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Village SDA Church

Jesus On Prophecy

Ron Kelly

Beyond the Reach of Evil, Eternal Celebration

Father, You've heard our songs of praise.

Help us to understand what a great and awesome deliverer You are.

This morning we are celebrating the communion service.

I've entitled my sermon, Beyond the Reach of Evil, Eternal Celebration.

Take your Bibles and turn to our Scripture reading in the Gospel of Luke.

All of the Gospel writers record the story of Jesus in the upper room.

Matthew and Mark tend to reflect similar facts and actions.

And Luke gives us a phrase that none of the rest of the Bible writers include.

And this morning I want to focus on this phrase.

Now, before we read verse 14, in my Bible I have to turn the page.

I just want you to go over and look at verse 24.

I want this to be picture framed the right way.

On that Thursday night, I just want you to know everything was not well in the little church of Jesus.

It says, and there arose a dispute among them as to which of them was regarded to be the greatest.

On this earth there are going to be challenges.

The biggest ones are how to relate to each other.

In that room that night were gathered at least 13 people.

Verse 14, when the hour had come, he reclined at the table and the Apostles with him.

And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

From before time and eternity, God created creatures with free will in His image, who could freely choose to worship and who could freely choose not to, understood that that privilege could create a crisis.

In preparation for that crisis, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit had predetermined a solution that would explain the mysteries, the recesses, the deep inner secrets of who God was.

God revealed in His magnanimous nature with beneficence and kindness ruling the universe appeared not to be enough for 1 angel.

And slowly, Lucifer came to the place where he did not even know God.

Christ now, at the end of 4 millennia of human history has been walking the planet for 33 and a half years.

He has been with his little church for over 3 of those years, And he has spoken time and time again about his coming suffering and they don't want to hear about it Peter has pulled him aside at 1 point in time and said you need to stop talking like that and Jesus said no you need to stop And now on the eve within hours he will be beaten and whipped and made naked and hung on a tree.

And yet he can come to this Thursday evening with a squabbling little church That's still arguing about whether or not they can get to the same place Satan wanted to go Although of course, they don't see it quite like that The elemental issue of humanity surrounds the centrality of self, of me.

And in this moment, those disciples still can't hear Jesus.

But He says it anyway, I've earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

How could you march to Mount Calvary knowing that you will be abandoned and denied and betrayed.

How can you march up into the home that evening, sit down, recline at the table, and say to this little group whom you've sought to reach but have resisted the elemental essence of your kingdom, they have resisted the dynamic of your humility, they have resisted the fact that you're willing to be nothing in order that they might have a future.

How can you say, I've earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you?

Now I want you to understand, when you look at these silver trays, that this morning we are celebrating the Passover.

Some 1, 500 years before, when Moses had given direction that they should gather in their homes, and with the hyssop, put the blood on the sides and the top of the doorpost.

The Israelites with their staff in their hand had gathered as 9 plagues had played their way out.

The 10th 1 would inflict a liberating compulsion on their community.

Ellen White tells in a rather unique way and unusual to her writings, the story of a legend.

So when she includes it, there must be some credibility to it, but She tells the story of a legend.

So when she includes it, there must be some credibility to it, but she tells the story of a little girl who was sick.

She was 1 of the children of the children of Israel.

And as she lay in her bed on the eve of the Passover, She called her daddy to her bedside and said, Daddy, are you sure there's blood on the doorpost?

I have directed the servant to place it there.

We've sacrificed the lamb, and there is blood on the doorpost.

You just lay here and rest, and you'll be okay." But she could not rest.

She laid there in fitful sleep for a while and woke up and said, "'Daddy, come here.

Are you sure there's blood on the doorpost?' And later in the night, as time moved towards the darkest hour, towards the midnight of their deliverance and the execution of judgment on the oppressors of God's firstborn Israel, She woke up and she said, Daddy, are you sure there's blood on the doorpost?

He walks her through that little Hebrew home.

He steps outside and turns around, only to his horror to see that the lamb has been slain, but there is no blood on the doorpost.

Quickly he finds the hyssop in the blood and applies it.

This morning, friends, the application from the writings of Ellen White is such that what has been provided is our privilege to claim for ourself.

It is putting our lives beyond the reach of evil.

As Lucifer's evil hand sought to reach into the hearts and the homes of those children of Israel, it was limited in where it could go because of the deliverance of 1 who would and could and did pay the price.

You see, if the devil had his way, the blood would flow freely forever.

