Participants: Pastor Stephen P. Bohr
Series Code: SOP
Program Code: SOP000005A
|
00:14 Hello everybody, again.
00:16 It's good to see you here for session number five of, 00:20 The Secrets of Pentecost. 00:22 Time does fly, doesn't it? 00:24 And the topic that we're going to study tonight is titled, 00:27 Chain of Command. 00:29 But we want to pray first. 00:31 Never do we open the Bible without prayer. 00:34 Because the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture. 00:37 And only the Holy Spirit can explain it to us. 00:40 So I invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray. 00:43 Our loving Father, we come before You this evening 00:46 as we've done in the previous sessions, 00:49 realizing our own ignorance, 00:51 our own lack of knowledge and wisdom. 00:54 That's why we're coming before Your throne to request 00:57 that You will be present with us through the ministry 00:59 of Your Spirit and Your angels. 01:01 We desperately need wisdom from on high, 01:05 for we're going to study a very important subject. 01:08 And therefore, we ask that You will make Yourself present 01:11 in this place. 01:12 That our minds might be opened, our hearts might be opened, 01:16 that we might be able to understand and receive 01:19 that which You have for us today. 01:22 We thank You for the privilege of approaching Your throne 01:25 and for hearing our prayer. 01:27 For we ask it in the precious name of Jesus, amen. 01:33 One of the hotly debated doctrines in the church today, 01:40 not only the church in general, 01:41 but the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 01:44 is the topic of the Holy Spirit. 01:46 There are many individuals who believe that the Holy Spirit 01:49 is simply a force, an impersonal force. 01:54 That the Holy Spirit is not a person. 01:57 I believe that one of the reasons why people 02:00 believe that the Holy Spirit is a force or perhaps a substance 02:05 that is infused or poured into us is because of the metaphors 02:10 that the Bible uses to describe the Holy Spirit. 02:13 For example, the Holy Spirit is described in the Bible 02:16 as a dove. 02:18 The Spirit is described as rain, as oil, as wind, as fire. 02:26 And therefore, because of these metaphors, 02:29 people get the impression that the Holy Spirit 02:32 is these things. 02:34 But these are metaphors of the Holy Spirit. 02:37 The Holy Spirit is not a dove. 02:40 The Holy Spirit is not rain. 02:43 The Holy Spirit is not oil. 02:45 The Holy Spirit is not fire. 02:46 And the Holy Spirit is not wind. 02:48 All of these are metaphors that describe 02:51 functions of the Holy Spirit. 02:53 For example, wind; we can see its effects, 02:55 but we can't see the wind. 02:57 The same way with the Holy Spirit; we can see the results 03:00 of His work, but we can't actually see the Holy Spirit. 03:03 You know, oil gives light to a lamp. 03:07 And so, the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds. 03:10 Rain makes the seed germinate and grow, 03:14 jut like the Holy Spirit makes our spiritual life grow. 03:19 And so all of these metaphors of the Holy Spirit are simply 03:22 descriptive of the functions that the Holy Spirit fulfills. 03:26 The Holy Spirit is not these things. 03:30 And yet for many people it's very difficult to conceive 03:32 of the Holy Spirit as someone who speaks, 03:35 as someone who loves, who reasons, who helps, 03:39 who guides, who reproves, etc. 03:43 Now the spirit of prophecy is very clear that the Holy Spirit 03:47 is a person. 03:49 And Ellen White is also very clear that the Godhead 03:53 is composed of three distinct Persons. 03:56 And so as we begin our study, I want to read a few statements 04:00 from the writings of Ellen White on the Godhead 04:05 and the personality of the Holy Spirit. 04:08 The first of these statements we find in the book, 04:10 Evangelism, page 616. 04:13 This is in a speech that Ellen White gave to the 04:16 students at Avondale. 04:18 It was actually a morning worship. 04:20 And Ellen White had this to say... 04:38 In the book, Evangelism, pages 616-617, 04:43 Ellen White has this to say... 05:35 Now I want to read several statements where she also 05:38 makes it clear that the Godhead is composed 05:40 of three distinct Persons. 05:43 This is from, Evangelism, page 617. 05:58 So if the Holy Spirit is the third Person, 06:00 there must be a second and there must be a first. 06:03 In, Evangelism, page 617, she says this, 06:08 "We are to cooperate with the..." 06:23 So she describes three highest powers in heaven. 06:29 In another quotation that we find in the 06:31 Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 7, page 908, 06:35 she has this to say... 07:10 Time and again, she emphasizes that there are 07:13 three great powers in heaven; 07:15 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 07:18 And all three of them are real Persons. 07:23 They are not impersonal forces or energy forces. 07:26 They are Persons. 