Participants:
Series Code: DPM
Program Code: DPM000017A
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00:11 Heavenly Father,
00:14 Lord, here we are gathered again 00:16 together on night number 17. 00:19 Father, we have heard so many precious truths from Your Word. 00:23 Lord, many of us are contemplating decisions 00:26 in our minds. 00:27 And we want to claim Your promise 00:29 in the Book of James, Lord, You said, 00:31 that whoever lacks wisdom, should ask You, 00:35 and that You would give liberally. 00:38 So tonight we are asking, Lord, that You would give us 00:40 spiritual wisdom and spiritual knowledge 00:43 that You would pour out Your Holy Spirit 00:46 and just shed light on our Christian walk, 00:49 so that each of us may know the way 00:52 in which You are leading. 00:53 Thank You for that promise, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:57 Amen. Amen. 00:59 I wanna invite you to take your Bible 01:01 and I want you to go right away to Revelation 12:13. 01:08 Now you've noticed that usually 01:09 I start with a story each night. 01:11 But we've got so much to cover, 01:12 I'm just gonna dispense with the story 01:14 and we're gonna go right into the prophecy. 01:16 So we'll let the prophecy 01:18 be our introductory story for tonight. 01:20 Revelation Chapter 12 01:23 and I want to read verses 13 through 17, 01:27 which is really going to be a new prophecy for us to study. 01:31 But before I read it, 01:32 I want to give you the background 01:34 of what's happening in this chapter. 01:36 In verses 7 through 12, 01:40 Revelation has just told us about the dragon 01:43 being cast out of heaven, 01:45 how Satan was once a loyal angel 01:47 in the Kingdom of Heaven named Lucifer. 01:49 And Revelation says that Michael and his angels 01:52 fought against the dragon and his angels. 01:55 And so the dragon and the angels 01:57 that followed him were cast out 02:00 and they were cast down to this earth. 02:02 That's what verses 7 through 12 talk about, 02:05 we've already studied that. 02:07 But then verse 13 picks up, 02:10 and it talks about how the dragon 02:13 now goes after the woman. 02:16 Let's pick it up in Revelation 12:13. 02:21 The Bible says, 02:23 "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, 02:28 he persecuted the woman 02:30 who gave birth to the male child. 02:32 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle 02:36 that she might fly," where? 02:40 "Into the wilderness to her place, 02:42 where she is nourished for a time, times, 02:46 and half a time 02:48 from the presence of the serpent. 02:50 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth 02:53 like a flood after the woman 02:55 that he might cause her to be carried away 02:58 by the flood, but the earth helped the woman 03:01 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood 03:04 which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth." 03:08 Now notice verse 17, 03:10 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, 03:13 and went to make war 03:15 with the rest of her offspring." 03:18 Or if you have the King James, 03:20 it says, "The dragon was wroth with the woman 03:23 and went to make war against," who? 03:26 "The remnant of her seed, 03:28 who keep the commandments of God 03:31 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 03:34 Now we're gonna stop here for a second. 03:37 Revelation is giving us a picture of persecution. 03:41 You have a dragon and a serpent, 03:44 which is seeking to persecute the woman 03:47 by spewing floods of water out of its mouth. 03:50 It says the earth helps the woman 03:53 and eventually the woman has to hide in the wilderness 03:56 for a period of time. 03:58 And then in verse 17, 04:00 it says the dragon now 04:02 goes after the remnants of the woman. 04:06 You say, "Well, what does all that mean?" 04:08 Well, we're introduced to three symbols in that passage, 04:11 I'm gonna put all three of them on the screen. 04:14 First of all, you have the dragon, 04:16 and you have the serpent. 04:18 Now, we've already learned from previous prophecies, 04:20 who does the dragon 04:22 and the serpent represent, you tell me? 04:23 Satan. Represents Satan. 04:25 And we've already learned 04:27 how the woman represents God's people or God's church. 04:32 And so what we're seeing here 04:34 is really two periods of persecution 04:37 that Revelation is representing. 04:40 In verses 13 through 16, 04:42 it is representing the persecution 04:45 of the Middle Ages. 04:47 You say, "Now, how do you know that?" 04:49 Notice it said that the devil or the dragon 04:52 and the serpent was attacking the woman 04:54 where she fled into the wilderness 04:56 for what period of time? 04:58 A time, times and half a times. 05:02 And if you were here a few nights ago, 05:04 we've already learned 05:05 that is referring to the 1,260 years 05:09 of papal persecution 05:11 that happened during the Middle Ages. 05:13 In fact, Revelation 12:6 clearly tells us that time, 05:17 times, and half a time 05:18 and 1,260 days are the exact same thing. 05:22 Remember, we learned that papal Rome dominated 05:25 from 538 to 1798, 05:29 when church and state were united, 05:32 and anyone who refused 05:33 to follow the traditions of Rome, 05:35 anyone who wanted to follow only what the Bible said 05:39 was considered to be a heretic and they were persecuted. 05:44 And so it is this period of earth's history 05:47 that Revelation refers to the woman 05:49 or God's people having to hide in the wilderness 05:53 because this is the time of papal persecution. 05:57 It says that the serpent spews water out of its mouth, 06:00 that flood is the flood of persecution. 06:05 The second period of persecution 06:08 that has been mentioned is now in verse 17, 06:11 because apparently the dragon, 06:13 the serpent which is used interchangeably, 06:16 they're not successful in destroying God's people 06:19 during the Middle Ages. 06:20 So now in verse 17, 06:23 we're reaching to the end of time. 06:26 And now the dragon is persecuting the remnant, 06:30 God's end time people in the last days. 06:35 And what's significant about verse 17, 06:38 as I want you to notice 06:40 how it describes God's remnant at the end of time. 06:45 I want to read verse 17 again. 06:47 Revelation 12:17, 06:49 "The dragon was wroth with the woman, 06:52 and went to make war with the remnants of her seed," 06:56 that means those that remain 06:58 and they are described in two ways. 07:02 "They keep the commandments of God, 07:05 and they have the," what? 07:07 "Testimony of Jesus Christ." 07:10 Now we have to stop here. 07:12 What Revelation is telling us is that in the last days, 07:17 there's going to be a special remnant movement. 07:21 There's going to be a movement of believers 07:25 who are going to come back to following the Bible 07:28 and the Bible alone. 