Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP190010A
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00:31 Hello and welcome to the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.
00:34 I'm Jill Morikone and we are so excited that you have joined 00:37 us a study of the Book of Revelation. 00:40 It's hard to believe we are on lesson #10 this week: 00:44 "God's Everlasting Gospel" 00:47 Last week we looked at Satan and his two allies. 00:50 That would be the dragon which is Satan in Revelation 12, 00:54 along with the sea beast and the lamb beast in Revelation 13. 00:59 Together they formed an unholy trinity that opposed God's 01:04 work in the world. 01:06 They work deceptively and openly 01:08 to overthrow God and His law. 01:11 They use coercion, force and persecution to 01:15 force people to give allegiance to them. 01:22 Revelation 14, if you just turn the page one chapter 01:25 Revelation 14:1-5 tells us the story of a sealed people 01:30 who have the Father's name written in their foreheads, 01:33 who have overcome this world and the beast, 01:37 and dragon and the false prophet. 01:39 The issue all throughout history is really about 01:42 worship - who will we worship, Christ or Satan, 01:47 the lamb or the beast? 01:49 That question and that answer will determine our destiny. 01:54 This week, we look at the "Three Angels' Messages" 01:57 of Revelation 14... 01:59 And now I want to introduce to you our panel at this time... 02:01 Sitting on my left is Pastor Ryan Day. 02:04 It's always a privilege to study with you. 02:06 Amen, it's a blessing to be here. 02:07 And I'm so glad that my sis, Dr. Yvonne Lewis Shelton 02:11 can be here to open up the word of God as well. 02:12 I'm excited, thank you. 02:14 We're excited to have Pastor John Lomacang here, 02:16 my pastor of the Thompsonville Church, 02:18 and thank you for being here, pastor. Good to be here. 02:20 And sitting next to you is my sis as well, Shelley Quinn, 02:23 and thank you for your study of the word of God. 02:26 I love it! Amen! 02:28 Before we go any further, let's go to the Lord in prayer, 02:30 and then we'll give you the way 02:32 that you can download the study guide for yourself. 02:34 But let's pray first, Shelley, would you 02:35 open in prayer? Absolutely. 02:37 Holy and Righteous Father, Once again, we pause to come 02:40 before You in the name of Jesus; thanking You 02:43 that You invite us to come boldly before Your throne 02:46 of grace to find grace and mercy in a time of need. 02:50 We confess our need. 02:51 Lord, we are totally dependent upon Your Holy Spirit 02:55 to make any sense of this word to be able to share it with 03:01 those who are listening to our voice and we ask 03:05 in the name of Jesus that You would get us out of the way, 03:08 fill us afresh with Your Spirit, and then, Father, for us 03:13 and everyone who is watching or listening by radio, 03:16 give us ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say; 03:20 give us the power to act on that. 03:24 In Jesus name we pray, thanking You for the 03:27 answer to the prayer of faith... Amen, Amen! 03:30 If you would like your own copy of the lesson, 03:32 go to the following website; we want to encourage you 03:35 to download it and follow along. 03:37 That's: ABSG.Adventist.org 03:42 That stands for "Adult Bible Study Guide.Adventist.org 03:46 or you can always visit your local Seventh-day Adventist 03:49 Church, they would love to invite you in, 03:51 and to invite you to join a Sabbath School Class. 03:54 This week we're talking about Revelation 14. 03:57 "The Three Angels' Messages," and as Seventh-day Adventist 04:01 Christians, we say the "Three Angels' 04:03 Messages" is "present truth" for these days. 04:07 But what is "present truth?" 04:08 2 Peter 1:12... "For this reason, I will not be 04:13 negligent to remind you always of these things, 04:16 though you know and are established 04:17 in the present truth." 04:19 Now that tells us that present truth is not just for end times 04:22 because Peter lived in the first century A.D. 04:24 So that means God always has present truth 04:28 throughout history. 04:29 It's a specific message for a specific time and place... 04:34 And really, as I think about it, present truth is 04:36 always a life or a death matter. 04:39 It's a life and death matter. 04:41 I want to look at six snapshots of present truth 04:44 throughout history and then we'll jump into our lesson. 04:47 Snapshot #1... Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 04:49 What was the command? 04:51 "Don't eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge 04:53 of good and evil because if you do that, 04:55 there will be consequences, you will die." 04:57 What was the promise? 04:59 "I will put enmity between you and the woman. 05:02 Messiah would come through the seed of the woman." 05:05 #2. Noah's day - what was the command? 05:07 "Get into the boat!" 05:09 There's a coming flood that is going to destroy the world. 05:12 What was the promise? 05:13 "I will put My bow in the cloud." 05:15 The promise of a rainbow... that God would never 05:17 again destroy this world with a flood. 05:20 #3... Abraham - What was the command? 05:23 "Get out from Ur and go to a place that I will show you." 05:27 And the promise was, "I will make of you a great nation, 05:30 and all the people of the earth will be blessed because of you." 05:34 Think about Elijah - What was the command? 05:36 Make a choice, how long are you going to halt between 05:38 two opinions; "If the Lord is God, follow Him; 05:41 but if Baal, then follow Him." 05:42 And the promised fire fell from heaven proving 05:46 that the Lord is God and then the promised rain came. 05:49 What about John the Baptist? What was the command? 05:52 "Get ready, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 05:56 Prepare a people to meet your God and what was the promise? 05:59 Jesus is coming! 06:01 Now this is His first coming as the Messiah and Redeemer. 06:04 We come all the way down to the end of time. 06:07 What is the command? It's - get ready again. 06:09 It's prepare a people to meet your God again. 06:13 Instead of the first coming as the Messiah and Redeemer, 06:16 we're talking about the second coming 06:18 as Priest, Judge and King. 06:21 The "Three Angels' Messages," in particular, are part of 06:23 God's last day message for the end time people, 06:27 that's what we're studying here today. 06:29 Our memory text is Revelation 14:12... 06:32 In Revelation 14:12, here is the patience of the saints... 06:36 "Here are they who keep the commandments of God 06:38 and the faith of Jesus." 06:40 Now on Sunday's lesson, we just look at the first little 06:43 bit of verse 6, so let's read that. 06:45 We're in Revelation 14:6, actually, it's the first little 06:50 bit of the First Angels' Message, but really it's 06:52 the entire verse - so Revelation 14:6... "Then I saw another 06:57 angel flying in the midst of heaven having the 07:00 everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth 07:04 to every nation, tribe, tongue and people," and we'll 07:07 stop there because Ryan picks up the next part. 07:09 So as we look at this one verse, I want to look at the messenger, 07:13 that's who is doing the preaching? 