Participants:
Series Code: AMEN
Program Code: AMEN200006S
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00:02 The Adventist Medical Evangelism Network
00:04 motivates, trains, and equips healthcare 00:07 professionals to share Jesus Christ with their patients. 00:11 Just like the woman who reached out to touch 00:13 the hem of Jesus' garment, many patients today are 00:16 desperately looking for the same healing touch 00:19 of faith, and our members are there to help them 00:22 find it. Welcome to the 16th annual AMEN conference. 00:27 Touch of faith. 00:34 [Andi]: Welcome to the 16th annual and first 00:36 virtual AMEN conference. I want to welcome everyone 00:41 from around the world, and I also want to thank 3ABN 00:44 for hosting us. We are very blessed. Even though 00:47 we have a pandemic, we are still able to have a 00:50 meeting, and God is good, and we are grateful. 00:53 I'd like to ask our speaker of the hour, Kameron DeVasher, 00:57 to join us on stage. Kameron DaVasher is 01:00 our morning speaker for the devotionals, and we 01:02 believe that devotional times are very, very 01:05 important. Kameron spoke to us yesterday morning, 01:09 off to a good start, and my twin sister and I 01:11 were very blessed. We want to ask Mr. DeVasher 01:16 to give us a little fact check. - Sure. - On some 01:18 of the points that we learned that we thought 01:20 were extremely important. - Okay. - The first one 01:23 was, "The church has far too many members, 01:26 and not enough missionaries." - Absolutely correct. 01:28 - Absolutely correct. - What I meant by that 01:30 is that the membership of the church, it's too 01:32 easy to be a member now. Just have your name on 01:34 the books and very little expectation of actual work. 01:37 But the reality is, we should all be missionaries, 01:40 laborers, for Christ if we're members of 01:42 His body, the church. [Twins, together]: Amen, amen. 01:44 [Andi]: And Lyndi, what did you learn? 01:46 [Lyndi]: Okay, this is a wonderful one. It says 01:48 that good works are not the destination; they are 01:52 just the preparation. [Kameron]: That's absolutely 01:54 true. We should have disinterested benevolence 01:56 and always looking for opportunities to do good. 01:59 But the reason we do good works is so that 02:02 they will hear and give credibility to the good 02:04 words that God has given us - our distinct message 02:06 that we're supposed to share with the world. 02:08 [Twins, together]: Amen! [Andi]: For those of you 02:10 who do not know Kameron DaVasher, he's from the 02:12 Michigan conference. He's director of Sabbath 02:14 school and lay ministries, he's an avid hiker and 02:17 outdoorsman, has a wonderful family... 02:19 We'll be blessed this morning by his talk, 02:22 "Did Stephen Say Something Wrong?" But before he 02:25 speaks, my twin sister will now pray for us. 02:27 [Lyndi]: Let's bow our heads. Father in heaven, 02:29 we are so grateful for the opportunity we have 02:32 to have this meeting even though there's a 02:34 pandemic. It could've been canceled, but that 02:37 was not your will. We're grateful for the 3ABN 02:39 family to host this virtual event. We want to ask 02:43 now for your Holy Spirit to be poured out on 02:46 Pastor DeVasher as he opens again to us the 02:49 word of life from Your Word. As this important 02:52 topic is going to be delivered, we ask for 02:55 Your Holy Spirit to touch his tongue and 02:58 his lips with a life call from on high. 03:01 Be with us as we listen, that we'll have ears to 03:03 hear and do what the Spirit asks us to do, 03:06 for Jesus' sake. Amen. [Andi]: Amen. 03:09 [Pr. DeVasher]: Amen. Thank you, ladies, for 03:10 that kind introduction. Dynamic introduction, 03:12 in fact. Pretty sure this is the first time 03:15 in my ministry that I've been fact-checked about 03:17 a sermon I've just presented, and it makes me think 03:19 of the Berean believers in Acts chapter 17, where 03:24 not only did they receive the Word with all readiness 03:26 and eagerness, but they would go home and daily 03:29 see if what was presented was true, according to 03:32 the Word of God, and that's what we should 03:33 always be doing. So, I'm counting it a sincere 03:36 blessing to be with the AMEN company this morning 03:40 in partnership with Three Angels Broadcasting Network 03:43 here, this beautiful facility, and this Sabbath 03:46 morning that we get to open the Word of God 03:48 together. Now, this will be a follow-up. In our 03:51 previous messages, as was already mentioned, 03:52 we discussed the importance of not only preparing the 03:55 soil of the heart through good works, but also to 03:58 sow the seed of the Word of God at every opportunity 04:01 the Lord gives us. And today, we want to go 04:03 a step beyond that and take a look at a message 04:07 entitled, "Did Stephen Say Something Wrong?" 04:10 Of course, Stephen had this holy boldness to 04:12 speak the Word of God when the opportunity 04:14 came, and...well, it didn't work. In fact, 04:19 he lost his life as the first Christian martyr- 04:21 or at least it appeared it didn't work. What 04:23 happened there, and how can I avoid such a problem 04:26 in my ministry, or what lessons can we learn 04:29 from that? So, we're gonna study that deeply 04:31 from the Word of God today. But before we 04:32 do any study of the Word of God, we, of course, 04:34 need to begin with a word of prayer. So, 04:36 please, bow your heads with me. Dear Heavenly 04:39 Father, thank You so much for another day 04:41 of life at all, but particularly for a 04:43 Sabbath day of rest and worship, of fellowship, 04:47 and of service in Your cause. Lord, now, as 04:50 we study these words, we would ask that You 04:52 would send the Holy Spirit, as You have 04:54 promised to do, to lead us into all truth, for we 04:58 don't merely want to be informed; we want 05:00 to be transformed to become like Jesus. So 05:03 to that end, Lord, bless us today, for we pray it 05:06 in Jesus' name. Amen. 05:10 "Did Stephen Say Something Wrong?" 