Participants: Pr. David Klinedinst
Series Code: DPR
Program Code: DPR000018A
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00:07 Tom had decided it was time
00:11 for his family to start going to church 00:15 so he decided to phone book and find christian church 00:19 for his family go to, but has flip 00:23 through the pages of the phone book to his amazement 00:27 discovered that there were literally hundreds of different 00:31 churches in his city alone many of 00:35 had names he had never even heard of 00:39 some of those denominations had names that he could not even pronounce 00:42 and he recognized that it took up five whole 00:46 pages of the phone book and Tom was just 00:50 confused, he scratched his head and thought to himself there is one God 00:54 there is one Bible, there was 00:58 one christian church where in the world did we 01:02 get all of these different denominations 01:07 now i have a feeling Tom is not the only one who has ever asked 01:11 that question chances are pretty high that you have asked it 01:15 I have asked it or somebody we know has asked it 01:19 if there is one god if there is one bible where did we get all of these different groups 01:23 with thousand different groups with thousands of doctrines and teachings 01:27 believe it or not did you know the book of Revolation 01:31 prophesied that this would happen 01:35 Revelation told us that the early christian church would eventually fall 01:39 away from truth and would begin to split up into 01:43 many different groups throughout the centuries 01:47 tonight we are going to take a look at those prophesies in the book of Revelation 01:51 that predicted the emergence of these groups then we are gonna go 01:55 back and trace the steps of history to see how it happened 01:59 and then we are going to end with watching how God 02:03 decided how to restore his truth so tonight go 02:07 ahead and get out your bibles and we're going to start in Revelation 02:11 chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 02:15 you want to go to Revelation chapter 12 and I'm going to start reading 02:19 verses 1 through 5 02:23 now we were in Revelation 12 last night but we focused on the last 02:27 part of that chapter tonight we are going to focus 02:31 on the first part so as I read these first 5 verses 02:35 I want to invite you to just use your imagination 02:39 and I want you to picture the things that John is describing 02:43 in this vision Revelation chapter 12 02:47 verse 1 the bible says 02:51 now a great sign appeared in heaven 02:55 a women clothed with the sun with the moon under her 02:59 feet and on her hair a garland of how many stars? 03:03 12 stars then being with child 03:07 she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth 03:11 and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great 03:15 fiery red dragon having 7 heads 03:19 and 10 horns and 7 diadems on his head 03:23 his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and 03:27 threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before 03:31 the women who was ready to give birth to devour her 03:32 the women who was ready to give birth to devour her 03:35 child as soon as it was born 03:39 verse 5 and she bore a male child who 03:43 was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child 03:47 was caught up to God and to his 03:51 throne 03:52 throne now let's stop there for a second 03:55 how many of you would agree that is a pretty vivid description that John gives us 03:59 can I see your hands ya you have this picture of a dragon 04:03 who is attacking a women who is ready to give birth 04:07 to the male child and when the dragon cannot 04:11 concur the male child the dragon turns his attention to 04:15 who? the women itself 04:19 so now literally speaking here is what we see in this passage you have a women and her child 04:23 being attacked by a dragon that has got 7 heads and 04:27 10 horns and the question is 04:31 what in the world does that mean well that passage 04:35 has a number of symbols that we have already interpretated through out this 04:39 seminar so let's just take a look at them on the screen we've already learned 04:43 that a women in bible prophecy represents God's people 04:49 or you could say God's church the sun and the moon 04:53 the revelation doesn't come out and say what that is the sun and the moon both give and 04:57 reflect life so they seem to be symbols of righteousness 05:01 the 12 guard the 12 stars are the garland that is around the womens 05:05 head now doubt that represents the 12 apostles the child 05:09 revelation 12:5 tells us represents who? what do you think? 05:13 Jesus Christ he rules all nations he is caught up to God in his 05:17 throne that one is pretty easy that is Jesus 05:21 the dragon we already learned represents satan and we've studied that this 05:25 beast with 7 heads and 10 horns represents the 05:29 persecuting power of Rome 05:33 so when you put all of those symbols together here is the picture that 05:37 Revelation is giving us it is a picture of Jesus Christ 05:41 and his church being attacked by 05:45 satan through the Roman empire that is how Revelation 05:49 12 begins now the question is 05:53 is that actually what happened in history and the answer is yes 05:57 no sooner was Jesus Christ born 06:01 than Marry and Joseph had to take him and they had to hide 06:05 away in Egypt for a while do you remember why 06:10 because king herod had made the decree 06:15 to murder all children 2 years and under 06:18 because he had heard the kind of the Jews was born can you imagine that 06:22 murdering all the children 2 years and under to protect 06:26 your throne you know I would not want to be Herod 06:30 when the record of my life comes up in the judgement 06:34 now Herod was a Roman ruler tried to kill Christ from the moment that he 06:38 was born all through his life the devil dogged hi 06:42 s steps and eventually Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers 06:46 tried in Roman courts and nailed on a 