Participants: Hiram Rester
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000071
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 His Character Counts with Hiram Rester. 00:22 Good evening and welcome again, as has been said, 00:24 to the 3ABN Worship Center here in... 00:28 Sometimes we say Thompsonville, sometimes we say West Frankfort. 00:31 It kind of straddles the border between the two cities. 00:34 Or dare I say towns. 00:36 But we do welcome you to night number one 00:38 of our Anchors Of Truth series for September. 00:44 The overall title is, His Character Counts. 00:47 And Pastor Rester is going to be speaking on the, 00:50 Illuminated By His Glory. 00:53 Our speaker is someone that we've come to know and love 00:56 here at 3ABN, Pastor Hiram Rester. 00:58 I made the mistake this afternoon and 01:01 called him Hiram Edson. 01:03 And if anyone knows Adventist history, you know that 01:05 Hiram Edson plays a crucial and important role in the history of 01:09 the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:11 But he informed me that this is not the first time 01:13 that has happened, so I felt a little bit better. 01:15 He is not Hiram Edson. He is Hiram Rester. 01:17 And someone asked him was he named after Hiram Edson. 01:22 He was not. 01:24 He came from the Baptist persuasion 01:26 into the Adventist church. 01:27 So Hiram Edson has no reference to Hiram Rester. 01:31 So we had a little fun with that earlier today. 01:33 He is a native of Mississippi. 01:36 And I asked him how his state faired in the 01:38 hurricane that just went through. 01:40 And he said they got a little rain, but not much damage. 01:42 So we're happy for that. 01:43 He has been pastoring for some 15 years. 01:46 So he's been in the work a long time. 01:47 Much of that in evangelism. 01:50 His heart is in evangelism. 01:51 He is an evangelist of note and began his ministry 01:56 holding meetings in various places before he took up 01:59 his current pastorate, which is in Springfield, Missouri. 02:02 And he was so nice that he brought some of 02:04 his members with him. 02:06 It's kind of nice when you can bring your 02:07 own audience with you. 02:09 So he brought some of his own members with him 02:11 to hear him speak. 02:13 And that says a lot about the kind of pastor that he is, 02:15 that his members will travel to hear him speak. 02:19 So we're very, very excited to have Hiram Rester... 02:22 And I've got to keep checking myself that I don't say Edson. 02:24 ...Hiram Rester here with us tonight. 02:27 He is the husband of one wife. His wife is Libby. 02:30 The father of three children; Lauren, Savannah, and Jackson. 02:36 All are in his quiver, as it were. 02:39 And he is a great father, a great pastor, 02:42 and really just a fun guy. 02:43 And a powerful preacher of the Word. 02:46 So we expect during these next several sittings 02:48 to hear a word from the Lord, for the Lord, as Christ uses him 02:54 to speak for Him. 02:56 I'm going to ask you to bow your heads with me now. 02:58 Then we'll have a song. 03:00 Then the next voice you will hear will be that of our 03:02 pastor and our friend, Hiram Rester. 03:05 Shall we pray. 03:06 Father God, we praise You now and thank You 03:10 for this blessed opportunity to hear a word from the Lord. 03:16 We know that in these last days, there's going to 03:20 be a scarcity of preaching. 03:22 And so while we have the opportunity, Lord, 03:25 we take full advantage to hear the Word preached. 03:28 But more than just hearing this Word preached, 03:32 we ask, Lord, for receptive and open ears and hearts 03:37 that we may feast on the Word, 03:41 that we may take the Word into our souls, 03:45 and become not just hearers of that Word, but doers thereof. 03:52 Oh dear Jesus, be the center and circumference 03:56 of this meeting tonight. 03:58 Let us hear what You want us to hear. 04:01 And then let us go from this place motivated, energized, 04:07 informed, and inspired to live lives that are 04:11 wholly dedicated to You. 04:13 For we know that Christ is coming soon. 04:18 And who knows but that this may be the last opportunity 04:22 for some of us to hear the Word of God preached. 04:26 Oh Father, be the honored guest tonight 04:30 and speak through Your servant. 04:33 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 04:37 There's an old standard Adventist hymn 04:42 that you hear sung so very, very much. 04:44 And it sort of endeared itself to me. 04:47 No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus. 04:51 It's a standard, it's a classic. 04:53 But the words are so very, very, very true. 04:56 When mother, father, brother, sister lets you down, 05:01 you know that Jesus never will. 05:03 And as much as your wife may love you, or your children 05:06 may love you, or your parents may love you, 05:08 there's no one, but no one, who will ever care 05:12 for you like Jesus. 05:24 I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, 05:32 since I found in Him a friend so strong and true. 05:40 I would tell you how He changed my life completely; 05:49 He did something that no other friend could do. 05:57 No one ever cared for me like Jesus. 06:07 There's no other friend so kind as He. 06:15 No one else could take the sin 06:20 and darkness from me. 06:26 O how much He cares for me. 06:37 All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. 06:46 All my heart was full of misery and woe. 06:54 Jesus placed His strong loving arms about me, 07:03 and He led me in the place I ought to go. 07:11 No one ever cared for me like Jesus. 07:20 There's no other friend so kind as He. 07:28 No one else could take the sin 07:33 and darkness from me. 07:39 O how much He cares for me. 07:50 Every day He comes to me with new assurance. 07:59 More and more and more I understand His words of love. 08:06 But I'll never know just why He came to save me, 08:14 till some day I see His blessed face above. 08:23 No one ever cared for me like Jesus. 08:31 There's no other friend so kind as He. 08:39 No one else could take the sin 08:45 and darkness from me. 08:51 O how much He cares, 08:57 O how much He cares, 09:04 O how much He cares for me. 09:25 Thank you, C.A. 09:27 No one ever cared for me like Jesus. 09:30 What a message in song. Can you say amen? 09:34 And what a blessing to be here at 3ABN once again. 