05:14 To begin our study today, before we go to the 05:17 experience of Stephen that we'll be getting to 05:19 later on, I'd like to start with the life of 05:20 Christ. Always, the life of Christ is a great place 05:23 to start any study of God's Word. We'll start 05:25 in Matthew chapter 19 this time, the very first 05:28 book of the New Testament. Matthew chapter 19...and 05:33 we'll begin with verse 16. Here, Jesus has an 05:38 encounter with a rich young ruler. Hopefully, 05:42 all of us are well familiar with this, but we're gonna 05:44 look at three different stories, right back-to-back, 05:47 in the life of Jesus. And through these 05:48 different encounters, look for the common thread 05:52 of the experience. First, the rich young ruler in 05:54 Matthew chapter 19, starting with the verse 16. The 05:57 Scripture reads... [text on-screen] 06:06 Verse 17: "So He said to him, 'Why do you call Me 06:08 good? No one is good but One, that is, God." Now, 06:12 to be clear, sometimes, people get confused on 06:14 this particular passage, saying, "Jesus was saying 06:17 that He wasn't God!" No, what He was doing 06:19 was testing that man's faith. "Do you truly 06:21 address Me as the God who sent Me?", right? 06:26 The Son of God. He goes on, "But if you want to 06:30 enter the life, keep the commandments." Well 06:34 he said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall 06:37 not murder, you should not commit adultery, 06:39 you should not steal, you should not bear false 06:40 witness, honor your father and your mother, and you 06:42 shall love your neighbor as yourself." Now verse 06:46 20, "The young man said to Him, 'All these things 06:48 I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?'" 06:53 Clearly, there was something in the heart of this young 06:54 man that knew that, "Yes, I've been in a household 06:57 of faith, and I've been a commandment-keeper 06:58 my whole life, but something in me is obviously off! 07:02 What do I still lack?" And Jesus says to him 07:05 in verse 21, "If you want to be perfect, go 07:09 sell all what you have and give to the poor, 07:13 and you will have treasure in heaven...and come follow Me." 07:18 Jesus invites the man to, "Come follow Me, 07:20 but first, sell what you have, and give it away." 07:24 And that's the rub. In verse 22, "But when 07:27 the young man heard that saying, he went away 07:29 sorrowful, for he had great possessions." 07:34 The rich young ruler, Jesus spoke to him 07:37 clearly, invited him personally, and the 07:41 man turned away. Let's look at another example. 07:45 In John chapter 6... We were right there in Matthew, 07:47 so turn to the right. Matthew, Mark, Luke, 07:50 then John, chapter 6. Now, we're not gonna 07:54 look at everything we could in this chapter, 07:55 but I find it fascinating what Jesus encounters 07:59 here, and how He deals with the people. In the 08:01 beginning of John chapter 6, and here in verse 1, 08:04 it opens up the story of the feeding of the 08:06 5,000, and Jesus literally gives them physical bread- 08:10 meets their temporal needs. He basically does that 08:14 disinterested benevolent work of winning their 08:16 hearts, right? And then, after a little sliver of 08:20 a miracle where Jesus walks on the sea, the 08:23 next day, we pick up the story in verse 22. 08:26 [reads text on-screen] 08:53 And you get the context of the story. In the first 08:55 part of John chapter 6, Jesus had been feeding 08:58 the 5,000. They were all so filled and pleased, 09:02 that the next day, they go seeking Jesus again. 09:06 Now, it doesn't take a great theological mind 09:08 to ascertain what their interest is. They got 09:11 bread yesterday; what do they want today? 09:14 Seconds! [chuckles] They're looking for more. 09:16 They want that daily bread, right? Well. 09:21 After they find Jesus, notice what we find 09:25 here in verse 26. [reads text on-screen] 09:44 So now, He's transitioning. You notice He's like, 09:47 "You're coming to me because of the physical 09:49 bread. I'm now transitioning from the temporal to the 09:53 eternal. We need to now talk about the bread of 09:55 life." He's making that transition, right? Notice 10:00 verse 35. Jesus is patently clear, where Jesus said 10:06 to them... [text on-screen] 10:18 Now, you would think in our modern context, 10:20 "Oh, beautiful! He's the bread of life; 10:21 it's a well-known passage." But in that immediate 10:24 context, they had just had food yesterday. 10:27 They've sought after Jesus and found Him now 10:30 today for another serving of their daily bread, 10:34 and Jesus now says, "No food for you, except 10:41 Me. I am the bread of life." And this starts a 10:47 discussion, and it gets more and more, well, 10:51 perilous, to the point that, in fact, verse 66 10:55 says... [text on-screen] 11:03 He fed them food yesterday, they came for food today, 11:06 and He says, "No more temporal food; let's go 11:09 to the eternal food. I am the bread of life." 11:13 And friends, it didn't go over very well. 11:17 When it says, "Many of His disciples went back," 11:21 how many were there yesterday? Some 5,000. 11:26 And how bad does it get today? Look at the 11:29 very next passage. Verse 67. [text on-screen] 11:38 Which seems to imply that that many was 11:41 a great many, if not the vast majority- 11:45 so much so that Jesus had to ask His core 11:47 twelve, "Are you going, too?" Let's look at one 11:53 more example. Go to Matthew chapter 26, 11:57 back to the left. Matthew chapter 26. 12:04 We're gonna start in verse 6. Jesus is here, 12:13 anointed for His burial. Verse 6 says... [text on-screen] 12:41 What a, by the way, pious-sounding reason! 