Participants: Hiram Rester
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR001004
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01:00 Hello and welcome. We're coming to you live once again
01:03 from Thompsonville, Illinois 01:06 from the Thompsonville SDA Church which also serves 01:09 as the 3ABN Worship Center. 01:12 Thompsonville is a small town of about 600 people 01:16 and we're grateful to the Lord for 3ABN that God is using 01:21 to bring the everlasting Gospel all over the world, Amen 01:24 Amen. We have a wonderful congregation here 01:27 and they have come to listen to the preaching of God's Word 01:31 to be inspired by the music and the testimonies of great things 01:35 that God is doing. During this hour we have a message 01:39 from Pr. Hiram Rester. Pastor Rester serves as pastor 01:46 of the Springfield SDA church and he's the Senior Pastor 01:51 the sermon entitled Genesis Pil- lars of Revelations Prophecies 01:56 is the message for the hour. So we'd like to encourage you 01:59 to get your Bible ready and pen something to write with 02:04 and some of you may want to record this message to 02:06 hear it again. And one of the things about 3ABN is that 02:11 if you didn't catch it now you may catch it later on. 02:14 And so we'd like to encourage you to pray for each and every 02:21 presenter that is here during our Spring Camp Meeting 2012 02:27 Pillars of Prophecy. At this time we'd like to invite you to 02:31 pray. We invite you if it's possible for you to stand 02:36 and we're going to pray. We'd like to invite our viewers 02:39 and listeners all over the world to join us in prayer 02:41 because we really need God's blessings. Let us pray together. 02:45 Our loving heavenly Father. You are great and marvelous. 02:53 We worship you we honor you Lord and we ask you Father 02:59 to make your presence known to your children. 03:03 We pray Lord that as we open the scriptures 03:06 just as the 2 disciples who were marching, they were walking 03:12 on the road to Emmaus, that our hearts will burn within us 03:16 as we search the scriptures. We pray that you will be 03:20 with your servant, Pr. Hiram Rester. Bless him 03:24 with the Holy Spirit Lord we pray, and that every word 03:29 will come from your Throne of Grace. And Father, 03:33 we pray that all will be blessed all that are willing 03:40 and join in searching the scriptures. 03:43 Father there may be some that are confused and lost 03:47 looking for hope, looking for encouragement 03:50 and we pray that as they listen to this message 03:53 listen to the music that they will be inspired and encouraged 03:57 We pray for these blessings in Jesus' name. Amen. 04:02 You may be seated. At this time we're going to be blessed 04:09 by an instrumental piano piece by Sister Jill Morikone 04:15 and it is entitled "Gentle Shepherd Medley" 04:19 After this the next voice you will hear will be that of our 04:23 our Speaker for this hour, Pr. Hiram Rester. 04:26 May the Lord bless us as we study His Word. 08:19 Amen. What a blessing. Thank you Jill. Gentle shepherd medley. 08:24 As Jesus leads us as our gentle shepherd. 08:28 I'd like to welcome you here to- day to the 3ABN Camp Meeting 08:32 It's a blessing to be here. I'm having so much fun. 08:34 Is anyone else having fun at Camp Meeting? 08:36 Oh the Lord has just blessed. I've seen people as we traveled 08:40 in the years in evangelism, people from Indiana 08:43 people from Florida and really people from all over the place 08:47 There are some folks here from my home church in Springfield MO 08:50 to support us and encourage us and we're just thankful to 08:53 being here and people from church I used to pastor in MS 08:59 It's just great to come to camp meeting. I mentioned those 09:01 because each of you have folks that you're seeing probably here 09:05 at camp meeting that you might not have seen for a few years 09:08 How many of you are catching up with some folks and saying 09:10 this is just great! Well it's a privilege to be with you 09:14 and to have a moment to share something from the Word of God 09:18 that I'm excited about and I hope that it's a blessing to you 09:24 I'd like to encourage you to open your Bibles to Revelation 09:30 Revelation 14. Now here at 3ABN camp meeting 09:35 Three Angels Broadcasting Network here, we may think 09:39 that folks have heard enough and learned enough about 09:41 the 3 Angels Messages already but that's going to be 09:45 nonetheless the core of what we're going to talk about 09:48 here today, and I'd like to invite you to open your Bibles 09:51 to Revelation, chapter 14. I grew up down in South Mississippi 09:56 and when I was a teenager, me and my buddies Josh and Eli 10:00 would often go to a rope swing on Black Creek. We had two 10:05 major creeks in our town, Black Creek because you couldn't see 10:09 the bottom, it looked black and Red Creek because you could 10:11 and so that's what we called them I guess, I don't know 10:15 maybe they're named for some other reason 10:17 but we went to Black Creek because there was a rope swing 10:20 and we were going to go and enjoy swinging off the rope 10:22 swing and swimming for a little while. As Josh and Eli and I 10:26 my good buddies, we showed up there we discovered that at 10:29 the swim hole there were some teenage girls there 10:32 that we didn't know which immediately meant one thing 10:36 fellows, and what's that? We had to make complete idiots 10:42 out of ourselves. We were teenage boys. Why is it 10:45 that teenage boys think that to impress young ladies 10:49 they need to make idiots out of themselves? I don't know. 10:52 But we did. We showed up, we got ready to head into the water 10:57 and you know took off the shirts swam across trying to look cool 11:02 you know. This particular rope swing hung from a big water oak 11:08 that went out over the big, dark swim hole, some person that 11:13 was crazy I'd say, had climbed up there and tied a 3/4 inch 11:18 steel cable up in this tree. I'd say crazy because I'm horrified 11:21 of heights. My two fears are claustrophobia and heights 11:25 Worse thing that could happen to me is being thrown out 11:27 of an airplane in a box, it would just be awful ok. 11:30 But, somebody had climbed up in that tree and had hung 11:36 this cable. Every year someone would go and tie a new rope 11:39 to the eyelet at the end of the cable and on that rope