07:30 And that remnant last day movement 07:33 is characterized in two ways. 07:36 Number one, they keep the commandments of God 07:41 and they have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 07:46 This is what we need to study tonight. 07:48 Because if God is saying at the end of time, 07:50 there's gonna be a remnant 07:52 and that remnant is gonna keep God's commandments, 07:55 they're gonna have the testimony of Jesus, 07:57 and they're gonna lead people back to the Bible 07:59 and the Bible alone away from the traditions 08:02 and the commandments of men, then here's our question. 08:06 How do I find God's remnant movement today? 08:11 How do I find this remnant movement 08:13 that is drawing people back to God's commandments, 08:16 bringing them back 08:18 to the testimony of Jesus Christ? 08:21 Because the truth is finding 08:22 that last day remnant movement that Revelation talks about, 08:27 that is no easy task in this confusing 08:31 religious world that we live in. 08:34 In fact, let me show you a statistic 08:35 from the Year Book of Churches. 08:37 Right now we are told that in the world today 08:41 there are approximately 244 different church denominations. 08:47 Now that's including those that are registered 08:50 with the government and have an official name. 08:52 If we were to add to that number, 08:55 all the smaller groups or smaller sects, 08:58 we would have a number of over 500. 09:00 And I want you to think about that. 09:02 One God, one Bible, one truth, 09:06 500 different faiths 09:08 with thousands and thousands of different doctrines, 09:12 that is confusing. 09:15 That's what causes people to throw up their hands 09:17 and say, "Well, I might as well forget it, 09:19 I will never be able to find truth, 09:21 I'll never be able to find God's remnant movement 09:25 in the last days that he talks about." 09:29 Now, I'm gonna ask a question 09:30 that really doesn't have a politically 09:32 correct answer to it. 09:34 When it comes to all of these different churches 09:37 and different groups that are in our world today, 09:41 can every church be right? 09:43 Yes or no? 09:44 They can't, 09:46 because some churches teach things 09:47 that are totally opposite of each other. 09:50 So someone's right and someone's wrong. 09:52 Now, it's not politically correct to say that, 09:55 but honestly, it's the truth. 09:58 One church says this, another church says that. 10:01 One preacher preaches this, 10:03 another preacher preaches the opposite. 10:05 How are we supposed to know where to find truth? 10:09 In fact, in churches today, 10:11 many times it can be a combination 10:14 of both truth and error, 10:17 a combination of what God says, and also what man says. 10:22 And that kind of a concoction 10:25 can be very, very deceptive. 10:29 So how do we make our way 10:32 through and through this confusing religious world 10:35 to be able to find truth? 10:37 How do we make our way through 500 groups 10:40 to find Revelation's special end time movement 10:45 that keeps the commandments of God 10:47 and has the testimony of Jesus Christ? 10:51 So here's what we're gonna do. 10:53 We're going to cover six principles 10:55 from the Bible this evening. 10:58 Principles that will help to guide us 11:01 in finding truth today, 11:03 principles that come not from my opinion, 11:06 not from yours, 11:08 not from some churches' interpretation, 11:10 but from the Bible and the Bible alone. 11:13 And when we apply these six principles 11:15 that we're going to study, it is going to enable us 11:19 to find God's remnant movement today, 11:22 and to shed light on some of the decisions 11:25 that we are having to make. 11:27 So we're gonna go through all six of these principles. 11:30 So are you ready to go? Can you say amen? 11:33 All right, the first one is found in 1 Corinthians 3:11. 11:39 And I'd like you to go ahead 11:40 and look all of these verses up with me. 11:43 1 Corinthians Chapter 3 11:45 and we want to begin in verse 11. 11:49 Now I need to look this up myself. 11:51 1 Corinthians 3:11. 11:54 Now it's just one sentence long, 11:57 but it is power packed with a foundational principle 12:01 that we need to understand today. 12:04 1 Corinthians 3:11. 12:09 The Bible says, 12:11 "For no other foundation can anyone lay 12:16 than that which is laid, which is," what? 12:20 "Jesus Christ." So let's stop. 12:22 Now that's pretty elementary, 12:23 but it's still nonetheless important. 12:26 Principle number one says, 12:28 if I want to find God's truth today, 12:30 if I want to find Revelation's remnant movement 12:34 at the end of time that is going to be a group 12:38 that is founded on Jesus Christ and His teachings. 12:43 Now, you may say, "Well, that's kind of understood." 12:46 But you see, you got to remember, 12:49 a true church of Jesus 12:51 is never going to put the teachings of a man 12:55 above the teachings of Jesus Christ. 12:58 It will never put the teachings of a prophet 13:01 above the teachings of Jesus. 13:03 It will never put the teachings of any earthly religious leader 13:09 above what Christ teaches in His Word. 13:12 Can you say amen? 13:14 See, when you're asking questions about the Bible, 13:17 when you're convicted about something Scripture says, 13:20 a commandment that says, we need to do this 13:22 or we need to refrain from that. 13:24 When I ask someone a question about the Bible, 13:27 and the answer I get is, 13:29 "Oh, well, that doesn't really matter." 13:32 That should be a red flag in our minds. 13:35 When I ask a question about the Bible, 13:38 and somebody says to me, 13:39 "Oh, well, that's done away with, 13:40 we don't need to worry about it anymore." 13:43 That's a red flag in my mind. 13:45 When I ask a question about the Bible, 13:48 and someone says to me, 13:50 "Oh, well, we just follow tradition 13:52 that's not the way we do things." 13:54 That's a red flag in my mind. 13:58 Because the Bible says when it comes to God's church, 14:01 when it comes to a remnant movement in the last days, 14:05 it's going to be founded on Jesus Christ 14:08 and His teachings in His Word. 14:11 Can you say amen? 14:12 That's the foundation, not what's popular, 14:16 not what man says or thinks, but on what Jesus says. 14:21 Because Paul right here says, 14:22 "Christ is the only foundation upon which we can build," 14:26 and that includes His teachings and His Word. 14:31 So that's principle number one. 14:32 God's remnant movement of the last days 14:35 will be founded on Jesus Christ and His Word. 14:38 Now that one was pretty elementary. 14:41 Well, let's go to principle number two. 14:43 This one is found in 2 or 1 Timothy 3:15. 14:49 I'd like to invite you to turn there with me. 14:52 1 Timothy 3:15. 