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University SDA Church- East Lansing

The Close of Probation

David Shin

The Close of Probation- Part 1

Today we begin a new series of messages, a three-part series entitled The Close of Probation, and we'll be looking at 3 different passages of Scripture relating to this topic.

When you think of the term probation, It is not typically thought of in a positive context.

You think of a probation officer or being on probation.

But in a biblical sense, the term probation refers to, according to this World Book Dictionary, it states that Probation is the general doctrine of religion that our present life is a state of probation for a future 1.

It's a temporary status before a permanent status.

The word probation comes from the Latin word probare, which means to test, and it's a temporary time in which we have the opportunity to choose, praise the Lord, our eternal destiny.

I want to have us think a little bit this morning before we go into our passage.

None of us in this room, to the best of my knowledge, chose to be born.

It's kind of philosophical in the sense that we just arrive.

We didn't choose the country we would be born in.

We didn't even choose the era we were born.

We just arrive on this scene because of someone else's choice.

And we just arrive and we don't choose our ethnicity, we don't choose our genes, we just arrive on this scene because of someone else's choice and that someone else was there because of someone else's choice and you can go all the way back to Adam.

And we are in this fix, in this quote mess because of someone else's decision, ultimately Adam's decision.

We're just born and we are placed in a state of probation.

By the way, probation is actually a positive thing because if it wasn't for Jesus Christ, we would have no probation.

And it's because of grace that we even have this time the Bible calls probation or the Bible implies a time of probation, a temporary status In which we can choose our eternal status HM.

Riggle says everywhere the scriptures teach That in time and life man is on probation with the power to choose eternal life or eternal death This is the concept that the Bible presents.

This life is a time we get to choose our eternal destination.

I would argue here this morning that this is the most important decision that you could ever make in this life.

I've used the analogy before, let's say that Bill Gates gives you a penny and he says, depending on how or what you choose to do with this penny, I will give you a billion dollars.

God gives us a penny, a probationary life, and depending upon our choice, we get to determine our eternal destination.

This is the concept that the Bible presents of a temporary status in which we get to determine our eternal destination It's important for us to recognize this because it helps us to recognize what we are to do and what we are to choose in this life.

And so we're gonna be building throughout this series as we move forward.

Probation is grace given by the Lord Jesus.

If it wasn't for him, we would have no probation at all.

And I want to invite you to go in our Bibles as we lay the foundation here this morning to Hebrews 3, 7, 8, page 1347 in the Bible that has been provided for you there in the pew in front of you, 1374.

Here Paul is writing to the Hebrews and he's quoting from Psalms 95 matter of fact he quotes this several times here in scripture Hebrew chapter 3 verse 7 therefore as the what is the your Bible say as the Holy Spirit says, the Holy Spirit is an entity, 1 of the Godhead, therefore as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial, in the wilderness.

I wanna make a few other observations here.

Go to Hebrews 3, verse 15, there in your Bible.

We've just read Hebrews 3, verse 7 and 8.

Hebrews 3, verse 15, it says, while it is said, today if you hear his voice, have you heard this before?

It says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Hebrews chapter 4 verse 7, again as he designates a certain day in David, today after such a long time as it has been said, today if you hear his voice, what does it say?

I have this here on the screen for your convenience.

Paul repeats this phrase, this quote from Psalms 95, not 1 time, not 2 times, but 3 times.

He says, Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

I like to make a few observations this morning before we get to our thesis.

It says, today if you hear His, it's in capitals in your Bible, if you hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts.

Not in an audible voice, but your conscience?

Here's a passage that is quoted many times in reference to the Holy Spirit.

In John 6 verse 18 it says, and when he, the Holy Spirit, comes, he will convict the world of sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment.

When your conscience is pricked, when you feel I need to make this thing right, I need to apologize, I need to make a stand for truth.

You feel guilty, that's the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart.

The Bible tells us the time that we are to respond to the Holy Spirit's leading.

It's not tomorrow, it's not 3 days from now.

The Bible establishes and repeats this concept of today.

