Participants: Lee Venden
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000122
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
00:15 live from the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:22 Well tonight we are with part two of this series, 00:27 The Revelation of Whom, with Pastor Lee Venden. 00:31 And I am looking forward to tonight's subject. 00:34 Because last night's subject was something that really 00:38 opened my eyes to some new concepts and new views 00:42 of the hot and the cold and the Laodicean of Revelation. 00:49 Tonight we're going to continue in the book of Revelation 00:52 with, Who Gets the Glory. 00:55 And I tell you, one of my favorite songs is, 00:59 To God Be The Glory. 01:02 And I cannot believe that it is not going to be answered 01:07 in that same way tonight. 01:09 Because I believe that is exactly what 01:12 Pastor Lee Venden is going to be sharing with us. 01:15 If you don't know who Lee Venden is, he is a pastor 01:18 of over 30 years in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:22 And he and his wife, Marji, have been married, I think, 01:26 36 years, and they have two wonderful children. 01:31 And he's educated, of course, in our schools. 01:35 His father was also a pastor, 01:38 and his grandfather was a pastor. 01:41 And I don't know how far it goes back. 01:44 And each pastor is in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:48 He is now the Revivalist in the Upper Columbia Conference. 01:53 And we have appreciated very much his being with us. 01:59 He's going to be leading us in prayer before 02:02 the sermon tonight. 02:05 And before he comes, I'm going to ask our good friend 02:09 C.A. Murray to sing for us, I'll Tell The World. 02:33 I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian, 02:40 I'm not ashamed His name to bear. 02:47 I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian, 02:54 I'll take Him with me everywhere. 03:02 I'll tell the world how Jesus saved me, 03:09 and how He gave me a life brand new. 03:17 And I know that if you trust Him, 03:23 that all He gave me He'll give to you. 03:34 I'll tell the world that He's my Savior, 03:41 no other one could love me so. 03:48 My life, my all, is His forever, 03:55 and where He leads me I will go. 04:07 I'll tell the world Jesus is coming, 04:13 and it may be near or far, far away. 04:20 But we've got to live as if that coming 04:28 could be tomorrow or today. 04:35 For when He comes and life is over, 04:42 for those who love Him there's more to be. 04:50 Eyes have never seen the wonders 04:56 that He's preparing for you and me. 05:07 Go tell the world that you're a Christian, 05:14 don't be ashamed His name to bear. 05:21 Just tell the world that you are a Christian, 05:28 and take Him with you everywhere. 05:38 I'll tell the world how Jesus saved me, 05:46 and how He gave me a life brand new. 05:55 And I know that if you trust Him, 06:01 that all He gave to me He'll give to you. 06:12 I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian, 06:18 I'm not ashamed His name to bear. 06:25 I'll tell the world that I'm a Christian, 06:33 I'll take Him with me anywhere. 06:40 I'll take Him with me anywhere. 07:15 I want to pray again, so I'm just going to ask you to 07:18 join me as we do that. 07:25 Lord Jesus, I know I am insufficient. 07:30 And I am asking for You to distribute some loaves and 07:35 some fishes for us. 07:38 I remember when the disciples were there, that You said, 07:41 "Feed them," and they said, "We don't have anything." 07:44 And You, "Well, here. 07:47 We'll take this little boy's lunch and we'll distribute it. 07:50 Please Lord Jesus, hand out the loaves and fishes to us tonight. 07:54 Use me in any way that You can. 07:57 But may the message come from You. 08:00 And Lord, also would You just give us the ears and the eyes, 08:04 the spiritual eyesight, the glasses and the hearing aids 08:07 that we need spiritually to hear Your voice 08:10 speaking from this book, Your book. 08:13 I pray this in Your name, Lord Jesus, amen. 08:20 We are continuing to look for Jesus in the book of Revelation. 08:25 Looking for Jesus in His own book. 08:28 And tonight we're going to specifically look for Him 08:31 in a portion of the book that is known as the 08:35 three angels' portion. 08:38 The three angels' messages of Revelation 14. 08:41 Now traditionally, when Seventh-day Adventists 08:45 think about what are the three angel's messages 08:49 in Revelation 14, the traditional sort of 08:55 thought that comes to most of our minds 08:58 would be, first of all, a warning about the judgment 09:02 in verse 7, a plea to stay out of false churches in verse 8, 09:08 and an indictment of the beast in verse 9. 09:12 That's the typical way that we tend to unpack 09:15 these three angels. 09:16 But I am highly motivated to look for Jesus 09:22 in this message. 09:25 And in fact, over the years I have gathered an assortment... 09:30 In fact, I have more than fourteen of them. 09:33 ...of quotations from inspired commentators 09:37 that I write in the front of my Bible. 09:40 And they say things like this, "Never should any message 09:46 or any doctrine be preached or given that doesn't make Jesus 09:51 the heart and core and central pivotal theme." 09:54 So I'm thinking, let's try to do that with the three angels. 10:01 I already mentioned, if you ask most people what 10:04 they think of, let's take the first angel's message 10:06 for example, they would probably say, "The hour of God's 10:10 judgment is come." 10:12 That's the typical. 10:14 But is that really the message? 10:17 Is that really the message? 10:19 Revelation 14:6 says, "Then I saw another angel 10:23 flying in the midst of heaven..." 10:28 Now underline that word, "everlasting." 10:31 And then underline, "gospel." 10:43 So, the message is the everlasting gospel. 10:49 This angel is setting us up for the three messages 10:53 that are coming, see. 10:54 And he says it's the everlasting gospel. 10:56 Now, let me ask you a question. 11:02 What's the everlasting gospel? 