06:50 Roman cross but when Jesus died 06:54 and resurrected he had victory over the grave and he had victory over 06:58 over sin because when Jesus laid his life down 07:05 that sealed the devils fait and the devil's doom 07:09 to the throne of god it was clear the dragon could not 07:13 concur the male child so now the dragon 07:17 satan turns his attention to who 07:21 the followers of jesus are the church of 07:25 Christ 07:28 Christ and all we have to do is look at the first second and third 07:32 centuries of christian history and you read all about the 07:36 persecution that the early christian church went 07:44 through you see to be a christian in the pegean roman empire 07:48 christianity wasn't a legal religion if you chose to follow jesus if you chose to be a disciple 07:52 of his you risked your house your home 07:56 your buisiness and even your life 08:00 to give you an idea how bad that persecution was i am going to put a symbol 08:04 of that persecution up on the screen and as soon as you see it youre going to 08:08 recognize what it is what is that 08:12 picture of the Roman collasuem 08:16 now how many of you been to Rome and had a chance to go through the 08:20 colleseum can I see your hands a few of you have about 08:24 ten years ago or so markita and I had the opportunity to go to 08:32 on a study tour of the protestant reformation to go to all of the significant sites where the reformers were 08:36 and one of the places they took us was into Rome 08:40 to go into this colleseum 08:44 now to give you and idea how large this collesuem is can you see 08:49 it is parked right there on the first level you see that? 08:53 compare the size of that truck to the three levels of the Roman 08:57 colleseum that was a huge monstrosity of a 09:01 structure 3 levels high and it was said that it could see 09:05 probably 70,000 screaming fans 09:09 and see here is what would happen inside that colleseum 09:13 is where Rome would throw all of their prisoners all of 09:17 the enemies of the state those who were condemned to die 09:21 and they were then forced to defend themselves against armed gladiators 09:29 but also wild and ravenous beasts you see a picture of the circular playing field there now 09:33 half of it is excavated and you might be able to notice that right 09:37 below the playing floor you have these tunnels or these 09:41 caverns that have been carved out that is where they would hide all 09:45 the wild beast and they actually had believe it or not 09:49 ancient primitive elevators that would bring those 09:53 animals up to the playing field and see what would occur 09:57 is they would throw thousands upon thousands of 10:01 christians over the years of course not at the same time into the same time into the middle of this 10:05 playing field 70,000 people 10:09 screaming to see there death 10:13 70,000 people calling for there blood to be spilled 10:17 not that different from when Jesus stood on one side of 10:21 pilot and barabus stood on the other and the 10:25 bible describes and there is also a book called the desire of ages about the life of Jesus 10:29 that actually describes as the crowd screams 10:33 for Jesus to be crucified that it was like the bellowing of 10:37 wild beasts as though demons had taken over the crowd of 10:41 and were screaming for the blood of Jesus 10:45 that is what happened inside this colleseum 10:49 70,000 people who wanted to see a christian getting mauled 10:53 to death by wild beast,they would through 10:57 blood on the top of the christians , then there wild beast 11:01 that had been starved weeks when they smelled and saw 11:05 the site of blood when into wild franzy and 11:09 they tore them limb from limb 11:13 can you imagine society so depraved 11:17 that you are eager to watch people die in front your 11:21 face that what sin does to us it twist our minds 11:25 and our prescription but yet you read in history 11:29 these christians they could look death in the 11:33 face they could look wild beast in the eye 11:37 they could stand before the Roman Emperor and they would say I will not give up 11:41 my faith in Jesus Christ, I will not give up the 11:45 truths of scripture the truths of the gospel that I know 11:49 I believe that Jesus is looking for christians today 11:53 like those early believers. Can you say amen? People who are willing to 11:57 stand for Christ and his truth no matter what the cost 12:01 people are not will make excuses, people who not 12:05 going compromise, people who not straddle the fence 12:09 but are willing put Jesus everyone else, and put His 12:13 word above everything else 12:17 You see the dragon was not able to conquer the male child 12:21 and the dragon was also not able to conquer the 12:25 woman or the church of Jesus Christ in those early centuries 12:29 But you know then a shift occurred 12:33 in the Roman world because satin decided 12:37 to follow an old adage, have you ever 12:41 heard that saying witch say, if can't beat them 12:45 join them, see the devil 12:49 realized, the dragon knew that persecution never 12:53 stamps out the christian church, in fact all through out history 12:57 when you persecute the followers of Christ that when they grow 13:01 because every christian martyr whos blood was shed four or five more would stand 13:05 up in their place and the devil realized this is not working 13:09 so here happen within the Roman empire a shift 13:13 toke place satin changed his strategy 13:18 the Roman roman emperor Constantine 13:22 became a christian and christianity went from being an 13:25 illegal religion to become the official 13:33 state religion. In 313 Constantine issues the Edict of Milan 13:37 where christianity is now acceptable in Roman empire 13:41 now a frist that may sound good, you may say wonderful 13:45 God is getting the victory, but you see when that happens 13:49 Conatantine because he formally was pagan 13:53 brought many of the false pagan teaching 13:57 into the christian church and out of Rome 14:01 came a religious system where the tradition of men 14:05 took the place of the truth of scripture and 14:09 commandments of men and human authority was placed above the 14:13 commandments of God and Papal Rome became 14:17 a persecuting power for over a 14:21 1,000 years and that's why read 14:25 what you see verse 6 now go to Revelation chapter 12 14:29 and verse 6, now this after male child 14:33 Jesus is caught up to God and His throne this after the 14:37 ascension this after the persecution of the early centuries 14:41 now notice what verse 6 says Revelation 12 14:45 6 the Bible says 14:49 Then the woman fled (where?) 