Behold, I Have Set Before Thee an Open Door

Larry Kirkpatrick. . Daystar Academy, UT

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Revelation 3:7-8And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name. The one who says that He has set before us an open door, describes Himself as holy, true, having the key of David, one who shuts and opens, and keeps what's He's opened, open, and what He's shut, shut. We know from Revelation chapter one that this is Christ. But those qualities are especially emphasized, of One who has ultimate moral authority and power to act. And He tells the church of Philadelphia that He has set before her an open door. Our text is a prophecy directly to the church of the Philadelphia time era, but we will apply it to ourselves. Because to each one of us, God has set right in front of us an open door, a gateway, a portal, an opportunity to build our lives with Him. This is really what God has done for each of us. Before each one of us, He has set an open door. To each of us is given that ultimate faculty: choice. And no one can close the door that God has opened for you or for me. No one except ourselves. And we must use that door. It is there to go thru. And if we put the "little strength" given us by God into living for Him, if we use it to keep His word, and we refuse, no matter how much the world attempts to get us to deny Him, we can go thru it to our bright future. Does anyone doubt that Jesus has set in front of you an open door? In front of you? Turn to Luke 4:16-22 and let's read:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

I want you to notice some stuff here. Number one, Jesus knew what He was doing. When He stood up to read, He knew exactly which text applied to His mission, and He presented it. "And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because..." He knew what He was doing exactly. This ought to appeal to us, because some of us have been lacking a mission or a vision for our lives. We have not always been too sure about why we are here, or what God wants us to do. How are we going to fill up our very short time here in this life? Don't blink, because you'll open your eyes and suddenly realize that many years have gone by--just like that--if time lasts long enough. But just being decisive and having a mission isn't enough. You know, the devil knows exactly what his business is, and he is decisively going about his mission. So you could have those things, and even be a devil. But look again at Jesus' next words.

Because He hath annointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

See, Jesus was annointed to preach, sent to heal, commissioned to set at liberty the bruised. And so are you and I. "Oh, but I am not a pastor," you say. But wait up. No, you are not a pastor in the narrow sense that I am, of holding a specific position under employment of the church, or being assigned a district and so on. But what is a pastor. The word "pastor" comes from a latin word meaning "one who is a shepherd." And a shepherd is someone who guards, leads, and takes care of." Now turn with me to Matthew 5:14. What does it say there? "Ye are the light of the world." Verse 16: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." So. You are the light of the world. You. And you are to "Let your light so shine before men." Friends, you are to guard the world from getting a wrong picture about what God is like. Satan is out there defaming, slandering, and libeling God every day and every hour. You are shepherds to the world against that. If you let your light so shine, then they, the world, might be persuaded to glorify our Father which is in heaven. Is that a neat thought, or what? You are to lead the world to better understand who God is. So you are taking care of them, aren't you? We are the salt of the earth--the preservative. So don't tell me that you are not a pastor. There is a sense in which every Christian is a pastor; you are a guide sent to a confused world, a lost world. Now I know some of the ideas that you have entertained from time to time. "Christianity is awfully restrictive;" you've probably thought that or at least heard it. But did you notice in Luke 4 what Jesus' mission is? To heal, to preach deliverance to captives, to help those who do not see to recover their sight, to set at liberty the bruised. See, Christianity is about freedom, release from prison, release from bondage. It is about escape from the restrictions of sin and misery. Christians are supposed to be heroes, escape-agents, the actual good-guys, not the fly-by-night bubble-headed cartoon-cut-out TV and movie heroes. See, we don't exist only on film! We are real. God's reality is what's real; Hollywood's is all fakery. God doesn't need to hire out for special effects, because He can create and recreate. And We are to be His front-line agents in this work. See, Christianity is an adventure. It is not just a set of mindless restrictions. It is a privilege that in His mercy God has given to us. Never forget this. You and I have embarked on a Christian adventure. And when you are tempted to think otherwise, know that Satan is trying to hit you with his propaganda and his bitter sweets that are hollow inside. He wants to destroy you. God wants to create you. And the decision, the pathway, the choice, is yours whether you will choose life and creation. God has set before you an open door. Tonight, its open here at Daystar. Seize the future, leap through the doorway, and go forward. God wants to create you. Let this experience be for you a Genesis 1:1 experience. "In the beginning, God recreated me. And now is the beginning." Because God has set before you an open door!

Crazy Man on a Dry Hill:

Seventh-day Adventists in the End-Time

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Larry Kirkpatrick OH: 229 All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name * Scripture Reading: Genesis 6:9 * CH: 595 Let Every Lamp be Burning

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Genesis 6:9

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God

All do not hail the power of Jesus name. They don't in our day, they didn't in Jesus' own day, nor did they in Noah's day. But angels did; they fell prostrate in worship to Him, bowing knees in glory, declaring "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:3). What have these angels seen that provoke the acceptance of His Kingship and cause the poured-out praises? And why does the end linger? Why hasn't Jesus come for the grand finale? The answers that the Bible proposes to these questions are very worthy of our attention this morning. Please turn along with me, to Genesis six. There is a reason why we open the doors of our churches in every corner of the world. there is a reason why we set up schools and evagnelistic centers, and why we don't throw in with just any generic religious group.