Our lives, even the lives of those Egyptians, every human being on earth is living under the goodness of limitations put in place by God.

But on that night, the borders were decided by the owners of the homes.

When Jesus comes up to that Passover moment, He's anticipating the deliverance of the world.

He's anticipating the deliverance of His people.

Jesus can come to this hour knowing that what has been symbol and promise is about to become reality and foundation for a completely new experience and hope in Christ.

There is a journey to this table, and on the way, God wants to make sure we understand who He is.

Take your Bibles and turn over to the Gospel of John, chapter 13.

I want to focus for a moment on the foot washing.

You amongst the myriad Protestant denominations, almost you exclusively, wash each other's feet.

There's something about this washing of feet.

I want you to understand in the communion service today, there is no blood.

We have the unleavened bread representing the strength and sustenance of God to be made strong, to be made able to receive from heaven that which grows us into citizens of heaven.

And We have the fruit of the vine which represents the blood, but there is no actual blood here today.

That blood would cease when Jesus' blood would flow.

Today we're celebrating a bloodless Passover.

It is bloodless because of the commitment of Christ to embrace the whole of fallen humanity, to gather all of his sins to himself, to carry the burden of the world suspended between heaven and earth, to take my sin which I should have bled for and your sin which the devil would love to make you bleed for Jesus bore that burden to the cross and in the washing of the feet we experience the cleansing power of the blood Jesus is transitioning the service from that of a sacrifice to that of a celebration.

It's a better celebration than you might have known.

It says in verse 3, Jesus knowing, this is John 13, that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and he laid aside his garments, and making a towel, he girded himself.

Then he poured water into the basin, and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

And so he came to Simon Peter, and he said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered and he said to him, what I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.

And Peter said to him, never shall you wash my feet.

And Jesus without missing a beat said, If I do not wash your feet, you have no part with me." Peter, of all the 12, the first to speak, was able to articulate the hesitation and the discomfort of the moment.

It was a collision of 2 world views, king as power or king as servant.

And he had not released the 1 frame or paradigm to embrace the other yet, but he knew in the economy and society of which he was in, Jesus was not the 1, the roles were in reverse, and while he was not offering to wash the feet of Christ, he was resisting the washing by Jesus.

The Greek more appropriately says, I believe, Lord, you're not washing my feet, are you?

Jesus will not back up 1 moment from this encounter, this conflict, because at the heart of the encounter is the joy of the celebration.

It's a little bit like it was in Egypt 1, 500 years before this moment, when on that same night the anguish of loss and the anticipation of liberty was just before the nation of Israel.

It is a bittersweet moment, and with every communion we celebrate, there is some element of those combined components.

There's a side of us that is uncomfortable with the knowledge of our human nature and sometimes a quick look or a more in-depth look at our record in life, our thoughts and our actions.

And Peter can at least articulate that things aren't quite right even though he doesn't know how to fix them.

Is there a Prophet in the House

I want to start tonight by talking with you about prophecy, the role of prophets.

Because if you don't understand this, it'll be hard to progress through a series entitled Jesus on Prophecy.

Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 14 the role of a prophet.

Now in the Corinthian church, there were a variety of problems, 1 of which was chaos, immorality, false doctrine.

After we go past the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, he deals with gifts, spiritual gifts.

He's going to deal with 2 in 1 Corinthians 14.

1 will be speaking in tongues and 1 will be the gift of prophecy.

He says, pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

So when you look at all the gifts, Paul says there's 1 that stands out above the rest.

Now, a prophet's role, as we think, is primarily to tell the future.

As a matter of fact, Jesus fulfilled 3 roles.

He wasn't killed for being a mediator or a priest, and indeed he was and is.

He was killed because he fulfilled the prophetic role of addressing the sins of the age, and they did not want to hear the voice of a prophet.

Especially desire the gift of prophecy, for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God, for no 1 understands him, unless there's an interpreter, of course.

However, in the spirit, he speaks mysteries.

But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.

Now I want you to see the 3 roles of a prophet.

He speaks words that bring encouragement.

He lays a foundation upon which 1 can build a house that won't fall down in troubleless times.

But the next thing a prophet does is he exhorts.

He reminds the people between right and wrong.

This is why Jesus was hated by so many of the religious establishment in His day.

Spiritual integrity matters to a prophet.

And the last thing that a prophet does is that he will comfort men.

