Seven Seven Seven

Come in and get ready for our nextsession, please.Okay, well, let's stand and sing hymnnumber 341, "To God Be the Glory." Thisis one that's been requested bysomebody.I think it Yeah, that's it.So, you're here to enjoy it. Let's standand sing together. And again, don'tabide. Sing up. Sing like you mean it.Stay standing.

We'll sing our theme songagain.And again, we'll change the end of itdown a bit.Sing up.All right, good morning everybody.Good morning.It's a pleasure to be with you heretoday once again. Can you all hear me atthe back there?Yes, yeah, okay. So, um I'd like tothank you all for a warm welcome onceagain. It's my third day in New Zealandand I still have to ask myself what dayof the week it is. I understand today isThursday, is that right?Yes, okay, it's what jet lag does toyou.

So,I just kind of keep following theprogram and occasionally I glance andsee what day it is and then I getmessages from Michigan saying you'resupposed to be in a meeting in an hourand I think, "Really? What's the timethere?"And so, but it's a pleasure to be withyou here today. Uh let's bow our headsand invite the presence of the HolySpirit among us.Heavenly Father,uh we thank you for your faithfulnessand your mercy to us.Father, we thank you that in a world ofsorrow and a world of want, your merciesare fresh every morning.And so we say great is your faithfulnessto us.Lord, as we gather here today in yourhouse,Lord, we're watching in person oronline,we're humbly asking that your HolySpirit will draw near to each one of us,wherever we may be, whoever we are,wherever we've come from and whereverwe're going. We ask that we will indeedwalk with Jesus long life's narrow way,ultimately to heaven above.So, Father, I pray you'll speak throughme today. May my words be your words.May your spirit move upon the hearts andminds of all who are listening.

And Ipray, Lord, that everybody who hears thesermon will be found on that sea ofglass when Christ comes again.This is our prayer, Lord, in the name ofJesus we humbly pray. Amen.All right, so our talk this morning isentitled 777andI'm going to be covering three thingsdealing with seven. As we go through,it'll become quite clear, I hope, whereI'm going with this. We're going tostart out with the first seven andthat's our journey today. We're going tolook at the years of Nebuchadnezzar'smadness, the first seven.

We're thengoing to look at the seven millennia ofEarth's history and then we're going tolook at the seventh day as the seal ofGod. And so I called it 777 becausethere's a theme theme of seven that runsthroughout this morning's presentationas we share this time together and thenwe'll come to our conclusions at theend. And so we're going to start outwith the seven years of Nebuchadnezzar'smadness. And some of you who who werehere,was it Wednesday morning I was speaking?Yeah, I think it was.On Wednesday morning I spoke aboutDaniel and being in Nebuchadnezzar andhis kingdom in Babylon. So, just a quickreminder of that, there you have on thescreen you have Ninevehand when Daniel was born in Jerusalem,Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire were thedominant world empire and that was theirterritory there.

It covered all thefertile crescent. But the last greatAssyrian monarch, a guy calledAshurbanipal, he died in 626 BC and theAssyrian Empire began to break up. Andfrom the southwest came the aggressivepharaohs of the 26th dynasty. They movedup to attack the empire from thesouthwest and a guy calledNebuchadnezzar and his father who wasthe king of Babylon, his name wasNabopolassar, they attacked together thecity of Nineveh and they destroyed it.They then chased the remnants of theAssyrian army and they had a finalbattle at the Carchemish here, which isone of the great battles of ancienthistory. In that battle, the theEgyptians and the Babylonians destroyedthe remnants of the Assyrian Empire andthe Babylonians took over this part ofthe world.

But Nebuchadnezzar decided hewanted to take out Egypt as well, so hechased the Egyptian armies south all theway down to Memphis down here on theRiver Nile and as he was passing throughIsrael in 605 BC, that's where heconquered Jerusalem for the first timeand that's where Daniel and his threefriends were taken captive. Now,Nebuchadnezzar and so that that becamehis empire there and it was based inBabylon and Babylon was the center ofworld learning at the time. It hadhighly advanced mathematics andengineering, astronomy and astrology andNebuchadnezzar's reign lasted for 43years.43 years and the first 15 years of hisreign, he was on the road conquering theancient Middle East. And the last 15years of his reign, he was putting downrebellions all across the Middle East.And it's in the middle third of hisreign that we find the story of theseven years of madness.And those middle years of his name of ofhis reign, Nebuchadnezzar was known asthe hammer of the whole earth or theterrible of the nations and at his feetbowed the representatives of all thenations of the world at the time andinto his treasury flowed the wealth ofthe ancient world.His city became the center of worldlearning and the arts and the sciencesflourished.When Daniel chapter 2 and there'sAdventists, many of you are familiarwith this, God gave Nebuchadnezzar adream. It was a fascinating dream.

Itwas a dream that charted the flow ofworld history from the time of Babylonall the way down to today and to thesecond coming of Jesus Christ. And we'renot going to go into any great detail onthis dream today other than to say thatthe interpretation of the dream is thereon the screen. The head was of of gold,represented the nation of Babylon. Thechest was of silver representing thenext empire, the Medo-Persians. Then thethe thighs were of bronze and I noticedyou know in this picture here,the thighs are not of bronze here.

Thethighs are the upper parts of the leg.So, the the picture isn't technicallycorrect here.The thighs stretch down this bit here aswell, but never mind. It's all supposedto be brass. That represents the nextempire, that was the Greeks underAlexander the Great. And then the legsof iron represents the Roman Empire thatcame next and the Roman Empire dividesinto the divided nations of Europe downhere and that's what we have today. Andthe next thing that happens is a stonecut without human hands smashes the footof the empire, the statue, the wholeempire collapses and the mountain fillsthe whole world and that is the kingdomof God and that representing the secondcoming of Jesus Christ.

So, asAdventists, we're very familiar withthis particular dream. Well,Nebuchadnezzar brooded on this dreambecause he didn't like the idea thateverything he built was one day one daygoing to be destroyed.He didn't like the idea that these 43years of conquest and war was all fornaught.So, he decided that he was going tochallenge the God of heaven and he builthimself a statue. In Daniel chapter 3,you read the story there.But this time, the statue was not ofmultiple metals, it was of gold fromhead to toe.And it was 60 cubits high and 6 cubitswide, so that's about 90 ft high andabout 9 ft wide cuz they measured inmultiples of six in ancient Babylon. Andhe gathered the representatives of hisempire to the plains outside the city ofBabylon and he commanded them that whenthe music strikes, you will all bow downand you'll worship this statue.This was the first union of church andstate.It was a union of political power andspiritual authority. And AndNebuchadnezzar was trying to say thathis kingdom was going to last forever,regardless of what the God of heavensaid.And so therefore, he required therepresentatives of all the conquerednations to bow down before the statuethat he had placed there outside thewalls of Jer- of of Babylon.As it happened, there were three veryfamous Hebrew boys.

They were captivesfrom Jerusalem, Shadrach, Meshach, andAbednego. And when the music bowed andall the representatives of the earthbowed down, those three boys did notbow.Now, we don't know the names of the menwho bowed,but we do know the names of the men whostood up.It's their names that last throughouthistory, not the multitudes who bowed.And if we want our names to lastthroughout eternity,we must also stand when we face coercionof conscienceand a union of church and statepersecuting us.History does not remember those whobowed. History remembers those who stoodup. In fact, if you have your Bibleswith you, turn to Daniel chapter 3.When the king commanded the boys to bowdown when the music um sounded,those three boys had a magnificentresponse. Daniel chapter 3 verses 16through 18.

And this This passage is noton the screen, but I'll read it out foryou.It says this. It says, "Shadrach,Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel 3:16,answered and said to the king, 'ONebuchadnezzar, we are not careful toanswer thee in this matter.If it be so, our God whom we serve isable to deliver us from the burningfiery furnace, and he will deliver usout of thine hand, O king.But if not,let it be known unto thee, O king, thatwe will not serve thy gods nor worshipthe golden statue which thou has setup.'"It's a mag- magnificent statement, yes?Now, did that statue appear overnight?No. It takes a while to build a 90-ftgolden statue. Those three young boyswere senior government officials in thecity of Babylon. They knew exactly whatwas happening as that statue was beingbuilt.