The Flood in Noah's Day Previewed Events in Ours

God is in the habit of giving previews to His people. Amos 3:7 informs us of God's operating procedure: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." That is, first He reveals what's coming, and then it comes. Sometimes these are explicit prophetic predictions. Other times they are types, or previews of what is coming. When we consider the story of the flood, we see one of these previews: an event was then foretold when "probation" would close for the world, the gospel would to be preached to a planet under judgment, the world was then to be as good as destroyed, and God's people were to be saved. Today it is the same. Therefore, we can learn from the examples and stories in the Bible that describe what has happened before us. In fact, the story of Noah, in particular from among all of the stories in the book of Genesis, parallels our time, and contains some of the strongest insights into our own position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance. In the story of the flood, we have a true record of what then happened, and a preview of what is yet to come. Here we find a situation that must have been pretty appalling to God. He had offered to humankind a tremendous world and a totally fulfilling life; but He watched it all come to a grinding halt at the tree. In the garden of Eden man fell into a hole so deep only God could ever lift him back out. The Creator then promised a Redeemer. He would send His Son to die for fallen man. But as He looked on He saw men turned away, seeking to make for themselves a name, to make themselves a world, even to make for themselves a religion—apart from Him. Now He purposes to wash it all away. It looks bleak, almost hopeless. Satan must have thought that he was doing pretty well in his conflict with God. What was heaven's analysis? Genesis 6:5 tells: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The devil must have thought, "If He would end this thing right now, I would win." And we would have to admit, the evidence seemed to be stacking up all on Satan's side. He had urged that his way was the best way to run the universe. He had, after the fall, exploited to the hilt the then-weakened nature of man. With but a tiny push from Satan and his demon horde, soon the human race could almost be imagined as his own private army of anti-witnesses against God. Could it be that God was on the verge of loosing the great controversy right there? But then, when everything looked its darkest, something different happened. Verse 8: "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Now some would have us to believe that in His desperation God high-handedly forked over an emergency barrel full grace to Noah—that He somehow counted or "imputed" to Noah qualities that Noah didn't really have; or that God just arbitrarily chose Noah (you know, eenie-meenie-minie-mo) and slapped an emergency patch onto His leaking plan of salvation. But it isn't so. Read the description of Noah with me in Genesis 6:9. What does it say there? "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."

A Just Man

Now let's be clear. Noah was a fallen human being, just like everyone else—just like you and I. Yet God does not attribute here a make-believe—"I sure wish Noah was really this way"—quality to him. No. But God says plainly, "Noah was a just man." That is, Noah was truly different than the rest of the crowd who were wicked and whose thoughts were only evil continually. But he had their nature. How was he different? God's grace has power to overrule our nature. Remember Romans 7:25? If we let the fleshly nature rule us, we will live in opposition to God, because "to be carnally minded is death" (Romans 8:6). But if we let God abide with us, then our mind can serve the law of God. And that's just what Noah did. Listen to this from Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 90:

Amid the corruption of that degenerate age, Noah was a pleasure to his Creator . . . We are living in the last days of this earth's history, in an age of sin and corruption, and like Noah we are to so live that we shall be a pleasure to God. . .

Does it seem bizarre that somehow God could look down upon your life and mine and say to Himself, "Amid all the wickedness that covers the earth, it sure gives Me pleasure that ______ is truly living for Me."

Perfect in His Generations

In fact, the biblical description gets even more politically-incorrect, when it says not only that Noah was a just man, but that he was "perfect in his generations." Now to go over all of that would take more time than we have today. But we can surely say this: whatever it means, we mustn't just throw it out because the mention of "perfection" is out of vogue; the term is altogether biblical. Noah was "perfect in his generations." Your marginal reference will say "blameless." That's interesting, because when the 144,000 are described in Revelation 14:5, it says that they are "without fault" before the throne of God. Now, that is "without fault" in reference to the throne of God. That's also to be blameless, isn't it? Because this is talking about being without fault in reference to morality, and God's throne involves His government which is preeminently moral. Friends, which is which: being blameless, or being without fault before the throne of God? Is there really much difference? Certainly, someone who is blameless is without fault. Noah pleased God. Oh, yes, Noah had a ruined human nature just like we do, but because he lived God's way, He was able to please him in spite of his weakened humanity. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit, and he took hold of God's strength through the Holy Spirit. It can be the same for us.

Walking With God

Again, Noah is described as a person who "walked with God." And isn't that the essence of what being a Christian is about, both then and now? In the end-time, God has a people who walk with Him. He describes them in Revelation 14:4 as those who "Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." They are people who set everything that hinders aside, and walk with God. Yes. That makes them like Noah. See, the flood was a preview; it was the great controversy in miniature. The world came to an abrupt end, so to speak. The lost were lost; the followers of God were preserved. What did the angels see? They saw God glorified in His people. Noah and a tiny handful of humanity stood up on God's side. They were willing to be identified by the jeering crowds with "a crazy man on a dry hill." But that crazy man was not crazy, and the hill did not stay dry. Not indefinitely. Oh, they must have laughed for almost the full 120 years. But when the ripping roar of thunder split the sky, and dark clouds whipped into view from out of nowhere, and the first giant splotches of rain broke on the ground, it was too late. The crazy man on the dry hill was safely enfolded in the ark with his family. And with God.

Then and Now

But what's interesting, friends, is that God didn't close the great controversy right there, did He? No! Yes, the angels had seen God glorified in His people, but there weren't very many of them. A handful of people living God's way might be nothing more than a fluke. Noah's obedience, his life of walking with God might just be a strange blip, a mere fact of genetic mutation, in a pattern that otherwise seemed to show that humankind preferred Satan's ways. You see, God wasn't finished with His demonstration. He was just beginning. And so 4000 more years have followed. For 4000 years Satan and God have—through their people—demonstrated what their governments are like to an intently watching universe. And for those millenia the battle has ebbed and flowed back and forth. And shifting now, to the end-times—to our times—we find God, raising up a people. Because He insists on demonstrating to the universe through a whole family of last-day people, what His grace and His gospel can do. And although, like Israel, we are the least of all peoples, still, we are His people for this time. Listen to this, from Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 102:

Before the flood, God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction. As the time of Christ's second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event. Multitudes have been living in transgression of God's law, and now He in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Christ are offered pardon.

Did you catch that? "As the time of Christ's second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event." He doesn't send just His "missionaries," or just His "pastors"—He sends His servants all. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but just about all of us in this sanctuary have asked for Jesus to be our personal Savior. And that means that just about all of us in this sanctuary have also identified ourselves as His servants. And that has giant consequences. But Noah wasn't the only crazy man on a dry hill. You see, because along came Jesus...