07:16 Then we'll look at the message, what are we to preach? 07:20 And then finally, the mission. 07:22 Who are we to preach to? 07:24 Who are we to give this message to? 07:27 So the messenger - who is doing the preaching? 07:29 In this case, it says, "I saw another angel." 07:32 Now I know in the Greek, that means, literally, messenger. 07:36 Messenger! 07:38 Sometimes that Greek word is used to refer to angels 07:41 in the New Testament and we know that clearly; 07:43 but other times, it's used to refer to people. 07:46 I think of Matthew 11:10; Jesus used that word to refer to 07:50 John the Baptist - he was a messenger with, you can say 07:55 and end time message for that time, 07:57 specific message for that time. 07:59 So who does the preaching? Who is the messenger? 08:02 God calls you and I to proclaim this gospel; 08:07 these Three Angels' Messages, we are the messengers; 08:10 we are called to give this message and that takes us 08:13 to #2, the message... "What are we to preach?" 08:18 What does it say? We just read it. 08:20 The angel flies in the midst of heaven, 08:22 you and I proclaim the message. What is the message? 08:24 "Having the everlasting GOSPEL!" 08:27 "Everlasting" in Greek means "age-long, eternal, 08:31 without beginning." 08:33 So this gospel message that God delivered to us to 08:37 preach - He had in mind from eternity past. 08:40 You think about the plan of redemption was put in place 08:43 before there was ever any creation on this earth 08:46 because God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit set 08:49 together and formulated that plan. 08:51 The word for "gospel," of course, is "good news," 08:54 and it occurs many times in the Greek. 08:57 Matthew 24:14... "This gospel of the kingdom (there's our 09:01 word) shall be preached in all the world as a witness 09:04 to all nations and then the end shall come." 09:07 You know, there's a universal problem today and that's the 09:10 problem of sin. 09:11 I think about Romans 1, Paul delineates, as it were, 09:16 the sins of the Gentile world. 09:18 Then we move to Romans 2 and Romans 3, and then he says, 09:24 Okay, the Jews are not without fault either. 09:27 It's not just the Gentiles, not just people who 09:30 maybe haven't claimed the name of Christ; Christians too 09:34 are dealing with the sin problem. 09:36 By the time we get to Romans 3:23, it's universal. 09:39 He says, "All have sinned and fallen 09:42 short of the glory of God." 09:43 Now we know, clearly, Paul knew it was universal from the 09:46 beginning, but he's establishing or setting a stage of 09:49 progression showing that the sin problem applies to everybody. 09:52 Galatians 3:22... "The Scripture has "confined" 09:59 (it means to shut together or shut in, so the Scripture 10:04 has shut in all under sin - we are all under the condemnation 10:10 and the curse of the law), why? 10:13 ...that by the promise by faith in Christ Jesus 10:16 might be given to those who believe." 10:19 We have a universal sin problem, but we have a Savior 10:22 who came to save to the uttermost. 10:24 John 3:16... God so loved the world (not just me or 10:27 those of us on the Sabbath School Panel or our 10:29 camera crew or people who are kind of... No, God loved 10:34 the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 10:37 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 10:40 but have everlasting love..life! Everlasting life and everlasting 10:45 life and that really goes to love too because if we 10:48 love Him, we keep His commandments. 10:50 John 6:37, this is one of my favorite Scriptures... 10:52 "Whoever comes to Me, (Jesus is speaking) 10:54 I will in never cast aside." 10:58 Matthew 10:8, He says, "Freely you have received, freely give." 11:03 Since we've been saved by grace through faith, 11:05 we are called to freely extend the message of salvation, 11:09 the gospel of grace to everyone, everywhere! 11:13 Nobody is to be excluded in the gospel call. 11:17 So, you and I are called to give the message; 11:20 the message is this everlasting gospel, 11:21 and who does it go to? 11:23 It goes to every nation, tribe, tongue and people. 11:28 There are four groups here and we'll look at them. 11:31 But first, I want to look at the word "every." 11:33 In Greek it's "pas" which means each and every one. 11:37 So it's the same Greek word used in 2 Timothy 3:16, 11:41 where Paul says, "All Scripture is given by 11:44 inspiration of God," and instead of saying "all Scripture" 11:47 as a general sense - all Scripture is inspired, 11:49 which is beautiful... it means each and every Scripture 11:54 is inspired by God. 11:56 So in this case, it's not saying, "Okay the gospel 11:58 is to go to the whole world, as in a general state, 12:01 it's supposed to go to each and every person - to me 12:05 it's personal and it's specific. 12:08 Now what about the four groups of people? 12:10 It says, "nation, tribe, tongue and people," 12:13 "nation" in the Greek is "ethnos." 12:15 That would be where we get our word "ethnic" from. 12:18 It means race or nation, but in the New Testament, 12:22 it's especially used in the sense of the heathen 12:25 or the Gentiles. 12:27 Sometimes it's referred to the Jews, but almost always 12:30 it's referred to as a Gentile. 12:33 Now there's a point - I'm going somewhere here... 12:35 The next group, "tribe" refers to the descendants of 12:40 a common ancestor and in the Bible, it's almost always 12:44 used to refer to the descendants of Abraham. 12:47 So in other words, this gospel message 12:49 is to go to the Gentiles, those who don't know Jesus. 12:51 It's also to go to the Jews; it's also to go to the, 12:54 we could say today, the Christians. 12:56 So this gospel message is for everyone. 13:00 What about the last two groups? 13:01 Every tongue - "glossa," that's language or nation. 13:05 That's differentiation between people groups 13:07 based on their language. 13:09 So it's to go to every language, group and finally, 13:12 people - that just means in general, a people, 13:14 a crowd, a populous, a group of people. 13:17 So this gospel message, God calls you and I to proclaim 13:22 to everyone - nobody is to be excluded in that gospel call. 13:27 And Ryan, you kick us off with the "First Angel's Message." 13:29 Yeah, absolutely. 13:31 So, "First Angel's Message," Part 1, is Monday's lesson 13:35 which will be the lesson that I'll cover at this point. 13:37 And this is going to be difficult because I know you 13:40 have "Three Angel's Message, Part 2," and looking at this, 13:43 we're having to share this one verse, Revelation 14:7. 13:48 I'm going to read it and this is what it says... 13:50 "Saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him 13:53 for the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him 13:58 who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." 14:03 So, for me, there's like four sermons in this one verse. 14:07 In fact, in my evangelistic series, when I preach 14:11 an evangelistic series, I have a sermon for almost every 14:14 single, little part of this one verse - that's how powerful 14:17 and power-packed this one verse is. 14:20 Before I go into the different aspects of part A of 14:24 this verse, because I'm only going to talk about giving 14:27 glory to God, fearing God for the obvious judgment is come. 14:31 That's what I'm going to cover at this moment. 