09:37 Today, I had a blessing as I was preparing 09:41 for the message tonight. 09:43 I was able to take a break and enjoy lunch with a couple of 09:46 guys from 3ABN; Ben and Bobby. 09:48 And as we were visiting, they began to help me 09:52 with my sermon tonight. 09:53 They didn't know they were. 09:55 But they did. 09:57 They began to tell and to talk about how they view 10:02 their heavenly Father. 10:04 Ben talked about how his son has helped him learn 10:09 to view how God views him. 10:12 For instance, he was praying, "Lord, how can I experience 10:18 Your love and see how You view me? 10:21 I know, Lord, that You love me, but how can I experience that?" 10:25 And he was talking about how he was praying, 10:27 and then the Lord impressed him that the way he views 10:29 his son is how God views him. 10:33 Talking about His character counts, talking about how 10:37 the character, the loving character of our God, 10:40 matters so much. 10:42 And then Bobby was sharing with his history 10:44 and things that he has experienced that has 10:47 shown him how much God loves him, 10:50 and over time changed his perception to see God 10:53 as so much more loving. 10:55 And that was an encouragement to me today. 10:56 I was just sitting there listening to the guys 10:58 and thinking, this just really feeds right into what I'm 11:01 here to do this weekend. 11:03 And I didn't warn them I was going to share this with you. 11:06 I just figured I would listen at lunch, eat their food, and 11:08 then talk about them when I got up here. 11:10 And so, that's what we did. 11:12 About six years ago, my wife, Libby, and I, and the kids, 11:16 we were doing an evangelistic series. 11:18 It started in Loveland, Colorado. 11:22 And it was actually in the Budweiser Event Center. 11:26 The only time we got to put the word "Budweiser" in one 11:28 of our fliers in our whole time of doing evangelism. 11:32 The Budweiser Event Center right on the highway. 11:34 That's the name of the building, folks. 11:36 Okay? It didn't have nothing to do with anything 11:39 except that we're meeting at this convention center 11:42 with that name. 11:44 And we were doing the series, it was a good series of meetings. 11:48 We had a good group of people coming out, 11:50 a couple hundred folks. 11:51 And about half way through the whole total series, 11:55 we relocated, we transferred over to the local church, 12:00 the Adventist church there, to finish out the last few nights 12:05 of the series. 12:07 Well, the local Adventist church that invited us to come 12:10 did not have their own church building. 12:13 They were renting from a church of another denomination. 12:18 And so we transferred to this church, 12:21 and I'm up preaching one night. 12:23 And I'm preaching, it was a new topic for folks, 12:26 but yet I was using it to review. 12:28 It was titled; The Scarlet Woman, Mother Of Harlots. 12:31 And I was talking about the woman of Revelation 17, 12:35 and clothed in purple and scarlet and gold and pearls, 12:39 and all of these symbols of her apostasy. 12:41 And I was going through that topic. 12:43 Well in the course of that topic, I also review 12:47 two key issues; one, the topic of death, 12:50 both the first and the second death, 12:52 as well as the topic of the change of the Sabbath 12:56 from Saturday to Sunday. 12:58 And I review it. 12:59 I've already preached on those things, you see, 13:01 by the time we get there. 13:02 But I review it at that point in the meeting for those 13:05 coming to the seminar. 13:07 Well, here's what happened. 13:09 We had a good group transfer over. 13:12 The parking lot was packed out, there were cars everywhere. 13:15 And a guy was driving down the road that went to this church. 13:20 Not the Adventist church, but the other church 13:24 they were renting from. 13:26 And as he's driving along down the road, he looks over and he 13:28 sees the parking lot is packed out. 13:31 And he thought, "I didn't know anything was going on 13:33 at my church tonight." 13:35 And so what do you think he did? 13:37 He pulled in and said, "I'm just going to go in and see what's 13:40 going on at my church tonight." 13:42 And he walks in and I'm about half way through the sermon. 13:46 Okay? 13:48 And it's already way past the middle of the 13:52 evangelistic series, and this guy comes walking in and 13:54 stands against the back wall. 13:56 Now what am I doing? 13:58 I'm going through verses like Ecclesiastes 9:5, 14:01 "The dead know not anything." 14:04 And all kinds of other verses showing that when someone dies, 14:08 they wait in the grave in an unconscious state 14:10 until the resurrection, you know. 14:13 And how when Jesus comes, the righteous are resurrected; 14:16 in John 5:28 and 29, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17. 14:21 And all of these important verses on these topics. Right? 14:25 And also on the change of the Sabbath. 14:27 And also talking about hellfire, how that Malachi 4 talks about 14:32 the wicked will be consumed, they will be burned up. 14:36 Now if you're thinking of this from an Adventist perspective, 14:39 if you're a Seventh-day Adventist and were raised so, 14:42 you may not realize how big a deal this was. 14:44 But this guy comes walking into his church and there's some 14:48 young whipper snapper up there with a Bible 14:51 that is teaching that what his church has always believed 14:55 about what happens when you die, and hellfire, 14:58 and the day they go to church, is not Biblical, is not correct. 15:04 And I'm going through it quickly because I'm reviewing for 15:07 the rest of my group that is with me. 15:10 And so he's standing against the back wall, and I see this guy. 15:13 I don't recognize him, I don't know who he is. 15:16 But his demeanor gets meaner and meaner and meaner. 15:20 He's mad, he's upset. 15:21 "How dare this guy be in the pulpit at my church 15:25 preaching this stuff." 15:27 Because his church was the church that was being rented. 15:31 Well, he talked to the pastor that night. 15:32 He didn't talk to me, but I knew he was upset. 15:34 I arrived the next evening to get started with the program. 15:39 I arrived, you know, I was the first one there. 15:42 And then as I'm sitting there in the parking lot waiting for 15:44 someone else to get there and open up the building for me, 15:47 this guy pulls into the parking lot. 15:50 He gets out and he starts somberly walking toward my car. 15:57 And I'm thinking, "Oh, this could be bad." 16:01 He didn't look happy. 