Along Came Jesus

Jesus and Noah shared a variety of similarities. Jesus was a striking, stark figure. He amazed everyone who He came into contact with. They either melted in His presence, or hardened, but there were no half-way opinions about Him in Jerusalem, from the early part of His ministry to its very end. And what an end! Because, unlike Noah or any of us, Jesus was also God. He came with all the riches of His divine character, entered broken humanity, endured temptation, reset the truths of God and returned them to freshness and purity. He reintroduced God's truth in all its beauty such that itcondemned and condemned and condemns all false religion. But above all, He went up on the hill Golgotha. For us. "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." Matthew 27:42. So said the chief priests, scribes, and elders. Remember, they had come to Him and would have made Him king. But Jesus' kingdom? It was not of this world. To them, He was only a crazy man. The idea that he was insane was mentioned more than once (Mark 3:21; John 10:20). But if He was crazy, He was crazy like Noah. He poured out His soul to reach others. Up on the hill Golgotha He poured out more than Noah or any of us could ever pour out. He had more He could to pour out. He was God. He gave His life for our lives. Aren't you glad He did? And when He comes at last, He will see of the reward of His suffering, the purchase of His blood, and He will be satisfied. He will see His people, in large churches and small, in the highways and in the byways. And He will be pleased. Because like Noah, you and I—by His grace—turned to Him, and served Him, and walked with Him; we joined His family. How glad He will be to welcome us home! And how glad we will be to be there at last! Jesus was faithful. He fully and completely lived the law. He never sinned. But again, Satan has an argument that he can pull out of his hat. Remember, he doesn't have to present clear evidence—he just has to present arguments that are plausible. And he has one even for Jesus. Don't you think he could say, "Oh, yes. Jesus obeyed. But He was God. What did you expect?" Jesus certainly proved that man can obey. But God is going to remove every possible wrinkle of doubt so that sin will never rise up again in this universe.

Heaven's Attention is Now Centered On Us

And that, incredible as it may sound, is where we come in. God wants to finish off the whole conflict by presenting before the universe a people who are crazy like Noah: who have become just, blameless, and walkers-with-God. This message is more than a fascinating set of truths. Inspiration says that these messages "are to ripen the harvest of the earth, either as sheaves for the heavenly garner or as fagots for the fires of destruction" (Great Controversy, 341-342). The effect of "the closing message" is to "to ripen the harvest of the earth." While some hear and are hardened, others hear and receive the messages. They invite and receive the work of the Holy Spirit into their hearts and in the battle with evil they are victorious. Sin is put away at last. You see, in his day, Noah lived for God. In consequence, he was viewed as a crazy man on a dry hill. That is, until the rains came, and the end for the those who refused to recognize the God of heaven. And in Jesus day, He was viewed as a crazy Man on a dry hill—a shooting-star who died a needless death on a pointless cross. That is, until He rose from the dead, and the early Christians rejoiced day by day in the temple about it (Luke 24:52-53). He had opened the door of salvation for them and for us and for a doomed world. And finally, here we stand, at the end of time, at the nexus of all history and meaning, and to some of our friends and to some of our relatives, and maybe to some of our immediate family members, it is as if we are like a crazy man on a dry hill—a group of hyper-religious zealots taking spiritual things too seriously. But it will all end sometime, won't it? And we know that the end is here. It has been hanging-fire (as it were) for 150 years. No, now is not the time to step down from God's high mission and decide that we are just another grey option—just another generic church among all other generic churches. We have a mission, here, right here in Southern California. Our mission is to let our God make us "just" people, "perfect" or "blameless" if you will; in essence, to make us into "walkers-with-God." Then the angels will not only see God glorified in His people, but finally, the end will come. Some people don't think that smaller churches matter. But I believe that of all the places where the Spirit of God can catch fire in our soul and change us most quickly, it is in smaller, closer-knit church families like this. And you know what's interesting? We become more like Jesus by reaching out, and working for the salvation of others. That's how we'll become walkers-with-God. That's the hard, clear, practical, bottom line. And so we are asked to share the goodness of God toward us, with others; and there are practical ways. What better time than now to renew our efforts to share with others the love that God has shared with us? Look here at just a handful of our options. We can:

• Pray for specific persons
• Live justly before our friends and relatives and watch for ripening opportunities to share our faith
• Keep literature with us in our cars and give it out as we have opportunity
• Invite people to church
• Open our homes for small, informal Bible-study meetings
• Support the meetings of the church
• Study God's last message of mercy to the world and become clearer in how to give it

Those are just a few things we can do. Our lights may brighten their burning, and you and I can be ready for our Lord's returning. May Mentone church so let its lights shine, so that those in our area can discover Jesus, and we can soon all go home to glory. And if, friends, we are identified as being crazy along the way, that's O.K. We are standing in good company.

Can a Human-Being Become Righteous?

Larry Kirkpatrick Fairplain Seventh-day Adventist Church

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"The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God... For thus saith the Lord God; how much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel 14:12-14, 21-23. On one side of the world, a school in Colorado rings out with gunfire; young people, killing and dying, assuring themselves of a place on the evening news. No motivation seems to completely compute. No explanation seems to come near to explaining a world where this happens. On the other side of the world, killing and bombing continues in Yugoslavia. People have been slaughtered unjustly, driven from their homes. Darkness is spread out over this globe from one end to another. We can scarcely understand why. But all these things do not happen in a vaccuum. God would use them to open our eyes. But we become so full of them. Every day the news brings us fresh revelations of stale pain and bitterness. Over and over again, we seem to hear the message, "nothing really matters; this stuff will last forever, or at least somehow until the nations utterly annihilate each other and nothing is left but cockroaches." And so we might balk at the presentation of such a seemingly otherworldly topic: can a human being become righteous? Isn't that the height of indifference-to wax eloquent on theology when the world is swathed unceasingly in pain and blood. But... But could it be that in such a time as this, this is exactly when we need to ask a theological question? You see, a theological question is simply a question about what God's word about Himself is to us. That's all. So we ask. Let's ask Ezekiel about it. Go to Ezekiel 14:12-21