11:06 What is it? 11:09 If it's to be given to every nation, every kindred, 11:13 every tongue, and every people, would that include Muslims? 11:19 Yeah. 11:20 Would that include Buddhists? 11:24 Yeah. 11:26 So what would be the message that we would need to take 11:28 to Muslims and Buddhists? 11:30 Watch out for judgment, stay out of false churches, 11:33 and beware of the beast? 11:35 What would Muslims and Buddhists do with that kind of a message? 11:39 Actually, that's not the message we're to take. 11:41 We're suppose to take the everlasting gospel. 11:45 That's the message. 11:46 So what is the everlasting gospel? 11:48 Revelation 14:7... 12:05 "For the hour of His judgment is come," is in the message. 12:09 It's there. 12:12 But it's not "the" message. 12:15 It's in it, but it's not "the" message. 12:18 It's only a part. 12:19 And I will suggest that it's a significant part, 12:21 but it's not "the" message. 12:26 For starters, we noticed a moment ago, and I told you 12:29 to underline it. 12:30 It's the everlasting gospel that we're to take to every 12:34 kindred, tongue, nation, and people. 12:38 Well is, "the hour of God's judgment," 12:42 the everlasting gospel? 12:43 According to Daniel, the hour of God's judgment 12:46 began in the 1800's. 12:50 So now if something began in the 1800's, 12:53 it wouldn't be everlasting. 12:55 Right? 12:57 So it's going to have to be something other than 12:59 something that began in the 1800's. 13:04 What is the "everlasting" part of this message? 13:08 What is it? 13:09 Well in order to figure it out, my preacher father 13:15 decided to try and do something that you might remember 13:19 having to do when you were in elementary school. 13:22 Or maybe you did it in high school, I don't know where. 13:25 I kind of forget now where it was, 13:26 but it was diagramming sentences. 13:29 I did not look forward to that part of my education, 13:32 diagramming sentences. 13:33 And since having finished school, I still don't 13:38 look for opportunities to diagram sentences. 13:41 One of the things I've discovered is that when you 13:43 diagram a sentence, there seems to be about as many 13:46 interpretations of what would be a correct way to 13:48 diagram it as there are English professors. 13:51 And so you might think you did a good job, 13:53 and then there will be someone else that'll say, 13:55 "Well, no this is..." you know. 13:57 But anyway, so my dad decided to try and see if we could 14:00 make a little more sense of what the everlasting gospel is, 14:04 or the "everlasting" part of the message is, 14:06 by diagramming the sentence. 14:07 So we're going to try and give a graphic on the screen 14:10 to show you. 14:12 This is a compound sentence. 14:14 And part one of the message was, "Fear God." 14:20 Now if you were going to diagram that, what would the verb be? 14:25 The verb would be, "fear." 14:30 Are you getting on the screen? 14:31 Yeah you're getting it. Okay. 14:33 What would the object be? 14:35 "God." 14:37 Alright, so far we have the verb and we have the object. 14:41 But what is the subject. 14:46 The subject is actually not even in the verse. 14:50 The subject is what they would say is understood. 14:55 The subject is, "you." 14:58 "You." You fear God. 15:03 "You" are the subject. 15:04 Now let's go on to part 2 of the message. 15:07 It said, "Fear God," okay. 15:09 Part 2 is, "Give glory to Him." 15:12 Alright, so what's the subject? 15:15 "You." 15:17 What's the verb? 15:18 "Give." 15:20 What's the object? 15:22 "Glory." "Glory." 15:23 So where does the, "to Him," come in? 15:26 I guess I'd call it a prepositional phrase, 15:29 but maybe someone will tell me that's not right. 15:31 But anyway, for the sake of our diagram, 15:32 I put it as a prepositional phrase. 15:34 Alright? 15:35 But once again, you see the subject is, "you." 15:39 Understood. 15:41 Now let's come to the third part. 15:43 "Worship Him." 15:46 Alright. 15:47 The verb is, "worship." 15:49 The object is, "Him." 15:51 But what's the subject? 15:53 Once again it's, "you." It's understood. 15:56 Alright? 15:57 So now, after the "everlasting" part... 16:01 Because these are the "everlasting" parts. 16:04 After the "everlasting" parts, where does judgment fit in. 16:10 Well it sounds a little bit like a prepositional phrase; 16:15 "The hour of God's judgment is come." 16:16 Maybe. 16:20 My dad thought maybe it would be a prepositional phrase. 16:25 And he suggested that, a little bit unsure of himself 16:28 when he did, in a meeting. 16:31 And it was actually being held at the Pacific Press. 16:34 And the people who were workers at the Pacific Press 16:37 were there in the audience. 16:38 And he suggested that it may be a prepositional phrase. 16:41 But a book editor told him actually it wasn't. 16:45 "The hour of God's judgment" was actually an 16:47 adverbial clause, he said. 16:49 An adverbial clause. 16:50 Aren't you glad to know that? 16:51 Are you going to sleep better tonight knowing that it's 16:54 an adverbial clause? 16:56 My dad felt good knowing that he had this from an editor. 16:58 So the next time he was speaking on this subject, 17:01 he was actually speaking at Loma Linda University. 17:05 And he said that it was an adverbial clause 17:08 feeling that he was in, you know, that's he's going to 17:10 look a little more credible now. 17:12 But after that presentation, an English professor 17:15 from Loma Linda told him that it was not an adverbial clause. 17:19 She hated to disagree with the book editor from the 17:22 Pacific Press, but that it actually was a 17:24 conjunctive clause. 17:26 Well dad, you know, he wanted to do the right thing. 17:30 And he thought, "I suppose an English professor 17:32 has rank over a book editor." 17:34 And so, you know, the next time he presented on this subject, 17:38 he said, "The hour of God's judgment," 17:41 feeling like he had some authority behind him now, 17:43 he said, "the hour of God's judgment," is a 17:45 conjunctive clause. 17:47 Well he was preaching that at Andrews University, 17:50 and a Greek professor caught him after the meeting 17:54 and said, "Actually, if you look at it in the original language, 17:57 the best way we could, what we'd call it, 18:00 it would be a causal clause." 