14:58 Now you actually want... 14:59 may want to write down all six of these principles, 15:03 and the scripture references 15:05 because it will guide you in your Christian walk. 15:09 1 Timothy 3:15. 15:14 And by the way, I'm gonna speak rather plainly tonight 15:17 since we have known each other for a month, 15:20 we've studied the Word of God together. 15:22 You know, there are times when God just wants 15:24 to come right out and tell it like it is 15:27 because He loves us. 15:28 Can you say amen? 15:30 There's times when God doesn't want to beat around the bush 15:32 because He doesn't want His people to be deceived, 15:35 He wants them to be on the right path. 15:38 And so there are principles in the Word of God 15:40 that sometimes we are tempted to skip, 15:44 because it has the tendency to step on our toes. 15:47 And let's be honest, 15:49 we humans, we don't like to have our toes stepped on, 15:52 but God's allowed to do that, 15:54 because He created us 15:56 and because He loves and cares for us. 15:58 So 1 Timothy 3:15, 16:02 the principle is in the last part of this verse. 16:06 The Bible says, 16:08 "But if I am delayed, 16:10 I write so that you may know 16:12 how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, 16:17 which is the church of the living God." 16:19 And notice how he describes it, 16:21 "The pillar and ground of the," what? 16:24 "Truth." 16:26 Now we're gonna stop there for a second. 16:28 Notice that God describes His church 16:30 and that would include His remnant movement 16:33 as the pillar and ground of truth, 16:36 not the pillar and ground of tradition, 16:39 not the pillar and ground of popular teaching 16:41 or the way it's always been done, 16:44 but the pillar and ground of truth. 16:48 You see what's tempting to do in the Christian world today, 16:52 is to kind of throw away truth 16:55 and we're just gonna focus on the traditions 16:57 that we have always followed. 17:00 The temptation is to throw away what the Bible says 17:03 and let's just focus on what's popular 17:06 so that everybody will accept us. 17:08 That's the temptation in the religious world. 17:10 In fact, I'll tell you 17:12 what churches sometimes have to go through. 17:15 Every preacher has the desire, I would think, to have, 17:19 you know, a larger church with people coming 17:21 because they want to preach the Word of God, 17:23 they want to reach people. 17:25 Every preacher wants to be successful. 17:28 I mean, that's a good thing. 17:29 I mean, who would want to go to a church 17:31 with a preacher that says, 17:32 "Yep, I would like to be an absolute and utter failure." 17:34 Well, nobody wants to go to a church like that. 17:36 One should want to be successful, 17:39 but never at the cost of truth. 17:42 Can you say amen? 17:44 See, many times a church may choose to say, 17:47 "Well, you know, 17:48 if we preach too much of the hard truths 17:51 in the Word of God, 17:53 my attendance may go down." 17:56 You know, if I challenge people to grow spiritually, 17:59 I challenge them with God's commandments. 18:02 I don't know, the money in the offering plate 18:05 might get less and less. 18:07 And when the money in the offering plates 18:09 gets less, you can't pay your bills 18:13 and guess whose salary gets affected? 18:16 The pastor's salary. 18:19 See, the temptation is always there. 18:23 Now I don't know who's genuine and who's not. 18:25 God didn't leave that up to me to decide, 18:26 only God can read the heart. 18:28 But he says that His church and His remnant movement 18:33 is gonna be focused on what is called the pillar 18:35 and the ground of the truth. 18:37 I don't need to be concerned with what's popular, 18:40 I need to be concerned about being truthful 18:43 and about being faithful, 18:45 that's what God calls His church to do. 18:49 Yes, I may want a bigger church. 18:52 Yes, I may want to do big things for God. 18:55 But if it's causing me to compromise 18:58 what the Word of God teaches, 19:00 that's a problem and that's a red flag. 19:03 It's not worth it to compromise God's Word 19:05 to have a big church or to have a lot of money 19:08 flowing through the coffers. 19:11 Jesus says His church is the pillar 19:14 and the ground of the truth. 19:18 In fact, there's a phrase 19:19 that sometimes worries me a little bit 19:21 in this Christian world and I'll tell you why. 19:25 Many times I'll hear people say, "Well, you know what? 19:27 Doctrine doesn't matter, Jesus only, Jesus only." 19:34 Now, I'm gonna encourage you to be careful about that 19:36 because it sounds very good and religious on the surface, 19:41 but it can be very deceptive. 19:43 Now, I think we all agree, yes, 19:45 Jesus is all we need for salvation. 19:47 Can you say amen? 19:49 Doctrines not gonna save me, that's for sure. 19:52 Only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 19:55 The fact that He shed His blood for me 19:58 that He gave me a gift I could never give for myself, 20:02 that He gives me His perfect righteous life 20:06 so that I can enter the kingdom of heaven. 20:08 All I need is Jesus for salvation. 20:11 But that doesn't mean that doctrine is not important. 20:16 Notice that God saw fit to put how many books 20:19 in the canon of the Bible, do you know? 20:22 Sixty six, 20:23 because it is filled with doctrinal teaching. 20:26 In fact, the word doctrine just means teaching. 20:29 It's important because for every doctrine of the Bible 20:33 that I don't understand, 20:35 I leave myself open to be deceived. 20:38 For every doctrine of Scripture, 20:41 that I misinterpret, there's something 20:43 that I'm not understanding about the character of God. 20:47 An example of that is when we studied 20:49 what happens when you die? 20:52 Now I'm sure there will be people in heaven 20:53 from the past who didn't know the truth of that. 20:57 But today, God knows how important it is 20:59 because if I don't know 21:02 what happens when a person dies, 21:04 I leave myself open to the devil's deceptions. 21:08 I leave myself open to spiritualism, 21:11 to things in the new age, to sA(C)ances 21:13 and communicating with the dead, 21:15 if I do not understand 21:17 what the Bible teaches about sleeping 21:19 and resting in the grave until Jesus comes. 21:22 That doctrine doesn't save me, 21:25 but it sure has the ability to keep me 21:27 from being deceived by the devil. 21:29 Can you say amen? 21:31 So that's why it's important for God's church, 21:33 even for His remnant movement of people at the end of time 21:37 to be focused on what is called the pillar 21:39 and the ground of truth. 21:42 In fact did you know, the Bible describes truth, 21:46 actually defines truth in three ways. 21:49 I want to show you the three. 21:51 In John 14:6, it says, "Jesus is the truth." 21:55 John 17:17 says, "God's word is the truth." 21:59 And Psalm 119:142 says, "God's law is the truth." 