12:44 To discourage this act. But verse 10, "But when 12:49 Jesus was aware of it, He said to them"... Now, 12:53 notice. It doesn't say He drew them away 12:54 privately to reprimand them gently. It seems very clear 12:59 that right then and there, on the spot, Jesus called 13:02 out their hypocrisy. [reads text on-screen] 13:19 And He rebuked His disciples right then 13:22 and there. Interestingly, the very next thing that 13:29 Scripture records after that story in verse 14, 13:32 now: "Then, one of the twelve," one of those 13:35 disciples Jesus just chastened, "called 13:38 Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and 13:41 said, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver 13:44 Him to you?' And they counted out to him thirty 13:47 pieces of silver." Now notice verse 16 very 13:50 carefully. "So from that time, he sought opportunity 13:54 to betray Him." Apparently, it had been in the back 13:59 of his mind at some point, but there was a tipping 14:01 point in the experience of Judas that that rebuke, 14:07 in front of everyone, hardened his heart 14:12 and made his decision. Each of these vignettes 14:20 from the ministry of Jesus recounts a time 14:24 when people turned away from Him. Thus, from these 14:28 three stories, we must ask the almost unthinkable 14:31 question: Did Jesus make a mistake in His dealings 14:38 with people? Mm. Should He have required such 14:45 a sacrifice from the rich young ruler? 14:47 He didn't even ask His own disciples that. They 14:49 voluntarily left everything. He just said, "Follow Me"! 14:51 But for this one, He said, "Sell everything, 14:54 then follow Me." Why did He up the stakes? 14:56 Why did He set the cost so high? And with the 15:01 crowd that turned away in John chapter 6 after 15:03 the feeding of the 5,000, shouldn't He have understood 15:06 their mistake in notions of the Messiah? I mean, 15:09 we talked about this. Even His own family didn't 15:10 understand. We saw later that John the Baptist 15:12 still didn't even understand the nature of His true 15:16 ministry. Even when Jesus was departing after His 15:18 resurrection, His disciples still didn't have the right 15:21 conception of His ministry, so is it really their fault 15:24 that they didn't understand who He was? Maybe if He 15:26 had treated them a little bit... 15:30 ...differently? Maybe a little more gently? Maybe more 15:35 delicately confront their confusion, than just denying 15:40 them bread? And what about poor Judas? 15:48 Didn't Jesus know the fierce battle raging 15:51 within His unconverted disciple? Perhaps if He 15:57 would've chastened him just a little more gently, 16:01 or called him aside to speak to him privately, 16:07 could Jesus have averted His own betrayal? 16:13 Of course, to all of these suggestions, we rightfully 16:16 respond, absolutely not. Jesus always did what 16:22 was best in every circumstance, and never failed to fully 16:26 reflect the glory of God! The self-evident fact is 16:32 that when those people turned away from Jesus, 16:36 it was their fault, and not His. Now, why is this 16:44 the case?-that some people, given the opportunity, will 16:48 even, with Jesus Himself, turn away from the grace 16:53 that's being extended? To help answer this, 16:57 let's go back to Luke chapter 8. We've made 17:00 reference to this yesterday morning. Today, we're gonna 17:01 look at it specifically in Scripture. Luke chapter 8. 17:05 Jesus gives the well-known parable of the sower. 17:10 The story picks up in verse 4 of Luke chapter 17:13 8. [reads text on-screen] 17:56 And when you skip down to verse 11, Jesus decodes 17:59 the symbols of this parable. He says in verse 11... 18:02 [reads text on-screen] 18:53 Now, many sermons have been preached, and a 18:56 great number of lessons can be drawn, from this 18:57 particular parable of Jesus. But for our 19:02 purposes today, a few lessons stand out in my 19:05 mind as particularly pertinent. First of all, 19:10 if you noticed, there is only one variable 19:14 that determined the quality of the harvest. 19:18 Notice it was the same sower for every different 19:23 hearer...right? So he didn't say, "A team of 19:26 sowers went out, and this one had this technique, 19:28 and that one had that technique, and this one 19:30 was more public, and this one's more personal, 19:32 or this one's more digital, or this one-"... No. 19:35 I don't know that digital's a biblical term, but you 19:36 understand what I'm saying. It's the same 19:39 sower in every instance, right? #1) One constant is 19:44 the sower. The next constant is the seed. 19:48 It's the same seed, right? It's not like 19:50 he sowed the Word of God here, and then he 19:51 sowed personal opinions here, and then he sowed 19:53 this over here, or that over there-no, no, no. 19:55 It was the same sower, sowing the same seed. 20:00 Also by implication, we can ascertain that 20:03 he sowed the same seed the same way! So you 20:06 have the same sower sowing the same seed 20:09 the same way, yet vastly different outcomes. 20:13 Okay, so what makes the difference? The only variable 20:16 in the whole parable is the condition of the 20:18 heart! Of the four examples mentioned, by the way- 20:26 'cause that's why we [say] the condition 20:27 of the heart is so prime and such a premium, such 20:30 an issue, because that's where everything starts, 20:33 right? But notice this also... And I- it just- 20:37 I don't know-maybe people have seen this 20:39 for years, and I'm just coming late to the party- 20:42 but it wasn't that terribly long ago at all that as 20:44 I was reviewing this parable, the thought 20:47 struck me...that here is Jesus, talking about 20:51 the work of soul-saving, giving the seed of the 20:53 Word of God to the whole world, and He gives 20:56 multiple examples of how it might go. And if you 20:59 notice, of the four different types that 21:01 happened, three of them didn't work. Now, I don't 21:08 know if you appreciate that like I do, but I 21:11 like a good testimony of failure. [laughter] 21:15 I know that seems a little- we like to talk about 21:17 testimonies, and sometimes I've been in testimony services 21:19 b- and it almost becomes a spiritual one-upmanship. 21:22 "Yes, well, you found your car keys, but I found a 21:24 whole car! And this one..." [laughter] Whatever- it 21:27 goes on and on, and we always want to hear the 21:28 next big thing. But if you notice, the Word 21:30 of God is different. The Word of God not 21:33 only tells us all the good things that happen, 21:35 but also includes the bad things. It not only 21:37 tells us all the accolades of the hearers, but also 21:39 their downfalls and their shortcomings - their 21:41 struggles, their?, the temptations, the... 21:44 failures...alongside the successes. Right? 