47 though less auspicious occasions 27:50 as when He appeared to Abraham at Mamre 27:53 and when He wrestled with Jacob at Peniel. 27:56 When He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. 27:59 When by Jericho with sword in hand 28:03 He intercepted Joshua. 28:05 When He recruited Gideon at the winepress. 28:08 When He appeared in the flames at Manoah's altar. 28:12 When He stood with the Hebrews in the fiery furnace. 28:15 He was here when He after His resurrection conversed 28:19 with Mary and walked with the travelers toward Emmaus 28:22 and when in repeated visits with the 11 He instructed 28:26 them regarding His replacement, the Holy Spirit. 28:30 Zechariah 14:5 tells us that when He returns this time 28:35 He will touch down on the Mount of Olives. 28:38 And our remnant prophet describes in graphic language 28:42 how that mountain in the bosom of which He agonized 28:46 the night of His betrayal 28:48 will spread out into a broad plateau and how the redeemed 28:53 and angelic hosts who followed Him back here from heaven 28:57 will then look up and see the holy city following them 29:02 descending from God out of heaven. 29:04 At that point, Satan is released from his prison. 29:09 It was the removal of his followers 29:13 that tied the devil's hands 29:16 and it is their reinstatement to life, their resurrection, 29:21 that frees him again. 29:24 At Satan's call, they all come forth... 29:28 from the antelluvian giants of antiquity 29:32 to the anticommandment jurists of modernity they come forth. 29:37 The righteous who were raised at the second coming - 29:41 I Thessalonians 4:13-18- 29:43 were brought up in immortal bloom. 29:47 The wicked are now raised immoral and doomed. 29:52 Every rejecter of grace, 29:55 every proclaimer that God was dead, 29:59 every preacher of the Ten Commandments done away, 30:03 every promoter of Sabbath change, 30:06 every purveyor of evolutionism, 30:09 every pompous prophet of self-praise and adoration, 30:13 every drug dealer and user, 30:16 every child molester and abuser, 30:19 every unregenerate adulterer and disobedient child, 30:24 every professor of Christ who lived a double life, 30:27 every smiling parrot of "Happy Sabbath" 30:30 who lived a previously unholy six along with every 30:35 bloodthirsty warrior who ever died during the 6,000 years 30:39 of warfare on earth... they come forth. 30:41 From Ahab to Attila the Hun. 30:45 From Chedorlaomer to Charlemagne. 30:47 From Nero to Napoleon and Senaccherib to Stalin. 30:51 And Pharaoh to Pot-Pol. 30:53 From Pilate to Pinochet; from Hamaan to Hitler. 30:56 From Cain to Capone. 30:58 From Jezebel the queen to Idi Amin... 31:01 they all come forth 31:02 in the same bodybuild and mindset in which they died. 31:08 And their second resurrection... this releasing the devil 31:13 from his prison... is but prelude to their second death. 31:18 Except, that is, for those who pierced Him. 31:21 Those who inflicted the body blows at Calvary - 31:25 Revelation 1:7. 31:28 For these it is the third death. 31:32 They died the natural death at the end of their unprofitable 31:35 lives. They were resurrected at Christ's second coming 31:39 and died with the wicked then. 31:41 And now at the millennium's end they are revived 31:45 only to die once more. 31:49 Some religionists teach that the millennium - 31:53 the 1,000 years - will be a golden age of Christianization. 31:58 A time when the wicked will be afforded a final opportunity 32:02 for repentance and that then Christ will return. 32:05 They are known as the post- millenialists. 32:10 There are others who teach that the 1,000-year period 32:13 mentioned six times in Revelation 20 32:16 is simply symbolic... a representation of the time 32:20 between the first and second coming of Christ. 32:23 They are known as the amillennialists. 32:27 Neither position is correct. 32:29 What is correct based upon the earth-clearing events 32:34 at Christ's second coming 32:36 and the earth cleansing actions of His third appearance 32:41 is that millennial consequences do not take place 32:45 at His second coming and that it is destruction 32:49 not revival that follows the awakening of the wicked. 32:52 Now it is true according to Story of Redemption page 423 32:58 that upon resurrection to life 33:00 the wicked - made ashamed and remorseful 33:03 by the brightness of His person - 33:06 will acknowledge His mercy and truth 33:09 and cry out the honor and justice of His name. 33:14 But that will not be genuine repentance. 