Part 3: During earth’s final crisis, “He [God Himself] will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Romans 9:28, KJV).

ASI 2014: Lift Him Up

<p>Part 3: During earth’s final crisis, “He [God Himself] will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Romans 9:28, KJV).</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

God's Last Message: Christ Our Righteousness

Steve Wohlberg

God’s Last Message: Christ Our Righteousness, Part 1

Dear Father in Heaven, Father, it is a privilege to stand here this morning before your people, and we pray for the Holy Spirit.

God, there's no way that I can communicate your message without your power, without your Holy Spirit helping me.

We want to understand the third angel's message.

We want to understand the message of the righteousness of Christ.

And so we pray for your blessing, please, Father, upon this gathering in the name of Jesus our Savior.

I don't know if any of you read this story.

There's 1 of the pictures from 1 of the news agencies.

The date was June 20, it was a Friday afternoon at about 6 o'clock.

And there were 2 people, 1 lady named Melissa Morris and then Sean McGovern and they were on a boat.

And they were relaxing, they were taking a little boat ride just south of Florida in an area called Key Largo.

Their boat was about 30 feet and we don't really know the details of exactly how it happened But somehow the 2 of them fell off together.

And as they landed in the water, of course they tried to get back to their boat as quickly as possible, and the boat just sailed on.

So there they were way out in the ocean, with sharks and jellyfish, and they had nowhere to go.

And so they swam for a while, they treaded water for a while, but eventually that was getting tiring and so they lay on their backs and they floated.

You can imagine, there's the headline right there, couple rescued after treading water for 14 hours off the Florida coast.

The current took them north, as you can see the picture here, I guess my pointer is not helping me, it's too far away, but you can see they floated north and very thankfully to them, I don't know if they were Christians or if they were praying people, but I'd be praying for sure, But thankfully to them, right before they entered the jet stream to carry them out, way out into the Atlantic, they ran into a fishing boat, 4 deep sea fishermen saw something they didn't know what it was and they came over and sure enough, it was the 2 of them.

And there's a picture of the 2 of them right after they were rescued after 14 hours of being in the water.

And they're quoted as saying to the news, to 1 of the reporters, we're okay.

We need to take care of what we need to take care of so that we can go home.

And I thought about that story and I thought, you know, there's a lot of lessons for us in that.

The message of the righteousness of Jesus Christ is like a boat that God has sent to His people.

He wants us to be on that boat, and that boat is going to sail safely to the Heavenly Harbor.

But unfortunately, and I'll talk more about this as we go along, many of us have fallen off of that boat.

God sent a special message to us over a hundred years ago and we have fallen off the boat.

We are, many of us are drifting, and I have been drifting in the past myself, and I praise the Lord that He's rescued me.

And you could probably give the same testimony, many of you.

Anyway, we are, many of us are being pushed back and forth by the currents, pushed this way, pushed that way, and if we don't get on the boat, we're in danger of getting into the jet stream, so to speak, and going far, far away from Bible truth.

And we certainly don't want that to happen to any of us.

We all need to be rescued like those deep sea fishermen rescued that couple and as that couple said, we just want to go home after 14 hours in the water.

And isn't that the sentiment of your heart?

Aren't you tired of the sin and the pain and the problems and everything that we see all around us?

I have a six-year-old daughter and a ten-year-old son, and I've said this many times, that I surely hope that Jesus comes before my kids get into their teens.

With all the temptations that teenagers experience these days, Lord Jesus come soon.

So we're going to study the message of the righteousness of Christ.

The Bible says, we already read there in verse 6, that Jesus is going to have a special name, and that name is the Lord our righteousness.

And I want to go through a series of major points this morning, and the first 1 is the importance of the message of Christ our righteousness.

This is not just a topic, 1 topic among many topics like a smorgasbord, but here's a quotation on the screen from the writings of Ellen White, whom Seventh-day Adventists have a very high regard for, at least they should.

And this is from the Review and Herald, December 23, 1890.

It says, eventually, 1 interest will prevail.

So does that sound pretty important to you?

You know, there's a lot of topics that we're dealing with in our church.

There's this subject, there's that subject, there's this controversy and that controversy, but according to this quotation, eventually there's going to be 1 subject that's going to swaddle them all up, at least for the people of God, and that is the message of Christ our righteousness.

Now here's another quotation from Volume 6 of the Testimonies, page 19.

It says that during the final hours, right before the closing of heaven's door, We're told that the message of Christ's righteousness is to sound from 1 end of the earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord.

