Participants: Geoff Youlden
Series Code: FGW
Program Code: FGW000006
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00:27 I remember as a young man sitting in on a lecture
00:30 listening to a preacher talk about the great beasts 00:34 of the book of Daniel. 00:36 I remember the first one was like a lion 00:42 and it had eagle's wings. 00:44 And the second was a bear. And it was a funny bear 00:47 because it was raised up on one side and it had three ribs 00:49 in its mouth. The third beast was a leopard. 00:53 And it was a strange leopard, too, because it had 4 heads 00:56 and wings. And the fourth beast was so dreadful 00:59 that even the Bible prophet couldn't imagine 01:02 what a... that an animal looked like it at all. 01:04 It was just an indescribable beast. 01:07 What I didn't understand then that I clearly understand now 01:11 is that these beasts didn't exist as beasts. 01:14 Rather they were representative of something. For example, 01:17 it's like if you picked up the newspaper tomorrow 01:22 and there you saw the kangaroo in the cartoon section 01:27 immediately what nation is in the news? 01:30 Australia... because everybody knows that the jumping kangaroo 01:35 represents Australia. Now the interesting thing is 01:40 that the idea of using animals to represent nations 01:43 did not originate with with the cartoons. 01:48 It actually originated in the Bible. 01:52 The Bible was the first book to use animals 01:55 to represent nations. 01:56 And today we're going to study an amazing prophecy 02:00 from the book of Daniel that uses animals 02:03 to represent nations like we still do today 02:07 with the kangaroo of Australia, and the lion, Great Britain, 02:10 and the eagle, America, and so forth. 02:13 So would you open your Bibles to Daniel the 7th chapter... 02:17 Daniel chapter 7 and we'll notice here verse 17. 02:22 Daniel 7 and verse 17. 02:28 Here Daniel is told after seeing these 4 great beasts... 02:32 This is what he is told in verse 17: 02:45 So you see, like we have found with the Bible 02:48 when you allow the Bible to explain itself 02:50 there is no question as to the interpretation. 02:54 The Bible has already told us the interpretation 02:58 so when we see these animals now 03:00 we immediately recognize that the Bible says they represent 03:04 kings or kingdoms. 03:06 Now if we go back to verse 2 of chapter 7 03:09 we begin to notice a description of each of these 4 animals. 03:41 Now you can see whether the artist has pictured this exactly 03:46 as Daniel saw it... I don't know. 03:48 But the picture you are seeing now is very close to what 03:51 Daniel no doubt saw. 03:53 This lion was no ordinary lion because it had eagle's wings. 03:58 But the difference with this lion is that it had a man's 04:01 heart. Now when we talk about a man having a lion's heart 04:05 what do we usually mean by that? 04:07 Yes. Strong and resilient and so forth. 04:11 Now a lion having a man's heart would be the opposite. 04:17 And the great lion of ancient history 04:20 if you went back to the ancient world and went over to Babylon 04:24 you would see the lion still. If you walk the streets 04:28 of Babylon today - which is in modern Iraq - 04:31 and you can still see the giant lions. 04:35 There's one right on the processional way. 04:38 And this lion is actually standing on a man, indicating 04:42 that the great empire of Babylon which reigned from 04:45 606 BC to 538 BC 04:50 dominated the world. And it did! 04:54 And the wings represent the speed with which Babylon was 04:58 going to conquer the world. 05:03 And it's interesting that Babylon has come down to us 05:07 as the symbol because some of you may remember 05:09 a few years ago when you went to the supermarket you 05:11 could buy dates. And the brand of date that you could buy 05:16 was called The Lion of Babylon dates 05:20 because they came from Iraq. 05:23 And I don't think that there would be too many authorities 05:27 that would disagree that the lion represents Babylon. 05:31 That great kingdom: probably the greatest kingdom 05:34 that ever pressed this earth. 05:36 And it became its most popular period under a king by the 05:40 name of Nebuchadnezzar. 05:42 It's often called the neo-Babylonian empire. 05:45 But Babylon wasn't going to last forever because the Bible 05:49 went on to say in verse 5: 06:06 Now when the Babylonian empire fell in the year 538 BC 06:10 it was followed by the next world-dominating power. 06:13 And you historians will remember who it was. 06:17 Who was it? Yes... the Medes and the Persians 06:21 represented here by this bear standing up on one side 06:25 indicating that one of the sides was stronger than the other 06:29 or higher than the other. It was a coalition government 06:32 like Austria-Hungary in the last war... 06:34 the Medes and the Persians. 06:35 In fact you can go over to Iran today where the 06:38 ancient city of Persepolis, 06:40 the headquarters of the Mede and Persian empire. 06:43 And you can see all over the walls... I have walked around 06:46 the city. You can see a flat hat on a soldier followed by 06:51 a round hat. A flat hat, a round hat. A flat hat, 06:54 a round hat because there was a Mede followed by a Persian. 06:57 A Mede followed by a Persian. A Mede followed by a Persian. 07:02 And as I walked around I saw 07:04 where the stone had been protected from the elements 07:07 and they still had that mirror finish on that stone. 07:11 You could see your own picture reflected in the stone. 07:14 And I thought to myself: "what an amazing city 07:17 it must have been in its hey-day! " 07:19 And the three ribs in its mouth represent the three nations 07:23 that the Medes and the Persians overthrew - 07:26 Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt - 07:28 in order to conquer the world. 07:30 But even the Medes and the Persians weren't going to last 07:32 forever because the Bible says... verse 6: 07:46 Now once again this leopard is no ordinary leopard. 07:49 As you can see it's got four heads and wings. 07:53 We know very well that a leopard is known for its speed. 07:56 And this next power that was going to take over 07:59 in the year 331 BC when the Medes and the Persians fell - 08:04 because they reigned from 538 BC to 331 BC - 08:08 then the next world power that came on in the year 331 08:12 was none other than the great Grecian empire 08:16 led by Alexander the Great, the great Macedonian king. 08:21 An amazing man. 08:23 Conquered the then-known world by the age of 33. 