33:17 It will be Balaam-like confession wrung from 33:21 Balak-like hearts soon to receive the dire reward 33:25 of their foxhole religion. 33:27 And it is not simply the glow of Christ's appearance 33:31 that will arouse their awe. 33:34 As they awaken, they witness in the skies, 33:38 our prophet tells us, a panoramic display 33:41 in three-dimension clarity - I added that, but I believe it - 33:47 the whole history of Christ's salvation efforts 33:51 from Adam's fall to Christ's first coming and crucifixion 33:55 and the centuries of growth and development of His cause 33:59 will be shown. 34:01 Having been so vividly reminded of God's goodness 34:06 and their guiltiness, their awe converts to ire 34:10 and they turn in rage upon the deceiver 34:13 who himself has seemed paralyzed and transfixed 34:17 by the panorama in the skies. 34:20 But then their rage is interrupted 34:23 as their attention is called to the Holy City 34:26 into which Christ has now taken the redeemed and shut the door 34:31 upon its happy occupants. 34:32 The lost look up and see the saints looking down 34:37 from the cities walls. 34:40 And above them they see Christ seated high 34:45 upon a throne. And as they look up 34:48 and see the saints peering over the walls 34:52 of the city positioned above them 34:54 and above the saints there is Christ 34:57 and above Christ, our prophet says, there is the cross 35:01 sitting high. 35:03 And how fitting that is. 35:06 The cross... they see the cross above it all. 35:12 Above the wicked, above the city, above the righteous, 35:16 above the throne stands the cross. 35:19 The cross - where six hours of suffering excised 35:23 six millennia of sin. 35:25 The cross - where justice and mercy met in perfect blend. 35:30 The cross - on which the Son of God gave all for the victims 35:34 of sin. The cross on which Jesus endured and died 35:39 not because of loss of blood or searing physical pain 35:43 but because of a broken heart. A heart imploded 35:47 by the thought of human rejection. 35:49 The cross - where Satan took his last stand 35:53 and Jesus died with pierced hands and feet and wounded brow. 35:57 The cross will stand above it all. 36:00 It was a thing of pity then... but it is a thing of praise now. 36:05 It was an ugly instrument then 36:08 but it's a beautiful diadem now shining in the heavens 36:12 above the head of the victorious Christ. 36:16 And it's all too much for the wicked who are looking up 36:20 and much too much for their leader, Satan, 36:24 who rallies them to attack. 36:25 "Let's take it, " he commands. 36:27 "I know that city. I lived there for thousands of years. 36:31 I know every street and every building and every room. 36:34 I was once the covering cherub; I practically ran the place. 36:38 Have no fear... follow me. " 36:41 Revelation 20:8-9 states 36:45 that the wicked - as numerous as the sand of the sea - 36:48 then surround the Holy City. 36:51 Satan, who just prior to the end of the world, knew 36:55 that he had but a short time to work 36:57 and frantically assaulted society - Revelation 12:12- 37:02 now just prior to his own end 37:05 knowing that he is loosed but for a little season - 37:08 chapter 20 verse 2- 37:09 frantically rallies his forces and succeeds... 37:13 our prophet saw, Great Controversy 644... 37:16 in marshaling his vast army and leading it - 37:21 get this - and leading it in a well-planned advance 37:27 on all four sides of the city. 37:35 And it is then - Revelation 20:9- that Christ 37:41 gives the orders and hell fire erupts. 37:45 Satan has been loosed from his prison 37:48 and fire is now loosed from its pent-up casement 37:52 deep in the bowels of the earth. 37:54 The searing, soaring flames springing up from below 37:58 meet with raging, roaring flames raining down from above, 38:02 and this planet glows red and its surface is covered 38:07 with melting fervent heat - II Peter 3:10. 38:13 The God who hates sin - 38:16 big sins and little sins - 38:19 public sins and private sins - 38:23 weekday sins and Sabbath Day sins - 38:27 old folk sins and young people sins - 38:31 sins of commission and sins of omission - 38:34 laity sins and preacher's sins - 38:39 sins of the mind and sins of the body - 38:42 now conducts what Isaiah 28:21 calls 38:47 "His strange act. " 38:49 The planet is now literally a molten lake of fire 38:53 but the God who protected the ark and its occupants 38:58 when the world was rendered a lake of water 39:01 now shelters the city and the redeemed as the world has become 39:06 a lake of fire - Revelation 20:9. 