This is the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel." Now, does that impress you?

I mean, we want to be part of the closing work.

We want to lift up Jesus and be part of His final movement in this world.

And that statement says that the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel is the message of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

They've deeply impressed me that this is something very, very important.

Now open your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 14.

When you look at the book of Revelation, which many of us have done for many years, the heart of the book is the 3 angels' messages in chapter 14, verses 6 to 12.

I've been studying these messages for years.

I remember 1 time when I first learned the Bible and first became a Seventh-day Adventist and I first started studying the 3 angels' messages, I was at my father's house in Studio City, California, and I remember tossing and turning on his couch and just sensing inside me this calling.

And it was almost like the voice of God was saying directly to me, Steve, I want you to give the 3 angels messages.

And I remember wrestling back and forth, back and forth, and I finally, I finally looked up and I finally said, Lord, I'll do it.

If that's what you want me to do, that's what I'll do.

Now if you go down to verse 12, which most of us know very well, and there it is on the screen, verse 12 is the conclusion of the third angel's message.

It is the verse right before the second coming of Jesus, which is in verse 14.

There's another little verse sandwiched in between 12 and 14, but anyway, verse 12 is the conclusion of the third angel.

And it's a very simple, straightforward text, but we need to understand it and study it.

And the Bible says, Here is the patience of the saints.

Right, that keep the commandments of God and they have the faith of Jesus.

Now I'd like to, based on that text, I'd like to present to you the fact that there are 2 major pillars of the message of the righteousness of Christ.

And we're going to unpack this as we go along.

Pillar number 1 is the commandments of God.

And pillar number 2 is the faith of Jesus.

These are pillars that are in Scripture that are right there in Revelation chapter 14, verse 12.

We're living in the year 2014, we know that.

Over 125 years ago, perhaps the most significant general conference session that has ever taken place among Seventh-day Adventists took place in the year 1888 in a location in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

And many of us are aware of this, some of us have been studying this for quite a while.

2 years before that general conference session, Ellen White was in Switzerland and she was traveling and She had a conversation with an angel, with a holy angel.

And it's very interesting what the angel told her.

As she began to listen and as the Minneapolis conference loomed on the horizon in the sight of heaven, the angel made this statement.

This is from the 1888 materials, page 166.

"'Said my guide, ' Ellen White is referring to an angel who spoke to her, "'There is much light yet to shine forth from the law of God and the gospel of righteousness.

God’s Last Message: Christ Our Righteousness, Part 2

Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for this gathering today.

Lord, you know the topic, and the topic is you.

You and your law, which is a reflection of your character, and also your power, and what you can do for us, what you have done for us.

And we pray, please, Father, in the name of your holy son Jesus, that you will bless our time together.

Yesterday was part 1, and just to quickly summarize, I talked about the importance of the message of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

And I tell you, this topic is about as big as it gets.

I know some people have hobby horses, you know, they pick 1 topic or somebody else has 1 subject.

And generally that's not a good thing, But if your 1 topic is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then you're fine, as long as it's biblical.

And that's what the Lord wants, us to really focus on Jesus.

We also talked about the 2 pillars of the message of the righteousness of Christ, which is the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus combined.

We also talked about how the devil's making war on this message.

He's been doing this for a long, long time.

And how we are also in a battle, a current battle between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell over this very subject and over the people of God.

I also showed you yesterday… let's see, we don't have a… my monitor is not on in front of me.

But we also talked about the 10 Commandments and the importance of God's law.

And I showed you these yesterday, that these are solid tables of stone that I have been carrying around with me, shipping around with me to different cities.

And I tell you, the law of God is so impressive.

There is no other law that has ever been written in the history of humanity, in the history of the universe, that was written directly with the finger of God on tables of stone.

If you can imagine Moses coming off the mountain down from Mount Sinai holding these tables and His face was glowing.

If we would have seen that with our own eyes, I think our respect for God's law would be raised dramatically, don't you think?

I have been deeply impressed with the holiness of God's commandments for many, many years.

I have studied each 1 of them very carefully.

In Romans chapter 2, let's start with verse 26.

I just want to show you a number of verses in the Bible concerning righteousness, concerning the righteousness of God's law.

There's a verse on the screen, actually a number of verses, that use the expression the law of righteousness.

Romans chapter 2 verse 26, the Bible says, therefore, if the uncircumcision, referring to the Gentiles, keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision." So here's 1 text where God refers in His Word to the righteousness of the law.

