Participants: Lee Venden
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000124
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
00:15 live from the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:22 Hello and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:24 Thank you for joining us this beautiful Sabbath morning. 00:27 It's spring here in southern Illinois. 00:30 Beautiful weather, right? 00:31 - You been enjoying it? - I've been enjoying it. 00:32 You've had to stay in quite a bit. 00:34 You're studying the work in your heart. 00:36 It's okay, I get to look out and see the sun shining. 00:39 We have Pastor Lee Venden with us. 00:41 If you haven't been watching this series, you can get it; 00:44 Anchors Of Truth with Pastor Lee Venden. 00:46 I've listened to the sermons the last three nights, 00:49 and you have given me... 00:50 And I mentioned to you behind back stage, 00:53 you're like; we have a big boat, but sometimes 00:55 we don't have a motor. 00:57 You're giving us the motor. 00:58 The power behind the truths that we teach, the biblical truths 01:03 espoused by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 01:05 is powered by the Holy Spirit. 01:08 It's powered by a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 01:11 Thank you so much for bringing us. 01:13 Sometimes we get so caught up, Elder Venden, 01:16 in our do's and don'ts, and all of our doctrines, 01:19 we leave out Jesus. 01:21 That would be a tragedy. 01:22 Thank you for devoting your life. 01:24 You're not the only one in your family that's done this. 01:27 The Venden's are known for this, bringing us back. 01:31 People have been asking a number of questions. 01:33 So I want to ask you one quickly, is that alright? 01:34 Well, I'll try. 01:36 I have it written down. 01:38 It says, "We believe the teachings on 01:39 righteousness by faith that you have brought us 01:41 are present truth. 01:43 You have shown us from the Bible that we are saved 01:46 through faith and not our works. 01:48 This has been confirmed and you have confirmed this 01:50 through many quotes of the spirit of prophecy 01:52 that you've shared with us. 01:54 Now we also believe, as you do, God has commissioned the 01:58 SDA Church to proclaim present truth to the world. 02:01 My question, does the Christian's acceptance 02:05 of righteousness by faith negate the need for proclaiming 02:09 other present truth doctrine, such as the seventh day Sabbath, 02:12 the mark of the beast, the state of the dead, 02:14 the timeline prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, 02:17 etcetera, etcetera?" 02:19 Well not only does it not negate them, 02:21 it is the core of every one of them. 02:24 You mentioned just a moment ago, the motor 02:26 that powers the boat. 02:29 I have fourteen quotations that I have gathered over the years 02:32 that I keep in the cover of my Bible. 02:34 From the same author you just referred to. 02:37 And everyone of those quotations summarized would say this; 02:41 "Unless Jesus is seen as the heart and core and central 02:44 pivotal theme of each of our pillar doctrines, 02:47 they have not yet been taught correctly." 02:49 So the cool thing is, when we get Jesus in our pillars 02:52 to where they are, you know, kissing, they're embracing, 02:55 they're one, then we've got them. 02:57 We've got the one-two punch. 02:58 We've got the winning dynamic. 03:00 But yeah I totally embrace them, with Jesus 03:04 as the center of each one. 03:05 Absolutely. 03:07 And what that does, when that happens and we develop that 03:09 personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, 03:12 then it's He that shines out and not ourselves. 03:15 I remember when I was young, I grew up in a pretty legalistic 03:19 era in a church, and even when I was a kid I'd take 03:24 my Bible to school to beat up other kids. 03:28 I was going to prove to them that they were wrong. 03:31 Now that's an extreme. 03:33 So we don't want to go to that extreme. 03:35 But once I fell in love with Jesus, everything changes. 03:39 And as I said before, that's the power of the gospel. 03:43 That's the power of present truth. 03:45 So sometimes we do get so far to either side. 03:48 But thankfully, I'm so thankful that 3ABN is a tool that God 03:52 is allowing us to... 03:54 He's allowing us as frail human beings to have a tool 03:58 that can disseminate this gospel of the kingdom 04:01 into all the world. 04:02 Present truth to a lost and dying world. 04:05 Most of all, as you have said, relationship 04:08 with the Lord Jesus Christ. 04:10 I'm so thankful that you're here. 04:12 Thank you for what you're doing. 04:13 We're going to pray for you, and you're going to be speaking 04:16 in just a few moments, but before you come 04:18 we have Dr. Yvonne Lewis. 04:19 She's going to be singing a song that I heard you repeating 04:22 the words to back there a while ago, 04:24 Great Is Thy Faithfulness. 04:27 And so Dr. Lewis, it's good to have her. 04:29 She is the manager of our "Dare To Dream" network. 04:32 And Yvonne, thank you for being here. 04:34 And we love you, appreciate you, and so much admire 04:37 what you do for the cause of Jesus on this earth. 04:54 Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; 05:03 there is no shadow of turning with Thee. 05:11 Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; 05:19 as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. 05:27 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 05:35 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 05:43 All I have needed Thy hands hath provided; 05:51 great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 06:06 Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, 06:14 sun, moon, and stars in their courses above 06:22 join with all nature in manifold witness 06:30 to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. 06:39 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 06:47 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 06:55 All I have needed Thy hands hath provided; 07:03 great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 07:18 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth; 07:25 Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. 07:34 Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow; 07:42 blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside. 07:50 Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 07:58 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 08:07 All I have needed Thy hands hath provided; 08:15 great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 08:23 All I have needed Thy hands hath provided; 08:31 great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 09:02 If it wasn't for His faithfulness, 09:04 we'd be in a heap of trouble. 