39:10 Because all sin must be punished no sin will go unrewarded. 39:15 The wicked will burn for their evil... 39:18 some lesser and some to a greater degree. 39:21 But Satan will burn not only for all of his personal sins 39:26 but for all of the confessed sins of the redeemed as well. 39:31 And I've got a lot to add to his load... 39:34 how about you? 39:36 And there are some confused by the language of verse 10 39:41 that states that the wicked will "burn forever and ever. " 39:45 However, close scrutiny reveals that this "foreverness" 39:49 does not imply, as some believe, an ever-burning hell. 39:55 It means only as long as the burning substance 39:59 will last. In fact, Malachi 4:1 states clearly 40:03 that the wicked will be burned up... root and branch. 40:07 Root = the devil. Branch = his followers. 40:14 They will be entirely eliminated, 40:17 completely obliterated, 40:19 and the message sent to the Father in language akin 40:26 to the report of the American SEALs who overran Bin Laden 40:32 A... or rather EKIA. 40:37 EKIA... 40:40 enemy killed in action. 40:42 And the earth... fumigated, cleansed, and finally cooled 40:48 will then be much as it was 40:51 in its pre-creation condition. 40:54 And then Christ goes to work again. 40:56 Christ, who in the beginning when the earth was without form 41:02 and void, spake and it was done, 41:04 commanded and it stood fast - Psalm 32:5, 41:09 will speak again and the earth will reappear 41:13 in its original beauty. 41:15 It is then that He opens the gates to the city 41:19 now majestically settled upon its exalted heights 41:24 and those who've been sheltered there 41:26 will flow forth to inherit the earth made new - 41:30 Revelation 21:1-4. 41:32 The curse has now been eliminated, the scourge excised. 41:38 The one blot in God's otherwise pure, holy, perfect, pristine, 41:44 pure universe done away. 41:47 And as Nahum reminds us chapter 1 verse 9 41:50 "iniquity shall not rise the second time. " 41:55 And then there will be peace in the valley. 41:58 "The lion and the lamb shall lie down, 42:00 and none shall hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain. " 42:04 There we shall not have a tear nor terror. 42:08 Not an itch nor a twitch. 42:11 Not a snarl nor a sniffle. 42:14 Not a pill nor an ill. 42:17 No health shots and no blood clots. 42:20 No abrasions and no contagions. 42:23 No rheumatism and no embolism. 42:26 No infections and no injections. 42:29 No paralysis and no dialysis. 42:32 No aching backs and no heart attacks. 42:35 No amnesia and no anesthesia. 42:39 No handicapped signs and no drug store lines. 42:43 No pacemakers and no undertakers! 42:47 No terminal pains and no funeral trains. Yes! 42:51 But the Tree of Life and the giver of life, 42:55 the God in whose presence sickness cannot abide 42:59 and by whose power we will enjoy eternity without infirmity. 43:05 Utopia with no myopia. 43:08 Society with no psychiatry. 43:11 Paradise with no parasites. 43:14 "And the former things will not be remembered 43:17 nor brought to mind. " Amen! 43:19 And He shall reign where ere the sun 43:23 on its appointed course shall run. 43:26 His kingdom rule from shore to shore 43:30 till moon and stars shall wax no more. 43:34 And with only the beautified scars on his brow 43:38 and the glorified marks in His hands and feet 43:42 and the glow from His wounded side 43:46 to remind us that there was a former life 43:50 we shall follow the glorified Lamb of Calvary 43:54 wherever He shall go. 43:56 We must be there. 43:58 I must be there. 44:01 By God's grace we SHALL be there. 44:05 Is that your determination? 44:07 If so, would you stand with me now and let us pray. 44:14 Our Father in heaven, 44:16 we long for the second coming 44:22 and look to the end of the millennial period 44:29 when sin and sinners 44:32 and even the evil proclivities 44:37 of our fallen nature will forever be done away. 44:41 When we can cry: "Free at last, free at last" 44:46 and live together forever 44:51 in the environs of a sinless happy home. 44:58 Toward that end we work and pray. 45:01 And before I conclude my prayer while our heads are bowed 45:06 and our eyes are closed 45:07 I want to go one step further as we conclude our encampment. 