08:28 And when you think of the map... 08:31 If you could imagine the map laid out before you 08:34 right through to the borders of India right from the 08:37 most extreme west right through to the borders of India 08:41 Alexander the Great had conquered the then-known world. 08:44 An amazing man. 08:45 Probably the greatest general the world has ever known. 08:49 And the wings represent the speed with which he was going to 08:53 conquer the world. And it's interesting that 08:55 Alexander the Great had 120 generals, and they all fought 08:58 among one another as to who was going to become the next 09:01 Alexander the Great when he died. 09:03 And it's interesting that they reduced themselves 09:06 to exactly four: Lysimachus, 09:09 Cassander, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. 09:13 And they divided his empire north, south, east, and west. 09:17 For example, the Ptolemy... the Ptolemaic empire... 09:22 what part of the world was that? 09:24 That's the Egyptian part of the world. 09:26 And you remember reading about Marc Antony and Cleopatra. 09:32 And so his kingdom was divided into four divisions. 09:36 But even Alexander's wonderful kingdom finally came to an end 09:41 in the year 168 BC. 09:43 And it was going to be followed by the fourth world empire. 09:46 Verse 7: 10:08 Now this 4th beast was just... Well, Daniel couldn't 10:13 think of a beast that looked like it. 10:15 And the artist has tried to do his best, too, to figure what 10:18 it would have looked like. And this beast was different 10:21 because it had 10 horns. 10:23 And Daniel's attention now was centered on those 10 horns. 10:27 And by the way, what was the power that took over 10:31 when Greece fell in the year 168 BC? 10:35 By the way, this was the power that was ruling when Jesus 10:38 was born and continued right through until the year 476 AD. 10:43 It lasted longer than any of the other world powers. 10:45 What was the power? The Roman Empire. 10:48 We're down in more familiar ground here. 10:51 Daniel's attention now was going to be riveted on those 10 horns 10:55 because he says in verse 8: 11:12 So as Daniel was watching this power, 11:16 these 10 horns, he then noticed 11:18 another little horn that came up and actually uprooted 11:21 three of those ten. 11:26 Daniel's attention couldn't be taken off this little horn. 11:31 And if you come over to verse 23 11:34 on the next page it tells us a little bit more about 11:37 what was going to happen. Verse 23: 11:49 Verse 24: the ten horns are what? 12:06 So here the Bible makes it very, very clear 12:09 that among those ten horns 12:13 was going to come up this little horn, 12:15 uproot three of those horns. 12:18 Now when Rome finally fell in the year 476 AD... 12:24 You see, if I'd been writing the Bible I would have been tempted 12:26 to say that if Babylon was followed by Medo-Persia, 12:28 Medo-Persia was followed in turn by Greece, 12:31 Greece in turn was followed by Rome, 12:33 what would you naturally think? 12:35 That when Rome fell it would be followed by a 5th world empire. 12:39 But the prophet said "no. " 12:41 The prophet said it's going to be divided into 10 divisions. 12:46 And it was actually the Barbarians coming down 12:49 from the north and from the south... the Vandals coming up 12:52 from the south that attacked Rome's borders. 12:54 And finally Rome began to fall. 12:57 And it was completed in the year 476 AD. 13:02 And the interesting thing is out of those 10 divisions 13:05 come what we call Europe today. 13:08 Because it was the break-up of the Roman Empire that 13:12 gives us our nations of Europe today. For example, 13:14 the Anglo-Saxons became known as the British. 13:19 The Alemanni were the Germans. 13:22 The Franks were the French. 13:24 And basically our nations of Europe today have come about 13:28 because of the break-up of the Roman Empire. 13:32 Because God said it would never be another world one empire 13:36 that would unite Europe. Instead Europe will be fragmented. 13:41 And of those ten, three are not going to survive. 13:45 And the three that finally didn't survive 13:49 were the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. 13:51 They were absorbed by the rising power in Italy. 13:56 Because that power was a religious power as well as a 14:00 political power, and so they subdued those other 3 nations. 14:05 And that's why we haven't got any remnants of the Heruli, 14:07 the Ostrogoths, or the Vandals today 14:11 because they have all gone. 14:13 But in verse 25 God went on to describe in more detail 14:17 what this little horn was going to do. 14:19 Because the rest of the chapter now centers about 14:22 what this little horn was going to do. Verse 25: 14:39 The intention, the Bible says, of this little horn will be to 14:43 change the law of God and the times within the law. 14:48 Its sole aim would be to attack God's law. 14:53 It would not only do that, it would speak great words 14:57 against the Most High. 14:58 Now before we identify the antichrist 15:00 because that's what we need to do this afternoon 15:02 we need to have a look and remind ourselves 15:05 what Jesus said about the law. 15:07 Just come over to Matthew chapter 5 in the New Testament. 15:09 Matthew the 5th chapter. 15:12 And we'll notice just before we venture any further 15:15 what Jesus said about the law. Matthew 5 and verse 17 15:20 where Jesus said here in verse 17: 15:31 You see, there were some people in Jesus' day who thought 15:34 that His purpose was to destroy or do away with the law. 15:38 And Jesus said: "Don't you think that I've come to do that 15:41 at all! I haven't come to destroy it; 15:43 I've come to fulfill it. " 15:44 That word fulfill means to fully preach 15:46 because Jesus said on another occasion 15:48 "I have come to fulfill all righteousness. " 15:51 Now that doesn't mean to do away with it. 15:52 It means to fully preach it, to expand it out 15:55 so everybody would understand it. 15:57 And here Jesus came to fully preach the law. 16:01 "Don't think I've come to destroy it. " 16:02 And He made that very clear in verse 17... verse 18: 16:16 That jot and tittle is probably not an expression that you use 16:20 today. What it means is... We have an equivalent in English 16:24 and the equivalent is... You know, when you're writing 16:26 out a passage you might... you go back and you dot 16:29 your i's and you cross your t's? 16:30 That's the jot and the tittle in the original language. 