21 Revelation s Four Horsemen

Transcription

1 Revelation of Hope 21 Revelation s Four Horsemen 1 My topic tonight is Revelation s Four Horsemen 2 Why so many denominations? Have you ever wondered if there is one God, one Bible, one Jesus, why is it that there are so many different denominations? 3 Where did the different denominations come from? Let s suppose that you are a new Christian. You ve moved to a new town and you decide to go to church. You don t know anybody in the town and you wonder how to find a church. 4 Then you get a bright idea. Well, I ll just look up under churches in the yellow pages of the phone book. You flip past automotives and bookstores. You come to churches. 5 You see various kinds of Churches: Bible Churches, Buddhist Churches, Calvary Chapel Churches, Catholic Churches, Baptist. Then you see there are many different kinds of Baptist churches. 6 1

2 You go down past Christian Reform, Christian Science and the Church of Christ and you keep going. You come to the U s with the Unification church and the Unitarian Universal Church and the United in Christ church. You have gone from A The Assemblies of God to Z The Zionists. In America today there are over 1500 different denominations. It is quite an exercise just to check them out in the phone book of any major city. The average person is bewildered by this confusing array of churches. They really don t understand. One God! One Bible! One Jesus! But 1500 different denominations? 7 8 They look at all these different church names and become quite confused. Have you ever wondered, How can I find truth? Can you really know truth in the midst of all this confusion in the religious world today? Now ladies and gentlemen, you do not go to the church to find out what truth is. 9 You go to the Bible to find out what truth is, then find a church teaching in harmony with the Bible. If you had to search the teachings of every church, you would look through 1500 denominations. That would take a lifetime. 10 So you never go to a church to discover what the truth is. 2

3 You go to the Bible to find out what truth is. Then you find a church that teaches what the Bible teaches. Does that make sense to you? All the churches say, We have the truth. There isn t one church that hangs a sign on the front door which says, Don t come in here because we only teach part of the truth. There s not one that says, We ve got 60% of the truth. Or another one that says, We ve got 70%. No, they all say, Come in here we are teaching 100% truth. 11 Bible prophecy clearly reveals why there are so many denominations. The prophet Amos said in Amos 3:7 12 Surely [or certainly] the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. God s truth about why there are so many different denominations has been revealed to the Bible Prophets. 13 God has particularly revealed the answer to our question about why so many denominations in the Book of Revelation. When you turn in the Bible to Revelation, Chapter 6, there is that marvelous vision of the four horsemen that gallop across the sky. In this vision of the four horsemen, God has revealed the history of Christianity more clearly than any other place in the Bible. He s revealed the history of Christianity from the first century in the days of Christ down to the 21st century. He has revealed how Christianity would begin as one movement one body then would break up into varying denominations

4 He explains why those denominations would emerge. He explains how God in the last days would raise up His end time commandment keeping people. A truth seeking body which gathers in people from all denominations; a movement of God in the last days of earth s history. This is one of the most fascinating, one of the most exciting prophesies in the entire Bible. It s found in Revelation, Chapter 6. Revelation s four horsemen represent four successive ages in the history of the church. 16 And the author of this prophecy, the one that opens the seals of this prophecy is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus opens the seals of this prophecy about the history of the Christian church. 17 Revelation 6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; Who is the Lamb, ladies and gentlemen? Who is this Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Who is it? 18 Jesus. Jesus gives us the history of Christianity. Jesus gives us the history of why there are so many denominations. 19 Revelation 6 continues 4

5 and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, Come and see. Jesus opens the seals of history. Jesus reveals what is going to happen in the first century and each succeeding century to the last days. 20 Angelic beings, powerful heavenly beings invite everybody on earth to come and see. When Jesus opens the seals it must be important. When God says, Come and see, it must be important. Then the Bible says when the first seal opened, a white horse galloped symbolically across the sky. 21 Revelation 6:2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; 22 and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. There are four horses that gallop across the sky, one right after the other. 23 When Jesus opens the seals He shows church history in phases. The first period is represented by a white horse. White is a symbol of purity. And the one riding that horse, wearing a crown is Jesus. He goes out conquering and to conquer. 24 5