45:13 There just may be somebody here, and let me start with 45:18 those of us who are already Seventh-day Adventists. 45:20 Is there a party here who would like by raising your hand 45:25 while you stand to say: "Yes, I have let this vision 45:29 fade a little bit. I admit I haven't been on it 45:33 like I should have been. 45:35 I haven't been reading the prophesies and studying. 45:38 My first love has cooled off, 45:41 and I don't want to be a part of that mob at the end 45:44 of the millennium. I want to be on the inside looking out 45:48 not on the outside looking in. 45:51 So right here now I say yes, Lord, 45:53 I renew my vows; I renew my covenant. " 45:57 If you feel OK with the Lord and it's all right 46:00 don't raise your hand. Well let me change that. 46:02 It's never all all right. But I mean 46:04 if you've been living so that you have no major problem... 46:08 just the usual wash your feet at communion time... 46:12 that's OK. But if you have something special you need 46:16 to get rid of you want to get behind you 46:18 something that you really want to leave and not take home 46:22 would you raise your hand and say: "Yes, that's me. 46:23 I've got it and I admit it. 46:25 God renew my commitment. " And here's my hand. 46:28 All right, you may put your hands down. 46:31 That's your commitment. 46:32 But I want to go a step further. 46:35 There may be some Seventh-day Adventist, some ex-Adventist 46:38 here, somebody who used to belong to the church 46:41 but you came to the 3ABN Camp Meeting to hear preaching 46:45 and singing. And somebody brought you here or dragged you 46:48 here or you wandered in. Don't know how you got here 46:51 but you don't want to leave here 46:52 without coming back into the fold. 46:55 I want to go a step further. 46:57 You used to be but now you want to come back home. 47:00 You want to get your name back on the books. 47:02 You want to start attending church like you should. 47:05 Or maybe you've never been a Seventh-day Adventist 47:07 but you know the commandments are right. 47:09 You know the Sabbath is right 47:11 and you want to say: "Yes, Brother Preacher, 47:13 I want to rejoin the church tonight. 47:16 I'm not going to leave here outside the ark. 47:19 I do want to be on the inside. " 47:21 Would you raise your hand where you are? 47:23 That man or woman or boy or girl who may need to return, 47:26 are you here? 47:30 God sees your hand, maam. 47:32 Seal the vision; when you go home, talk to your preacher. 47:35 You know who the preacher is in your city? 47:37 Talk to him; talk to her. Anybody else? 47:40 Need to come back home? Need to get in the ark? 47:45 Need to make your reservation for the Holy City? 47:50 Want to be in the first resurrection. 47:57 To the rest of us who are standing... 47:59 God bless you brother... He sees you. 48:01 When you get home talk to your preacher. 48:03 Get it right... seal the vision. 48:07 Let the words you've heard this weekend be a seed in good soil. 48:12 Father, we stand in Your presence humbled and awed 48:17 at Your goodness, at Your mercy. 48:20 Thanking you that You've given us yet another chance, 48:24 another day of life, another opportunity learn and grow. 48:29 Now Father, by Your Holy Spirit 48:34 in the name of Jesus seal the blessings 48:37 that we have enjoyed here together 48:39 as seed in good soil to spring forth into fruits 48:43 and works of righteousness and finally 48:46 to be saved at Christ's return. 48:51 In His name and for His sake we ask it, 48:54 let all the people join in saying, Amen. 48:59 Shall we be seated. 49:01 Amen. Thank you. 49:05 Thank you. Be seated. 49:08 We're going to ask some of our folks to come out. 49:11 And we've got... We're going to ask some of the singers 49:15 and some of the musicians. We thought what we would do 49:18 in closing. We have about eight minutes left on satellite. 49:22 Some of you that were singers and... come on up. 49:26 Singers from last night come on up. 49:29 If you were a speaker here... Elder Brooks and Sr. Brooks, 49:33 if you all want to just come up for a minute. 49:34 Some of the speakers and the singers. 