16:04 And he certainly didn't look happy the night before. 16:06 And I'm thinking, "Okay, what do I do, what do I do?" 16:08 So I roll my window down, but I leave my car on 16:11 in case I need to hit it in reverse, lay down on the seat, 16:13 and punch the gas, you know, if something doesn't go right. 16:16 I mean, I don't know. 16:18 I'm kind of, scenarios running through my mind. Right? 16:20 And the guy comes closer and he goes, "Pastor, 16:23 I need to talk with you. Do you have a minute?" 16:25 And I'm thinking, "Talking sounds good. 16:26 I can talk, talking sound great, that's good." 16:28 So I turn off the car and I get out. 16:30 He puts down the tailgate of his truck. 16:32 And we sit there on the tailgate of his truck, 16:35 and he begins to tell me his story. 16:37 He said, "I was really upset at you last night, 16:40 that you were in my church building teaching things 16:43 that my church doesn't believe." 16:45 He said, "That really, really upset me." 16:49 He said, "But I went to bed last night, and for the first time 16:54 in a long time, I slept all the way through." 16:59 Now I didn't realize how big a deal this was at first. 17:03 As this man began to share his history with me, 17:06 he started with Vietnam, and he was a soldier in Vietnam 17:09 and knew that he had killed several people with his gun. 17:13 And as many bullets as he sprayed around in the jungle, 17:16 he suspected it was many more than he knew about. 17:20 And how that had really brought him a lot of guilt in his life. 17:25 And then he went on to tell me that as he came back to America 17:29 after the war, that he was so disillusioned after having 17:34 gone to war, that how could a loving God allow the atrocities 17:38 of war to take place, that he really didn't practice 17:42 his Christian beliefs anymore. 17:46 Well, he got married and he raised a family. 17:50 But he raised his kids without going to church at all. 17:53 And his teenage daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, 17:59 secretly had an abortion, 18:02 could not live with the guilt of it. 18:06 And one night while he was in the living room 18:10 watching television, he heard a noise in her bedroom. 18:15 He didn't think anything of it. 18:18 A few minutes later, he went by her bedroom to check on her 18:21 to make sure everything was alright. 18:23 But it wasn't. 18:25 The noise he had heard in her bedroom was her kicking 18:28 the bucket, literally, out from under herself. 18:32 She had hung herself in her bedroom and committed suicide. 18:39 Now based on his belief system as a Christian, 18:43 most Christians believe that when you die, what happens? 18:46 You immediately go to heaven or hell. 18:51 He believed you have to accept Christ as your Savior. 18:54 And he had never taken her to church. 18:56 She had never made any kind of profession of faith. 18:58 She had just had an abortion. 19:00 And then she committed suicide. 19:04 And as a father, he didn't have much hope that she was 19:07 in heaven, as he believed. 19:10 But rather, that his baby girl was now likely where? 19:17 Burning in hell. 19:20 Do you think that messed with his ability to 19:22 get a good night sleep? 19:24 It did. 19:26 In fact, he told me, he said, "I lay there at night and 19:28 it's almost as if I can hear my baby girl crying from the 19:32 fires of hell, 'Daddy, why didn't you tell me? 19:34 Daddy, why didn't you take me to church? 19:36 Daddy, help me, please.'" 19:38 He said, "And I can't sleep and I have 19:39 nightmares all night long." 19:41 He said, "After my daughter's suicide, my marriage fell apart. 19:44 I couldn't hold down a regular job." 19:47 He said, "And it has just destroyed me. 19:49 As if going to war had not messed me up enough already." 19:55 He said, "And last night, I laid down." 19:57 He said, "And I was angry at you, pastor, 20:01 for preaching what you preached last night. 20:02 Because it's not what my church teaches. 20:04 And you were in the pulpit of my church. 20:08 And as I lay there, I actually went to sleep. 20:13 I thought of the verses you had brought out from the Bible. 20:17 About how the dead know not anything. 20:19 About how Jesus calls death a sleep. 20:22 And that even if my daughter, which means my daughter is not 20:25 not in hell right now. 20:27 She's sleeping in the grave awaiting the resurrection. 20:29 And even if she's not saved, that the fire that destroys 20:33 the wicked goes out, 20:36 that ultimately it turns them to ashes." 20:39 He said, "And I don't know how long that would burn, pastor, 20:42 but you understand that it coming to an end 20:45 is completely different than it never coming to an end." 20:51 He said, "And I was able to go to sleep." 20:53 He said, "I got a good night sleep, 20:55 though I still went to sleep angry with you." 21:00 And we began to talk and to share. 21:02 And what I realized that day is that this man saw a different 21:08 picture of who God was. 21:09 Not only did it give him peace, but he said, "For the first 21:14 time, I can reconcile in my mind that God is love. 21:18 Because I was wondering, how can my God love my daughter 21:22 as much as I do, and yet plan on burning her through the 21:26 unending ceaseless ages of eternity." 21:30 And so as he thought about the truth he had 21:33 learned in the seminar... 21:34 Though he got it rapid fire, like drinking 21:37 from fire hydrant. 21:38 It was just coming out in review form. 21:40 ...it sunk in. 21:41 He got the DVD's that he had missed from the seminar. 21:45 He began to watch those DVD's and he got caught up. 21:49 And before I left town, he was baptized. 21:51 He still attended church at the same building, 21:55 just a day earlier. 21:59 It was quite an amazing thing that God did in this man's life. 22:03 And it planted a seed in my mind that would take a long time 22:07 to sprout and really come to fruition. 22:09 And that seed would grow much later. 22:12 I'll try to bring that back in a moment. 22:15 Well a few years later, actually 2011 at the 22:20 Iowa Missouri Camp Meeting, I had taken my video ministry 22:24 team to the camp meeting. 22:26 We have a little video ministry at our church. 22:28 And we were filming the camp meeting and streaming it live 22:31 over the internet. 