They had the chance to make uptheir minds of whether they would standor bow long before the moment of trutharrived.And we have that chance today to choosewhether we will stand or bow when thatmoment of truth comes knocking on ourdoor.And maybe God is giving us this thisrespite after the pandemic before thenext crisis hits the world for us toreflect on how we responded in thepandemic, whether we took the shots ornot is kind of irrelevant at this stage.Uh the important thing is we've God haskind of given us a warning call like,"Are you willing to bow when the worldtells you to do something against yourconscience?"And it's time for us to ask ourselves,"Do we have other gods in our life thatare so influential in our lives thatwhen the call comes to bow to whatevercoercion comes next, we will bow againstour conscience because we treasure thosefalse gods in our lives?"The false gods of careeror mortgage or finances or socialcredibilityor boys' toys, boats and jet skis andall the rest of it.Are we so caught up with these falsegods of the world that we are so afraidof losing them that we are willing toviolate our conscience?Now we have that chance when thepandemic is over to ask ourselves somehonest questions.To look ourselves in the mirror and say,"Lord, are there any false gods in mylife that would cause me to bow in thenext crisis of conscience?"Those boys were ready when the moment oftruth came.May we all be ready when our next momentof truth comes in our own lives.Well, the three boys would not bow down.So in Daniel chapter 4,God gives Nebuchadnezzar a dream.It's a dream of a tree that grew till itwas large and it filled the earth. Avery similar dream has been given in theprophet Ezekiel to relating to the kingsof Assyria. And it talks about the kingsof Assyria, and they were also choppeddown because God was bringing judgmenton them because of their pride. And analmost identical vision and dream comesto Nebuchadnezzar, the king, by night,and Daniel has to explain the dream tohim, and Daniel knows what theinterpretation of the dream is.He knows that God is going to bringjudgment on Nebuchadnezzar. He's goingto chop down the tree of that visionunless Nebuchadnezzar repents of hispride.His idea that is not this magnificentBabylon that I builtfor my splendor and for my royal might?God gives Nebuchadnezzar 12 months.You might say it was a period ofprobation.And at the end of that period ofprobation,God is waiting to see how Nebuchadnezzarwill respond to the message of thedream.Nebuchadnezzar, as the text says this,"All this came upon the kingNebuchadnezzar.

At the end of 12 months,he walked in in the palace of thekingdom of Babylon. The king spake andsaid, 'Is not this great Babylon that Ihave built for the house of the kingdomby the might of my power and for thehonor of my majesty?'"Now, would you say this guy struggleswith humility?Probably not, no?He might say, "I'm the most humble ofall men." No, maybe not. But clearly,this is a man who is filled with a senseof pride and power, and he's he'sconfident that I have established thegreatest empire in the world for mymajesty and for my glory.And he's directly rejecting the dreamthat God has given him. The dream ofDaniel 3 of the statue and the dream ofDaniel 4 of the tree.And so God, having warned Nebuchadnezzartwice in two dreams,brings judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar.How often does God have to warn meor youbefore he has to act in a more directway?It's easier when the Holy Spirit bringsthe soft voice of the still small voiceof the Holy Spirit speaks to your heartand brings you conviction.It's much less painful to act in harmonywith what God wills in obedience to hiswill than to be continually living inrebellion against God and finally Godhas to intervene in a very dramatic wayin your life.You don't want God to speak to youthrough a broken leg or a cancerdiagnosis or repossession.You want to hear his voice speaking toyou the still small voice in yourmorning devotions, and for you to followhis will.It's a much easier path to take.God gives us all a period of probation.He warns us. He pleads with us.

Maybeyou read a passage in the scriptures.Maybe you hear a sermon. Maybe you youyou you hear a song, and the Holy Spiritspeaks to you through that. And God isinviting you to turn to him and to turnaway from sin. He's inviting us andgiving us the promise that if we resistthe devil, he will flee from us. And thenext verse says in James, "And if wedraw near to God, he will draw near tous as well."And so when God speaks to your heart,don't harden your heart and put it offfor another day.

You don't know how longyou have a period of probation beforeGod has become more directly involved inyour life.Nebuchadnezzar waited 12 months. He wasnot cured of his pride. He waseventually driven from the palace. TheThe say The text says this. The storysays, "The same hour was the thingfulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and hewas driven from men, and did eat grassas oxen, and his body was wet with thedew of heaven till his hairs were grownlike eagles' feathers, and his nailslike birds' claws." Now, just keep inyour mind, what did What didNebuchadnezzar actually look like whenhe was in the fields there?What were his nails like?Claws of eagles.

Are eagles a clean birdor an unclean bird?Okay, keep that in mind. Keep that inmind. That's going to come up again inour talk today. He His hair was likeeagles' feathers, and his nails werelike birds' claws. So he's looking likean unclean bird.He's not looking like a chicken here.He's looking likean eagle.By the way, the idea that chickens are aclean meat,have you ever Has anybody here keptchickens?They are not just omnivorous.

They eateverything and beyond.They are the scavengers. They are likethe rats of the bird kingdom. And theidea that they are somehow clean isbeyond me.Well, that's a side issue there.Just in case you are enjoying yourchicken one day.So,modern modern psychiatristssay that Nebuchadnezzar experienced whatthey call lycanthropy, which you act andbehave and believe that you are a wildanimal.But for 7 years, Nebuchadnezzar lived asa wild animal in the fields outsideBabylon. And he wasn't touched by the bythe um politicians of the time. Nobodykilled him.

Nobody took his throne fromhim during those years. Why would theydo that? Because the ancients believedthat if the gods were attacking you andyou had mental illness, if you harmedthat person, then those gods would turnupon you.And so Nebuchadnezzar was protected bythe pagan beliefs of the time. Nobodywas going to touch him even though hewas mad in the fields because theydidn't want the same madness to fallupon themselves. Well, at the end of 7years of madness, the result of hisconstant disobedience to God's repeatedappeals of mercy,this is the story.

Daniel 4:34 says, "Atthe end of the days, I At the end ofthose 7 years, I Nebuchadnezzar liftedup my eyes unto heaven, and myunderstanding returned unto me, and Iblessed the most high, and I praised andhonored him that liveth forever, whosedominion is an everlasting dominion, andhis kingdom is from generation togeneration." So when Nebuchadnezzarbuilt the statue all of gold, he wassaying, "My kingdom is going to lastforever."Now in his repentance, he recognizes itis only God's kingdom that is going tolast forever. So God has cured him inthese 7 years of madness of his of hispride in the sense that my kingdom willgo on forever. And the most beautifulpart of this verse here is it says, "Ilifted my eyes to heaven and myunderstanding returned to me."That for as long as we live our lives asmodern secular people today, we live ourlives so focused on the material thatwe've forgotten that what matters mostin life is the spiritual side of life.You may have all the wealth in theworld, but if you do not have love,hope, joy, peace, long-suffering,gentleness, kindness in your life, thechances are you're going to bemiserable.What makes life meaningful, what makeslife enjoyable, what makes life reallypossible is not having money in thebank, but it's having peace and joy inyour heart.And people with millions of dollars inthe bank are frantically searching forhope and joy and peace and love.And they try anything to get ituntil they turn their eyes to God.And it's almost as if as secularWesterners, we're so focused on the ballgame in front of us that we've forgottenthat the the top of the stadium isclosed over our heads and we can nolonger see space out there.When we lift our eyes to heaven and thestadium that's re- roof the stadiumpulls back and we we lift our eyes tothe heavens, we see the vastness ofspace. And we realize that what is manthat you are mindful of him. That Godhas a care for this little speck of dustcalled planet Earth and God has a deepercare for every human being walking uponthis planet.When he lifted his eyes to God, hisreason returned to him.A life that is not spent looking uponGod is a life without reason and a lifewithout purpose.You're merely treading water until asthe one rock group says, until waitingfor the hammer to fall.

You're justwaiting for the hammer to fall when youlive a life without God.There are many parallels between thestory of Nebuchadnezzar and his 7 yearsof madness and what we find in the Bibleabout the end-time prophecies.I'm just going to go over now some ofthe parallels between Nebuchadnezzar andhis 7 years of madness and what happensat the end of time. And I like puttingthings in charts. So, I've got a chartup there between historical Babylon, thestory of Nebuchadnezzar, and end-timespiritual Babylon, the final oppressivepower in Earth's history before Christcomes again. So, we see in historicalBabylon, Babylon was ruled in the timeof Nebuchadnezzar by one man who claimedsupreme religious and civil power. Thatwas Nebuchadnezzar.