49:36 We want to come up... 49:37 We thought we'd have Reggie maybe sing 49:40 the song that we ended with last night: The Solid Rock. 49:43 And when we get to the last part of it, maybe all of us 49:46 will sing... join with him. 49:48 But this is an incredible song and it's been an incredible 49:51 weekend, hasn't it? Amen. 49:53 And where's Baby Faith behind... there she is, OK. 49:57 And it's been a wonderful time and we're coming to the close. 50:00 And so what we'd like to do is... we're so thankful 50:04 for all the speakers, the sermons that we've heard, 50:06 all the music. But maybe give us a chance to stand together 50:10 because without Christ we'd have nothing. 50:13 And He is the only thing solid. It's the solid rock 50:15 that we have, and we need to depend upon Him. 50:18 And so Reggie, if you want to come on up. 50:20 You sing it. Maybe when you get toward the end of it 50:23 on the chorus we'll all just jump in with you. OK? 50:25 All right. 54:12 Praise the Lord! 54:15 Thank you, Reggie. Jim... 54:17 My oh my oh my. 54:20 Wow, what a way to end Camp Meeting, right? 54:24 On Christ the solid rock we stand. 54:28 Each and every one of us. ALL other ground is 54:31 sinking sand. Amen! 54:33 Standing in His righteousness alone. 54:37 All other ground is sinking sand. 54:41 That song has a message... a message for God's people 54:44 today, Danny. It really does. 54:47 I'm so thankful for all of you that have come so far. 54:51 And we found out from several other countries... even as far 54:54 away as Australia. I have to say Alaska again 54:57 'cause they tell me "remember Alaska. " 54:59 But all across the continental United States, probably even 55:02 somebody from Hawaii. We're so thankful for all of you 55:05 who have come here. It shows great support to us 55:08 because we're here in this little community of 600 people. 55:10 Our big town, my home town there, West Frankfort, 55:13 of about 8500 people. And so to have all of you coming 55:17 from so many places around the world 55:19 and to see what you have built. What God has built, but 55:22 through you. Because without you, none of what you see here 55:26 at 3ABN and all the dishes and all the production facilities, 55:29 the facility we're in tonight. None of this would happen 55:32 without your being willing to listen to the Holy Spirit 55:35 and to give in support of this ministry. 55:38 We want to thank you for that. Those of you at home, 55:40 those who couldn't come... thank you for how you support 55:43 through prayer, through financial blessings, 55:45 whatever is on your heart. Sharing the word about 3ABN. 55:49 Getting the good news into all the world. 55:51 And really, that's all it's all about. 55:53 And without this, there would be nothing... 55:55 This is solid ground that we're talking about, 55:58 and here we feel like we're on holy ground. 56:00 But anywhere we go we're on holy ground 56:03 when we're in the presence of the Lord. Amen. 56:05 I have felt it this entire weekend from Wednesday night. 56:08 Even before, actually... our board meeting and on. 56:11 And we want to take this home with us, folks. 56:14 We want you to take what you got here this weekend 56:17 and take it home and share it with your loved ones. 56:20 Share it with your friends, your enemies... everybody. 56:22 Share what you have got because that's God's commission 56:27 to us is "Go ye into all the world. " 56:30 So when we come to the gas station and fill up 56:32 now we've got to go disseminate it, right? 56:35 Share it with others... that's how God blesses us. 56:37 It's been an incredible meeting, an incredible weekend. 56:41 And there's been a number of appeals already. 56:43 But if there's anybody watching on television, 56:46 listening on radio, or here 56:48 that you still... It's never too late to give your heart 56:50 to the Lord Jesus Christ. 56:51 That's right. And that's where it all begins 56:53 is making that step of saying "yes" to Jesus 56:58 and then stepping out and trusting in Him 57:01 and relying upon Him. Jesus is coming again. 57:07 He's coming! I don't know when but I know He is. 57:12 And I'll trust Him. He has not put me on the Arrangements 57:15 Committee; He has put me on the Proclamation Committee. 57:19 I'm not to bring Him in; I'm to proclaim that He's coming. 57:22 All right. And He's coming very soon. 57:25 Keep on keeping on with Jesus, our Lord, our God, 57:30 and our Savior. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17