6 The first phase of the Christian church is pictured as a rider on a white horse triumphing and conquering all the forces of evil. Every New Testament believer understood the images of a white horse. When a Roman general conquered the enemy he returned back riding on a white steed triumphantly. A white horse always represents conquest. It always represents victory. The rider on the white horse with the bow in his hand shoots arrows of truth from God s quiver into the heart of the enemy of error. 25 The white horse represents a powerful, pure faith. In the New Testament God s Truth triumphed. 26 Four horses gallop across the sky. First the white horse; a powerful, pure faith. From AD 31, after the death of Christ, to AD 100 the disciples preached the truth of God s word powerfully. The gospel of God s grace triumphed. 27 The apostle Paul rocked the New Testament world. There were churches raised up throughout Asia Minor, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi and in Colossia. There were churches raised up in Corinth and Rome. Churches raised up throughout the Middle East. In fact, one Roman writer wrote, 28 6

7 You Christians are everywhere. You are in our armies, in our navies, you are in the market place and the shops, you are in our senate and universities. You are everywhere. The New Testament church grew rapidly. 29 Acts 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. The New Testament Church exploded in growth. Tens of thousands accepted Christ. Tens of thousands were baptized. Some of those Christians were martyred for their faith. As they were martyred other men and women stepped out to follow Christ. 30 Nothing could stop the progress of Christianity in the 1st Century. Like a white horse victorious, like a white horse conquering, the Christian Church galloped across the sky. The power of the gospel could not be stopped. Ladies and gentlemen, when men and women give their hearts to Christ, the church has power. When men and women make a total surrender to Christ the church has power When men and women do not compromise truth in their own life the church has power. The reason the church today is more like a social club, the reason the church of today has lost its power, the reason some of the churches are empty today is because there is so much compromise in the church. 33 7

8 When the church compromises it loses the power of the Holy Ghost. When the church turns truth into tradition, when the church turns the word of God into fables, the church looses the blessing of God. God cannot sanctify error. The powerful New Testament Church, armed with the truth of God and filled with the Holy Spirit made an impact in the Roman world. The Bible says, Colossians 1:23 If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel Paul says, Be grounded, be steadfast. Don t move away from the hope of the gospel. 34 which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. The gospel went like fire in the stubble. Everywhere the torch of truth burned brightly. 35 Thousands and thousands were converted. Satan had to do something and do it fast. So the prophetic picture of the horses changes. The second seal opens. A red horse gallops across the sky. 36 8

9 Revelation 6:4 21 Revelation s Four Horsemen Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, 37 and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. A red horse gallops across the sky with a sword dipped in blood. Satan saw that he could not stop the church. 38 It was triumphing everywhere. He had to do something. He began a fierce era of bloody persecution. He influenced political leaders to viciously persecute the Christians. The red horse represents a bloody faith. Christians were taken to the Coliseum and thrown before lions. Eusebius an early Christian writer wrote about the church in Egypt, as it was being persecuted in the 1st century. 39 We saw the most marvelous inspiration, a force which was truly divine, and the readiness of those who had faith in the Christ of God. Immediately when sentence had been pronounced on one group, another party came before the tribunal... acknowledging themselves Christians

10 and remaining unmoved before dangers and torments of all kinds. Indeed, they reasoned with joy the final sentence of death. Christianity penetrated everywhere. It was powerful force in the Roman world. 42 They sang hymns and offered thanksgiving to God of all until their last breath." Church Historian Eusebius 43 Just as a white horse represents a powerful, pure faith, the red horse in the second seal represents a blood stained faith. From AD 100 to AD 313. the Christians were persecuted terribly in the blood stained faith period. The White horse apostolic power and purity; the Red horse a blood stained faith. Where the white horse represents a Church triumphant, the red horse symbolizes a church persecuted. But the church continued to grow. Satan persecuted it but he couldn t stop it. One early church writer wrote. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the gospel. The more you persecute us the more we grow. So Satan changed the strategy from persecution to something else A third horse gallops across the sky. The Black horse period was from AD 313 to AD

11 Revelation 6:5 21 Revelation s Four Horsemen When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. 47 So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. The white horse, the first phase of Christian history from AD 31 to AD 100 represents a powerful, pure faith which penetrates the New Testament world. Satan was angry, from AD 100 to AD 313 for 200 years he persecuted the church. The pagan Roman emperors Decian and Diacletion shed the blood of Christians. In spite of these fierce persecutions the church kept growing. Satan said, I have to do something. I have to stop the progress of the church His method - introduce compromise. 50 His master strategy brings pagan practices into the church. 51 As the white horse represents purity, the black horse represents compromise