14:33 But I just want to say something very simple but profound... 14:36 and I think it's something that we have to consider 14:38 in relation to "The Three Angels' Messages" as a whole. 14:41 And that is... there's obviously three and they come 14:46 in a specific order. 14:47 You can't get them out of order. 14:49 There's a reason why we call it the "First Angel's Message," 14:51 followed by the "Second Angel's Message," 14:52 followed by the "Third Angel's Message." 14:54 But I want to say this, because this is vitally 14:56 important - if we could just grasp this... 14:58 There would be no need for a Second and Third Angel's 15:03 Message if the entire world would respond positively 15:06 to the "First Angel's Message." 15:08 Truthfully, there would really be no need for 15:11 a Second and Third Angel's Message, now inevitably 15:14 there is a Second and Third Angel's Message because 15:16 there's an enemy and we know that, as we're told in Bible 15:19 prophecy, the majority of the world in the last days 15:21 will follow and worship after the beast that we are 15:25 warned not to follow - we are warned not to worship. 15:28 But if the entire world, and we know that this message, 15:30 as you clearly covered, is going to the entire planet, 15:33 if all - every single soul was to respond positively 15:37 to this "First Angel's Message," there would be no need 15:41 for a Second or Third Angel's Message. 15:43 So I just want to establish that because if we can grasp 15:46 the contents and the meaning of the "First Angel's Message," 15:49 the Second and Third Angel's Message are going to just 15:51 kind of flow very gently into our understanding 15:55 of what it means to fully surrender to God, 15:57 we're going to respond more positively to the Second 16:00 and Third Angel's Message because of our proper 16:02 understanding of the "First Angel's Message." 16:04 So I want to start kind of picking this apart. 16:06 I want to start with the very first 4 or 5 words of 16:09 this verse - verse 7, and that is... 16:12 "Saying with a loud voice," not just with a voice... 16:16 not with a whimper, not with a whisper, but saying with 16:18 a LOUD voice, and I kind of mentioned this, I think 16:21 in one of the previous lessons, but the Greek word here 16:25 it's funny to say, but it's profound and it's the Greek 16:29 word "megalaphona," that's for loud voice - say it with a 16:32 loud MEGALAPHONA! 16:33 And so what does it sound like in our English? 16:35 Sounds like "megaphone," and a megaphone, obviously, 16:38 serves the purpose of amplifying and projecting 16:41 sound at such a level that everyone around can hear. 16:46 And so God wants these messages to be heard 16:49 more specifically especially the First and Third Angel's Message, 16:53 not that the Second Angel's Message is not important, 16:55 but you'll notice that the First Angel's Message 16:57 and the Third Angel's Message are said with a loud voice, 17:00 wherefore the Second one is not, there's a reason for that 17:02 and I'll let someone else get into that 17:04 because I don't have time to at the moment. 17:06 But notice how it says, "Saying with a loud voice," 17:09 here's the first part... "Fear God," fear God, and in the 17:15 question box at my evangelistic series, again, I would 17:18 get that question - "What does it mean to fear God?" 17:22 Do we fear Him in the sense that when you hear the 17:26 name of God, when you think of the very presence of God 17:29 being in your midst that you 17:31 shake and tremble? Absolutely not... 17:33 God doesn't want you to run away from Him in fear. 17:35 We are to be drawn towards God. 17:37 So to fear God doesn't necessarily mean to be 17:39 scared and run in the opposite direction, 17:42 but rather to reverence Him, to respect Him, 17:44 to give Him the honor, the glory and the positive 17:47 response that He deserves because 17:49 He is God, He is worthy. 17:51 In fact, we see this kind of in the story of Exodus 3:4-5 17:56 with Moses - I'm just going to reference it, but if you know 17:59 the story there, Moses actually finds himself 18:01 in the presence of God as he 18:03 is talking with the burning bush... 18:04 he is speaking with the Lord. 18:05 And Moses doesn't walk in kind of arrogantly and 18:08 disrespectful, you know, "Hey God!" 18:10 You know, you don't get that response and he doesn't 18:13 come in necessarily in the sense that he wants to leave, 18:15 but he approaches and he is told, "Take off your sandals 18:18 for where you stand is holy ground." 18:20 Moses understood that he was 18:22 in the presence of the Almighty God and, therefore, 18:24 he responded accordingly. 18:27 We also have a couple of extra passages here that 18:29 I just want to reference as far as fearing God, 18:31 giving Him the respect, the homage and the honor, 18:34 the reference that He deserves. 18:35 Psalm 22:23 and also Revelation 15:4. 18:41 We're actually close to Revelation 15:4, notice 18:44 what it says... "Who shall not fear you, O Lord, 18:47 and glorify Your name?" 18:50 It's a question - Who shall not fear You and glorify 18:54 Your name, for You alone are holy, for all nations shall 18:58 come and worship before You, for Your judgments 19:01 have been manifested." 19:03 And so, again, to fear God means to just respond 19:06 to Him in a reverential awe because He is worthy, 19:10 He is holy. 19:12 Also to consider what it means to fear God, also can 19:15 respond to Him in a sense of... you respect Him 19:20 enough to be obedient to Him; you respect Him enough 19:22 to trust Him for who He is, as the Lord God Almighty. 19:25 And the Scripture that comes to my mind, Ecclesiastes 12:13... 19:29 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter," 19:32 again this is coming from Solomon - "Fear God," and 19:35 then notice what it's tied to, "Fear God and keep His 19:38 commandments for this is man's all or this is the 19:40 whole duty of man," as the King James Version would say. 19:43 So we definitely want to fear God, to respect Him 19:47 to give Him the reverence that He deserves. 19:49 I want to go into the second part really quickly... 19:51 "To give glory to Him," so we fear God and we give 19:55 glory to Him. 19:57 A Scripture that comes to mind, I want to share it, 19:59 it's so powerful, 1 Corinthians 10:31, notice what Paul 20:03 writes - He kind of encompasses everything in this one verse 20:06 I believe because he says... "Therefore whether you eat 20:11 or drink, or whatever you do, (so notice how, you know, 20:15 he isolates eating and drinking, there's a message 20:17 in and of itself in that, but then, you know, 20:19 he encapsulates everything else) or whatever 20:22 you do, do all to the glory of God." How much? 20:25 We do ALL to the glory of God. 20:27 That means in our choices, in what we say, in what we do, 20:31 and how we respond to others. 