22:06 So God's remnant movement in the last days 22:10 that Revelation refers to is gonna uplift Jesus, 22:14 it's gonna uphold God's Word, 22:16 and it's going to uphold God's law, 22:19 because all of those three things are the truth, 22:23 according to the Bible. 22:25 That's principle number two. 22:28 Let's go to principle number three. 22:31 Now, this one is tempting to skip 22:34 because it's one of those hard hitting passages 22:37 that Jesus gives, 22:39 but we need to go to it 22:41 because the principles in it are valuable. 22:45 Go to Matthew Chapter 7 and let's go to verse 21. 22:50 Matthew Chapter 7 22:53 and we're gonna read verses 21 to 23. 22:57 And the reason this one catches my attention 23:01 is because it says something there about preachers. 23:05 Matthew 7:21, 23:07 now this is the words of Jesus. 23:11 The Bible says, 23:13 "Not everyone who says to me, 23:15 Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, 23:20 but he who does the will of my Father in heaven." 23:26 Okay, now let's put the brakes on here 23:28 before we read the next few verses. 23:31 Do you catch what Jesus is saying here? 23:35 He's saying in the end, 23:37 there will be people who claim to be Christians, 23:41 people who claim to have known Him, 23:44 Lord, Lord, I've known You, I followed You. 23:48 And Jesus says to them, "I never knew you." 23:54 Now, folks, that's shocking. 23:56 Why? 23:58 Apparently they were Christians 24:01 who professed so on the outside, 24:04 but something was missing. 24:07 And the end of the verse tells us. 24:08 It says, "But he who does the will of the Father." 24:11 In other words, 24:13 these are people who profess to be Christians 24:16 verbally on the outside, 24:17 maybe they even sat in church pews. 24:21 But Jesus wants our experience to go beyond profession, 24:25 because apparently 24:26 they weren't doing the will of the Father. 24:28 You can profess anything, 24:31 but Jesus says, "We shall know them 24:32 by their," what? 24:34 By their fruits. 24:36 Were they doing the will of the Father? 24:38 And, of course, the question is, 24:40 where do you find the will of the Father? 24:44 In the Word of God. 24:46 See, its' one thing for me to say, 24:47 "Yes, I'm a Christian 24:49 and I know the Bible says this, 24:51 but I know God's Word asks this of me, 24:56 but I don't think it's important, 24:58 but I'd rather follow tradition, 25:01 and all of a sudden we call ourselves Christians 25:04 while we're making excuses and compromises 25:07 for some of the plain things 25:08 that are found in the Word of God. 25:11 This is what Jesus is talking about when He says, 25:13 "I never knew you." 25:16 See, what it's telling us here is obedience 25:19 is an important part of the Christian walk. 25:23 Now that doesn't mean my obedience saves me. 25:26 My obedience will never save me, 25:29 because I can't perfectly obey. 25:31 I was born with sin, I can't do that on my own. 25:34 It is Jesus' life that saves me, 25:36 so I can't be saved by my works. 25:39 But obedience is the evidence 25:43 that a higher power is working inside of me, amen? 25:47 It's the evidence that the Holy Spirit 25:49 is changing my mind and changing my heart 25:52 that I have chosen to follow Jesus. 25:54 So yes, according to this, obedience is important, 25:57 following the will of the Father. 26:00 But man, then when you go to verse 22, 26:03 that really gets my attention. 26:06 Verse 22 says, 26:09 "Many will say to me in that day, 26:12 Lord, Lord, 26:14 have we not prophesied in Your name? 26:17 Cast out demons in Your name, 26:20 and done many wonders in Your name? 26:24 And then I will declare to them, 26:26 I never knew you. 26:29 Depart from me, 26:31 you who practice lawlessness or iniquity." 26:38 Okay. 26:40 You see that part where it says, 26:42 "Lord, we've prophesied in Your name." 26:45 In a sense that can also be interpreted, 26:47 "Lord, we have preached in Your name." 26:51 Okay, that's hitting ministers which I am a little bit. 26:54 What is the deal here? 26:57 Is Jesus really saying that there will be ministers 27:00 who are lost? 27:03 Or people who have preached things in His name 27:06 and Jesus says, "I never knew you." 27:12 See, folks, this is why I take very seriously 27:14 preaching the Word of God. 27:16 And I realized, 27:17 I know that everything I say is not popular. 27:21 I realized that sometimes I teach things 27:23 that don't go along with the mainstream. 27:27 But it's because I'm responsible for teaching 27:30 what the Word of God says, 27:32 If I call myself a minister, or I could be a lay minister, 27:36 anyone who preaches the Word of God, 27:39 and I'm willing to skip something in the Word of God, 27:42 or I'm willing to compromise it, 27:45 just because I want to be liked. 27:48 I'm in danger of having Jesus say to me, 27:51 "I never knew you." 27:54 And I don't want that to happen. 27:57 I think we all realize 27:59 there's genuine religious leaders 28:03 and there's not so genuine religious leaders. 28:06 Now God hasn't set me up to judge who's who, 28:08 because I can't read a person's heart. 28:10 Only God can do that 28:12 and He hasn't set you up to do that either. 28:15 But we all know from past Christian history, 28:18 there are charlatans within the religious world, 28:20 can we agree on that? 28:22 False christs and false prophets. 28:27 See, if I'm willing to sacrifice 28:29 what the will of God is, 28:31 simply because I need a big church 28:34 or because I want to be like something is wrong. 28:37 Jesus says, "I need to preach truth." 28:42 But it goes farther. 28:45 In verse 22, it says, 28:48 "There are some who cast out demons 28:50 and did many wonders or miracles in His name. 28:54 And Jesus says, "I never knew you." 28:58 That's almost hard to fathom. 29:00 Because you would think, now wait a minute. 29:02 If they're doing miracles, they've got to be from God. 29:07 Not necessarily. 29:09 Remember, we learned the devil can do miracles 29:12 that he's not more powerful than God, 29:14 but he can do signs and wonders. 29:17 And the devil is happy to use a miracle worker, 29:20 if he can use that person to lead us away from the pillar 29:24 and ground of the truth. 29:26 He is happy to use an eloquent preacher, 29:29 if he can use that person 29:31 to lead us back to the traditions 29:33 and the commandments of men instead of what the Bible says. 29:39 So clearly, Jesus here is telling us 29:41 it's important to do to obey the will of the Father. 29:44 That's what His church should be doing, 29:46 that's what the remnant movement 29:48 of the last days will do, not just professing it, 29:51 but following the will of the Father, 29:53 as is found in Scripture. 29:55 Does that make sense? 