The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men were in it, as I live saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; how much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Could it be that our little world, God's lesson book to the universe, is covered with violence because humankind from one end of the globe to the other is in a seething rebellion against God? Could it be that He is slowly removing His restraining power and letting the earth be covered in blood and pain. Are God's judgments even now in the land? If we heard the news only once every two weeks, wouldn't it sound a lot more like a wake-up call than when we hear it several times daily, and it all just sounds like the same continuous, meaningless roar? Is the end ever going to come? The Bible says so. And when the restraining power of God is swept away even more-maybe in your neighborhood-how will you be delivered? Will "don't worry, be happy" be enough of a gospel to save you? Where do you stand with God? Where do I stand? Are you righteous before God? Are you ready to meet your Maker, if you should need to, in the next few moments? You see, our adversary says God can't really do anything meaningful with us. He says God can't produce. He says God is a phoney. And he says, "look, the evidence is God's people. Check them out universe. They are just a gaggle of miserable sinners. God's power is not expressed in their lives. God may ultimately destroy me, but I will still win the great controversy, because He can't make anyone righteous. Not really. The truth is, no matter what happens, I win." So what about it? Can a Christian become righteous? In the end I will ask for your verdict. But you say, brother Larry, we don't need to wait to the end. We already know that none is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). We are all carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:14). With the mind we serve the law of God, but with the flesh we serve the law of sin (Romans 7:25). All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). There is not a just man that does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Honestly, brother Larry, do you think that you are going to overturn all those texts? No, I don't, not for a moment. But those are not all the texts, nor are the best explanations of them necessarily the ones that are so often given today. The only way that we can be real Adventists is to take everything that Scripture and inspiration says on a topic. That's how our pioneers did it. And nothing about the rightness of that rule has changed. It is easy to isolate a text and teach that it says something that it does not. Since the time this church began, and since from before that, those who oppose the seventh-day Sabbath have done that very thing. Over and over again they have taken only a part of what the Bible says and ignored other passages that clarified and condemned their twisting of Scripture to support Sunday observance. Shall Adventism in its end, fall into the same mistake? God forbid. So, can a Christian become righteous? I hope you are asking yourself, "What does he mean 'become righteous?' If you are not, you are much too trusting. Our attitude as Bible Christians should be very much like that of the United States toward the USSR during the cold war: trust but verify. Definitions are so important. By 'become righteous,' I mean to ask whether through our submission to God, through our continuous reception of His power for victory, by faith, we can become right with God. I mean to ask if through a connection such as this, where we are partakers of the divine nature, we can fully obey God, whether we can produce actions that are pleasing to God. By 'become righteous' I do not' mean to ask whether we can reach a point where we do not need a Saviour for our sins, or do not need a Provider of overcoming power. No, I do not mean just to be counted as righteous while still living unrighteously. No. And let's not forget what Jesus said: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 5:20. RH 30 April 1895

In his sermon on the mount, Christ presented to the people the fact that personal piety was their strength. They were to surrender themselves to God, working with him with unreserved co-operation. High pretensions, forms, and ceremonies, however imposing, do not make the heart good and the character pure. True love for God is an active principle, a purifying agency. The scribes and the Pharisees appeared to be very punctilious in living out the letter of the law; but Christ said to his disciples, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." What a startling declaration was this! It made manifest the insufficiency of legal or natural religion, and showed the need of moral renovation and the necessity of divine enlightenment. The Jewish nation had occupied the highest position; they had built walls great and high to inclose themselves from association with the heathen world; they had represented themselves as the special, loyal people who were favored of God. But Christ presented their religion as devoid of saving faith. It was a combination of dry, hard doctrines, intermingled with sacrifices and offerings. They were very particular to practice circumcision, but they did not teach the necessity of having a pure heart. They exalted the commandments of God in words, but refused to exalt them in practice; and their religion was only a stumbling-block to men. The old bottles were found unfit to contain the new wine, and new bottles must be provided for the new wine. Thus it was with priests and rabbis, scribes and Pharisees; they were as old bottles that could not contain the new wine of the kingdom of Christ. Although they had hitherto held undisputed authority in religious matters, they must now give place to the great Teacher, and to a religion which knew no bounds and made no distinction of caste or position in society, or of race among nations. But the truth taught by Christ was designed for the whole human family; the only true faith is that which works by love and purifies the soul. It is as leaven that transforms human character. The truth brought into the soul temple cleanses it of moral defilement; but where there is no change in the characters of those who profess to believe it, it is evident that it is not taken into the soul temple, and is simply no truth to those who advocate it. Such are under a deception.

Did you hear that? "The truth brought into the soul cleanses it of moral defilement." What did Jesus say? "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17. What was the promise of the New Covenant? We read it in Jeremiah 31:33 and in Hebrews 10:16-17: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." God will put His laws into our hearts and minds. Paul said that Christ was "the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Romans 10:4. The end, or the goal, is to walk with Christ, to trust Him to work in us, and make us inside, to work like Him. Listen to the testimony here in the book of Ezekiel. The word "righteousness" comes up in several verses: Ezekiel 3:20; 14:14, 20; 18:20, 22, 24, 26; 33:12, 13, 18. In every case, and I mean if you look carefully at every case, they all mean what we do. In these verses we read about "his righteousness" and about "his wickedness." There is a very personal application here. But some will say that the context of Ezekiel chapter fourteen is that God's judgments are sent upon unfaithful Israel. The judgments are temporal in nature, the four sore judgments summarized in 14:21. This is true. Oh yes. But if it is argued that the judgments are only temporal, and do not involve matters of eternal life and death, note that 1. Temporal settings are within the realm of moral responsibility; actions involve sin or obedience 2. Ezekiel 18 makes exceptionally clear that God's people are to be evaluated morally based upon their actions; the soul that sins will die; this is not merely a discussion of earthly life, but of eternal decision. Ezekiel 18:4, 5, 9, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26-28, 3. Ezekiel 18:20: "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." This calls to mind Revelation 22:11-12 and its declaration that after probation closes the just will remain just and the wicked will remain wicked, the righteous will remain righteous, etc. 4. The well-known statement of Ellen White's Great Controversy, pg. 623 about character perfection in the end time ("Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself: 'The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.' John 14:30. Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father's commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble."), is immediately preceded by Ellen White's quotation of Ezekiel 14:20!:

The 'time of trouble such as never was,' is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. 'Though Noah, Daniel, and Job,' were in the land, 'as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.' Ezekiel 14:20.

The mention that during the ordeal "every soul must stand for himself before God" calls to mind also the well-known statement from Great Controversy, pg .425: "Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a Mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil." 5. The judgment of Israel is both corporate and individual: Ezekiel 18:30: "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Repent and turn. But turn to what? To righteousness. Look with me at Psalm 15:

Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

It is the person who worketh righteousness, who does what is right, that will dwell in God's holy hill, and abide in His tabernacle. And where is the presence of God most centralized? In His tabernacle. God asked His people to make Him a tabernacle, or sanctuary, so that He could dwell among them as they went forward to the promised land. Exodus 25:8. His presence was needful to them. He wanted to heal and help them, to change them along the way so that the promised land would indeed be the promised land when they arrived there. Sin doesn't mesh with God's plans for us. He loves us too much for that. He wants to get us out of the pit of sin and up into His holy hill. He wants to do it now. On the journey. He wants us to experience the transformation inwardly that comes with His righteousness. Listen to these remarks: COL 316-317

Those who reject the gift of Christ's righteousness are rejecting the attributes of character which would constitute them the sons and daughters of God.