16:34 And Jesus said: "Even the dotting of an i 16:37 or the crossing of a t will not pass from the law 16:41 while heaven is above and earth beneath. " 16:44 Now I don't think anybody in the world would suggest that 16:47 heaven's been done away with and the earth been done away with. 16:50 So not even the dotting of an i or the crossing of a t 16:53 will pass while heaven is above and earth beneath. 16:57 Verse 19: 17:13 And Jesus said: "If you want to be called great 17:15 in the kingdom of heaven, you keep the commandments 17:17 yourself and you teach others to keep them. " 17:21 But He said: "If you want to have no part in God's kingdom, 17:24 don't keep the commandments yourself and you teach others 17:27 that they've been done away with. " 17:28 It's a very serious thing to say that the Ten Commandments 17:31 have been done away with. And yet we have just read 17:34 back in the book of Daniel where God says 17:36 there's going to come a power and that power's great 17:40 aim will be to do away with the law of God. 17:45 Jesus said He would never do away with it. 17:47 And there's no question that He's talking about the 17:49 Ten Commandments because He quotes from some of them. 17:52 If you go down to verse 21, for example. It says: 18:02 And then if you go down to verse 27: 18:04 "You have heard that it was said to those of old 'you shall 18:07 not commit adultery. ' " So Jesus was quoting 18:09 from some of the Ten Commandments, and He says 18:12 "As long as heaven is above and earth beneath 18:15 not even the dotting of an i or the crossing of a t 18:19 will pass from that law. " 18:22 And yet we have read about a power back there 18:24 in the book of Daniel that's going to think itself 18:27 able to change the law of God. 18:31 You know, it's not a very popular thing today 18:33 to teach and uphold the Ten Commandments. 18:36 Now some of you may wonder about that statement 18:40 but it's true, let me tell you. 18:41 You tell people that you're planning on keeping the 18:44 commandments and all of the commandments and mention 18:47 the Sabbath and see what happens. 18:48 I'll guarantee the next breath 18:51 that the person breathes that you're talking to 18:53 will tell you that that's all been done away with. 18:56 Nailed to the cross. 18:59 No longer do Christians have to keep the law. 19:02 Free from the law... oh happy condition. Sin all you like, 19:06 there's plenty of remission. 19:08 That's not the teaching of the Bible let me tell you 19:11 because Jesus said: "As long as heaven is above and earth 19:15 beneath there'll be no change, not even the dotting of an i 19:19 or the crossing of the t. " 19:21 You know, it's an interesting thing that I find very 19:23 interesting is this: the only part of the Bible 19:26 that God actually wrote Himself was the Ten Commandments. 19:29 Is that true? Yes it is! 19:32 And He didn't write it once, He wrote them twice 19:34 when Moses broke them. 19:35 So sacred were the Ten Commandments 19:38 God didn't even trust Moses to write those down. 19:41 He wrote them Himself, 19:43 and yet that is the one part of the Bible today 19:46 that many Christians want to do away with. 19:48 Strange, isn't it? 19:50 That's the center of the Bible that's under attack today... 19:53 not by those who don't believe in God 19:57 but by those who professedly say they do believe in God. 20:03 People say to me: "Well maybe if... if Jesus 20:08 didn't do away with the commandments, maybe the 20:10 apostles did away with them. " 20:11 Well now listen, friend... how dare the apostles 20:13 do away with the commandments if Jesus didn't. Is that right? 20:17 How dare they? But of course, they didn't! 20:20 And there's no record anywhere 20:22 in the Bible where any of the apostles attempted to change 20:25 or alter the law of God. 20:27 Now we must make a distinction here between 20:29 the Ten Commandments and the law of the Jews. 20:31 We're not talking about the law of the Jews. 20:33 That was done away with when Jesus died on the cross. 20:36 Well much of it was done away with. 20:37 We are talking about the Ten Commandments 20:39 that have never been and never will be 20:42 abrogated or changed. 20:44 In fact, let me read you what Jesus said over here in the 20:47 book of Revelation. 20:48 Come over to Revelation chapter 22 and verse 14. 20:55 Revelation 22 and verse 14 20:58 where John the Revelator writes this down: 21:11 Almost the last statement of scripture God says 21:13 "Blessed are those who do His commandments. " 21:17 Those who keep the commandments are specially blessed by God. 21:21 The Bible says: "blessed are those who do the commandments. " 21:25 See that's worth striving after, isn't it? To be blessed by God. 21:30 So if you and I want to be blessed by God 21:33 part of that is to keep His commandments. 21:35 Come down to verse 18. 21:58 And so we have been told we must not add 22:02 and we must not subtract anything from God's Word. 22:06 And yet we have read already in the book of Daniel 22:09 about the antichrist power who is going to think himself 22:13 able to attempt to change the law of God. 22:17 Jesus said He would never do it. 22:19 But He did predict that there was going to be a power 22:24 that would think himself able to do it. 22:26 Now when we talk about the antichrist 22:31 the antichrist is a power that's not necessarily 22:36 anti against God. 22:38 Unfortunately in our English language we generally use 22:42 the word anti to mean if you're anti something 22:44 you're against it. 22:46 But that's not primarily the meaning of the Bible 22:50 when it talks about the antichrist. 22:52 Its primary meaning means "in place of Christ. " 22:57 So when God has a truth, the devil has something 23:01 that he puts in place of that which God gave. 23:05 Like we spoke the other night about the counterfeit. 23:08 A counterfeit looks like and appears like the genuine thing. 23:12 But there are subtle differences. 23:15 Just like in this... If I didn't tell you that this $50 note 23:20 was a counterfeit, you wouldn't know because 23:24 everything about it looks like the real genuine thing. 23:27 But there are subtle changes made 23:30 which makes it a counterfeit. 23:32 And that's how the devil has worked. 