14:53 into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by 14:57 God, that they should feed her there one thousand 15:01 two hundred and sixty (what?) days. now we already 15:05 know from our previous study, if you apply the day for principle 15:09 not 1260 days but what? What time frame is that? 15:13 1260 years see when it talks about 15:17 the the woman having to hide in wilderness 15:24 this is referring to the 1260 of persecution 15:28 Papal Rome dominated, when church and state 15:32 they came together, and if you chose not to follow the doctrine 15:36 or the creeds of Rome you were considered heretic 15:40 that could tortured and that could put to death 15:45 if you want to follow what the Bible said if you want to follow God's authority 15:49 instead of man authority, you could lost your life 15:53 if you wanted to believe that could go to Jesus Christ 15:57 and to Him crucified for you salvation instead 16:01 yearly human leader, your were considered to be 16:05 a traitor to Rome who was not fit to live 16:09 you lost everything. That is why 16:13 Revelation describes that time period a woman 16:17 hiding it the wilderness, it's the time of percussion 16:21 and what is amazing when you back in histoy 16:25 538 is when church and state came together 16:29 in the Roman empire it lasted all the way to 1798 16:33 when the Papal government was abolished by Napoleon 16:37 in the French revolution and if you the addition 16:41 or the subtraction that is exactly 16:45 1260 years when the woman 16:49 is in the wilderness God's people 16:53 have to exist under ground in a sense 16:57 see it was when the Bible forbidden to people you couldn't 17:01 translate it you couldn't own it taken away 17:05 that why people couldn't just open the Bible and say oh well that's not truth 17:09 I need to follow what the scripture say the didn't have the bible 17:13 to look at, in fact just to give you little 17:17 illustration of what is like durning this time in the wilderness 17:21 I want read you a couple quotes from a book called 17:25 Foxe's book of martyrs now that is very well known book 17:29 that details some of the horrible percussions that 17:33 God's people and His church went through in the middle ages 17:37 on pages 250 it says 17:41 A Spaniard named Juliano travelled into Germany 17:46 and there became a convert to the reformed religion, Now do you know 17:49 what the reformed religion is? That is talking prostatism. 17:54 That's talking movement in middle ages which said 17:58 we need start coming back to the Bible and the Bible alone that reformed 18:02 religion. It goes on to say. 18:06 When he went back to Spain he took with him to Seville 18:10 a number of (what?) Bibles... 18:14 He succeeded in this dangerous enterprise so far 18:18 as getting books into the hands of a great number of people 18:22 Juliano was immediately seized and put to the most 18:26 cruel tortures to make him confess the names of 18:30 all to whom he had given the books" 18:34 Now I want you to notice there. What Book 18:38 was Juliano sharing with People? The Bible 18:42 What was that book called durning this time? The 18:46 hated book, just for 18:50 owning or sharing a Bible see folks there is a reason 18:54 called the dark ages, people were living in darkness 18:58 because the light of truth was not able to shine 19:02 not in its full brightsness, it goes on to say on page 19:06 234, 19:38 No such thing as religious liberty, people were 19:42 tortured until they were willing to reject the Bible 19:46 go with the traduction of me. you and I can't imagine that 19:50 because we have only religious liberty, paise God for that 19:54 that is the time woman is in the wilderness it's time Papal 19:58 persecution we can even imagine what it is like 20:02 you see revelation symbolize Rome of 20:06 middle ages as a beast, now I don't say that to be 20:10 unkind or offensive in way it just 20:14 unfortunately the sad facts of human history 20:18 because whenever you stray from the word of God whether it 20:22 institution or whether it is a person 20:26 it always changes our character 20:30 and it always changes it for the worst 20:34 Now in here Revelation we see picture of 20:39 pure woman the church being persecuted by 20:43 the dragon. The woman has been left in the wilderness 20:47 so now I want you to take journey to Revelation 17 20:51 and your're going to see the picture of another woman 20:55 and another church. Revelation chapter 17 20:59 and I want us go to verse 1 here 21:03 Revelation and want I to start by reading 21:07 the first 4 verse. Now I want you to 21:11 take note here, you saw how the pure woman 21:15 of Revelation 12 is described I want 21:19 to notice how the woman of Revelation 17 is described 21:23 and your're going to notice a very distinct 21:27 difference. Revelation verse 1 21:31 The Bible says; 21:35 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls 21:39 came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, 21:43 I will show you the judgment of the great harlot 21:47 who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, 21:51 and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine 21:55 of her fornication." verse 3 21:59 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the (where?) 22:03 into the wilderness. now in chapter 12 of Revelation 22:07 where did we leave the woman? In the wilderness. 