If you look at chapter 8, verse 4, Romans 8, 4 also refers to the righteousness of the law.

And then Romans 9, verse 31 says, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

And then Paul asks the question, why not?

And The answer is given that Israel did not seek that righteousness by faith.

So when it comes to the topic of righteousness by faith, my conviction is from all my study that we need to define our terms.

If we don't define our terms, we're going to get confused.

And there's a lot of confusion in this world this morning and all around the world people are very, very confused.

Here is a statement that is very clear from the little book Steps to Christ, page 61.

Righteousness is defined, see that, By the standard of God's holy law as expressed in the 10 precepts given on Mount Sinai.

That's a pretty clear statement, wouldn't you agree?

Like I said, in order for us to understand righteousness by faith, we have to know what righteousness is.

And the reason why God calls His law a righteous law, or the law of righteousness, is because the law defines in very simple terms what is right and what is wrong.

We need to know what's right and what's wrong.

We need to know our right hand from our left.

We need to know what sin is, and if we don't understand God's commandments, we're going to drift.

We're going to drift away from Bible truth.

Now yesterday I also gave you a quick little summary of a number of points concerning the law of God.

Number 1, we talked about yesterday that the 10 Commandments, again, define righteousness, what is right and what is wrong.

The 10 Commandments also are a standard that God uses in the judgment, in the day of judgment.

And we are living in the hour of God's judgment.

And that standard is a test of character, a test of our characters.

Number 3, the 10 Commandments are a transcript of the character of God, of His character of love.

God is a God of love, His law is a law of love, and His outline in His commandments are a reflection of His character of love.

Number 4, the 10 Commandments are also a prescription for happiness.

If we want to be happy, if we want to avoid guilt, if we want to have peace of mind when we live our lives and when we go to bed at night, we need to be in harmony with God's law.

The 10 Commandments are also, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they are a convictor of sin.

They help us to know what sin is, and we looked at this also yesterday.

Galatians 3, verse 24 says that the law of God is a schoolmaster that is designed by heaven specifically to help us to feel our need for Jesus Christ.

It is a schoolmaster, Paul says, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Now here is a statement on the screen that has also really impressed me as we think about the final days, the final events, And what is going to happen right before the end of the world?

This is from volume 6 of the Testimonies, page 19.

It says that the Lord God of heaven will not send upon the world His judgments for disobedience and transgression until He has sent His watchmen to give the warning.

And then it goes on and says, He will not close up the period of probation until the message shall be more distinctly proclaimed." That has impressed me.

We need to give a very clear message and God's not going to wind things up until his message has free course and is given distinctly.

And then it says that the law of God is to be magnified.

God's law is to be lifted up higher and higher and higher in a generation, in an age that is doing everything else but lifting up God's law.

Its claims must be presented in their true and sacred character that the people may be brought to decide for or against the truth.

It impresses me that God's law is to be lifted up and it's to be brought very, very close to human hearts so that hearts see it.

They see each of the commandments, the claims are presented in their true and sacred character.

This is not a minor topic and this is not a man-made topic.

And then it says, yet the work will be cut short in righteousness, which is a quote from the book of Romans.

And then it says, and this is the really the culmination of all of this, it says, the message of Christ's righteousness is to sound from 1 end of the earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord.

This is the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel.

I want the third angel's message to close so we can go home.

And this statement, and this is an inspired statement, I believe God gave us these words.

And it tells us clearly that the law and the message of Christ's righteousness are to be combined in the final hours.

This is the work… this is what closes the work of the third angel.

Now turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3.

And let me… let me make a comment that I think is really important, and that is, during the final hours, I believe the Lord is going to continue to give His people instruction through the Spirit of Prophecy.

But I also want to make clear that when we give God's message to the world with a loud voice during the loud cry, it must be preached from the Bible.

We have to find that message here in God's book.

God’s Last Message: Christ our Righteousness, Part 3

Okay, well if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open up to the book of Revelation, chapter 14.

This is the grand finale, this is the big bang of my series on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, part 3.

And before we actually read from Revelation 14, verse 9.

And before we have a prayer, let me just let you know that this morning's message is dealing with the final crisis in the history of the world and how the message of Christ our righteousness is going to become center stage in this crisis.

White Horse Media has some resources if you are interested.

We have these at our booth, they're also at the ABC, and probably the primary 1 is a book called God's Last Message, Christ Our Righteousness that I've written that has all this information and a lot more in it.

We also have a one-hour DVD that summarizes the major issues.

It's great for sharing and it's called Earth's Final Crisis, What You Must know to survive.

