Participants: Pr. David Klinedinst
Series Code: DPR
Program Code: DPR000017A
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00:09 Heavenly Father,
00:14 Lord here we are gathered again on night number seventeen. 00:18 Father we have heard so many precious truths from Your word. 00:22 Lord many of us are contemplating decisions in our minds 00:26 and we want to claim your promise in the book of James Lord 00:30 You said that whoever lacks wisdom 00:34 should ask You and that You would give liberally 00:38 so tonight we are asking Lord that you would give us spiritual wisdom and 00:42 spiritual knowledge that you would pour our your holy spirit 00:46 and just shed light on our christian walk so that each 00:50 of us may know the way in which you are leading. Thank You 00:54 for that promise, we pray in Your name Amen. 00:58 I wanna invite you to take your Bible and want you to go 01:02 right away to Revelation chapter 12 beginning in verse 01:06 13. Now you have noticed usually I start with a story 01:10 each night but we've got so much to cover I am just gonna dispose of the story 01:14 and we are gonna go right in to the prophecy so we will let the prophecy 01:18 be our introductory story for tonight. Revelation chapter 12 01:22 and I wanna read verse 13-17 01:26 which is really going to be a new prophecy for us 01:30 to study before I read it I want to give you the background of what 01:34 is happening on this chapter. in verses 7-12 01:39 revelation has just told us about the dragon 01:43 being cast out of heaven how Satan was once a loyal 01:47 angel in the kingdom of heaven named Lucifer and revelation says 01:51 that Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels 01:55 and so the dragon and the angels that followed him 01:59 were cast out and they were cast down to this earth. 02:03 That is what verses 7-12 talk about. We already studied that. 02:07 But then verse 13 picks up and it 02:11 talks about how the dragon now goes 02:15 after the woman. Let's pick it up in Revwelation 12 02:19 verse 13. The Bible says 02:23 now what when the dragon saw he had been cast 02:27 to the earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth 02:31 to the male child. But the woman was given two wings 02:35 of a great eagle and she might fly (where?) 02:39 into the wilderness to her place 02:43 where she in nourished for a time times 02:47 and half a time from the presence of the serpent so the serpent 02:51 spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman 02:55 that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood 02:59 but the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth 03:03 and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed 03:07 out of his mouth. Now notice verse 17, and the dragon 03:11 was enraged with the woman and went to make 03:15 war with the reast of her offspring or if you 03:19 have the king james, it says the dragon was wroth with the woman 03:23 and went to make war against (who?) the remnant 03:27 of her seed. who keep the commandments of God 03:31 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 03:35 Now we are gonna stop here for a second. Revelation is giving us a 03:39 picture of persecution. You have a dragon 03:43 and a serpent which is seeking to persecute the 03:47 woman by spewing floods of water out of its mouth. 03:51 It says the earth helps the woman and eventually the woman has to hide in the wilderness 03:55 has to hide in the wilderness for a period of time and 03:59 in verse 17 the dragon now goes after the 04:03 remnant of the woman. You say what 04:07 does all that mean? Well we are introduced to three symbols 04:11 in that passage I am going tona put all three on the screen 04:15 first you have the dragon and you have the serpent. Now we have learned 04:19 from previous prophecies, who does the dargon and the serpent represent? 04:23 you tell me, it represent Satan. And we have all learned 04:27 how the woman represent God's people or 04:31 God's church. So we are seeing here is 04:36 two periods of persecution that Revelation is representing 04:40 in verses 13 through 16 it is representing 04:44 the persecution of the Middle Ages. You say how do you 04:48 kow that? Notice it said that the devil or the dragon 04:53 or serpent was attacking the woman where she fled into the wilderness 04:57 for what perios of time? a time times 05:01 and half a time and if you were here a few nights 05:05 ago we have already learned that is referring to the 1260 05:09 years of Papal presecution that happen during 05:13 the Middle Ages in fact Revelation 12:6 clearly tells us that 05:17 time times and half a time and 1260 days 05:21 are the exact same thing. Remember we learned that Papal Rome 05:25 dominated from 538 to 1798 05:29 when church and state were united and 05:33 anyone who refused to follow the traditions of Rome anyone 05:37 who wanted only to follow only what the Bible said was considered to 05:41 be a heretic and they were persecuted and 05:45 so it is this period of earth's history that revelation refers to 05:49 the woman or God's people having to hide in the wilderness 05:53 because this is the time of Papal persecution 05:57 it says that the serpent spew water out of its mouth 06:01 that flood is the flood of persecution 06:05 the second period of persecution being mentioned 06:09 is now in verse 17 because apparently 06:13 the dragon the serpent which is used interchangeably there not 06:17 successful in destroying God's people in the middle ages 06:21 so now in verse 17 we are reaching to the end of time 06:25 and now the dragon is persecuting 06:29 the remannt God's end time people 06:33 in the last days and what is significant 06:37 about verse 17 is I want you to notice how 06:41 it describes God's remnant at the end of time 06:45 I wanna read verse 17 again Revelation 12 verse 17 06:49 the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to 06:53 make war with the remnant of her seed 06:57 that means those that remain and they are decribed in two ways 07:02 they keep the commandments of God and 07:06 they have the (what?) testimony of 07:10 Jesus. We have to stop here what Revelation 07:14 is telling us is that in