12 As the white horse represents truth, the black horse represents error. 21 Revelation s Four Horsemen What about the pair of scales in the rider s hands. The pair of scales represents a church judged in the balances of God and found wanting; a compromised faith. This black horse period represents the period in church history from AD 313 to AD 538 The apostle Paul was concerned about these compromises in his day. In Acts 20:29, 30, Paul says to the leaders of the Christian church For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Paul died in the first century. That is the white horse period. In the next century savage wolves did persecute the Church. It was drenched with the blood of the martyrs. 55 Satan tried to destroy God s people His flock. During this bloody period of persecution Christians would be burned at the stake and thrown to lions. The Apostle Paul says, There will be savage wolves in the red horse period. But then notice what he adds: Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves

13 Paul says in the black horse period, religious leaders would arise. They would draw away disciples after themselves. They would speak perverse or crooked things. There would be compromises which would creep into the Christian church. 57 The church would become large. It would become powerful. The teachings of men would be substituted for the teachings of God. Human tradition would take the place of the Bible. Daniel 8:12... and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. Where would truth be cast down? To the ground. In the black horse period, during the fourth and fifth centuries, truth would be cast to the ground. Church history reveals that this prophecy is true. In The Development of Christian Doctrine, page 372, the very famed Christian historian said this: We are told by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, 60 transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own. Now what did Constantine want to do? Recommend Christianity to the heathens

14 How could he do that? He transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own pagan religion. Did you see the significance of this, ladies and gentlemen? Constantine, the pagan Roman Emperor, united with the church after he became a Christian. And, according to Eusebius the famed historian, he transferred into Christianity the ornaments of paganism to make Christianity more acceptable to the pagans. 62 The teachings of Church councils replaced the teachings of the Bible. The authority of earthly priests replaced the authority of Jesus. Human works were substituted for the grace of Christ. Salvation through Christ was replaced by the requirements of the Church. Simple Biblical faith taught, 63 Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God During this period of compromise, simple faith was replaced for certain pagan practices like lighting candles and bowing down before images and worshipping the saints. 64 These practices were unknown in the early Christian church. Satan could not destroy the church through persecution. So what he could not do through the blood of the sword he tried to do by getting religious leaders to compromise truth. 14

15 Daniel 7:25 21 Revelation s Four Horsemen He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. 65 God s law, written with His own finger on tables of stone was compromised for human tradition. This may seem impossible. You may wonder how it could ever happen. But it did. Satan led church and state leaders to compromise God s law to destroy the power of the church. 66 You say, How was it that those commandments were compromised? Be very specific. One of the commandments says, read it with me please Exodus 20:4, 5 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. Why is it that God s commandments say, You shall not make any graven image. Because God knows that if we kneel down before images, the image could take the place of God Himself. The holiness that should be ascribed to God would be ascribed to the image. But, in the compromise period, images from paganism were actually brought into the Christian church. Let me give you an example

16 If I showed you this picture most people who are knowledgeable would say, this is a picture of St. Peter. This statue is actually in St. Peter s cathedral in Rome. What most people do not know is 69 That this statue was originally made by the pagans as Jupiter with the sun god on his head. It was renamed Peter and was brought into St. Peter s Cathedral in Rome to make the worship of Christ more palatable to the pagans. The church introduced the idea of saints living in heaven and made statues to those saints to make it easier for pagans in their worship. 70 The Bible continues describing these compromises in these words. The compromising church would Daniel 7:25... think to change times and laws The Roman church s version of the ten commandments is different from God s version written on tables of stone in Exodus 20. That s why, for example, in the Catechism of our Roman Catholic friends you will not find the commandment about bowing down to images. It goes from the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other God s before Me, to the third, which becomes the second, in the Catholic Catechism, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The fourth commandment, Remember the Sabbath, becomes the third, and the tenth commandment,

17 Thou shalt not covet, is cut in two; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s wife, and Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s goods. That s how the Roman Church ultimately comes up with Ten Commandments. The Roman church and the Roman state united to make Christianity more acceptable to the world. This included introducing pagan sun worship into the Christian church and attempting to change the true Bible Sabbath. Let s go back to the early apostles Creed. It says this: 74 Apostolic Creed bk. 7, Sec. 2 Oh Lord Almighty, thou hast created the world by Jesus Christ, and hath appointed the Sabbath in memory thereof. In the early apostles creed there is this clear reference to the Bible Sabbath in memory of creation. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. The scripture says: 75 Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 76 During this age of compromise the Pagan's day of the sun replaced the Bible Sabbath. Many a Christian accepted Sunday in honor of the resurrection to make Christianity more acceptable to pagans that were worshipping on the first day of the week Sunday or the day of the Sun