09:07 Morning by morning new mercies I see. 09:11 Just this morning, fresh mercies as I was on my knees with Jesus. 09:15 And I want to get on my knees with Him one more time. 09:18 Heavenly Father, thank You for that great faithfulness. 09:24 Thank You for sending us Jesus. 09:26 And Jesus, thank You for coming. 09:28 Thank You for promising to come again. 09:31 Thank You that You told a dying thief You'd remember him. 09:34 That You haven't forgotten any of Your friends down here. 09:37 And thank You that I can be one of Your friends. 09:39 And I'm asking for You to remember me right now 09:41 in a very special way. 09:44 I think about Mother Teresa saying, "I just want to be 09:47 a pencil in the hand of God." 09:50 And that's what I want today right now for myself. 09:53 I want to be a pencil, I want You to use me. 09:56 If You need to, Lord, please sharpen the pencil. 10:00 Whatever it takes. 10:01 Crowd sin and self out of me, out of all of us, 10:05 as we look together in Your direction. 10:06 And open Your Word to us with such a power 10:10 that we see spiritually and we hear spiritually. 10:13 And it's more than words, and it's more than information. 10:16 It goes to our hearts. 10:17 That's my prayer for every one of us. 10:19 In Jesus' name, amen. 10:24 I don't know if you have ever struggled along with this, 10:27 but sometimes, even in those we love the most, 10:30 family members, moms and dads, we see characteristics 10:36 that we say, "When I'm an adult, I'm going to 10:38 make a little bit of a difference in that way. 10:39 I'm not going to go quite that extreme here or there. 10:42 I'm going to do a little more of this or a little more of that." 10:44 And you know, then as we grow we discover we're doing 10:47 the very thing we that said we were going to try and be careful 10:50 to be a little different in. 10:51 And I think that was what the writer was thinking when 10:55 they wrote this little thing that I saw in a touristy 10:58 gift shop one time. 10:59 It was a little plaque and it said these words, 11:02 it said, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, 11:06 I am my mother after all." 11:10 Today, we're going to take a look at a beast 11:14 in a book called the book of Revelation. 11:17 It happens to be Jesus' own book. 11:19 And we're looking for Jesus, and we're looking for 11:21 personal applications relative to Jesus 11:26 as we focus on His book. 11:29 And so we're going to take a look here at a portion of 11:34 Revelation 14, which is often referred to as 11:37 the three angels' messages. 11:39 We're going to look at verses 9 through 11. 12:06 Now, several things pop up in this chapter 14. 12:11 First of all there's a beast. 12:13 Secondly, there is an image. 12:15 The beast has an image. 12:17 Thirdly, there is a mark associated with the beast. 12:20 And then in conjunction with chapter 14 and Revelation 13, 12:23 we have the name, the beast has, and a number, 12:28 the beast has. 12:29 And as you look at all of this in prophetic literature, 12:32 it can sometimes appear somewhat mystical. 12:35 Maybe even somewhat confusing. 12:37 But in the next chapter, Revelation 15, 12:41 we are told that the saints are one day going to be 12:44 gathered alongside a sea that looks like glass, 12:46 and they're going to sing a song. 12:48 I don't know if you've ever been to summer camp, 12:50 but I can remember being at the camp fire bowl 12:53 at summer camp as the sun was going down. 12:56 And the lake out there all smooth like glass 12:58 reflecting the glory of the sunset 13:00 as we're singing songs. 13:02 And somehow in my mind, I'm envisioning the saints 13:06 singing a song beside the sea that looks like glass 13:10 mingled with fire. 13:12 It says about them in chapter 15 verse 2... 13:37 The verse continues, verse 3 goes on. 13:38 I'm not going to add that one, but then it says 13:40 they were singing a song. 13:41 So picture these saints singing this song. 13:48 Do you think they're going to know what they're singing about? 13:51 Do you think? 13:52 Can you imagine one of the saints, in the middle of singing 13:54 and playing the harp to accompany themselves, 13:56 turning to another one of the saints and saying to him, 13:58 you know, a little bit of an elbow, "Excuse me. 14:00 This is a beautiful song. 14:01 I love the tune. 14:03 I love everything about it. 14:06 The harmonies are awesome. 14:07 But what's the beast though? 14:10 And that number and that mark and that name? 14:13 Can you give me a little... 14:14 I'm not sure what we're singing about. 14:15 I like the tune, but what are we singing about?" 14:18 Can you imagine that kind of conversation? 14:20 I can't. 14:21 No, I think that they're going to know what they got 14:23 victory over or they wouldn't be singing about it, right? 14:26 They're going to know. 14:28 Well, maybe they will know, but do we know? 14:33 Are we clear? 14:34 Could we have any confusion? 14:36 Perhaps. Perhaps not. 14:38 Let's take a little look and find out. 14:41 When you consider Revelation, particularly chapter 13, 14:46 and the book of Daniel, another prophetic book, 14:48 particularly chapter 7, there are numerous ways of 14:51 identifying who the beast is. 14:55 And many have done that. 14:56 And so I probably for the most part would be just 14:59 repeating material that many of you are familiar with. 15:02 But just a couple of the identifiers, perhaps, 15:08 will help us as we sort of set the platform for where 15:10 we're going this morning. 15:12 The beast, as you look in Revelation 13 and in Daniel 7, 15:15 has tremendous power over the entire world. 15:18 Over all the world. 15:20 Okay, that's one of the identifiers. 15:22 Another of the identifiers is, this beast springs out of Rome. 15:28 And Rome is identified in the book of Daniel as the 15:31 fourth world power in a chain of world powers. 15:36 So this beast springs out of Rome, 15:38 which is the fourth world power. 15:40 So it becomes next in sequence. 15:42 Alright, we're just looking for identifiers. 15:45 This beast speaks against God. 15:48 This beast blasphemes His name and His dwelling place, 15:53 His sanctuary. 15:54 The beast actually rules with power and persecutes 15:59 the saints, Scripture says, for a period of 1260 years. 16:06 Daniel also tells us that the beast thinks to change 16:11 times and laws. 16:12 Thinks to change them. 16:14 The idea that it thinks to change them implies that it 16:17 can't really do it, but it's thinking that it's going to try. 16:20 Alright? 