GYC 2013: Before Men and Angels

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Law, the Sabbath and Worship in the End-time Crisis

Stephen Bohr

01-The Message to the Church of Philadelphia

This message was presented at the GYC 2013 conference, Before Man and Angels, in Orlando, Florida.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

It's good to see all of you here this morning.

It shows that God's church is alive and well in spite of all of the problems that exist in the church.

This seminar is going to deal with current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church from the perspective of worship.

And there are some publications that I would like to recommend to you.

They're available at 2 booths in the exhibit area, the Secrets Unsealed booth, and also the booth right next to Secrets Unsealed, Eugene Pruitt's booth.

Before we have our prayer, I want to mention those resources.

First of all, the book, The Dangers of Contemplative Prayer.

Very important book, The Dangers of Contemplative Prayer, a practice that has entered the church in many areas, a very dangerous practice.

Probably many of you have already read that book.

I wrote a book titled Worship at Satan's Throne.

I believe that every Adventist should read that particular book.

And we're gonna cover a lot of the material in this seminar from that publication.

Then there's another book, which is out of print, but you can find it, if you Google it, you'll find it in PDF format.

Secrets Unsealed is gonna publish this book in hard copy form in the near future because it's a very, very important book.

When I went to the seminary back in the early 70s, I had a teacher who you probably had never heard of.

His name was Karsten Janssen from Norway.

And he wrote a book and I read it back then.

I read most of the books that he had written way back then.

And when the church started facing these issues recently with contemplative prayer and worship styles and things like that, I remembered a book that I read way back then.

So I got it out of my library and as I was flying here, I read it again.

Way back in the early 70s, he was already diagnosing the dangers that we were facing.

The name of the book is The Mystic Omega of End Time Crisis.

This is probably the best book, the 1 that I would recommend the highest.

And you need to go once again to the internet, and you can Google the name Karsten Jonsson.

And it's called the Mystic Omega of Emptine Crisis and it's so important that I've found out who has the publication rights to it and Secrets of Seal is going to be publishing this book in the near future.

And there's another issue that is related to this whole issue, and I'm not going to touch very much upon this point, but the women's ordination issue is related to what is happening in the church right now.

In terms of worship, in terms of the most holy place, it's a package deal.

And I found that most members of the church are not really informed about what the issues really are about when it comes to women's ordination.

You know basically the idea is well men and women are equal right so why can't women and men serve in the same positions in the church?

That's the extent of the knowledge that many people have of the issues.

But the issues are much more profound than that, and they're related to this whole problem that we're facing in the church.

And so there are some other books that I want to recommend that are also available at our Secrets Unsealed booth as well as in Eugene Pruitt's booth.

1 of them is called Reflections on Women's Ordination.

It's a small book that I wrote on what the conflict is not about.

It's not about equality, it's not about ability, you know, people have made it what it isn't about.

And so that book is a very important book, it's small.

Another book is Women's Ordination written by Eugene Pruitt, it's hot off the press.

We also have some of the publications that were published way back 20 years ago when this surfaced in the church.

1 of them is Prove All Things, excellent book, thick book, deals with almost all of the issues.

And then the book, the first book I believe that was published is The Tip of an Iceberg by Raymond Holmes.

We have that book available there as well, as well as other resources on the same topic.

So I would recommend that you stop by the booths, Secrets Unsealed and Eugene Pruitt's booth.

I think it'll be a benefit to get these materials and really become well informed.

Ignorance is very dangerous at this time of human history.

We have to be very well informed so that we can make informed decisions.

Some of those decisions will be for life or death.

So it's very important that we understand what the issues are so that we can come out on the right side.

Now I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we ask the Lord to bless us in our study today.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the awesome privilege of being here at GYC.

We thank you that there are far more than 7, 000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

We thank you, Father, that There's a brilliant future for your church because there's an awakening going on.

We ask Lord that as we study the issues that the church faces, that you will bless our study together, that you will give us your wisdom, that you will give us open minds and open hearts, not only to understand but to receive what you have for us.