He presumed tocreate a statue and command everybody tobow down and worship it, a union ofchurch and state.The end-time Babylon will be ruled by asingle man who again claims supremereligious and political power. He'sknown as the Pontiff or the Pope.We find in historical Babylon that thepower behind the ruler is actuallySatan.We read that in Jeremiah chapter 51, uhverses 33 through 34. We also read it inthe book Great Controversy, page 660.We find in the book of Revelationchapter 12 that the power behind thisruler here is also the dragon calledSatan.We find in historical Babylon that Satanis actually referred to as a dragon inJeremiah 51 verse 34. It's interestingverse, but um Satan called the dragonattacked God's people through Babylon.You read that in Jeremiah 51. And in theend-time struggle between good and evil,Satan, who's also called the dragon inRevelation 12, he also attacks and andpersecutes God's people through end-timespiritual Babylon.As we go on through these parallelsbetween historical Babylon and end-timeBabylon, we see that Nebuchadnezzar wasfilled with pride and thus he came underthe judgment of God.

The story of Danielchapter 4 and the 7 years of madness, wealso see in Isaiah 14, uh a passagereferring to Satan, that Satan is alsofilled with pride and he also comesunder God's judgment.In in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel 28,you have um we have one parabola whereSatan wants to be like God and he says,"I will be like the God Most High. Iwill dwell in the heights of God. I willsit on the the assembly of the north andso forth." So, you have Satan wanting tobe like God, but he gets brought low.And in Philippians chapter 2, you haveChrist who did not consider equalitywith God as something to be grasped at.He humbles himself, becomes obedient umto life on this earth and to the deathof a cross. And therefore, he will beexalted by God. So, in Philippians 2verse 10 11, at the name of Jesus, everyknee shall bow.And so, Satan tries to go up and God theFather brings him down.

Jesus Christ iswilling to come down for humanity, afterwhich God is um set He ascends to heavenand is glorified at the right hand ofGod. So, you have these two parables.One goes up and one goes down. ButSatan, just like Nebuchadnezzar, wasfilled with pride and comes under God'sjudgment. Historical Babylon, an animage is erected for false worship. Readabout that in the the statue of goldthat Nebuchadnezzar erected.

And inend-time Babylon, there will be an alsoan image erected for false worship, aunion of church and state. We're goingto come to that a bit later on in ourtime here this morning. We find that inRevelation 13 14. In historical Babylon,the image is of the beast. The image isthe statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

AndNebuchadnezzar was forced to leave liveas a beast in the field. Literally, itwas an image of the beast in in inhistorical Babylon. And in end-timeBabylon, the image is of the beast. Thatis, the papal system is portrayed as abeast from the sea in Revelation13:1-10.Then we come to some more parallels. Inhistorical Babylon, there was a decreerequiring false worship that wasmandated upon the leaders of the world.In end-time Babylon, there will also bea decree mandating false worship uponthe entire all of humanity at the end oftime.We also see that in historical Babylon,the death penalty to the image of thebeast.

That's the story of Danielchapter 3 and the three Hebrews who werethrown into the fiery furnace. We findthat in Revelation 13 in end-timeBabylon, once again, um not onlyeconomic sanctions, no buy no sellrules, but at the end of time, a deathpenalty will be imposed on those whowill not bow to the image of the beast.Revelation 13:15. We see in historicalBabylon that under God's judgment,Babylon was condemned as fallen by God.We find that in the story of thehandwriting on the wall in Danielchapter 5 at Belshazzar's feast, Babylonis condemned as fallen. And end-timeBabylon in the first and second angel'smessages is condemned as being fallen inRevelation 14 and verse 8, "Fallen,fallen is Babylon the Great." So, bothare condemned by God as being fallen,historical Babylon and end-timespiritual Babylon. The parallels go on.Uh historical Babylon is under God'sjudgment.

And fallen Babylon, that is,the city that Nebuchadnezzar physicallybuilt, will never be inhabited again andwould become the dwelling place ofdemons. That's what Isaiah and Jeremiahprophesied. And to this day, Babylon hasyet to be rebuilt.Uh Saddam Hussein announced he was goingto try and rebuild ancient Babylon.And a few years later, he lost his life.Nobody has yet managed to rebuildancient Babylon. And under God'sjudgment,Nebuchadnezzar had the appearance ofunclean birds of prey.Remember his hair was like eagle'sfeathers, his nails were like the talonsof of of of eagles, birds of prey.And in end-time Babylon, also underGod's judgment, Revelation 18:2 saysend-time Babylon will become thehabitation of devils, a parallel to thedwelling place of demons for historicalBabylon, and it will become the hold ofevery foul spirit, those the demons fromhere, and a cage of every unclean andhateful bird.So, when Nebuchadnezzar looked like anunclean bird of prey, it's pointingforward to end-time Babylon as a cage ofevery unclean and hateful bird. Thereare many parallels between historicalBabylon and end-time spiritual Babylon.And then you have in historical Babylon,Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged thesovereignty of God at the climax of hisjudgment from God.

Nebuchadnezzar, helifted his eyes to heaven and heacknowledged the sovereignty of God. Andum if you look at at the the passage,well, you have it in your you have it inyour Bibles there. Um whenNebuchadnezzar uh extolled the glory ofGod, he said, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, forchapter 4:37, praise and extol and honorthe King of Heaven, all whose works aretruth and his ways are judgments orjust, and those that walk in pride, heis able to abase." And so,Nebuchadnezzar affirms the sovereigntyand the justice of God at the end of his7 years of madness.And after the final judgment inRevelation 20:11-12,Satan will also acknowledge thesovereignty of God at the climax of thefinal judgment when every knee will bowand confess Jesus as Lord.And so, the final parallelis that God delivered his people fromfallen Babylon through a man calledCyrus, the king from the east. And he'smentioned in Isaiah 45, 100 years beforehe lived. And the story is told in 2Chronicles 36.

And end-time Babylon, thefinal crisis, God calls his people outof fallen Babylon to prepare for thearrival of Jesus Christ. He is also thecoming king from the east. Those are theBible references there. So, there aremany many parallels betweenNebuchadnezzar and his life and hisspiritual experience and his 7 years ofmadness and what we find in the book ofRevelation of end-time spiritualBabylon. There there were more parallelswe could go through, but I didn't wantto put any more up here today.

But thereare many many parallels between end-timeBabylon and historical Babylon. And whenwe read the historical stories ofBabylon, God is not just giving us astory, he's giving us it this this ispointing forward to the crisis that weare going to face in our lifetime beforeJesus comes again. It's worth studyingthese stories and drilling down intothem to see the spiritual significanceof what's really going on here. SoDaniel for instance in Daniel chapter 1,he was offered the wine and the foodfrom the king's table and he refused it,yes?And the fallen the fallen's nominationsat the end of time they drink the wine.The polluted doctrines of the horror ofBabylon.So there there many parallels you can gointo between Daniel and Revelation butthe these are just here historicalparallels and spiritual parallelsbetween what happened in historicalBabylon with Nebuchadnezzar and 7 yearsof madness and end time Babylon justbefore Jesus comes in the clouds ofglory. And we are living just beforethat the coming of Jesus Christ.So it's important for us to understandthese prophecies not because they giveus cause to worry but because they giveus cause to hope.Like God's given us a road map.Does any of you ever read a who done itwithout reading the last chapter first?Does anybody here read the last chapterfirst?Yeah, there are some people admitting tothis.I like to read the last chapter first.

Iknow who the murderer is. Then if I readthe rest of the story I don't read themvery often but if I read the rest of thestory, I'm looking for the clues thatshould be there in the story. And it'svery frustrating to me if the cluesaren't there in the story but the thethe detective kind of brings them out ofthin air andthat's very unsatisfying read but if theclues are there then you realize this isa well written story. But for us as wewait for the coming of Jesus, God hasgiven prophecy as a light so that wedon't stumble in the darkness at the endof time.You know one of the one of the theproblems of being when I travel aroundwith AFM and speaking is I sleep I sleepin a different bed every Friday night.Friday and Sabbath night I'm in adifferent bed.And if you get up to go to the restroomat 3:00 in the morning, I've learnedthrough very painful experienceI've learned that that my right littletoe gets stubbed on a regular basis.It happens more often than you care toadmit. So there are many times I standup to preach and I've had to salivate mylittle toe to the other toes becauseit's it's it's broken you you you feelclicking in there and it's going allblack on you and you I hope it doesn'tdrop off here.And so um I've learned and and now Ikeep by my bed I keep a flashlight.And when I wake up I never quite knowwhat bed am I in here.