16:22 So now, one more of the identifiers about this beast 16:26 is that it is described as a different power than the 16:30 ones that preceded it. 16:32 It's different. 16:33 There's something different about this beast power. 16:36 It is a combination power. 16:40 The others have been what you would call political powers. 16:43 This next beast is a combination power. 16:48 Well, what followed Rome in the sequence? 16:54 Pagan Rome transferred its power to papal Rome, 17:01 which was a religious political power. 17:07 Now we have a new power on the scene. 17:08 This is different than the ones before it. 17:10 What follows Rome is a combination power. 17:14 So pagan Rome transfers the power to papal Rome. 17:19 Now, must I be a church prelate sitting on a throne in Europe 17:29 to qualify for what this beast represents? 17:33 This is the question we're going to probe into here. 17:36 This is the question. 17:37 See, prophetic literature is filled with symbols. 17:43 Nobody would deny that. 17:44 Prophetic literature is filled with symbols. 17:47 And it's filled with symbols for a reason. 17:49 God has a personal application that He would like us 17:53 to derive from the symbol. 17:56 And it would be tragic if we missed the application 18:00 and focused instead on the symbol. 18:04 See, He gave us the symbol to alert us to an application 18:09 that has personal relevancy. 18:15 I've got a good friend, Buddy Houghtaling. 18:18 I understand he has taped here at 3ABN many times. 18:23 One of the things I love about Buddy, 18:24 he's probably my favorite... 18:26 I shouldn't say, "probably." He is. 18:28 He's my favorite song writer and Christian musician. 18:30 I just love Buddy. 18:32 But one of the things that I enjoy about Buddy's music, 18:34 so many of his songs, just about every one of them, 18:36 they surprise you. 18:38 He starts off on a theme that you think, 18:40 "Well that's kind of neat," and all of a sudden he 18:42 twists and turns, and you find yourself getting a message 18:44 that you hadn't expected. 18:45 Before the song is over, you go, "Oh wow. 18:47 How did he do that? 18:48 That was kind of neat the way it worked." 18:51 I want to give you an example. 18:52 I actually printed out the lyrics to one of his songs 18:54 just a few minutes ago. 18:56 The song is entitled, My Nails. 18:58 And in this song, there's this fellow who's like the... 19:01 He owns the hardware store in Nazareth. 19:04 The Home Depot at Nazareth. 19:06 And in the song, the guy who owns the Home Depot in Nazareth 19:11 is telling about a fellow who has his own cabinet shop 19:14 there in town who keeps coming in to get materials. 19:16 And he brings his little boy with him. 19:18 And the fellow says the little boy is just a prince. 19:20 He's just a wonderful little guy. 19:22 And he says the father is teaching this little guy 19:24 the tricks of the trade and how to be a carpenter. 19:26 And he says, "I get to watch this guy grow, 19:29 this little guy grow, and he learns well. 19:31 And he does such a good job that people start coming from 19:35 miles around just to get a table or a chair 19:37 that this little guy has hand crafted." 19:39 He says he gets a reputation, in the song, 19:41 the little guy gets a reputation that is just unbelievable. 19:45 Everybody talks, "Hey, have you gotten any of the furniture 19:48 from that cabinet shop? 19:49 Because Joseph's son does wonders with wood." 19:53 And in the song that Buddy sings, the Home Depot guy, 20:00 he says, "Now, I'd just like to point out something. 20:03 The wood that the little guy uses, well that's my wood. 20:08 He bought that from me. 20:10 And the nails that he uses, well those are my nails. 20:14 So, I'd like to take a little credit, you know. 20:16 The work that he does is using my wood and my nails. 20:19 I'll take a little credit, thank you very much." 20:21 Trying to catch a ride on the reputation of the young man. 20:26 Well as the song continues... 20:27 I probably should have just played it, because 20:29 I'm taking longer to tell you the song than it would 20:31 take to listen to the song. 20:33 But as the song continues, the fellow says, "I made a lot of 20:35 money and I went off and I began to pursue 20:37 a lot of material stuff, and so on. 20:39 And my life kind of took a different path, 20:40 and the little guy went off in a different path. 20:42 And then one day, I happened to be coming outside the 20:45 city of Jerusalem and I saw a mob of people, 20:47 and they were doing something that caught my attention. 20:49 And I went over to where they were, and I realized 20:51 it was the little guy. 20:53 He's not little anymore. 20:54 And they're nailing him to a cross. 20:56 And all of a sudden, a flash of illumination came into my mind. 21:00 And I recognized something. 21:02 I said, wait a minute..." 21:04 Let me read you the last two stanzas. 21:08 "That's my wood. 21:11 The cross you laid Him on should be my wood, 21:14 because He's done nothing wrong. 21:16 You're pardoning the guilty and you're punishing the Good. 21:20 If things were like they should be, I'd be laying on that wood. 21:24 And those, those nails you've driven in His hands, 21:27 they should be my nails. 21:29 Oh can't you understand? 21:31 You've crucified Perfection and you've spared 21:33 the one who failed. 21:34 If everybody knew the truth, those are my nails." 21:39 You see how that song just, boom, reaches out and grabs you? 21:43 It just about had me in tears just now as I read it. 21:47 And Buddy would say, "Please don't get distracted with 21:51 the Home Depot guy. 21:53 Because the song is not about his products. 21:56 The song is about Jesus on the cross for you and me." 22:02 Don't miss the application because you got sidetracked 22:06 with the symbol. 22:08 You understand what I'm saying? 22:09 Did the song help illustrate my point? 22:12 For example, if I thought I was sick and I took a 22:14 thermometer and I put it in my mouth, 22:16 and I pulled it out again and it said I had a 22:18 temperature of 104.5, I would say, "Oh my word. 22:23 I need to get to a doctor." 22:25 The thermometer wasn't going to fix me. 22:28 The thermometer was going to direct me to where 22:30 I need to go to get help. 22:31 It's going to direct me to the physician, right? 22:34 So it'd be a shame for me to spend the rest of my illness 22:38 cradling the thermometer and looking at it 22:41 and trying to get all the intricate little detail 22:44 about that thermometer well blazed into my mind. 22:47 That would be a mistake. 22:48 Because the thermometer is just pointing me to something 22:51 far more important; get help from a physician. 