29:57 In fact, did you know that 30:00 if you look at Christian history 30:02 all throughout Christian history, 30:04 God has always had a faithful group of people 30:07 that chose to go against the culture 30:11 and follow Him? 30:12 Let me show you this pattern not only from the Bible, 30:14 but throughout history. 30:16 Let's start with Noah. 30:18 Not long after God created the world, 30:20 we're already in the Book of Genesis 30:21 and the world is so wicked, 30:23 God's got to destroy it and start over again. 30:25 He calls Noah and his family out to follow Him. 30:30 Now, let me ask you a question. 30:32 Was Noah in the minority, yes or no? 30:34 Yep. 30:35 Was Noah persecuted? Yep. 30:37 And that you will find that many times 30:40 God's faithful people throughout history, 30:42 who wanted to uphold the Bible 30:44 and the Bible alone, almost, 30:46 always they were in the minority, 30:48 they were persecuted, and they were not liked. 30:52 That happened to Noah. 30:53 We could go to Abraham. 30:55 God calls Abraham out of Ur 30:57 to make a great nation out of him. 31:00 Was Abraham in the minority, yes or no? 31:02 Yeah. 31:04 Was Abraham persecuted? 31:05 At times. 31:08 What about the Israelites? 31:09 God called Israel out of Egypt? 31:12 Was Israel in the minority? 31:14 Yeah, compared to the pagan nations of the world. 31:17 Were they persecuted? 31:19 Yeah, the other nations hated them. 31:22 God called the Christian church out of the Jewish nation. 31:26 In the early Christian church 31:28 were Christians in the minority, 31:29 yes or no? 31:31 Yes. 31:32 Were they persecuted? 31:34 History tells us so. 31:35 We could go all the way to the Middle Ages. 31:38 God called the reformers out of Rome 31:41 to bring people back to the Bible, 31:43 were the reformers in the minority? 31:46 Yes. 31:47 Were the reformers persecuted? 31:50 Absolutely. 31:52 And then Revelation says, 31:54 "God is calling out a remnant of people 31:58 in the last days 32:00 who will keep the commandments of God." 32:03 So based on the pattern of biblical history, 32:06 would we expect that remnant to be in the minority, 32:09 yes or no? 32:10 Yep. 32:11 Would we expect that remnant to be persecuted? 32:13 Yep. 32:14 Would we expect that remnant to probably not be liked 32:17 by the world? 32:19 Indeed. 32:20 In fact, you know the early Christian church, 32:21 you know, what they used to say about them? 32:23 They used to say, "Oh, that sect," You know, S-E-C-T. 32:26 You know what, that's another word for? 32:27 That's like saying, "Oh, that cog that follows Jesus." 32:31 They were spoken negatively of. 32:34 God says you can expect that in His remnant movement 32:37 in the last days. 32:40 You may wonder why does God use that word remnant? 32:42 We don't use that a whole lot today. 32:45 Let me see if I can illustrate it for you 32:47 with a fun story really. 32:50 How many of you have ever been to a cloth shop 32:54 where you have to buy material to make things? 32:56 Can I see your hands? 32:57 Great, there're a couple men too, I'm actually surprised. 33:01 I want you to pretend 33:02 because there's no place more boring to a man 33:05 at least in my opinion than a cloth shop, okay. 33:08 But I want you to pretend that Marquita is gonna make a dress. 33:13 And so she takes David to the boring old cloth shop 33:16 and she looks around for the perfect material 33:19 that she wants to make a beautiful dress. 33:22 And let's say if she looks around, 33:24 she finds material that is red. 33:27 Now listen carefully. 33:28 What color is the material? Red. 33:30 The pattern is white polka dots. 33:33 And inside the white polka dots are diamonds. 33:39 Maybe I'm not that color coordinative. 33:41 So she takes that, she goes up to the clerk and she says, 33:43 "I'm gonna make a dress, give me 20 yards or whatever." 33:46 Well, that's probably too much, isn't it? 33:48 I've never made a dress in my life, 33:49 I wouldn't know. 33:51 So she just asked for enough to make a dress. 33:54 She takes her home and starts working on it. 33:56 And as she works on it, she finds out lo and behold, 33:58 she doesn't have enough. 34:00 So she's gotta drag me back to the boring old cloth shop, 34:04 I sit around while she looks for this material 34:07 and she can't find it. 34:09 So she goes to the clerk and says, 34:11 "Where can I find this material to finish my dress?" 34:14 And where is the clerk going to point her? 34:18 To the remnant then, the material that's left over, 34:22 so she goes searching in the remnant then. 34:26 If she wants to find the remnant material, 34:30 what color is that material going to be? 34:32 Red. 34:34 And what's the pattern gonna be in it? 34:36 White polka dots 34:37 and what's gonna be in the polka dots? 34:39 Diamonds. 34:40 So what we're saying is, the remnant material 34:43 is going to be just like the original. 34:48 Perhaps that's why God uses the word remnant. 34:51 That in the last days God is calling His church 34:54 to be like the original early Christian church 34:57 founded on Jesus, 34:58 founded on His Word, founded on the pillar 35:01 and ground of the truth, just like the original. 35:06 Perhaps that's why God uses that word. 35:09 But it goes farther, we've got to finish the principles here. 35:12 Principle number four. 35:13 Principle number four 35:15 is probably the most powerful of them all. 35:18 And this one I've printed on the screen. 35:20 I'm gonna go back to Revelation 12:17. 35:23 It says, 35:25 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman," 35:28 you know, God's people, "and went to make war 35:31 with the remnant of her seed," 35:33 you know, those that remain in the last days, 35:36 "Who keep the commandments of God, 35:40 and have the testimony of Jesus." 35:44 I gotta stop there. 35:47 It describes the remnant in two powerful ways 35:51 and I want to focus on the first one, notice. 35:54 What do they keep? 35:56 The commandments of God. 35:59 That's what God's church will be doing 36:01 at the end of time. 36:03 So right there if I want to find a church 36:06 that is part of this remnant movement, 36:10 the biggest clue it's telling me right there. 36:13 And what I'm about to say is not politically correct, 36:16 but I'm okay with it 36:17 because this is what the Bible says. 36:19 That means any group that says, 36:22 "God's law is done away with, 36:26 God's law is nailed to the cross, 36:29 God's law isn't important anymore," 36:33 cannot be part of this remnant movement. 36:36 Because Revelation says, 36:38 "The people of the last days 36:40 keep the commandments of God." 36:44 Now, I didn't say that, 36:46 God said it, 36:48 and included with that is the Bible Sabbath. 36:54 They're not gonna say, "Oh, well, I'll keep 8 out of 10." 36:57 "Lord, I'll keep 9 out of 10." 36:59 But Lord, don't ask me to love You 37:01 and follow You with all of my heart. 37:06 See, James says when we break one, 37:08 we break them all. 37:10 And truthfully when sometimes when you ask people 37:13 most places are okay with nine of the commandments. 