would be 11:43 a metal bar or whatever we could get a hold of 11:47 an old bicycle handlebar was on there one year you know 11:50 but it worked. And if you swung off the bank you'd be up 15 feet 11:55 that was nice you know, you could do a little flip 11:57 then there was another oak tree which was at a slant 12:00 and you could crawl up that oak tree and stand there and 12:03 get the rope and you swing out and you might be up, you know 12:06 about 20-25 feet above the water and that was kinda 12:09 that would get you goin and then way, way back away from the bank 12:14 there was a skinny, I'm gettin outta the lights there, 12:17 there was a skinny pine tree that went up that someone 12:21 had come and nailed little pieces of 2x4s about this long 12:24 to this long, they weren't all the same length 12:27 on this little pine tree, and you could climb up it 12:31 as you held on to it for dear life because it was a skinny 12:33 little pine tree and they would throw you the rope and when 12:36 you caught it you would swing out and you might go 35 feet 12:40 above the water. You know you see on TV where people scream 12:43 when they fall all the way from a skyscraper down to the no, no 12:47 you can run out of air in 35 foot worth of screaming 12:50 Look, I had practiced back flips and I knew what I was gonna do 12:56 I was gonna go off the skinny pine tree and do a back flip. 12:59 Usually it took me several times to build up the adrenalin rush 13:02 before I would go off the pine tree. But I was a teenage boy 13:06 and there were teenage girls here, I already had the 13:08 adrenalin rush, I was ready to go off the pine tree. I had to 13:12 impress these young ladies. Well the problem is Josh beat me 13:17 over to the other side and he swung off and did the back flip 13:20 which is what I was gonna do right off the bank 13:23 I said, forget this I'm going for the big one, I'm going 13:26 on the one up the pine tree. I climbed up Eli threw me the rope 13:29 I caught it the first try al- though I almost fell when I did 13:33 and then instead of letting go and swinging I pushed backwards 13:38 off the pine tree to get the extra lift, I was gonna go for 13:42 a double back flip. You gotta impress them you know 13:46 faint heart never won fair lady right? 13:52 And as I came down outta that tree I'm rushing to the ground 13:56 and all of a sudden it begins to pull up and you know it's 13:59 now you go down and now you you're going against gravity 14:02 and it begins to go against your biceps, pull and all of a sudden 14:07 I felt this huge feeling of freedom come over me 14:13 the rope had broke and since I had done a belly flop 14:21 from about 40 foot in 6 inches of water 14:28 coz I hadn't got out over the swim hole yet. 14:31 No doubt the girls were impressed. 14:37 I was laying there in the most exquisite pain 14:42 Josh and Eli came running over are you ok? are you ok? 14:46 and I'm you know growling, don't touch me, I'm gonna kill ya 14:49 and they kinda grabbed me and drug me up to where my 14:52 head's on the sand so I won't drown and then 14:54 they went swimming with the girls! 14:58 But I discovered something that day and that is 15:01 I had trusted something would hold me up that didn't hold up 15:08 Now that's fine if it's a rope swing and it's a kid's story 15:12 it happened when you were a teenager 15:13 but what if you're trusting some thing to hold you up 15:15 your life alone, spiritually speaking, 15:18 and it doesn't hold you up? We are talking about Pillars 15:22 of Prophecy. The Pillars hold up a foundation. Yes or no? 15:29 Whether it's a rope holding you from above 15:31 or a pillar holding you from below, we're talking about 15:33 something to hold you up that won't let you down 15:36 Well my friends, as we get into the Word of God 15:40 what I'm here to share with you is that you have the stories 15:45 of the book of Genesis as a platform, or rather the pillars 15:50 to hold up the platform of the prophecies of the book 15:53 of Revelation. The title of our message 15:55 Genesis Pillars of Revelation's prophecies. 15:59 As we get into this my friends we're going to see 16:03 that the book of Genesis, my friends, is fundamental 16:09 foundation or pillar that holds up the prophecies of Revelation 16:14 What I'm about to tell you is this. We're gonna see it 16:17 we're gonna look at it. It's gonna be new for some of you 16:20 to look at for the first time but it's nothing new 16:22 it's been there all along in the Word of God 16:24 and that is that the Three Angels messages 16:28 contain an outline of the book of Genesis. 16:30 Now there's so much more. And there God's end time message 16:35 for a lost and dying world the 3 Angels messages are 16:38 but they're also are an outline of the Book of Genesis. 16:42 Now why is that so important? 16:44 Because Genesis is under attack today. 16:47 In fact those two books Genesis and Revelation 16:50 there are no two books that are attacked more than 16:54 Genesis and Revelation. Which is interesting for Jesus said 16:56 He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 16:58 The first and the last, right? And the beginning and the end 17:01 the first and the last are under attack. 17:03 Particularly the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis 17:08 are said to be just allegories. 17:12 That they're just made up stories to represent something 17:16 that they didn't literally happen but my friends the fact 17:19 that they did literally happen is of vital importance 17:22 by the time you get to Revelation's prophecies. 17:25 Because if God didn't tell you the truth about 17:27 where you came from, what makes you think He's gonna tell you 17:30 the truth about where you're going? 17:31 Now let's dig into this. I'm going to give you a synopsis 17:36 very quick and then we'll go through it step by step by step. 17:39 You find that in the three Angels Messages 17:42 are outlined the creation, the global flood of Noah's day 17:46 the Tower of Babel and then Sodom and Gomorrah 17:51 right through the three Angels Messages and those are the very 17:54 stories in Genesis that are said to be allegories. 17:57 My friends, they are the found- ation, the pillars 18:01 of Revelation end time vital messages. 