20:32 Our entire life should be that of reflecting the character 20:36 of Christ at all times - that is what gives glory to God. 20:40 There's a whole lot that I could say about that but I 20:42 want to move on to our last point here because 20:44 I'm running out of time. 20:46 Notice how it says that we fear God and give glory to Him 20:50 for the hour of His judgment has come. 20:54 "The hour of His judgment has come." 20:56 Whether you know it or not, we are living right now 21:00 in God's last day judgment hour. Amen. 21:03 If you go over to Daniel 8, just within the context of the 21:07 sanctuary message - we know that the "Day of Atonement" 21:10 was considered a day of judgment. 21:13 And we know that, given right there to us in 21:16 Daniel 8, we are told that there's a time period, 21:19 a prophetic time period that has already come to pass, 21:22 a period of 2,300 years that ended in the year 1844 21:27 and in 1844 that marked the beginning of what we call 21:31 "God's last day judgment hour," in which Jesus Christ 21:34 as High Priest and let me remind you - Hebrews 4:14... 21:38 Do we have a high priest? Yes 21:39 Absolutely... "Seeing that we then have a great High Priest 21:42 who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God 21:45 let us hold fast our confession." 21:47 So what did Christ do the whole time He was up there 21:50 in heaven from the time He ascended after dying on the 21:53 cross and all those years before 1844, He was doing 21:56 His High Priestly ministry but in the Holy Place. 21:59 But if you go over to Hebrews 9, it tells us that 22:03 in that particular time, He went into the Holy Place 22:07 and in 1844, if you do the study of the Hebrew sanctuary, 22:10 in accordance with the judgment topic, 22:12 you will see that in 1844, Christ, according 22:15 as we see depicted in Daniel 7, He passes from the Holy Place 22:19 into the Most Holy Place; therefore, beginning 22:22 His work of final judgment on earth. 22:25 I just want to read this here in Revelation 14:14-16, it says, 22:29 "Then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud 22:33 sat One like the Son of Man..." You'll notice this is 22:35 chapter 14- the same chapter as the "Three Angels' 22:38 Messages," why would I bring that out? 22:40 The reason why we're highlighting this is 22:42 you'll notice that we're reading about the second coming 22:46 of Jesus here in verse 14-16. 22:48 It comes after this judgment time period; wherefore 22:51 many people believe that there's either a judgment 22:53 that happens upon the point of death or it comes after 22:56 the second coming of Jesus, but we know that the 22:58 judgment will be completed before Christ comes 23:03 because notice what Jesus says in Revelation 22:12... 23:05 "And behold I come quickly and My reward is with Me 23:08 to give everyone according as his work shall be... 23:11 according to his work. 23:13 So we are in this hour of judgment and our response 23:16 to Christ is to fear Him, to give glory to Him with 23:18 our life and I have some good news with 15 seconds left... 23:22 Not only is Christ our lawyer, our representative, 23:26 but He is also our judge... check this out. 23:28 John 5:22-24... "For the Father judges no one, 23:32 but has committed all judgment to the Son; 23:34 most assuredly I say unto you, "He who hears My 23:36 word and believes in Him who sent Me, has everlasting life 23:40 and shall not come into judgment, but has passed 23:43 from death into life." Amen! 23:45 That a beautiful promise. Amen! 23:46 Thank you so much, Ryan, that's powerful! 23:50 I can't wait to get into the second half 23:52 of the "First Angel's Message," but we're going to take a break, 23:54 we'll be right back. 24:02 Ever wish you could watch a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel 24:05 again, or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 24:09 Well, you can! By visiting 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.com 24:13 A clean design makes it easy to find the 24:17 program you're looking for. 24:18 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 24:22 so you can follow along. 24:23 Sharing is easy, just click "share" and choose your 24:27 favorite social media. 24:28 Share a link, save a life, for eternity! 24:35 Welcome back to our study on the "Three Angels' Messages" 24:39 of Revelation and we're going to pick it up with Tuesday's 24:41 lesson - Yvonne, you have the second half 24:44 of the "First Angel's Message." 24:45 I do, I do and that's found again in Revelation 14:7, 24:49 the second half and it says, "And worship Him who made 24:52 heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." 24:56 And one of the central issues in this message is worship. 25:03 And so let's take the word "worship" and make 25:06 an acronym and look at the different aspects of 25:11 the word worship - it will help us to put the "First Angel's 25:14 Message" into perspective. 25:15 So "W" is: Whom will you worship? 25:19 And again, Revelation 14:7 says, "Worship Him who made 25:23 heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." 25:26 Now this connects worship with the Creator because God 25:31 is the Creator of all things. 25:34 God and Satan are vying for our worship. 25:38 This is the great controversy. 25:40 There's good and evil; God and Satan and they 25:45 both want worship. 25:46 In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 14:13-14, about Satan 25:51 it says... "For you have said in your heart, "I will ascend 25:54 into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars 25:57 of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation 26:00 on the farthest sides of the north. 26:02 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. 26:06 I will be like the Most High." 26:08 But there is but one God, the Creator of heaven 26:12 and earth, the Giver and Sustainer of life; 26:15 He and He alone is worthy of our worship. 26:18 Psalm 100:3 says... "Know that the Lord, He is God. 26:22 It is He who has made us... 26:24 Again, tying this in with creation - we are His creatures. 26:28 It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. 26:31 We are His people and the sheep of His pasture." 26:35 And Isaiah 40:28 says... "Have you not known? 26:38 Have you not heard? 26:39 The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the 26:43 ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. 26:46 His understanding is unsearchable." 26:49 And so Joshua 24:15 says... "And if it seems evil 26:53 to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this 26:57 day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your 27:00 fathers served that were on the other side of the River, 27:03 of the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. 27:06 But as for me, ME, and my house, we will serve the Lord! 27:12 And so in the end, with this "W," it's about worship, 27:16 and whom we will worship. 27:18 People will have to choose, not whether or not 27:21 they will worship because you're gonna worship someone; 27:25 it's whom will you worship? Yes. 27:28 The "O" in worship is for "obedience." 27:32 Revelation shows (again) that the central issues 27:35 of the last crisis will be around worship and obedience. 