22:33 And I was sitting there at the controls 22:35 talking to camera people. 22:37 You know, "Zoom in, zoom out." All of that kind of stuff. 22:39 And choosing the best shots. 22:41 But I was listening to the speaker. 22:43 And the speaker we had, some of you are familiar with him. 22:46 He name is Ty Gibson. 22:48 He was there to speak. 22:49 And I was listening to this man and I was enjoying it. 22:52 But, you know, camp meeting... 22:54 That's more for the church members, right? 22:56 And I'm a pastor and I've got duties to do. 22:58 And it's more what the members get. 23:00 But I'm sitting there and as we're switching cameras 23:03 and I'm giving instructions to my camera people, 23:06 the Holy Spirit is getting the message through to me. 23:10 And I realized something. 23:12 I realized something crystal clear that very evening. 23:16 And that is, that being Christ centered and gospel centered 23:22 with the truth is so much more than I ever thought it was. 23:28 You see, I would always, in my evangelistic meetings, 23:31 include Jesus in every sermon that I did. 23:34 I would make sure He was worked in several places. 23:37 And I believed that to be a Christ centered message. 23:41 No, my friends. 23:43 What I realized was this... 23:46 That a Christ centered message is a message that uplifts Christ 23:50 as the center. 23:52 Not one that mentions Him along the way. 23:55 And I became convicted that what I had done in my 23:58 evangelistic ministry to that point is, I had used 24:02 Jesus to preach the truth 24:05 instead of using the truth to preach Jesus. 24:13 It was a conviction, deep heart conviction, 24:15 with me as God was working in my heart. 24:18 But not only did see that I hadn't done something right, 24:21 at the same time, I saw God's love for me 24:24 in a way I had not seen before. 24:27 You know, if our Christian experience is growing 24:31 as it should, we're going to hit new heights of understanding 24:34 God's love all along throughout our walk with Him. 24:38 Yes or no? Yes. 24:40 And I began to see that God loves me beyond measure. 24:46 And I also began to... 24:48 I mean, these are concepts you'll say, 24:50 "Didn't you already know that?" Yes, but... 24:51 And I fail to find words to describe to you 24:55 how it impacted me. 24:59 I also was reminded that God is infinitely good. 25:03 That His goodness, that His character, matters so much. 25:08 And what I realized is that as I was preaching 25:12 to that man and those people in Colorado years before, 25:16 I was trying to give them the facts. 25:19 I was trying to get the doctrines across to them. 25:23 And what God did especially with this one man 25:26 is He showed this man His goodness 25:31 through the doctrines. 25:33 And I realized that is a direction that God was 25:36 calling me to go in. 25:38 May I share with you in Revelation chapter 18 verse 1, 25:43 Revelation chapter 18 and verse 1, here today. 25:47 This is powerful. 25:48 Revelation chapter 18 and verse 1. 25:52 It says in Revelation 18:1, "And after these things 25:57 I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; 26:01 and the earth was lightened with his glory." 26:06 In our series here, His Character Counts, 26:09 the message titled this evening is, Illuminated By His Glory. 26:17 Well as we talk here about this issue, the earth is going to be 26:21 lightened with his glory of this angel, it says here. 26:23 In verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, 26:27 saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become 26:30 the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, 26:33 and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.'" 26:37 This is a powerful passage. 26:40 And first off, it's a fourth angel. 26:43 As Adventist Christians, we read about three angels in 26:46 Revelation chapter 14. 26:48 There's an angel with the everlasting gospel 26:50 and he proclaims, "The judgment hour is come, 26:52 and worship Him that made heaven and earth." 26:54 Then there's the angel, the second angel, follows him. 26:57 And he proclaims that Babylon has fallen. 26:59 And this fourth angel repeats that message 27:01 that Babylon is fallen. 27:02 Okay? 27:03 And then there's the third angel warning of the 27:06 mark of the beast. 27:07 But also of keeping the commandments of God 27:10 and having the faith of Jesus, or faith in Jesus. 27:14 Focusing on Jesus and loving Him and keeping His commandments. 27:18 And then we get to Revelation chapter 18. 27:21 Now this fourth angel is also the loud cry of the third angel. 27:25 It also corresponds with the time, likely, 27:28 of the latter rain and the loud cry. 27:32 Now as we look here, what is this angel? 27:34 Just like the three angels of Revelation chapter 14, 27:39 this angel represents a movement among the people of God. 27:44 Sure, it does. Absolutely. 27:47 But is it something new that's yet to come? 27:49 Is it some new doctrine, some new beliefs, 27:52 some newfangled thing that's coming along? 27:55 No, no it's not. 27:57 Notice, he's repeating the second angel's message. 28:01 Right? 28:03 So what is this? 28:04 This is what got my attention, because I would use this 28:07 passage in evangelism. 28:09 In fact, that night in that evangelistic meeting 28:11 in Colorado, I had read this passage. 28:15 But I read right over verse one over the years so many times. 28:19 How many of you have ever done that? 28:21 You read over a Bible verse many, many times 28:22 and you miss what's in it. 28:24 And then all of a sudden it hits you that there's 28:26 something more there. 28:28 I had read over verse 1 about the angel and the earth 28:31 illuminated with his glory, and I went right 28:34 on to how Babylon is fallen. 28:35 And I would point out the sins of Babylon and I would 28:37 talk about all of these things that needed pointing out 28:40 in the seminar. 28:44 But I had missed the significance of verse 1. 28:47 Well what had happened is, I was preaching verse 2 28:51 and that guy was getting verse 1. 28:56 Let me explain it to you. 28:58 God began to open this up to me. 29:00 What a blessing it has been. 29:01 It says that the earth will be illuminated with his glory. 29:04 That's a global message. Yes or no? 29:07 A global movement. Praise the Lord. 29:09 He'll be illuminated by his glory. 29:13 And what is the glory of God? 29:14 I could give you a quote, but how about a Bible verse instead? 