18 Christian history reveals this. You can go to any library and look up these facts. History of the Eastern Church p. 184 The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday, is in a great measure, owing to the union of Pagan and Christian sentiment 78 with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects Pagan and Christian alike, as the 'venerable' day of the sun. Do you see Satan s strategy ladies and gentlemen? Satan s strategy is - He can t stop this white horse church that is so powerful that is winning converts everywhere. 79 He can t stop the truth from marching on. He can t stop it with bloodshed and persecution. Satan s master strategy was to influence powerful church leaders to unite with powerful state leaders in the black horse period. And they compromised. The pagan Roman Emperor Constantine united with the Roman Church in an attempt to unite his empire. Sunday was a vehicle of unity. In a Doctrinal Catechism page 174 of the third American edition, Rev. Stephen Keenan, the Catholic author of the Catechism which is written in a question answer format, says: 80 Q[uestion]. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? 81 18

19 A[nswer]. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; 82 she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, 83 a change for which there is no Scriptural authority. Reverand Keenan makes the issue plain. In those early centuries where the church and state united, Sabbath was changed by the church to Sunday. The church attempted to change God s law. It attempted to change the Ten Commandments in a mixture of Christianity with paganism. Idol worship and Sunday worship were more acceptable to the pagans. In the black horse period the church grew large but it lost its true power A fourth seal opens the Pale Horse. The Bible says Revelation 6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. Imagine it. A dead rider, riding a horse that looks pale, near death

20 And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. 88 During this period known as the dark ages, from A.D. 538 onward, the church grew large. It built great cathedrals. But there was a persecution of the true Bible believing Christians. Church and state united. The church was spiritually dead. Here is an amazing statement: Christianity became an established religion in the Roman Empire and took the place of Paganism Christianity as it existed in the Dark Ages might be termed Baptized Paganism. Church History Century 2, Ch. 2, Sec Baptized paganism You take idols you put them in the church; you baptize the idol of Jupiter, re-name it Peter and it becomes baptized paganism. You take Isis or Venus and call them the virgin and child and that s baptized paganism. You substitute the pagan sun god s day for Sabbath and that s baptized paganism. Seal 4 A dead faith 91 20

21 The white horse a pure faith; the red horse a blood stained faith; the black horse a compromised faith. The pale horse a dead faith. The four horsemen of the Book of Revelation. 92 A Union of Church and State There was a union of church and state during the Middle Ages. The decrees of the Church took the place of the teachings of the Bible. 93 Faithful Christians were chained during the dark ages and they were marched to the stake where they were burned. 94 During this period the steps of compromise led the church downward. 95 The traditions of man took the place of God s word. 96 Penances took the place of the grace of Jesus Christ

22 Indulgences were introduced; that is you could pay money and buy your way out of what was called purgatory. The church developed this idea. 99 Purgatory was supposedly some state in between heaven and hell where the believers suffered if they were not quite good enough to go to heaven. 100 An indulgence was a payment of money to get them out of purgatory more quickly. The Bible says, The living know that they shall die but the dead don t know anything (Ecclesiastics 9:5). The Bible says, Death is a rest until the resurrection. 101 Images Many compromises came in. 102 The church hierarchy substituted the sun s day for the Sabbath. 103 Human dogmas replaced the clear teachings of God s word. For centuries God s truth was cast down. 104 Would God's truth be trodden down forever? Would the light of truth ever shine again?