27:38 Romans 6:16 says... and Pastor we were talking about that 27:42 the other day... "Do you not know that to whom you 27:45 present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that 27:48 one's slaves whom you obey; whether of sin 27:51 leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness." 27:55 So obedience is our response to the goodness of God. 28:00 It's not some kind of drudgery; 28:03 we obey because we love Him; we obey - it's an outgrowth 28:08 of our love for Him; it's a response to our love for Him. 28:11 And Jesus said in John 14:15... "If you love me, 28:14 keep My commandments." 28:15 So it's out of love that we obey Him. 28:18 The "R," in the acronym is "relationship." 28:22 The only way to be assured of being an overcomer 28:25 is through having a relationship with Him. 28:29 It's not possible to obtain victory over sin 28:32 on our own - we can't do it without the power 28:36 of the Holy Spirit. That's right. 28:37 And in order to have that power, we have to be in a 28:40 relationship with Jesus Christ. 28:42 He says, in John 15:4... "Abide in Me and I in you. 28:46 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides 28:50 in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in Me." 28:54 So if we abide in Him; if we have the relationship 28:57 with Jesus Christ, then we can be overcomers. 29:01 "S" is for "Sabbath Sacredness." 29:05 The key issue in the final crisis, and this is taken from 29:09 our Quarterly, is emphasized in the second exhortation 29:12 of the "First Angel's Message." 29:14 The call to worship Him who made the heaven and earth, 29:17 the sea and springs of water," this is a verbal allusion 29:21 to the fourth commandment. 29:23 Right? In Exodus 20, in fact, let's just take a 29:26 quick look at that because we need to tie it in with the 29:31 commandment and let's look at verse 11; well let's just 29:36 read the whole commandment really quickly. 29:39 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 29:42 Six days (this is the New King James) you shall labor 29:45 and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath 29:48 of the Lord your God. 29:49 In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your 29:52 daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female 29:55 servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger 29:57 who is within your gates." 29:59 Here is the allusion... "For in six days, the Lord made 30:02 the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, 30:05 and rested the seventh day. 30:07 Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." 30:11 So the Sabbath is a special sign between us 30:15 and our Creator. 30:17 Satan can't create anything. 30:19 He is not the creator; he is the creature. 30:22 We are all creatures from the Creator and so the Sabbath 30:27 is a special sign of our relationship with God. 30:30 Ezekiel 20:12 says... "Moreover, I also gave them My Sabbaths 30:35 to be a sign between them and Me that they might 30:38 know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them." 30:41 Today, there are all kinds of reasons not to keep the 30:45 seventh-day Sabbath - we hear all kinds... 30:47 tradition - all these things. 30:49 God said it is His Sabbath, I know some people call me 30:52 sometimes and they say, "Oh I know this is your Sabbath..." 30:55 Well actually, it's not My Sabbath, it's God's Sabbath. 31:00 It's a sign between Him and us that He is the One 31:04 who sanctifies us. 31:05 He is the one who takes us into that place of being 31:10 faultless before Him, it's because of Him. 31:13 So, we know that John 4:23-24 says... "But the hour is coming 31:21 and now is when the true worshippers will worship 31:24 the Father in spirit and truth for the Father is 31:27 seeking such to worship Him. 31:29 God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship 31:33 in Spirit and in truth." 31:35 God is calling us through this "First Angel's Message" 31:38 to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. 31:41 You can go to church and be happy and worshipping God, 31:46 but that's worshipping in Spirit, not in truth. 31:49 Or you could be worshipping on the Sabbath and going to 31:52 church on the Sabbath and, you know, that might be 31:54 worshipping in truth but not in the Spirit. 31:56 He wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. 32:00 He has called us to do that, and by the grace of God, we can. 32:04 There is the true Sabbath and there is the counterfeit, 32:09 and we have to ask ourselves... which one are we serving? 32:14 Which one are we keeping? 32:16 "H" is for the "hour of His judgment," 32:18 and you covered that, Pastor Ryan, and so we know 32:22 that the judgment is going on now and that 32:26 the pre-advent judgment - the purpose of it is really 32:29 to finalize our choice on whether we're going to 32:32 serve God or not. 32:34 To some, judgment is a scary thought, but it doesn't 32:37 have to be because, as you said, Jesus is our Judge. 32:41 He is our Judge! 32:43 And so, it can mean vindication, 32:45 salvation and freedom. 32:47 If you're unfaithful, it can be a warning to you. 32:50 So repent, turn to Jesus, be in a relationship 32:55 with Him because right now He is in the process 32:59 of judging all of us and He's coming back with 33:03 His reward, Revelation 22:12. 33:07 "I" is for "idols." 33:08 Psalm 96:4-5 says... "For the Lord is great and greatly 33:12 to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. 33:15 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord 33:19 made the heavens." 33:21 So there are different types of idols. 33:22 They can be graven image idols or there can be something 33:26 that prevents you from worshipping - it can be your 33:30 job, it can be your spouse, it can be money, 33:33 it can be social media - it can be anything that you 33:37 have put ahead of God. 33:38 We have tendencies to have idols. 33:42 Look at yourself and ask yourself - "What is my idol?" 33:46 And then repent and turn away from it, 33:48 and make God the focal point. 33:50 And then "P" is for "prayer." 33:53 It's talking to God, it's pressing into 33:55 His presence, Shelley. Amen! 33:57 It's the key to right-standing with Him. 33:59 There's an old saying... "Much prayer, much power; 34:02 little prayer, little power." 34:04 Jesus wants us to respond to Him. 34:08 Revelation 3:20 says... "Behold I stand at the door 34:10 and knock." He's standing outside of your heart 34:13 and knocking on the door. 34:15 Let Him in, He wants to come in. 34:17 He said, "I'll come in and sup with you and you with Me." 34:20 He wants to be in our lives, the central focus of our lives. 34:26 So the acronym... "W" - Who will you worship? 34:29 "O" - Obedience. "R" - Relationship. 34:32 "S" - Sabbath sacredness. "H" - Hour of His judgment. 34:36 "I" - Idols. "P" - Prayer. 34:39 The "First Angel's Message" is one of urgency. 34:42 It's a call to action... Whom will you serve? 34:46 As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 34:49 Amen! Wow, that was good! 34:52 Praise the Lord. 34:53 Boy, that was a full tank today! Laughter... 34:57 That was very good! Praise the Lord. 34:58 You kind of did the Jill-thing on me there. 34:59 Laughter... the Jill-thing. The list-thing! 