37:16 If I would have asked them, "Well, you know, 37:18 if the law is done away with can I worship other gods? 37:21 No, no, no, no, you shouldn't do that. 37:23 Can I bow down to some graven images 37:25 just for the fun of it? 37:26 No, no, you shouldn't do that. 37:28 Well, how about can I cuss when I get mad 37:29 and use God's name in vain? 37:31 Oh, no. 37:32 Well, how about when my parents tick me off? 37:33 Do I still have to honor them? 37:35 Absolutely. 37:36 Well, can I kill people when they irk me? 37:38 Oh, no. 37:40 Well, what about stealing? 37:41 You know I can fudge some things on my taxes. 37:43 Oh, no, a Christian should be honest. 37:44 Well, you know, I'm married, 37:46 can I have some fun on the side. 37:48 Absolutely not. 37:49 Well, what about coveting? 37:51 Can I covet? Can I bear false witness? 37:53 Oh, no, we should honor those things. 37:55 Oh, what about remember the Sabbath day? 37:58 Oh, well, that one's done away with. 38:01 That's the only one we seem to not like. 38:04 But Revelation says, 38:06 "God's remnant movement will keep His commandments. 38:08 That includes the seventh day Sabbath." 38:13 Maybe that's why Revelation 14:7 38:15 actually quotes that commandment 38:17 because God's bringing His people back to it. 38:21 Why would we want to do away with a very command 38:25 that represents a memorial to God's creation? 38:29 That symbolizes that He is the authority 38:32 in the entire universe. 38:35 So point number four, 38:37 they keep the commandments of God. 38:39 To be honest, when you add that with the Sabbath, 38:42 that's gonna narrow down the list very, very quickly. 38:47 Principle number five. 38:49 Let's go to Matthew 24:14. 38:52 Matthew Chapter 24 38:54 and we want to go to verse 14 here. 38:59 The Bible says, 39:01 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached," where? 39:06 "In all the world as a witness to all the nations 39:10 and then the end will come." 39:14 And notice what Jesus said, 39:16 what has to happen before He comes? 39:21 The gospels got to go to all the world. 39:23 Now the early church was very close to doing that, 39:26 they took it to all the then known world, 39:28 not the whole world, but all the then known world. 39:32 So that means if God's remnant movement 39:34 is just like the original, 39:36 then it's going to be a movement 39:38 that is serious about taking the gospel to the world, 39:41 to every people group, every language, every tongue, 39:45 because the remnant movement is gonna have the same passion 39:48 that the original Christian church did 39:50 that was founded on Jesus Christ. 39:52 Does that make sense? 39:54 It's going to be working in all 220 whatever countries 39:58 there are in the world today, I don't know that exact number 40:00 because they keep changing. 40:02 But it's important. 40:03 It means that God's church in the last days, 40:06 He doesn't want a remnant movement 40:08 that is just focused on building huge monstrosities 40:12 of a structure and focusing only on their neighborhood. 40:15 Now, yes, of course, 40:17 our neighborhood is certainly a mission field. 40:19 But it's gonna be an organized movement 40:21 that is taking the gospel to the world. 40:24 It's gonna be a movement 40:25 where God's not looking for pew warmers 40:28 to sit in a seat once a week 40:30 and listen to one person do all the work. 40:33 He wants a remnant movement of people 40:36 who are willing to use their time, their talents 40:39 and their money for the Lord Jesus Christ. 40:42 Can you say amen? 40:43 Because that's what the early Christian church did, 40:45 that's why they changed the world. 40:49 God says, "His last day movement 40:51 will be just like the original and they will be serious 40:55 and passionate about mission. 40:59 Principle number six. 41:02 For this one, we have to go back to Revelation Chapter 14. 41:06 Because did you know the Bible actually tells us 41:09 what message He wants His end time church 41:13 to be preaching. 41:15 Revelation 14, 41:17 and we're gonna start in verse 6. 41:20 Now I'm gonna go through some of these a little more rapidly 41:23 because we have studied this previously, 41:25 Revelation 14:6, 41:27 this is the three angels' message. 41:29 Three angels that have got three important messages 41:32 that have got to go to all the world. 41:35 Verse 6, the Bible says, 41:39 "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 41:43 having the everlasting gospel to preach 41:46 to those who dwell on the earth, 41:48 to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." 41:52 Do you notice how all inclusive it's got to be? 41:55 I mean, Revelation makes a point to say every nation, 41:58 tribe, tongue, and people." 42:01 But notice the first message 42:02 which we've already read before, 42:05 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God, 42:07 give glory to Him, 42:09 for the hour of His judgment has come, 42:11 worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, 42:15 and the sea, and the springs of water. 42:19 Now I want to put this on the screen. 42:21 What's the message of the first angel? 42:22 Which by the way, does this literally mean 42:25 that God is gonna send three angels 42:27 to take this message to the world? 42:30 I mean, angels are messengers, 42:31 God didn't send angels 42:33 to produce or promote the gospel. 42:35 Who has been given the responsibility 42:37 of taking the gospel to the world? 42:39 We have. That is God's church. 42:41 So this is really referring to what God's end time church 42:44 is supposed to be doing. 42:46 Number one, 42:48 if they're gonna be preaching that Jesus is coming soon, 42:50 that's what it means when it says 42:51 the hour of His judgment has come, 42:53 Jesus is coming soon. 42:56 And at the end of verse 7, 42:58 where it talks about worship Him 43:00 who made the heaven and the earth? 43:01 That is a direct quote from the fourth commandment 43:05 of God's law, the Sabbath. 43:07 In other words, 43:08 they're gonna be directing people 43:10 to remember the Sabbath, 43:11 and to come back to God's holy law. 43:14 And that makes sense, 43:16 because Revelation 12:17 told us, 43:18 "The remnant will keep the commandments of God," 43:22 not 8 out of 10, not 9 out of 10, 43:24 all the commandments. 43:26 But then we go to the second angel. 43:28 Now we haven't studied this one yet. 43:30 This is the second angel's message. 43:31 Now it's pretty short. Let's just read it in verse 8. 43:35 The Bible says, 43:38 "And another angel followed, saying, 43:41 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, 43:45 that great city, 43:47 because she has made all nations drink 43:49 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 43:53 You say, now what in the world is that? 43:56 Now we're gonna study this shortly. 