22:11 so now we are coming back to the wilderness in chapter 17 22:15 Notice that something has changed 22:19 verse 3 And I saw a 22:23 woman sitting on a scarlet beast 22:27 which was full of names of blasphemy, 22:31 having seven heads and ten horns. 22:35 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned 22:39 with gold and precious stones and pearls, 22:43 having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations 22:47 filthiness of her fornication. Now lets stop there for a second 22:51 Now we may not know what that means just yet 22:55 but let me ask a simple question does description sound like 22:59 positive or a negative one , what do you think? That doesn't sound too 23:03 good. Now here is summery of what John is describing for us 23:23 Now notice back in Revelation 12 the woman was being attacked 23:27 by the dragon and the beast, here in Revelation 23:31 17 is as though she has now partnered with the 23:35 beast because she is riding on the beast 23:39 that gives us a clue that something drastically 23:43 changed there has been a shift 23:47 Now again lets look at these symbols and let the Bible interpreted for us 23:51 we already know the woman represents the church 23:55 or God's people when it is a pure woman 23:59 it represents God's faithful people when it is impure woman 24:03 prostitute it represent God's unfaithful people or 24:07 unfaithful church the scarlet, purple 24:12 and jewels of which see a adornment is quite interesting 24:16 because in Ezekiel 16 that was the adornment of prostitute 24:20 in ancient time you now even in back 24:24 biblical time prostitute wanted to advertize 24:28 they was there was certain way you dressed to communicate 24:32 that and unfortunately the same thing still exist 24:36 today does it not, you going into major cities of America 24:40 it doesn't even have to be a major city you certain street corners 24:44 and woman will be dressed a certain way in order to communicate 24:48 what they do for a career in ancient times 24:52 if were a prostitute you were to dress in scarlet 24:56 purple and jewels to show that you were available 25:00 it is interesting that here in Revelation 17 how 25:04 the woman is adorned, it says she is holding a cup of 25:08 fornication, well that probably not good because fornication simply 25:12 means what? unfaithfulness and we already know 25:16 that the beast is Rome, so put all those 25:20 symbol together and here is what you have 25:24 You have the church of the middle ages acting like a 25:28 prostitute and being unfaithful by joining with Rome 25:32 and accepting her errors and traditions 25:36 in other word instead of staying true to the pure word of God 25:40 they have now left the word of God to follow the tradition 25:44 and commandment of men that are coming from 25:48 Rome that's why the woman is no longer 25:52 being persecuted you might say be the dragon, she 25:56 now riding with the beast Revelation 12 is a pure 26:00 woman a faithful church Revelation 17 26:04 impure woman or unfaithful 26:08 church. You say what happened that 26:12 God describes the in such tow different ways 26:16 You see the time when the woman was in the wilderness 26:20 the truth is when you face persecution 26:24 when you have to go through difficult times because 26:28 of your faith in Jesus, because of standing for His word 26:32 for so many people it 26:36 just easier to compromise and to give in 26:40 it was easier to simply go with majority 26:44 instead wanting to be minority cause if you went 26:48 along with Rome, if went with the traditions of men you 26:52 could live a normal and not be persecuted 26:56 but if you chose to stand for the truth of the word 27:00 of God, if you chose to stand for Jesus 27:04 Christ that He is the only meditator that He is the only Savior 27:08 you want to point people to the cross. 27:12 You were a heretic, you were persecuted 27:16 you lost everything, so see the majority 27:20 just gave into Rome and there was only a 27:24 few who decided to remain faithful 27:28 you know folks that just happen in the middle ages 27:32 it even happens our lives today, in our 27:36 work place, in our school sometimes to say a 27:40 I'm christian, somethings I'm believer in Jesus 27:44 Christ does cause persecution, maybe not same kind persecution of the 27:48 middle ages, but people shying away from you 27:52 people making fun of you, people talking behind your back and saying 27:56 you know that is just different and they necessarily 28:00 mean it in a good way. But the truth is if 28:04 Jesus Christ could have abuse heap on Him, if He 28:08 could go to the cross, because he wanted you and I to saved 28:12 If He will confess our name before the Father then we 28:16 need willing to confess the Jesus before men. Can you say 28:20 amen? And we need not be ashamed of following the 28:24 scriptures and what the word of God says, see 28:28 I don't join with the beast I don't with culture 28:32 I want to be faithful to Jesus I want to uphold His word 28:36 But you know then comes verse 5 28:40 and verse answer the question why are there 28:44 so many different denomination, notice what is say 28:48 Revelation 17:5 29:04 lets pause there 29:08 now that is pretty hard hitting verse, that is definitely not a vesre 29:12 that you would consider to politically correct 29:16 but God is not beating around the bush about happen during this time 29:20 on the women's forehead the unfaithful church in the middle ages 29:24 Babylon the great and remember what means 29:28 religious confusion see it was the church of the middle 29:32 ages that was responsible for all the religious confusion 29:36 the doctrines, the tradition of men, human authority being put 29:40 above of God's authority that brought it to the world even 29:44 all the way to our time today 29:48 but then she is the mother of harlots 29:52 when connect that with history, what is saying 30:12 and isn't interesting even today Rome is 30:16 considered to be the mother church 30:20 see what Revelation 17:5 was telling us 30:24 that the women