29:17 Go with me to Exodus chapter 33. 29:19 Exodus chapter 33, as we look here together. 29:22 Exodus 33, as we dig in once again here this evening 29:27 as we talk about the glory of God. 29:29 What is the glory of God? 29:32 In Exodus chapter 33, we see Moses here. 29:36 And in verse 18, Exodus 33 and verse 18, 29:39 "And he said, 'I beseech Thee, show me Thy...'" What? 29:44 "...glory." 29:45 And God said, "And He said, 'I will make all My...'" What? 29:49 "...goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of 29:54 the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be 29:57 gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." 30:02 Notice chapter 34, the same type of thing. 30:05 "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, 30:09 and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 30:10 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 30:12 'The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, 30:17 longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.'" 30:23 Moses asked God, "Show me Thy glory." 30:27 And what did God show him? 30:30 His what? 30:32 His goodness. 30:34 "Show me Your glory." 30:36 And He shows him His goodness. 30:39 Well, did God show Moses what he asked to see? 30:44 He did. 30:45 He showed him His goodness. 30:47 These characteristics... 30:49 The word "characteristics" seems to come from 30:51 the word "character." 30:53 These characteristics of what God is like. 30:58 My friends, the glory of God is definitively His character. 31:05 Now the angel that comes down, this is a movement 31:08 among God's people. 31:09 And the earth is lightened with his glory. 31:11 This is the glory of God. 31:13 The character of God lights the world with a combined 31:18 three angels messages. 31:23 You say, "So it's not new truth?" 31:24 No, my friends. 31:26 The truth is going to still be the truth. 31:28 Saturday is still the Sabbath. 31:30 The dead are still dead until the resurrection. 31:33 The truths that we hold dear in Scripture will not be changing. 31:38 No, not at all. 31:39 But, they may be reframed. 31:43 Could it be that God is calling me, that's He's calling you, 31:47 that He's calling others to begin to teach these truths 31:51 not just so people know doctrinally what it says, 31:55 but so they know more about who He is? 31:59 Oh, I believe that movement is coming among our people. 32:03 I believe God is leading us that way. 32:05 I know He's leading me that way. 32:08 I look here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 32:10 Would you go there with me? 32:12 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 32:15 It says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, 32:19 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6 says, "For God, who commanded the 32:25 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts..." 32:31 So this is a reference to creation. 32:33 "The God who has commanded light to shine out of darkness 32:37 has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 32:42 of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 32:47 "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God." 32:49 And what is God's glory? 32:52 His goodness, His character. 32:55 And we're going to see that shining forth, my friends. 32:58 Praise the Lord. 33:00 Now, a light that shines. 33:03 Oh, today as I was sitting over at the apartment 33:06 working on my sermon, rain came through more than once. 33:10 It was a real hard rain shower. 33:12 And I thought, "This is good." 33:13 I carried the rocking chair out on the porch 33:15 and I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, "This is great. 33:18 I can work on my sermon, I can study. 33:20 And I'm sitting here and it's raining. 33:21 This is awesome." 33:24 You say, "Really, is it good for it to rain when you're 33:26 trying to write a sermon?" 33:28 Yea, because I like to go out and run and jog and fish. 33:31 And so rain is good sermon writing weather. 33:34 Okay? 33:35 And so everything is going fine. 33:37 And then the lightening comes; boom, boom. 33:41 It struck around me several different places. 33:44 Actually kind of scared me there once. 33:46 It was close, really close right here. 33:49 And it reminded me of a lightening storm I saw in 33:53 Taos, New Mexico where my wife and I when we were first 33:58 traveling in evangelism. 34:00 Back before the kids had come along. 34:02 And we were in Taos, New Mexico. 34:06 And at night, the lightening began to come on the horizon. 34:11 And it was unlike anything I had ever seen. 34:14 A lightening storm. 34:16 You could see for miles and miles in the dry desert air. 34:21 And so we took chairs out and sat outside 34:24 and watched the lightening. 34:25 It wasn't close, but it was spectacular. 34:27 The trails of lightening all over the sky. 34:30 And then it would go completely black. 34:32 And then it would go again. 34:34 And I was reminded how light shines out of darkness. 34:37 When that lightening would strike, all of a sudden 34:41 you could see almost as good as we can see 34:42 right now for a split second. 34:44 And then it's dark again. 34:45 Well my friends, the light of the glory, the goodness of God, 34:50 is going to shine out of the darkness into this world. 34:54 You see, light dispels darkness. 34:57 Darkness causes us not to be able to see. 35:00 Darkness, that absence of light, inhibits our vision. 35:05 And God says, "I want to illuminate your vision. 35:08 I want you to see a better picture of Me." 35:11 And as we do so, we're going to see that more than we may have 35:15 realized, His character counts. 35:18 Oh, indeed it does. 35:20 Look with me here now in Romans chapter 2 and verse 4. 35:24 Romans chapter 2 and verse 4. 35:28 It says here in Romans 2 and verse 4... 35:30 This is a verse that so often I would use 35:34 preaching evangelistic meetings. 35:36 My wife and I traveled full time on the road 35:38 for ten and a half years. 35:40 We did over 70 full message evangelistic meetings. 35:43 And it was so much fun. 35:44 We now are settled in the pastorate and enjoying that 35:48 very much as our family is growing up. 35:51 And what a blessing that is. 35:52 But look here, this verse I shared so often. 35:55 This is another verse. 35:56 This is a humbling message for me tonight. 