07:28 Now, the Holy Spirit also has an element of mystery to Him. 07:33 I'm not saying that we can explain everything 07:35 concerning the Holy Spirit. 07:37 I want to read this statement that we find in the book, 07:39 Acts of the Apostles, pages 51-52. 07:44 "It is not essential for us to be able to define..." 08:13 So notice, the Bible explains His work, but the Bible 08:17 does not explain His nature. 08:19 So there's one aspect which is a mystery, 08:22 which is the nature of the Holy Spirit, 08:24 but His work can be known because we can see 08:27 His work in the Scriptures. 08:28 So finishing the statement, "The nature of the Holy Spirit 08:31 is a mystery..." 08:54 So we are not going to delve into the nature 08:57 of the Holy Spirit. 08:58 We're going to study how the Holy Spirit works; 09:01 how it is revealed in the Bible and in the spirit of prophecy. 09:06 Now we want to begin by going to Psalm 8:3-8. 09:11 And there's two points that I want us 09:12 to notice in this passage. 09:14 First of all, when God created Adam, He created him as king. 09:19 That was his office or his position. 09:22 Secondly, God gave him a territory over which to rule, 09:25 which was everything concerning planet earth. 09:28 So two ideas in this passage: 09:30 the position of Adam was that if king, 09:32 and the realm of his dominion was planet earth. 09:35 So let's go to Psalm 8:3-8. 09:38 Here, the psalmist says... 09:54 This is speaking about the creation of man. 10:03 Let me ask you, who wears crowns? 10:07 Kings wear crowns. 10:08 In fact, Ellen White says that Adam was crowned king in Eden. 10:13 So it says here, "You have crowned him 10:17 with glory and honor." 10:18 Now if he's a king, he's going to have a territory 10:20 over which he rules. 10:21 Now notice what is the territory. 10:26 "...dominion..." That means rulership. 10:32 "You have put all things under his feet..." 10:35 That's an expression that means, "You have placed him 10:37 to rule over everything." 10:39 And then we see what that is. 10:51 Now when the Bible mentions heaven, earth, and seas, 10:55 it means everything. 10:56 Everything concerning planet earth. 10:58 So in other words, Adam was placed upon this earth 11:02 as king to rule over the entire planet, over this territory. 11:09 And it was the plan of God that as eternity should pass, 11:12 that Adam would continue to be king of this planet 11:16 and that he rule over the things of this earth. 11:19 But sin interrupted God's plan. 11:23 Romans 6:16 gives us a very important principle. 11:29 And that is that we are slaves of the one 11:32 whom we choose to obey. 11:34 I want to read that verse because it expresses 11:36 a very important principle. 11:38 You see, God wanted Adam to obey him. 11:41 But when Adam chose to obey Satan, 11:44 he became a servant of Satan. 11:46 And Satan took over the throne and he took over the territory 11:49 that belonged to Adam, because Adam now became 11:52 subject and Satan became lord. 11:55 Notice Romans 6:16. 11:58 The apostle Paul says... 12:13 We are slaves of the one that we choose to obey. 12:17 And Adam chose to obey Satan. 12:20 And so Satan now took over the throne of the world 12:23 and he took over the territory over which Adam 12:27 had originally ruled. 12:29 Adam lost both. 12:30 He lost his position as king and he lost the territory 12:34 over which he governed. 12:36 But God promised that it would be recovered. 12:39 Notice, Patriots and Prophets, page 67. 12:42 Patriots and Prophets, page 67. 12:44 It says here.. 12:50 So do you see the position as king? 12:52 He was placed in dominion over the earth. 12:59 And then Ellen White quotes 2 Peter 2:19, 13:02 which expresses the same principle as 13:04 Romans 6:16 which we read. 13:06 The verse says... 13:12 In other words, whoever overcomes you, you're in bondage 13:14 to the one that overcame you. 13:16 Then she continues saying... 13:25 Is that clear? 13:27 Then it continues saying... 13:56 So in other words, Jesus came to this earth 13:59 to take away from Satan what Satan had taken away from Adam. 14:04 Satan took over the throne and he took over the territory. 14:08 Jesus said, "I'm going to go and I'm going to 14:09 live and die for man. 14:11 And in living and dying for man, I am going to 14:13 take back the throne and I'm going to take back the territory 14:16 in place of man." 14:19 Now Satan claimed dominion to this world. 14:22 Notice Luke 4:5-7. 14:25 Luke 4:5-7, this is on the Mount of Temptation. 14:29 And I want you to notice the devil laid claim 14:31 to being the king or the ruler of this realm or this world. 14:36 It says there... 14:58 Who had given it to the devil? 15:00 Adam. 15:02 The devil says, "Hey, this rulership has been given to me. 15:06 And I give it to whoever I wish. 15:07 So if You just bow down and worship me, 15:10 I'll give You the throne and I'll give You the territory, 15:14 and You can ruler over it. 15:15 You don't even have to go to the cross. 15:16 You don't even have to die." 15:18 But then there's a condition. 15:19 The devil says, "Therefore, if You will worship..." 