is give birth to daughters, what Revelation was telling 30:28 us that in middle there would be groups that start 30:32 to brake away from Rome and they would eventually brake into 30:36 many different groups, or many different denomination and that is what you 30:40 see, when God ignited the protestant reformation 30:44 and people rebelled against the idea that man word can place above 30:48 God's word they started to bring people back to the Bible 30:52 and when Rome wouldn't except that after a period of many many years 30:56 it started other movements, it stared other churches 31:00 that came out of Rome, and you fast forward through the centuries 31:04 now we have today hundreds of different denominations 31:08 and it all started when the women 31:12 give birth to daughters, when other churches 31:16 came out Rome Revelation predicted it all 31:20 the back in first century and it happen just the 31:24 way God said it would 31:28 But now here is the question, lets trace 31:32 the step the history and look just in a little bit more 31:36 detail, how that actually happen, and then we're going to see how 31:40 God begin to restore truth, because you think about it when 31:44 you fall away from truth, does that happen in one day? 31:48 Not usually, it happens over time. I 31:52 want you to take your Bibles and let's got to II Thessalonians chapter 2 31:56 and verse 3, II Thessalonians 32:00 chapter 2 and verse 3 and sense we are on night 32:04 18 by point you ota to be pretty familiar and pretty 32:08 quick at finding books of the bible, II Thessalonians 32:12 chapter 2 verse 3, by the I got tell you I remember doing 32:16 one seminar where there was a guy coming who didn't 32:20 know where a lot of the books of the bible were, you know after this for 32:24 month, you have notice how many bible verse we look up 32:28 every single night, by time the thing was done he said you know what I have 32:32 now learn most books are, because he got 32:36 familiar with the scriptures. Can you say amen? And if you get nothing else from this 32:40 seminar than you get familiar with your bible then its all been 32:44 worthy it. II Thessalonians and verse 3 32:48 The Bible says, Let 32:53 no one deceive you by any means; for that 32:57 day (that is referring to the second coming) for that Day will 33:01 not come unless the falling away comes first, 33:05 and the man of sin is revealed, 33:09 the son of perdition, Now did you 33:13 notice what warned about, He said there is 33:17 going to be a falling way from truth 33:21 because he already saw it starting to happen in 33:25 his day. Why most of the books of the New 33:29 Testament are simply letters that were to christian churches? 33:33 In most of those letter there are combat 33:37 false teaching that were already coming in 33:41 to the christian church then, and Paul they dead and gone 33:45 it would just accelerate,let me show you a 33:49 little summary for truth. It start with 33:53 Arianism- The belief that Jesu was not fully divine 33:57 In 321 Constantine passes one of the first Sunday 34:01 laws and the Sabbath is beginning to lost sight of 34:05 In 327 pagan images were introduced into the church 34:09 and image worship began. In 538 church and 34:13 state begin to combine. In 590 the 34:17 false doctrine of Purgatory was invented. In 850 34:21 worship of Mary as intercessor was introduced 34:25 and Jesus as mediator was lost of, In 34:29 1198 confessional where to confess to early human being 34:33 instead of the Christ, In 129 the Bible 34:37 was officially banned as hated book. In 34:41 1311 deferent formes of baptism came in and in 34:45 1480 the Spanish inquisition began 34:49 Now do you know the inquisition is? The 34:53 inquisition basically a group people many of them jesuits who had been 34:57 commissioned by Rome to go hunt down and find 35:01 heretic find anybody who believed the Bible and 35:05 disagreed traditions of Rome,find them 35:09 torture them, make them recant and if don't 35:13 put them to death. You know when the Bible talks about 35:17 end times and times of trouble it is hard for us to imagine 35:21 how that could happen, but it has happen many 35:25 time through out history, because wh0t happen in the middle ages 35:29 may well happen again but God promises to protect 35:33 His faithful people. Can you say amen? Now this 35:37 falling away truth, notice it didn't happen in a year 35:41 it didn't even happen in one century 35:45 period of hundreds of years there was this 35:49 gradually falling away from the Bible 35:53 just like in our personal live do you thinks any 35:57 of us wake up one morning and decide you know what, I think totally 36:01 backslide today and completely fall away from truth. Does that wappen? 36:05 Not usually, it happens imperceptively 36:09 a little bit at a time, because the 36:13 devil is too smart to get us to everything at once, he was to do little 36:17 bit here and a little be there until we don't even recognize 36:21 the direction he is take us, that what he did 36:25 with the church of the middle ages, until it got the 36:29 point were scripture is totally lost sight 36:33 of. That seems like a depressing story doesn't it? 36:37 But here the good news, you would think 36:41 that when the Bible banned wants to follow it is a heretic 36:45 you would think all hope is lost, but you know it is when 36:49 all is hope is lost, that is when God step in. Can you say amen? 36:53 And He ignited a serries of events that today is known 36:57 as the reformation and even this falling 37:01 away occurred, behind the scenes God was already 37:05 raising up people who were going to begin the process of 37:09 restoring God's truth from the middle all the way 37:13 to the end of time. Now we have talked falling away from truth 37:17 I don't want end on that, let's about how God began to restore 37:21 His truth from the later middle ages onward 37:25 and this going to be a fascinating study, you might say it began 37:29 somewhere around 1300 it actually began lone before