21:47 And here, in Luke chapter 8, Jesus wasn't even 21:49 just telling a story; He was making up something 21:51 to make sure we understood the process in our minds, 21:54 and yet, most of what He described didn't work! 22:00 I find that fascinating. Now, each one works 22:05 a little better. That's also an interesting thing, 22:07 too, right? But at the end, only one of those 22:11 crops produced a harvest! We shouldn't be surprised, 22:18 then, if in most of the work we do in laboring 22:21 for Christ appears to, or in reality truly does, 22:28 fail of meeting the success we intend. Let that sink 22:35 in, friends. Christ Himself taught that most of our 22:40 work won't succeed as we'd like it to. And He 22:47 does not say, "Therefore, the lesson is, farming doesn't 22:50 work." No! He just said, "This is the reality in 22:56 the world. This is what you're going to face." 22:58 You're gonna have people respond this way, people 23:00 respond this way, people respond this way, people 23:02 respond this way...but your job isn't, "Determine 23:05 which will work"; your job is simply, "Go to 23:07 work." [Amen.] [Yes.] Mm. I'm reminded of 23:12 this passage from Christian Service, pg. 264. "The good 23:17 seed may, for a time, lie unnoticed in a cold, 23:20 selfish, worldly heart, giving no evidence that 23:23 it has taken root. But afterwards, as the Spirit 23:27 of God breathes on the soul, the hidden seed 23:30 springs up, and at last bears fruit to the glory 23:33 of God. In our lifework we know not which shall prosper, 23:38 this or that." Which, of course, is taken from 23:40 Ecclesiastes chapter 11, where the agricultural 23:43 metaphor is employed again to talk about: 23:46 Don't just wait till everything is just right; 23:48 you sow your seed, and let the results lie with God. 23:54 She says, "We do not know which shall prosper, 23:56 this or that. This is not a question for us to settle. 24:01 We are to do our work, and leave the results with God." 24:05 Praise the Lord for that admonition-that encouragement, 24:09 actually-from Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy. 24:12 But let's come back to that. Why is it... 24:17 Now, we understand that the heart and the condition 24:20 of the heart is a preparation for the reception of gospel 24:26 truth. We understand that concept now. But even if 24:31 we've done that heartwork, even if we've done our 24:35 best to do what God has asked us to do, why is 24:40 it that some people just aren't interested in spiritual 24:45 things? Or choose, as is in the case with the 24:48 rich young ruler, or those in John chapter 6, the 24:51 many who decided not to follow Him anymore... 24:56 Why does some evangelistic work succeed, and why 24:59 does some evangelistic work fail? To understand 25:04 this, I would submit to you that redemption 25:08 requires three distinct and essential steps. 25:16 Hear me out. The transformation of a life is always-always 25:23 occurs, I should say- in three distinct sequential 25:26 steps. #1) You must be convinced of the truth. 25:34 #2) You must be convicted by the truth. And #3) You 25:43 must be converted by the truth. [Amen!] And 25:49 it works like this every single time. When men 25:53 and women are presented with Bible truth, the 25:56 Holy Spirit convinces the mind. The Word of God 26:00 is living and powerful, and it demonstrates, 26:04 it self-authenticates, the reality that this is 26:08 true, #1. Now, as soon as your mind understands 26:15 that what's being presented is true, automatically, 26:18 because we are holistic beings, our heart is 26:23 connected to that mind, right? So for instance. 26:27 I've heard people ask the question: Why do 26:29 we start all of our public presentations of 26:32 evangelistic seminars, or even personal Bible 26:35 studies - why do they always seem to start 26:37 with Daniel chapter 2? "Wouldn't you rather 26:40 talk about the gospel?" Well, here's the trick 26:42 of what happens, right? When you walk through 26:44 Daniel chapter 2, we think we're conveying the truth 26:46 about a metal man, right? An ancient dream that 26:49 outlined the history of the world. And we 26:51 think from our perspective, "Why be so clinical? 26:53 Why be so mechanical? Why not be alive with 26:56 the gospel and the love of Jesus?" Well, here's 26:58 the thing that's gonna happen. When people start hearing 27:02 the truth, and they recognize there was 27:05 a Daniel who did live then and there, who 27:08 spoke about Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then 27:11 Greece, and then Rome. Rome didn't fall, but it 27:13 was divided, and that brings us down to our 27:16 time. It doesn't- we think we're still talking 27:18 about a metal man, but those people are having 27:20 an encounter with Jesus Christ. [Amen!] They're 27:23 recognizing, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! So you're 27:24 telling me that this is true, and this is true?" 27:28 They're connecting the dots from the head 27:30 to the heart, saying, "If that's true, then 27:31 I'm here, and He's real, and I-"... [Amen!] 27:36 Right? [Yes.] There's something working. They're 27:39 being convinced of the truth, and immediately 27:42 upon understanding the Word of God, it goes 27:44 to the heart, and they're convicted that applies 27:47 to them. [Amen.] 'Cause what they're taking away 27:51 is, "Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, divided 27:54 Rome, here we are, in the very toenails of time, 27:57 Jesus is coming soon, God is real, and He is 27:59 my judge." Now, I've gone from temporal to 28:05 spiritual. Now there's accountability; now, 28:08 there's a reality to what I thought was merely 28:10 mythology. When that switch goes from mythology to 28:17 reality, that's the jump from convincing to convicting. 28:26 But let me tell you something else: Conversion 28:30 does not consist merely of being convinced of 28:34 the truth, or even feeling the conviction of the truth! 