I have to wake upand look at the ceiling. Am I gettingout on the right? Am I getting out onthe left? Am I getting out at the footof the bed? And then you look down andsay where's the blocks of wood and thethe the legs on the stairs and I on onon the beds and some beds have got thethey got the the feet at the corner andsome of them are on blocks and some ofthem might stick out.

They're justdesigned to catch your toes.And in these painful moments as you'restumbling in the dark what you want morethan anything else is a flashlight.When you got a flashlight you can lookaround and see that's exactly where I'mwalking.And we heard this morning in thismorning's devotional prophecy is givenas a as a a light to us. It's aflashlight. As the darkness gathers inour world, God has given us theprophetic voice of scripture in orderthat we may know what is coming andtherefore we need not have our heartsfilled with fear for what is coming uponthe world as Jesus spoke of in Luke'sgospel but we can look up with hopebecause our redemption is drawing nigh.So it's important to study theseprophecies because God is giving usclues. It's giving us a road map for howthis world is going to go and he's goingto bring the world to a close in aclimax in his sovereign way and as westudy the prophecies we're not so not somuch learning about beasts and beastsand beasts and dates and crowns andhorns. We're learning about thesovereignty of God in human affairs.

Andthat's what Nebuchadnezzar had to learnthe sovereignty of God in human affairs.SoI won't worry with that quote here rightnow. I'm talking move on now to the 7millennia of Earth's history.So when is Jesus going to come again?And I'm painfully aware of the fact thatif I stand in a pulpit and say Jesus iscoming soon, I'm going to be accused ofbeing a time setter.All right. We live in such a world nowwhere if you say something people wantto attack you, they'll just make upanything about you.So what I'm going to look at here is the7 millennia of Earth's history. We'velooked at the 7 years ofNebuchadnezzar's madness and God'ssovereignty in the affairs of humanityand how God is going to bring history toa climax in his way and even the wickedwill one day acknowledge the sovereigntyand the justice of God.But now we're going to look at the 7millennia of Earth's history because thequestion we often ask is how long OLord?Under the fifth altar in in Revelationin the in the in the fifth seal underthe altar you have those who've beenkilled for the word of God and for theirtestimony to Jesus Christ and they'resaying how long O Lord?And the good news of book of Revelationis God has set a boundary beyond whichevil cannot pass.There is a limitafter which God brings judgment upon theworld. But how long is this greatcontroversy to last between Christ andSatan now?

Let me just ask you here cuzI always get confused about this. Do yousay controversy or controversy here inNew Zealand?Controversy. All right. Okay. I'm goingto use that that expression here cuz inAmerica they have different ways ofexpressing things and I'm never quitesure what's the right way to say it butgreat controversy and no controversy.Controversy.

All right. So how long isthe great great controversy going tolast between Christ and Satan in earthlyhistory? It's a good question, yes? Howlong is it before Jesus comes again?Because Jesus says in Revelation 21 thatbehold I'm coming soon.Soon.And that's 2100 years ago.So how soon is soon?Well,as Adventists we believe that God hasgiven the prophetic gift to his church.As you look at this doctrine ofspiritual gifts throughout scripture,you see that there is never a time whereGod does not give all the spiritualgifts to his church.There is always a prophetic voice amongGod's people.In the writings of Sister White webelieve there is the prophetic voice.And Sister White writes that gives anumber of quotes about the length of thegreat controversy.The first quote is from Desire of Agespage 48.It says thereit would have been an almost infinitehumiliation for the Son of the God totake man'snature even when Adam stood in hisinnocence in Eden.But Jesus accepted humanity when therace had been weakened by how many yearsof sin?4,000 years of sin.We find that in Desire of Ages page 48.And if you go if you look in your Biblesfrom Adam through to the arrival ofChrist,it's approximately 4,000 years.Various people have done thechronologiesand how you count Hebrew numbers there'ssome debate about that but it is about4,000 years from Adam through to thetime of Christ.But Sister White is not talking here inspecific figures. She's talking in in inin approximate figures.

She goes on tosay in Signs of the Times July 28, 1874,Satan had succeeded so well in deceivingthe angels of God and in the fall ofnoble Adam that he thought that inChrist's humiliation he should besuccessful in overcoming him.He looked with pleased exaltation uponthe result of his temptations and theincrease of sin in the continuedtransgression of God's law for more than4,000 years.So clearly when Sister White talks aboutfrom Adam to Christ being 4,000 yearshere, she's talking about the time fromthe fall of Adam through to the arrivalof Christ. She refers to it as being formore than 4,000 years. So she's nottalking in specifics here like exactly4,000 years to the day. She's talking inapproximate figures here.She goes on to say in Great Controversy.Did I get that right?Yeah. All right.

Thank you.Page 656.She says therea great noise shall come even to theends of the earth for the Lord hath thecontroversy with the nations. He willplead with all flesh. He will give themthat are wicked to the swords. Jeremiah25:31.Goes on to say for 6,000 years the greatcontroversy has been in progress.The Son of God and his heavenlymessengers have been in conflict withthe power of the evil one to warn,enlighten, and save the children of God.Now all have made their decisions. Thewicked have finally united with Satan inhis warfare against God.

The time hascome for God to vindicate the authorityof his downtrodden law.And so we read in this passage hereGreat Controversy that the final plaguesand then second coming of Christ comeafter the 6,000 years of all are almostcomplete.So how many years have we had sinceChrist lived on this earth?2100 years.2060 years let's say.When he was let's say he died in AD 31.So just over 2,000 years and there arejust over 4,000 years from Adam toChrist.And so she says here for 6,000 years thegreat controversy has been in progress.And she's talking about from Adamthrough to where we are today.And so the Son of God has been inconflict with the power of Satanto warn, enlighten, and save thechildren of God.Isn't that beautiful?The God Jesus Christ is warring to saveyou from the power of Satan.And he's not walking away from the humanrace. He's engaged in conflict withSatan and his angels for your salvationand for my salvation. But when all havemade their decisions,that is we say as Adventists whenprobation is closed, those who arewicked let them be wicked still andthose are righteous let them berighteous. When probation is closed andthe wicked are united with Satan in hiswarfare against God, when the finalplagues fall upon humanity, the time hascome come for God to vindicate theauthority of his downtrodden law. Now,she doesn't say exactly 6,000 years andthen Christ will come,but she's talking about the close ofprobation then the final plagues andJacob's time of trouble.When probation closes is whenNebuchadnezzar had 12 months of mercyfrom God and then his probation endedand judgment fell fell upon him.We also as a world have a close ofprobation when everybody's made theirfinal decision for Christ.From that moment on, the judgments ofGod fall upon this wicked world.Those are the final plagues.

And thesaints of God go through what we callJacob's time of trouble, which is theperfecting of their characters forheaven above.So, after the close of probation,everybody's going through some roughtimes.Just the final plagues don't fall uponthe saints of God.But she talks here that for 6,000 yearsthis has been in progress, thiscontroversy, and then all have madetheir decisions. So, that's talkingabout the end of probation.She goes on to say,Signs of the Times, 1884, The GreatControversy controversy between good andevil,I keep getting this mixed up. The greatcontroversy between good and evil willincreaseuh between Christ and Satan that hasbeen carried on for almost 6,000 yearsis what?Soon to close. And yet how few havetheir attention called to this matter?How few realize that we are livingamidst the closing scenes of Earth'shistory? Satan is working diligentlybinding his sheaves preparatory togathering in his harvest.