18:05 Let's look at this here, Rev 14 Have you had time to find it yet 18:09 Rev 14:6 and it says I saw another Angel flying 18:15 in the midst of heaven having everlasting Gospel to preach 18:19 to them that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred and 18:22 tongue and people, saying with a what kind of voice, class? 18:25 That's right, with a loud voice Fear God and give glory to Him 18:31 for the hour of His judgment is come. Now if you have your Bible 18:35 with you you might want to circle the word judgment 18:37 if it's not circled already, it is going to be significant in 18:40 just a few moments, the hour of His judgment is come. Now 18:43 and worship Him that made heaven and earth and sea 18:48 and the fountains of waters or if you have another translation 18:52 it might say springs of waters that word fountains or springs 18:56 if you don't have it circled in your Bible you might wanna do so 18:59 it's gonna jump out at you and later when you review this 19:02 you're gonna wanna be able to remember it and see it 19:04 and so fountains or springs of water and you'll wanna keep 19:08 a finger or a bookmark or a ribbon or something 19:11 right here in Revelation 14 for entirety of our message today 19:16 We will come back to it constantly. With that in mind 19:19 go with me to the Ten Command- ments, Exodus 20 verse 11 19:23 Exodus 20:11, let's look there It says here, for in 6 days 19:31 the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them 19:36 Exodus 20:11, it says in 6 days the Lord made heaven and earth 19:41 Now in the 1st Angel's message we find creation 19:44 Does it not say in Revelation 14 Worship Him that made 19:50 heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water. 19:57 Now as we look at this, it's very intriguing. 19:59 and you'll see it's very, just astounding, I mean 20:03 I decided to share it with you look here my friends, as we get 20:08 into this understand there's lot of ideas different places people 20:11 that are teaching that creation didn't happen in 6 literal days 20:16 and then God rested on a 7th day They say it happened over eons 20:20 over long ages and all of these kind of things, my friends 20:23 a couple of thousand years at least after creation 20:29 God wrote in stone with His own finger that He did it in 6 days. 20:34 And rested on the 7th. You're not just allegorizing 20:39 away the first few chapters of Genesis. The 10 commandments 20:43 are the only part of the Bible that God wrote down for us 20:46 Himself. Now the whole Bible is inspired no one's questioning 20:49 that here today, but the 10 commandments were written 20:52 Exodus 31:18 by the finger of God, yes or no? 20:57 And He said he made it in six and rested on the seventh. 21:00 And so, Rev 14:7 you know this quotes the 4th commandment 21:06 Worship Him that made heaven and earth and sea 21:09 But then John the Revelator, if you wanna compare 21:12 back and forth in your Bible Exodus 20 and verse 11 21:15 to Revelation 14:7 you'll see there is a difference 21:19 an intentional difference. You see John the Revelator said 21:23 Worship Him that made heaven and earth, the sea 21:26 and the fountains of waters. But God wrote on stone 21:32 what? all that in them is. John wrote fountains of waters 21:39 God wrote on stone all that in them is. So John quotes 21:45 part of it and breaks away, why is that? Did John not know the 21:49 whole commandment? No, that's not it. 21:52 He quotes the commandment partially in Revelation 10 21:55 and he has it same there or closer or he reflects that he 22:01 he knows it there but under inspiration of God he breaks 22:07 and he says fountain of waters why? because my friends it is a 22:13 reference to the flood. Go with me would you? I'm in Exodus 20 22:20 I'm going to Genesis 7:11 now The word for fountains there 22:25 in the Greek is the same word used in the Septuagint, 22:29 the Old Testament translated into Greek for 22:33 fountains of waters that broke up at the time of the flood 22:39 That's right. Now look at this Genesis 7:11, In the 600th year 22:44 of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month 22:49 the fountains of the great deep were broken up. 22:54 And the windows of the heaven were opened. 22:58 That word fountains in the Septuagint 23:02 the Old Testament translated into Greek is the same word 23:06 used in Revelation 14:7 where it says Worship Him that 23:11 made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters 23:15 Incidentally, Rev 14:7 says the hour of His what has come? 23:19 Judgment. Now if you put fount- ains of waters from the flood 23:23 and the word judgment together, was there a judgment time 23:27 in the Old Testament? The world was judged in the time of Noah 23:32 Yes or no? Yeah. This begins to come alive. The 3 Angels Message 23:37 contain an outline of the book of Genesis, that's why Genesis 23:41 is so important. Genesis pillars of Revelation's prophecies. 23:46 Now as we dig into this I just want to point out, first of all 23:49 what does creation say about who God is? That's one of the reason 23:52 it's important. You see creation is not just about arguing 23:56 about what the Bible says though that's important 23:59 it's also important to go what does it say about who our God is 24:03 Did He create through millions and millions of years of pain 24:07 and suffering and death or is death a result of sin 24:12 because God gave free will and people chose to rebel against 24:16 God. My friends what you believe on either one of those 24:21 is a big deal because it goes right to the heart of what 24:24 what you believe who God is. Did God create death 24:28 or is the wages of sin death? 24:32 That's right. You see and by the way if you believe that death 24:36 existed before sin then you believe death exists before 24:39 it's Biblical cause which is sin and therefore you've denied 24:44 the underlying premise the under girding of the Gospel Message 24:48 that we need to be saved from sin because the wages of sin 24:53 is death. Yea there's so much more that could be said but the 24:56 clock's ticking and watch is coming so let's move ahead. 24:59 Alright? Praise the Lord for that. At the flood now you see 25:03 God's longsuffering. It says here in Genesis 7:11 25:08 that the flood came in the 600th year of Noah. Let's look at 25:11 something very quickly, very quickly ok. It came in the 600th 25:14 year of Noah. Go to Genesis 5 and it says in verse 25 25:19 Methuselah lived 187 years and begat Lamech. 