43:58 But I want you to take the term Babylon, 44:00 obviously this is a symbolic term. 44:02 Do you know what book in the Bible 44:04 Babylon is first mentioned in? 44:06 Do you know? 44:08 It's actually back in the Book of Genesis. 44:10 Remember the story about the Tower of Babel. 44:14 You know, they eventually formed Babylon. 44:16 Think of what happened in the Tower of Babel? 44:19 Men were trying to defy God. 44:22 They said, "We don't want to follow God's Word 44:23 and God's law. 44:25 We want to live our own way. 44:26 We want to follow our own doctrines. 44:28 So here's what we're gonna to do. 44:29 We're gonna build a tower as high as the heavens 44:32 to defy God. 44:33 And that way we can live as we please. 44:36 And if God tries to destroy this world with a flood, 44:38 again, will just go up in this great tower 44:41 and He can't touch us. 44:43 It was an attitude of defiance and rebellion. 44:47 And you remember how God stopped that? 44:49 What did He do? 44:51 He confused their language. 44:53 One simple act, 44:55 and then they eventually went off 44:56 and formed different people groups. 44:57 So see, Babylon is pointing us back to this confusion. 45:02 And when Revelation is referring to it, 45:05 saying Babylon is fallen, 45:06 it's referring to the religious confusion 45:10 that has come into the Christian world today. 45:12 Thousands of different doctrines, 45:14 traditions, commandments of men, 45:17 500 different faiths. 45:19 I mean, Revelation is warning us, 45:21 in a sense, parts of Christianity 45:24 have fallen away from the Bible. 45:28 Babylon is fallen, 45:30 there is religious confusion. 45:32 And so God is telling His people, 45:34 He wants His church to be drawing people 45:37 back to what the Bible says, 45:39 away from the commandments of men, 45:41 away from all this religious confusion. 45:44 That's what His end time church will be preaching. 45:48 But then there's the third angel's message. 45:51 Now we've studied that one, so I'm just gonna summarize it. 45:54 It warns about the antichrist, and the image 45:57 and the mark of the beast. 46:00 God's church will not shy away 46:01 from talking about that subject. 46:05 So let's put the six principles on the screen here. 46:08 Now that we've covered them all, 46:09 let's summarize them. 46:11 Principle one, 46:13 God's remnant movement in the last days 46:15 is founded on Jesus Christ and His teachings. 46:19 Number two, 46:21 it's founded on the pillar and ground of the truth. 46:24 Number three, it will do the will of God, 46:27 not just profess it. 46:29 Number four, they keep the commandments of God, 46:33 which would include the Bible Sabbath. 46:35 Number five, they're taking the gospel to all the world. 46:39 And number six, 46:40 preaching the message of Revelation 14. 46:44 Now, how many will agree, 46:46 all six of those principles came from the Bible 46:49 and the Bible alone? 46:50 Can I see your hands? 46:52 Did I make any of those things up? 46:54 Did you make any of them up? 46:56 Did Pastor Mark make any of them up? 46:57 None. 46:58 They all came straight from the Word of God. 47:01 So if you and I will take these six biblical principles, 47:06 it will guide us on our Christian journey 47:09 as to where God is leading. 47:13 When you discover truth from the Bible, 47:16 when you find out that maybe 47:18 what you thought before isn't true, 47:20 if I will apply these principles, 47:22 God will make my path clear. 47:26 You have to judge churches by these principles. 47:29 You have to judge preachers and speakers 47:31 by these principles. 47:33 You judge your church with them, 47:35 I have to judge whatever church I fellowship with. 47:39 And I'm confident that if we apply them, 47:42 God's light will shine 47:44 and we will know where He is leading. 47:47 Can you say amen? 47:49 Now the time that we have left, 47:50 I've got about 10 minutes or so left. 47:53 I'd like to take a moment 47:55 and share just a little bit 47:56 of my own personal testimony with you, 47:58 is that okay? 48:00 I haven't had a lot of time in this series 48:02 because there's so many topics we've covered, 48:04 to throw a little bit of my own testimony in here. 48:08 It's because of those six points 48:10 that are on the screen. 48:12 Those are one of the big reasons 48:14 that I myself have chosen 48:16 to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 48:20 Because I believe 48:21 the Seventh-day Adventist fellowship 48:23 is helping to fulfill that prophecy 48:26 of Revelation 12:17. 48:28 You know, that prophecy of a remnant movement 48:31 that draws people back to the commandments of God, 48:34 and back to the Word of God. 48:37 Now I recognize being part of a church 48:39 isn't going to save anybody, 48:40 just because you're on a membership role somewhere. 48:44 And God doesn't expect us 48:45 to just simply follow churches blindly. 48:48 He wants us to follow Jesus, Can you say amen? 48:51 But if I find a fellowship that is following Jesus, 48:55 that's following the commandments of God, 48:57 that is truly seeking to uphold 48:59 the Bible above everything else, 49:02 then I am willing to be part of that church fellowship. 49:06 Now that church fellowship stops following truth, 49:10 I can tell you, I'll be gone tomorrow. 49:12 The reason I choose to fellowship 49:13 with the Seventh-day Adventist Church 49:15 is not because I think Seventh-day Adventists 49:18 are holier or more righteous than anybody else 49:21 are going to get to heaven before anybody else. 49:23 But I want to be part of a place 49:26 that is in this remnant movement 49:28 that is lifting up Jesus, 49:30 drawing people back to the Bible 49:32 and away from the traditions and the commandments of men. 49:36 I'm willing to lend my time, my talents, 49:39 and even money to that kind of a movement. 49:42 Can you say amen? 49:43 See, we may not follow churches, 49:45 but we're following Jesus. 49:48 Now, you may say, well, now, Pastor Dave, 49:51 are you putting down other churches? 49:54 Certainly not. 49:56 God has His people in every religious fellowship. 50:02 People who are seeking to live up to all the light 50:06 that they do know. 50:07 They may not have had the privilege 50:09 to hear some things that you've heard of this seminar. 50:12 But the Bible tells me that in the end, 50:14 as this remnant movement grows, 50:16 that when people who truly love Jesus 50:19 hear the Word of God and hear the truth, 50:21 they will choose to follow it. 50:23 I'll tell you what made a difference for me. 50:27 I sat where you sat 20 years ago, 50:29 believe it or not. 50:31 I went to a seminar similar to this. 50:33 Now, I grew up in an Adventist church home, 50:36 my parents were Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 50:39 But that's not why I chose to be one. 50:41 Regardless of what faith affiliation you grow up in, 50:45 there comes a time for every person 50:48 when they have got to choose for themselves. 