He is unitingthe elements of his kingdom for thefinal struggle.And so as Christ is ripening his wheatfor the close of probation, Satan isripening the tares in the church for theclose of probation and the hardening thehearts of the wicked for when the closeof probation finally comes along.And she says for almost 6,000 years thatgreat controversy, controversy betweenChrist and Satan on planet Earth, issoon to close. And yet how few havetheir attention called to this matter?It's not important who the nextpresident of America is.What's important is that Jesus is comingsoon.What's important is that we're ready forhis kingdom, not the next prime ministerof New Zealand or the president of theUnited States.And it's important that we live by theprinciples of the coming king and hiskingdom, the kingdom of God, rather thanby the principles of New Zealand or theUnited States, whichever country wehappen to be from.We're citizens first and foremost of thekingdom of God, from where we areexpecting our savior, the Lord JesusChrist. We read that in the book ofPhilippians.Do people know that we are citizens of aheavenly kingdom?Do they know from our conversation thatour primary loyalty is to the kingdom ofGod and its king, Jesus Christ? Or ourprimary loyalty are to the politicalparties that uh that really infects ournations today?What do people know of from speakingwith us? Do they know of the coming kingand his kingdom?

Do they see theprinciples of the coming king in ourlives or not?The fact of the matter is when we readthese quotes, you can't help but come tothe conclusion that we're on the cusp ofsomething momentous happening on planetEarth. 6,000 years, there's anothermillennium we read about in scripture,that's millennium in heaven after Christcomes. So, Sister White talks about6,000 years of the great controversyhere controversy here on Earth. Andthere's a seventh millennium in heaven,there's a seventh millennium in heavenabove.And it's we we read really ofseven 7,000 years here. Sister Whitewrites in the introduction to GreatControversy.

She says, "The greatcontroversy between good and evil willincrease in intensity to the very closeof time."It means buckle up everybody, it's goingto get worse.If you thought the pandemic was bad, itwas just a foretaste of what's comingahead.So, it's time to clear the decks andclear our lives out spiritually so we'reready for what's coming.She goes on to say, "In all ages, thewrath of Satan has been manifestedagainst the church of Christ. There'salways been persecution of the saints ofGod.But God has bestowed his grace andspirit upon his people to strengthenthem to stand against the power of theevil one. But as the church approachesher final deliverance, I love thatphrase. She doesn't say, "As the churchapproaches her final trials."The church is approaching her finaldeliverance. Someone say praise theLord.

We're waiting for deliverance ofChrist. Satan is to work with greaterpower. He comes down having great wrathknown because he knoweth that he hathbut a short time. Revelation 12:12. Hewill work with all power and signs andlying wonders.

Second Thessalonians 2verse 9. I've preached about that inmany other places. She goes on to say,"For 6,000 years, that mastermind thatwas once the highest among the angels ofGod has been wholly bent to the work ofdeception and ruin. And all the depthsof satanic skill and deceptionand subtlety acquired, all the crueltydeveloped during those struggles of theages will be brought to bear againstGod's people in the final conflict. Butthe church, remember, is waiting forGod's final deliverance."And when you know the end of the story,you can get through If you know the lastchapter,you can get through the interveningchapters.And if you don't know the end chapter,which is Jesus intervening to save hispeople, the intervening chapters willcall many will cause many people to giveup faith in Christ.But when you know that he's coming againand he brings the gift of eternal lifefor those who demonstrated the enduranceof the saints in Earth's final crisis ofconscience, then that gives you theconfidence and the courage and the hopeto get through whatever Satan throws atyou today.

This world is not our home.And if one thing the pandemic did wasserve as a wake-up call to Christians tosay, "Are you in love with the gods ofthis world or are you ready for heavenabove?"She goes on to say, "And in this time ofperil, the followers of Christ are tobear to the world the warning of theLord's second advent. And the people areto be prepared to stand before him athis coming without spot and blameless.At this time, the special endowmentsendowments of divine grace and power isnot less notnot not less needful to the church thanin apostolic days."I say amen and amen to that. So, thereare approximatelysix millennia of the great controversyhere on Earth.Then comes the final crisis,the close of probation, the finalplagues and Jacob's time of troublefollowed by the second coming of Christ.That is then followed by the seventh andfinal millennium of heaven, Revelationchapter 20, when the wicked are dead onplanet Earth waiting for theresurrection of the wicked as wediscussed yesterday, and the finaljudgment.A time a millennium when Satan will betrapped on a desolate Earth and thesaints will be in heaven judging thedead.And just as Nebuchadnezzar confessed thesovereignty of God at the climax of hisseven years of judgment,so Satan will also confess thesovereignty of God at the end of thefinal judgment after the seventh andfinal millennium of the greatcontroversy. We find that's inRevelation 21 through 6.At that moment, Satan, his demons, thewicked, and all evil will be destroyedforever.We, brothers and sisters, on the vergeof the final crisis, prophecy is comingto a climax.And we need to realize the theseriousness of the times in which we'reliving.We're not looking at thousands of yearsyet of human history.Elon Musk Elon Musk wants to go andinhabit and colonize planet Mars.He's going to extend the human race. Youhave the transhumanists who are ElonMusk is a transhumanist and he's he hasa company in San Francisco that is nowputting like neural links.

He's puttingwebs onto people's brains connectingthese these these electrodes to theneural the neurons in the brain and he'sconnecting that to the internet. So, ifa man has if a man hasparalyzed his arm in warfare,um now he can gain gain control of hishand because thinking it here sendselectronic signal to the internet thattells the arm to do what he's thinkingof or asking of it.And Elon Musk is talking abouttranshumanism that humanity has evolvedto where we are now, but if we're notcareful, the machines are going to takeover humanity and artificialintelligence. And in order to survivethe battle between humanity and machine,we have to merge with technology inevolution 2.0.This is what Elon Musk is driving at.And so you're going to have a super raceof people who have merged withartificial intelligence.And that's where this is going with ElonMusk with his transhumanism.There's a lot of strange ideas out thereright now.And maybe Elon Musk wants to inhabitplanet Mars because he sees that planetEarth doesn't have much time left.What I'd say to this say say to brothersand sisters today is this,Jesus is coming soon.And we get ready for thatby showing our faith in him in multipleways, but one of the ways of that is bydealing with sin in our lives today.Christ is coming for those who gainvictory over sin,who keep the commandments of God. Notjust to the externals as we heard thismorning, but God has so changed theirhearts that their heart is sold out forGod as well.They have now received the seal of Godupon their hearts and upon their heads.I was going to we're going to turn nowto that final seal of God, the finalseven,that is the seventh day as the seal ofGod.So, we read in the book of Revelation,and as Adventists, you're very familiarwith this prophecy, but I recognizethese days that when you preach, you'remostly preaching to non-Adventists justby virtue of the internet.And we can't make any assumptionsanymore. Used to be that you wouldpreach for a congregation like this andthere was no internet and you couldassume that most people understood someof the basic prophetic interpretationyou were talking about as an Adventistpreacher.

But now we're in a world wheremost of your listeners are not nativeEnglish speakersuh for one on the internet and numbertwo, they're not Adventists.So, that's why when we're preachingthese days and it goes on the internet,we have to go back to ground zero manytimes and explain things that manyAdventists are already aware of becausemany people who are going to watch thesesermons aren't going to know what we'retalking about otherwise.So, for those of you who understand whatI'm talking about, please bear with me.For those of whom this is new, praisethe Lord.Revelation chapter 13 talks about twobeasts that have a major end-time impacton world affairs. They act in harmony atthe end of time. There's a first beastthat comes out of the sea thatProtestants have identified, going backto Martin Luther and beyond, as beingthe papacy.And there is a second beast that appearsin that chapter, Revelation 13:11-18.And you see on the screen the text. Andthe Apostle John, he says this. He says,"Behold,I I beheld another beast coming up outof the earth.

And he had two horns likea lamb, and he spake as a dragon.And he exerciseth all the power of thefirst beast before him, and causeth theearth and them which dwell therein toworship the first beast, whose deadlywound was healed. And he doeth greatwonders, so that he maketh fire comedown from heaven on the earth in thesight of men.And deceiveth them that dwell on theearth by the means of those miracleswhich he had the power to do in thesight of the beast, saying to them thatdwell on the earth that they should makean image to the beast which had thewound by a sword and did live.And he had power to give life unto theimage of the beast, that the image ofthe beast should both speak and causethat as many as would not worship theimage of the beast should be killed.And he causeth all, both small andgreat, rich and poor, free and bond, toreceive a mark in their right hand or intheir foreheads. And that no man mightbuy or sell, save that he had the markor the name of the beast or the numberof his name. Here is wisdom. Let himthat hath understanding count the numberof the beast, for it is the number of aman, and his number is 666,or as people simply say, 666.And so, Adventists have look at lookedat this prophecy.