18:03 "The hour of God's judgment," is a causal clause. 18:07 So in order to be safe tonight, because I don't want to run 18:10 the risk that my dad ran, I'm going to refer to, 18:14 "The hour of God's judgment," as a 18:16 causal adverbial conjunctive prepositional phrase clause. 18:21 Alright? 18:22 And that ought to cover it. 18:24 But what's the real point? 18:26 The real point is that, "The hour of God's judgment," 18:30 is subsidiary to and not the main part of the message. 18:36 Okay? 18:37 It's not the main part. 18:40 It's subsidiary to the main message. 18:43 The main message is, "You fear God," 18:47 "You give glory to Him," "You worship Him," 18:51 "for the hour of His judgment is come." 18:54 See? 18:57 Well, this is a common thread. 19:02 And we're going to be unpacking the three angels looking for 19:04 Jesus in them in these next few presentations. 19:08 We're going to notice something that I'm going to draw your 19:11 attention to right now, and that is this; 19:12 there's a common thread in all three messages. 19:15 And that common thread is... 19:30 That's the common thread. 19:32 And you're going to see that common threat 19:35 going all the way through the angels' messages. 19:39 I'm told that the British Navy, in order to identify 19:42 the ropes that they use in their rigging, have a scarlet thread 19:46 that goes through the center of all of their braided rope. 19:48 And they can tell their rope in a heartbeat 19:51 because it's the rope with the scarlet thread going through it. 19:53 That belongs to the British Navy. 19:55 The thread going through the three angels' messages 19:58 is a warning against self worship or self dependence, 20:02 and an invitation to the deeper life of faith, 20:04 especially in the time of judgment. 20:05 So at this point I'd like to read three paragraphs 20:09 that were written to our church many years ago. 20:13 The first one comes from a manuscript, Manuscript 15. 20:18 It was written in 1888, and this is what it says. 20:36 "...but few, even of those who claim to understand it..." 20:41 Here's the second paragraph. 20:43 Testimonies, volume 5. 20:55 Wow. 20:57 And here comes the third one from the book called, 20:59 Evangelism, page 196. 21:20 Now let me ask you a question. 21:22 Is, "watch out for the beast," the only hope for a 21:26 perishing world? 21:28 Actually, it's not. 21:31 Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was 21:34 a group of people who got very excited 21:38 about the subject of Jesus and His righteousness, 21:42 and His matchless charms, and the privilege of having 21:46 a personal meaningful intimate ongoing relationship with Him. 21:52 They got very excited about that 21:54 back towards the end of the nineteenth century. 21:57 And they got so excited that there was another group... 22:02 Now I'm referring to some of the roots in history 22:05 of the church I belong to. 22:08 ...another group got nervous. 22:10 The old guard got nervous. 22:17 I would suggest to you that the old guard still gets nervous. 22:21 It hasn't changed, things haven't changed. 22:23 But the old guard got nervous with the focus on Jesus 22:26 and relationship. 22:27 They got nervous. 22:29 And they said, "We need to stick to our pillar doctrines." 22:33 And then they cited them. 22:34 They said, "We need to be preaching about the 22:36 seventh day Sabbath. 22:38 We need to be preaching about the condition of man in death. 22:41 We need to be preaching the 2300 day prophecy. 22:44 We need to be preaching the second coming of Christ. 22:46 We need to stick to our pillar doctrines." 22:50 They were nervous. 22:52 Well so many of the old guard wrote letters 22:57 to our church periodical expressing their concerns. 23:01 So many of them wrote letters that in the April 1st edition 23:10 of 1890 in our church periodical were penned these words 23:14 in response to the old guards concern. 23:19 "Several have written me inquiring..." 23:37 Now what does, "in verity," mean? 23:39 That would be another way of saying, 23:41 "You better believe it is." 23:44 That would be another way of saying, 23:46 "Is that the message? Oh, you bet it is." 23:50 "Absolutely, that's what it is." 23:54 Wow. 23:56 The third angel's message is the message of righteousness by 23:59 faith in Christ alone in verity. 24:04 Well how could we be so off base as to think 24:07 it was these other things? 24:10 Well maybe you're saying, "Were we really off base? 24:12 Maybe you're being a little bit hard on our pioneers. 24:17 Were we really off base?" 24:21 Well in that same journal, our church periodical, 24:26 September 3, 1889, these words were penned. 24:47 Not one in a what? 24:49 Not one in a hundred. 24:52 Understands what? 24:54 The message of justification by faith in Christ alone. 24:58 Not one in a hundred understand that. 24:59 Now just a moment ago, I read you from the same periodical 25:04 that the message of the three angels is the message 25:08 of justification by faith in Christ alone. 25:11 Just read that. 25:13 So now put these two together and use a little logic. 25:17 If it is true that justification by faith is the third angel's 25:22 message in verity, and if not one in a hundred 25:25 understand justification by faith, then the conclusion 25:29 would be that not one in a hundred understand the 25:32 three angels' messages. 25:36 And yet, it is the message of absolute and highest importance 25:43 for the world at the end of time. 25:44 I don't know if you're aware of this, but we've been told 25:46 that just before the end of time, just before Jesus comes, 25:49 during the closing scenes, this message is going to 25:52 swallow up ever other message and encircle the globe 25:56 like fire in stubble. 25:58 And yet, not one in a hundred understand it correctly. 26:02 Whoa, I'm glad those weren't my words. 26:05 Because someone might take a shot at me for saying that 26:07 if they thought it was my words. 26:11 Well you might say, "Yeah, well that was the nineteenth century, 26:14 end of the nineteenth century. 