the last days 07:18 is that there is going to be a special remnant movement 07:22 There is going to be a movement of believers 07:26 who are going to come back to following the Bible and the Bible alone 07:30 and that remnant last day movement 07:34 is characterized in two ways. Number one 07:38 they keep the commandments of God and they 07:42 have the testimony of Jesus Christ 07:46 This is what we need to study tongiht because if 07:50 God is saying at the end of time. there is going to be a remnant 07:54 and it is gonna keep God's commandments, they're gonna have the testimony of Jesus 07:58 and they're gonna lead people back to the Bible and the Bible alone away 08:02 from the traditions and commandments of men then here is our question 08:06 how do I find God's remnant movement 08:10 today. How do i find this remnant movement 08:14 that is drawing people back to God's commandments. bringing them 08:18 back to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Because 08:22 the truth is finding that last day remnant movement 08:26 that Revelation talks about that is no easy task in 08:30 this confusing religious world that we live in. 08:34 in fact let me show you a statistic from the yearbook of churches 08:38 right now we are told in the world today, 08:42 there are approximately 244 different 08:46 church denominations. Now that is Including 08:50 those registered with government and having an official name. if we were to add 08:54 to that all the smaller groups or smaller sects 08:58 we would have a number of over 500. Now I want you think about that 09:02 one God one Bible one 09:06 truth 500 faiths with thousands and 09:10 thousands of different doctrines that is 09:14 confusing. That is what causes people to throw up their hands 09:18 and say well I might as well forget it, I will never be able to find truth 09:22 I will never be able to find God's remnant movement 09:26 in the last days that He talks about. Now I am gonna 09:30 ask a question without a politically correct answer. 09:34 When it comes to all of these different chruches and 09:38 different groups in our world today can 09:42 every church be right yes or no. They can't! 09:46 Because some churches teach things totally opposite of each 09:50 other so someone is right and someone is wrong. Now it is not 09:54 politically correct to say that but honestly it is the truth 09:58 one church says this another says that 10:02 one preaches this another preaches the opposite 10:06 how are we supposed to know where to find truth 10:10 in fact in churches today it can be a combination 10:14 of both truth and error 10:18 a combination of what God says and also of what man says 10:22 and that kind of a concoction can be 10:26 very very deceptive 10:30 so how do we make our way through this confusing 10:34 religious world to be able to find truth 10:38 how do we make our way thriough 500 groups to find 10:42 revelation's special end time movement that keeps 10:46 the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus 10:50 Christ? So here is what we're going to do. We are going to 10:54 cover 6 principles from the Bible this evening 10:58 principels that will guide us to find the truth 11:02 today. Principles not coming from not my opinion 11:06 not from yours not from some church's interpretation, but 11:10 from the Bible and the Bible alone. And when we 11:14 apply these six principles when we study it is going to 11:18 enabler to help us find the movement today 11:22 and to shed light on the decisions 11:26 that we are having to make so we are gonna go through all six 11:30 of these principles. So are you read to go, can you say amen? 11:34 the first one is found in 1st Corinthians chapter 11:38 3 verse 11 and I would like you go ahead and look all these 11:42 verse up with me. 1 Corinthians cahapter 3 11:46 and we want to begin in verse 11 11:50 I need to look this up myself 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11 11:54 now it is just one sentence long but it is 11:58 power packed with a foundational principle that we need 12:02 to understand today. 1 Corinthians 3 12:06 and verse 11 The Bible says 12:10 For no other foudnation 12:14 can anyone lay than that which is 12:18 laid which is Jesus Christ. 12:22 lest stop there that pretty elementary but it is still none the less important 12:26 principle #1 says if I wanna find God's truth today 12:30 that if I wanna find revelation's remnant movement 12:35 at the end of time then it is going to be a group 12:39 that is foudned on Jesus Chrsit and his 12:42 teaching. You may say well that is kind of understood. 12:47 but you see you got to remember a true 12:50 church of Jesus is never going to put the teaching of 12:56 a man above the teaching of Jesus Christ 12:59 it will never put the teachings of a prophet above the teachings 13:03 of Jesus it will never put the teachings 13:07 of any earthly religious leader above what 13:11 Christ teaches in his word can you say amen 13:15 see when you're asking questions about the bible, when you're 13:19 conviceted about some that scripture say a commented that we need to this 13:23 or we need to reframe from that, when I ask someone a question 13:27 about the Bible and the answer I get is 13:31 oh well that doesn't matter that should be a red flag 13:35 in our minds when I ask a question about the Bible 13:39 and someone says to me that is done away with we don't need to worry about 13:43 anymore that is a red flag in my mind when I 13:47 ask a question about the Bible and someone says to me 13:51 oh well we just follow tradition that is not the way we do things 13:55 that is a red flag in my mind 13:59 because the Bible says when it comes to God's church when it comes to 14:03 a remnant movement in the last days it is going 14:07 to be founded on Jesus Christ and his teachings 14:11 in his word can you say amen that is the foundation 14:15 not what is popular or what man says or 14:19 thinks but on what Jesus says beccause Paul 14:23 right here says Christ is the only foundation upon which 14:27 we can build and that includes his teachings and his 14:31 word so that is principle #1. God's remnant movement 14:35 of the last days will be founded on Jesus Chrsit and his word 14:39 that one was pretty elementary let us go to principle 14:43 #2 this one is found in second or 14:47 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 I would like to invite 14:51 to turn there with me. 1 Timothy chapter 3 14:55 and verse 15 14:59 Now you actually may want to write down all six of 15:03 these principles and scripture references because it will 15:07 guide you in your christian walk. 1 Timothy chapter 3 15:11 verse 15. 