23:34 Down through the years the devil has counterfeited 23:37 by changing subtly some things 23:40 still maintaining the outward appearance of the genuine. 23:45 So using Biblical terminology 23:49 but changing the very essence of what it stands for. 23:53 That's what the devil has done. 23:55 And that's why the Bible calls him the antichrist. 23:59 He has come with a religion in place of 24:02 the religion that God gave. 24:04 And unless you study the Bible you wouldn't know 24:07 the difference. You see the Bible tells us 24:09 that the devil works by substitution. 24:14 For he knows that atheism has never been very popular 24:17 even in Russia and those places that avowedly declared 24:21 themselves Communist and atheist 24:23 the vast majority of people really in those countries 24:26 weren't atheist. And that's why as soon as the Iron Curtain fell 24:28 the people just rushed back to church. 24:30 Because deeply rooted in the heart of every individual 24:33 is the desire to worship. 24:35 And even in secular Australia people still worship something. 24:38 They may not worship the true God 24:40 but they worship money or they worship sport 24:42 or they worship this or with that. 24:44 Because deeply rooted in our hearts when God made us 24:47 He made us to worship. 24:48 And the devil knows that. That's why he comes along 24:52 and he's not worried about a person going to church. 24:54 He's not even worried about a person who reads the Bible 24:57 as long as they do not follow exactly what the Bible says. 25:03 That's when the devil really gets upset: 25:05 if you start to be serious about following! 25:09 Because he wants to bring a religion along that will be 25:12 a substitute. That will look like the real thing 25:17 but in actual fact subtle changes have been made. 25:21 Now he attempted to do that in the days of Jesus. 25:24 In fact, in the days of Jesus it's exactly the same 25:27 as it is today... the situation. Let me read it to you. 25:29 Come over the Matthew the 15th chapter. 25:32 Matthew chapter 15, and I'll read you the situation 25:35 that Jesus was up against in His day. 25:39 Matthew 15 and we will read here verse 2. 25:43 Because the disciples and Jesus were confronted by the 25:46 religious leaders: the scribes and the Pharisees. 25:49 This is what they said to them... verse 2: 26:00 Now let me just pause here. 26:01 This washing of the hands had nothing to do with hygiene. 26:04 They believed - the Jews believed - that if you put a bit 26:06 of water between your wrists and rubbed them together 26:08 then everything that you touched was then ceremonially clean. 26:12 Get the idea? 26:13 Now you'll never read about that in the Bible. 26:15 That is a tradition. That is that is a teaching that was 26:19 taught by the church. It's not a teaching in the Bible. 26:23 And so when Jesus came along 26:25 He didn't rub His hands together like the Pharisees 26:29 and like the rest of the Jews. 26:31 And so He was in conflict with them because He didn't follow 26:34 those traditions. 26:35 Notice what Jesus said in verse 3: 26:47 Can you see how the devil had deceived these people? 26:49 That while they were earnestly following what their church said 26:52 in actual fact what were they doing contrary 26:55 to in their teaching? 26:58 Yeah, they were against the commandments. 27:01 Can you see? The more earnest they were in following 27:03 what the church said the more they were breaking one of 27:05 God's Ten Commandments. In this case it happened to be 27:07 commandment number five 27:08 as you read the rest of the story. 27:10 That's how the devil had deceived them. 27:13 So the more earnest and sincere they were 27:16 in doing what the church said the more they were breaking 27:19 one of God's Ten Commandments. 27:20 And Jesus finally summed it up in verse 9 when He said: 27:33 And I don't care what church it's in, if you and I 27:36 are following teachings that are based on the mere commandments 27:40 of men, Jesus said that is vain or useless. 27:43 People say to me: "Well Geoff, how did the devil deceive people 27:47 into believing that tradition was above the Bible 27:50 and the commandments of God? " 27:51 Well, to understand that we must go back in our minds 27:54 and remember that the world that the disciples were born into 27:59 was not a Christian world. It was a pagan world. 28:02 And the world that Jesus came to preach to was 28:05 basically a pagan world. 28:07 They all worshiped the sun... sun worship. 28:12 And they had the sun and the moon 28:16 and five of the planets that they understood. 28:19 And these were part of their deity worship. 28:23 And so when it came to naming the days of the week 28:26 they named then in honor of their gods. 28:29 The first day was named in honor of their god 28:34 the sun, hence the name Sunsday. And we still call it Sunday. 28:39 That's where it came from. 28:40 Sun worship... in our very language still. 28:44 The next most important god to the pagans was the moon. 28:48 And they called the second day of the week moon day. 28:51 We have shortened it to Monday 28:52 but that's where the name comes from. 28:54 And for the pagans they had five planets... they knew of 28:57 five planets and so they named the rest of the days of the week 29:01 Tiwesday, Wodansday, Thorsday, 29:03 Frigersday and Saturnsday. 29:05 And basically that's how the names of the days of the week 29:09 have come down to us in the English language. 29:12 Because the Bible doesn't call the days of the week like that 29:15 at all. The Bible calls the days of the week 29:18 first day, second day, third day, fourth day, 29:21 fifth day, Preparation Day, Sabbath. 29:24 That's how the Bible names the days of the week. 29:26 But the pagans said: "No! Sunday, Monday, 29:29 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. " 29:32 And we in the English language have directly followed 29:36 the pagans through the Romans through the Latin and 29:39 we have brought this directly into our language today. 29:43 Now let's just remind ourselves as we go back to the 29:46 Ten Commandments how God set the days of the week out. 29:49 Come back to Exodus chapter 20 at the beginning of the Bible. 29:53 Page 71: Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8. 29:57 And we will just remind ourselves of the fourth 30:01 of the Ten Commandments. 