Today, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

The Bible also tells us why we are to respond to God's call today.

Because it says that if you don't respond today, we are in danger of hardening our heart.

Now what does this mean to harden our hearts?

Is this talking about heart disease or ulcer, sclerosis, you know, the clogging of our arteries?

I use the illustration of cement, and it's actually in our definition here.

The definition of hardened, to become firm or solid, to solidify, to become set, to calcify, to make inflexible or unchangeable, to become cemented.

If you look it up in the original language, this is what harden means.

To become firm or solid, to solidify, to become set, to calcify, or to become cemented.

When you work with concrete, I had a little bit of experience in this regard.

I am not physically gifted in with my hands.

But when I was in Academy, I did work with cement a little bit and I was fascinated when I went on this mission trip because I had to build a wall with cement and so forth.

They later found out that I built it crooked so they had to tear it all down.

But the thing about cement is that there is a certain stage in cement in which it goes through this process as the cement reacts with the air and start to dry and with carbon dioxide it starts to go through this process where it is very malleable you can shape it you can form it But after a period of time it passes that period in which it can be no longer shaped anymore It starts to harden it starts to solidify it is no longer moldable anymore This is the implication that the Bible gives in regards to the state of our human nature and our character.

I've tried to come up with a shape that would help us to understand this.

He is unchanging, always calling, amen, always reaching out, always trying to save.

This is the reality that the Bible presents.

It says, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

The Bible did not say, respond today when God calls because tomorrow God may not be calling.

That's not what the Bible is saying at all.

The reality of this passage is that God is always calling.

He will never try, stop trying to save us.

But there's something that happens in our human character when we say no, or if we push things off, or we fail to respond, or we do not respond, the Bible says that we go through this process of hardening, of calcifying, of changing.

The Close of Probation- Part 2

We're continuing in our series of messages, the second part in a three-part series entitled The Close of Probation.

And I want to begin by asking a question that is rarely asked even in Christian circles, and it's a poignant and relevant question pertaining to the nature of the delay, and it goes something like this.

2000 years after the cross, 2 millenniums later, we are still here, and this is a question that I've many times asked myself, what is God waiting for?

Have you ever asked yourself this before?

2, 000 years, relatively a long period, even in the eyes of God, we are talking not just about centuries, but 2, 000 years after the cross, after Jesus has said it is finished on the cross, why didn't Jesus come 100 years later, or 200 years later, or even when Paul Wrote with his own hand that the gospel had gone to the entire world in his generation What are we waiting for some people say that we're waiting for final events Perhaps we're waiting for the mark of the beast, or for the union of church and state.

Perhaps we're waiting for more natural disasters.

2, 000 years and we are still here on this earth.

Now we don't have time to get into all of the nuances of the answer to this question.

Perhaps we'll save it for another series.

This has to do with the great controversy, what Jesus is doing right now in the heavenly sanctuary.

But this morning, I want us to turn in our Bibles to go to 1 aspect of why Jesus is delaying His second coming, and it's validated by this passage in the book of Revelation.

And I want to invite you to turn with me there in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 6.

This is the passage just before our Scripture reading.

Revelation 6, verse 15 through 17, page 1412 in the Bibles that you have provided for you there in the pew.

Revelation 6, verse 15 through 17, And the kings of the earth, the rich men, the great men, the commanders, the mighty men, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb.

Now we could preach an entire sermon just from these 3 verses, but I want you to notice that the day of God's judgment has come and there's a group of people that are not happy to see Jesus.

It says, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.

I've never seen a lamb that I was scared of.

It says, hide us from the face of him and from the wrath of the Lamb.

And they ask this question, prior to asking this question, they say, they call for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, and they ask this poignant question at the end of the sixth seal, and it's found in verse 17.

It says, for the great day of His wrath has come, and what does your Bible say?

Here we have the judgment of God, the second coming about to happen, and there's a group of people that are not ready for the second coming.

They're calling for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them.

And they ask this question, who shall be able to stand?

Who can stand in the presence of a holy God?