26:17 Sure glad we didn't live back then. 26:19 Sure glad we're enlightened." 26:25 Well I'm going to tell you something 26:27 about our enlightenment. 26:30 For the last five and a half years, my wife and I have 26:33 been fulltime Revivalists for the Upper Columbia Conference. 26:37 I believe that was mentioned just a few moments ago 26:39 in the introduction. 26:44 Next week we're going to be taking our "All About Jesus" 26:47 revival seminar to Kelowna British Columbia. 26:50 It will be the 100th church we've done the seminar at 26:53 since we started five and a half years ago. 26:57 Part of what we've done as we do the seminar is, 26:59 at the end we give a survey out. 27:02 It's anonymous, you don't sign your name or anything. 27:04 We ask five questions to help us understand 27:07 if we've scratched where it itched. 27:10 One of the questions, the very first question is, 27:13 "Please describe your personal spiritual life prior 27:17 to attending the "All About Jesus" revival seminar. 27:20 Then there are three choices for them to look at and circle one. 27:23 The first choice is, "Distant from God, disinterested in Him. 27:27 Fairly rebellious." 27:28 Okay, that's the first choice. 27:30 The second choice is, "Regular in church attendance, 27:33 but no daily time alone with Christ." 27:37 The third choice is, "Regular daily time with Jesus 27:42 and excited to share with others." 27:44 That's the third choice. Okay. 27:47 Now the people who would come to an "All About Jesus" 27:50 revival seminar would be the people who are 27:53 most interested in Jesus. 27:54 Right? 27:55 I mean, that's who would come to that kind of a seminar. 27:57 In any given church, the people who would come to that seminar 28:00 are the people most interested in Jesus. 28:03 I'm going to tell you what the cumulative average is. 28:05 We've taken the survey in large churches and small churches. 28:09 Churches with thousands of members, churches with 28:11 just 30 or 40 members, all over the country 28:14 and outside of the country around the world. 28:18 Alright, here's the answer. 28:21 70 to 80% of the people who attend... 28:28 ...circled B as their answer. 28:31 "Regular in church attendance, but little or no daily 28:35 time with Christ one on one." 28:41 What does that tell me? 28:44 The message of righteousness by faith in Christ alone 28:50 is about a personal relationship with Him. 28:54 That's what it's about. 28:56 It's about knowing Him as friend. 28:58 It's about communing with Him. 28:59 It's about becoming better acquainted with Him 29:01 on a daily basis. 29:02 It's about spending time in His Word. 29:03 It's about speaking to Him in prayer. 29:06 It's about sharing to others what you are learning 29:09 about this wonderful friendship that you are cultivating and 29:12 nurturing on a daily basis. 29:13 That's what it's all about. 29:15 It does not exist, righteousness by faith does not exist 29:18 outside of a relationship with Christ. 29:21 It's by faith in Christ. 29:23 So if 70 to 80% of the people who attend church 29:29 in this enlightened time that we live in 29:32 don't have a daily walk with Jesus, 29:36 then it would appear to me that they're still relevant, see. 29:41 When you're talking experiential now, not one in a hundred 29:47 understand for themselves the message of 29:49 justification by faith? 29:52 Wow. 29:53 Okay, so what is the message of justification by faith? 29:57 Testimonies to Ministers, "What is justification by faith... 30:12 Well how much can man do for himself? 30:17 Well let's just look to Jesus for the answer 30:20 on that one, shall we? 30:21 John 15:5, Jesus said... 30:33 He talks about abiding in Him. 30:35 And then He says, "Without Me, you can do nothing." 30:42 Wow, well how much is nothing? 30:45 Someone says, zero. 30:47 But actually you could say, nothing is what you have left 30:49 after you take the peeling off of a zero. 30:51 If you would peel a zero, what's left is nothing. 30:55 Nothing; Jesus said, "Without Me, you can do nothing." 30:57 Now many people like this other verse, Philippians 4:13. 31:00 They like this one a little better. 31:02 How does it read? 31:11 Now let's put those two together. 31:16 If without Him I can do nothing, 31:20 but with Him I can do all things, 31:26 then who's responsible for the "all things?" 31:31 Because see, when I'm by myself, zip. 31:34 When I'm with Him, all things. What does that mean? 31:37 It means somebody else is responsible 31:38 for the "all things," because when I'm without 31:40 Him there's nothing happening. 31:41 But with Him, everything is happening. 31:42 All things are happening. Alright. 31:44 So if He's the one responsible for the "all things," not me... 31:49 Just a moment ago, we noted that the message of 31:52 justification by faith is God doing for man what he 31:54 cannot do for himself. 31:55 Okay, if He's responsible for the "all things," 31:58 then what would be my part? 31:59 What would be my part? What would be my job? 32:01 My part would be to get with Him, 32:06 and stay with Him, and nurture a relationship with Him. 32:10 That would be my part. 32:12 His part is the "all things," my part is getting with Him. 32:16 And it's not something that happens once a week. 32:18 It's something that happens on a daily basis. 32:20 It's not just showing up in church once a week 32:22 and singing a song or two, and saying, 32:24 "That was a fine program. 32:25 And I was fed, the pastor fed me well." 32:27 And I'm going to go home and I'm going to live 32:29 for a week on that meal. 32:30 And next week, I'll come back and get another helping." 32:33 No, it's not. It's a daily walk with Jesus. 32:35 Sitting in church once a week does not make me a Christian 32:40 any more than sitting in a garage makes me a car. 32:43 Right? 32:44 There's something more. 32:46 Something more. 32:49 Well, if He is the one responsible for the 32:53 "all things," then who would get the glory? 32:56 Jesus would. 32:57 Right? 32:58 He would get the glory. 33:00 And now you see how this starts to fit into the 33:02 three angels' messages. 