30:03 Exodus 20 verse 8: 30:16 So right back from the beginning the Ten Commandments 30:18 set forth that the seventh day was the Sabbath. 30:22 Now in the New Testament it's exactly the same. 30:25 Because if you come over into the New Testament 30:27 to the book of Mark the 15th chapter... Mark chapter 15... 30:31 we will notice that there is no difference between the 30:34 Old and the New Testament on this teaching. 30:37 Mark 15 and verse 42. Verse 42 says: 30:51 So right back there in the New Testament too 30:54 it was the same cycle of days. 30:57 We have the Preparation Day. That is, the day before the 31:00 Sabbath. And it's interesting that if you go over to Greece 31:02 today they still use the same word for Friday 31:04 that they used in Bible times. 31:06 It's still called the Preparation Day. 31:08 And Sabbath is still called the Sabbath in Greece today 31:12 because that's the very language. 31:14 That's the day that Jesus was crucified. 31:16 Now perhaps someone is saying: "Well Geoff, are you suggesting 31:20 today that my parents and my family who were good earnest 31:23 Christians and went to church on Sunday 31:25 were pagans and they weren't Christians? 31:27 Is that what you're saying? " 31:28 No, I'm not saying that at all. 31:30 But what I am saying is this: 31:32 that when God brings light to our path and He shows us 31:36 what He wants us to do, 31:38 when we earnestly love the Lord we will then want to get 31:42 our life in harmony with what God wants us to do. 31:44 Because the book of Acts says at the times of their ignorance 31:48 God winked at, but now He has brought light to our path 31:53 and He has brought us a consciousness of right and wrong 31:58 and He wants us to follow that. 32:01 And we would never spank or punish a child 32:03 for doing something that he or she didn't understand 32:06 to be right or wrong. But if we explained it to them 32:08 as parents, then we expect them to be obedient. 32:11 And that's the way God is with us. 32:13 He doesn't hold us responsible for things on the past 32:16 of our ignorance. But He does expect us... When we know 32:20 a thing to be right He then does expect us to be obedient. 32:23 Well you say: "How then did Sunday get into the church? 32:28 I can understand how the pagans worshiped it 32:30 but how did it get into the church? " 32:33 Well, in order to answer that we need to read 32:35 two major scriptures. Come over to the book of Acts. 32:38 And first of all, Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. 32:43 And we will notice here Paul's admonition 32:45 to the leadership of the church at Ephesus. 32:48 And he gave them a very strong warning 32:50 in Acts 20 and verse 28 where he says: 33:26 Now Paul calls these wicked people "wolves. " 33:32 And these wolves... where were they going to come from? 33:35 Were they going to come from without and attack the church 33:38 from without? Or were they going to come from within 33:40 the church and attack the church from within? 33:42 Within or without? Within. 33:45 And I want to remind you that the greatest attacks 33:47 that have ever been made against the church have always been 33:50 made from within. 33:52 And Paul calls these savage wolves. 33:56 Now if you come over to II Thessalonians - 33:58 just a little bit further on: II Thessalonians - 34:01 we'll notice again very clearly how Paul explains in more detail 34:06 what these "wicked wolves" were going to teach. 34:09 II Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1 34:15 where he writes here: 34:33 You see there were people teaching in the days of Paul 34:36 that Christ was going to come back in the first century. 34:38 And they were forging Paul's signature and sending letters 34:41 out to all the church members. And Paul says "even if you 34:43 get a letter signed by me saying that Christ's coming 34:46 is at hand, don't believe it. " Why? 34:48 Verse 3: 35:13 So a man was going to come in the church. 35:15 He was going to claim to be God on earth 35:17 and people were going to worship him. 35:19 I tell you, you've got tremendous power over people 35:22 when they worship you. Isn't that right? 35:24 Tremendous power. And that's what happened in the church. 35:27 And Paul went on to say in verse 7 describing the teaching 35:31 of this man of sin: 35:36 So the antichrist was beginning in Paul's day. 35:39 He's already at work. And what was the characteristic? 35:42 What was the major teaching of the antichrist here? 35:44 Lawlessness. 35:46 Now lawlessness simply means to be opposed to the law of God. 35:50 Not subject to the law of God. 35:52 This is the same power that Daniel spoke about 35:55 who was going to oppose the law of God. 35:57 Now Paul is explaining in more detail that it would begin early 36:02 in the Christian period. It was beginning in Paul's day... 36:05 this teaching of lawlessness. Verse 8: 36:15 So how long is this lawless one going to be allowed to continue 36:19 in the world? Right through until Jesus comes 36:23 when he's going to be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. 36:26 So obviously the antichrist is not one individual 36:28 because no one individual lives for 2,000 years. 36:31 The antichrist is a religious system that began very early 36:35 in the Christian period and continues right through 36:37 until Jesus destroys it when He comes the second time. 36:41 And its major teaching will be lawlessness or being opposed 36:47 to the law of God. Now I'm going to give you 36:50 a sheet of paper. I'm going to ask the ushers 36:53 if you wouldn't mind just handing that out. 36:55 Those of you that are watching your television sets 37:00 will now see it on the screen. 37:03 We're going to hand you out a copy of the Ten Commandments 37:06 as they appear in the Bible and as they appear for millions 37:11 of Christians today in the world. 37:14 And I don't want to be attacking anyone here today 37:17 in doing this, but nevertheless we need to be honest. 37:19 So remember I have said to you that the antichrist counterfeits 37:24 every single teaching in the Bible. 37:27 Here is a perfect illustration of what we're saying. 37:29 God had Ten Commandments and the devil or the antichrist 37:33 has a counterfeit Ten Commandments. 37:35 But they're still called Ten Commandments. 37:37 Now look, when you get your sheet and you compare the left 37:40 with the right, the left is what God wrote 37:42 as the Ten Commandments in the Bible. 