15:15 and by the way I am gonna speak rather plainly tonight so 15:19 since we have known each to her for a month we have studies the word of God together 15:23 there are times when God wants to come right out 15:27 and tell it like it is becasue He loves us can you say amen there is times 15:31 when God does not wanna beat around the bush because he doesn't want people 15:35 to be deceived he wants them to be on the right path 15:39 and so there are principles in the word of God that sometimes 15:43 we are tempted to skip because it has the tendency to 15:47 step on our toes. Let us be honest, we humans don't like to 15:51 have our toes stepped on but God is allowed to do that 15:55 becasue he created us and becasue he loves and cares for us 15:59 so 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 16:03 the principle is in the last part of this verse 16:07 The Bible says but if I am delayed 16:11 I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct 16:15 yourself in the house of God which is the church 16:19 of the living God and notice how he describe it the pillar 16:23 and ground of the what? truth! now we are 16:27 going to stop there for a second. notice that God describes 16:31 his church and that include His remnant movement as the pillar 16:35 and ground of truth. Not pillar and ground of tradition 16:39 not the pillar and ground of popular teaching the 16:43 way its always been done, but the pillar and ground of 16:47 truth you see what is tempting to do 16:51 in the christian world today is to kind of throw away 16:55 truth and we're just gonna focus on the traditions that we have always 16:59 followed.the temptation is to throw away what the Bible 17:03 says and lets just focus on what is popular 17:07 and everybody will accept us that is the tempation in the religios world 17:12 in fact I'll tell you what churches sometimes have to go through 17:16 every preacher has the desire I would thin to have 17:20 a larger church with people coming becasue they want to preach the word 17:24 of God and reach people. Every preacehr wants to be successful 17:28 I mean that is a good thing I mean who would wanna go to a church 17:32 with a preacher that says I would like to be an absolute and utter failure. Well 17:36 nobody wants to go to a church like that, one should want to be successful 17:40 but never at the cost of truth can you say amen 17:44 see many times a church may choose to say well 17:48 you know if we preach too much of the hard truths 17:52 in the word of god, my attendance may go down. 17:56 If I challenge people to grow spiritually, 18:00 I challenge with God's commandments I don't know 18:04 the money in the offering plate might get less and less. 18:08 and when the money in the offering plate gets less 18:12 you cant pay your bills and guess whos salary gets affected. 18:16 The pastor's salary 18:20 see the temptation is always there 18:24 now I do not know who is genuine and who is not god did not leave that up to me to decide 18:28 only God can read the heart but He says that his church 18:32 and He remnant movement is gonna be focused on what is called 18:36 the pillar and ground of truth I dont need to be 18:40 concerned with what is popular I need to be concerned about 18:44 being truthful and faithful and that is what 18:48 God calls his church to do. Yes I may want a 18:52 bigger church. Yes I may wanna do big things for God 18:56 but if it causes me to compromise what the 19:00 word of God teaches that is a problem and that is a red 19:04 flag. it is not worth it to compromise God's word to have 19:08 a big church or a lot of money flowing through the coffers 19:12 Jesus says his church is the pillar 19:16 and the crown of the truth 19:20 there is a phrase that worries me a bit in this christian world 19:24 and I will tell you why. many times I'll hear people 19:27 say well you know doctrine doesn't matter 19:31 Jesus only Jesus only 19:35 now I am gonna encourage you to be careful about that becasue it sounds very good 19:39 and religious on the surface but it can be very 19:43 deceptive. now I think we all agree yes Jesus is 19:47 all we need for salvation can you say amen? Doctrine is not gonna 19:51 save me that is for sure only Jesus Christ 19:55 and him crucified the fact that he shed his blood for me 19:59 that he gave me a gift I could never give for myself 20:03 that he gives me his perfect righteous light 20:07 so that I can enter the kingdom of heaven all I need is Jesus for salavation 20:12 but that doesnt mean that doctrine is not 20:16 important notice that God saw fit to put how many 20:20 books in the canon of the Bible.Do you know? Do you know? 66. 20:24 Because it is filled with doctrinal teaching 20:28 the word doctrine means teaching It is important because 20:32 for every doctrine of the Bible I don't understand 20:36 I leave myself open to be deceived 20:40 for every doctrine of scripture I misinterpret 20:44 there is something I am not understanding about the character of God 20:48 an example of that is when we study what happens when 20:52 you die. I'm sure there will be people in heaven from the past 20:56 who didn't know the truth of that but today God knows 21:00 how important it is becasue if I dont know what happens when a 21:04 person dies I leave myself open to the devils 21:08 deception I leave myself open to spiritualism 21:12 to things in the new age to seances to communicating 21:16 with the dead if I do not understand what the bible teaches about 21:20 sleeping and resting in the grave until Jesus comes that 21:24 doctrine doesnt save me, but it sure has the ability to keep 21:28 me from being deceived by the devil. Can you say amen? 21:32 So that is why it is important