33:04 Because it talked about giving Him glory. 33:07 Giving Him glory. 33:08 Let's look a little deeper at the three parts 33:11 that we had on that diagram. 33:12 Okay, the first one was, "Fear God." 33:14 What does this mean? 33:15 Well it means to hold Him in awe or reverence. 33:19 Nobody would ever hold Him in awe or reverence 33:22 who did not know Him. 33:24 See, if you don't know somebody... 33:29 ...they just look like anybody else. 33:32 But if you know them, and you happen to know something 33:36 about them that is awe inspiring, then you are in awe. 33:40 But you have to know them before you can be in awe. 33:43 My daughter, Lindsey, was travelling through the country 33:47 and she had to do a connection flight in Salt Lake City. 33:54 So she is walking to her concourse 34:00 looking to go to where she's going to get on the plane. 34:03 And as she's walking along... 34:09 ...she sees a woman walking by herself 34:12 just a little bit ahead of her. 34:15 And Lindsey passes this person, because she's in a hurry. 34:19 Lindsey is. 34:20 And as she passes the person she noted that she liked 34:23 something that the person was wearing. 34:24 So she looked back to take another look at the garment. 34:27 And as she looked back, she recognized the person. 34:30 Well you may or may not recognize her if you saw 34:32 her in public, but her name was Meg Ryan and she was an actress. 34:36 She's currently an actress. 34:38 She's a well known actress. 34:40 My daughter said, "As soon as I realized that was Meg Ryan, 34:43 I said to myself, I'm not going to go gaga over her. 34:47 I'm not going to go up and say, 'Are you Meg Ryan?' 34:49 I'm not going to ask for an autograph. 34:51 I'm not going to overwhelm her with her stardom. 34:54 I'm going to treat her with respect." 34:57 And so Lindsey said she did slow down. 34:59 Lindsey did slow down a little bit so that they kind of 35:01 started to catch back to the similar... 35:04 And they walked a little farther. 35:05 It turns out they were going to the same gate. 35:09 And just before Meg went to sit down, 35:12 Lindsey said to Meg, "I enjoyed one of the films I saw you in." 35:21 And Meg said, "Thank you, sweetie." 35:25 And then Meg put sunglasses on and pulled up her collar, 35:31 and sat down with a newspaper in front of her face, 35:34 waiting for the plane. 35:35 There were a group of young men about the age of the 35:38 kind of young men who would be interested in Meg Ryan 35:42 that were waiting also for the plane. 35:44 And they were sitting just behind her. 35:47 You know how sometimes chairs are back to back. 35:51 Meg sat there reading her article until they called 35:54 for the passengers to board, and then she stood up 35:57 and went in with first class. 35:59 And then my daughter turned to the guys and she said, 36:01 "Did you know that was Meg Ryan sitting behind you?" 36:05 And they went gaga. 36:07 And they said, "Are you kidding us? 36:09 That was Meg Ryan?" 36:10 "Yeah, it was Meg Ryan." 36:11 "Oh, we were sitting right here and we didn't even know. 36:14 We didn't even know." 36:16 Well see, when you don't know somebody, 36:19 you don't hold them in awe. 36:21 Now I'm not trying to compare Meg Ryan to God. 36:23 Please don't misunderstand. 36:24 That's not the point at all. 36:25 But the point here is that once they knew who it was, 36:29 it changed their attitude. 36:32 You're never going to fear God or hold Him in awe or reverence 36:38 if you don't know Him. 36:40 But as you come to know Him, you will be so humbled 36:43 and awed by who He is and who you are 36:46 that it will just be a natural thing to revere Him, 36:51 to hold Him in awe, to appreciate who He is. 36:55 And that He's inviting you into a friendship. 36:58 "You want to be friends with me? 37:01 Unbelievable." 37:02 It just takes your breath away. 37:05 Well the second phrase that we diagrammed was, 37:08 "Give glory to Him." 37:10 "Give glory to Him." 37:11 If I have not discovered that I cannot save myself, 37:14 if I am trying hard to work on living up 37:18 to the standards externally... 37:21 Now the previous presentation, yesterday's presentation, 37:26 the problem of Laodicea is that it focuses on externals. 37:31 Remember. 37:32 And Jesus said, "You need to have something changed 37:35 on the inside, because focusing on externals 37:38 is your problem, Laodicea." 37:40 That's your problem. 37:42 If I am still focusing on externals, if I'm focusing 37:46 on the standards, if I am focusing on them to the 37:49 exclusion of taking time alone with Christ... 37:52 Remember, 70 to 80% of the people attending churches 37:55 say in the survey, "I'm not taking daily time for Christ." 38:01 Then what's the conclusion? 38:04 The conclusion is, I'm depending on myself. 38:07 If you're living apart from Jesus except on the weekend, 38:10 you're depending on yourself. 38:14 And if I should happen to get saved one day, 38:16 guess who will get the glory for it? 38:19 Me. Me. 38:22 I'd get the glory. 38:23 It is so easy to grasp for glory. 38:29 The carnal heart grasps for glory as readily as the flower 38:35 turns towards the sun. 38:37 It's just something in us. 38:39 It is so easy to take the glory. 38:41 I was teaching Bible at a Seventh-day Adventist 38:44 high school back in the day when Jim Gilley's son, John, 38:47 was one of my students. 38:49 And I had a van that had been sitting in my driveway 38:52 for months without being used. 38:54 And I had a need to go into town one day between classes. 38:59 And I thought, I should take the van out just to get the bugs out 39:02 and make sure it still runs. 39:03 I should just use the van to do my errands. 39:04 So I jumped in the van, went to turn the ignition key on, 39:07 and it kind of went, urrr, urrr, urrr. 39:10 But then it started. 