37:44 The right is as they have been changed for millions of 37:47 Christians today. Without reading a single word 37:50 what's the first thing that hits you? 37:54 It is how much abbreviated what man has written 37:57 compared with what God wrote. 37:59 Two-thirds have been left out. 38:02 And when you look at the commandments, the first one 38:05 we wouldn't disagree with. 38:12 God said: "don't make any images. 38:15 Nothing that looks like anything in heaven. 38:18 And don't bow down to it and don't worship it. " 38:21 But that got in their road so they simply left it out. 38:25 And so there is no #2 that is a parallel 38:30 to God's #2. Their #2 is parallel to God's #3... 38:34 even though it's shortened. 38:40 And if you have a look at #2 on the other side 38:42 it says: "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 38:44 in vain. " See what they've done? 38:46 Well you say: "They must only have 9 commandments. " 38:49 No, they've got 10. 38:50 Let me explain how they get their 10. 38:52 If you go down to the bottom it says #10 on God's side 39:04 If you go over to the other side now and have a look at 39:07 #9 and #10, #9 says: 39:11 #10 says: 39:14 What have they done to make up #10? 39:16 Yeah, they've split God's #10 into two to make up ten. 39:20 But it's still called Ten Commandments. 39:22 And when you meet these people you say: "Well do you believe 39:24 in the Ten Commandments? " "Yes, " they say. 39:26 But they've got in mind the right-hand side; 39:30 you've got in mind the left-hand side. 39:32 Can you see how the devil has counterfeited? 39:33 And unless you've studied your Bible you wouldn't know 39:36 the difference. That's why it is so important 39:40 to know the difference. And as I said, this is the way 39:43 hundreds of millions in the world today 39:46 believe that the Ten Commandments are. 39:49 Now by the way, what I'm going to share with you now 39:52 is so clear that you can check this up in your history books, 39:57 in the encyclopedias, or in your Internet. 40:00 There are two men who are responsible for bringing Sunday 40:04 into the Christian church. Neither of these men's names 40:06 appear in the Bible. 40:08 The first man's name is Tertullian of Carthage 40:11 and the second man's name is Clement of Alexandria. 40:15 These men were the first men to bring or call Sunday 40:19 the Lord's Day. Up until they came along 40:23 every prophet in the Bible upheld the Sabbath as 40:27 the Lord's Day. 40:30 Well you say: "How did Sunday get in? " 40:32 Well in the year 125 AD 40:35 a man by the name of Sixtus spelled S-I-X-T-U-S 40:38 came along. And he proposed that the Christian church 40:42 ought to remember once a year 40:44 the resurrection of Christ. 40:49 Seventy-five years later another man by the name of Bertar 40:52 came along. And Bertar said that anybody that didn't go along 40:56 with the annual observance of the resurrection 40:58 ought to be excommunicated from the church. 41:01 So that further increased the idea 41:05 of people believing in Sunday as the resurrection. 41:09 Then between 200 AD and 314 AD 41:12 the annual observance of Sunday 41:15 as a memorial of the resurrection 41:17 gradually became a weekly observance. 41:20 So we have these two days being kept now: 41:22 the Sabbath in the Bible and Sunday as the memorial 41:25 of the resurrection. Can you see? 41:27 Both alongside one another. 41:29 And then in the year 314 AD 41:32 Constantine made a law in which he said 41:35 every government worker can have a holiday on Sunday. 41:39 Well I've never known a govern- ment worker yet to turn down 41:42 a holiday, have you? 41:44 That was embraced, 41:47 and it remained that way for a number of years. 41:49 And then the private sector said: "This is not fair! 41:53 Why should civil servants be allowed to have a holiday 41:56 on Sunday and we've got to work? " 41:58 And they appealed to Constantine. 42:01 And he saw some light in that, and so on the 7th of March 42:04 in the year 321 AD 42:08 Constantine made a law in which he said 42:11 "Everybody in the Roman Empire can have a holiday 42:14 on Sunday. " And that's why still Sunday is regarded 42:17 as a holiday. We have continued it from the 42:21 time of Constantine when it was first made a holiday. 42:24 And you see it was easy for people to accept that, remember? 42:28 Because they had been worshiping on Sunday as pagans. 42:31 You can go over to Rome today and see the Parthenon. 42:34 And there, the Parth... You can see the big hole 42:37 in the ceiling where the sun shines. 42:38 Where it used to shine right on where the people used to worship 42:41 their sacrifice. You can still see it today 42:44 because that was a pagan temple. 42:48 Still standing. 42:51 And it was very easy for these people to accept the idea of 42:54 Sunday because they had been brought up to honor Sunday 42:58 as the day of worship as a pagan. 43:02 And what they said is: "Look, it's very simple. 43:05 Now no longer are you going to worship the sun in the sky. 43:08 Now you can worship the Son of God. " 43:10 And as the Roman soldiers went out through the world 43:13 they took Sunday with them. 43:16 And when they got over to England, for example, 43:18 they met stiff resistance in the Celtic church 43:21 who were Sabbath keepers. 43:22 And finally the Celtic church had to relinquish because 43:25 the Roman soldiers and the army defeated the Celtic church. 43:28 You've heard of Patrick of Ireland. 43:30 He never kept Sunday in his entire life. 43:32 He was a Sabbath keeper. 43:33 And all the early Christians were all Sabbath keepers. 43:40 And then finally a council was called 43:43 on January 18, 1563, 43:47 in which Casper del Fosso got up and made a speech 43:49 in which he said that tradition was above the Bible. 43:52 And all the delegates to that council all said: 43:54 "Yes, we agree with you Casper del Fosso. " 43:56 And since that time the official position 43:59 of the church has been that tradition is above the Bible. 44:04 The Bible has to be interpreted by tradition or by the church. 44:08 The church has the final word on interpreting the Bible. 44:11 That's still their position today. 44:13 That was made an official position in 1563 AD. 44:19 And then in the year 1770 a man by the name of 44:22 Captain James Cook came out to this part of the world 44:26 and founded the first settlement with Arthur Phillip. 