50:52 You don't just do something because mom and dad did it 50:55 or your family do it, 50:56 though that may be a big influence. 50:58 You got to study Scripture for yourself. 51:01 And I remember as I studied the Bible, 51:03 and what the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches, 51:05 I thought, wow, 51:07 this is following the commandments of God. 51:10 And then I sat in a seminar like this for the first time. 51:13 And I was at every night, except one, 51:15 I only missed one night with a friend of mine. 51:18 His name was Leo, he was a preacher. 51:20 And I remember as I sat, 51:22 every night looking up these verses, 51:25 it all began to connect for me. 51:27 I mean, I was probably, I think I was probably 20 51:29 or 21 years old. 51:31 Like, whoa, this makes perfect sense. 51:33 And it was during that seminar that God laid on my heart, 51:37 that's what I want to do. 51:39 I want to preach the Bible, like He is. 51:45 Doesn't mean that 51:46 people from other churches aren't sincere. 51:50 But God said, "He's leading His people into truth." 51:53 That's why Jesus said in John 10:16, He said, 51:58 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, 52:02 them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice, 52:06 and there will be one flock 52:08 and there will be one shepherd." 52:11 See, right now, the Adventist Church is actually a movement, 52:14 I don't really consider it a denomination. 52:17 It's actually the fastest growing 52:19 Protestant movement in the entire world right now, 52:23 a movement that is based on bringing people 52:25 back to the commandments of God, 52:28 and the Word of God. 52:30 Now just so, you know, this is how it began. 52:33 It began back in the 1800s. 52:34 If you remember, 52:36 when papal persecution was over, 52:39 which it ended around 1798, 52:41 when the pope lost its power back then. 52:44 It was at that time many people flocked to America, 52:47 there was religious freedom, Bible Societies were formed. 52:51 And for one of the first times people had freedom 52:53 to study God's Word without persecution. 52:56 And so what happened is people from all faiths came together, 53:00 Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, 53:03 they said, "Let's study the Bible." 53:05 And as they did, 53:07 they discovered there were many truths 53:10 from God's Word 53:11 that had been buried beneath centuries of tradition 53:15 that came from papal Rome of the Middle Ages. 53:18 And that group of people 53:20 from all different faiths decided, 53:21 you know what? 53:23 Let's unite together, 53:24 and let's form a movement that goes back to the Bible 53:27 and the Bible alone, 53:29 and back to the commandments of God. 53:32 And you know, those people from all those different faiths 53:35 eventually formed what would be known 53:37 as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 53:41 That's why I choose to be a part of it. 53:43 I won't be saved, nobody will be saved 53:45 because of the name they wear. 53:47 But God said, there's a remnant, 53:50 and God's drawing His people back to His Word, 53:53 not traditions, not men's teachings, 53:57 but His commandments and the testimony of Jesus. 54:02 In Revelation 18, 54:04 God calls His people to come out of error 54:08 and into truth. 54:09 And I want to stand by focusing 54:11 on this very important passage from Scripture. 54:14 We have not looked this up yet, Revelation 18. 54:17 I want to read verses 1 through 4. 54:20 Revelation 18:1-4. 54:26 The Bible describes this. 54:29 "After these things, 54:32 I saw another angel coming down from heaven, 54:36 having great authority, 54:38 and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 54:41 And he cried mightily with a loud voice saying," 54:44 now notice, "Babylon the Great is what? 54:48 Fallen is fallen, then it gets real poetic, 54:51 and has become a dwelling place of demons, 54:54 a prison for every foul spirit, 54:56 a cage for every unclean 54:58 and hated bird for all the nations, 55:02 how many of the nations, 55:03 all the nations have drunk 55:05 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 55:08 The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, 55:12 and the merchants of the earth 55:13 have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. 55:17 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 55:20 now listen, 55:22 "Come out of her, 55:24 My people." 55:27 What is this referring to here? 55:29 What is God telling His people to come out of here? 55:32 Remember what we learned Babylon is. 55:35 Babylon symbolizes that system of religious confusion 55:39 and false doctrines, 55:41 and see the wine that's went throughout the world. 55:44 That was the wine of Babylon, 55:46 the false doctrine from all the Middle Ages, 55:49 that came from Rome and made its way 55:52 and even into parts of Christianity today. 55:55 God is warning us 55:56 that wine has made all the nations drunk 56:00 or intoxicated, 56:02 because for 1,260 years people were pulled away 56:06 from the Word of God. 56:07 And some of those traditions still exist today. 56:11 And so what does God call His people to do? 56:15 He says, "Come out of Babylon, 56:20 come away from the tradition. 56:23 Come away from the commandments of men, 56:26 come out." 56:28 And let's come back to following the Bible 56:31 and the Bible alone. 56:33 Let's base our faith on the commandments of God, 56:37 and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 56:42 You see, my friends, 56:44 it's really simply a call 56:46 to put Jesus above everyone else, 56:49 and to put the Bible above everything else. 56:54 The question is how you 56:55 and I will choose to respond to that call? 56:58 Am I willing to come out of Babylon? 57:01 Am I willing to come out of things 57:03 that may be popular but based on tradition? 57:07 Am I willing to come out of the commandments of men? 57:11 And am I willing to say, Lord Jesus, 57:13 I will stand on the truth of Your Word, 57:17 and I will follow You with all my heart, 57:21 all my soul, all my mind, 57:24 no more excuses. 57:26 Because if You laid your life down on Calvary for me, 57:30 I will pick up my cross and I will follow you, 57:33 because You have prepared a place for me 57:36 in the kingdom of heaven. 57:39 When you come out of Babylon, yeah, there may be challenges. 57:43 But Jesus says, He never leaves you 57:45 and He never forsakes you. 57:47 And the peace that one has 57:50 when they know they have left other things aside 57:53 and Jesus is number one in their life, 57:55 that peace outweighs any challenge 57:59 the devil can throw your way. |
Revised 2019-10-14