39:11 And then I thought, okay good. 39:12 It needs to be run, it needs to get a little charge in here. 39:14 This is good for it. 39:15 So I took it on down. 39:16 And the thing I was going to do, was I was going to make a 39:18 deposit in the bank. 39:20 So I drive into the teller place where you... 39:22 It's a drive through kind of thing, you know. 39:24 And it was one of those lanes where they have curbs 39:27 on each side of the lane. 39:28 So you know, once you're in the lane, you're there, you know. 39:31 And there's a line of cars behind me. 39:33 And I got all the way up to where the teller was. 39:36 And just as she slid the little box out to help me, 39:40 the car ran out of gas. 39:42 I hadn't even checked the gauge. 39:43 And it was out of gas. 39:45 I tried turning the ignition, and it went, urrr, urrr. 39:49 And I'm out of gas. 39:52 And the lady behind the glass said, "Can I help you?" 39:55 And I said, "I'm out of gas." 39:56 She said, "You came to the wrong station." 40:01 She said, "Can you push that out of the way?" 40:03 It was a 3/4 ton van. 40:05 But I got out and eventually I got it moved out of the way 40:08 so the rest of the people could come through. 40:10 I had to get back to class. 40:12 I was doing this in between classes. 40:14 And so I pushed the car out of the way, the van out of the way, 40:17 just a little bit, and I took off running two blocks 40:20 to where there was a gas station. 40:21 As I came running up, I said to this guy, 40:23 "I'm in a heap of trouble, man. 40:24 I have an appointment I have to get to, and I just 40:26 ran out of gas in a van that has been sitting for four months. 40:28 The battery is almost dead. 40:29 I'm not even sure that there's going to be enough 40:31 energy in that battery to pump the gas all the way forward. 40:33 But I need gas, I need it quick, and I don't have time. 40:35 Can you give me a gallon of gas?" 40:37 And so the guys like, you know, he's putting in 40:38 the gallon of gas. 40:40 I grab the gas can as he's giving it to me. 40:41 I start to turn around to run and he says, "Good luck." 40:44 I said, "I need it. Thanks." 40:46 And I raced back, I poured the gas in, I jump back in. 40:49 I'm thinking, "Man, I've got to get to class. 40:50 I've got to teach Bible. I've got to get back." 40:51 I turn on the ignition. 40:53 Well before I turn on the ignition, I say to myself, 40:54 "Now man, that battery is so low, and it has to pump gas 40:58 all the way from the back of the van all the way to the 41:00 front of the engine. 41:01 I don't know what's going to happen here. 41:02 I don't think it's going to be able to handle it. 41:04 I barely got it started." 41:05 And then all of a sudden, I thought, "Well you know what? 41:07 Why shouldn't I pray first." 41:09 So often we pray at the end. 41:11 People say, "Oh we tried everything. 41:12 There was nothing left to do but pray." 41:16 I thought, "Why don't I reverse that. 41:17 Why don't I pray at the beginning." 41:18 So I said, "Lord Jesus, You know the van's 41:22 out of gas and I just have the one gallon. 41:23 The battery is almost dead. 41:24 Now You know, Lord, I am trying to get back 41:27 to teach Bible class. 41:30 Did I mention I'm teaching Bible, Lord. 41:32 And I just wondered if You'd be willing to make sure 41:37 the car starts for me. 41:38 I need some sort of miracle here, so would You just do that 41:40 so I can get back to teach Bible and talk about You." 41:45 God probably smiled. 41:47 But I turned the key and it started instantly. 41:50 And it never even skipped a beat. 41:51 Never stalled or nothing. 41:52 I thought, wow. 41:53 I felt a little chill go down my spine. 41:55 Like, wow, God just did a miracle for me. 41:58 So I whip over to that service station and 41:59 give the guy his can back. 42:01 I said, "Quick, quick, quick. 42:02 I'm in a hurry because I've got to go teach a class. 42:04 Just put two dollars into the car." 42:06 That's back when you could get four or five 42:07 gallons for two bucks. 42:08 And I said, "Just put two bucks into the car, 42:10 and I've got to run." 42:11 So he pumps the two dollars in, the two bucks worth. 42:14 And then he says to me, "I thought you said 42:16 it wasn't going to start. 42:17 I thought you said the battery was dead 42:18 and you weren't going to start." 42:19 I said, "Well you know what? 42:21 I guess I just got lucky." 42:24 And then I hurried off to teach Bible class 42:27 and talk about the God you can depend on, 42:29 and the God whose glory... 42:35 ...we're supposed to be proclaiming. 42:37 See how easy it is to take the glory, take the credit? 42:41 I had a wonderful opportunity right there. 42:42 I could have said to him, "I don't know what you 42:44 think about prayer, buddy, but I just said a prayer. 42:46 And I believe God answered it, because that car 42:47 shouldn't have started." 42:48 That's all I would have had to say. 42:50 I wouldn't have to say to him, "Could I give you a 42:51 series of Bible studies, maybe 27 of them? 42:53 Would you like to meet once a week? 42:54 I could come to your house." 42:55 You know, I didn't have to say anything like that. 42:56 But no, I just took the easy route and I took credit. 42:59 I said, "Well I guess I just got lucky." 43:02 Oh, it's easy to take the glory that's not ours. 43:05 Romans 4:20, "Abraham..." 43:17 People who are strong in faith give glory to God. 43:23 They do not take the glory to themselves. 43:24 Oh, but it is so easy to give glory to the wrong people. 43:30 To give glory to the wrong person. 43:32 It is even easy in ecclesiastical circles. 43:35 I have been a pastor for more than 30 years. 43:38 And pastors go twice a year, traditionally, 43:41 to what they call, professional growth meetings. 43:44 And I was attending professional growth 43:46 meetings in one conference. 43:49 That would be a geographical domain or location 43:52 where we all worked as a group. 43:55 And I use to dread going to those 43:57 professional growth meetings. 43:58 I particularly dreaded them for one particular reason. 44:01 They would always focus on how many people had been baptized, 44:05 and how many you had baptized, and how many they had baptized. 44:09 And then they would call the person to the front 44:11 who had baptized the most people and they would present them 44:14 with a $150 Bible. 44:16 And then they would ask that person to tell all the 44:18 tricks of the trade and the secrets, and so on, that he 44:21 used to get that many people baptized. 