28:39 There's that third essential step where you yield 28:42 your will to that truth - to the God of truth - 28:50 and conversion takes place. Over and over in the 28:55 ministry of Jesus, He encountered otherwise 28:59 brilliant people, who as soon as the truth 29:01 of what Jesus was saying, and the application of it 29:04 came to their own hearts, they would very quickly 29:07 become uncomfortable in the situation, and try 29:10 to deflect and obfuscate and turn away and hedge 29:13 them, and... Let me give you a couple examples. 29:16 Go to Luke chapter 10. You're already in the 29:17 gospel of Luke; just go over two pages to Luke 29:19 chapter 10. Look in verse 25. It says... [text on-screen] 29:34 By the way, this is not attorney-at-law, esquire, 29:37 like we think of today; this is a lawyer in the 29:39 biblical sense. He was a specialist in the Word 29:42 of God, right? So, Jesus says, "You know the 29:44 Word; you tell me what must I do! It's all written 29:47 down. You're a scholar in it. What is your 29:51 reading of it?" Verse 27. [reads text on-screen] 30:00 Time out. We don't have time to get into this, 30:02 but did you know there's not a single passage in 30:04 the Old Testament that has that entire phrasing 30:06 in there? What this man has done is taken two 30:09 passages from two different books of Moses, and synthesized 30:12 them into a single answer that says to love the 30:15 Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. 30:17 Friends, if you were to look through the 30:18 study of the New Testament, you would find that other 30:20 times, when Jesus was asked this very question, 30:23 He didn't defer the answer to someone else; He gave 30:25 it Himself, and it was exactly, word for word, 30:27 the same answer. This man didn't just answer 30:30 a good answer; he answered the best answer. He gave, 30:33 in fact, the Jesus-owned answer. Thus, when Jesus 30:38 responds to him, verse 28... "...He said to him, 'You 30:41 have answered rightly!" If He was us, He would 30:47 say, "Good job! Well answered. Let's bow 30:49 our heads for a word of prayer." But He adds 30:52 something else. He said, "You have answered rightly, 30:55 do this, and you will live." What was the problem? 31:00 The man was convinced of the truth, but Jesus 31:03 knew he wasn't converted to doing it, right? So He 31:07 calls them out. He says, "Now, not only is this 31:09 true, but you need to do something about it. 31:12 Do this and live." But verse 29, "But he, wanting 31:17 to justify himself, said to Jesus, 'And who is my 31:22 neighbor?'" Time out. This man has already 31:28 evidenced his knowledge of the Word of God. 31:31 He's already demonstrated not only to have a good 31:34 answer, but have the best answer - the 31:35 Jesus answer to the question! His knowledge base is 31:39 sound. Yet when Jesus comes back with a simple, 31:45 "Well done! Now just go do it," this otherwise 31:49 brilliant man comes up with this-well, I don't 31:56 know-ridiculous question. I mean, "Who is my-" 32:03 I mean, "Lord, I would do, but the problem is 32:05 I can't figure out, and I don't know where, 32:07 and I don't know who, and I don't know-" 32:09 The implication being, "If I could only figure 32:12 out who my neighbor is, I would go and do likewise; 32:14 but..." But the Bible tells us why he asked 32:18 that silly question. "And he, wanting to 32:24 justify himself, said, 'And who is my neighbor?'" 32:29 I would submit to you, friends, that he knew 32:31 exactly who his neighbor was. He just didn't like 32:34 it. [chuckles] He knew the truth; he also recognized 32:38 it and applied to him... but he wasn't ready to 32:42 yield to that truth and put into practice what 32:45 he knew to be right. Sometimes, I call this 32:49 what we know as the parable of the Good 32:51 Samaritan. I call it the unnecessary parable. 32:54 This man already knew who his neighbor was. 32:58 And after Jesus walks him through like a children 33:00 story... "There was one time this man, and these 33:03 other men were not"- and He goes through it. 33:04 Look at the end of the parable. Verse 36. Jesus 33:08 asked him again. "So..." [reads text on-screen] 33:15 Remember the question is, "Who is my neighbor?" 33:16 Jesus said, "Alright, we listened to the story- 33:18 now you tell me who was the neighbor?" "And he said, 33:25 'He who showed mercy on him.'" And Jesus comes 33:29 right back to the same point they already had. 33:31 Then He said to him, "Go and do likewise." 33:37 You see the same kind of silliness coming out of 33:39 the mouth of Nicodemus, a Sanhedrin leader, right? 33:42 He comes to have that midnight interview with 33:43 Jesus, and Jesus cuts right to the quick and 33:45 says, "No-no, you need to be born again!" And 33:48 then, when that conviction comes to his heart, what 33:51 does he do? He comes up with silly, obscure, 33:54 ridiculous questions, right? "Well, how can 33:56 a man be born again? Am I supposed to go 33:58 back in my mother's womb? I don't-"... Jesus would say 34:01 things like, "Are you a teacher of Israel and 34:03 you don't know these things? I'm talking about 34:05 spiritual truth. You know what I'm talking 34:07 about!" In fact, go to John chapter 3. If you're 34:11 in the gospel of Luke, just go to the right 34:13 one book. John chapter 3. Notice how Jesus lays 34:17 the case to Nicodemus, and it's an issue of the 34:20 heart. Verse 19. John 3:19. [reads text on-screen] 34:37 The reason they don't accept the light isn't 34:39 because they don't understand it, nor is 34:41 it because they don't see the application in 34:43 their lives; they just don't like where it's 34:44 going! 'Cause if I go that way, that's gonna 34:47 take me away from this thing that I like to do 34:49 over here, and then love darkness rather 34:51 than light. It's an issue of love; where is your heart? 