And as Adventists werestudying these prophecies in the early1840s, they came to the realization thatthis prophecy is talking about a globalpolitical power that's going to arise inthe earth. The text says, "I beheldanother beast coming out of the earth."And in Revelation 17, we see that theseas in prophecy represents the the thenations of the world. So, if this secondbeast arises out of the earth, asopposed to the seas, it's arising in arelatively uninhabited portion of theworld.And it had two horns,and it spoke as a dragon. So, it appearsto be apolitical power for peace,but it actually speaks with adomineering voice. It actually speaks asa dragon.Which means it speaks like Satan.Cuz the only dragon in the book ofRevelationis Satan, according to the passage.This is a nation that arises around theend of the 1260 years of papalsupremacy.

So, it arises around 1798,when the the Pope was taken prisoner bythe French Revolution. It arises in arelatively unpopulated area of theworld.It has no crowns on its horns, so it isnot a kingdom like the previous beastwe've seen in prophecy. This is arepublic.It would be a young nation,and that nation would rise to positionof globalpower and influence.And there is only one nation in historythat matches that description.It's the United States of America.That speaks that that appears as a lamb,but speaks as a dragon.And so, what is this nation going to doaccording to this prophecy?It's going to make an image to thebeast. The first beast in Revelation 13,the the papacy, is a union of church andstate.And in the Catholic Church, they havethe doctrine of two swords.The doctrine of two swords says that theword of God says thatandyou armed with the the sword of thespirit, which is the word of God. So,that's one in the armor of God.

And so,that the the teaching of the CatholicChurch is that the Bible is the sword ofthe spirit. And if the sword of thespirit does not fails to bring you intothe communion of the Catholic Church,then the sword of steel of themagistrate will compel you into thechurch. So, it's the doctrine of twoswords. And so, the Catholic Church isquite open about the need for compulsionto enter its ranks if you cannot bepersuaded through its interpretation ofthe scripture that is the sword of thethe sword of the spirit.And so,at the end of time, there's going to bea final crisis,and the key issue is worship.And you see it's in Revelation 13:4 and15 and Revelation 14:7. Three times thisconcept of worship comes up.Right the first passage, Revelation 13,says they worship the dragon, which gavepower unto the beast.

The dragon isSatan, which gave power to the beast,that is the papacy. And they worship thebeast, that is the papacy, saying, "Whois like unto the beast? Who is able tomake war with him?"And this is now talking about the secondbeast of Revelation 13, America. Says hehad power to give life unto the image ofthe beast, that is a union of church andstate, that the image of the beastshould both speak and cause that as manyas would not worship the image of thebeast should be killed.And God's response to this in the in thethree angels' messages, the firstangel's message says this.Says, "Saying with a loud voice, fearGod and give glory to him, for the hourof his judgment has come. And worshiphim who made the heaven, the earth, thesea, and the fountains of water."And so, in the final crisis, the issueis not going to bevaccinations for COVID.

It's going to bewho do you worship?And worship is not just about who youworship, but you worship the highestauthority in your life.So, the question in the pandemic was,"Who do you trust?Who's the highest authority in your lifethe last 4 years?"Do you trust the science, or do youtrust the Lord?And in the final crisis, once again, thequestion is going to be about worship.And it's not just who you who you prayto and who you sing praises to. It's whois the highest authority in your life.Is it going to be the creator of theuniverse,or is it going to be the earthlygovernments that are compelling falseworship upon the inhabitants of theworld?And so,this this beast,the second beast of Revelation, theUnited States, as he causeth all, bothsmall and great, rich and poor, free andbond, to receive a mark in their righthand or in their foreheads.This is known as the mark of the beast.And you parallel that with Revelation 7.Says, "I saw another angel ascendingfrom the east, having the seal of theliving God.And he cried with loud voice to the fourangels to whom it was given to hurt theearth and the sea, saying, 'Hurt not theearth, neither the sea nor the trees,till we have sealed the servants of Godin their foreheads.'" So, God's seal isplaced on people's foreheads.It's not placed on their hands.If it's on the forehead, it means thatyou are convinced of the matter, becauseGod is not a god of coercion.The mark of the beast goes on the headbecause some people are convinced of it,but also goes on the hand because theirhand has been forced into it.And so, you find coercion in the mark ofthe beast, but you only find free willand free conscience in the mark of theseal of God.And so, that is why as Adventists, wemust always stand for liberty ofconscience, for people to make a choicefreely for the creator of the universe,and never for coercion.And so, this is this is the contrast.You've got the mark in the hand or inthe forehead. This this is coercion.This is how the world operates. But Godinvites us to receive his seal in ourforeheads. That is to be convinced andconvicted through our own free will andthe exercise of reason under theinfluence of the Holy Spirit.And what is that seal?Well, the physical the tangiblemanifestation of that seal is actuallythe Sabbath day.Now, the passage goes, "Speak thou alsounto the children of Israel, Ezekiel 31,saying, 'Verily, my Sabbaths you shallkeep.

For it is a sign between me andyou throughout your generations, thatyou may know that I am the Lord thatdoth sanctify you. It is a sign betweenme and the children of Israel forever.For in six days the Lord made theheavens and the earth, and on theseventh day he rested and wasrefreshed.'"And so, um goes on Isaiah 56:6-7 talksabout this the Sabbath being the seal ofGod. Also, the sons of the stranger thatjoin themselves to the Lord to serve himand to love him in the name of the Lord,to be his servants, everyone thatkeepeth the Sabbath from polluting itand taking hold of my covenant, eventhem will I bring to my holy mountainand make them joyful in my house ofprayer. Their burnt offerings and theirsacrifices shall be accepted upon myaltar, for my house shall be called ahouse of prayer for all people.So, the Sabbath is linked with prayer.And the Sabbath is not linked withprayer just for people in New Zealand orAmerica. It's designed for it to be ahouse of prayer for all people.When Jesus cleansed the temple ofJerusalem, he quotes to this passagehere.You'veyou turned it into a den of robbers.

Myhouse is to be a house of prayer for allpeoples.And so, the Sabbath day is a tangibleexpression of our worship of God, but inthe Sabbath, because it's supposed to bea house of prayer, the Sabbath is a dayfor communion with God, for him tochange us from the inside out.It's not just I stop working for 24hours. Means I'm coming into thepresence of the living God to be changedand sanctified by his presence withinus.And so, as Adventists, we quote thispassage very often.God's God's response to the finalcoercion of conscience into falseworshipis to send forth three messages to theworld.The first message is this one. We'reWe're to drill down into a bit moredetail on this in on on Sabbath night.It says, "I saw another angel flying inthe midst of heaven having theeverlasting gospel to preach unto themthat dwell on the earth, to every nationand kindred and tongue and people." Thatis, God has a concern for everybody'ssalvation.There is no ethnic group, no tribalgroup, no racial group that God does notwant in his kingdom. That's wonderfulnews.And that message of mercy goes toeverybody equally.That God has a a concern and a love foreverybody in this room today andeverybody watching online. Doesn'tmatter where you come from, doesn'tmatter the color of your skin or yourpassport or your language, God isconcerned for your salvation.And those angels say with a loud voice,"Fear God and give glory to him for thehour of his judgment is come and worshiphim that made heaven and earth and thesea and the fountains of waters."And so,in the final analysis, when the mark ofthe beast is imposed and there aremandates placed on all of humanity tocoerce us into false worship,God still presumes in this passage herethat people still have the liberty ofconscience to respond to the firstangel's message.If people do not have liberty ofconscience at the end of time, then thismessage makes no sense.That is why we always stand for libertyof conscience in order that people mightpositively choose for their creator.And we don't accept any trampling ofconscience.Because once you've accepted theprinciple that you can trample onconscience, what you are saying is thisman or that organization can overridethe convictions of the third member ofthe Godhead, the Holy Spirit, upon thatindividual's conscience.And that is no no different toAntichrist being in the place of Christ,overriding what God would impress uponyour conscience.