FW 70-71

And what is it to believe?....It is to hear and to see that with the righteousness of Christ which you hold by faith, righteousness supplied by His efforts and His divine power, you can keep the commandments of God.

DA 324

The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness.

RH 25 October 1892

All the power is of God, and all the glory is to redound to God, and yet all the responsibility rests with the human agent; for God can do nothing without the co-operation of man. When a man believes in Jesus as his personal Saviour, and accepts of His righteousness by faith, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and he escapes from corruption through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without divine nature, without the influence of the Spirit of God, man cannot work out his own salvation.

ST 28 December 1891

It is Jesus enthroned in the soul that makes every action easy in His service. He is the fountain of all righteousness, the source of all happiness, the reservoir of all power.

ST 25 September 1901

The salvation of the soul requires the blending of divine and human strength. God does not propose to do the work that man can do to meet the standard of righteousness. Man has a part to act. Humanity must unite and co-operate with divinity. Grace and sufficiency have been abundantly provided for every soul. But in order to receive this man must unite with his divine Helper. Unless of his own accord man consents to renounce his sinful practices, Christ cannot take away his sin.

In Revelation 19:8 we find the saints, with what? "And to her [the church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Other translations give this as "The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And how well this fits with the definition of righteousness given Ellen White's Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 312: "Righteousness is right-doing..." Scripture is filled with the idea that we can indeed become righteous, not in ourselves apart from Christ, but by becoming partakers of the power of God through Christ. Romans 10:10 reminds us that "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness..." Isaiah 54:17 says that "...This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 58:8 promises "...and thy righteousness shall go before thee..." Isaiah 61:3 Gives the mission of the Messiah and of God's people as being "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Isaiah 61:11 says "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." It seems clear from Scripture that human-beings can become righteous. No wonder Ellen White says "God deals with men as individuals, giving to everyone his work. All are to be taught of God. Through the grace of Christ every soul must work out his own righteousness, maintaining a living connection with the Father and the Son." TM 488. And that "As Christ in His humanity sought strength from His Father, that He might be enabled to endure trial and temptation, so are we to do." GAG 179. And that "God is waiting to give divine power to every soul to combine with human effort." TSB 134. Someone will ask me if I have such a low concept of what righteousness is that I say we can attain it. But I respond, do you have such a low concept of God's power as to say that He cannot attain it in us? Friends, if we part ourselves from God for one moment, all our righteousness reverts back to poisonous, filthy rags. But if we stay with God, mindfully, willfully walking with our Savior, then friends we are walking in His righteousness and under His blessing. "But brother Larry, how then do we overcome? Why are you linking all this transformation stuff into the gospel?" Because some are making too great a separation between faith and its fruit. They are saying that first we are saved and then obedience follows. But there are conditions to our salvation. They don't earn us anything, but they are there before salvation aren't they. But how can we obey without God's help? I want to share with you the answer as I understand it. It is this: They happen at the same time; obedience does not follow faith, it comes in the same wave as faith. When you will to obey God, He send s the power in that moment and you do obey through what He supplies. Galatians 5:6 tells us that faith works by love. Listen to how Ellen White has put this: "In the very act of faith, God speaks and gives His blessing" 4T 145. How do we become righteous? When we reach out to God in faith, He responds, and sends forth to us the transformation. He works in that moment inside of us, and turns our struggle into heaven's victory. He changes us. And Satan's charge that God really can't produce changed people, people who are really like Jesus, totters. And when God produces a group of people who are like Jesus, who are willing and following the Lamb whereever He goes, whatever He asks them to do, the high-school shootings and the Kosovos and all the sufferings and sorrows of this world that don't always make the news, will be ended. And God will win the great controversy once and for all, and we will then see Him face to face. At last, let's turn back one more time to Ezekiel 14:22-23. There it speaks of a remnant. Yes, God will send forth His four sore judgments on Jerusalem. But read with me now what happens after God's people go through this period of trial:

Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Some day, there will come a generation, that will walk with God, and will let His Spirit transform them. And although God's people endure a time of trial, perhaps even a chastening from heaven for their slow-motion Christianity, still in this generation that I speak of, there will be seen the power of God, and God's people will be comforted as they see the final revival go forward, the final warning given, and finally see Jesus come in the sky for us. And we will know that all the trials and seemingly faulty steps that God's people made over the years were permitted for reasons that God will better explain to us. It all had to do with finishing the great controversy. It all had to do with heaven proving that God can change people. And in it all our Redeemer Jesus will be glorified. And you and I get to be a part of that. But, what is the verdict? Can God make people righteous? Can He really change us? [Response: "Yes! Amen"] O.K. then, brethren and sisters. Now He's got a lot to do yet for us. So let's let Him do it.

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Additional Notable References COL 307

The parable of the wedding garment opens before us a lesson of the highest consequence. By the marriage is represented the union of humanity with divinity; the wedding garment represents the character which all must possess who shall be accounted fit guests for the wedding.

COL 310

By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ's true followers will possess. To the church it is given 'that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,' 'not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' Ephesians 5:27. The fine linen, says the Scripture, 'is the righteousness of saints.' Revelation 19:8. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.

COL 311

This covering, the robe of His own righteousness, Christ will put upon every repenting, believing soul....This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to impart to us. 'All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.' Isaiah 64:6. Everything that we of ourselves can do is defiled by sin. But the Son of God 'was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.' Sin is defined to be 'the transgression of the law.' 1 John 3:5,4... By His [Jesus] perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we, live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness.

COL 315

Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. They have refused the gift which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing Him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work. They are not doers of the word.

IHP 173

Every man will have some estimate of his own worth when he becomes a laborer together with Christ, doing the work that Christ did, filling the world with Christ's righteousness, bearing a commission from the Most High.

CG 69

You need to be soundly converted to God. You need the true spirit of obedience to the Word of God. You must make decided reforms in your own customs and practices, conforming your life to the saving principles of the law of God. When you do this, you will have the righteousness of Christ which pervades that law..." (From MS-12, 1898).

ST 13 December 1899

A holy life is accessible to every repenting, believing child of God. We are to work out that which Christ works in.