that, but in the 37:33 1300s God raised up a man by name of John 37:38 Wycliffe, now how many of you have ever heard of Wycliffe? Can I see your hand? Awesome 37:42 John Wycliffe was actually a parish priest, he 37:46 was Rome priest in Oxford England but 37:50 He taught it was wrong to keep the bible 37:54 from the people 37:55 from the people he believed the Bible ota being people 37:58 hand in the common language, they can read truth 38:02 for themselves and that man translated the 38:06 Bible English language 38:10 Now we may not thats a big deal, but tell you standing here tonight 38:14 the the fact English Bible in hand regardless of what 38:18 version it is, you and I owe to courage and fortitude 38:22 of John Wycliffe, he translated 38:26 that into English at the risk of his life 38:30 And when he died in 38:34 order to show their contempt for the man that put the 38:38 Bible in hands of the people, you know Rome dug up 38:42 this bone and burned them publicly 38:46 In the 1400s God raised a man name 38:50 John Huss was a disciple of John Wycliffe 38:54 Huss believed that the Bible is supreme authority 38:58 Now you and I were're think will ya that's fundamental 39:02 Isn't it, but remember back then you were taught 39:06 the church is the final authority 39:10 the church has the power to place its law, its tradition above the 39:14 Bible that the church can even change the Bible if it wants to 39:18 but John Huss said no. The Bible final is the 39:22 authority, not the church, not religious leader, He taught 39:26 the church doesn't change the Bible. the Bible ota change the church. Can you say amen? 39:30 And just for teaching that 39:34 this man burned alive at the stake 39:38 in the year 1450, Now I had the chance to go 39:42 to his memorial, his grave site in Constance Germany 39:46 you know I expecting to see some, you know huge memorial 39:50 that everybody would notice as they walk by, you know what it is 39:54 it is just a little stone 39:58 in the corner of a street somewhere, and if wouldn't for tour guide I would 40:02 have never even noticed it 40:06 You see the world may for get what John Huss did 40:10 the world may forget things we do, but the good news is 40:14 God never forgets His faithful 40:18 people, He knows the chooses John Huss 40:22 made. But it didn't stop with John Huss in the 40:26 1500s came William Tyndale he translate some more 40:30 and then in the1500s God raise up someond 40:34 that you have heard of quite a bit, how many of you know about Martin Luther? Let me 40:38 see your hands everybody has heard of Martin Luther. Why was Martin Luther 40:42 significant, because Maritn Luther was also 40:46 parish priest and by the way I got to say something about that 40:50 you know I meet people get a holier than thou attitude and they think 40:54 oh ya that is what Rome did us protestant were great we never do that 40:58 But I want to remind you of something, who started 41:02 the reformation? Roman 41:05 Catholics of the middle ages, John Wynciffe and 41:09 and Martin Luther were parish priest who 41:13 decided they wanted to stand up and follow the Bible and the Bible alone 41:17 so before we're to quick to get on high horse because some of us 41:21 protestant you have to remember it was many Roman 41:25 christian who were also part of that reformation and coming back 41:30 to the Bible and the Bible alone. Can you say amen? Now Martin Luther 41:34 is this priest, but you know he never 41:38 felt the assurance of salvation with God. 41:42 He never felt that no matter how many rosery he did or prayers 41:46 he prayed or penance he preformed he just never felt 41:50 like he was forgiven, until one day he came cross 41:54 a bible that chained in a convent cell 41:58 and he came across one simple verse Romans 1:17 42:02 The Just shell live by what? Faith! Not by works 42:06 Not by pernance, not by going to 42:10 human leader. The just shall live by faith 42:14 Faith in what? Faith in Jesus Christ and 42:18 Cross and Martin Luther realize for the first time 42:22 He can got to Jesus and find forgiveness 42:26 that Jesus perfect life will cover him 42:30 that Jesus offers him his rightness and when he 42:34 finally understood that this rightness by faith concept 42:38 It changed his entire live and his outlook that he can't 42:42 change himself but Jesus can change and give him 42:46 assurance, it's about what Jesus has done when Martin 42:50 Luther finally understood that, he began preaching the Cross of Christ 42:54 He became directing people to pray and talk to Jesus directly, in fact 42:58 they had somthing called indulgence back then. Now I don't know if you 43:02 know what indulgence are, most people have read about in the history that was 43:06 basically if you gave enough money to the church you could buy your own salvation 43:10 you could pull a loved out of purgatory and into the 43:14 kingdom you know could gain your own assurance, infact it is said 43:18 Martin Luther came crossed someone lying in the street 43:22 who was known to be a regular drunk and being intoxicated 43:26 and when he walked by him the man looked up at him 43:30 and Marten Luther strated to him about Jesus and the man said you need to that 43:34 I've already I'm going to heaven and he said how is that 43:38 I bought indulgence and is and the church gave me this certificate so I live 43:42 however I want nd I'm going to heaven, that really irritated 43:46 Martin Luther and he preaching against indulgence 43:50 because you don't your faith in human beings you put your faith 43:54 in Jesus do you when Tetzel the guy in-charge of selling indulgence 43:58 when came to Martin Luther town, you know how many indulgence 44:02 he sold? Not one! 44:06 Cause Martin Luther had taught people to look to Jesus 44:10 and He who was crucified from there 44:15 Martin Luther nailed on the door of the Wittenberg church 95 44:19 Theses you say what that? He basically wrote down 95 44:23 95 ways in which the church had strayed from the Bible 44:27 you say what did