If you would like to keep in touch with White Horse Media, I have an e-newsletter list that is growing and all you have to do is send an email through your smartphone to signmeupatwhitehorsemedia.com.

And then you can be a part of the White Horse Media community.

I also have a new associate, Laren Cole, and the 2 of us have joined forces to preach the Word of God and share Jesus' love, And we are both available for speaking appointments in the future as the Lord leads So with that introduction, let us read Revelation 14 verses 9 to 12 This is God's third Angels message and then we'll pray the Bible says Revelation 14 verse 9 That the third angel followed them saying with what kind of a 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.

And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

This is God's last message for the world.

Dear Father in heaven, what an awesome, solemn, and wonderful privilege it is for me to stand before your people again this morning at the ASI convention in Michigan and to share your word and we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to come down from heaven We don't want this just to be people listening to me, to man.

We pray that the voice of God will be heard from your throne, through me, through your word, to your people.

Lord God, please bless us and may Jesus again, as always, be lifted up.

All right, I am assuming that most of you here are Seventh-day Adventists, but that may not be the case with everybody.

There may be some of you who are just checking out Adventists, which happens quite a bit, and just for the benefit of those who may not be members of our church, I want you to know that you are about to hear, you're about to hear a Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the end of the world, on the final issues that are going to hit this planet as predicted in Bible prophecy before the return of Jesus Christ.

Seventh-day Adventists believe, as many Protestants used to believe, that when the Bible refers to the beast in Revelation 14, verse 9, if any man worships the beast, that the beast is a symbol of the Roman Church.

There's a lot of other denominations that used to believe that, we still believe that, at least most of us do.

It's called the historic Protestant understanding of prophecy.

We do not believe that this symbol refers to people, individual people who many are going to be in the Kingdom of God.

The Lord loves all of us, whatever denomination we're part of, but We do believe that this is a symbol referring to a system.

And when you study scripture and when you study history and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, it's very clear that the Roman church has gone on public record as stating that they have changed the Bible Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week, from Saturday to Sunday.

This is common knowledge, they say it in their catechisms and in many, many public statements.

And we believe that 1 of these days, this changing of the Bible Sabbath into Sunday will become what the Bible refers to as the mark of the beast.

And they believe that they are the true church and they say that look, if we weren't the true church, we wouldn't have had the power to change the commandments of God.

And they've done that, they've taken the commandment that says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, which points to the creator of heaven and earth, And they have changed that into the first day of the week, into Sunday.

And there's a lot of history behind this we don't have time to go into right now, but we believe that 1 of these days this change is going to be enforced by law around the world and then the whole planet will have a final opportunity to make a final choice between Jesus Christ and the Bible or the beast.

Now the big question or 1 of the questions we'll ask this morning is, is this even remotely possible?

Is this just a Seventh-day Adventist, you know, strange idea, crazy idea that really can never actually happen?

Can Sunday ever actually be enforced by law?

Well, I have a lot of information on this and I don't have a lot of time this morning.

I only have so much time so I'm just going to distill this information in a short, short time.

Here's an article that came out just about a month ago, July 5, 2014, Associated Press.

It's received quite a lot of buzz and chatter within our church and in other places and there's the headline, it's an Associated Press piece that Pope Francis has gone on record once again promoting Sunday observance and the title there of the article is that is no work on Sundays is good, not just for the faithful.

The Catholic Church believes that Sunday should be kept around the world by not just Christians but by everybody and they also have gone on record in their primary catechism as saying that Christians should seek for recognition of Sunday by the state.

Series

God's Last Message: Christ Our Righteousness

God’s Last Message: Christ our Righteousness, Part 3

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

ASI 2010 Plenary Meetings

Expounding the Faith

1h 30m

United

Partners in a Finished Work

1h 14m

Plenary

One Life to Live, One Life to Give

2h 24m

Seminar: Spiritual Enrichment

Reaching the World Next Door

1h 14m

ASI 2013 Plenary Sessions

To Jesus by Night

2h 28m

Going the Distance

8. Finishing Strong

50m

Personal Spiritual Enrichment

Powerful Sanctuary Secrets

1h 7m

ASI 2012 Plenary Sessions

ASI Members in Action

1h 58m

Morning Devotional

Family & Relationship- Part 1

29m

Understanding Difficult Topics

3. The 1000 Years of Peace

1h 10m

The Biblical Dimensions of Freedom

35m

ASI 2011 Plenary Meetings

ASI Presents

1h 54m

Sound Doctrine