44:23 And I would sit there at the back of that room 44:26 with all these other pastors feeling about this big. 44:30 The reason being that I just didn't seem to have those 44:33 kinds of numbers to report that other people reported. 44:36 And I'd just go away from these meetings feeling 44:39 discouraged and depressed like I didn't even belong in there. 44:42 "I shouldn't be a pastor. 44:43 I'm not pastor material. 44:44 I'm not getting the numbers. 44:46 I don't have this badge of success. 44:47 I can't quote and show pictures of the number of 44:50 people I baptized." 44:52 I use to sit in the back row with a guy named Dan, 44:54 another preacher. 44:56 He was a pastor to the Native Americans 44:59 in our conference. 45:01 And Dan and I would commiserate together. 45:03 Because he felt the same way I did. 45:05 He'd say, "When I go home from these meetings, 45:07 I'm always discouraged. 45:08 It always takes me a while to get back into the groove again 45:11 after coming to these meetings." 45:13 So you can imagine my surprise and Dan's surprise 45:16 when one day at those meetings our conference president said, 45:24 "The Bible is going to be given to Dan. 45:27 Pastor Dan. 45:28 Dan, would you come forward?" 45:30 Dan looked at me like... 45:34 I looked at him. 45:36 And Dan went forward scratching his head. 45:39 And the president said, "Probably some of you are 45:41 wondering how is it that we're giving it to Dan. 45:42 Is it a mistake here? 45:44 Not a mistake," he said. 45:45 "We decided to do it this time on per capita." 45:49 So he said, "You might not think that Dan had very many 45:52 people baptized in his area. 45:54 But based on the number of people he had to draw from, 45:58 he's the leader of the pack. 45:59 So Dan, here's the Bible." 46:01 And he hands the Bible to Dan. 46:02 And he says, "Dan, tell us a little bit about 46:04 your secret of success. 46:06 What are the things you do to make that happen?" 46:09 I will never forget what happened next. 46:11 Dan just stood there gulping, swallowing hard. 46:16 It was clear that he was having a hard time speaking. 46:19 And then he said, "Actually, Mr. President, 46:28 these meetings have just been a source of discouragement to me 46:31 every time I come. 46:33 And when I left the last time six months ago, 46:37 I was so discouraged that I thought of resigning from 46:39 the ministry because I just can't produce the numbers 46:42 that you measure as success." 46:44 He said, "In tears I knelt before God and I said, 46:47 'God, I can't do it. I don't know how to do it. 46:49 I try the things they say and it doesn't make any difference 46:51 with people I work with.' 46:54 In tears I said to Him, 'Lord Jesus, I think maybe 46:56 I'm not pastoral material. 46:59 So what I'm going to do for the next six months, 47:01 maybe before I just quit, is I'm just going to 47:04 tell people what Jesus means to me. 47:07 That's all I'm going to do. 47:08 I'm just going to tell people what Jesus means to me. 47:10 I'm just going to share what You are to me, Lord Jesus, 47:12 and I'm going to leave You in charge of whatever else happens. 47:15 And if I should still be in the ministry, well that's okay 47:17 with me if it's okay with You. 47:19 But I'm just going to do that, it's all I'm going to do.'" 47:20 And he's crying as he's saying this in front of all of us. 47:24 And he takes the Bible and he hands it back to the President. 47:27 And he says to him, "Mr. President, 47:30 you just gave the Bible to the wrong guy. 47:33 All the glory, if there's any, belongs to Jesus. 47:37 He did it all, I did nothing except tell people 47:41 what He means to me. 47:42 He gets all the glory." 47:44 Even in ecclesiastical circles we can get confused 47:48 about who gets the glory. 47:50 Michael Card, a Christian musician, song writer, 47:53 who loves to sing about Jesus and talk about Jesus, 47:56 was doing a concert in the Denver area in Colorado. 47:59 As he started his first song, which everybody recognized, 48:03 they began to applaud. 48:05 He stopped the song right in the middle of it, 48:08 and he said, "I know you all mean well, 48:11 and I'm sure that in your heart you're responding to your 48:13 love for Jesus and the message that the song 48:15 invokes in your heart, but would you please 48:17 not do that anymore. 48:18 Because when you applaud, I get confused about 48:21 who is Creator and who is creature. 48:23 And you do me a big favor if you wouldn't applaud. 48:26 It's too easy for me to take the glory that's not mine." 48:31 I admire Michael Card for that. 48:33 I admire him. 48:35 It is so easy to take the glory. 48:38 But there is no glory for the work of man in the gospel. 48:41 All the glory goes to Jesus. 48:43 Well what happens to man's glory? 48:45 Man's glory goes to the dust. 48:48 To the dust. 48:50 I read you that just a few moments ago. 48:52 "It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, 48:57 and doing for him what he cannot do for himself." 49:01 You know what? 49:02 They didn't like Jesus when He walked our planet. 49:05 And they didn't like Him because they didn't like this message. 49:11 They liked to blow trumpets prior to giving prayer 49:14 in public places. 49:15 They didn't want to admit that the Shekinah was gone. 49:22 But one woman figured it out. 49:26 And she named her son, Ichabod. 49:29 Which meant, the glory has departed. 49:33 Has departed. 49:34 Friends, when God's glory is absent, 49:37 man's glory rises to the top. 49:41 And we entertain ourselves with mutual admiration parties 49:46 where we talk about our successes. 49:49 Oh we've learned how to be clever with our words. 49:51 We say we give God all the glory, but we're really 49:53 telling people how much we have accomplished. 49:56 Ill disguised glory sessions. 50:00 When God's glory is absent, man's rises to the top. 50:03 But when God's glory rises to the top, 50:06 man's glory goes to the dust. 50:09 Remember John the Baptist? 50:11 Do you remember what he said to his disciples? 50:14 He said, "He must increase and I must decrease." 