ST 17 November 1887

Moses understood that there was to be a judgment-day, when every man would be judged according to the deeds done in the body. We each have a case pending at the bar of God, and although Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could not save son or daughter. They could only save their own souls by the righteousness. It is an individual work for you and me. There will be every attraction to draw us away from Christ's righteousness, and the human heart is inclined to selfish gratification. Every soul who seeks righteousness will meet with perplexities; but shrink not at reproach or trial.

COL 412

But character is not transferable. No man can believe for another. No man can receive the Spirit for another. No man can impart to another the character which is the fruit of the Spirit's working. 'Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it [the land], as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall deliver but their own souls by their righteousness.' Ezekiel 14:20.

COL 416

The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them.

Incredible Disaster, Incredible Victory

Larry Kirkpatrick.  Southhaven Seventh-day Adventist Church

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• Introduction
• The condition of Judah before going into captivity
• God's message of imminent judgment
• Heaven's call for a change in our religiosity
• What happened to Judah
• Application to ourselves

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Introduction

Please turn with me to Revelation chapter 14:9-10, and let us read there:

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

In the last few pages of the Bible, we find a final, triple-message for the end of time. One by one, three angels move across the screen as the battle between good and evil reaches its inevitable climax. We do not need to pause to ask for a show of hands: "How many here would like to receive the mark of the beast?" None of us have any interest in receiving this final imprint of hopelessness. How can we avoid it? Does heaven have any means to truly heal us--to truly change us? Is there--in the Being whom Christians call their Lord-Jesus Christ--is there any power to change us? to take away our sins and empower us to truly walk in newness of life? Why are not the people of God in this world ready for Jesus to come? Those are important questions. And as we journey today, the answers await us. We hold in our hands today God's last-day lesson Book. He gave us the Bible so that we might learn from the example of the past experiences of His people (1 Corinthians 10:11), and that we might have hope (Romans 15:4). And while what we hear in the next few minutes will sound at first like an incredible disaster, in the end we will take courage at what is actually an incredible victory!

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The condition of Judah before going into captivity

The Bibles' Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet; and that characteristic comes, in part, from the passage to which we now turn, starting with Jeremiah 8:5, 7-9, 11. The ten northern tribes, called the kingdom of Israel are already carried off into captivity and have ceased to be a nation. All that remains is the southern kingdom, centered in Jerusalem and consisting mostly of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. And God through His prophet Jeremiah asks the question: "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." Jeremiah 8:5. In the seventh verse, God points out that the birds know when to migrate, but that when it comes to those who claimed to be His people, "My people know not the judgment of the Lord." In verse eight and nine He asks how they can claim that He is with them when they have rejected His word. He as much as says that while His people disobey Him, the pen of the theologians is empty. They can chatter all day about what they think about God, but obedience is still better than sacrifice. In the eleventh verse God puts His finger on a pivotal problem: "For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying Peace, peace; when there is no peace." And I want to suggest that there are many parallels today between the problem here in Judah, and the way that too many in the Christian world function today. There are too many warm-fuzzies going around, and not enough solemn-solids. Remember, the world today is facing its judgment, and we can't just pursue Christianity-as-usual! We were not called to the kingdom at the beginning or the middle of the conflict. We were born into the end-time. Jeremiah 9 opens with Jeremiah weeping for God's people. Listen to His words:

Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not Me, saith the Lord.

In verse five we find that "they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity." Finally in verse six we learn that for too many of those who considered themselves God's people, Jeremiah had to say "through deceit they refuse to know Me, saith the Lord." So there we are. God's people are staring judgment in the face, and heaven's evaluation of them is that their experience is actually one big giant moral failure. His people are NOT valiant for the truth, but they are restlessly living out their darkened lives in a sequence of continuous sin. Through their deceit, they refuse to know God. With their itching ears they have heaped up to themselves teachers that fill their ears with theological cotton-candy. And those who love truth find themselves weeping, knowing that incredible disaster is certain!

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God's message of imminent judgment

And it is! Listen to Jeremiah 9:11-13, and see if you can hear the reason God gives for sending judgment upon His people:

And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein...

Because of their disobedience, God says that He will give them bitter water to drink, He will scatter them, and He will send a sword after them to consume them. Notice also that this generation is not the first in line with this behavior. Verse 14 says that it was their fathers who taught them to worship false Gods. Somehow, a problem extending beyond that present generation was impacting the relationship between God and His people. Again, I point out that Revelation 7:1-3 indicates that there does come a time when heaven is ready to end the conflict between good and evil, but the command goes out to the angels to wait, because God's people are not ready, they are not sealed. The Bible teaches that the second coming of Christ will be delayed by God's people in the end of time. Friends, while it is not my purpose today to outline the Bible evidence that has suggested to myself and many others that according to God's Word, the second coming of Christ could have already happened by now, and we could all be in heaven, I have to tell you that that is exactly what I believe. And I believe that the experience of Judah we are considering now is very important to God's people today. Because the next verses of Jeremiah point to the closeness of judgment for Judah. It was right upon them even as Jeremiah prophesied. Look at verse 21: "Death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without and the young men from the streets." God's last-ditch effort to save Judah was ready to instantly spring forth. It would mean a horrifying wake-up call too loud to miss, as these verses show. Men would die in the streets as Judah was carried off to Babylon and into captivity. For too long had those claiming to be God's people gloried in their ways of serving God, instead of God's ways of serving God. Now all their pride and glorying would be stopped in mid-stream and God would humble His people in a last-ditch effort to get them focused on His mission. Notice here that God judges His people, not to destroy them, but to save them. He has not utterly forsaken them, although it looks like the end.

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Heaven's call for a change in our religiosity

God now called His people to an entire change in their religiousity. Consider verses 23 and 24:

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Lord.