22:55 Jesus is the great Physician. 22:57 This book is about Jesus. 22:59 And the symbols in this book are there to get us to Him. 23:04 That's what they're there for. 23:05 To get us to Him. 23:07 So I ask the question once again, 23:11 do I have to be a church prelate sitting on a throne in Europe 23:14 to qualify for what the beast symbolizes? 23:19 Symbolizes. 23:21 Rome has taken a lot of heat. 23:25 Some of it has been deserved. 23:27 And some of it has been undeserved. 23:30 And perhaps it even has an apology coming to it 23:34 for some of the undeserved heat that has been 23:36 directed towards Rome. 23:38 Protestants, including Seventh-day Adventists, 23:40 around the world for centuries have pointed fingers at Rome. 23:47 But we need to be very careful, because we need to recognize 23:49 that when you point a finger, you have three fingers 23:52 pointing back at yourself. 23:55 And it's easy to overlook the three fingers coming back 23:58 when we're so focused on the finger pointing away. 24:03 Michael Card, in a lyric of a song that he wrote, 24:05 says these words, "Judas, don't you come too close. 24:07 I fear that I might see the traitor's look upon your face 24:11 might look too much like me. 24:13 For just like you, I've sold the Lord; 24:15 and often for much less. 24:16 And like a wretched traitor, I've betrayed Him with a kiss." 24:20 Don't come too close, see. 24:22 One finger pointing at the beast, 24:25 three fingers could be pointing right back at us. 24:28 We need to be really careful that we understand 24:30 what the application is. 24:31 Are we safe if we aren't members of Rome's church? 24:36 Well let me show you a quotation from a little book called, 24:40 Selected Messages, page 406. 24:52 The first coming, now. 25:05 So let's just refresh ourselves. 25:07 Kind of do a quick summary or a paraphrase 25:09 of what was just read. 25:11 "Over and over again," the author says, "I have been 25:14 referred to the children of Israel at the time of 25:18 Christ's birth as examples of what the church will be like 25:24 just before Jesus comes." 25:27 She said that. 25:28 That's not my words, those are her words. 25:29 Alright? 25:30 Now let me read you one more thing. 25:33 This is taken from the book called, Great Controversy. 25:34 This is a book that Seventh-day Adventists 25:36 distribute and share with neighbors. 25:40 Page 568 says this... 25:54 Now, something I learned in algebra. 25:58 Two things equal to each other are also 26:01 equal to the same thing. 26:03 If A = B and B = C, then A = C. 26:07 Alright? 26:08 So let's put our thinking caps on for just a minute 26:10 and do a couple of little exercises in simple logic. 26:13 If she has been shown repeatedly that the church at the end 26:17 is very similar to the church at the first advent, 26:20 and if she says the church at the first advent had a striking 26:26 similarity to Rome, then it follows that the church 26:31 at the end will have a striking similarity to Rome. 26:36 Whoa, all of a sudden we have three fingers pointing back. 26:39 "Mirror, mirror on the wall. 26:41 I am my mother after all." 26:44 Whoa. 26:47 See, boiled down, the beast power... 26:49 And we've looked at it a little bit so far. 26:52 And this is just a compressed presentation series. 26:55 I mean, I have 22 presentations I'm boiling down into five. 27:00 So you know, you try to take a drink from a fire hydrant, 27:03 you're probably going to choke. 27:04 But that's what we're doing. 27:05 Alright? 27:07 But boiled down, the beast power simply represents 27:11 an organization that is built on the notion 27:15 that man can save himself. 27:18 That's the common denominator. 27:21 That you can depend on a man. 27:24 You can confess to a man, a man can forgive you. 27:27 A man even has power to absolve or to change laws 27:31 that God has written. 27:32 Man; it's a man based religion. 27:36 Alright? 27:37 So boiled down, the beast simply represents an organization 27:40 built on the notion that man has power to save himself. 27:42 In fact, written on the crown that Rome's leader wears 27:49 is a title; Vicarious Christi. 27:52 You look up the word, vicarious, in Webster's Dictionary 27:54 and it says, "in place of." 27:56 That's what vicarious means, in place of. 27:59 So Vicarious Christi actually translates, 28:02 "in place of Christ." 28:05 And so the crown says that there is a man sitting on a throne 28:09 who is able to act in place of Christ on earth. 28:12 So you see, here we have man depending on man. 28:17 In place of Christ. 28:21 Anywhere you have self dependence in a spiritual sense, 28:28 you have the beast. 28:29 And you don't have to be sitting on a throne with a crown 28:33 to be depending on yourself. 28:37 Do you hear me? 28:38 This goes across every denominational border. 28:44 It includes every human on the planet, regardless of whether 28:49 they are a Christian nation or a non-Christian nation. 28:52 Self-dependence is the beast's problem. 28:57 And it's the problem of the human race. 29:00 Depending on ourselves. 29:03 Is it possible for a church to be depending on itself 29:07 even if it has not been pinpointed in Scripture? 29:11 The answer is, yes. 29:12 Yes it is. 29:14 Have you ever heard somebody say, 29:17 "We need to rise up and finish the work." 29:20 Ever heard that phrase? 29:21 "We need to rise up and finish the work." 29:23 That sounds very similar to me of something that 29:25 Moses once said as he was preparing to get 29:27 water out of a rock. 29:28 Do you remember what he said? 29:29 "Must we bring forth water from this rock?" 29:33 The book of Romans says that when the work is finished, 29:35 God is going to finish it Himself. 29:36 So when I say, "Must we finish the work," 29:41 "Must we bring water out of the rock," 29:43 "We need to rise up and finish the work," 29:44 friends, we need to be very careful that self doesn't 29:46 somehow eclipse who it is that's going to finish the work. 29:49 When it's finally finished, He finishes it. 29:51 We're told the final movements will be rapid ones. 29:53 And the reason they'll be rapid ones is because 29:56 He steps up and takes off. 29:58 And when He does it, there's no more 29:59 dilly-dallying, no more lagging. 30:01 It's going to take off and it's going to go around the globe 30:04 like fire in stubble. 30:07 Okay, so it's possible for a church not pinpointed 30:12 in prophecy to depend upon itself. 30:14 But let's take this application deeper still. 30:16 Because don't forget, the church is not a headquarters 30:23 in Silver Springs, Maryland. 30:25 The church is made up of people. 30:27 We are the church. 