And so, in this passagehere,we see that the proclamation of thefinal message of mercy to planet Earthassumes that everybody in every nation,kindred, tongue, and people can actuallychoose to fear God and give glory tohim.I want to encourage you, wherever youare in life,always uphold and respect individuals'liberty of conscience. They may not makethe decisions you want today,but in upholding their liberty ofconscience, affirming their right tomake the decisions they are making,um we are giving space in their life forthe Holy Spirit yet to convict them.Maybe when we're no longer in theirlife.You know, there was a man who wasbaptized in West Africa not so long ago.He was a Muslim.And uh we asked him, "So, how did youbecome an Adventist?" He said, "Well,"he said, "I had a school teacher when Iwas five and she was an Adventist."And um did did you become an Adventistthen? No.And then when I was about 25, I wasserving in the in the police and therewas another police officer, he was anAdventist and he was just very honestwhen all the other police officers werecorrupt. And did that make you anAdventist? No.And then finally, I needed to learn somepractical skills and I went into thisthis this electrical store run bymissionaries who were teaching localunemployed people and basic computerskills so they could find a job.

Andthey showed me such care and attentionafter that I became an Adventist.But that person had three touchpointswith Adventists in their spiritualjourney.And the the teacher may never know thatthat young Muslim boy became anAdventist. And the and the thenon-corrupt police officer who was anAdventist may never know that young manbecame an Adventist. But each one ofthem was a link in the chain of thatman's salvation.And that is why wherever we're talkingwith people, wherever we're sharing withpeople, we affirm the goodness, thecharacter of God, we affirm the libertyof conscience in that is our primordialright from the Garden of Eden. And theymay not make a decision today for JesusChrist, but in affirming their right toact as a moral being accountable totheir heavenly Father for all theirwords and their deeds, we are pointingthem towards the Savior and one day theHoly Spirit will reach the fruits oftheir lives.So, this Revelation 14 assumes libertyof conscience. People have the chance torespond to God.

So, in the finalanalysis, in the final crisis, in thewhen the final seven is out there, thatthe seal of God, the seventh daySabbath, I want to draw some comparisonshere between the experience of God'scommandment-keeping people and the lost.Cuz at the end of time there's twogroups of people.There's the righteous or the wicked.Those who keep the commandments of Godand those who are lost.So, here's some comparisons between thetwo. What is their sign in the finalcrisis?Well, God's commandment-keeping peoplereceive the seal of God upon theirforehead.That is expressed through our honoringGod through worshiping on the Sabbath.The Sabbath is a day of communion withGod. These are people who act in harmonywith the convictions of the Holy Spiritupon their consciencebecause there's no compulsion of thehand.The lost,they receive the mark of the beast. Theythey accept false coerced worship ontheir forehead because they're convincedof it or on their hand because they'recoerced into it.So, the lost include those who acceptcoercion of conscience.And the the saved include those who denythe possibility of coercion ofconscience.When we look at the characters,the the the character of the people, theGod's commandment-keeping God'scommandment-keeping remnant in the finalcrisis and the lost at the end of time,we see that in the final crisis, thecharacter the the God'scommandment-keeping remnant actuallyobey the commandments of God.The commandments of God are moral andthey are binding upon us today.Let no man say to you that God uh Christdid away with the law on Calvary.He did away with the charge sheetsagainst us, but not the law of God.We are to obey the commandments of God,that is the 10 commandments. As we'regoing to see tomorrow,in Catholicism, the commandments of Godare the lowest kind of of law that thereis.

They believe there is eternal law,there is natural law, there is positivelaw, and at the bottom there is divinelaw, the 10 commandments. And divine lawmust be changed if necessary to meet thedemands of the higher three kinds oflaw. We're going to explore that in abit more detail tomorrow.Um the lost, they they obey the mandatesof Satanvia the first and second beast ofRevelation chapter 13.God's commandment-keeping people, theircharacters at the end of time, theyworship the creator.And it's not just they sit in church,but they open their hearts to him.You know, as as as an Englishman, youknow, in England we're very restrained,you know, in our emotions.Uh in England, I've got to see a littlescar on my hand here. Cuz when littleboys are born in England, theysurgically remove our sense of rhythm aswell.There's not a lot left.Sometimes my finger twitches when themusic is going, but that's the surgeondidn't get it all out.Butwe tend to be very reserved.We tend to be reserved and sometimes ourworship is more like a funeral.Really.It's time for us to open our hearts toGod.And get come into his courts withthanksgiving and praise, genuinethanksgiving, gratitude for what he'sdone, and praise for who he is.So, I want to encourage you whether it'sin private worship or public worship,open your hearts to God.Pour out your heart to God. Hannahpoured out her heart to God.

Elithought she was drunk and he criticizedher for it. She said, "No, Lord, I'mjust talking with my creator."And she comes back next year with achild.Well, she has a child the next year. Godanswers the cries of that woman whopoured out her heart to God. She wasauthentic in her worship. The lost inthe final crisis final crisis, they donot worship the creator, but theyworship the beast and its image.The the God's commandment-keepingremnant at the end of time, there is nolie found in their mouths.They're honest.They don't accept false doctrine andthey don't speak falsehoods.The lost, they're quite happy to acceptthe lies of the false prophet ofRevelation 19:20.

And they're willing toaccept by conviction or by coercionfalse doctrine because they'd rather getalong to go along than stand up for whatis really true.The God's commandment-keeping remnant atthe end of time, they're undefiled withwomen.Revelation 14:4.And the lost are called cowardly,faithless, polluted, murderers,fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, andliars.And you can interpret this phrase in anumber of number of ways. He's God isnot saying that the saved at the end oftime are all virgins. He's not sayingthat. And if that were the case, thenthere'd be no woman who going to besaved at the end of time. All right?

So,we're not talking about the sexual sideof things here, but we are talking aboutthose who hold themselves back fromfalse doctrines.And who will not join the false that theharlot daughters of Babylon who arechurches teachingwho are filled with the wine of Babylonand teaching false doctrine.Their characters in the final crisis,God's commandment-keeping peopleRevelation 14:2, they have the faith ofJesus.And the lostdo not have the faith of Jesus.This is not just faith in Jesus, butthey have the faith that Jesus hadhimself in his heavenly Father. It'sboth a subjective genitive and anobjective genitive. That's how the howthe Greek grammar works on this. Butthey have faith in Jesus,but they also manifest the faith andtrust that Jesus had in his heavenlyFather.Then they have endurance.The ones who endures to the end shall besaved. The lost, however, are cowardly.They don't have endurance.

When troublecomes, they run.And however you responded to the lastfour years,maybe you ran. Maybe you had endurance.I don't know.But God's giving you another chancetoday to say, "Lord,but by the grace of your Holy Spiritfilling me today, I want to be in thisgroup here. I don't want to be in thatgroup anymore. I don't want to be afraidof what the world can do to me."God's commandment-keepingcommandment-keeping people in the finalanalysis, they conquer the beast, itsimage, and its number.But the lost make an image to the beastand they worship it.God's commandment-keeping people at theend of time are described as being fullyripe grain, filled with the Holy Spiritand showing the fruits of the HolySpirit in their characters.You know, when we talk about the um thethe the wheat and tares.Um the wheat and the tares are not justknown at the second coming of Christ,they're known at the close of probation,actually.That's when the division is completelyseparate. It's not You're not justwaiting for the second coming becausethe judgments of God fall upon the taresas well as the lost.So, that the decision is made by Godbefore the second coming of Christbetween the wheat and the tares.

And so,God is looking for a people whosecharacters manifest the character of theHoly Spirit.Which means that as a Christian, I'mnever satisfied with who I am and whereI am today.I'm always looking to grow inChrist-likeness.I'm never going to say, "This is who Iam, you got to accept it. Like it orlump it."No. A Christian gets up in the morningand say, "Lord, change me today. May Ibe a different man or woman who goes tobed tonight compared to the person whowoke up this morning. I'm asking you toshave those sharp edges off mycharacter.

I'm asking you to put memaybe through a fiery furnace. You know,I'm going through a fiery furnace in mylife right now. Won't go into thedetails here, but it is a fiery furnace.And you choose to either become betteror bitter.You make a choice every day.And then you learn what it means to bebitter and you learn what it means to bebetter. And you have to ask for theinfilling of the Holy Spirit every dayso that you go in the in the directionof Christ-likeness rather than inbecoming a beast.And so, persecution and going through acrucible isn't necessarily a bad thing.It's not something that you look for,but when it comes your way, it's not asign that God has abandoned you. Meanshe's refining you for a greater purpose.So, the lost are fully described inRevelation 14 as being fully ripegrapes.They are filled with demons and showingtheir wickedness and perversion in theircharacters.