And we thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

Okay, well this keeps on Okay, well this keeps on disappearing here.

I'm going to follow pretty well what we have on the screen so that you can visualize it.

By the way, we're going to pass out a sheet of paper and if you would like to get everything I'm going to present in written form, I'll be glad to send it to you to your email address.

So we'll do that probably the second session or maybe this afternoon and that way you know we'll be able to send you the full lecture so you don't have to really worry about taking copious notes of what we're going to be studying.

There are 5 roles or 5 functions of Jesus Christ in the sanctuary service.

And those 5 functions are here on the screen.

We usually start our study of the sanctuary service in the court at the altar of sacrifice.

But really that is not the place to begin a study of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary actually begins in the camp.

And the reason why it begins in the camp is, you see, the law of God demands absolute and total perfection.

It does not allow the slightest deviation.

How many of us can offer the law what the law requires?

No 1, and yet the law requires a perfect life.

Now what is the solution to that problem?

The solution to that problem is that Jesus had to come and live in our midst before He died, face all of our temptations, and live a perfect life that He could offer the law in our place.

That work He did when he came to dwell among us before his death.

You see before the lamb was killed it had to be without blemish, so Jesus had to live a life without blemish before he went to the cross to offer his life.

Jesus lives a perfect life in place of every single human being who has ever lived in the history of the world.

Then the next step of Jesus in the sanctuary is in the court.

Audio because people can hear it and visual because they can read it in the Bible.

The court, you see the law of God not only requires absolute perfection, But if you don't offer the law perfection the law says you've got to die.

So Jesus not only had to live in our place, Jesus had to come and he had to die in our place, and he dies at the altar of sacrifice in the sanctuary.

Then the third stage in the ministry of Christ in the sanctuary takes place in the holy place.

There Jesus applies the benefits of His atonement to individuals who come to Him in repentance and faith.

In other words He credits to their account His righteous life and death for sin, and they are accepted in the Beloved.

In other words the work that Jesus does in the camp and in the court is for every person who has ever lived, it's a corporate work, but you will only benefit from what he did in the camp and in the court if you claim it individually and personally, and that's what Jesus went to heaven to do.

You see in heaven Jesus receives individual clients who through repentance and through confession and faith in Jesus they come to Jesus and say I blew it, I'm a sinner, I'm sorry and then Jesus takes what he did in the camp and what he did in the court and he applies it to our account and God looks upon us as if we had never sinned.

02-Ellen White’s Throne Vision

This message was presented at the DYC 2013 conference, Before Man and Angels, in Orlando, Florida.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.dycweb.org.

Now, there's another aspect of the Day of Atonement which is extremely important and distinctive of the Adventist Church.

Now what is it that announced the beginning of the Day of Atonement?

Now when the Day of Atonement was going to arrive what did Israel have to do?

If you read Leviticus 23 it says first of all they were to gather around the sanctuary, their mind was to be in the sanctuary.

Secondly, they were to fast, and in the third place they were to afflict their souls.

In other words, sometimes we emphasize so much what the high priest did inside that we forget what the people did outside, in parallel fashion to what the high priest was doing inside.

What I'm saying is that sometimes as Adventists we emphasize so much what Jesus is doing in the most holy place that we forget that what He's doing in the most holy place needs to be reflected in what His people are doing on earth.

In other words, Jesus is cleansing the heavenly temple and He wants us in parallel fashion to be cleansing the earthly temple of our body.

And I want you to notice in this context Joel chapter 2, Joel chapter 2 and verses 10 and 11.

Joel 2 is a very interesting chapter, it really is describing the second coming of Christ.

You read the first 10 verses of Joel 2 clearly it's describing the second coming of Christ, and when it gets to the end of the description I want to just read verses 10 and 11, it's speaking about this invading army which is Christ and His angels and they're riding horses just like it says in Revelation 19.

So it says the earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness.

That's speaking about the second coming, same thing as Revelation 6.