15:25 And so what was the mission of Jesus Christ? 15:27 The mission of Christ was to recover the throne 15:31 and the territory that Adam lost. 15:33 But in order to do this, Jesus had to accomplish two things 15:37 in His earthly ministry. 15:39 First of all, He had to live a perfect life 15:42 which the law requires and which Adam and his 15:44 descendants cannot offer the law. 15:46 And secondly, Jesus had to bear the sins of humanity 15:49 upon Himself and He had to pay the penalty 15:51 for sin in place of man. 15:53 So Jesus had to live for man and Jesus had to die for man. 15:58 He had to live a perfect life to offer the law of God, 16:01 and He had to carry the sins of humanity 16:04 and pay the debt of sin that human beings had incurred. 16:09 And that's exactly what Jesus did. 16:12 The last week of His life, according to John 12:31-33, 16:17 Jesus made a very interesting prediction. 16:20 I want you to notice what Jesus said to those 16:22 who were gathered there. 16:23 Once again, John 12:31-33. 16:28 Jesus says, and He's speaking about His death... 16:40 In other words, "He's not going to be the ruler anymore," 16:41 is what Jesus is saying. 16:47 And then He explains what event was going to cast him out. 17:02 So what was it that was going to cast out 17:05 the ruler of this world? 17:06 It was the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. 17:09 And of course, we could say also His life, 17:11 because if Jesus was not a perfect Lamb 17:14 His death would not have been of any value. 17:16 So we have to connect His perfect life with His death. 17:19 Because He has to offer His perfect life to the law, 17:22 and then He has to offer death to the law in our place as well. 17:26 So when Jesus on the cross said, "It is finished," 17:29 He had won back the throne and He had won back the territory, 17:32 and the enemy had been cast out. 17:35 Ellen White describes this in a beautiful way. 17:38 Desire of Ages, page 758. 17:52 Now notice the terminology here. 17:58 Was Jesus still going to win the battle after the cross? 18:02 No, no, no, no. It says the battle had been won. 18:12 Sometimes we think, well Jesus is going to be victorious. 18:14 No, Jesus was victorious at the cross. 18:17 He won the battle at the cross. 18:19 And then you say, "Well, why is this continuing then?" 18:21 That's what we're going to study about. 18:23 Now notice what it continues saying. 18:35 "Was there not joy among the angels..." 18:47 Notice, it doesn't say that his kingdom would be lost. 18:50 It says he knew that his kingdom was lost. 18:53 Satan lost the throne and he lost this world 18:58 when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. 19:01 You say, "Well, it doesn't look like it." 19:03 But looks can be deceiving. 19:04 And that's what we're going to study about. 19:07 Now John, about 60 years after this, looking backwards, 19:12 reminisced about how heaven reacted when Jesus died 19:16 on the cross and won the victory. 19:17 It's found in Revelation 12:10-12. 19:22 "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven..." 19:38 Notice, it doesn't say, "will be cast down." 19:40 "...has been cast down." 19:41 It's talking about what happened at the cross. 19:43 And it continues saying... 19:51 And now notice that heaven can rejoice, but the earth 19:54 has to really be worried. 19:57 Because it continues saying here, 19:59 "Therefore, rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them." 20:03 The pest is gone now. 20:05 See, before the cross, the devil went representing this world 20:08 in the heavenly councils. 20:10 But he was cast out because he's no longer 20:11 the ruler of this world. 20:12 Now Jesus represents this world. 20:15 And so it says here... 20:20 The pest is gone from heaven. 20:21 Ah, but notice the earth. 20:37 So Jesus won the victory at the cross of Calvary. 20:41 Now in one of our previous studies, we noticed that 20:43 there's a very intimate link between the victory of Jesus 20:48 at the cross and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 20:51 on the day of Pentecost. 20:52 I hope that you remember that; The Lord Is Our Rock. 20:55 Remember, we studied the rock episodes 20:57 and we noticed how there was a very intimate connection 21:02 between the sacrifice and the fire, 21:04 between striking the rock and 21:06 water coming forth from the rock. 21:08 In other words, there's an intimate connection between 21:10 the victory of Jesus on the cross and what happened 21:14 on the day of Pentecost. 21:16 Now what is the connection between these two events? 21:20 We have to go and analyze what happened 21:22 on the day of Pentecost. 21:24 So go with me to Acts 2 and we're going to read verses 1-4. 21:28 And I'm going to emphasize four main points 21:31 in this passage. 21:33 Acts 2:1-4 21:51 The first idea that I want you to remember; 21:53 of a rushing mighty wind. 22:04 So you have wind and you have fire. 22:15 Here's the third concept; "...speak with other tongues..." 22:19 Were these languages? 