Notice these words of hope. The wise mustn't glory in their wisdom. The "educated" among us must not pass themselves off as knowing it all--as being our theological specialists and experts upon whom we are to blindly rely. The Bible reminds us that all of us are brethren, and we are to call no man "father" among us, because God is our Father (Matthew 23:8-9). Besides, remember Jeremiah 8:8: "The pen of the scribes is vain" when they do not teach obedience to the Lord. Nor must those in authority in the church perceive themselves as being a power of their own. The power of those in positions of spiritual leadership remains subject to the Word of God, and they will meet again the way they led God's people in the judgment. Nor are those in the rich that have been favored with more cash to become wrongly proud at what the funds they have given and returned into the treasury have accomplished. Back then, the spiritual leadership of God's people had fallen into these very traps. There was no shortage of religion among them. But it had become strangely ineffective, bizzarely readjusted theologically, and peculiarly rebellious. Today, we must avoid falling into the same trap. We must stick so close to this Word, brethren, that Scripture becomes glued into our minds. No, we cannot glory in any of those tragically misguided ways. But we are told what to glory in: that we UNDERSTAND and KNOW our God. "But brother Larry, aren't those the same? Isn't it the same to understand and know God?" Let me ask you a couple of questions. Does Satan understand God? Oh, yes. He understands perfectly well what God is doing. A fascinating book, Ellen White's Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 66 points out that "When Satan heard that enmity should exist between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he knew that his work of depraving human nature would be interrupted; that by some means man would be enabled to resist his power." Oh yes. Do you remember Genesis 3:15? God promised that He would intervene to make possible the salvation of the human race. Does Satan understand what God is up to? Why, you bet he does. Make no mistake, Satan knows God. He understands Him. But he isn't reconciled to doing things the Father's way. In fact, Satan gloried in his wisdom, his power, and his riches. But all the goodness that he had had been granted him by God. He ought to have gloried in God. But as he turned what God had given to self-serving, he ruined himself. Satan understands God, and even knows him. But he does not agree with His exercise of lovingkindness, judgment or justice, and righteousness. Satan refuses to delight in the things that God delights in. But may I suggest that the understanding and knowing of our God, and our delighting in God's ways, is ultimately determined by how we respond to Him? Remember, obedience was the bottom line issue for Judah. They wouldn't obey God, and they came to use some kind of tottering, theological false-gospel deception of their own construction to rationalize their disobedience. "Through deceit they refuse to know Me." Jeremiah 9:6. But Jesus is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." John 14:6. Yes, when we draw close to Jesus, we become "valiant for the truth." Turn to Jeremiah 8:22. Listen to these questions: "Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of My people recovered?" What are the implications here? The very question about whether there is balm, or medicine for healing in Gilead tells us that there is medicine in the gospel for our healing. Paul called it "The power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). God saves us not in our sins, but from our sins. By whom does this salvation come? The question "Is there no physician there?" tells us that there is indeed a physician there. His name is Yeshua, or Jesus, a name that itself means salvation. By the way, you know that in the Greek, there is one word translated two different ways in the New Testament. The word translated "heal" is often translated "salvation" as well. What I am suggesting, is that the difference between healing and salvation is not so great. Jesus blended it all together when He asked His listeners whether it was easier to say "your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Arise, walk." (Matthew 9:5). Friends, Jesus is the Physician, and He is absolutely able to heal us. Then why aren't God's people healed yet? It's altogether so simple. We have not gone to our Physician Jesus, and not let Him apply to us the balm of Gilead deep into our sin-sick wounds. We have accepted partial-cures instead of whole ones. We've only taken part of our medicine. Oh that we would become valiant for the truth, obey God, understanding and knowing Him, and His exercise of lovingkindness. Oh that we would receive more of this personally! Yes, today, these are things we must consider.

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What happened to Judah

So you may ask now, before we finish this morning, what happened to Judah? What happened to God's southern kingdom with death entering in through the windows in judgment? You already know, that she was carried off into captivity in Babylon. Everything looked like it would finally be an incredible disaster in the end. Yet while in captivity, a man named Daniel received a vision from God. And what do you think God told His wayward, backslidden, carried-into-Babylonian-captivity people through Daniel? We find that answer in Daniel 9:24: "Seventy weeks [490 prophetic years] are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city [the Jewish nation and the broken-down city of Jerusalem] to finish the transgression, and make an end of sins, and to bring reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in ever-lasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy." Do you see? In the face of incredible disaster, God had not yet forsaken His people. He now called them to understand and know Him in a way that would lead them to accept Him as their Messiah, receive from Him forgiveness for sins through His death in their place, and to let their lives be the scene where He would bring in everlasting righteousness. All the prophecies pointing to the coming of the Messiah would be fulfilled and humankind would be renovated. Four hundred and ninety years was set aside for their final period to prepare and receive the Messiah. In their lives would be experienced the privileged blessing of--through the mercy and power of God--absolutely not through their own power--of the blessing of a cleansing that down through the ages was only dreamt of. Their lives would show what God can do when His people get serious about living for Him. But alas. Yes, an incredible mission was given to them. But they did, in the end, fail. They rejected the Messiah. They did not bring in everlasting righteousness. And so, guess what? When Jesus comes the second time, to you and to I comes a very similar mission. And so what will we let God do in our lives? And maybe another final question: Will God succeed with His last-day people at the very end? Does the Bible tell us?

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What finally happens among God's people? And Application

Turn with me now to our last passage: Revelation 14. Read with me verses one and four and five:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads... These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Do you notice that God is victorious? That He produces a people who are entirely obedient, who are willing to follow Him no matter what the truth of God steps on in their lives? So it really comes down to you and I. What will we let God do in our lives? Where will we draw the line? Where will we limit the holy one of Israel? Where will we say "no" to Jesus? Will we give the angel messages of Revelation 14? Will we come to understand and know God and experience the impact of His lovingkindness upon our lives, or will we receive the mark of the beast? Will we glory in our supposed "wisdom," or our supposed "power," or our supposed "riches." Or will we glory in understanding and knowing the one who went up on the cross so that we could live? I appeal to you today. If you've drawn a line in the sand in your life that you won't let God cross, bend down and wipe that line away, and let Jesus come in, and remake you, and restore you, and give you a place in the sight of His throne.

The Uncommon Denominator

Larry Kirkpatrick. Fairplain Church

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"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times." So begins the famous novel written a few centuries ago by Charles Dickens. I suppose that that thought is truly among those which best portray the situation in our time. For as we move closer and closer to the rapidly approaching end of the great controversy between good and evil, we both rejoice, lifting up our heads, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh, and yet we grieve as we see a tidal-wave of misguided innovations rushing into the very midst of God's last-day church. To be a follower of Jesus today means to find one's self operating in a battle-field upon which it can be very difficult to know just what to do. Which soldiers are on the same side as you? Have things as the pioneers of this message knew, understood, and taught them, been so wrong? Is that why there are so many winds of doctrine blowing today? Friends, could it be that what we as God's people need to know today, is what we could call the uncommon denominator? What agency has God chosen to link us together with Him and with each other? What is the one thing that all who would successfully serve God have? Today, we have gathered here, into this place to observe the ordinances of the Lord's supper. And so we want to place our mind in a positive frame. Today we know that the Holy Spirit and the angels of God have gathered into this sanctuary with us here in a special manner to impress this service upon our senses. Today Jesus meets with us here, through His Holy Spirit, and energizes us with His presence. Today we gather to publically proclaim our belief in Jesus as Lord and our soon to be fulfilled hope that Jesus is coming again. So let us turn then, to 1 Corinthians 11:23f. These lines place before us the service of the Lord's supper:

"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me."