30:29 The church is you and me. 30:31 And we don't want to hang on the organized 30:36 church what God intends for us to understand 30:40 and apply personally. 30:42 So let's go for the deeper application even yet. 30:44 Is it possible for me as an individual to be 30:47 depending upon myself? 30:50 Well friends, if I am not experiencing a meaningful 30:53 ongoing daily time alone with Christ for the purpose of 30:57 becoming better acquainted with Him through His Word 30:59 and through prayer, if He's not a focus of my life 31:02 on a daily basis in something more than a text for the day 31:05 with my hand on the doorknob, then I am living apart from Him. 31:09 Regardless of how I want to describe it, 31:11 I'm living apart from Him. 31:13 I am not in a meaningful intimate relationship 31:16 with Christ if all He hears from me is a prayer when I eat food 31:22 and maybe a song or two when I show up 31:24 on the weekend at church. 31:26 Friends spend a lot more time than that together. 31:29 They spend as much time as they possibly can spend. 31:32 And if Jesus and I are not in regular communion, 31:34 then I am depending upon myself regardless of what I say. 31:38 And if that's true, then the problem with the beast 31:41 is my problem too. 31:44 My problem too. Lee Venden's problem too. 31:47 Regardless of what day I go to church on, 31:49 I can have the problem of the beast. 31:53 We need not forget that. 31:55 Now remember, the beast appeared to have a 32:01 mortal wound, to receive a mortal wound. 32:04 If you've done a little bit of study on this, or heard others 32:06 present on it, this is something you're familiar with. 32:09 Revelation 13:3 says... 32:13 Though it appeared to be a fatal wound. 32:15 The reason that it says, "appeared," is because it didn't 32:17 turn out to be permanent. 32:27 Well this has not happened yet. 32:30 But Jesus showed John what would bring it about. 32:36 He said that there was going to be another beast in prophecy 32:39 that's going to be revealed. 32:40 And it's referred to as lamb-like beast 32:43 which speaks like a dragon. 32:45 Now, biblical studies and historical studies 32:48 by people who are far more skilled and experts than I 32:52 have identified the lamb-like beast as the United States, 32:58 or Protestant America. 33:00 Now we have noticed that the previous beast was a 33:04 religious political power. 33:07 Okay? 33:09 According to prophecy, that beast fades in power; 33:16 appears to have a mortal wound, fades in power. 33:20 And another power appears on the scene, Protestant America, 33:24 and resurrects the beast, or at least an image to the beast. 33:32 That forms an image to the beast. 33:33 Well what is an image? 33:36 An image is a replica that looks very much like the original. 33:43 That's what an image is, it's a replica that looks 33:46 very much like the original. 33:49 Therefore, the image to the beast must also be 33:55 a religious political power. 33:58 Or it wouldn't be very similar to the original. 34:02 Okay? 34:04 Now here's a paragraph some of you have read before from 34:06 Great Controversy, page 445. 34:34 Now take a deep breath and hang onto your seats. 34:37 If they have a seatbelt, you should put it on. 34:39 You should fasten it tight and low. 34:42 I'm not going to go into the deal about, you know, 34:44 your seat can be used as a floating device. 34:47 And that, you know, the oxygen will drop from above. 34:50 But you fasten your seatbelts for what 34:51 I'm going to show you next. 34:52 Just before I show it to you though, I'm going to remind 34:54 us of what we just read. 34:56 "When those leading churches unite on points they hold in 34:59 common and influence the state to enforce their decrees, 35:03 Protestant America will have formed an image 35:05 to the Roman Hierarchy. 35:07 Now here you go. 35:08 Great Controversy, page 449. 35:23 I don't know if you caught that. 35:26 I don't know if you caught that. 35:30 The image to the beast... 35:41 Did you catch it? Did you see it? 35:42 I didn't even change the words. 35:45 That's what it is. 35:52 Secular power is human power. 35:56 Have you ever tried to enforce a religious duty 36:01 in your own strength? 36:03 Have you ever made a new year's resolution? 36:08 Have you ever tried harder to be good? 36:14 Have you ever gritted your teeth and by determined effort 36:18 tried to stay away from something that you knew 36:21 you shouldn't do? 36:23 Have you ever burned all that stuff and thrown that out and 36:26 killed your television and done this and done that 36:29 because you're going to try and make sure that 36:31 you don't fall when the... 36:33 "I'm going to try and be a better person, 36:35 going to try and get a handle on it, 36:36 going to try and produce a Christ-like character." 36:39 Have you ever tried to do this in your strength? 36:42 People say, "Well I know I couldn't do it in my own 36:44 strength, but wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute." 36:46 If I'm not daily in communion and fellowship with Jesus, 36:50 I am in my own strength. 36:52 And if I'm trying to enforce religious duty 36:55 while I am not in a personal relationship with Jesus, 36:58 I am enforcing it in my own strength. 37:00 Which happens to be the image to the beast. 37:06 Whoa. 37:08 The image to the beast is enforcing a religious duty 37:12 with secular power. 37:17 We say, "God helps those who help themselves. 37:20 Got to do your part." 37:24 We have all sorts of psychological 37:25 and humanistic gimmicks for behavior modification. 37:32 Picture yourself thin. 37:34 Positive thinking. Possibility thinking. 37:41 Far too many counselors, analysts, and psychiatrists 37:43 will tell you, "You can do it. 37:44 You just need to have the right attitude. 37:46 You just need to get a handle on things. 37:48 You just need to be more determined. 37:49 You just need to be more methodical." 37:50 I even have heard one line of thinking 37:53 that you just need to reprogram the little synopses 37:55 and pathways in your brain. 37:56 And you can reprogram them by six weeks of habitually 37:58 doing something, and eventually it reprograms your brain. 38:01 And all of a sudden, you have righteousness by reprogramming. 38:04 Just reprogram your brain. 38:06 Get those little synopses going off in the right direction. 38:08 That is enforcing a religious duty with secular power. 38:13 Human power. That is an image to the beast. 38:20 Whenever I am forcing myself to be obedient, 38:23 I am a victim of the beast. 38:25 Understanding where the power for victory and overcoming lies, 38:30 and on Whom we are to depend, is what brings 38:34 the revival of the three angels. 