22:20 Yeah, this was not gibberish. 22:22 This was the ability to speak the languages of those 22:25 who were present there for the feast of Pentecost. 22:27 And so it says... 22:32 And who gave them the ability to speak with other tongues? 22:35 "...as the Spirit gave them utterance." 22:39 So who gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit? 22:44 Or the gift of tongues? 22:46 It was the Holy Spirit that gave the gift. 22:49 So you have the mighty rushing wind, 22:51 you have tongues as of fire, 22:53 then you have languages imparted. 22:55 And the Holy Spirit is the one who gave the ability 22:57 to speak the languages. 22:59 Now I want us to go to a very interesting passage that 23:02 we find in the Old Testament. 23:04 Do you know what was the first time in the Bible 23:06 where the gift of tongues was given? 23:09 At the tower of Babel. 23:12 So we have to go back there and see how it happened back then. 23:17 Go with me to Genesis 11:8-9. 23:20 Genesis 11:8-9 23:23 After God confused the languages there, 23:27 it says here... 23:46 Who confused the language? 23:48 Who gave the gift of tongues at Babel? 23:50 The Lord. 23:59 The Lord gave them the ability to speak different languages, 24:03 and the Lord scattered them all over the earth. 24:06 But now I want to read you a very interesting statement 24:09 that we find in the book, Story of Redemption, page 73. 24:13 The Lord did it, but how did the Lord accomplish this work 24:17 of giving these builders of the tower of Babel 24:20 the ability to speak the many languages 24:22 that exist in the world today? 24:23 Because before this, they all spoke the same language. 24:26 They were all on the same page. 24:28 So something happened to give them the ability to 24:32 speak all of the languages of the earth. 24:34 Now notice what we find here in, Story of Redemption, page 73. 24:52 What did the Lord do? Sent what? 24:54 "...two angels to confound them in their work..." 25:28 Do you know angels are compared with lightening, by the way? 25:41 So who was it that gave this gift of speaking 25:46 in many different languages? 25:48 It was God through the ministry of angels. 25:52 The angels plugged in a Rosetta Stone... 25:57 ...in the minds of the Babel builders. 26:00 You know, Rosetta Stone is a famous language course 26:03 that they sale today. 26:04 There was no Rosetta Stone back then, I realize. 26:07 But the angels, by a miraculous intervention, 26:11 they programmed the minds of those individuals 26:15 to speak perfectly the languages that exist in the world today. 26:19 Now you say, what possible relationship can this have 26:23 with the day of Pentecost? 26:24 Well, if you have tongues at Babel imparted by God 26:28 through the ministry of the angels, the question is, 26:31 is it just possible that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 26:34 on the day of Pentecost was God giving the gift of tongues 26:38 through the ministry of the angels? 26:40 Let's pursue this. 26:42 Let's go to Psalm 104 and we're going to read 26:47 verses actually 3 and 4. 26:51 Psalm 104:3-4 26:55 I want you to notice, I'm going to read first of all 26:57 from the New King James Version, and then I'm going to read 27:00 from the New International Version which translates it 27:02 a little bit differently, and I think more correctly. 27:05 It says in the New King James Version, speaking about God... 27:17 What do clouds represent in the Bible? 27:20 Angels, right? 27:21 Jesus is coming with the clouds. 27:23 It means that He's going to come with the angels. 27:24 So it says here... 27:42 Are you following me? 27:44 So He makes His angels what? 27:45 Spirits. 27:47 And His ministers a flame of fire. 27:50 Now you say, "What relationship does that 27:51 have to do with Pentecost?" 27:53 Well we need to read from the New International Version. 27:55 And I'm going to tell you why I believe 27:56 this is a better translation. 27:58 It says in the NIV... 28:18 You see the difference? 28:19 "He makes winds His messengers, 28:22 and He makes flames of fire His servants." 28:24 You say, "Well, why does the King James translate 28:26 that He makes His angels spirits, 28:28 whereas the NIV translates that He makes winds His messengers? 28:32 Let me explain the reason why. 28:34 In the Hebrew, the word, "ruach," is translated 28:39 both, "spirit," and, "wind." 28:44 In other words, the context determines whether 28:47 it's talking about the spirit or whether it's 28:49 talking about the wind. 28:51 In the New Testament, the Greek word, "pneuma," 28:55 is also translated, "spirit," and, "wind," 28:58 depending on the context. 29:00 For example, you remember Jesus spoke about the work of 29:02 the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus and He said, you know, 29:04 the wind, you can see the effects of the wind, 29:06 but you can't see the wind. 29:08 That's the same word, "pneuma." Spirit. 29:11 So it's perfectly proper to translate that, 29:15 He makes His messengers winds. 