34:56 [reads John 3:20 on screen] 35:03 That's the real issue. You can be convinced 35:10 of the truth. You can be convicted by the 35:13 truth...and still not be converted. For 35:21 the rest of our time, I want to look at 35:22 two particular stories in Scripture, both found 35:27 in the book of Acts. We'll start with Acts 35:28 chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 - very well-known 35:33 passage about the Day of Pentecost. Many sermons 35:36 have been preached about this, and we don't have 35:38 time to get into all the context of this 35:40 particular message, but this is only 50 days after 35:44 the events of the death of Jesus and His resurrection 35:46 on that Sunday morning. And the same people 35:50 who were in the crowd that day, chanting things 35:52 like, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Let His blood be on 35:56 us and on our children!" are now back in Jerusalem 35:59 for the next feast, which is known as the Feast of 36:02 Weeks, or Pentecost. But on this feast, Peter 36:05 is now fully converted; the Holy Spirit has been 36:08 poured out, and he preaches a message. My does he 36:12 preach messages- and in fact- at this point, 36:14 I want to submit an idea here that may not be 36:16 popular, at least for a few minutes till I 36:19 explain it...and it is this: I believe that the 36:23 Seventh-day Adventist Church should be more 36:26 Pentecostal. [Amen!] Let me explain. [laughter] 36:32 Now, when we say that term, 'Pentecostal', 36:35 the picture that often comes to our mind is 36:38 what's commonly known today as Pentecostalism, 36:40 right? And this picture of very demonstrative 36:44 praise and worship with loud music-right?-or 36:46 you might have faith healings, or speaking 36:48 in unintelligible tongues, right? Holy roller - the 36:50 whole thing, right? But let me ask you some 36:52 questions: What we know today as Pentecostalism 36:56 is not actually found in the Day of Pentecost. 36:59 For example, how much mention of music is made 37:03 on the Day of Pentecost? None! Now, that's not 37:07 to say that they didn't sing some hymns or something - 37:08 but we don't know. But clearly, it wasn't the 37:09 central thing that moved the church, because it 37:11 didn't even make it in the Bible record! How 37:14 about faith healings? None. Now, maybe there 37:19 were people healed. Healing is a genuine 37:21 gift of the Spirit, praise the Lord, but there's 37:23 no mention of it on the Day of Pentecost. It didn't 37:25 have some big healing service, and people were 37:26 slain, and- no! How about speaking in unintelligible 37:31 tongues? [No.] No! Now, there was speaking in 37:34 tongues, but it was intelligible, right? 37:36 The Bible goes out of its way to even list 37:38 the languages and countries where they were from, right? 37:40 So, what made the Day of Pentecost so powerful 37:43 was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the preaching 37:45 of present truth! [Amen!] Peter opened his mouth, 37:48 and he preached a sermon that day. 26 verses. 13 37:51 of them were just quotes from the Old Testament. 37:54 Prophecies leading up to the Messiah as he 37:56 now understood Him, right? 11 of those verses were 37:59 just commentary about the verses he just quoted, 38:02 and the final two were just an appeal. And look 38:05 at the appeal Peter makes - my goodness. 38:07 Verse 36. By the way, let me go back to verse 38:11 32 to demonstrate it was present truth. Jesus 38:13 was not just preached that He was born in a 38:15 manger. He didn't just talk about the good life 38:17 of Jesus that He lived, He didn't just talk about 38:20 His death, or even His resurrection! Look at 38:22 verse 32. [text on-screen] 38:31 So notice He, even the resurrection at this point, 38:33 was old news and well known to those people. Here's 38:37 the next part. [reads text on-screen] 38:52 He said, "What you're seeing now is the work 38:54 of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary at the right 38:57 hand of God." He was preaching present truth 39:00 of Christ and His work in the heavenly sanctuary. 39:03 Accompanied by the Holy Spirit's power, that message 39:07 moves people. [Amen!] "Therefore," verse 36, 39:11 "let all the house of Israel know assuredly..." Now, 39:14 think of our three steps. "Know assuredly." They 39:17 need to be convinced, from Scripture, that Jesus 39:20 is the Messiah. "...know assuredly that God has 39:25 made this Jesus..." Now let's go to the convicting 39:28 part. Comma, "whom you crucified, both Lord and 39:33 Christ." Now, notice he wasn't just speaking 39:37 of Jesus in abstract, generic terms that might 39:40 be separate from them; he said, "No, no, no, 39:42 that Jesus we just learned is true, you killed." 39:50 It was a present truth message with a pointed 39:53 personal appeal. Now look very carefully at 39:59 verse 37. "Now when they heard this, they were cut 40:07 to the heart." They are convinced of the 40:12 truth he's presenting- they're convicted that 40:15 that truth applies particularly to them!-but at this 40:22 moment, are they converted? Not yet. There's one 40:25 more step, right? Watch this now: "...and said to 40:30 Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and 40:31 brethren, what shall we do?'" How do I take the 40:36 convincing and the convicting, and evidence it with converting? 40:44 [reads text on-screen] 40:53 And I don't know if my reading of this is off, 40:55 but I think verse 39 is particularly beautiful. 40:57 Remember, these are the people who said, "Crucify 40:59 Him, and let His blood be on us and on our 41:03 children." Now verse 39 of Acts 2. [reads text on-screen] 41:17 Goes on in verse 41 to say that those who gladly 41:19 received his word were baptized; and that day, about 3,000 41:23 souls were added to them. Beautiful story. Let's 41:30 go to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 2 is a 41:34 story of success! Right? He convinced them from 41:40 Scripture. He made a direct appeal to their 41:42 hearts; and by the power of God, they were converted 41:45 when they repented and were baptized. Beautiful 41:48 story. Acts chapter 7. A very, very similar 41:55 story, but a vastly different outcome. 