Who can stand in the presence of the Lamb?

The answer to this question, Bible commentators believe, is found in chapter 7.

Now you remember that chapter divisions were not originally there in the manuscripts.

They were added there for our convenience.

So the answer to this question, who shall be able to stand, is found in chapter 7.

After these things, I saw 4 angels standing at the 4 corners of the earth, holding the 4 winds of the earth, and the wind should not blow on the earth or the sea or any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the 4 angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their where?

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144, 000 from all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.

The question is asked, who shall be able to stand?

And the answer is found in chapter 7, the 144, 000, a group of people symbolized by the 144, 000 representing those that will be alive when Jesus comes.

They will be translated without seeing death and they have the seal of the living God on their foreheads.

Now we will reserve the rest of chapter 7 for another study, but I want to hone in on verse 1.

After this, I saw 4 angels standing at the 4 corners of the earth, holding the 4 winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth on the sea or on any on any tree so here you have this vision that John is given and the imagery here is that there are 4 angels at the 4 corners of the earth and what are they doing?

Commentators believe that these are winds of strife.

Great Controversy says that it is the presence of God that is holding back human passion and evil in our world.

And if the presence of God were to be removed, we would see evil as never as before.

So these 4 angels are holding these winds back.

In verse 2, we have another angel, a fifth angel, not part of the 4, that comes from the east having the seal of the living God.

He's holding something, the seal of the living God.

And he cried with a loud voice to the 4 angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth, the sea, and saying, Do not harm the earth and the sea or the trees." And I have this word highlighted here on the screen.

Till, or the NASB says, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

These angels, when you look in the context of the book of Revelation, that once they withhold or once they stop holding the 4 winds on the 4 corners of the earth, that brings into line a series of events that close probation.

Are you following me here this morning, yes or no?

Okay, so these angels are holding back the 4 winds.

Once they let them go, probation closes, and Jesus is coming.

But in the dialogue in heaven, the angels are told to hold the 4 winds until final events?

No, until God's people are sealed in their foreheads.

Now, the implication of this passage is evident that God is not waiting for final events, friends.

I used to think that once these final events take place, the National Sunday Law and the Union of Church and State, and I was watching on the barometer of what's happening and what's happening with the beast and all these types of things.

But the implication of this verse is evident, that God is not waiting for final events, friends.

God is not waiting for the beast's power.

God is not waiting for more earthquakes and tsunamis and all these types of things to take over this earth.

God is waiting for his people to be sealed.

That word that I've highlighted here on the screen gives the implication that until God's people are sealed in their foreheads, God is going to continue to hold the 4 winds.

The significance of this is that God is looking at His church in this time of sealing and once God's people are sealed, then the final movements and the final moments will be rapid and you will see God close probation and He will come.

That is what Revelation 7 is saying in this context.

God is waiting for his people in this process called the sealing.

Now, what does it mean to be sealed in the forehead?

The book of Revelation is not like any other book of the Bible.

The rest of the Bible, it is literal until the context determines it to be symbolic.

Literal until the context determines it to be symbolic.

The book of Revelation is the other way around.

In the beginning of Revelation, the angel came down and signified the book of Revelation, meaning in the Greek, it is in symbols.

Revelation is symbolic, unless the context determines it to be literal.

When you see 7 heads and 10 horns, this is not a literal animal that you see at the zoo.

So when God comes down and places the seal of God on our forehead.

This is not a literal seal that is stamped on our forehead.

You're not going to be going around on planet earth with a stamp on your forehead.

The forehead is where the conscience, reason, the frontal lobes, the character is.

The name of God represents the character of God.

And the seal in Old Testament and New Testament times, I have a picture of a seal from antiquity about 4, 000 years ago.

The Close of Probation- Part 3

Today, we conclude our three-part series of messages entitled, The Close of Probation.

I know it's been about a month and we've had different things like camp meeting and other special Sabbaths in the interim, and I almost didn't do this third part, but I thought that it'd be appropriate since I did announce that we were having 3 parts to complete this series.