29:18 And He makes His servants what? 29:22 Flames of fire. 29:23 Let me ask you, what were the two phenomena 29:24 that took place on the day of Pentecost? 29:28 Wind, and what else? 29:30 Wind and fire. 29:32 Interesting. 29:34 Now you say, "Well, who are these messengers 29:36 that we have here?" 29:38 You know, it says He makes winds His messengers, 29:41 flames of fire His servants. 29:42 Okay, His messengers and His servants. 29:43 Who are they? 29:45 Hebrews 1:7 29:47 And I'm reading once again from the NIV, 29:49 which I believe is a better translation. 29:51 I'm not saying the NIV is the best translation in everything. 29:56 Because the NIV leaves a lot of text out, 29:59 it mistranslates many text. 30:00 And so I'm not saying that it's best always. 30:03 But I'm saying that sometimes the translation is better. 30:06 Not the manuscript trail, but the translation. 30:08 Now notice Hebrews 1:7. 30:21 So the angels are the winds 30:23 and the angels are the flames of fire. 30:26 And you're saying, "Are you saying, Pastor Bohr, that on the 30:28 day of Pentecost God unleashed His angels 30:31 to give the apostles the gift of speaking tongues? 30:35 Is that the way that God worked on the day of Pentecost?" 30:39 I believe that's the way that God did it, 30:41 and the spirit of prophecy confirms it. 30:43 Let me read you four statements from the spirit of prophecy 30:46 on this specific point. 30:48 The first of these is found in the devotional book, 30:51 My Life Today, page 58. 30:53 Listen carefully to what Ellen White had to say. 31:18 Did you catch what she's saying? 31:28 Selected Messages, volume 2, page 57. 31:46 Once again, the angels linked and connected 31:49 with what happened at Pentecost. 31:51 Manuscript Releases, volume 10, page 112, 31:55 is this remarkable statement... 32:09 Angels are waiting to do for you what they did for the apostles 32:12 on the day of Pentecost. 32:14 And one final one, That I May Know Him, page 57. 32:32 How does the Holy Spirit draw people to Christ? 32:35 Through what? 32:36 Through the ministry of the angels, it says here. 32:56 Interesting. 32:58 Now, God works according to a chain of command. 33:04 God has a chain of command. 33:06 God does not do everything directly Himself. 33:10 Now the Bible attributes everything to God 33:13 because God ultimately is the source of everything, 33:16 but God delegates responsibility. 33:19 Now the key text is found in Revelation 1:1-5. 33:25 Revelation 1:1-5 33:28 Here is God's chain of command. 33:31 It says there... 33:40 So who gives the message to Jesus? 33:44 God does. 33:45 Now who does Jesus give it to? 33:48 Actually Jesus gives it to the Holy Spirit, 33:50 because with every church it says, "He who has an ear, 33:54 let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." 33:57 So God the Father gives the message to Jesus. 34:01 And then Jesus gives it to whom? 34:04 Jesus gives it to the Holy Spirit. 34:07 And then I want you to notice, let's continue reading... 34:14 And then I've inserted chapter 2 and verse 7, 34:17 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the 34:19 Spirit says to the churches." 34:20 And then it continues saying... 34:46 Do you see the chain of command? 34:48 Who does God give the message to? 34:50 Jesus. 34:51 Who does Jesus give the message to? 34:53 The Holy Spirit. 34:54 Who does the Holy Spirit give the message to? 34:57 The angel. 34:58 Who does the angel give the message to? 35:00 John. 35:01 And who does John send the message to? 35:03 The seven churches. 35:04 And what are the seven churches suppose to do? 35:06 Sit on it. 35:08 No. 35:09 They're suppose to what? 35:11 They're suppose to take the message and they're suppose to 35:13 proclaim it to the world. 35:16 So God has a chain of command, in other words. 35:20 God doesn't come down and do everything Himself. 35:23 God delegates responsibility. 35:25 He's the great delegator. 35:26 God is not a dictator. 35:28 God could do everything Himself if He wanted to, 35:31 but God has chosen to operate in this specific way. 35:36 Now let me give you an illustration of how it works. 35:39 This is a very interesting illustration that 35:41 we're going to take a look at now. 35:43 You remember the story of the centurion that came to Jesus 35:47 wanting Jesus to heal his servant? 35:50 Now let's read that passage in the light 35:52 of what we're studying. 35:54 It's found in Matthew 8:5-10. 35:57 Matthew 8:5-10 36:01 This centurion was not a Jew, but he understood 36:03 how God operates better than the Jews did. 36:06 Notice what this story says. 36:27 In other words, "I'll come and I'll heal him. 36:29 I'll come to your house." 36:30 And now notice what this centurion says. 36:45 And you know what I use to think? 36:46 I use to think that when Jesus said, "Okay, be healed," 36:49 somehow mystically the word would fly through the air... 36:53 ...and the person would be healed. 36:55 I don't believe that. 36:57 Because Jesus had a way in which He healed. 36:59 In a moment I'm going to read you a statement from the 37:01 spirit of prophecy explaining this episode. 