35:58 You realize, this is the second verse I'm going to 36:01 that I'm going to tell you I preached in every 36:03 evangelistic series and read right through without realizing 36:07 what it was saying. 36:09 Humbling message. Okay? 36:11 It says here in Romans 2 and verse 4, 36:13 "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance 36:19 and longsuffering; not knowing that the..." What? 36:23 "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to..." What? 36:29 "... to repentance?" 36:31 Wow, think about that. 36:34 I would preach this verse and I would say, 36:35 "See, there it is. We have to repent. 36:38 And God will lead us to it." 36:42 But what was I missing? 36:45 How do we end up there? 36:47 You say, "Well, He leads us." 36:49 But what is it that draws us, that pulls us towards God? 36:55 The goodness of God leads you to repentance. 37:01 So often, to bring people to repentance, I would try to 37:04 point out their sins even stronger and harder. 37:07 God does convict us of sin, I'm not denying that. 37:10 But ultimately, what is God's tool to bring you 37:16 and to bring me to repentance? 37:18 The... What? ...goodness of God. 37:21 His character counts, my friends. 37:23 Right here at salvation, right here at repentance, 37:27 the goodness of God leads us, it draws us to repentance. 37:33 Now as we look at these important issues, 37:37 I want to go back to Revelation 18 again. 37:41 Revelation chapter 18. 37:44 It's where we started here this evening. 37:47 And no, we're not done. 37:48 But let's look here and see how this applies to 37:52 what we're looking at. 37:53 Revelation 18 and verse 1, "And after these things 37:56 I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; 38:02 and the earth was lightened with his..." What? 38:07 "...with his glory." 38:08 Let's unpack that. 38:10 You've got an angel; this is a movement among God's people. 38:13 He comes down from heaven having great power. 38:17 And the earth is lightened. 38:21 People are going to be able to see. 38:24 The earth is lightened. 38:26 What it is that enables them to be able to see? 38:30 His character, His glory, His goodness. 38:33 That's right. 38:35 Now it ties in with the three angels messages. 38:39 It says in verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a 38:41 strong voice, saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 38:44 and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every 38:47 foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.'" 38:50 So the fall of Babylon, the second angels message, 38:53 is repeated here. 38:54 It's a combined three angels message. 38:56 You find parts of all three angels messages 38:59 here in Revelation 18. 39:02 But it's packaged in such a way that the earth is lightened 39:08 with the goodness, with the glory, of God. 39:14 This has been profound for me. 39:18 You say, "Well, it doesn't sound like it's that big a deal. 39:22 What's the difference?" 39:24 Well, I was a professional evangelist on the road 39:27 for ten and a half years. 39:28 My wife and I lived out of a suitcase 39:30 preaching the Adventist message. 39:32 I've preached the three angels messages. 39:35 I have seen hearts and lives changed. 39:39 But I believe God is calling us to present it in such a way 39:45 that we're not just teaching the people the things on the 39:48 checklist that they need to know to become part of the church. 39:54 I believe He's calling us to show how the things that 39:58 the Bible teaches changes their life and shows them a 40:05 different picture of what God is like. 40:08 A better picture. 40:09 A picture of who He is. 40:13 I don't think anything that I was preaching 40:16 needs to change, doctrinally speaking. 40:18 But the emphasis, the way that I would share it, 40:21 God said, "Okay, it's time. 40:24 I'm going to take you deeper. 40:26 And I want you to repackage this. 40:29 I don't want you to teach the topic of death so that when 40:32 you're done, they know the dead are dead. 40:34 Sure, they're going to know that. 40:36 But I want you to teach the topic of death, 40:38 that in your showing them that the dead are dead, 40:40 that they're seeing a better picture of who I am and how 40:42 that's better than what the error is they had been taught. 40:48 And when you preach about hellfire, don't just show them 40:52 that the wicked are turned to ashes. 40:54 That's not the point." 40:55 Sure, the wicked are destroyed, but there's a lie out there 40:58 about what God is like. 41:00 That God is going to torture people through the unending 41:04 ceaseless ages of eternity. 41:07 And God says, "That's not what I'm like. 41:09 Go tell the world the truth about Me." 41:11 That's what being a witness is, is telling the truth. 41:14 The truth about who? The truth about Him. 41:18 And so, God is calling me to share these things. 41:21 And you as well. 41:23 Now what I find interesting is, I would read in Revelation 18 41:28 and I'd say, "This is something yet to come. 41:30 This is before us, this is a mission for us as a church." 41:34 And it says, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, 41:37 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen...'" 41:39 And I thought, if we're going to fulfill this message 41:42 of the fourth angel, this loud cry of the third angel, 41:45 we've got to get more aggressive at laying bare 41:49 the sins of Babylon. 41:51 And so I would get more explicit, more direct. 41:54 I would get more quotes from history and religious sources 41:58 on these false teachings. 42:00 And I was missing the boat. 42:05 I was missing verse 1. 42:08 Verse 2 doesn't happen without verse 1. 42:14 Do you know why people see that Babylon is fallen? 42:18 Because as they have a better picture of what God is like, 42:23 through the doctrines, through the beliefs the Bible teaches, 42:27 the false teachings and traditions of Babylon 42:31 are going to be seen as bankrupt 42:34 in comparison with the goodness and the glory of our God. 42:41 And that's why we see in verse 4, and it says this, 42:45 as we think about how His character counts, 42:48 "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 42:50 'Come out of her...'" Who? "...My people." 42:53 My friends, the majority of God's people are in 42:56 what is called Babylon; spiritual confusion. 