42:01 If you read through Acts chapter 7, you essentially 42:03 have Stephen, who is a lay member of the 42:08 church, one of the first appointed deacons, and 42:11 is now called to answer for his faith in Jesus 42:14 Christ before the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of 42:16 the day. And if you were to compare the message 42:19 that Stephen presented that day with what Peter 42:22 presented in Acts chapter 2, they are very, very 42:24 similar. He walks them through the history of 42:27 their own people using Bible evidence to demonstrate 42:30 the veracity of his claims, and then he makes a 42:33 specific application to his audience. Okay? By the 42:37 way, he's also talking about the heavenly 42:39 sanctuary! Start with verse 44. [text on-screen] 43:06 So he's going through the history of the sanctuary, 43:09 the tabernacle, or as they had it in this day, 43:12 now, the temple, right? It started with Moses, 43:14 it went to the Promised Land, David wanted to 43:16 build him a house, but Solomon built him the 43:18 temple... By the way, these people loved the 43:21 temple, didn't they? Right? This is meeting 43:23 them where they are! It's exactly- but then 43:25 he makes a transition from the temporal temple 43:27 that they know and love to the spiritual temple that 43:30 God wants to have a focus on. Verse 48. 43:33 [reads text on-screen] 43:41 "...What house will you build for Me?" says 43:43 the Lord, or it's, "What is the place of my rest?" 43:45 [continues reading text] 43:48 So, he's taking their minds from the earthly 43:50 sanctuary to the heavenly sanctuary; and apparently, 43:56 that was a bridge too far. Now, we don't have a 44:02 film adaptation of this- we don't have the insights 44:05 exactly to know what happened. But clearly, 44:07 something happened right then and there, 'cause 44:10 look at verse 51. Stephen says... [reads text on-screen] 44:25 Now, we know what's about to happen to 44:26 Stephen in just a few verses from now. And 44:28 the burden of our question this morning: Did Stephen 44:30 say something wrong? Was he too pointed? 44:33 Was he too direct? Was he too clear with the Bible 44:37 truths? Should he have hidden his light a little 44:38 bit more obscurely to lead them more gently 44:40 along the way? I would submit to you that everything 44:45 was going well, to the point, at least, they 44:47 were able to listen to what he was saying, 44:49 until he took that temple on earth and went to 44:51 the temple in heaven. And I don't know what 44:55 they showed on their faces or their body 44:57 language or if they started picking up rocks, [chuckles] 44:59 you know. But clearly, something happened 45:03 that he said, "You know what? I need to cut the rest 45:04 of the sermon short; let me go straight to 45:06 the appeal." [laughter] Time was up on his 45:10 countdown clock, if you will, and he just laid 45:14 the lumber to it! "You stiff-necked..." Was 45:21 anything he's saying untrue, by the way? 45:22 [No.] No! He was saying- by the way, what did 45:25 Peter say? "The same Jesus whom you crucified 45:30 is now both Lord and Christ. That Jesus who 45:32 you thought was just a man is now God in 45:34 the heavens, and He holds your life in His 45:37 hands." It's the same message, the same appeal. 45:43 In fact, he goes on in verse 52. [text on-screen] 45:55 It's identically the same message as what 45:58 Peter said to the people on the Day of Pentecost. 46:03 Verse 54. Look carefully at the response. [text on-screen] 46:16 Pause right here. Were they convinced that what 46:20 he was saying was true? Yes, they were. Were 46:24 they convicted that that truth applied particularly 46:27 to them? Yes, they were. Third question: Were they 46:32 converted? No. Friends, I would submit to you, 46:36 it's possible to be convinced of the truth, 46:39 to even feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your 46:42 heart, and still not be converted. "When 46:48 they heard these things, they were cut to the 46:49 heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth." 46:58 I love that verse 55 does not say, "And he 47:01 laid down his life at that-" no. He wasn't 47:03 done. He's gonna preach until either they're 47:06 converted, or he's buried. Right? He said, "There's 47:10 only one way out of this. I'm just still going 47:11 straight ahead." [Amen!] "But he, being full of 47:15 the Holy Spirit..." By the way, don't ever 47:17 think that, you know, Stephen went off the 47:19 rails and kind of put his own personality into 47:21 it-no! He was still being led by the Holy Spirit, 47:23 even in that sharp rebuke. "...full of the Holy Spirit, 47:26 gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, 47:29 and Jesus standing at the right hand of God," 47:31 the very same message that Peter preached! 47:33 There's Jesus, in the heavens, at the right 47:34 hand of God, and you can almost picture Moses 47:37 in the wilderness with the serpent, brazen on 47:38 the stick, and he said, "Just look and live!" 47:42 He's literally just standing there! "Just 47:45 look." Verse 57. [reads text on-screen] 48:02 Notice this: They start speaking back to the 48:05 preacher, yet I don't know if it even coherent, 48:08 but they're just making noises. Wah-la-la-la-la-la-la, 48:11 right? And they're literally physically blocking the 48:16 sound waves from hitting their ear canal so that 48:19 they can hold off that power. 48:29 And they ran at him with one accord. We don't 48:33 have time for this sermon, either, but by the way, 48:37 the results of Acts 2 and Acts 7 were that 48:39 everyone was in one accord. God wants to 48:46 bring us into unity when we receive the Word, 48:49 and Satan will bring us into unity when we 48:51 reject the Word. At the end of the day, 48:56 the question remains, though: Did Stephen 48:58 say something wrong? I would emphatically 49:02 say, "No." His audience was convinced that what 49:07 he was saying was true, and they, according to 49:10 Scripture, were cut to the heart that it applied 49:12 to them. The only difference between the people in 49:15 Acts 2 and those in Acts 7 was the folks on the 49:19 Day of Pentecost yielded to the Spirit and received 49:22 the Word, while the folks in Act 7 resisted the 49:24 Spirit and rejected the Word. We're living in 49:30 the very last days of earth's history...and 49:35 Scripture has told us that we will witness 49:40 in the world this type of willful, active ignorance 49:50 in the last days of earth's history. Listen to this- 49:54 from 2 Peter chapter 3. He speaks of how scoffers 49:57 will come in the last days, walking according 50:00 to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is 50:02 the promise of His coming?" [text continued on-screen] 50:14 Notice that they're not uninformed; they're 50:17 trying to take something that's in their head 50:18 and push it back out. They willfully forget, 50:22 [text continued on-screen]. 