fro God's church even for his remnant 21:36 movement of people at the end of time to be focused on what is called the 21:40 pillar and ground of truth in fact did you know 21:44 that the Bible describes truth actual defines 21:48 in three ways. I want to show you three 21:52 In John 14:6 it say Jesus, is the truth 21:56 John 17:17 says God's Word, is the truth 22:00 and Psalm 119:142 says 22:04 God's Law is the truth So God 22:08 remnant movement in the last days that revelation refers 22:12 to is going to uplift Jesus it is going to uphold 22:16 God's word and upphold God's law 22:20 becasue all those three things are the truth 22:24 according to the bible that is principle #2 22:28 Let us go to principle #3 22:32 now this one is tempting to skip because 22:36 it is one of thsoe hard hitting passages that Jesus gives 22:40 but we need to go to it becasue the principles in it 22:44 are valuable. Go to matthew chapter 7 22:48 and let us go to verse 21 22:52 Matthew chapter 7 and we are going read verses 21 22:56 to 23 the reason this one catches 23:01 my attention is becasue it says something there about 23:05 preachers. Matthew 7 verse 23:09 21 this is the word of Jesus The bible 23:13 says, not everyone who says to me 23:17 Lord Lord shall eneter the kingdom of 23:21 heaven but he who does the will 23:25 of my Father in heaven. Ok now 23:29 lets put the brakes on here before we read the next few verses 23:33 do you catch what Jesus is saying here 23:37 he is saying in the end there will be people who 23:41 claim to be chrsitians people who claim to have 23:45 know him, Lord Lord, I have known you I followed You 23:49 and Jesus says to them 23:53 I never knew you Now folks that is shocking 23:57 why? apparently 24:01 they were christians who professed so on the outside 24:05 but somethig was missing and the end 24:09 of the verse tells us it says he who does the will of the father 24:13 in other words these are people who profess to be christians 24:17 verbally on the outside and maybe they even sat in 24:21 church pews but Jesus wants our 24:25 experience to go beyond proffession becasue apparently they weren't doing the will 24:29 of the father you can profess anything but Jesus 24:33 says we shall know them by their What? by their fruits 24:37 were they doing the will of the father and of course the question 24:41 is where do you find the will of the father 24:45 in the word of God see it is one thing for me to say 24:49 yes I am a chrsitian and I know the bible says this 24:53 but I know God's word asks this 24:57 of me but I dont think it is important but I rather 25:01 follow tradition and all of a sudden we call ourselves chrsitians 25:05 while we are making excuses and compromises 25:09 for some of the plain things found in the word of God 25:13 this is what Jesus is talking about when he says I never knew you 25:17 see what its telling us here is obedience 25:21 is an important part of the christian walk. That doesnt 25:25 mean my obedience saves me. My obedience 25:29 will never save me becasue I cannot perfectly obey I was 25:33 born with sin I cannot do that on my own it is Jesus 25:37 life that saves me so I cannot be saved by my works but I can 25:41 be obedient and that is the evidence 25:45 that a higher power is working inside of me 25:49 it is the eveidence that the holy spirit is changing my mind and changing heart 25:53 that I have chosen to follow Jesus so yes 25:57 according to this obedience is important. Following the will of the father 26:01 but man then when you go to verse 22 26:05 that really gets my attention verse 22 says 26:09 many will say to me in that day 26:13 Lord Lord have we not 26:17 prophesied in your name? cast out demons in your name? 26:21 and done many wonders in your name? 26:25 then I will declare to them I never 26:29 knew you depart from me you 26:33 who practiced lawlessness or iniquity. 26:37 Ok 26:41 You see that part where it says Lord we prophesied in your name 26:45 in a sense that can also be interpreted 26:49 Lord we have preached in your name, ok that is hitting 26:53 minister which I am a little bit. What is the deal here 26:57 is Jesus saying there will be ministers 27:01 who are lost? or people 27:05 who have preacehd things in his name and he says I 27:09 never knew you? 27:13 this is why I take very seriously preaching the word of God 27:17 I have realizedI know that everything I say is not 27:21 popular I realize sometiems I teach things that 27:25 don't go along with the mainstream but it is because 27:29 I am responsible for teaching what the word of God says 27:33 if I call myself a minister or a lay minister 27:37 or anyone who preaches the word of God and I am willing 27:41 to skip something in the word God or I am will compromise 27:46 just because I want to be liked 27:50 I am in danger of having Jesus say to me, I never 27:54 knew you and I dont want that to happen 27:58 I think we all realize there is 28:02 genuine religious leaders and not so genuine 28:06 religious leaders God has not set me up to judge who 28:10 is who becasue I cannot read a person heart only god can do that 28:14 and he hasn't set you up to do that either but we all know from 28:18 past christian history there are charlotens in 28:22 the religious world can we agree on that false chrsits and false 28:26 prophets see if I am willing to 28:30 sacrifice the will of God is simply because 28:34 I need a big church or becasue to be liked 28:38 something is wrong Jesus says I need to preach 28:42 truth. But it goes farther 28:46 in verse 22 it says, there are some 28:50 who cast out demons and did may wonders or miracles 28:54 in his name and Jesus says I never knew you 28:58 thats almost hard to fathom becasue 29:02 you would think now wait a minute if they're doing miracles they've got to 29:06 be from God. Not neccesarily 29:10 remember we learned the devil can do miracles 29:14 he is not more powerful than God he can do signs and wonders 29:18 and the devil is happy to use a miracle worker 29:22 if he can use that person to lead us away from the pillar and ground 29:26 of the truth he is happy to use and eloquent 29:30 preacher if he can use that person to lead us back to 29:34 the traditions and commandmnets of men instead of what the Bible 29:38 says so clearly Jesus here is telling 29:42 us it is important to obey the will of the Father thats what 29:46 his church should be doing, the remnant movement of the last 29:50 days will do. Not profess, but follow the will of the Father 29:54 as is found in scripture. Does that make sense? 