Perhaps you remember the words from Handel's famous Messiah, where he quotes from Isaiah, Comfort, comfort ye my people.

I hope that as this series progresses, you'll have more and more confidence as you listen to the news and watch the world's events.

My hope is that you will believe, as so many of the faithful through the millennium time have believed, that God is an ever-present help.

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

Now let's come down to the end of the chapter.

Therefore, if the whole church comes together in 1 place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you're out of your mind?

Imagine coming into this church and all 3 or 400 of you were speaking in a tongue and no 1 was there to interpret it.

Someone coming in from off the streets would think, what kind of chaos is going on in this house?

But there is something Paul wants to contrast in relationship to the gift of tongues, and it's still the gift of prophecy.

But if all prophesy, Now this was all to be done decently in order.

That's another verse farther in 1 Corinthians 14.

But in the early Christian churches, many participated in the dynamic of sharing from the Word of God.

And their prophesying, which was the edifying, it was the exhorting, and it was the comforting.

This role, this gift for those who had it was a very important thing in Paul's mind for converting people.

Because if an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he's convinced by all, he is convicted by all.

Because the secrets of his heart are revealed.

We're starting a journey that's built around the understanding that Christ himself gives his message to his servants, the prophets.

But the role of prophecy is such that through the work of edification and exhortation and comfort God actually speaks to the power of his Holy Spirit and brings to our person a conviction and a knowledge that He is God and He knows everything about us.

When an unbeliever comes into a meeting and the spirit of prophecy is operative, the Holy Spirit is revealing to that person that God knows the secrets of their hearts.

The role of the prophet and the role of prophecy is to speak clearly in the silence as it might be of the listening soul, but through the power of the word and the gift of the prophet that God is alive and he knows every secret about our lives.

He will worship and report that God is truly among you.

The secrets of the heart's being revealed.

Now you need to know there are false prophets.

The book of Revelation, which is 1 of the subjects we will look at, discusses it.

He went off to make war with the rest of her offspring But there are true prophets at the end of time as well, and they're not people who sit around in smoky rooms and darkly lit corners Prognosticating or Talking about the future so much most of that's been done by God These are ours to study but the Bible describes there will be true and false prophets at the end of time He describes a group of people that will keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus now I've explained to you that Jesus was destroyed because the integrity of His person as God, as a true man, as a pure living sacrifice, confronted the darkness of their souls and their actions and habits.

The Bible says that Jesus was the light and he came into the world, but they rejected him because they loved darkness rather than light.

Should we expect that it might be a bit like at the end of time like it was in the days of Christ?

And later in the chapter in the book, John tells us what it is.

He fell down at the feet of the angel to worship, but he said to me, see that you do not do that.

I am your fellow servant, and Of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.

There's that phrase the Bible will interpret its own terms Worship God for the testimony of Jesus.

We should not be surprised is the spirit of what friends prophecy Exactly.

God has an end time people whose fellowship, whose teaching, whose preaching will involve edification, it will involve exhortation, and it will involve comfort.

And that's what tonight's event is actually about.

When we look into the book though, We discover that these false prophets will be active in the end as they were active throughout the history of Israel.

I saw 3 unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Hopefully by the time these meetings are over, we'll have an opportunity to identify who some of these players are.

And when we come farther into the experience, we see that Jesus shows us how to know when we're dealing with a false prophet or a true prophet.

Now I'm not going to go through all of those tests this evening, but I want you to know this.

Coming to a meeting like this is a dangerous thing, because either you are liable for potential manipulation, and thus being taken advantage of, and may greater a functionary of fear, for indeed our world is a troubled place." As I listen to the news, even going back and forth between my house this afternoon, our world is a very troubled place.

This meeting tonight is not to make money It's not to hurt you and to some kind of allegiance to some individual or group of people This meeting tonight is an opportunity in the proclamation of truth For you if you're willing to obey what Jesus shows you to discover whether the teaching is true or false.

There is no such thing as a sincere individual before God who will not be sent messages of truth so they can know which way to go.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says that you'll hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.

Jesus was a shepherd and remains a shepherd.

He knows where his sheep are and he's appealing, but the appeal cannot be understood unless 1 is willing to obey.

In the life of Jesus, he had how many close disciples whom we call the apostles?

The night before he was crucified, this is what he told them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night.