38:36 Actually, it is. 38:37 What brings on the revival of the three angels 38:40 is understanding upon Whom we are to depend 38:41 and where victory and power come from. 38:43 That's what it is, it's on a Person. 38:45 It's on a personal relationship with Jesus. 38:47 Now I'm going to tell you, those preachers who 38:49 preach about righteousness by faith in Christ alone... 38:52 Or sometimes we refer to it as salvation 38:55 by faith in Christ alone. 38:56 Because salvation is an even more inclusive word. 38:58 Those who preach this are sometimes misunderstood 39:04 and are sometimes accused of being soft on obedience. 39:10 I can't tell you the number of times I've been accused of 39:12 being soft on obedience. 39:15 "Well, he doesn't talk about obedience 39:16 like others I've heard. 39:18 And so, you know, all he wants to talk about is 39:20 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. 39:21 Just love Jesus. Have a friendship with Jesus. 39:23 Everything else doesn't matter, just as long as you love Jesus." 39:27 Well that is a tragic misunderstanding. 39:31 A tragic misunderstanding. 39:35 People who preach righteousness by faith, 39:37 the real deal, not some imitation version of it, 39:43 but the real deal, are very interested in obedience. 39:47 Very interested in obedience. 39:49 In fact, I will suggest to you they are the most interested 39:52 in obedience of anybody on the planet. 39:54 And here's why. 39:55 There's only one way to produce genuine obedience; 39:59 it comes from the inside, not the outside. 40:01 And our very first presentation, we pointed out that the problem 40:04 with the church at Laodicea is they focus on externals. 40:07 They are working on trying to make the 40:09 outside of the cup look good. 40:10 That is phony obedience. 40:13 And yet, more than 50% of the church known as Laodicea 40:16 is working on it from that approach. 40:18 What does that mean? 40:20 That means they're not serious about obedience. 40:22 It means they're soft on obedience because 40:23 they're willing to accept an external version of it 40:25 rather than go for the real thing. 40:27 The real thing only comes from within the context 40:31 of a loving ongoing daily relationship with Christ. 40:34 That's the only way the real thing comes. 40:37 So when you focus on righteousness by faith 40:39 in Christ alone, you're looking at the only 40:41 possible way to produce real obedience. 40:44 Now I talked to somebody just last week who told me that, 40:48 "I hear people talk about Jesus and I don't see any changes 40:51 in those congregations." 40:52 Well I'm going to tell you what. 40:54 There are congregations of people who say they love to 40:58 hear about Jesus and still don't go back and spend 41:01 time with Him on a daily basis. 41:04 You're not going to become like Him if you're not 41:06 spending time with Him. 41:07 It's not enough to talk about Him on the weekend. 41:13 There's two kinds of legalists. 41:18 They look like opposites. 41:20 There's one group who find their assurance based on the 41:23 rules they keep and the stuff they avoid. 41:27 That's one kind. 41:28 We call them the conservative legalists. 41:31 There's another legalist though. 41:32 It's the liberal legalist. 41:35 And the liberal legalist finds his assurance 41:38 in the rules he doesn't have to worry about anymore, 41:40 because he believes in grace. 41:43 He's still focusing on the rules, 41:44 he's just saying, "I don't have to worry about them." 41:45 But his focus for assurance is still based on rules. 41:48 It's still rules based, it's on the rules 41:49 he doesn't worry about. 41:50 They're both focusing on the rules. 41:52 Neither one of them have a personal relationship 41:54 with Jesus, which is the only solution for all of us. 41:56 A personal relationship. 41:58 I don't want to fall in either dish. 42:00 I want to be in the middle of the arms of Jesus. 42:05 That's where I want to be. 42:09 Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is the most deceitful 42:12 thing there is and desperately wicked..." 42:17 Couple that with Proverbs 20 verse 9... 42:25 I could give you just a ton of Scriptures that make it clear 42:31 from the Bible that man cannot change the inside. 42:35 Man can't do it. 42:36 Can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin 42:38 or the leopard remove his spots? 42:39 Neither can you. We're accustomed to evil. 42:41 Perform good works; you can't. 42:43 Oh there's all kinds of them. 42:44 None righteous, no not one. 42:46 On and on they go. 42:50 We cannot... 42:52 Even a heart surgeon of the highest caliber cannot 42:56 perform his own triple bypass. 42:59 Somebody else is going to have to do it. 43:00 See, our problem is we have heart trouble. 43:04 And we can't fix our hearts. 43:06 There's only one great Physician who can fix the kind of 43:09 heart trouble that we have. 43:11 Someone else is going to have to do it for us, 43:13 because we cannot do it for Him. 43:15 We noted earlier that the problem with Laodicea 43:18 was it focused on external goodness. 43:19 Now I want to show you where true obedience comes from. 43:22 This is a little bit longer of a quotation than you're 43:24 customarily use to, because it's going to take a few 43:27 moments for me to unpack it. 43:28 But I'm going to put it on the screen anyway. 43:29 It's classic. In, Desires Of Ages, page 668. 43:33 It starts out by saying this... 43:38 Now the word, "true," the author inserts 43:40 the word, "true," on purpose. 43:42 The author wants us to make sure that we know that there's a 43:43 difference between true obedience and false obedience. 43:46 False obedience is the kind Laodicea is known for. 43:49 It's external goodness. 43:50 It is focusing on rules and regulations without having 43:53 a personal relationship with Jesus. 43:54 That's external. That's false obedience. 43:56 Now the author is saying, of Desire Of Ages is saying, 43:59 "Now true obedience however, true obedience..." 44:23 I'm going to pause in that quotation for a moment 44:25 because I want to unpack for just a minute, 44:26 and we'll come back and finish it in just a second. 44:28 But did you catch that? 44:30 It said that if we will consent, Jesus will come in. 44:34 Through an abiding relationship that we have and maintain 44:37 with Him, He will come in. 44:38 And as He dwells within, He will so transform us 44:42 from the inside out that we will actually find ourselves 44:47 delighting to do His will. 44:51 Obedience will become a delight. 44:53 Something that we actually find joy in. 44:58 I mean, think about it. 44:59 Have you ever had a doctor do a little exam on you, 45:02 a little, what do they call it, physical? 