29:58 In fact, did you know that if 30:02 you look at christian history, all throughout christian history God 30:06 has always had a faithful group of people that chose 30:10 to go against the culture and follow him. let me 30:14 show you this pattern not only from the bible but throughout history 30:18 let's start with Noah. Not long after God created the world were're all ready 30:22 in Genesis, it was so wicked God to destroy it and start over 30:26 he calls Noah and his family out to follow 30:30 him. Now let me ask you a question, was Noah 30:34 in the minority? yes or no? Yep. Was he persecuted. 30:38 Yep. In fact you will find many times God's faithful 30:42 people through out history who wanted to uphold the Bible 30:46 and the Bible alone almost always they were in the minority 30:50 and were persecuted and they were not liked. That happeneed to Noah 30:54 We could go to Abraham. God calls Abraham to 30:58 comeout of Ur to make a nation out of him. Was Abraham 31:03 a minority?. yes or no? yes Was he persecuted. 31:07 at times. What about the Israelites? 31:11 God called them out of Egypt. Was Israel 31:15 in the minority? Yes compared to pagan nations of the world 31:19 were they persecuted? Yeah the other nations hated 31:23 them. God called the christian church out of the 31:27 Jewish nation. In the early christian church were christian 31:31 in the minority? Yes or no? Yes. Were they persecuted 31:35 history tells us so. We could go all the way to 31:39 the middle ages. God called the reformers out of Rome 31:43 to bring people back tot he Bible. Were the reformers 31:47 in the minority. Yes. Were they persecuted? 31:51 Absolutely and then revelation 31:55 says, God is calling out a remnant 31:59 of people in the last days who will keep 32:03 the commandments of God. So based on the pattern 32:07 of Biblical histroy would we expect that remnant to be in the minority 32:11 yes or no. Yup. Would we expect that remnant to be persecuted? Yes or No? 32:15 Yup. Would we expect that remnant to probably not 32:19 be liked by the world. In fact the early christian church 32:23 you know what they used to say about them? They use to say, oh that sect 32:27 SECT. You know what that is Another word for 32:31 cult. Oh that cult that follows Jesus 32:35 they were spoken negatively of. You can expect that in his remnant movement 32:39 in the last days we may wonder why does God 32:43 use that word remnant we don't use that today a whole lot today 32:47 lets see if I can illustrate it for you with a fun story 32:51 how many of you have ever been to a cloth 32:55 shop where you have to buy material to make things? Can I see your hands? 32:59 well a couple men too I am a actually suprise 33:03 I want you to pretend becasue there is no place more boring to a man 33:07 at least in my opinion than a cloth shop but I want you to 33:11 pretend that Marquita is going to make a dress 33:15 and so she takes David to the boring old cloth shop and she 33:19 looks around for the perfect material she wants to make a beautiful dress 33:23 and let us say as she looks around she finds material 33:27 that is red, now listen carefully. What color is the meterial 33:31 red, the pattern is white polka dots 33:35 and inside the white polka dots are 33:39 diamonds Maybe I'm not that color coordinated 33:43 so she takes that and goes to the clerk and says im gonna make a dress give me 20 yards 33:47 or whatever, thats probably too much isn't it I have never made a dress 33:51 in my life I wouldn't know so she just asked for enough to make a dress 33:55 she takes it home and starts working on it and as she works 33:59 on it she finds out she does not have enough so she is 34:03 gonna drag me back to the boring old cloth shop I sit around 34:07 while she looks for this material and she cannot find it 34:11 so she goes to the clerk and says where can I find this material to finish 34:15 my dress? and where is the clerk going to point her 34:19 to the remnant bin. The material 34:23 that is left over so she goes searching in the remnant bin 34:27 if she wants to find the remnant material 34:31 what color is it? Red. 34:35 and what is the pattern going to be in it white polka dots 34:39 and what is going to in the polka dots? Diamonds so what we are saying is 34:43 the remnant material is gonna be just like 34:47 the original perhaps that is why God uses 34:51 the word remnant that in the last days God is calling 34:55 to be like the original early christian church found 34:59 on Jesus and his Word and the pillar 35:04 and ground of the truth just like the original. 35:08 perhaps thats why god uses that word 35:12 but it goes farther we've gotta finish the principles here. Principle #4 35:16 principle #4 is probably the most powerful of them all 35:20 this one I have on the screen. Im gonna go back to revelation 12 35:24 17 it says 35:44 Im gonna stop there 35:48 it describes the remnant in two powerful 35:52 ways, and I want to focus on the first one notice 35:56 What do they keep? The commandments of God. 36:00 That is what God's church will be doing at the end 36:04 of time so right there if I wanna find 36:08 a church that is part of this remnant movement 36:12 the biggest clue it's telling me right there and 36:16 what I'm about to say is not politically correct but I am okay with it because this is what the bible 36:20 says That means any group 36:24 that says God's law is done away with 36:28 God's law is nailed to the cross God's law 36:32 isnt important anymore cannot be part 36:36 of this remnant movement, because revelations ays 36:40 the people of the last days keep the commandments 36:44 of God, now I didnt say that 36:48 God said it. And included with that 36:52 is the Bible Sabbath 36:56 they are not gonna say I will keep 8 out of ten. Lord I will 37:00 keep 9 out of 10 but Lord don't ask me to love you and follow you with 37:04 all of my heart. 