37:03 Notice... 37:10 In other words, "I have authority." 37:27 In other words, he says, "I'm the commander and I have 37:30 soldiers that do what I tell them to do." 37:32 Now let me read you Ellen White's interpretation of this. 37:35 It's magnificent. 37:36 It's found in, Desire of Ages, page 316. 37:40 She's quoting the centurion. 37:42 It's as if the centurion is speaking. 37:55 Speaking to Jesus. 38:19 Are you understanding how it works? 38:21 Jesus said, "He's healed." 38:23 At that time, what happened? 38:25 The angel was whizzing through the air and going to impart 38:29 healing virtue to that servant. 38:33 That's the way that God operates. 38:35 You say, "How did you go down this road?" 38:39 As an Adventist pastor, I believe that we need a 29th 38:42 fundamental belief in our church. 38:45 The 29th fundamental belief would be the ministry of angels. 38:49 Because we have very little, if nothing, 38:52 in our fundamental belief about angels. 38:54 And the Bible is saturated with the ministry of angels. 38:58 And we have not even half begun to understand 39:01 the ministry of angels. 39:02 How they are the connecting link between God and us. 39:06 They are the connecting link between God and us. 39:09 They are extremely important in the operation 39:12 of the universe. 39:13 And so Ellen White says, quoting the centurion... 39:28 Do you know who performed the miracles of Christ? 39:31 Let's read this statement from, Desire of Ages, page 143. 39:38 This is an unbelievable statement. 39:40 Well I shouldn't say unbelievable, 39:42 because I believe it. 39:43 But unbelievable in the sense that we're not 39:45 accustomed to think this way. 39:47 "The angels of God..." 39:57 And by the way, in Spirit of Prophecy, volume 2, page 67-68, 40:00 Ellen White adds, "All the miracles of Christ..." 40:22 How do we receive every blessing from God? 40:25 By the heavenly messengers. 40:27 Now let me read you two statements about blessings; 40:30 who blesses us. 40:31 Notice, In Heavenly Places, page 113. 40:34 It says, "There is one blessings that..." 40:46 But we just read in the previous statement 40:50 that every blessing comes to us through the heavenly messengers. 40:54 Are you with me or not? 40:55 Notice the devotional book, Our High Calling, page 129. 41:09 They impart grace and power, folks. 41:12 Of course, it's not their own grace and power. 41:14 It's the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 41:17 They are merely the conductors of the power of the Holy Spirit. 41:22 She continues saying... 41:36 Now, what connection is there between the cross and Pentecost? 41:40 Are we doing well so far? 41:42 Between the cross and Pentecost. 41:44 In the Old Testament, folks, the Holy Spirit 41:46 is very seldom mentioned. 41:49 He is mentioned, but very seldom. 41:51 And the reason is very simple. 41:53 Everything in the Old Testament was done by Jesus Christ. 41:57 He was the Angel of the Lord. 42:00 He was Michael, the Archangel. 42:01 He was in charge of the pilgrimage of the children 42:05 of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. 42:06 He was in the pillar of cloud, He was in the pillar of fire. 42:10 He was the one that accomplished the work. 42:14 And Ellen White says that every time that God tried to intervene 42:17 on this earth in the Old Testament, Satan cried, "Foul! 42:22 You're intruding on my territory. 42:25 I'm the king here and this is my territory. 42:28 What gives You the right to come in and to 42:30 interfere in my territory?" 42:31 He always complained. 42:32 Like when God came down to resurrect Moses, 42:34 Jesus came to resurrect Moses. 42:36 Oh, he railed against God saying, "He's mine. 42:39 He's in my realm. I'm the king here. 42:41 How dare You come and take what is mine." 42:46 But Satan was defeated at the cross. 42:49 And Jesus legally recovered this world. 42:52 He is now the King and this is His territory. 42:56 And we need to understand that because at the cross 42:59 Jesus won the throne and He won the territory. 43:02 And therefore, this is His now. 43:05 And so Jesus says, "Hey, if I want to unleash all of My angels 43:09 upon My planet, I can do it. 43:11 Because this is legally Mine. 43:13 Because you beat Adam, but I beat you. 43:16 And so as he became your servant, you're My servant now." 43:22 In other words, the cross was D-day. 43:26 It was the decisive battle in the great controversy. 43:29 Ellen White expressed it in, 43:31 Desire of Ages, 758, by saying that... 43:36 But let me ask you, is Satan going to simply lie down 43:41 and say, "Okay, I give up." 43:44 No. No. 43:46 Satan is not going to give up this territory without a fight. 43:50 He's not just going to give up and surrender. 43:52 He's going to hang on to every inch that he can 43:56 of the territory that is legally Christ's. 44:00 And so Jesus now says, "Okay, this is My planet. 44:04 And I am the King of this planet. 