42:59 And it says, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not 43:02 partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 43:05 As God's people see the beauty that the Bible reveals about 43:10 who He is, His glorious character, His goodness, 43:13 His mercy, and His passionate love, they're going to say, 43:18 "I want this. I now believe this. 43:21 And one of the reasons I do, yea the Bible says it. 43:24 And that's the basis, and that's important. 43:26 But one of the things I love is it shows me a wonderful 43:30 better picture of what my God is like." 43:34 That's a message we have, my friends. 43:37 That's a message God has given to us to share with 43:41 a lost and dying world. 43:45 So as we look at this angel, it's a movement 43:48 among God's people. 43:50 Is it the second angel? Is it the third angel? 43:54 It's a fourth angel, but it's repeating a combined 43:58 three angels messages. 44:02 Is this new light or new truth? 44:04 No, my friends. 44:06 God has always been good and always been loving. 44:08 And His character has always been 44:12 better than we can describe. 44:14 Yes or no? 44:15 And the truth's that we hold dear are the same 44:18 that we've always preached. 44:21 But, my friends, the difference is this. 44:23 Do I use Jesus to preach the truth? 44:27 For example, do I share Jesus enough times to make people 44:32 more open to the topic of what the Bible says about death? 44:35 Or am I preaching the topic of death in such a way that 44:40 when I get done, they have a better picture 44:43 of what my Jesus is like? 44:46 That is the difference. 44:49 That, I believe, our God is calling us to. 44:54 And so, what is this glory that lights the world? 44:57 And how would this apply to sharing the three angels 45:00 messages with people? 45:01 Well, let me ask you this. 45:03 What is the Sabbath truth? 45:08 Now it's interesting, I've tried this. 45:10 You ask an audience of Seventh-day Adventist Christians 45:13 what the Sabbath truth is, and what do they tell you? 45:18 The vast majority will tell you, well, that Saturday is the 45:21 Sabbath, not Sunday. 45:23 Something along that. Not exact words, but that. 45:26 My friends, that is truth. 45:30 But that's not the Sabbath truth. 45:33 That's not going to move people. 45:36 That doesn't say anything about who God is, 45:39 just that bare fact. 45:42 I mean, here, let me give you another bit of truth. 45:44 Let's see how well this moves you. 45:46 Ten plus ten is twenty. 45:52 Did that really get your heart beating? 45:55 It's the truth, yes or no? 45:58 But it's just a dry fact. 46:02 My friends, the Sabbath truth embodies so much more 46:06 than the fact that Saturday is the Sabbath instead of Sunday. 46:10 I mean, it reaches back to creation. 46:13 It points to how God made this world. 46:18 Not that it was theistic evolution, 46:22 that God created through a process of pain 46:25 and death and horror. 46:27 But no. 46:29 That our God made a sinless world in six days 46:31 and rested on the seventh. 46:34 That He planned a date day, a date day, a go on a date 46:40 relationship day with His creation from creation week. 46:46 And that He loves us so much He says, "I'm going to have this 46:49 special time with you every day." 46:52 It points also, embodied in the Sabbath, to how Jesus 46:58 as the Creator is also the re-Creator. 47:02 And at the cross on Friday, He said, "It is finished." 47:05 Just like He did creation week. 47:07 And He rested in the grave over the Sabbath hours. 47:09 And on Sunday morning, He said, "Now it's time to get up 47:12 and go back to work. 47:14 Now they're going to need to mediator." 47:16 And we have a living Savior. 47:18 The Sabbath truth embodies all of that, and so much more. 47:22 The mere bare fact that Saturday is the Sabbath, not Sunday; 47:26 that's not what we're called to proclaim. 47:29 At least not all. 47:30 My friends, we're called to proclaim the truth about 47:32 who God is. 47:34 And that's why it matters. 47:39 You know, I like to go to the gym some. 47:43 I was at the gym to work out. 47:46 And while I was at the gym, I began to visit and talk with 47:51 an elderly gentleman there. 47:54 And we talked and he found out I was from Mississippi 47:57 and that I went to school some in California. 48:00 And he said, "What are you doing though 48:01 here in Springfield, Missouri?" 48:03 I said, "Well actually, I'm a minister." 48:06 And he said, "Really? What church?" 48:07 I said, "The Seventh-day Adventist Church here in town." 48:11 He said, "Okay." 48:13 A couple of moments went by and then he started the 48:16 conversation up again. 48:17 He said, "Well, what's different about your church? 48:20 I mean, every church is a little different somehow. 48:23 What's different about your church?" 48:26 Well, in the past when I've been asked 48:30 what's different about my church... 48:31 Seventh-day Adventist, I mean. 48:33 What's the easy way to explain it? 48:37 Well, you know, it's in our name. 48:40 Right? 48:41 Seventh-day; we go to church on Saturday. 48:43 And Adventist; we believe Jesus is coming. 48:46 I'm not saying anything is wrong with that. 48:48 That's a fair way to explain it. 48:50 That's the way I would usually explain it. 48:52 But after I'd had this experience that I'm 48:55 sharing with you tonight, I had to try something different. 48:59 I'd never really accomplished much with that answer anyway. 49:03 Quite frankly. 49:04 Usually, the conversation was over by the time 49:07 I got done explaining it. 49:09 I don't know if you've ever had that experience as well or not, 49:11 but they heard enough, okay. 49:14 No, I said, "Well, what's different about my church, 49:16 sir, is what we believe about who God is." 49:23 And then I didn't say nothing else. 49:27 And there was silence as he did his thing and I did my thing. 49:30 Silence. 49:32 And finally, a few minutes passed, he said, 49:37 "I know you're baiting me. 49:40 But I have to ask, what do you mean what is different about 49:44 your church is what you believe about who God is?" 49:49 I said, "Well with your permission, I'd like to 49:50 take a few minutes and tell you." 49:52 He said, "Well, go for it." 49:55 And I said, "Well, it's in our name; Seventh-day Adventist. 50:02 The seventh day points to creation. 50:04 It's the memorial of God's creative power. 50:07 And the fact that God made the world in six days," I said, 50:10 "we don't believe in evolutionary teaching. 