No, things were not at all just right "in the church" on the night when Jesus launched this service of the new covenant. On that very night, He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. And so along with the truth that most of Jesus' servants were only seeking to be loyal to Him, there was another one who betrayed Him there too. There was something missing for Judas. Between him and Jesus there something was lacking--something very important. The uncommon denominator was missing. Another story in the Bible makes a portrayal that appears vividly similar. Come with me to John, chapter six. John, chapter six, and read with me starting in verse 52. You see, Jesus had just fed the 5000, and many had only days before sought to make Him their King. But He had refused (John 6:15). The kingdom they had expected and the one which He had come to preach were not at all the same. And when they saw Him feed the 5000 they were amazed. Ah. Free food! "If He can do this, then surely He can wipe out the Romans who control our land," they thought. But Jesus saw through it all; He knew that they were largely attracted by the miracles that He did. Because the truly big miracle is when you and I submit to God and permit Him to change us on the inside. Now that is a big miracle. But all these other ones are small ones. No, Jesus said, you folks are attracted by the free food. They asked Him what sign He would give them, and then suggested one (they were so subtle!). "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert," they said (John 6:31). Then Jesus told them that He Himself was the true manna from heaven. Manna was just a figure of the true sustenance for God's people--His own Son, Jesus Christ. But they reacted just as Nicodemus had reacted at first. "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" they mocked (John 6:52). But "Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53). I suggest to you today, that the uncommon denominator that we all must share in, if we are to be God's people in these last days, is our acceptance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, today we will receive the unleavened bread and the pure juice of the grape, in symbol portraying what Jesus has done for us. But let us try also to understand why He uses these symbols. So what does it mean to eat the flesh of Jesus? What is the breaking of His body? Today, we can only look for a moment. So we cannot dwell upon the full meaning of the foot-washing service, or of the reason we take the wine today. But let us consider briefly, the broken body of Christ. Remember what Jesus said about the bread in 1 Corinthians 11:24? "This is My body, which is broken for you." When He had prayed, He broke the bread. Do you remember Gethsemene? When He had prayed to the Father there, He just kept on pleading and pleading. Finally He chose to go through with the horror of the full experience of the second death on our behalf, and then fell dying to the ground. The weight of the sin of the world was bearing down upon Him. Every filthy wickedness that you and I and billions of other humans had done or ever would do, was pressing down upon His heart there in that garden, like all the pressure of a giant press, squeezing and squishing Him. All the holiness of God washed up against all the vileness of our sin and no, we cannot really even begin to conceive of what our Saviour went through to secure for us the possibility of our salvation. "This is My body, which is broken for you." That is, Jesus points to the hours just ahead of Him, when He will die on our behalf, and ratify the new covenant. "This, My body, is on the point of its momentous breaking on behalf of humankind. But although My face will be marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14), I will do it because I love you so much." As He entered that garden, the disciples would notice the change that was to come over Him. In the cold breeze of the evening they would see a new expression on His face that would strike terror into their souls. What did Jesus feel there in the garden? Listen with me to a few lines from The Desire of Ages, pp. 686-687.

He went a little distance from them--not so far but that they could both see and hear Him--and fell prostrate upon the ground. He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequences of man's sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression.

Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had ever stood before. His suffering can best be described in the words of the prophet, "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. 13:7. As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suffering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant. Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself. As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. In the wilderness of temptation the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then conqueror. Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ's ministry. Everything was at stake with him. If he failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ's; he himself would be overthrown and cast out. But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power. With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ's soul was filled with dread of separation from God. Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan's kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.

So. Do you get a sense of what Jesus faced? What does it mean when He tells His disciples that His body is broken... For us? He was willing, just for you, to put His eternal unity with the Father at risk. But what is the result of what He accomplished for us on the cross? Turn with me to Hebrews 10:16: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Jesus made it possible for us to live as He did. Through His experience in Gethsemene and upon the cross, His body was broken for us. A sacrifice worthy to be offered in the heavenly sanctuary was wrought out for us. Again, hear this from Desire of Ages, pg. 664:

'Verily, verily, I say unto you,' Christ continued, 'He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also.' The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power. God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.

Today we can rejoice that heaven has paid so high a price for us. We do not realize how precious we are in the sight of God. And He would have gone through all of this, just to save your soul, if you were the only soul that needed to be saved. This is the weight with which God values you. Now some of us come here today, and we can't see these victories in our life. "Well," we say, "my life sure isn't worth much. I don't have the victory. I am still drowning in my sins. How can God love me?" But may I ask you, where in the Bible does it ever say that Jesus' love is founded upon our gaining the victory? He died to give us the victory because He loves us; not to keep us at arms length until we get the victory. Oh, how we long for that victory over sin in our lives. And God is absolutely ready to give it, and does give it. But remember that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Shall we then despair? Should that person quietly arise and slink out of this sanctuary, and wait until they've gotten "better" before they partake of the communion? No friend. No. Search your heart before the Lord, confess to Him your sins, and plead with Him to put them away from you. Ask that He cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Plead with Him, "O Lord, take this day and let me make a new start with Thee." Take hold upon His strength, and be strong. He is our hope, not we ourselves. Today, for you, make it the best of times. Recommit yourself to Your Maker, and go forward. Let joy fill your heart and not sorrow. The end is closer than when we first believed. God will purify His church. The shaking will only intensify as we near the end. The grand finale cannot be far off. We cannot wallow in our old way of living any longer. Let us go forward today, and break loose, and look unto Jesus. On this day may we all stand closer to Him, uniting ourselves with Him, and receiving His uncommon empowerment that makes us more like Him. Let us fill our lives with His life, which is the uncommon denominator. May Christ in us, the hope of glory, make this morning one ever to be remembered as one of the unique moments of commitment in our spiritual journey. When we invite Him in, He will not disappoint us, and the church will go forward under the approval of heaven, accomplishing His will, and Jesus will return.

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