For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, okay, this is a prophecy, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

But after I am risen again, I will be go before you into Galilee, but his Prophecy gets even more specific Jesus said unto him speaking to Peter verily verily I say unto you that this night Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice now this is a very personal prophecy it's about Peter and the next 12 hours of his life and Peter says unto him though I should die with thee yet I will not deny thee and likewise all the 11 said the same thing now I don't know how much more direct and how much more explicit a prophecy could be.

This is Jesus whom Peter has declared to be the Son of God.

This is Jesus who's walked on the water and lifted Peter out of its angry ways.

This is Peter who has spoken words of truth and been rebuked by a loving Master who knows that he's talking to the Messiah, but he will tell Jesus, You are wrong.

Earth’s Final Mega-trend

Father, thank you that we can be here tonight, challenged already to think about how the enemy of our happiness might be stealing a march on us.

May He not be able to steal our soul away 1 sin at a time, but may our lives be Yours, and may we be in the Word and keep our commitments, and may we go happy to the kingdom with You.

Forgive our sins now and come draw near to us.

Bless this last part of the evening, and may our hearts be open to your teaching.

You know, last night I reminded you it takes more than a head to understand and benefit by Bible prophecy.

If your heart's not open to what Jesus is showing you then you'll see what you want to see Now this is particularly pertinent as I start a message tonight on the signs that precede the coming of Jesus Because some of what I'm gonna say some of you have already made your minds up on.

But if God can't change your mind, There's a record in heaven that shows.

Last night I talked to you about the gift of prophecy revealing the secrets of your heart.

God keeps a record, and in God's record book, he has a, whether it's a, I mean, we talk about books, But there's an entry every time the Holy Spirit has spoken to your heart There's a witness So I'm challenging you tonight to deviate from the current Strategy and habit of the world which arranges its belief system based on what it wants to believe And before we're all said and done You'll understand what I mean When I was a ninth grader I didn't know much about small engines.

I thought everybody there was a Christian.

Everybody in church is not a Christian either.

They might become a Christian while they're there, but just because they're there doesn't mean they are.

And here I was as a new Christian baptized for maybe a couple years, and We had done some work on a small engine, and it was time to shut the engine off, or we were gonna do work on the small engine, it's probably more accurate, because I think I would have known this by the time we had done the work.

And the engine was there just putting in the parking lot of the church school I was at.

And it was time to shut it off and go in, and I knew very little about the physics of an internal combustion engine, but I wanna tell you something.

A spark plug is a very interesting piece of equipment and for it to work it needs somewhere around 15 to 25 thousand volts of electricity to ionize the gases between the 2 metal prongs where the spark will jump.

Now for those of you who know less about small engines than I did back then, the piston going down sucks the gas and air into the engine, the piston going up compresses it, the spark jumps from the point on the spark plug down to the hook and it ignites the gaseous air and bang, you have an explosion and it throws the piston down and that's where the power comes from.

Now how many thousand volts did I say it takes to get to where you can ionize the gases between the metal tips?

Now that engine was just pumping away there and it was time to shut it off.

And 1 of my friends, I won't give his name because it's a small world, 1 of my friends said, Ron, just reach over there and touch the spark plug and that'll shut it off.

It would have shut off and I would have crumpled to the ground because all of the muscles in my body would have had a temporary override on the very slight electrical currents that control them and Guess what else would have happened?

He would have become a comedian and I would have been the laughingstock But as I was Reaching over to turn the engine off, 1 of my friends said, Ron, don't.

Tonight, there may be something in this presentation where I'm the 1 talking to you saying, don't.

Because the Bible says, for lack of wisdom, my people are destroyed.

So you're here tonight, and hopefully you'll join us night after night over the next 10 nights to make sure you understand the rudimentaries of Bible prophecy.

Jesus, towards the end of his ministry, actually in his last week, had left the temple.

And as he's leaving and he turns around, sitting on the Mount of Olives, he's looking at a magnificent white building with a few golden caps.

And he says, the day is coming when not 1 stone will be left upon another.

And when the apostles asked him, the disciples, they had not really yet been commissioned to take the message to the world, so they're not apostles yet, but they will be.

When the disciples asked him about times, they asked 2 questions at once.

When will this be and what will be the sign of the coming of your a of your kingdom?

And in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21 we have signs of the coming of Christ.

Tell us what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.

The sign of your coming and the end of the age the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of Jesus and The first thing Jesus said was take heed that no 1 deceives you now if I were the devil I'd be trying to set an entire culture up, especially 1 that calls itself Christian.

I'd try to be setting it up to where it would lose all of its moral credibility.

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