25:23 Okay write down 187 and put a plus sign. You're gonna 25:28 put another number under that and add it up. 25:30 Now I'm from Mississippi so you are gonna help me with addition 25:34 No, I'm just jokin. It says here now in verse 28 25:37 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 782 years 25:41 and begat sons and daughters and all the days of Methuselah 25:44 were 969 years and he died. He lived longer than anyone else 25:48 that ever lived. 969 years. Now it says here that he lived 25:53 187 years and begat Lamech. Now v.28, Lamech lived 182 years 25:59 so write 187 you've got that and underneath that write the + sign 26:04 and the number 182. Lamech lived 182 years and begat a son and he 26:10 he called his name, what? Noah Alright now most of you 26:15 have seen this before I'm not pointing out anything new 26:17 I'm just pointing out the long suffering of God and 26:19 the attribute of the character of the awesome God that we serve 26:23 And I'll show you how in just a moment. 26:25 If you add those 2 numbers together 182 and 187 you have 26:31 what? 369. Now how old was Methuselah when he died? 26:38 969. The flood came, we just read it in Genesis 7:11 26:44 in what year of Noah's life? 600 969 minus 600 and you have what? 26:52 369. That's how much older Methuselah was than Noah 26:59 Methuselah died the year of the flood. 27:03 The old man was a walking prophecy. When he passed the 27:08 end would come and he lived longer than anyone else 27:13 because God is longsuffering and merciful and wants to save 27:17 every person He possibly can. 27:20 Now there are some implications for that. We ask, why does 27:23 the Lord yet tarry just now. My friends the Lord is not tarrying 27:26 except for any reason that He wants to save as many people 27:29 as He possibly can, He passion- ately loves mankind though we 27:33 can't possibly understand how when we look at how we treat 27:36 each other. Go with me to a prophecy about the flood 27:39 in the New Testament. Very quickly now, we go to 2 Peter 27:42 chapter 3, 2 Peter and then we'll be going back to Rev 14 27:47 We see this here in 2nd Peter 3 2 Peter chapter 3 27:52 2nd Peter 3 we see it here together, something very 27:56 interesting. This is a prophecy that you will recognize 27:59 the beginning of from most 'A Prophecy Seminar' you might've 28:02 ever attended. Check this out. It says in 2 Peter 3, 28:06 knowing this, when? I guess I should've told you the verse 28:11 not just the chapter, would that be helpful? 2 Peter 3, verse 3 28:22 And so here we are, it says in 2 Peter 3:3, knowing this, when? 28:27 Now you're there, Praise the Lord. Knowing this first 28:31 that there shall come in the what days? Last days 28:34 what kinda folks? Scoffers walking after their own lust and 28:38 saying where is the promise of His coming? 28:40 For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue 28:43 as they were from the beginning of the creation. 28:46 Now we hear that in prophecy seminar, you know 28:48 we need to know this first, that there are scoffers 28:50 and they're scoffing at the idea that Jesus is coming again 28:53 But why are they scoffing? It has the promise of His coming 29:00 Since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were 29:03 As far back as you care to go in other words 29:05 from the beginning of the creation the uniformitarian 29:08 principle. The idea that this earth has been evolving for 29:12 eons, that for millions and millions of years 29:15 roughly 570 million years is how old they say the geologic column 29:20 supposedly is with the entombed fossils, the dead creatures 29:23 Ha! It predicts that they would deny the flood and buy into 29:31 deep age of the earth all things continue and these gradual 29:34 processes. In other words there was not a cataclysmic event 29:38 that did this, it was a slow gradual processes which means 29:42 death has existed supposedly for millions and millions of years 29:45 before man evolved and sinned. See the implications? 29:51 All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation 29:54 Say, are you wedging this in here, aren't you no, no. 29:57 Read on. For this they're will- ingly ignorant of 29:59 they willingly choose to ignore marine fossils 30:02 on every continent and the list goes on and on and on 30:05 that there was a global water catastrophe. 30:08 They're willingly ignorant of 'that by the Word of God 30:11 the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water 30:13 and in the water, the world that then was overflowed with water 30:17 or what? perished. But the heavens and the earth 30:21 which are now by the same order kept in store reserved unto fire 30:25 against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men 30:27 My friends, it's talking about the flood. It's a prophecy that 30:31 people will deny the flood, they will be willingly ignorant 30:36 that it happened. There is scientific evidence to point 30:39 that there was a global water catastrophe, that's the best 30:42 explanation. How else do you get fossil fuels? 30:47 I do creation conferences, I could spend several times, just 30:52 talking about this, just think about it. 30:53 How do you bury enough organic material to become oil and coal? 30:58 A cow that dies out in the pasture buzzards eat him, 31:00 he doesn't turn into oil. It has to be buried en masse 31:04 together for it to then go through the processes 31:09 to become fossil fuels. A global water catastrophe is the only 31:13 explanation that can logically be looked at when you look at 31:19 all the evidence I mean, it does not mean that the folks 31:21 that don't believe aren't smart there are some very, very smart 31:24 people with IQs off the charts that don't believe in creation 31:27 we understand this, but the Bible said and it prophesied 31:30 there'd be scoffers that would be willingly ignorant 31:32 they would deny the flood and as they denied he flood, 31:36 they then scoff at the idea that Jesus is coming soon. 31:39 This ties Genesis to end time events. Yes or No? 31:43 and it's a prophecy for right where we're at. Right now 31:46 in the text books they're teach- ing that these things developed 31:49 slowly over millions of years, I say no, they developed in 31:51 weeks and months at the flood. 