37:08 see James says we break one we break them all 37:12 and truthfully when you ask people 37:16 most places are okay with 9 of the commandments. If I were to ask them 37:20 if the law is done away with can I worship other gods no,no,no 37:24 you shouldn't do that can I bow down to some graven images just for the fun of it? 37:28 no no shouldn't do that what about can I cuss when i get mad and use God's name 37:32 in vain? Oh no. How about when my parents tick me off do I 37:36 still have to honor them? absolutely. Well, can I kill people when 37:40 irl me? Oh no! Well what about stealing? You know I can fudge somthings 37:44 on my taxes, ho no a christian should be honest. Well you know 37:48 I'm married can I have fun on the side? absolutely not 37:52 what about coveting can I covet can I bare false witness? 37:56 oh no honor those things. Oh what about the sababth day? 38:00 Oh that one is done away with that is the only one 38:04 we seem to not like but Revelations says God's 38:08 remnant movement will keep his commandments that includes 38:12 the seventh day sabbath maybe that is why revelation 38:16 14 7 actually quotes that commandment because 38:20 God is bringing his people back to it why would we want 38:24 to do away with the comman that represents 38:28 a memorial to God's creation that symbolizes 38:32 that he is the authority in the entire 38:36 universe. So point #4 they keep the commandments 38:40 of God to be honest when you add that with the sabbath 38:44 that is gonna narrow down the list very very quickly 38:48 Principle #5 lets go to Matthew 24 38:52 14. Matthew chapter 24 38:56 and we want to go to verse 14 here 39:00 The Bible says, and this 39:04 Gospel of the kingdom will be preached (where?) 39:08 in all the world as a witness to all the nations 39:12 and then the end will come 39:17 Now notice what Jesus said. What has to happen 39:21 before he comes? The gospel has gotta go to all 39:25 the world now the early church was very close to doing that 39:29 they took it to all the then known world. Not whole world, but the then known 39:33 world so that means that if God's remnant movement is 39:37 just like the original than it is gonna be a movement that is serious 39:42 about taking the gospel to the world to every people group, 39:46 every language, every tongue because the remnant movement is gonna have the same 39:50 passion as the original christian church did that was founded on 39:54 Jesus Christ does that make sense? It is going to be working in all 39:58 all 220 countries what ever countries there are in the world today 40:02 I don't know the exact number because they keep changing. It is important 40:06 it means God's church in the last days, he doesn't want a remnant 40:10 movement focused on building huge monstrosities 40:14 of a structure and focusing only on their neighborhood. 40:18 yes of course that neighborhood is certainly a mission field but it is going to be 40:22 an organized movement taking the gospel to the world 40:26 it is gonna be a movement where God is not looking for pew warmers 40:30 to sit in the seat, once a week, and listen to one person 40:34 do all the work. He want a remnant movement of people 40:38 who are willing to use their time their talents and their 40:42 money for the Lord Jesus Christ can you say amen? because that is what 40:46 the early christian chruch did that is why they 40:49 changed the world God says his last day movement 40:53 will be just like the original and they will be serious 40:57 and passionate about mission 41:01 principle #6 for this one we have 41:05 to go back to Revelation chapter 14 because did you know 41:09 the Bible actually tells what message 41:13 he wants his end time church to be preaching. Revelation 41:18 14 and we are going to start in verse 6 41:22 now I am gonna through some of these a little more rapidly because 41:26 we have studied this previously. Revelation 14:6 This is 41:30 the three angels message. Three angels that have got three 41:34 important message that have got to go to all the world. Verse 6 41:38 The bible says, then I 41:42 saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven 41:46 having the everlasting gospel to preach to those 41:50 who dwell in the earth to every nation tribe tongue and people. 41:54 do you notice how all inclusive its got to be 41:58 I mean Revelation makes a point to say every nation tribe tongue and 42:02 people but notice the first message which we've already read 42:06 before saying with a loud voice fear God and give 42:10 glory to him for the hour of his judgement is come 42:14 worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the 42:18 sea and the springs of water now I want to put this on the screen 42:22 what is the message of the first angel which by the way 42:26 does this literally mean that God is gonna send three angels to take this message 42:30 to the world? I mean angels are messengers God didn't 42:34 send angels to produce or promote the gospel who has been given the 42:38 responsibility of taking the gospel to the world? We have that is 42:43 God's church so this is really referring to what God's end time church 42:47 is supposed to be doing. #1 they are goign to be preaching 42:51 that Jesus is coming soon. That is what it means when it says the hour of his judgement 42:55 is come, Jesus is coming soon. 42:59 And at the end of verse 7 when it talks about worship Him who made the heavens and the 43:03 earth, that is a direct quote from the 4th commandment 43:07 of God's law the sabbath in other words they are gonna 43:11 be directing people to remember the sabbath and come back to 43:15 God's holy law and that makes sense becasue Revelation 43:19 12:17 told us the remnant will keep the commandments 43:23 of God not 8 out of 10 not 9 out of 10 43:27 all of the commandments but then we go to the second angel now we 43:31 haven't studied this one. This is the second angel's message now its pretty short 43:35 let us just read it in verse 8. The Bible says 43:39 and another angel followed saying 43:43 Babylon is fallen is fallen 43:47 that great city because she