23 Would God s word ever be the foundation of the church again? Would the fullness of truth ever be manifest in the world again? Listen to this, 106 Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Here the Bible writer says God will raise up men and women to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints The light of truth would shine. God would raise up courageous men and women. He would raise up faithful Bible students who would say, My mind is subject to the word of God. God says he is going to raise up honest-hearted believers who loved his word. Although it is true that God had faithful believers throughout the dark ages. The Holy Spirit opened new doors of truth in the early 12th and 13th centuries. God moved to raise up groups of people whose motto was Faithfulness to God and His word. 23

24 One of these groups was the Waldensians. They were Bible-believing Christians who lived in Northern Italy and Southern France. The popular church despised these godly believers. They were burned at the stake. They fled into the mountains of the Alps. 109 Here is a hidden Waldensian village. Some of the remnants of those villages are even present today. 110 This is where men and women who stood faithful to God s word lived years ago. They said, Our mind is held captive to the word of God. 111 This is a secret Bible school where the Waldensian young people studied God s word. 112 Here is a Bible copyist s table where the Waldensians copied the Bible by hand. They said, We will pass the word of God on to our children. They sent their children down to the greatest universities in Europe. 113 The children of the Waldensians were brilliant. The Waldensian elders copied the Bible. The mothers would sew long robes with special secret pockets and place the Bible manuscripts into those pockets in their robes. One would leave with the gospel of John. 24

25 Another left home with the gospel Matthew or Mark. Still another left with Genesis or Exodus sewn in their long flowing robes. These bright Waldensian young people enrolled in the great Universities of Europe. Among other students, in the quietness of their rooms, they distributed pages from the Bible. Revivals broke out all over Europe. The popular leaders could not find out where these Bible manuscripts came from. The Waldensians restored the truth of the Bible and the Bible only. They restored that truth that God s word and God s word alone must be obeyed. God began to raise up a variety of men and women There was John Huss in Prague Czechoslovakia. He was a Catholic priest. He began to study the Bible and as he studied it he declared, Obedience to God is my motto, not obedience to man. 116 As a result Huss was burned at the stake in the town square of Prague. Huss was a courageous hero whose life was dedicated to obeying God. 117 Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, I believe with the Waldensians that the Bible and the Bible only is our guide to truth. Not the traditions of the church. What do you say? Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, I believe with John Huss that obedience to God is our only motto. What do say?

26 God raised up men of faith. Men like John Huss. Men who would give their lives for His word. Women of faith that made obedience to God their motto. God raised up another Catholic priest, a mighty man of God in faith Martin Luther. As Martin Luther struggled with issues of faith, he visited Rome. 119 He climbed the famed Pilate s staircase on his knees. He thought if I can only climb the stairs Jesus supposedly climbed when He approached Pilate, I will find peace. When Luther returned home he still felt the oppression of guilt. 120 He sensed that guilt was crushing out his life. All of the requirements of the church could not take away his sin. All of his penances, going up the stairs on his knees, couldn t take away his sense of condemnation. All of his whipping himself couldn t take away his feeling of unworthiness. Then he read in Romans 1:17 The just shall live by faith. He read in Ephesians 2: 8, 121 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. He read in Acts 4:12,

27 There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. He saw Jesus anew as a mighty Savior. Luther was amazed. He experienced a new peace in his life. 123 He went to the great prelates of the church and declared salvation comes by grace. 124 He went to the church in Wittenberg and nailed on its front door for all to see, 95 reasons why salvation is by grace 95 reasons why indulgences were unscriptural. 125 I believe with Martin Luther that salvation comes not by the works of our hand, not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. I believe salvation comes only by grace. 126 The light of truth would penetrate the darkness. Proverbs 4: But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. When the sun rises in the morning does God just throw a cosmic switch and the sun comes on? Certainly not. The sun rises slowly and chases away the darkness. Have you ever been in a dark room and walked out into the sunshine?

28 What happens? You re blinded you can t see. It took the church from A.D. 100 to 600, 500 years to go into the Dark Ages. Compromise did not happen all at once. It happened gradually, that is the nature of compromise. A tumor in the body generally grows slowly and not quickly. The tumor in the church, the cancer of compromise grew slowly. Just as it took 500 years for the church to go from the white horse of pure apostolic faith to the pale horse of spiritual deadness, it took time for God s faithful followers to grasp glimpses of truth lost sight of down through the ages. God would not switch on a light and have truth come down on our minds all at once. 129 God gradually began restoring truth. In the 1300 & 1400 s, God raised up the Waldensians who said, The Bible and the Bible only is our guide. He raised up John Huss who said, Obedience to God is my motto. 130 He raised up Martin Luther who championed salvation by grace and grace alone. Do you know why there are so many denominations? Because the Waldensians stopped where they were. They said, The Bible and the Bible only is truth. But they didn t keep studying the doctrines of the Bible. The Hussites said, Obedience to God but they didn t keep going. The Lutherans said, Salvation by faith. Martin Luther has it all. But they didn t keep going. 28