The Lord gives voice before His army, So the Lord is coming with his army, for his camp is very great, for strong is the 1 who executes his word.

And then a question is asked, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, Who can endure it?

So you have this scene of signs in the sun and the moon and a great earthquake and God leading his army, and the scene ends by asking the question, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible who can endure it?

Well the next verses describe us, describe who will be able to endure it, and the next verses use Day of Atonement terminology.

Notice Joel 2 verses 12 and 13 and then we'll read verses 15 to 17.

Now therefore says the Lord, What does that word therefore indicate?

Now therefore says the Lord, because I've asked this question, what do you need to do in the light of that?

With me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.

So rend your heart and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, see there you have the announcement of the day of atonement, blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, day of atonement practice, call a sacred assembly.

Do you know Israel was required to gather around the sanctuary?

So it says gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babes, Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber, and the bride from her dressing-room.

Let the priests who minister to the Lord, those are the pastors by the way, weep between the porch and the altar.

Let them say, Spare you people O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nation should rule over them.

Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God?

So what is the answer to the question, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, who can endure it?

Let me ask you, who is it that can endure it?

Those who turn to the Lord with all their heart, with fasting, weeping, mourning, who rend their hearts, which means afflict your soul, who gather, who are sanctified.

In other words, while the heavenly temple is being cleansed, the earthly temple of the soul must be cleansed in parallel fashion because Jesus will not cleanse from there anything that is not cleansed here.

Now do you know that Revelation 6 verse 17 ends with the same question that we just read in Joel.

In the verses before verse 17 do you have signs in the sun, moon, stars, great earthquake, people hiding in the caves and crying for the rocks to fall on them, same context as Joel, and it ends with a question.

For the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?

Where would you expect to find the answer to that question, who shall be able to stand in the great day of his wrath?

Do you know what the next chapter describes?

The 144, 000, who shall be able to stand?

You go to Revelation 14, see Revelation 7 describes the sealing of 144, 000 Revelation 14 describes their character which qualified them to be sealed.

The Bible says that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

They are without fault before the throne of God.

They were not defiled with women, That doesn't mean that they weren't married, because marriage is not defiling.

It means that they were not defiled with the women of Babylon and her daughters, the harlot and her daughters.

So you have the sterling qualities, there was no guile in their mouths.

They had a sterling character, That's the reason why they were able to stand, because their lives were cleansed in the day of atonement.

Now, let me read you these statements from Ellen White.

Do you hear much of this in the non-adventist world?

And having our minds in the sanctuary with Christ, afflicting our soul.

You know you hear a lot of Adventists today talking about dancing in church and jumping and having good music that inspires and all these things.

The time for that is the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Day of Atonement is a time of afflicting the soul, of searching the heart, and begging for the Holy Spirit to cleanse the life, so that Jesus can cleanse from there what is being cleansed by the Holy Spirit here.

See while Jesus cleanses there, the Holy Spirit cleanses here.

Somebody asked me can God revoke His forgiveness?

You ask that question of a non-adventist they'll say, oh no once God forgives God can't revoke His forgiveness.

You know what happens in the daily service when we confess our sins?

Jesus takes us at our word and he writes forgiven next to those sins.

The sincerity of your profession is examined when your case comes up in the judgment, and then it will be decided whether the forgiveness granted should be revoked or not.

Do you remember Jesus once told a parable of 2 debtors?

There was this guy that owed a huge sum of money, 10, 000 talents, a debt that was not possible to pay, impossible, too large a sum.

By the way most scholars believe that he had embezzled that money and so his master said throw him into prison until he pays for everything, and he cries out, he says oh please give me time I'll pay you.

The master says come on you can't pay, you know you can't pay, it's impossible, but I'll do something better.

He says I'll forgive your debt, forgiven, because you cried out to me, because you begged for mercy, out of my kindness your debt is forgiven.

Wow this guy is amazed let me ask you was he forgiven?

We understood that he did not understand forgiveness.

Because he goes out and he finds someone who owes him 100 denarii, the equivalent of 100 days of work.