has made all nations 43:51 drink of the wine of the wrath of her 43:55 fornication. Now you say now what in the word is that and we're 43:59 going to study this shortly but I want you to take the term Babylon obviously this 44:03 is a symbolic term. Do you know what book in the Bible 44:07 Babylon is first mentioned in? Do you know? it is actually back 44:11 in the book of Genesis. Remember the story of the Tower of 44:16 Babel? You know they actual formed Babyon. Think about what happened in the tower 44:20 of Babel men were trying to defy God 44:24 they said we don't wanna follow God's word and God's law we wanna live our own 44:28 way we wanna follow our own docrtine so here's what we're gonna do 44:32 we're gonna build a tower as high as the heavens to defy God and 44:36 that way we can live as we please and if God tries to destroy 44:40 this world with a flood again, we'll just go up in this great tower and he can't 44:44 touch us it was an attitude of defiance and 44:48 rebellion and you remember how God stopped that? What did He do? 44:52 He confused their language! One 44:56 simple act and they went off and formed different people groups 45:00 so see Bbaylon is pointing us back to this confusion 45:04 and when Revelation is referring to it saying babylon 45:08 is fallen it is referring to the religious confusion 45:12 that has come into the christian world today thousands of different 45:16 doctrines traditions commandments of men 45:20 500 different faiths I mean Revelation is warning us in 45:24 a sense, parts of christianity have fallen away 45:28 from the Bible Babylon is fallen 45:32 there is religious confusion and so God is 45:36 telling his people he wants his church to be drawing people back 45:40 to what the bible says away from the commandments of men 45:44 away from all this religious confusion that is what his end times 45:48 church wil be preaching but then there's the third angel message 45:52 now we've studied that one so I'm just going to sumamrize it 45:56 it warns about the antichrist and the image and the mark 46:00 of the beast God's church will not shy away 46:04 from talking about that subject so lets put the six 46:08 principles on the screen here now that we've covered them all lets sumarize 46:12 them. Principle one, God 46:16 remnanty movement in the last days is founded on Jesus Christ 46:20 and his teaching. #2 It is founded on the 46:24 pillar and ground of the truth. #3 46:28 it will do the will of God not just profess it 46:32 #4 they keep the commandments of God which would including the Bible 46:36 Sabbath #5 they are taking the Gospel to all the 46:40 world and #6 preaching the message of revelation 46:44 14. Now how many will agree 46:48 all 6 of those came from the bible and the bible 46:52 alone? Can I see your hands. Did I make any of those things up? 46:56 Did you make any of them up? Did Pastor Mark make any of them up? 47:00 They all came straight from the word of God so if you and I 47:04 will take these six biblical principles 47:08 it will guide us on our christian journey 47:12 as to where God is leading. When 47:17 you discover truth in the bible when you find out that maybe what you 47:21 thought before isn't true if I will apply these principles God 47:25 will make my path clear 47:29 you have to judge churches by these principles you have to judge 47:33 preachers and speakers by these principles you judge your 47:37 church with them I have to judge whatever church I fellowship with 47:40 and I am confident that if we apply them 47:44 God's light will shine and well know where 47:48 He is leading. Can you say amen? Now in the time that we 47:52 have left we have about ten minutes or so left I like to 47:56 take a moment and share just a little bit of my own personal 48:00 testimony with you, is that ok? I haven't had a lot of time in this series 48:04 because there's so many topics we've covered to throw a little bit of my own 48:09 testimony in here it is becasue of those 6 48:13 points on the screen. those are one of the big reasons 48:17 that I myself have chosen to be a Seventh-day Adventist 48:21 chrisitan because I believe that the Seventh-day Adventist 48:25 fellowship is helping to fulfil that prophecy of revelation 48:29 12:17 that prophecy of a remnant movement 48:33 that draws people back to he commandments of God and 48:37 back to the word of God. now I recognize being part of a 48:41 church isn't gonna save anybody just because you are on a membership roll somewhere 48:45 and God doesnt expect us to just simply follow churches 48:49 blindly He wants us to follow Jesus. Can you say amen? 48:53 But if I find a fellowship that is following Jesus 48:56 that is following the commandments of God 49:01 that is truly seeking to uphold the bible above everything else 49:05 then I am willing to be part of that church fellowship 49:09 now that church fellowshiip stops following truth, 49:13 I can tell you I will be going tomorrow the reason I choose to fellowship with the 49:17 Seventh-day Adventist Church is not becasue I think Seventh-day Adentists 49:21 are holier or more rigteous than anybody else are going to get to 49:25 heaven before anyone else but I wanna be apart 49:29 of a place in this remnant movement that is lifting up Jesus 49:33 drawing people back to the bible and away from the 49:37 traditions and commandments of men, I am willing to lend my time 49:41 my talents and even money to that kind of a movement. 49:45 Can you say amen? See you may not follow churches but you are following 49:49 Jesus now you may say well now pastor Dave 49:53 are you putting down other churches? 