put on door of the church for? You got to understand 44:31 500 years ago in the 1500s that was basically the internet of the day 44:35 you know anything that was going on in town, you nailed on the door of the church 44:39 that was the bulletin board so when he did that you and I posting 44:43 something on Facebook or posting something on the internet everybody 44:47 read it and you know what is interesting 44:51 you see what day that happen. What day is it? 44:55 October 31, 1517 44:59 That is one of most important events christian history 45:03 The truth of people going to Jesus 45:07 to find salvation, the Cross being rediscoverted 45:11 but you fast forward 500 years 45:15 and what is October 31st? Halloween 45:19 Now not here to judge whether not you should participate Halloween 45:23 I mean went trick or treating when I was kind, my point is this 45:27 isn't it interesting how what Martin Luther did 45:31 was total lost sight of and now the day is 45:35 all about ghost, ghoul and goblins and lifting up 45:39 the dark side that is no accident 45:43 thats part of the devil strategy lose sight 45:47 of coming back to the Bible eventually Martin Luther called 45:51 before all the leader world, the then known world both politico and religious 45:55 and tired force him to recant you know what 45:59 if this guy don't recant he's not going back home, we'll burn him at the stake right here 46:03 and most peopled wilted under that presure 46:07 but you know what Martin Luther did, as he stood 46:11 before that counsel of Kinds and princes and 46:15 religious leaders he look them in the eyes and he said 46:31 And that man walked out of counsel 46:35 and no body dared to a lay 46:39 a hand on him, of all the reformers 46:43 grace was 46:47 grace was upon him I mean we could spend all night talking this 46:51 Then John Calvin came, in the 1600s Roger Williams 46:55 in the 1700s John Wesley talked about being born again 46:59 and overcoming sin and in the 1800s came William Miller 47:03 who brought people back to prophecies of Daniel and Revealtion 47:07 began teach Jesus is coming soon, something that wasn't 47:11 taught back then and bit by bit little by little 47:15 God restore the truth and now you notice 47:19 He didn't do it all in century, why do you thinks that is? 47:23 Too much to handle, I mean until you recognize the Bible 47:27 is supreme authority all that other doesn't matter, you know like when light 47:31 on in the middle night, that to much light you can't handle it. He did 47:35 on century at a time but 47:39 unfortunately something happen that is all to common to the human nature 47:43 What happen is that many who followed these reformers 47:47 became to build to church around them and they stop 47:51 following the light, those who followed 47:56 those who Huss became Hussites, those followed became Lutherans 48:00 which by do know Martin Luther begged them not build to church 48:04 around him, most of these reformers did not want a church to build around 48:07 them because they knew there was still more light 48:11 and there was still more truth to discover 48:15 but the problem was those followed Luther wouldn't go on to follow Calvin light 48:19 that he found, those who followed Calvin wouldn't go on to except 48:23 Wesley light, those followed Wesley wouldn't go on to follow Roger Williams 48:27 light and so the protestant reformation begin to 48:31 stop because we are going to come this far and if our leader doesn't believe 48:35 other truths we're just to going stand still 48:39 and see that happens so much even out word today 48:43 I follow this person, I follow this preacher or this leader 48:47 and what they teach maybe well good but when God 48:51 brings me to knowledge that I didn't know before 48:55 we need to follow it, and so by the time the eighteen hundreds 48:59 came them Revelation 12:17 kicked in 49:03 Remember what we read last night. And the dragon was wroth 49:07 with the woman, (that's talking about the middle ages) 49:11 and went to make war with the (with who?) 49:15 remnant of her seed (the people Gods people at the end of time) 49:19 which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 49:23 What is Revelation says? Revelation is telling us 49:27 after the time when the woman is in the wilderness 49:31 after 1260 years of persecution is over, Revelation 49:35 says there is going to be a remnant movement and that remnant is going call 49:39 people back to commandments of God which includes the true Sabbath 49:43 and back to the testimony of Jesus 49:47 and that period of persecution the 1260 years ended in 1798 49:51 so that means somewhere in the 1800s 49:56 we see a continuation of the reformation we see a movement 50:00 of people that drawing folk back to the Bible 50:04 back to commandments of God and back to the Bible Sabbath 50:08 and when you look that this exactly what happen, now I told 50:12 you where other church have played a part in this reformation now I would like to 50:16 share where this church, the Seventh-day Adventist church played apart 50:20 In the 1800s after Rome losts its power 50:24 and church and state no longer united, it was the early 1800s 50:28 the printing press was improved upon. Bible societies 50:32 were formed. Bibles were made widely made available to the people 50:36 and so people from various began to study the scriptures together 50:39 Baptist, Methodist 50:43 Episcopal, Catholic and so you know 50:47 what? Now that we have religious liberty and freedom, because by now 50:51 America is formed, let's open the bible and let's study it 50:55 together as they did, these people from all 50:59 different denomination they discovered truth that had been lost 51:03 in the middle ages was the soon return of Jesus 51:07 and the Seventh-day Sabbath, see other truth have already been 51:11 recovered these were two that not been 51:15 but remember what Revelation say the remnant would do? 51:19 Keep the Commandments of God which includes the Sabbath and 51:23 have the testimony of