45:06 And he's got you sitting on a table and gets his little 45:08 rubber mallet, you know, and he hits you right here. 45:10 And you go, boom. 45:12 He's checking your reflex, right? 45:15 I remember trying to fool a guy. 45:16 You know I thought, "I'm not going to do it," you know. 45:18 I'm going to fool him, he's going to think I've got 45:19 something wrong, because I'm not going to kick out, you know. 45:22 So he goes like that and I'm like... 45:25 He does it again... 45:27 You see, you can't. 45:28 It's reflexive. 45:30 It's so part of you that you can't keep from not doing it. 45:33 And it says that He wants to so identify Himself with us, 45:37 our thoughts and our desires, that when obeying Him 45:39 we'll be just carrying out our own reflexes. 45:42 You can't even keep it... 45:43 You're not working to do it because it becomes natural for 45:46 you to be like Jesus when Jesus lives His life through you. 45:50 It's wonderful. 45:51 Well let's finish the paragraph. 45:53 So how does it work? 46:02 If you delight to do something, is it hard for you to do it? 46:05 Oh, I delight in pure maple sugar candy. 46:11 Oh my. 46:12 We did a seminar in Vermont in the fall. 46:15 What a time to be there, right? 46:17 And oh, I mentioned that the river of life in heaven 46:22 will be flowing with pure maple syrup. 46:26 And they caught on. 46:27 And I can't tell you the amount of plunder 46:29 I got back from Vermont with. 46:31 Boy, I got some... 46:32 I tell you what, every time I eat one of those little 46:34 brown sugars, oh, I delight in it. 46:38 I just delight in it. 46:40 It's not hard for me to eat a piece of maple sugar candy. 46:43 And folks, it's okay. Right? 46:44 Because that's natural, it's normal. 46:46 This is like a healthful thing. 46:47 You find this stuff in health food stores. 46:50 Because it's natural. It's just... 46:53 So give me a little credit for picking the right kind. 46:58 But it's not hard for me to eat a piece, 47:00 because I delight in it. 47:02 I don't have to force myself to do it. 47:04 In fact, if I was going to use any kind of force 47:06 I'd have to force myself not to eat two pieces. 47:09 Because I delight in it, you understand. 47:13 Well, keep going. 47:14 I'm sort of dragging this thing on. 47:16 But I wanted to unpack a little as I went. 47:18 So here it goes, "The will, refined and sanctified, 47:20 finds its highest delight in doing His service." 47:22 Now here's the key right here. 47:28 Now you're talking relationship, friends. 47:46 Friends, do you see where victory comes? 47:49 Do you see where real obedience comes from? 47:51 It comes through appreciating the character of Christ 47:55 and communion with Him. 47:57 That's where real obedience comes from. 47:59 And anybody who is trying to obey apart from that 48:02 is victim to the beast. 48:04 It doesn't matter what church they go to. 48:06 They're a victim to the beast. 48:08 Because the beast is about enforcing a religious duty 48:12 through your own strength. 48:13 That's what it is. 48:16 Now it said that sin would actually become hateful to us. 48:20 If there's something you hate, do you have to try hard 48:23 to stay away from it? 48:25 I mean if you really hate it, literally hate it, 48:27 do you struggle to resist something you hate? 48:30 I hate snakes. 48:32 I just detest snakes. 48:34 I'm telling you, it doesn't matter what size the snake is. 48:36 You can come to me with a little snake and say, 48:38 "You know, Pastor Venden, it's just a little garter snake. 48:40 I mean, it's mouth isn't even big enough. 48:41 It couldn't even bite your little finger if it wanted to. 48:43 And they don't feel all clammy and slimy. 48:45 Here, just go ahead and touch it. 48:46 Just feel it. It'll be okay, Pastor Venden." 48:48 I say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." 48:53 We did a seminar in a town in Idaho. 48:57 It was a town, Grangeville, Idaho. 49:00 Full of ranchers and ranch kids. 49:03 And I told, as an illustration in one of our presentations, 49:07 that I was just terrified of snakes. 49:09 And you know what, the next night when we were 49:10 coming into the parking lot to come to that meeting 49:12 there's half a dozen little ranch kids standing outside 49:15 the door of the entrance to that building waiting for me. 49:17 And they're all saying, "Pastor Venden, Pastor Venden." 49:20 And I thought, "Oh, isn't that sweet. 49:23 They like me. Oh, they like me. 49:25 Oh, little ranch kids. Blessed little ranch kids, oh." 49:29 And they all have their hands out, 49:30 "Pastor Venden, Pastor Venden." 49:32 "Oh, they want to shake my hand, oh, oh." 49:35 And I go over, and suddenly I realize that everyone of them 49:37 has a live snake wrapped around. 49:40 And I'm thinking, "Ranch kids! 49:44 What's wrong with these kids?" 49:46 I'm telling you, I have the victory over snakes. 49:50 You can't tempt me with snakes. 49:52 I don't struggle to resist snakes. 49:54 I am out of here when snakes are around 49:57 because I hate them, I hate snakes. 50:00 Well if you hate something, it's not hard to stay away from it. 50:03 And did you follow that wonderful passage 50:07 that I just read? 50:08 It said, through communion and fellowship with Jesus 50:12 we will be brought to the point where we actually hate sin. 50:17 Hate it. 50:18 And if you hate it, you don't have to... 50:21 "I know I shouldn't do this." 50:24 Hateful. 50:26 If I passed a cup around to everybody here, 50:27 one of those 32 ounce cups, the big gulp cups, or whatever, 50:31 and I asked everybody in here to please spit in the cup. 50:32 Just pass it on back. 50:33 Everybody take a good spit and go on with that. 50:35 And then come on down, back to the back. 50:36 Back, back, back, back. Everybody spit. 50:38 Not just a wimpy spit. I mean dig down. 50:39 Come up with some real spit, okay. 50:41 And let's just say we get all the way back 50:43 over here to this side. 50:44 And let's just say that some of you have been thinking about 50:47 how you can't wait for this meeting to be over 50:49 because you want to get a drink. 50:50 Well, I can save you from having to wait till then. 50:53 I go over and get that cup of spit brimming full 50:55 and I come over to you and say, 50:56 "Here go ahead. Quench your thirst." 50:58 Are you tempted? 51:00 Do you have to say to me, "Pastor Venden, please. 51:02 Get behind me, because I know this isn't good for me. 51:04 In my mind, in my heart, I understand the principle 51:06 of spit is not good for me. 51:08 So on principle, I'm going to avoid that cup. 51:11 But it is a struggle, so please get it out of my 51:13 sight before I yield." 