35:04 Thank you so much for passing the torch in such a warm way. 35:06 Now we're on the "Second Angel's Message" in Revelation 14, 35:10 and as Ryan pointed out a moment ago, 35:12 the First and Third Angel's Message is proclaimed 35:15 with a loud voice but there's a reason why the second 35:18 one isn't and we'll find out in a moment just why that is. 35:22 But before we do that, let's talk about what it means. 35:25 Let's look at that, Revelation 14 and it's simply one verse. 35:30 "And another angel followed saying, "Babylon is fallen, 35:36 is fallen, that great city because she made all nations 35:41 drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 35:45 Now this seems like a small text, but all of a sudden 35:48 out of all the texts in Revelation, Babylon now 35:51 takes on a new meaning and it just takes over 35:53 Revelation 17 and 18, it just says - Here I am, 35:57 and I'm going to rip you from your comfort zone 36:01 and to help you understand it in a 36:03 broad way what Babylon is really all about. 36:05 Well Babylon - we don't say "Babble-on," 36:08 so we shouldn't say the Tower of Babble. 36:10 It's the Tower of Babel. 36:12 Babel because something happened there. 36:15 Babylon was born as a system out of distrust of God. 36:20 A system that tried to establish its own 36:23 methods of salvation and Isaiah the prophet alludes to that. 36:27 He alludes to something that's going to 36:29 happen in the last days. 36:30 He says... "It shall come to pass that seven women 36:34 shall take hold of one man, Isaiah 4:1, saying, "We will 36:38 eat our own bread; we will wear our own apparel; 36:41 only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach." 36:46 So he was saying - The day is coming when the name is 36:48 going to be more of a focus than the practice. 36:52 "I just want your name." 36:53 So today, we talked about this in one of our prior programs 36:56 and I reiterate it here... Protestantism today in America 36:59 is just a name for those who have 37:02 departed from the Scriptures. 37:04 A true Protestant still holds to the firmness and the 37:08 validity and the voracity of God's word. 37:10 They believe that God's word is still not a Book to be 37:13 modified; it's not a Book where you highlight... 37:16 I know of a pastor who had his Bible highlighted and one of 37:20 members said, "You are a very great student of the Bible." 37:23 And he said, "The Bible college he went to - all those 37:26 highlights were what they told him never to talk about." Oh no! 37:30 Well, I won't say what church it was but that couple 37:32 ended up getting baptized here. 37:34 When they challenged their pastor - I talked about the 37:37 Sabbath... I said, "Look up Sabbath, Sunday, 37:39 Seventh-day, First day and Saturday; 37:41 whatever you find, take it to your pastor. 37:43 They did and that was the result of it, they ended up 37:46 becoming baptized here because they went to a church 37:49 where the Bible was optional. Wow. 37:52 And when you hear churches nowadays where they say... 37:54 "full gospel, open Bible"... you know I think to myself, 37:57 "Open, but do you read it?" 37:59 Now I'm being very candid about it and I believe that there 38:02 are those who are so sincere; Thus, John 10:16, are the 38:05 sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also 38:08 I must bring and they will hear My voice. 38:10 But Babylon was born, in Genesis 11:4, on the other side 38:14 of the flood when a group of people 38:16 began to build a tower because they thought 38:18 that another flood was coming. 38:20 Even though the Lord said it wouldn't come, they said 38:23 I know what You said, but we don't believe it. 38:25 Thus the Garden of Eden! 38:27 People build their system of worship on what they 38:33 feel is valid and not what God says is valid. 38:37 And He says in Genesis 11:4... "And they said, "Come let us 38:41 build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the 38:44 heavens; (trying to make it to heaven on their own works), 38:48 let us make a name for ourselves (because we don't really want 38:52 Your name), lest we be scattered abroad over the 38:57 face of the whole earth." 38:59 And the Bible says in verse 9... "Therefore its name is called 39:04 "Babel or Babble" because there the Lord confused the language 39:07 of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered 39:10 them abroad over the face of all the earth." 39:13 Today, Babylon is alive and well - much of Christianity 39:17 has gotten involved in a language that has nothing 39:19 to do with Christ - speaking in tongues that is really not 39:22 speaking in tongues according to Scripture. 39:24 In 1 Corinthians 14:33 says... "For God is not the 39:28 author of confusion, but of peace 39:30 as in all the churches of the saints." 39:32 So if you're involved in a church that says to you, 39:35 "Speaking in tongues is evidence of the presence 39:38 of the Holy Spirit," you're in Babylon because 39:44 that's not the evidence. 39:46 You want the evidence? 39:47 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering... 39:50 The work of the Holy Spirit, when your life is transformed, 39:54 the fruit shows that you are connected to the Spirit, 39:56 then an only then does the Lord decide - DOES THE LORD DECIDE, 40:00 through the Spirit which gift you need. 40:03 But you can't ask for the gift of tongues because the Spirit 40:06 in Romans 12 says, I'll give you 40:09 whichever one I believe you need. 40:11 So whatever church you're in, if they say that tongues 40:13 is an evidence that you are filled with the Spirit, 40:15 no, you're worshipping at the tower of Babel. 40:18 It's confusion - get out of that; 40:20 "Come out of her My people." 40:22 The other thing about Babylon is Babylon is a system 40:24 built on distrust in God. 40:29 Also, it's based on false worship - thank you for that 40:32 acronym - I will not soon forget that, I wrote it down! 40:36 Babylon is also a system based on false worship... 40:39 A forced worship! Because the whole nation, 40:42 when you think about this, it says, "For she has 40:46 "made" - that word "made" is the Greek word for "FORCED." 40:50 She has forced all nations to drink of the wine of the 40:53 wrath of her fornication." 40:55 Now you might say, "Well if you tell me this is 40:58 deception, I won't believe it, but if you intoxicate me, 41:03 I won't know the difference." 41:05 Go to Revelation 18... She intoxicates them before she 41:11 tells them that they're being seduced, you get that? 41:15 She intoxicates them before she tells them that 41:18 they're being seduced. 41:19 I said Revelation 18 and I'm in Revelation 14... 41:23 Okay here we are, in Revelation 17, let's look at this. 41:27 Revelation 17, alright notice this... verse 2. 41:32 She is describing verse 1 as the great harlot 41:36 sitting on many waters (that's many people she rides upon; 41:39 she controls many people) with whom the kings of the earth 41:42 (leaders, nations, presidents, governors) have committed 41:45 fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made 41:49 drunk with the wine of her fornication." 41:51 So they ingest what she gives them to drink! That's right! 41:56 False doctrines, when ingested, and the one thing that is 41:59 amazing that you cannot do when you're drunk is that you cannot 42:03 differentiate between what's straight and what's crooked. 