Jesus. These faithful 51:27 christian of all different denominations were excided about this 51:32 they wanted to keep throwing away the tradition of men and come back to the Bible 51:35 so they took these truth and they when back to the churches of their day 51:40 in 1800s but the sad part 51:43 story is the church of the 1800s 51:48 rejected those two truth and were not 51:52 willing to move forward with the light 51:56 as a result many of those dear christian were disfellowshipped 52:00 form there churches and they were eventually forced to ban 52:04 together and they began was known as the 52:08 Seventh-day Adventist movement it wasn't their original intent 52:12 to start a movement or a denomination they just wanted bring people 52:16 back to truth, but when the churches of the rejected it 52:20 they had not choice. And so when Seventh-day Adventist movement 52:24 began in the early 1800s it was simply 52:28 a continuation of the reformation it was a fulfillment of 52:32 this prophecy in Revelation 12:17 that God would have 52:36 a movement that bring people back to His commandments back 52:40 to His Sabbath, back to the testimony of Jesus and the 52:44 traditions of men would be let go of 52:48 now I partly I choose to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, not because 52:52 I believe Seventh-day Adventists are going to saved anybody else 52:56 because I want to part of that movement, I want to part of movement that 53:00 that continues the reformation, that comes back to the bible that comes back 53:04 to His commandments and that's why Revelation speaks 53:08 to us in Revelation 18:4 that we saw last night 53:12 where God gives this all important appeal to people 53:16 to people living it the last days. He says to us 53:24 share in her sin, What mean? It'sva call to out of 53:28 Babylon like we learned last night. Babylon represents 53:32 all the religious confusion in the the world the tradition of men 53:36 the commandments of men, the authority of men 53:40 being placed above the word of God, just it happen in the middle ages 53:44 God is saying today I want you to come out that 53:48 He is calling Baptist, He is calling catholic's, He 53:52 is calling Episcopal's He is call nondenominational folks, He 53:56 is call all of us no matter language we speak, no matter 54:00 color of skin is, He says I want you to come out of religious 54:04 confession, I want you to come to follow Bible and the 54:08 Bible and the Bible alone, if you love me I want you to keep my 54:12 commandments. You see folks the call 54:16 to come out of Babylon is simply a call to put Jesus 54:20 above everyone and to put His word everything 54:24 else, folks in these last days 54:28 I believe that God is look people just like Martin Luther 54:32 people who aren't worried about what the majority say 54:36 people aren't willing to compromise, people who like Martin Luther 54:40 can stand up and say, here I stand on the word 54:44 of God I can do no other. 54:48 His is looking for people who will follow Him with all their hearts 54:52 all their souls and all their might. 54:56 You see as a christian myself 55:00 I know the commandment of god aren't popular 55:04 I know the Sabbath isn't popular 55:08 but when I see Jeses Christ lying prostrate 55:12 in the garden of gethsemane, when 55:16 see drops of blood coming from His forehead 55:20 when I recognize that he gave up all of heaven 55:24 to go through the plan of salvation just to save 55:28 me just to save you 55:32 that He would leave a place were He is worshiped and adored by millions 55:36 billions angelic beings and He literally 55:40 risk His internal life to come 55:44 and save sinful human beings 55:48 Jesus went all the way for us 55:52 Now is calling his people to go all the way with Him 55:56 to come out of Babylon 56:00 to keep His commandment to follow the Bible 56:04 and the Bible alone that's God's call to His people 56:08 in the last days, and the question what will your answer 56:12 be? Are we willing to come out of Babylon 56:16 to take our stand on God's word and to take our stand with 56:20 Jesus? Because when we follow Jesus, though there maybe challenges 56:24 we have peace, we have assurance 56:28 and we know that we our standing on the right side 56:32 even if the majority is against is I walk 56:36 through anything as long Jesus is by may side 56:40 I want to invite you to get out your response card 56:44 for tonight, now as you came it should got a response card 56:48 that says Revelation remnant, if you don't have one if you 56:52 just raise your host should be able to one because 56:56 these are in the blue buckets. Is there anyone that does not a card 57:00 that say Revelation remnant? Alright let's go through it together 57:04 There for everyone to mark, the first 57:08 box says I believe the Bible is inspired word 57:12 of God and should be out guide. If you can say yes 57:16 I believe we should we follow the Bible and the Bible alone, I invite you to check that 57:20 box. By the you wonder why do you do response 57:24 every night? Because when we're convicted 57:28 something our heart, we don't take kind of step 57:32 that conviction well die, even if that conviction is simple 57:36 as just marking something on a card if it is 57:40 important to speak about it is important enough to make a decision 57:44 about it. The second box say; I want to baptized 57:48 one day soon, I didn't your situation or what going on 57:52 in life, but if never taken step of publicly confessing 57:56 Jesus through baptism by immersion, I would invite you just check 58:00 that box. I'm sure Pastor Mark would love make day 58:04 possible for you one day, Box number 3 58:08 says I want part of the remnant who keep the commandments of God 58:12 In other words your saying Pastor Dave I want to keep God's 58:16 commandments in my life and want to ask the Holy Spirit 58:20 if he me to do that including His Bible Sabbath 58:24 If that is the desire of your I want to invite you to check that box |
Revised 2015-11-12