50:40 They don't like where the truth leads, so they 50:43 are, quote, "willfully ignorant" of what it 50:46 says. The apostle Paul, speaking to his protégé, 50:52 Timothy, and I believe speaking to us today. 50:55 2 Timothy chapter 4. He says... [reads text on-screen] 51:20 Please take and look at that passage again. 51:22 Notice they have no problem being taught, 51:25 as long as they get to set the curriculum. 51:28 Right? It doesn't say they'll leave the Church; 51:30 they say they'll leave your church. They 51:35 want to be taught. They want their ears to be 51:37 scratched. They like what they wanna like, 51:39 right? But when it comes to preaching truth, 51:42 present truth, cutting truth, convincing truth, 51:45 convicting truth, they don't wanna hear it. 51:50 Thus, you read in 2 Timothy chapter 3... [text on-screen] 51:56 When we think of the perils of the last days, 51:57 we often think of earthquakes and disasters and 51:59 pestilences and wars, and all kinds of things, 52:02 which are true; but even Jesus said, "These are 52:04 just the beginnings of sorrows," right? "The 52:07 end is still not yet." But here, he's speaking 52:08 of the very last days. He said, "In the last 52:10 days, perilous times will come," and he's 52:12 not talking about the condition of the physical 52:16 world, ecology, or economy, or even military; he's 52:19 talking about character. "For men will be lovers 52:23 of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, 52:26 blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, 52:29 unholy..." [text continues on-screen] 52:46 They're gonna do all of this, in an otherwise 52:48 Christian context. They might even have the 52:52 label of Christianity. They might be in a country 52:54 that espouses Christian values, or makes statements 52:58 and slogans and logos and whatever, all about 53:00 good Jesus-y type stuff... but at the end of the 53:04 day, what's going on in their heart? They're 53:07 unthankful, they're unholy, they're unloving, they're 53:09 unforgiving, they're disobedient to parents, 53:11 despise the- all down the list. You know, oftentimes 53:18 whenever someone doesn't understand a message 53:19 in a preaching context, or even a personal Bible 53:22 study, we think, "You know, what they need 53:24 is more texts." [snaps, laughs] "They need to understand 53:26 that this-" so we take them to the Sabbath, 53:29 and, honestly, the Sabbath is so clear in Scripture. 53:32 You start from Genesis, you go all the way through 53:34 Revelation, all points in between, Jesus is 53:35 the Lord of the Sabbath, we're gonna be keeping 53:37 the Sabbath in eternity - you'd go on and on and 53:38 on, right? And if someone has an objection to the 53:42 Sabbath, we often think, "Oh, they haven't heard 53:44 THIS text, or that-" but the reality is, 53:47 they probably understand exactly what you're saying, 53:49 and they're convicted that it applies to them! 53:53 The issue is a matter of the heart. Men love 53:56 darkness because their deeds are evil. That's 54:00 the issue. Jesus saw it in His ministry. Stephen saw 54:05 it in his ministry. And I believe that's why 54:07 Jesus in Luke chapter 8, when he described the 54:09 work of sowing the seed of the Word of God, said 54:11 that most of it won't work the way we want 54:14 it to. Now praise the Lord, there'll also be 54:16 seeds sown that we won't ever see the results, 54:18 but there will be results to the positive - amen? 54:22 But regardless, God enjoins upon us, He requires 54:28 of us, a service regardless of whether it appears to be 54:36 successful or not. You see, the work of the Holy 54:40 Spirit is to take the truth of God's Word. 54:43 And like a sword, a sharp two-edged sword, apply 54:46 it in such a way that we are cut to the heart 54:49 and convicted...but conviction alone does 54:52 not save. One's response to the prompting of the 54:56 Holy Spirit determines whether they're converted. 54:59 Thus, in our work of personal evangelism, 55:04 let us not withhold the Word of God for fear of 55:07 saying something wrong. While we, of course, 55:10 want to be as winsome as possible and Christ-like 55:13 as He enables us, the ultimate decision to 55:17 yield to the work of the Holy Spirit is always 55:20 an individual one. Friends, we are not responsible 55:24 for the conversion of any soul. However, we 55:28 are responsible to have the conversation with 55:32 every soul. [Amen!] In the words of that great 55:35 old hymn, let us, then, be true and faithful, 55:39 trusting, serving, every day-because just one 55:43 glimpse of Him in glory will the trials of life 55:45 repay. [Amen!] Let's bow our heads for a 55:48 word of prayer as we close today. Heavenly 55:50 Father, I thank You so much, for in Your infinite 55:55 wisdom, entrusting to us the co-laboring work 56:03 of soul-saving with You. And Lord, help us to 56:08 learn deeply from the experience of Christ, 56:12 from the record of Scripture, from the 56:15 insights from the Spirit of Prophecy, so we can 56:17 do Your work, Your way. And Lord, we want to be 56:21 winsome! We want to be genial; we want to be 56:25 warm and welcoming, hospitable - we want 56:28 to clear every obstacle out of the way. But Lord, 56:32 we also see from Your own testimony and the 56:35 examples of early church leaders that even if we 56:40 do everything right, it still may not work out 56:44 the way we expect. Please, Lord, help us to never 56:48 become discouraged or distracted or dissuaded 56:52 from doing the work You've given us to do, but let us 56:55 be true and faithful, trusting, serving, every day. 57:00 To that end, Lord, we dedicate ourselves once 57:02 again, and we ask that You would make us laborers 57:06 for You, for we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. 57:09 [Amen!] [intro/outro music] |
Revised 2020-11-11