50:22 "Glory for me, to the dust. 50:24 To the dust." 50:26 "Oh, but what about a little glory, Lord? 50:29 Couldn't we have just a little bit?" 50:30 You know, achievers and self-made people love 50:33 to worship themselves. 50:35 And they don't like this message. 50:37 The people who have, you know, done it themselves, 50:42 they don't like this message. 50:43 They hate it. 50:44 "Couldn't we have a little? What about self-esteem? 50:46 You've got to have some sense of human worth and value, 50:48 a little self-esteem, Lord. 50:49 How about a little glory, just a little glory?" 50:50 1 Corinthians 5:6 says, "Your glory is not good..." 51:02 "Not even a little glory, Lord? 51:03 Not even a little glory?" 51:05 Which is why Paul said in Galatians 6:14... 51:14 There's only one place that glory is appropriate. 51:17 It's in Jesus. 51:18 I have a good friend, a pastor, in the Washington Conference. 51:21 His name is Bill Roberts. 51:23 You've probably heard other pastors pray this, 51:24 but every time Bill preaches, before he preaches he prays. 51:29 And he always says at the close of his prayer 51:32 before he says amen, he says, "And Lord Jesus, 51:35 we will be careful," he says, "to give all the glory to You. 51:41 Hide us behind the cross so that we give all the glory to Jesus." 51:48 So, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 51:51 of our Lord Jesus Christ." 51:52 Ramses the Great, one of the Pharaohs of Egypt, 51:55 for years they thought he was the greatest Pharaoh 51:57 that ever ruled in Egypt. 51:59 The reason they thought this was because 52:01 one of the things that the Pharaohs did was they would 52:03 have objects made in their honor. 52:06 Statues and various monuments, and things, and pillars. 52:10 Obelisks and so on. 52:11 And then they would have their names engraved 52:14 across the bottom of whatever that object was. 52:17 And for years archeologists thought that Ramses the Great 52:22 was the greatest Pharaoh of all. 52:24 Because he had more monuments to his name than anybody else 52:29 of antiquity. 52:31 And then some clever archeology revealed something 52:36 that they hadn't noticed at first. 52:38 Actually, Ramses had just chiseled everybody else's 52:42 names off and then engraved his in the space that remained. 52:46 He took other people's monuments and took credit for himself. 52:50 He has become known since as the great Chiseler 52:54 rather than the greatest Pharaoh. 52:56 And perhaps the poet Shelley was thinking of him 52:59 when he wrote a poem about a toppled monument that he saw 53:04 in the deserts of Egypt. 53:06 The close of the poem that Shelley wrote goes like this, 53:10 "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. 53:14 Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair. 53:18 Nothing beside remains. 53:21 Round the decay...the lone and level sands stretch far away." 53:28 "Look upon my works. 53:31 I am Ozymandias, king of kings." 53:36 Into the sand, into the dust; broken. 53:41 Contrast that to Charles T. Everson's beautiful thought. 53:43 "We live in a time when centuries are compressed 53:47 into a few short years. 53:48 The names of great men appear on the horizon, 53:52 flicker for a moment and then are lost forever 53:55 in a sea of forgetfulness. 53:57 But there is one name that grows brighter 53:59 with every passing year. 54:01 It is the name of Jesus." 54:04 The name of Jesus. 54:06 Well the third sentence we diagrammed said, "Worship Him." 54:08 If God is not being worshiped, man is the only other person 54:11 who is left to be worshiped. 54:12 If I do not know a daily relationship with Jesus, 54:15 if I'm not worshiping Him six days a week, 54:17 there's serious question as to whether I'm 54:20 worshiping Him on the weekend. 54:21 See, I'm worshiping myself all week long 54:24 because I have no time for Him. 54:25 Self-dependent people aren't worshiping God, 54:28 they're worshiping themselves on the weekend as well. 54:32 Well why should He be worshiped? 54:34 Revelation 15:3 tells us the reason for worshiping. 54:47 Oh, that's why we should worship Him. 54:51 He does good work. 54:53 He does great work. 54:56 Helen Steiner Rice, who writes many poems on hallmark cards 55:00 and others, she wrote this little message on a card 55:03 I was looking through one time as I stood there 55:06 in that section. 55:07 And it said these words, "Help me to always 55:10 remember the story that Thine is the kingdom, 55:14 the power, and the glory." 55:17 The glory. 55:20 Well the book, Testimonies to Ministers, 55:22 says, "All power is given into His hands," Jesus' hands... 55:53 What is the message? 55:54 Watch out for the beast? 55:56 No, the message is, draw close to Jesus. 56:02 Seek Jesus. 56:03 You worship Him, you give Him glory, 56:06 you bring Him praise, you spend time with Him. 56:09 You experience this wonderful gift of justification 56:13 by faith in Christ alone. 56:14 The message is that He has gifts, gifts, to give men. 56:21 Including His righteousness. 56:22 Including power to be an overcomer. 56:25 Obedience is the result of His work in me. 56:28 And He wants to give me that. 56:30 He says, "I give you My Sabbath as a sign 56:32 that I am the God who sanctifies you." 56:34 Sanctification has to do with obedience, 56:36 and Christ-like characters, and victory, and overcoming. 56:39 So that's the message. 56:41 "Come to Me," He says. "Come to Me." 56:44 What do you do to get a gift? 56:46 You come into the presence of the Giver. 56:47 You don't work for it, because if you work for it, 56:49 you would have earned it. 56:50 You come into the presence of the Giver. 56:51 Think, relationship with Christ. 56:53 And then you accept with gratitude what He has given. 56:57 And so Jeremiah says it right, "This is what the Lord says..." 57:14 Let's pray. 57:15 Lord Jesus, I want to know You better. 57:17 I want to see You not only in the three angels', 57:20 I want to see You morning by morning and day by day. 57:22 And I pray that for every person within the sound of my voice. 57:25 In Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17