29 God raised up these good and great men who had partial light but not one of them had complete truth. The Waldensians camped around their leader Peter Waldo. The Hussites camped around John Huss. The Lutherans camped around Martin Luther. Then God raised up another man, John Calvin in Geneva Switzerland. And he said, We need organization in the church and discipline n the Christian life. God calls us to growth in grace. 131 Let s call this organization Presbyterians. So the Presbyterians grew up around John Calvin who said, We need the church for spiritual growth. So you have the Presbyterians growing up around a man named Calvin. Each church did not realize that each group was like a building block. 132 John Robinson understood this principle. He was the pastor to the Puritan Pilgrims who sailed the Mayflower to the New World. Unable to make the journey himself, he admonished them 133 If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His [that is any other true reform movement], be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry; 134 for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word. Speaking of the reformers such as Luther and Calvin, and their followers, he said

30 ... they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received. God was leading the church over a period of centuries until further truth would be restored by a final body of believers at end-time. 136 This movement would build on the shoulders of the reformers. But it would go beyond the reformers and restore the entire truth lost site of by a compromised church. Do you know that Martin Luther still believed in sprinkling babies? Infant baptism, contrary to the Bible, was part of Luther s creed. Now ladies and gentlemen, is sprinkling babies in the Bible? That s not in the Bible. It took the Baptists or the Anabaptist movement 137 to understand Christ s words about baptism 138 Matthew 28:19, 20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

31 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. 140 Jesus said go teach men and women the gospel. When they accept Christ, when they accept the teachings of His word, baptize them. But the Lutherans said, Luther didn t teach baptism so we can t go any further. But you see what God was doing? He was leading the church along. In a sense I am a Waldensian because I believe in the Bible and the Bible only. In a sense I am a Hussite because I believe in obedience to God. In a sense I am a Lutheran because I believe in salvation by grace In a sense I am a Presbyterian because I accept the Bible truth about church organization and Christian growth. I reject all the errors of these creeds but accept all the truth of these creeds. You see all of these creeds have some truth and so God would have us to accept the truth and reject the errors. In a sense I am a Baptist because I believe in baptism by immersion. Baptism by immersion is a vital Bible truth. It is mentioned 80 times in the New Testament alone. God raised up another man by the name of John Wesley. Wesley saw that the standards of the church were decaying. He saw that the amusements, pleasures and practices of the world were entering the Church

32 So God raised up John Wesley and showed him that when men and women study the Bible that they were to live holy and righteous lives. I believe in holiness. 144 I believe the church should be separate from the world. I believe that if you are a Christian you should look like a Christian, eat like a Christian, go places that Christians go. I don t believe in this idea that some people have who say, Oh I m a Christian, I believe in Jesus, but I m going to go down and have a good time and get drunk. I can eat whatever I want, go wherever I want, dress however I please, do whatever I desire and call it Christianity. 145 This is not Christianity. This is self deception. God is calling us to the high standards of Christ. He has the power to change our lives. We are to be lights in the darkness of this world. You cannot light the darkness if you are like the darkness. 146 There was another long lost sight of truth that needed to be restored the truth of the second coming of Christ. God raised up a powerful preacher named William Miller to proclaim the truth of the second coming of our Lord. 147 At this time the church had largely neglected the truth of our Lord s return. God raised up a whole new movement called the Adventists. And the Adventists were called Adventists because they believed Christ was coming soon

33 And so, I m an Adventist because I too believe Christ is coming soon. How many of you can raise your hand and say, I believe Jesus is coming soon? Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you and if I prepare a place for you, I will come again (John 14:1-3). So you re Adventists, aren t you? But there was one important Biblical truth that was not yet restored. The truth that faith leads to obedience to the commandments of God and the special truth regarding the Sabbath as a symbol of Christ s creative authority. Christ would raise up a last day movement that would finally restore the truth about God s 10 commandments in a time of commandment breaking. A last day movement that would take seriously God s instructions through Jesus. John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments. Jesus said if you do what? Love me, you will what? Keep my commandments. Truths long lost sight of down through the ages would be restored at end time. God would restore the truth of the Bible instead of church Dogma Jesus instead of Earthly Priests Grace instead of Works the Law of God instead of Religious Tradition the Sabbath instead of Sunday Baptism the way Jesus was baptized instead of sprinkling Resurrection instead of the pagan concept of the immortal soul