49:57 certainly not God has his 50:01 people in every religious fellowship 50:05 people who are seeking to live up to all the light 50:09 that they do know they may not of had the privelege to hear somethings 50:13 that you have heard at this seminar but the Bible tells me that in the end 50:17 as this remnant movement grows that when people who 50:21 truly love Jesus hear the word of God and hear the truth they will choose 50:25 to follow it. I'll tell you what made a difference for me. 50:29 I sat where you sat 20 years ago believe it or not 50:33 I went to a seminar similar to this now I 50:37 grew up in an Adventist church home 50:41 that is not why I chose to be one 50:45 regardless of what faith you grow up in there comes a time 50:49 for every person when they have got to choose 50:53 for themselves. You don't just do something because mom and dad 50:57 or your family do it, thought hat may be a big influence 51:01 you've got to study scripture for yourself and I remember as I 51:05 studied the Bible and what the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches I thought 51:09 wow this is following the commandments of God 51:13 and then I sat in a seminar like this for the first time 51:17 and I was at every night except one I only missed one night a friend of mine 51:21 his name was Leo he was a preacher and I remember as I sat 51:25 every night looking up these verses it all began to 51:29 connect for me I mean I was probably 20 or 21 years old 51:33 like woah this make sperfect sense and 51:37 it was during that seminar that God laid on my heart thats what I wanna do 51:41 I wanna preach the bible 51:45 like he is. Does it mean that 51:49 people from other churches aren't sincere? 51:53 No. But God said he is leading his people into truth that is why 51:57 Jesus said in John 10:16 He said 52:13 See right now the Adventist Chruch is actually 52:17 a movement I don't really consider it a denomination 52:21 it is actually the fastest growing protestant movement in the entire world right now 52:25 a movement based on bringing people back 52:29 to the commandments of God and the word of God 52:33 now jsut so you know this how it began. It began back in the 1800s 52:37 if you remember when Papal persecution was over 52:41 which it ended around 1798 when the pope lost his 52:45 power back then it was at that time many people flocked to 52:49 America and there was religious freedom. Bible societies were forming 52:53 and for one of the first times people had freedom to study God's 52:57 word without persecution and so what happened was people 53:01 from all faiths came together. baptists, catholics, 53:05 a presbyterians and said lets study the Bible and as 53:09 they did they discovered there were many truthes 53:13 from God's word that had been buried beneath centuries of 53:17 tradition that came from papal Rome of the middle ages 53:21 and that group of people from all different faiths decided you know what? 53:25 Let's unite together and form a movement that goes 53:29 back to the Bible and the Bible alone and back to the 53:33 commandments of God and you know those poeple from all those differenrt 53:37 faiths eventually formed what would be known as the Seventh-day 53:41 Adventist Church that is why I choose 53:45 to be a part and I won't be saved, nobody will be saved becasue fo the name they wear. 53:49 but God says there is a remnant and God's drawing 53:53 his people back to his word, not tradition 53:57 not men's teaching but his commandments 54:01 and the testimony of Jesus 54:05 in revelation 18, God calls his people 54:09 to come out of error and into truth adn I want us to end 54:13 by focusing on this very important passage from scripture we have not 54:17 looked this up yet. Revelation 18 I wanna read verses 1 54:22 through 4. Revelation 18 verses 54:26 1 through 4 The Bible 54:29 describes this. After these things 54:34 I saw another angel coming down 54:38 from heaven having great authority and the earth 54:42 was illuminated with his glory and he cried 54:46 mightily with a loud dvoice saying, (Now notice) "Babylon the 54:50 great is (what?) fallen, is fallen (Then it gets 54:54 real poetic) has become a dwelling place of demons, 54:58 a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean 55:02 and hated bird! For all the nations (how many of the Nation?) 55:06 all the nations have drunk of the wine 55:10 of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed 55:14 fornicationwith her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through 55:18 the abundance of her luxury." And I heard another coice 55:22 from heaven saying,(now listen) "Come out of 55:26 come out of her my people 55:30 what is this referring to here what is God telling his people 55:34 to come out of here. Remember what we learned babylon is? 55:38 Babylon symbolized that system of religious confusion 55:42 and false docrtines and see the wine the wine that has 55:46 went throughout the world that was the wine of Bbaylon 55:50 the false doctrine from all the middle ages that came from Rome 55:54 and made its way, even into parts of christianity today 55:58 God is warning us that wine has made all the nations 56:02 drunk or intoxicated because for 1260 56:06 years people were pulled away from the word of God 56:10 and some of those traditions still exist today 56:14 and so what does God call his people to do? 56:18 he says come out of Bbaylon 56:22 come away from the tradition 56:26 come away from the commandments of men come out 56:30 and let us come back to following the Bible 56:34 and the Bible alone. Let us base our faith 56:38 on the commandments of God and the testimony of 56:42 Jesus Christ. You see my friends 56:46 it is reallty simply a call to put Jesus 56:50 above everyone else and to put the Bible 56:54 above everything else. The question is how 56:58 you and I are going to respond to that call, Am I willing to 57:03 come out of Babylon. Am I willing to come out of 57:07 things that may be popular or based on traditon 57:11 am I willing to come out of commandments of men 57:15 and am I willing to say Lord Jesus I will stand on the 57:19 truth of your word and I will follow you with all of 57:23 my heart and soul and mind 57:27 no more exccuses becasue if You laid your life 57:31 down on calvary for me I will pick up my 57:35 cross and follow you becasue you have prepared a place 57:39 for me in the Kingdom of heaven 57:43 when you come out of Babylon there may be challenges 57:47 but Jesus says he never leaves you and never forsakes you 57:51 and the peace that one has when they know they have left 57:55 other things aside and Jesus is number 1 in their life 57:59 that peace out weighs any challenge the devil 58:03 can throw your way. |
Revised 2015-12-07