31:55 Now, as we move along here this becomes interesting as well. 31:59 Go with me to Revelation 14:8. Revelation 14:8. The creation 32:03 and the flood go together. You see it's like this. 32:06 You hear a lot about intelligent design. Have you heard about 32:09 intelligent design today? Every one that is a creationist 32:14 believes in intelligent design. But not everyone that believes 32:16 in intelligent design believes in creation. 32:19 You know like all poodles are dogs but not all dogs are poodles. 32:26 It's that simple. Some people that believe in intelligent 32:29 design believe in something called theistic evolution. 32:32 That God guided the process of evolution, supposedly. 32:36 ok? No, creation means you believe the Bible story. 32:40 You believe God made the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. 32:45 There is a difference. All creationists believe in 32:48 intelligent design but not all those that believe in 32:50 intelligent design are creation- ists. Now, with this in mind 32:54 creation and the flood go hand in hand. 32:56 Do you realize that if there was a global water catastrophe 32:59 that killed all the land animals that weren't on Noah's ark 33:05 that Natural Selection, Darwin's theory would have had to start 33:09 over when they got off of the ark? 33:15 You can't believe in deep time evolution and in the flood. 33:18 That's the crux. If the flood didn't happen then it must've 33:23 took millions of years for all those fossils under our feet 33:26 right here to form in the earth's crust. 33:30 But, if there was a flood it formed very rapidly. 33:33 And it's there as a testimony that God has judged the world 33:36 once for sin and will do so again. Hence it's tied together. 33:40 Now we've got to move along here Go with me to Revelation 14:8 33:43 Revelation 14:8. This gets interesting I'm telling you. 33:47 The 3 Angels messages are an outline of the book of Genesis 33:52 They contain so much more but the important end-time messages 33:56 to a lost and dying world from a loving, passionate God 34:00 actually contain an outline of Genesis. 34:02 That's the pillar, the found- ation under Revelations prophecy 34:06 We look here in verse 8, Rev 14 and there followed another angel 34:09 saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen that great city 34:12 because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath 34:15 of her fornication. Babylon. Now think of this as you turn 34:19 with me to Genesis 11. Keep your finger here, keep it marked 34:22 maybe a ribbon or something book mark there. Babylon was built 34:26 near the abandoned Tower of Babel and in Genesis 11 34:30 Genesis 11, a passage I went to many times over the years 34:34 in Prophecy Seminars we see this. Genesis 11 34:38 and look with me here in Genesis 11, verse 7, Go to let us go 34:42 go down and there confound their language that they many not 34:45 understand one another's speech so the Lord scattered them 34:47 abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left 34:51 off to build the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel 34:54 because the Lord did there con- found the language of all the 34:58 earth and from thence the Lord did scatter them abroad 35:01 upon the face of the earth. Babel means confusion. Therefore 35:07 spiritual Babylon is religious confusion in the last days. 35:11 This is what we often call a proof text for that 35:14 going right here. He called it Babel because He confounded 35:18 the language. It means confusion 35:22 Well the city of Babylon was built near the abandoned tower 35:27 It got its name from that. Now Revelation 18:4 tells us 35:33 In Revelation 18:4, turn with me to Genesis 15 35:36 while I quote that for you. It says in Revelation 18:4 35:39 And I heard another voice from heaven. If you hear a voice from 35:42 heaven you ought to listen. E.F. Hutton ain't got nothin on that ok 35:44 And so Revelation 18:4, and I heard another voice from heaven 35:48 and saying, come out of her, who? my people that you be not 35:54 partakers of her sins and that you receive not her plagues. 35:56 God calls His people out of Babylon. Now, remember 35:59 the 3 Angels messages contain an outline of the book of Genesis 36:02 Look here, in Genesis 15:7. And He said unto him, I am the Lord 36:06 that brought thee out of where? Ur of the Chaldees 36:12 You might want to underline that Ur of the Chaldees 36:14 to give thee this land to inherit it 36:18 Remember when Nebuchadnezzar couldn't remember his dream 36:20 and he called for the Chaldeans to come, the wise men, etc 36:26 Ok, Ur was in the territory of Babylon. 36:34 God called Abraham out of Babylon. 36:39 Abraham is called Father of the Faithful in the New Testament 36:42 Yes or no? If you are in Christ you are Abraham's seed and 36:47 heirs according to the promise Galatians says. 36:52 And Abraham the father of the faithful 36:55 was called out of Babylon as God's people are in Revelation. 37:00 Pretty neat isn't it? Now let's keep going. Go back with me 37:04 to Revelation 14:9 and 10. That is an important lesson for me. 37:08 I grew up in the Baptist church and I'm gonna tell you when 37:10 God confronts you with truth and you realize you have to make a 37:14 change, I was young it didn't impact me as much. My parents 37:18 were obviously old enough to be my parents, and so, 37:21 it was a much bigger deal for them in the Baptist Church 37:24 it was like leaving family, do you understand that? 37:27 Sometimes we go, oh that's being too harsh 37:29 to preach a message where folks may have to come apart you know 37:32 and separate themselves from, if they come to a point that truth 37:36 separates. But Abraham was called to leave his family 37:40 today we have a nomadic society, well it's not nomadic 37:42 a traveling society. I might go to this place and live 37:46 and then I'm talkin on the phone or I'm on the internet talkin 37:50 to family, right? Not then. To leave your family 37:55 was almost an unthinkable thing in Bible times. And Abraham 37:59 was called to do just that, yes or no? 38:01 Ok. As God called me to more truth the Sabbath truth 38:05 and others, I face that now. Revelation 14:9-10, you've had 38:09 time to turn there, to save time I'll just quote it. 38:11 And the 3rd Angel followed him saying with a what kinda voice? 