44:29 And they taught their children to keep Sunday. 44:33 And their children taught their children to keep Sunday. 44:35 Until your great great great great grandfather taught 44:37 your great great great grandfather Sunday. 44:40 And your great great great grandfather taught your 44:41 great great grandfather Sunday. 44:43 And your great great grandfather taught your great great 44:45 grandfather Sunday... Your great great grandfather 44:47 taught your great grandfather Sunday. 44:48 Your great grandfather taught your grandfather Sunday. 44:50 Your grandfather taught your father Sunday. 44:53 Your father taught you Sunday. 44:55 And that's how we all came to keep Sunday. 44:59 So Captain James Cook came over to this part of the world 45:02 in a boat. He brought Sunday over here with him in a boat 45:05 and now we're all in the same boat. 45:08 Friend, that's how it happened. Truly! 45:10 Because from the Old World came Sunday. 45:15 The same was with America. 45:16 Sunday came over from the Old World. 45:20 And wherever the Roman soldiers went around the world 45:22 they took Sunday with them. 45:24 But listen: the Bible not only says that this power was 45:27 going to the law of God. Just come back to Daniel chapter 7 45:32 and notice what else the Bible says that this power 45:35 was going to do because this is important. 45:38 Daniel 7 and verse 25. 45:40 Look at this: Daniel 7 and verse 25. 45:59 Not just the law but the time. 46:03 Now listen. Just take those Ten Commandments... 46:05 that sheet that you've got. Those viewing on television 46:08 can see it on the screen now. 46:10 Just have a look at God's Ten Commandments. 46:13 #10 down the bottom: does that talk about time? 46:16 Does it mention time? No. 46:19 #9 doesn't mention anything about time nor does #8. 46:23 #7 doesn't mention time nor does #6 nor does #5. 46:27 None of those commandments mention anything about time. 46:30 Is that true? #1... does that mention anything about time? No. 46:34 #2... does that mention anything about time? No. 46:38 #3... does that mention anything about time? No. 46:42 What about #4? 46:43 "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. 46:45 Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work 46:48 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. " 46:51 Does it mention time? 46:53 The whole commandment is based around time 46:57 for God said that the seventh day is the Sabbath. 47:00 And this power, the Bible said, would not only change 47:03 the Sabbath... the law but also change the Sabbath itself. 47:09 But listen: not only have they changed the day 47:12 but do you know that they have actually changed the time 47:14 that the day is to be kept? 47:16 Come back to Leviticus chapter 23. 47:18 Leviticus chapter 23. 47:20 And while this is concerning one of the ceremonial Sabbaths 47:24 nevertheless the principle still applies 47:27 to the seventh-day Sabbath. 47:28 We'll talk about those Sabbaths tomorrow in our meeting. 47:31 But have a look at verse 32. 47:34 This is Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 32. It says: 47:55 So when does the Bible say the Sabbath is to be kept? 47:57 From evening to evening. 48:00 Now, following the principle that we have been outlining 48:04 comparing scripture with scripture. We don't just guess 48:06 when the evening begins. We must go to the Bible 48:09 to find out when the evening begins. 48:11 To do that come over to the New Testament 48:13 Mark chapter 1 and verse 32. 48:15 Mark chapter 1 and verse 32 and here it tells us 48:19 when the evening begins. 48:22 When the Biblical evening begins. 48:24 Mark 1 verse 32 says: 48:32 In other words, when does the day begin and end Biblically? 48:37 From sunset to sunset. 48:41 All through the Bible that principle applies. 48:43 That's why in Genesis chapter 1 it says "the evening and 48:46 the morning were the first day. " 48:47 "The evening and the morning were the second day. " 48:49 Because the evening part of the day always starts first. 48:53 Because if you take from sunset to sunset 48:55 it's the dark part that comes before the light part, 48:57 isn't that right? Evening to evening. 49:01 And all through the Bible you have that. 49:04 Paul said on one occasion "Don't let the sun go down 49:06 on your wrath. " If you've had a difference with someone, 49:08 don't allow the day to end until you've made that right. 49:12 Sunset to sunset. But when this power came along 49:16 it actually changed the very reckoning of time. 49:19 Remember on Friday afternoon when Jesus died it said: 49:23 "And the Sabbath drew on... " 49:26 because the Sabbath was to begin that Friday afternoon 49:29 when Jesus was crucified at sunset that night. 49:32 That's why it says: "The Sabbath drew on... " 49:35 But when this power came along it not only changed 49:38 the Sabbath into Sunday 49:41 but it also changed the very reckoning of time. 49:46 Because instead of keeping a day now from sunset to sunset 49:49 we now keep a day from midnight to midnight. 49:53 And that's come down to us from this power. 49:56 Let me read you what the Catholic Encyclopedia says 49:59 on the article "Sunday. " 50:21 And so it was during the Dark Ages 50:24 that this church - the Medieval church - 50:27 not only changed the Sabbath but they changed the time 50:30 when the Sabbath was to be kept. 50:32 And so instead of sunset to sunset 50:34 now we keep a day from midnight to midnight. 50:38 You know, I often smile when people go out and 50:41 spend all their night on New Year's Eve. 50:43 You know, why do we have New Year's Eve? 50:46 Why do we have Christmas Eve? 50:48 If you were like me when I was brought up we used to get 50:50 presents on Christmas Eve. 50:52 You know, we'd go to sleep as kids and they'd fill our 50:54 pillowcase with presents. 50:56 Why is that done the night before Christmas? 50:59 I'll tell you why. Because originally 51:02 Christmas Day began at sunset the night before! 51:04 That's why. We've continued the tradition even though we've 51:07 changed the day from midnight to midnight. 51:10 New Year's Eve... the night before. 51:13 You know, I smile. People go out at midnight 51:15 thinking it's welcoming the new year in. 51:18 I want to tell you: the new year began at sunset that night. 51:20 They are three or four hours too late 51:24 when the day... when the new year comes in 51:26 because it's sunset to sunset. 