34 The Second Coming that ushers in Jesus kingdom instead of an Earthly Kingdom where the church unites with the state to gain political power. Jesus would have a last day movement outlined in the Book of Revelation. His last day movement would accept all the truths of the denominations that had gone before. His message would go to the ends of the earth to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The Bible says in 154 Revelation 14:6, 7 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel Having the what everybody? The everlasting gospel. It is the gospel of the white horse church period. It is the gospel of the New Testament. It is the gospel the full truth of God s word that would powerfully penetrate the world. 155 to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people 156 saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; At the time of God s judgment hour God would call all humanity back to the totality of, to the completeness of truth in His word. 157 God would call all humanity back to 34

35 ... worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water. God would call all humanity back to worship the creator. God would call all humanity back to all the truths of the Bible. God would call all humanity back to accept the Sabbath as a symbol of His creative power. In an age of evolution, God would restore the truth about creation. God would have a group of people that restored the truths lost site of in the Dark Ages. The Bible s last book, Revelation, identifies this group of people. Where are God s people? Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Would God have a group of people that had total faith in Jesus and accepted the whole Bible as His word of truth in these last days? Would He have a group of people that went just by the Bible? It says, here is the patience of the saints, here are those that have the faith of Jesus Would He have a group of people that keep His commandments because they love Him, and are faithfully worshipping the creator each Bible Sabbath? God would have a called out people. Men and women from every nation, from every race. Men and women of every language group. A called out people

36 I am a Waldensian because I believe in 163 The Bible and the Bible only. In a sense, I am a Hussite because I believe in 164 Obedience to God as our only motto. In a sense, I am a Lutheran because I believe in 165 Salvation through grace in Jesus Christ. In a sense, I am a Presbyterian because I believe in 166 The organization of the church as taught by the Bible. In a sense, I am a Baptist because I believe in 167 Baptism by immersion. In a sense, I am a Methodist because I believe that 168 God has called us to holiness

37 I am an Adventist because I believe in the second coming of Christ. 170 And I am a Seventh-day Adventist because I believe in the Bible Sabbath of the 7th day. And I believe God has a movement in the Book of Revelation to which He is calling men and women. Tonight, God is doing something unusual. He is gathering people in His last day movement around the world, Hundreds and thousands of people sense that this is God s time to restore all of the truths that have been lost sight of down through the ages. 171 They are accepting God s truth. They are walking into the water to be baptized. They are following Jesus Christ. They do not want a denomination that is based on man, that only comes part way out of the error and traditions of the past. There was an ancient coin that was found in Rome. This amazing coin was very large. It had the face of a man on it. This man s face was very hard to get out of your mind once you looked at it. This first century Roman was a long-haired man with a long beard, with eyes sunk deeply in his head. But what attracts you to that coin is the mouth of the man. When you look at the coin it s as if the man s mouth is speaking directly to you. 172 Although the image is nearly 2000 years old, it s as if this man is speaking directly to you. 37

38 The story of the coin is this: This man represents the OLD MAN OF TRUTH and that in every person s life sometime truth will walk into your life. If you are honest, sometime from the day you are born to the day you die, God will providentially bring truth into your life. Someday truth will come walking into your life. And the legend says when truth walks into your life let no one turn you from it. Jesus, the real man of truth, has spoken to your heart through His word as you have come to these meetings. Go all the way with Jesus, walk into His truth. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that God brought you to these meetings for a purpose. I believe that God had truth walk into your life and tonight, God is saying to you, My child, this is your moment of destiny, this is your time of opportunity follow that truth. Would you like to say to Jesus tonight, Lord thank you. Lord, I want to follow that truth. Let me share with you my own personal testimony. The reason that I am a Seventh-day Adventist tonight is because I believe that God has sent truth into my life and I cannot deny it. I believe that God has restored the truths of Scripture. He has gathered up the gems of truth from all churches and placed them within His Sabbath keeping Adventist body. Tonight would you like to open your heart to Jesus and say Lord, I want to follow your truth. I believe You have guided me. I ve heard your voice and commit my life to You. Tonight would you like to say, by raising your hand, Lord I am going all the way with you. Lord, I will follow your truth wherever you lead. Why not raise your hand right now as we pray?