38:14 Loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image 38:16 or receive his mark in his fore- head or in his hand 38:19 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God 38:21 which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His 38:23 indignation and he shall be tor- mented with fire and brimstone 38:26 in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of 38:30 the Lamb. The third angel. Go with me right here in 38:35 Genesis, to Genesis 18. Genesis 18. It says the Lord appeared to 38:42 him in the plains of Mamre, the Lord appeared to Abraham 38:45 ok? And he sat in the tent door in the heat. As he sat in the 38:50 tent door in the heat of the day and he lifted up his eyes and 38:52 looked and lo three men stood by him. And when he saw them he 38:56 ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself 39:00 toward the ground. You have the LORD and the Jehovah's Witness 39:05 Bible it will be translated Jehovah. 39:08 They have their own Bible right In case any of you get mixed up 39:11 SDA's and Jehovah's Witnesses, we often times get mixed up 39:15 with groups folk aren't familiar with, we're not the same 39:20 In fact I'm going to share with you a verse that if you have 39:24 friends and family that are Jehovah's Witness or 39:26 somebody comes knockin on your door trying to be a witness 39:29 their hearts in the right place Praise God, that you could share 39:31 with them right here. I'll point that out to you in just a second 39:35 Look at verse 20. Genesis 18:20 And the Lord said, because the 39:39 cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin 39:42 is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have 39:45 altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me 39:48 and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from 39:53 thence and went towards Sodom but Abraham stood yet before 39:56 the Lord and Abraham drew near and said, Wilt Thou also destroy 39:59 the righteous with the wicked? And you again see a glimpse 40:02 into the heart of God, the character of God as Abraham 40:06 negotiates with Him. About saving the righteous people. 40:10 And in the end, although some of us might debate a little bit 40:14 as you look at the behavior of Lot's family whether righteous 40:17 people were saved but that's not for us to judge. 40:19 Can you say amen? God did save people out of that city. 40:25 He did. God is compassionate and loving and as we look at this 40:29 my friends, notice he talks with the Lord. Go to Genesis 19:24 40:35 Genesis 19:24. I hope you don't mind looking in your Bibles and 40:38 going from passage to passage as we see this come alive for us 40:41 today in Bible Prophecy. Check it out. Then the LORD Jehovah 40:47 rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord 40:51 LORD Jehovah out of heaven. Your Jehovah Witness friends 40:56 ask them about the two Jehovah's 40:58 I've tried, who are the two Jehovah's, those two 41:01 The LORD who is on earth talking to Abraham, yes or no? 41:06 rained fire and brimstone from the LORD out of heaven. 41:11 Jesus is not a god, a little god Jesus is GOD my friends 41:15 He's part of the Godhead. Can you say Amen? 41:18 You had Jehovah on earth and you had Jehovah in heaven 41:21 at the same time. I've seen they will look at you, 41:24 they'll look back at it. Jehovah on earth, Jehovah in heaven. 41:30 That's right. Jehovah in two different places at the same time 41:35 It's this verse, the one we're 41:40 Genesis 19:24 but you want to read the earlier 41:43 and show that the Lord was on earth talking to Abraham 41:46 Right? And then you show the Lord who's on earth talking to 41:49 Abraham rained fire and brim stone from the Lord Jehovah 41:51 out of heaven. Now with this in mind what I want to point out 41:55 to you is it says the 3rd angel people that receive the mark 42:00 of the beast, they're going to receive fire and brimstone 42:05 that comes from, this is the only other place I'm familiar 42:08 within Scripture where speci- fically talks about it like that 42:10 fire and brimstone from heaven. OK? Except at the very very end 42:15 Now also pay attention to this. It says that they receive fire 42:23 and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the 42:25 presence of the who? the Lamb and that is Jesus 42:28 who was the LORD that was talking to Abraham here, the 42:31 pre-incarnate Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin 42:33 of the world, yes or no? And then angels went ahead to Sodom 42:37 and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed with fire 42:40 and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels 42:42 and in the presence of the Lamb. 42:45 So it all begins to come to- gether. The 3 Angels messages 42:48 though they're so much more are an outline 42:51 of the book of Genesis and the battle over beginnings 42:54 is so important my friends. These first few chapters 42:59 if you allegorize away these first few chapters of Genesis 43:02 you have no foundation for your end time message. 43:07 That's why the devil is attacking it. 43:09 The devil wants to just turn termites loose in your basement 43:12 That's what he's trying to do, yes or no? 43:15 They just eat, eat, eat and you are up there living, Oh man 43:18 I got a nice strong house while your foundation is beginning 43:21 to cave in. This is so import- ant I cannot over emphasize it 43:25 for you today. Revelation 14:12 Let's look there. Rev 14:12. 43:31 we see it together in the Word of God. Check it out. It says 43:34 in Revelation 14:12, here is the patience of the saints 43:38 here are they that what? keep the commandments of God 43:45 and have the faith of Jesus. Folks I just misread that verse 43:49 I'll let you think about that for a moment 43:51 You said no you read exactly what was there, yes I did and I 43:55 I misread it. But we'll come back to that 43:57 hang that on a hook in your mind 43:58 Genesis 26:5, I'm just going to turn there and come right back 44:03 if you want to read it with me I could quote it for you 44:05 but I want to turn there, give you time to turn there 44:07 or at least make an attempt to get there 44:09 We are trying to get done, see the Production Managers 44:13 think we're trying to get done in the next few minutes 44:15 because we go off air, but the rest of us know it's because 44:17 lunch is served when this is over, right? 44:20 And so we go to Genesis 26:5 Because Abraham obeyed my voice 44:30 and kept my charge, my what? my commandments, my statutes 44:34 and my laws and so again in Genesis, Abraham is keeping 44:39 God's commandments. You continue to see that the 3 Angels Message 44:44 are an outline, of at least parts of the book of Genesis. 