44:06 So now I am going to unleash all of My troops 44:11 to help My earthly troops go and conquer the territory 44:15 which belongs to Me which you do not want to give up." 44:19 Are you following me? 44:21 Notice this statement from, Desire of Ages, page 352. 44:25 Ellen White is talking about the apostles. 44:28 She says... 44:53 And who are the soldiers? 44:55 The soldiers are the heavenly angels. 44:57 And who are the earthly soldiers? 44:59 We are, you see. 45:01 You know what our role is? 45:02 It's simply to tell the world that they're with the loser. 45:07 And if you stay with the loser, you're lost. 45:10 So we have to tell them, "You desert that army 45:12 and you come over to the army of the winner." 45:15 That's what our evangelistic task is all about, 45:18 is to call people to forsake the army of the loser 45:23 and to come over to the army of the winner. 45:26 Now did you notice here that Ellen White says, 45:28 "The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain 45:31 of the Lord's host." 45:32 How many people are involved in that statement? 45:35 The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain 45:38 of the Lord's host." 45:40 How many? Three. 45:43 There's three there, three persons. 45:45 One, the Holy Spirit. 45:48 Number two, the Captain. 45:49 Because the Holy Spirit is the representative of the Captain. 45:52 And the host is the Lord's. 45:55 So since Jesus assumed humanity, the representative of the 45:59 Captain is now the Holy Spirit. 46:02 Because Jesus is in heaven encumbered by a human body. 46:05 And so the Holy Spirit now performs through the angels 46:08 the work that Jesus use to perform in the Old Testament 46:11 through the hosts. 46:13 And so what is our task? 46:15 Our task, folks, is to go out and tell the world 46:18 that Jesus has legally won the throne of this world, 46:21 and that this world belongs to Him. 46:24 And that they're suppose to come over to the side of the winner. 46:27 And God has promised to unleash all of the angels of heaven. 46:31 That's what He did on the day of Pentecost. 46:33 The Holy Spirit unleashed upon this earth 46:36 all of the angelic hosts, the earth that Jesus had won, 46:39 to help the apostles in the preaching of the gospel. 46:43 It's interesting to notice that in Acts 8:26 and also verse 29, 46:49 I want you to notice how the Spirit speaking 46:51 and the angels speaking are used interchangeably. 46:54 You remember Philip when he went to speak 46:57 with the Ethiopian eunuch? 46:59 Now listen to what it says in Acts 8:26. 47:15 And then a little bit later in the story, it says... 47:22 So who's speaking, is it the angel or is it the Holy Spirit? 47:25 It's the Holy Spirit through what? 47:28 The Holy Spirit through the angel. 47:31 In other words, the Holy Spirit accomplishes His work 47:34 through the ministry of the angels. 47:36 The Holy Spirit is in the command and control center 47:39 of the universe, if you please. 47:41 And the Holy Spirit coordinates the angelic hosts. 47:44 He says to this one, "Go there." 47:45 He says to the other one, "Go there." 47:47 "This individual is struggling with sin. 47:48 Go help him." 47:50 "This individual is preaching the gospel. 47:52 Go and influence the people that are listening." 47:54 In other words, the Holy Spirit, through the angels, 47:56 accomplishes the work of impacting human hearts. 48:02 Now let me ask you, why aren't we seeing the tremendous 48:05 convicting power that was seen after the day of Pentecost? 48:08 It's very simple. 48:11 The Holy Spirit needs earthly soldiers who will 48:15 cooperate with Him. 48:18 You see, the disciples went through basic training. 48:21 And they learned to take orders from their Commander 48:26 and to render Him unquestioning obedience. 48:30 In other words, they were prepared to receive the help 48:33 of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the angels 48:36 because they had made a total commitment 48:38 to their Commander. 48:40 The reason why today we don't see the same power 48:43 is because we do not commit ourselves without reservation 48:48 to the Lord the way that the apostles and those who 48:52 preach the gospel at first did. 48:54 And so the angels are waiting to work through us, 48:57 but they can't work through us because we are always 49:00 interested in fulfilling our own agendas. 49:05 I want to read from this devotional book, 49:09 A Call To Stand Apart, page 66. 49:13 This is a well known statement. 49:14 It's speaking about the youth in the church. 49:17 And it has something very important to say about 49:19 the ministry of angels through the power of the Holy Spirit. 49:23 This is what Ellen White had to say about our youth. 49:38 What are we? 49:40 We're God's helping hand. 49:41 And how does God help us? 49:43 Through the ministry of the angels. 49:45 Then she says... 49:47 Now she's going to explain. 50:06 That is the angels. 50:19 See, there's boot camp, right? 50:21 And learning to accept the commands of your Commander. 50:25 So she says once again... 