42:06 So until a person gets detoxed, 42:11 they'll never be able to understand the truth. 42:13 Am I right? 42:15 You ever see the test... find your nose. 42:18 And it's really funny but then he says, "Walk a 42:20 straight line," and they can't do it. 42:22 The evidence that you are detoxed is what is straight 42:24 seems crooked and what is crooked seems straight. 42:28 It inebriates you and it affects your ability to discern. 42:33 Babylon system - so when people, when you say... 42:36 "Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy," 42:38 people hear that and they run from you like the Sabbath is 42:40 the worse curse that God has ever instituted on mankind... 42:44 when it was the day He blessed at the end of Creation when He 42:47 said, "This is a sign between you and Me that you will 42:50 know that I'm your God that sanctifies you." 42:52 It's a sign of relationship, but when you mention the 42:54 Sabbath... and it's amazing to me if we say that 42:58 Solomon, "Remember the Creator in the days of your youth," 43:00 Ecclesiastes 12:1. 43:02 People say, "All the young people must remember the 43:05 Creator while they're young;" then we say, "Remember Lot's 43:07 wife," Dr. Luke - a very small term... what did Lot's wife 43:10 do that she should not have? Looked back. 43:12 Remember Lot's wife - when God calls you out, don't look back. 43:15 And everybody should remember that when God calls them. 43:18 Solomon said it, Luke said it, we all agree, God says, 43:22 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," 43:24 and preachers and members alike say, "Remember Solomon, 43:29 remember Luke, but do NOT remember what God says. 43:33 You've gotta be drunk; you've got to be inebriated... 43:38 Give me 10 more minutes! Laughter! 43:41 You've got to be inebriated, but what's going to happen 43:44 in this system... Now the reason why Babylon is fallen, 43:46 is fallen is because Babylon was already fallen 43:49 in the eyes of God. 43:51 Watch this - On the plane of Dura, when the Hebrews were 43:54 forced to worship, the Lord already saw where Babylon 43:57 was going - it was already fallen in the eyes of God. 44:00 That's why these three men, like "Three Angels' Messages," 44:03 refuse in the presence of Babylon to modify 44:07 their connection between them and God. 44:08 "I will not worship the golden image you set up, 44:12 I don't care what music you play," and on that note, 44:15 when music leads you to the wrong altar, 44:19 it fails to be worship to the true God. 44:23 Watch out where your music leads you. 44:26 Secondly, they determined to take their stand, 44:29 it was already fallen in God's eyes but it was not until 44:32 Nebuchadnezzar's grandson took over that it was fallen 44:35 in the eyes of man. 44:37 Babylon spiritually is already fallen, 44:39 what is the spiritual Babylon? 44:40 Alright, grab this... It's made up of all the false 44:42 systems of worship: Spiritualism, Atheism, 44:45 Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, secularism and Apostate 44:48 Protestantism - every one of them kicked out Jesus! 44:52 And they're all pulled together as all the systems 44:55 Satan will ever use to try to defeat God in the Battle 44:59 of Armageddon, but there are two words I end with... 45:02 HE WINS! Amen! 45:05 You've read the back of the Book! He wins! 45:08 My day is Thursday, "The Third Angel's Message" 45:11 about the wrath of God, fire and brimstone, 45:14 and the smoke of their torment in 10 minutes! 45:19 Let me just say this... What's the most important 45:22 thing about you? 45:24 The most important thing about you is whatever you believe 45:28 about the nature and the character of God. 45:31 Jesus came to show us the Father. 45:34 Hebrews 1:3 says that He was the exact representation 45:38 of the Father, and we know that Malachi 3:6, God says, 45:42 "I am the Lord, I change not." 45:44 Hebrews 13:8, he said that Jesus is the same yesterday, 45:49 today and forever." 45:51 So we have an unchanging God who is perfect in character. 45:56 He is both the same in the Old Testament and the New Testament, 46:01 and if you think not, then you need to re-read 46:04 and ask God to show you. 46:06 There are two principles, before we talk about 46:09 the wrath of God, that I would like to establish 46:11 because this is the only way we can understand God's wrath. 46:15 The first principle is this: God is love. 1 John 4:8. 46:20 1 John 4:16 tells us that the very essence of God's 46:25 nature is love - that is His essential nature; 46:30 unconditional, others-centered, unselfish love. 46:37 All the attributes of His character must be 46:43 compatible with His nature. 46:46 Let me repeat that... All the attributes of God's 46:49 character must be compatible with His nature of love. 46:54 God is holy; He is separated from sin and love consumes sin. 47:01 Paul told Timothy, 1 Timothy 2:4, that God desires 47:06 for all men to be saved - that's the heart of a loving God. 47:11 He hates the sin, He loves the sinner, but His love 47:16 is not sentimental and don't think for one minute 47:19 that God is not angry with sinners. 47:21 Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament has any 47:24 hint that He's not angry with sinners because 47:27 He is angry and the only thing that brings us back into His 47:33 favor is repentance; His forgiveness of sin; 47:38 His remission of our guilt through 47:41 the blood of Jesus Christ. 47:45 But God's wrath against sin is rooted in His nature of love. 47:53 Let me repeat that... God's wrath against sin 47:57 is rooted in His nature of love. 48:01 He confronts sin with holy anger, with holy love, 48:06 and holy judgment. 48:09 Now most instances, His wrath is tempered by 48:12 mercy and grace, right? 48:14 He is trying to bring about repentance, but the day 48:18 will come that God does His "strange act" is how the Bible 48:22 describes it - when He will pour out His wrath, full strength, 48:28 on sinners without mercy. 48:31 But His wrath is an expression of love's perfect justice, 48:39 and His wrath is not a permanent attribute of God... 48:44 No sin - no wrath. 48:47 So that is something that His wrath is just an 48:52 ever present potential... it's a potential that He will 48:58 carry out the sentence of sin. 49:00 Okay, now the second principle: 49:02 #1... God is love. 49:04 #2... God created humanity with free will. 49:08 Freedom of the human will to either choose or reject 49:13 this love and He must honor the choice of those 49:18 who reject His love. That's right! 49:21 If we follow in Satan's path of rebellion, the consequences 49:26 of sin will follow the sinner. 