44:47 Wow! When I began to see this I am like this is amazing! 44:52 I was doing creation conferences you know I do prophecy seminars 44:56 and after doing that several years God began to show me that 44:58 everything that you preach with prophecy emphasis 45:01 you can start with Genesis because everything that ends 45:04 in Revelation starts in Genesis. Mark of the Beast, 45:08 you got the mark of Cain, that's where it came from 45:10 right there in Genesis 4. Sabbath, yeah you can look at 45:13 that in Genesis 2, right? State of the dead - what Adventist 45:16 evangelists doesn't use Gen 2:7 and it's right at the beginning 45:20 in the state of the dead message State of the Dead is not Florida 45:22 where Americans move and die it's a condition of man in death 45:25 Just for those of you that did not know. Genesis 2:7 45:28 The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and 45:29 breathed in his nostrils the breath of life and 45:31 man became a living soul, right? You start right there. All of 45:34 these great truths, even modesty you find there. When Adam 45:37 and Eve made themselves aprons and girdles of fig leaves 45:40 then God clothed them with coats of skins 45:44 Contrast the word girdle or apron with coat 45:47 and sometimes when people today are wearing girdles I think 45:50 the Lord would prefer for them to put a coat on. 45:52 And so you can see all of it it all comes right there, right? 45:55 It all comes right from Genesis. 45:59 And you can go right to Revelation and then when you tie 46:02 in and show, let me show you Revelation's outline in Genesis 46:05 in a creation conference, now you can share with them the 46:08 the prophecies. I will say that I did not have success 46:11 just preaching the message from the creation standpoint 46:14 as an evangelist, I would get to the end and people would 46:16 they didn't make decisions right then like an evangelist 46:20 like I was hoping to see. Today is the day of salvation 46:23 choose you this day whom you will serve etc 46:25 It wasn't until I put it back in a prophetic context 46:28 and showed them this outline prophecy creates a framework in 46:31 which people realize the need to make a decision now. 46:34 That's why we have a prophetic message no matter how you teach 46:38 our message it needs to have the prophetic undergirding friends 46:42 Now we're talking about pillars of prophecy that's appropriate 46:45 right? Now back to Rev 14:12 You said you misread that verse 46:50 Yes I did and some of you helped me do it. 46:53 And that's the only way I read it for years. 46:57 You said you misread it? Let's try it again. 47:00 Here is the patience of the saints, you're all gun shy 47:03 to help me now, are you? Are you gonna help me? 47:05 Help me out. Here is the patience of the saints 47:08 Here are they that keep the commandments of God 47:13 and the faith of Jesus. Now why is that misreading the verse? 47:19 It is the wrong emphasis. 47:25 What is the emphasis of that verse? 47:27 In the Three Angels Messages, the farther you go into them 47:31 the more important the issues get. Especially in the third 47:34 angel's message. The faith of Jesus is a most important thing 47:39 in these messages. The mark of the beast, the Sabbath, 47:42 all of that is important, but folks people cannot do anything 47:46 from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and still go to hell. 47:50 You didn't say Amen to that one did I step on your toes? 47:54 My friends it's only through Jesus we're gonna get there. 47:58 John 14:6, He says I am the way the truth and the life 48:02 No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. 48:06 In fact my friends, the Jewish people even right now observe 48:09 and don't do anything. They keep it more strict than we do, they 48:12 won't turn on the light switch or drive a car on the Sabbath 48:14 hours a lot of times, do they? But they haven't accepted Jesus 48:19 by and large as their personal Savior 48:22 My friends, there is none other name given among men whereby 48:25 ye must be saved. That's Jesus. Now no doubt the Lord can work 48:29 with people that have never had opportunity, nobody's talking 48:32 about that right now. But you understand the point. The faith 48:35 of Jesus. See, Here's the way and that's the way I read it 48:38 for 10 years as I traveled on the road as an evangelist, 48:41 for ten and a half years, that's the way I read it. 48:43 The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 48:46 No my friends, they keep the commandments of God 48:51 Why? Because they have the faith of Jesus. 48:55 The faith of Jesus. Jesus must be exalted, higher 49:00 and yet higher still. My friends you're not going to draw anyone 49:05 to Jesus with true conversion through legalism, through 49:09 pushing the law down their throats 49:11 You're gonna have to show them a deliverer that frees them from 49:16 Egypt, from sin and then gives them the commandments 49:20 because He loves them. That's my God, that's my Savior, 49:24 that's the God I worship and as we look here at this, 49:26 this is amazing. Now notice the three Angels Messages begin 49:31 and end with the Gospel. Revelation 14:6, look at it. 49:35 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the 49:38 everlasting gospel, the ever- lasting what? Gospel to preach 49:42 to proclaim to those who are on the earth. 49:47 And then it ends with the Gospel, does it not? 49:48 Rev 14:12, Here's the patience of the saints, here are they 49:54 that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 50:02 My friends, have you ever read under the pen of inspiration 50:08 how it says that justification by faith is the third angel's 50:13 message in verity? Have you read that? 50:16 Have you like me ever wondered how in the world that could be? 50:21 I'm not jokin. I was preaching the message folks. Seeing people 50:25 baptized in my meetings. And I'd read that and go, 50:30 I believe it, it says it but I ain't figured that one out yet. 50:32 I mean, how could justification by faith be, And the third angel 50:39 followed him saying with a loud voice if any man worships the 50:41 beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or 50:42 his hand, the same shall drink wine of the wrath of God 50:44 which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His 50:46 indignation and he shall be tor- mented with fire and brimstone 50:48 in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence 50:50 of the Lamb. How is that justification by faith? 