And so, I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews 3, verse 7 and 8.

I have the page number on the screen, and I want to go through a few verses that we touched on earlier in our series of messages, the first part, Hebrews 3.7-8, page 1374 in the Bible that's there in the pew, 1374.

And here Paul is quoting from Psalms 95.7-8, and he's quoting a particular passage.

1374 is the passage, and he actually quotes this 3 times.

Again, he designated a certain day, saying in David, today after such a long time as it has been said, Today if you hear His voice, do not, what does your Bible say, harden your hearts.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter, oh, I read the wrong 1.

All right, let's go to Hebrews chapter 3 verse 15, the previous 1, 3 verse 15.

And it says, while it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

It says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are.'" I got my verses mixed up a little bit here.

Alright, so this is the verse that we're looking at.

Not 1 time, not 2 times, but 3 times here in Hebrews 4, verse 7 and the other passages, you have this Psalm quoted, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

The implication of this passage is that the best opportunity that we have to respond to God's voice is the first time that you hear it.

Is the first time, not the second time, not the third time, because as we do not respond to God's voice, we are in danger of what the Bible calls a process of hardening, where our hearts become harder every time we do not respond to God's voice.

I sit down with an individual, we study the Sabbath, and they say, Pastor, I see the Sabbath.

I need to make a stand for the Sabbath, but Let me wait a little bit.

Even though I'm hearing God's voice, I want to postpone it.

And many times, not all the time, I will sit down with the same individual the next week.

Same Bible passage, same study, and yet it's fascinating what will happen just in a short span of even a week.

I'll sit down with the same individual and they'll say, pastor, I just don't see it the same way anymore.

Has the Bible truth about the Sabbath changed?

No, all of these things are constant and they remain the same, but the difference is that through not responding to God's voice the first time, the second time, something has happened within the heart of the individual in which they have become hardened to the voice of the Holy Spirit and they're no longer able to respond in the same way as before.

Which means that with every spiritual decision that we make, once we make that decision, we change.

We get harder or we get softer to God's voice.

We are changing with every single moral decision that we make.

And once we pass through that portal, that decision, we come out on the other side a different individual.

And through a series of decisions, not 1 decision, but through a series of decisions, we end up in a state that we were nowhere near when we started our journey.

Which means that you could come to the place where you no longer hear God's voice, not because God is not reaching out to us, not because God is not calling, but because through a series of decisions we have put ourselves in a position that we can no longer hear God's voice anymore.

Some people ask, Pastor, I'm afraid I've committed the unpardonable sin." Well, if you're asking that question, you likely probably have not committed the unpardonable sin because The person that has committed the unpardonable sin through a lifestyle of choices have hardened their hearts so much that they just don't care anymore.

The person that's committed that sin through a lifestyle of choices doesn't even care about the nature of sin, whether they've committed the unpardonable sin or not.

So this is the trajectory of what the Bible talks about.

When we think about the concept of hardening, it means to become firm or solid, to solidify, to become set, to calcify, to make inflexible or unchangeable, or to become, what is the last word up there?

It uses this interesting word, this figurative word of hardening.

And this is what it means, that our characters are actually in phases, in a two-phase of forming and hardening.

We can always change by the grace of God, but through these changes and through these decisions, we can actually put ourselves in a position of character in which we can no longer respond to God's voice anymore.

This is what the Bible talks about in this process of hardening, of calcifying, of becoming solid or becoming set.

This is a quotation from Patriarchs and Prophets.

The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart.

She's using the same language as in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4.

So that it is easier for them to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light until at last their, what?

Now a habit does not develop immediately.

Until at last their habits of wrongdoing become, what is the word up there?

You hear God's voice, you don't respond, you become hardened.

You hear God's voice, you do not respond, you become hardened.

And through a lifestyle, it's not 1 decision, it's a lifestyle, a series of decisions to the point that you become cemented in your behavior.

Have you ever heard a word before or a phrase used, he's just set in his what?

My dad is probably the most disciplined man I know.

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