And this individual says give me time I'll pay you.

No, I'm not gonna give you any time, and the Bible says he shakes him by the neck, pay me.

Do you know why he cried out for forgiveness?

04-An Anchor for the Crisis Ahead

So as we have seen, we're going to deal now with the synagogue of Satan.

As we have seen in the thinking of Ellen White, the synagogue of Satan and Babylon are synonymous.

In other words, they are different ways of referring to the same group.

It is no coincidence that the synagogue of Satan is mentioned in connection with the Church of Philadelphia and Babylon is mentioned in connection with the first angel's message, because both occur within the same historical framework.

Now what is the synagogue of Satan according to Ellen White?

We already studied this from Scripture, now let's take a look at what Ellen White had to say.

When she refers to the synagogue of Satan she emphasizes 2 aspects of the synagogue of Satan, what the synagogue teaches.

First of all she says that they cast away the law of God especially the Sabbath.

Is that what happened to those who didn't enter the most holy place?

See this is all in its proper structure and order.

And secondly, she says that the synagogue of Satan employs spiritualism as its prime method of deception to lead people astray from the law.

Do you know what the devil's purpose in spirit?

We usually think of spiritualism and the attack on the law as 2 different things in the end time, but they're not.

The devil hates the law, he's going to attack the law but he's going to use spiritualism to attack it, and 1 way he's going to do it is by, and we're going to study this tomorrow in our first session, it's a fascinating study.

Behind all of this folks, the very core of this is that the devil hates the law and he wants you to follow standards of behavior other than the Bible.

He wants you to follow your reason, he wants you to follow your heart, he wants to follow your intuition, he wants you to follow your feelings, he wants you to follow what other people say, he wants you to follow voices.

And 1 way that he's going to use spiritualism, Ellen White says He's going to have individuals who died, relatives who died, appear to Seventh-day Adventists.

They're not really relatives, they're demons disguised as relatives, that they're going to appear and they're going to say, hey, We've been sent from heaven to tell you that the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday, and that God is unhappy, and all the disasters in the world are because Sunday is not respected.

To lead people to disobey the law, and to lead people to follow all kinds of standards except the Bible.

Now let's read these statements from Ellen White.

Satan has a large confederacy, His church.

It's Satan's church, and what is that church called?

Satan has a large confederacy, his church.

Christ calls them the synagogue of Satan because the members are the children of sin.

The members of Satan's church have been constantly working to cast off the divine law and confuse, now listen to this because we're going to come back to it and confuse the distinction between good and evil.

Let me ask you who defines good and evil?

Your heart says well you know I have this deep feeling that gay marriage is okay.

It contradicts the objective standard of God's Word.

We're going to find that the devil used 5 methods with Eve.

He performed a counterfeit miracle by leading a snake to speak.

He tried to lead Eve to follow her reason, he tried to get Eve to follow the testimony of her senses, saw that the fruit was good, she was listening, she touched it, it looked like it was tasty, and he used Eve to lead another individual to sin.

The whole intent is to use any and every standard to lead you to disobey God.

That's why this women's ordination thing, you know, what part of husband of 1 wife don't you understand?

And so they have to twist that and say well husband doesn't mean husband always, it's just a generic term, and so there's all kinds of fancy footwork that is done to get out of the clear testimony of the Bible.

The Bible is clear, the Bible is clear that marriage should be heterosexual, that doesn't mean we hate gay people, we love gay people, we just don't love their gay lifestyle.

You say well how can you love someone without loving their behavior?

Well let me ask you, do your kids misbehave and sometimes do you hate what they do?

So if you can love your children but hate what they do, the same applies to hating the sinful behavior without hating the people who perform the behavior.

She continues saying, Satan is working with great power in and through the children of disobedience to exalt treason and apostasy as truth and loyalty.

He wants to pass off disobedience and treason as truth and loyalty.

Series

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Law, the Sabbath and Worship in the End-time Crisis

03-What is Present Truth?

Transcript

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