51:29 A friend of mine was telling me some years ago 51:31 that he used to like to go to the church dances. 51:35 Because he said, you know, the prettiest girls used to go 51:38 to the church dances. And they used to like to go... 51:40 the boys used to like to go to the church dances. 51:43 And he said it was very awkward because the church would not 51:46 allow them to dance after midnight on Saturday night. 51:51 Now don't ask me to defend that; I can't. 51:53 But that was the law of the church. 51:55 I guess because they said well Sunday begins after midnight, 51:58 see? So they can't dance on Sunday 52:00 but you can dance on Saturday night. 52:02 And he said for young fellows it was very awkward 52:06 sometimes because it would take you and hour or two to pluck up 52:08 some courage to ask the girl that you really wanted to ask 52:11 for a dance. And he said sometimes it might be 52:15 quarter past eleven, half past eleven at night 52:18 and you realize "I've only got half an hour left 52:21 to really get on with this girl, " see? 52:25 So he said what one of the boys would do... 52:27 He said they would go up to the clock 52:29 and they would give it a flick back an hour. 52:32 Give themselves an extra hour, you see. 52:36 What happens in daylight saving? 52:38 Well I'll tell you. Daylight saving we're around one hour 52:41 different from winter to summer, isn't that right? 52:44 If you're going to observe it from midnight to midnight, 52:47 you're out one hour. 52:48 But what if you observe it from sunset to sunset? 52:51 Does that make any difference? 52:53 No. Doesn't matter what hour you call it because we keep 52:56 the day from sunset to sunset. 52:58 Daylight saving or not... makes no difference. 53:02 And I've often thought, you know, if I have 53:04 watched the sun set on Friday afternoon 53:07 and we welcome in God's Sabbath as it begins, 53:11 you know God's Sabbath comes in a blaze of glory... 53:15 the most beautiful colors. 53:18 You see some beautiful sunsets here in this place. 53:20 Beautiful sunsets over the water. 53:24 Comes in, in a blaze of glory 53:26 and then when the Sabbath goes out 53:28 Saturday night it goes out in a blaze of glory. 53:32 So you welcome it as a friend 53:34 and you say goodbye to it as a friend. 53:36 But what about the devil's day? 53:38 It comes in, in the blackness of midnight 53:41 and goes out in the blackness of midnight. 53:44 And you should know nothing about it because you should be 53:46 asleep at that time, isn't that right? 53:48 But with God's Sabbath you're able to welcome it as a friend. 53:53 And God has painted His most glorious colors 53:57 to tell us that the Sabbath is to begin. 54:03 And God's Sabbath is full of life from beginning to end 54:06 whereas the devil's is full of darkness 54:10 from beginning to end. 54:14 And it reminds me of that wonderful verse over here 54:16 in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 12. 54:20 Revelation chapter 14 and verse 12 54:23 where God is pointing out His people in the last days. 54:26 And this is what He says: 54:43 You see, there the characteristics of God's people 54:46 in the last days: that they'll be faithful to Jesus 54:49 and faithful to His commandments. 54:53 And I want to tell you, friend, I'm looking for a people 54:56 in these last days who are not only faithful to the 54:59 commandments but they're faithful to Jesus. 55:02 Because you cannot distinguish between the two 55:05 because the two go together. 55:07 They're like hand and glove, 55:09 husband and wife... they go together. 55:13 Because Jesus said: "If you love Me, 55:17 you'll keep My commandments. " 55:20 But this power... opposed to the law of God... 55:23 God predicted in Daniel that it was going to attempt to change 55:27 the law of God. Paul said that the characteristic 55:30 of this power would be lawlessness. 55:33 Opposed to the law of God. 55:35 And it would last right through until Jesus comes. 55:39 And today we live in a world in which lawlessness - 55:43 being opposed to the law of God - 55:45 is one of the primary teachings of the apostate church 55:50 and the apostate message. 55:52 And I want to tell you this, friends: that one of the easy 55:54 characteristics as you can work out those who are associated 55:57 with the antichrist is simply their attitude 56:00 to the law of God. 56:01 Because the Bible says that is the way that you can 56:05 distinguish error from truth. 56:07 And if you and I are looking for truth in these last days 56:10 we must look for a group who are upholding God's Ten Commandments 56:14 and upholding Jesus... because you can never keep the 56:17 commandments without Jesus. 56:19 But when you love Jesus in your heart, 56:21 you want to be faithful and to do what He's asked you to do. 56:24 Because when you fall in love with somebody 56:26 you want to do the things that that person likes, 56:29 isn't that right? 56:30 It's a natural response. You haven't got to force yourself. 56:33 Love has to live in action. 56:36 And that's the way it is in the Christian life. 56:39 When we fall in love with Jesus, 56:41 we want to do what He wants us to do. 56:43 And I trust today that God will firmly fix in our heart 56:49 a desire not to be part of that lawless teaching 56:53 bur rather to be faithful to Jesus 56:55 and faithful to His commandments in these last days. 56:59 Let's just bow our heads together in prayer. 57:01 Our wonderful Father in heaven, 57:03 I just want to thank you again today for Jesus 57:06 and I want to thank you for Your Word. 57:08 I want to thank you, Lord, for the commandments. 57:10 Not because we are saved by keeping the commandments. 57:12 God forbid that anyone would ever think that. 57:14 But rather the commandments reveal our attitude 57:18 the same as when we're in love with someone 57:20 our... what we do reveals our love or lack of it. 57:25 And so I pray, Lord, that You will help us 57:27 to be earnest. That You'll help us to understand 57:30 that when we love Jesus we want to keep His commandments. 57:34 So I pray that You'll bless us now as we go home 57:36 and that You'll bring us back again in our next program 57:38 as we begin to study the fatal mistake - the tragedy - 57:42 that has happened in the Christian church that has led 57:45 to so many tragic teachings. 57:47 I pray for Christ's sake, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17