51:14 Is that how it works for you? 51:15 Do you have to white knuckle it? 51:17 Do you have to stiffen up your backbone and resolve? 51:20 Do you have to pull out some kind of a little book and 51:22 read something to help you stay away from spit? 51:24 No. 51:26 It's a disgusting illustration but you won't forget it. 51:31 And it makes the point. 51:32 Because if you have a relationship with Jesus 51:35 that's ongoing day by day, His promise to you 51:37 is that He will so live His life in you and so transform 51:42 your desires that looking at sin will be like 51:46 looking at a cup of spit for you. 51:48 Do you see why I say the only person who is serious about 51:52 obedience is the person who's focusing on 51:54 knowing Jesus better daily. 51:55 Do you see why I say that? 51:56 It's the only place you get real obedience. 51:58 People who preach salvation by faith in Christ alone 52:01 are not soft on obedience. 52:03 One more thing; the Sabbath. 52:04 I was asked if I believe the Sabbath was important. 52:06 Man, I do. Seventh day Sabbath. 52:08 I'm all for the seventh day Sabbath. 52:09 I'm even for some things that we often overlook. 52:12 Jesus, in Scripture, He says, "I give you My Sabbath 52:16 as a sign that I am the God who sanctifies you." 52:22 Now you think about that. 52:23 If there's one thing we know about the Sabbath, the fourth 52:26 commandment says man is to rest from his own labor. 52:29 Right? 52:30 We've got that part figured out. 52:32 But if He says, "I gave you My Sabbath as a sign 52:34 that I am the God who sanctifies you," 52:35 He's also telling you, "A Christ-like character, 52:38 victory and overcoming; the Sabbath is a symbol 52:40 that I do that for you because you can't do it for Me." 52:42 Man rests from his own labor at producing a 52:44 Christ-like character because Christ 52:46 is going to have to do that for you. 52:47 See, in the very beginning in Eden, they said, 52:49 "Let us make man in our image." 52:51 Why did they say that? 52:52 Because man couldn't make himself in God's image. 52:55 And 6000 years later, man still can't make himself 52:58 in God's image. 52:59 Only God can make man in God's image. 53:02 And it comes through a daily walk with Jesus. 53:05 That's where it comes from. 53:06 Which is the message of the three angel's. 53:08 An invitation to a fellowship with Christ 53:11 and a focus on righteousness in His faith. 53:13 The gold and the white raiment and the Holy Spirit, the salve. 53:16 We went over some of this earlier in the series. 53:18 It's the message of the three angel's. 53:21 Scripture is full of this wonderful promise. 53:23 Zechariah 4:6 says... 53:31 Who's in charge? 53:33 Last night we noticed that the fruits of the Spirit 53:36 are descriptors of a Christ-like character. 53:39 Did we not notice that? 53:40 Yeah, and they're the fruits of the Who? 53:43 The Spirit, not the fruits of the person. 53:45 See, the message of Scripture is, you don't try to enforce 53:49 a religious duty with secular power. 53:51 It's the fruit of the Spirit. 53:53 But how do you get the fruit of the Spirit? 53:55 In John 15 Jesus said, abide, abide, abide. 53:58 Depending on the translation you use, at least ten times 54:02 in six verses, it depends on the translation, 54:05 but ten times in six verses Jesus uses the word, "abide." 54:08 Abide. 54:09 This is His farewell speech. 54:11 He's on His way to Gethsemane, He's soon going to die. 54:13 It's His last chance with His disciples. 54:16 If you have one last chance with people that you love 54:18 before and you die and you had a chance to say something to them, 54:20 what would you tell them? 54:21 Something real important, right? 54:23 Like always brush your teeth and change your underwear every day. 54:26 No you wouldn't. 54:27 You would think of something that was really, 54:29 you know, a winner. 54:31 So here's Jesus, and what does He come up with as a winner? 54:34 Abide. 54:36 He says it over and over. 54:37 Abide is a relationship word. 54:39 It's another way of saying; cling to, be in communion with, 54:43 be in relationship with, depend upon. 54:45 He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. 54:49 If you abide in Me and I abide in you..." 54:51 You will what? 54:53 "...bear much fruit." 54:55 Jesus is not being soft on obedience even though He 54:58 doesn't even mention obedience as His farewell speech. 55:01 He's actually giving them the only cure for disobedience. 55:06 Jesus is actually being strong in obedience because 55:09 He's saying if you will focus on relationship; 55:11 abiding, abiding, abiding, 55:12 you will bear fruit; obedience, obedience, obedience. 55:15 So it's not soft on obedience to focus on abiding. 55:19 Do you understand what I'm saying. 55:21 Jesus did it. 55:22 And anybody who makes Jesus the center of their 55:25 presentations is doing it too. 55:27 And we don't want to, you know, overlook that. 55:32 2 Corinthians says... 55:42 It tells you what your part is, 55:44 and it tells you what His part is. 55:46 What's your part? Beholding who? The Lord. 55:49 So we're talking about keeping your eyes on Jesus. 55:51 We're talking about focusing on Jesus. 55:52 We're right back again to that daily relationship 55:54 and time alone with Him. 55:56 And it says if you will continue to focus on Jesus, 55:59 you will be transformed into His image. 56:00 Who's image? 56:02 Jesus' image. 56:03 If you were transformed into Jesus' image, 56:05 would it be safe to assume that you had a Christ-like character? 56:08 Okay. 56:09 And where does a Christ-like character come from? 56:11 As you focus on Jesus, you're transformed into His image 56:15 by the Spirit of the Lord. 56:18 So He says, "You focus on Me and I will take it from there. 56:22 I will make you obedient commandment keeping people. 56:25 I will do that if you will focus on Me." 56:28 Jesus is the heart of everything that's important in Scripture. 56:32 You know, He said to a group of people, 56:33 "You search the Scriptures because in them you think 56:35 you have eternal life, but they all point to Me. 56:37 So come to Me that you might have life." 56:40 And that's just what I want to pray for right now. 56:42 So let's do. 56:43 Lord Jesus, help us to realize that it's not 56:49 just some beast in Scripture that needs to be avoided, 56:55 but that all of us are being invited into a richer 56:58 deeper personal relationship with You. 57:01 Forgive us for looking past the personal application 57:05 and teach us to know You better and love You more, 57:08 is my prayer in Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17