50:13 We don't believe that God guided a process of evolution 50:17 which puts death before its biblical cause, which is sin. 50:22 We don't believe that God created through all that pain 50:25 and agony and horror and death. 50:27 We believe that God made a sinless world, 50:29 like the Bible says. 50:31 But that God prized freedom of choice above all other things. 50:35 He gave Adam and Eve freedom of choice. 50:39 And they chose to rebel against God. 50:42 And because of that, that's why we have all of the 50:45 problems and the sin and the agony in this world today. 50:51 But, God has that Sabbath day there as a reminder 50:56 of His goodness, His creative power. 50:59 And also as a day for relationship with us." 51:02 And then I pointed to the cross and how He said, 51:05 "It is finished," and died on Friday and was in the 51:07 grave over the Sabbath. 51:08 And so I brought the cross out. 51:10 And I said, "And very soon, Jesus is coming again. 51:15 He allows sin to run its course and go just long enough 51:18 that every person that can be saved will be. 51:21 And so that He knows that sin will never 51:24 arise again in the universe. 51:26 You see, Nahum 1:9 says, 'Affliction shall not rise up 51:30 the second time.' 51:32 But God never removes our freedom of choice. 51:37 He's such a good and awesome God. 51:39 During the millennium, as we go through the process 51:42 God has for us, then the ceaseless ages of eternity 51:46 will role, and sin will never rise up again." 51:54 And I said, "And even when it comes to hellfire, 51:56 we believe that there is a real hellfire. 51:58 The Bible speaks of it. 52:00 But there are so many verses that many churches don't look at 52:03 that explain how that the wicked are destroyed. 52:08 That they're not going to be burned and tortured through 52:13 the unending ceaseless ages of eternity. 52:16 That if God were to let them continue in His presence, 52:19 they would be miserable. 52:21 They would have the conviction upon them 52:25 that the weight of sin was on Jesus in the 52:28 garden of Gethsemane. 52:30 And the revealing of the perfect glory and character of God 52:35 would be agony for them. 52:36 And so God, in His mercy, allows them to be 52:39 put out of their misery." 52:43 And I said, "And then there's a perfect and sinless world 52:46 like there was in the beginning." 52:50 And he was listening to all of this. 52:53 This was a new concept, a new approach, 52:56 for this man. 52:58 And he said, "I have never heard it put like that. 53:02 I may come visit your church some time." 53:04 I haven't seen him yet. 53:06 But he might show up. 53:08 But I was able to cover so much more ground 53:11 in just a few minutes with this fellow at the gym. 53:14 I wouldn't have covered it that way in an evangelistic meeting. 53:17 Not that quick, not that much all at once. 53:19 But I discovered that I was able to share new things quicker 53:24 because the way I was sharing them was not saying, 53:27 "What I do is right and what you do is wrong." 53:30 It was sharing, "This is what my God is like. 53:34 This is what my God is like. 53:36 And that's why it means so much to me. 53:39 That is why it is so special." 53:42 Let me share a quote with you. 53:44 "The last message of mercy to be given to the world 53:49 is a Revelation of His character of love." 53:56 As we look here, that's Christ's Object Lessons, page 415. 54:01 One of my favorite books in all the world on the 54:05 life and teachings, especially the parables, of Jesus. 54:10 You know, in John 12 and verse 32, Jesus said, 54:14 "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me." 54:20 You know, Jesus came. 54:22 And as Jesus went around and ministered to the people 54:25 of the world, we see His loving character, we see His goodness. 54:30 And my friends, you realize that Jesus said, "If you've seen Me, 54:35 you've seen the Father." 54:36 That He was showing us the love, the care, the compassion, 54:39 of our heavenly Father. 54:41 His character counts. 54:44 And my friends, I don't believe it's too far off 54:46 that the world will be illuminated, that it will be 54:50 lightened with His glory. 54:53 Praise God. 54:55 As we look at these truths, I think of another verse. 54:59 I think of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15. 55:03 Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15. 55:06 It says it here, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15. 55:13 Ephesians 4:15 55:15 "But speaking the truth..." How? 55:20 "...in love, may grow up into Him in all things, 55:26 which is the head, even Christ." 55:31 My friends, it's time that we speak the truth in love. 55:37 That we lift Jesus up like never before. 55:41 "I can tell you that there is one great central truth," 55:44 listen to this, "to be kept ever before the mind in the 55:47 searching of the Scriptures; Christ and Him crucified. 55:50 Every other truth is invested with influence and power 55:55 corresponding to its relation to this theme." 55:58 The Faith I Live By, page 50. 56:01 "Every other truth," death, hell, baptism, the Sabbath, 56:06 the second coming, "Every other truth is invested 56:10 with influence and power corresponding to its 56:13 relation to..." What? 56:16 Christ and Him crucified. 56:20 My friends, I believe that God is getting 56:22 ready to do something. 56:24 And that is to reveal His character, His love, 56:28 more fully to you and me. 56:31 I believe that we're going to be changed more and more 56:34 as we think of His love and mercy. 56:37 That we're going to be changed from the inside out. 56:41 And that we're going to see that while God, 56:44 He's infinitely good, and we're going to think about that. 56:48 We're going to dwell upon His goodness and His mercy 56:50 and character, and it's going to change us. 56:53 And in turn, a message is going to flow out of us 56:58 that doesn't come from us. 56:59 It comes from Him. 57:01 That flows then out of us. 57:03 We become conduits to share with others 57:06 to light the world with the message of the mercy 57:11 and the goodness and the character of our God. 57:17 And my friends, what I want to ask you at this point... 57:20 Is it your desire, by God's glory, to be part of this 57:24 message that lights the earth with His glory? 57:28 Amen and amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17