50:56 I believe it, I read a quote, it made sense 51:00 except I didn't get it. So I guess it didn't make sense 51:02 But, I was working on it. I have to be one of those people 51:06 that when I have questions I can put them on a shelf till 51:08 God decides to answer them for me and keep on movin. 51:12 If you can't do that then you're likely to get tripped up 51:15 somewhere coz we have things we don't have answers for 51:19 God finally gave me the answer and some of you got it 51:21 right away, first time you ever read it you probably got it. 51:23 And it was hid from me as if there were some glasses on 51:27 I just didn't see it until God decided to open my eyes. 51:30 As the scales fell from my eyes here's what I saw 51:36 The third Angel's message does not end in verse 9 or 10 51:39 it ends in verse 12. Here's the patience of the saints 51:47 The patient endurance of the saints. Here are they that keep 51:50 the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus 51:56 There's your justification by faith, faith of Jesus 52:02 The third Angel's message in verity in truth is what it means 52:09 My friends that's the third Angel's message in truth, 52:12 in verity is justification by faith. The other has to be 52:18 preached to all the world. It all has to be preached 52:20 though, not just the tough part. The hard part, you know 52:27 I discovered something in Adventist or like other churches 52:30 We, and I see this in the begin- ning of prophecy seminars 52:33 if I'm talking for instance, about homosexuality, or 52:36 you know what the Bible says about that or I'm talkin about 52:39 shackin up, you call it that around here, that's what they 52:42 call it down in Mississippi, when two folks 52:44 live together, shouldn't be living together 52:45 they're shackin up. And the Baptists and the Pentecostals 52:50 will shout Amen louder than anything you've ever heard 52:52 but when you start steppin on their own toes 52:54 even though they still know it's true it gets quiet. 52:57 We like it when someone tells it like it is as long as 53:02 they're tellin it about somebody else. 53:06 Yes or no? Yes. So if you get quiet, I don't worry I just know 53:12 that the Holy Spirit is finally speaking to us, and praise God 53:15 for that, we need it in our hearts and lives. 53:18 My friends, this is so important 53:23 As the scales fell from my eyes I realized that justification 53:26 by faith is the third Angel's message in verity 53:29 I had been emphasizing the first part of the third Angels message 53:33 above the last part. And the last part is God's main emphasis 53:39 It all must be preached. No one is trying to take anything away 53:42 you understand that? But my friends as I saw this 53:45 it's impacted my ministry, it's changed the way I view things 53:49 I will tell you that. And those stories in Genesis, creation 53:54 worship Him that made heaven and earth, the flood, the seas 53:57 and the fountains, the Greek word, for the fountains that 54:01 broke up in judgment in that and then Babylon's fallen, the tower 54:06 of Babel and Abraham literally being called out of Babylon. 54:10 And then the third Angel said with a loud voice, 54:14 and of course it has destruction with fire and brimstone, and 54:18 you have Sodom and Gomorrah, and you go on and Abraham's keeping 54:22 the commandments. These are literal stories that Genesis 54:25 is based upon and each of these stories has something 54:28 interesting to say about who God is. Tower of Babel, God didn't 54:31 just decide to wipe em out. He gave them new languages and 54:35 gave them another chance. Yes or no? You can see the compassion 54:41 you can see keys to the character of God 54:44 in each of these stories that brings it out to us 54:47 And even as God calls people out of Babylon right now 54:49 He says come out of her, who? the majority of God's people 54:53 right now we're told are in spiritual Babylon, did you know? 54:56 And they're His people. That's right. Now as we delve into this 55:03 this is going to be interesting to finish up, we're not done. 55:08 My friends, as we consider this closing point today 55:14 I want you to see something and that is in Genesis you find 55:18 the gospel. You have Abraham and God said, take thine only son 55:24 Isaac. Now he had Ishmael but Isaac was the son of promise. 55:27 and that emphasis, thine only son Isaac, there was an emphasis 55:30 in that for later as well. And God was actually contrasting, He 55:34 didn't let Abraham sacrifice Isaac because the true God 55:38 was not like the pagan gods, or like people thought the supposed 55:41 pagan gods were. He wouldn't want to accept human sacrifice. 55:45 He was stopped at the last moment and that ram was caught 55:49 by his horns in the thorns, he was wearing a crown of thorns 55:54 if you will, and that ram took Isaac's place, you see the 55:57 substitutionary death of Jesus on our behalf, justification 56:02 by faith. We are told Abraham believed God and it was counted 56:05 to him for righteousness. Well, I want you to see this. This is 56:10 very important in the story line my friends, 56:16 John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His only 56:19 begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not 56:23 perish but have everlasting life As Abraham thought he was giving 56:28 up his son, he was in a small way wrestling through what God 56:33 did, to give up Jesus for you and me. 56:36 I have a son. I have three kids, I can't imagine giving up any 56:40 one of em for anybody else on the planet. Just thinking about 56:44 that will stretch your mind beyond where you wanna go. 56:48 But I'm going to close now with four things God doesn't know. 56:52 You say, wait God knows every thing. Yeah, except the four 56:56 things He doesn't know. He does not know a sin He doesn't hate 56:58 He doesn't know a sinner He doesn't love 57:01 He doesn't know anything else He could do to save you 57:04 and He doesn't know a better time than right now. 57:07 For today is the day of salvation. 57:10 Make Him the Savior of your heart and life right now. |
Revised 2015-06-18