49:30 Now God's judgment is absolutely necessary for Him 49:34 to carry out the plan of redemption to redeem fallen man. 49:40 There's no way to purge evil except through the destruction 49:45 of those who have set themselves in irreversible hostility 49:50 toward God. 49:52 So Romans 6:23 says... "The wages of sin is death, 49:56 but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus." 50:02 God, in His love, does not blindly ignore our sin... 50:05 rather in the extreme depth of His love, 50:09 while we were yet sinners, He sent His 50:12 righteous son to die for us. 50:14 And Jesus drank the cup of the Lord's fury for us. 50:19 Romans 5:8-9 says... "God demonstrates His own 50:22 love toward us in that while we were still sinners, 50:26 Christ died for us. Much more then, having now 50:29 been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from 50:35 wrath through Him." 50:37 So we sitting here and hopefully you at home, we've been 50:43 delivered from the wrath of God. Amen! 50:45 But now we studied last week in Revelation 13, 50:50 Babylon demands worship and that anyone who does not 50:56 worship the beast, they're going to be killed, right? 51:00 They can't buy, they can't sell, 51:01 and they're threatened with death. 51:04 But the third angel brings about the counter-proclamation 51:09 with a loud voice saying... finally, Revelation 14:9 51:15 is where we'll begin, Revelation 14:9... 51:18 "Then the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, 51:22 (Oh, wait a minute... Babylon told you that you're 51:26 going to die if you don't worship the beast? 51:28 "No, no, no, no" - the Angel says.) 51:30 If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives 51:33 his mark on his forehead or on his hand, their choice to 51:37 worship the beast is going to bring about this consequence, 51:39 "he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 51:43 which is poured out full strength into the cup 51:46 of His indignation. 51:47 He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone 51:49 in the presence of holy angels and in the presence 51:53 of the Lamb. 51:54 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; 51:57 and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast 52:00 and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name." 52:07 So the third angel is warning that those who profess 52:10 allegiance to the beast or actually standing at enmity 52:14 against God, and they're going to be destroyed. 52:17 If they drink this intoxicating drink that you were 52:21 talking about - this wine of idolatry and spiritual 52:26 fornication, then they're going to drink the bitter cup 52:29 of God's wrath. 52:31 Worshippers of the beast will have the seven last plagues 52:35 poured out on them without mercy! 52:40 It will not be mingled with mercy. 52:43 But, you know what? I love it that the people 52:46 are warned against worship of the beast before 52:51 the visitation of God's judgment. 52:53 Isn't that just like our God? 52:55 So earth's inhabitants will have no excuse; it's going to be 52:58 too late to repent. 53:00 They will receive the rewards of their actions, 53:03 and what is the wages of sin? Death! 53:07 So the worshippers of the beast are going to be tormented 53:10 in this internal fire and brimstone. 53:13 Now let me read this... 53:14 What is fire and brimstone? Turn quickly to Genesis 19:24-25 53:21 Fire and brimstone - remember we've said that anything 53:24 that you find in Revelation, all you've got to do is 53:27 go back and look in the Bible and you're going to find the 53:31 explanation. 53:33 Genesis 19:24-25 says... "The Lord rained brimstone and 53:38 fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 53:42 So He overthrew those cities, the inhabitants 53:44 of the cities, and what grew on the ground." 53:47 Now, listen to what Jude says in Jude 1... 53:53 Well there's only one chapter, so Jude verse 7... 53:56 talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, here's what it says... 54:01 "... As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a 54:04 similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual 54:08 immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth 54:13 as an example to us, suffering the vengeance 54:19 of eternal fire." 54:23 Sodom and Gomorrah is our example. 54:25 Are they on fire today? No! 54:27 No! What eternal fire is not an endless burning? 54:33 But the consequences are eternal. Thank you! 54:38 Eternal fire is the annihilation - it will burn 54:42 long enough to consume completely until nothing 54:46 is left to burn. 54:49 So they were set forth as an example of the everlasting 54:55 eternal results. 54:57 In 2 Peter 2:6 it says... "The cities of Sodom and 55:00 Gomorrah were turned into ashes condemning them to 55:04 destruction." 55:05 And that is what is going to happen when it talks about 55:10 the smoke of their torment rising, it is something that, 55:15 again, we find in Scripture and it is not something that you 55:20 have to worry about that is going to be ceaseless... 55:25 it is the second eternal death. Amen! 55:28 Thank you each, so much! 55:29 What an incredible study! 55:31 When I think of the "Three Angels' Messages" 55:33 I just see a God of love. 55:34 I see a God of mercy who loves this world so much 55:38 that He would send these messages of warning and 55:42 hope to a lost and dying world. 55:44 I want to give each one of you a moment to share 55:47 either a closing thought about your day 55:49 or just something about the lesson in general. 55:50 Sure, yeah... You know, just considering the "Three Angels' 55:53 Messages" and the warnings that come with it, 55:55 and the judgments that come with it, I'm reminded of this 55:59 verse in Ezekiel 33:11, this is the words of God, Himself. 56:03 He says, "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure 56:06 in the death of the wicked, but let the wicked 56:08 turn from his way and live. 56:10 Turn ye from your evil ways for why should you die?" 56:14 Powerful! Amen! 56:16 The time is now! The "Three Angels' Messages" 56:20 gives a sense of urgency attached to it. 56:25 The time is now... just make the choice to worship 56:28 God because He alone is worthy of our worship. 56:32 There's only one legitimate escape from Babylon, 56:35 and that is to respond to the call. 56:38 Revelation 18:4... "And I heard another voice from heaven 56:42 saying, "Come out of her, my people..." 56:45 Make no mistake about it, Babylon is not God's system... 56:50 But in Babylon, there are God's people. 56:52 He's calling them out before He does what He did to Sodom, 56:56 and before He does what He is going to do to a sinful world. 56:59 He is not willing that any should perish. 57:01 The message of Jesus is not perishing but salvation. Amen! 57:06 God's love demands grace. 57:09 Justice is to get what we deserve. 57:14 Mercy is to NOT get what we deserve. 57:19 Grace is to get what we DON'T deserve. 57:24 Even though we have a God who is a God of love, 57:27 His holiness demands justice and there will 57:31 be a day of judgment. Amen! 57:33 Thank you so much, Pastor Ryan, and Yvonne, 57:35 and Pastor John and Shelley, what an incredible study. 57:38 We thank you for joining us. 57:39 I want to close with this quote from "Great Controversy," 57:42 p. 611-612... "The great work of the gospel is not to 57:46 close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked 57:49 it's opening. The message will be carried not so much by 57:52 argument, but by the deep conviction 57:55 of the Spirit of God." 57:57 So I want to encourage you to go out and share this 57:59 gospel message. 58:01 Next week, we're going to look at "The Seven Last Plagues." 58:04 We'll see you then. |
Revised 2024-08-22