50:31 "...rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message 50:34 of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour 50:37 might be carried to the whole world..." 51:01 How soon it would happen if an army of youth 51:04 rightly trained and lending themselves to the power of God, 51:09 through the ministry of the angels, were willing 51:11 to accomplish the work of God. 51:15 Now do we believe that there's going to be a final 51:17 outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this world? 51:19 A final outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power? 51:23 We most certainly do. 51:24 And you say, "Well what must the outpouring 51:26 of the latter rain be?" 51:27 Well, if the outpouring of the early rain by the Holy Spirit 51:31 means that the Holy Spirit, through the angels, 51:33 helped the disciples in accomplishing their work, 51:36 is it just possible that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 51:39 at the end is going to have something to do with 51:41 God unleashing all of the angelic host upon the 51:44 earth again because we have lent ourselves 51:47 as God's earthly army to be used by the heavenly agencies? 51:50 Absolutely. 51:52 Let me read you some statements from the spirit of prophecy. 51:54 The book, Maranatha, page 212, Ellen White explains... 51:59 Listen carefully. 52:14 So what is the outpouring of the Spirit of God? 52:17 Angels will be in our midst. 52:19 It doesn't mean that the angels have the power in themselves. 52:22 They are the emissaries of the Holy Spirit. 52:26 They are the foot soldiers of the Holy Spirit. 52:29 The Holy Spirit is in the command and control center. 52:31 Everything is under His control. 52:33 We're not giving glory to the angels. 52:35 The angels lend themselves as instruments in the hands 52:38 of the Holy Spirit, and we are to lend ourselves 52:41 as instruments in the hands of the angels. 52:44 But the chain of command is broken when it gets to us. 52:48 You know, sometimes I think of Isaiah, you know, 52:50 the vision that Isaiah had. 52:52 You know, after he saw the holiness of God he said, 52:54 "I am undone, for I am a sinful man and I live in the midst 52:57 of a people that are sinful. 52:59 My eyes have seen the glory of the Lord, 53:01 the holiness of the Lord." 53:03 And then he hears a conversation in heaven 53:06 where a question is asked, "Who will go and tell Israel 53:10 about this vision that Isaiah has seen?" 53:14 And what did Isaiah say? 53:15 Isaiah said, "Here am I; send him." 53:19 That's not what Isaiah said. 53:20 He says, "Well who better than me? 53:22 Here am I; send me." 53:24 And he was sent. 53:26 And he was helped. 53:28 And as a result, he was put in a hollow log 53:31 and it was sawn in half. 53:32 And he died as a martyr. 53:34 And some day we are going to see him again, praise the Lord. 53:38 Now in, Review and Herald, January 20, 1891, 53:41 we have another statement about how the work is 53:44 going to be accomplished under the power of the latter rain. 53:53 Now how did this happen? 53:54 Let's continue reading. 54:44 I'd like to mention one final thing before we close. 54:47 Do you remember the individual who had a son 54:51 that was on his dying bed in Capernaum? 54:54 He was in Cana of Galilee, 54:56 this is in John chapter 4, and he had a son that 54:58 was in Capernaum and he was dying. 55:00 So he says to Jesus, "Would you please heal my son?" 55:04 And Jesus says, "Oh this generation. 55:07 Unless they see signs, they won't believe." 55:10 But Jesus pronounced the word, He says, "Don't worry. 55:13 He's well." 55:14 And this man believed Jesus. 55:16 And we know that he believed Jesus 55:18 because he didn't go right home. 55:20 He could have gone home that same day 55:21 and arrived before dark. 55:23 But he decided to hang around. 55:25 And the next day, you know, he began his trip. 55:28 And Ellen White says he enjoyed the songs 55:30 of the birds and the sunshine. 55:31 He was having a great time because he knew that 55:33 his son had been healed. 55:35 And so when he got back home, he asked, 55:37 "At what time was my son healed?" 55:39 They said, at such and such a time. 55:41 And he said, "That's exactly the time Jesus said the word." 55:45 Now I want to read you two statements from 55:46 the spirit of prophecy and how this happened. 55:48 Very interesting. 55:49 The first is in, Spirit of Prophecy, volume 2, page 155. 56:08 I like that expression. 56:10 "...by a flash of divine telegraphy..." 56:13 In other words, Jesus sent the message by telegraph 56:17 to the angel who was over there waiting. 56:19 And then another statement is found in, 56:21 The Youth's Instructor, December 4, 1902. 56:44 Angels, in the Bible, are compared to lightening. 56:48 And so, folks, the Holy Spirit is waiting for us. 56:54 The Holy Spirit is waiting to unleash all of the angelic host 56:57 upon this world to finish God's work. 57:00 And the big question is, will we lend ourselves 57:03 as willing instruments in God's hand? 57:07 The decision is ours. |
Revised 2016-07-12