So, as the the righteousshow the fruits of the Holy Spirit intheir characters, we read in thewritings of Sister White that the lostthey they are not just wicked, butthey've yielded their their minds tocontrol of demons. And so, in the finalcrisis, there will be those who arefilled with the Holy Spirit and thosewho are filled with demons.And so, we're going to see an upsurge ofdemonic violence at the end of time.Before Jesus Christ comes again, don'tbe surprised by this. It's not a signthis world has come is is falling apart,it's a sign that Jesus is coming soon.So, there will be more violence beforeJesus comes again.And it will be demonic violence of acruelty and level of of of horror thatis unimaginable to a a sane rationalmind. But that is what is coming uponour world.Their experience in the final crisis,let's move on from their characters totalk about their experience now, shallwe?The lot God's commandment-keepingremnant in the final crisis, their namesare in the book of life. Can I say,"Hallelujah" to that?That their names are in the book of lifeas the lost by by implication theirnames are not in the book of life,Revelation 17:8.

That's one list youwant to be on.I was told recently that there's a listin my home division of banned preachersand I'm the first and only person onthat list so far.Okay?And my response to that is, "Youngpeople, if you are faithful to God, oneday you'll make a list like that aswell."So,that You want your name in the Lamb'sBook of Life.God's commandment-keeping people at theend of time are unable to buy or sell.Sister White says that the problem ofbuying food will become particularlyacute.And so, when we talk about, you know,country living, there is a reason forthis.There is a reason that we learn to growour own vegetables.And when you grow a vegetable garden,you have two concerns, calories andnutrients. That's what it comes down to.And you need to think in your society,your culture, and your climate, whatvegetables give me the most calories persquare foot and what are the nutrients Ican grow in my part of the world. Andnot everybody can grow everything inevery part of the world.We need to be intelligent about what canI grow in my part of the world becauseone day the problem of buying andselling food will be particularly acute.And God's commandment peoplecommandment-keeping people will beunable to buy or sell, but the lost willbe able to buy and sell.God's commandment commandment-keepingpeople have the assurance that they areredeemed by God, Revelation 14:3.Redeemed means that he's bought you backfrom slavery to sin.You are no longer a slave to sin, you'renow a slave to righteousness.Ahab sold himself out repeatedly. If youread the story of Ahab and andand Naboth in his vineyard, Ahab soldhimself to do sin.And Naboth wouldn't sell his landbecause that was his heritageinheritance from the Lord. And so, howthey dealt with that land transactionwas a was a representation of theirspiritual state of mind.

Naboth was notgoing to sell the land because it washis inheritance from the Lord and Godsaid you must not sell the land. WhereasAhab had sold himself out to do sin, itsays it two or three times in thatchapter. Therefore, he's willing totransgress God's will. So, the righteousare redeemed by God, the lost remainenslaved to sin and to Satan.Enslavement meansyou're controlled by your fallendesires. You may actually be controlledby demons and fallen angels.Compulsive disorders,addictive behaviors,things you cannot escape from.Such people are enslaved to sin.It's the simple truth.And Jesus died on Calvary that we mightbe redeemed, that is bought back fromslavery to sin and slavery to Satan inorder that what we might become slavesto righteousness.

God'scommandment-keeping people have thetestimony of Jesus in their midst.That's the prophetic gift.You know, it's nice to have the spiritof prophecyas long as you're reading it.As long as you're studying it.If you're going to give a Bible study tosomebody,let's say on any of the parables, youshould be reading Christ's ObjectLessons as well as the parablesthemselves.Because the parables are described toare explained in Christ's ObjectLessons. If you're studying withsomebody on the Sermon on the Mount, youneed to be reading Thoughts from theMount of Blessing as well as the theactual text of the Sermon on the Mount.There are parallels all the way throughbetween the spirit of prophecy and thescripture. And so, God's people make useof the testimony of Jesus. And it meansthat when something they read somethingthat cuts across what they're doingtoday, instead of like, "Look, that'sinteresting" and putting up on theshelf, they say, "Maybe, Lord, I need tochange."Because as we are faithful in smallthings and obedient in small things, Godsees we can be trusted with greaterspiritual riches.The the lost, they quench the HolySpirit and the prophetic voice in thebody of Christ.The God's commandment peoplecommandment-keeping people calledservants of God,but the lost are deceived and enslavedby Satan. So, they're slaves of Satanwhereas we are servants of God.

And inJohn 15, we're no longer calledservants, but we're called friends ofGod.Their experience in the final crisis,they're called God's remnant inRevelation 12. The lost, they battleagainst God Almighty and thus they faceeternal judgment.God's commandment-keeping people at theend final analysis belong to the 144,000of Revelation 7. And the lost areconsidered as numerous as the sands ofthe sea in Revelation 28.God's commandment-keeping peopleexperience in the final crisis, theyescape the final plagues whereas thelost suffer under the final plagues, butGod's commandment-keeping people, theyendure Jacob's time of trouble while thelost are suffering under the finalplagues. This is not God punishing therighteous.This is God perfecting their charactersfor translation.Whereas the wicked suffer under thefinal plagues and they curse God in theprocess.God's commandment-keeping people havethe promise they'll be guests at theLamb's wedding supper.Revelation 19 has two feasts, thewedding supper of the Lamb in heaven.That's where the righteous go. And atthe end of that chapter, it talks aboutthe wicked when they're destroyed onplanet Earth, the birds of the air comeand feast upon their bodies.

There aretwo feasts in Revelation 19. You caneither be a guest at the Lamb's weddingsupper in heaven above with the saintsof old or the birds of the air are goingto feed upon your body at the at thesupper of God in Revelation 19:17-21.I know which feast I'd rather be at,wouldn't you?God's keep people have the promise theywill receive and they will share in thedominion and the governorship of theeternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. Whereasthe lost have the promise only ofpermanent and endless destruction.Their outcome in the final crisis,just a few things on this here.God's commandment-keeping people willcome out of end-time spiritual Babylon.That is, they're going to follow thetruth of scripture no matter where itleads.They're going to leave whateverdenomination they're part of, whateverreligion they're part of, in order tojoin with God's end-time remnant people.The lost just choose to remain and diein Babylon, probably because it's morecomfortable and socially convenient.The God's commandment people celebratethe fall of end-time Babylon. You findthat's in Revelation 19:1-8,uh the hymn of praise of the angels atthe fall of Babylon in Revelation 18.But the lost, they mourn the fall ofend-time Babylon and with all the wealththat it represents.The God's commandment-keeping peoplepraise God for his final judgments inthe wedding in the the song of Moses.Uh that parallels the story of theExodus when they've crossed the Red Sea.And the lost, they curse God for hisjudgments in the final plagues. God'scommandment people commandment-keepingremnant,their final outcome is they will singpraises to God in the presence of theLamb, that is Jesus Christ.

But the lostwill suffer torment in Lamb's presencebefore their final destruction.So, which group would you rather be apart of?Yeah?I mean,I even want my mother-in-law to be inthis group here.I don't want that for her.You know,God is not willing that any shouldperish. God is not willing that anyshould be in this column here.Therefore, we should not be willing thatany should be in that column, either.And if there's somebody that you'd behappy to be in that column there today,then God needs to work some surgery onyour heart.If God is not willing that any shouldperish, then neither should we bewilling that any should perish.So, those are the two groups at the endof time. We've gone through them ingreat detail.We've looked at three sevens. We lookedat the seven years of Nebuchadnezzar'smadness, at the end of which herecognizes the sovereignty of God in theaffairs of men.And we've seen that Nebuchadnezzar isalmost he's like a type of of Satan inmany ways. And then we looked at the theseventh millennia of of Earth's history,the great con- controversy.

And thereare approximately 6,000 years on Earthand seven what the seventh millennium inheaven above. We're at the end of those6,000 years.That means that Christ is coming soon.This is not date setting. It's simplysaying he's coming soon.I know his final crisis is almost uponus. And then the final seven talkedabout is the Sabbath as being the sealof God upon the forwards as we worshipGod with out of a out of love ratherthan out of compulsion. And the Sabbathis also time for communion with God, atime of prayer with God where Godwhereby God sanctifies us and changes usday by day into the character of Christ.It's not just a matter of not working onthe Sabbath.

The Sabbath is is the timewhere where God changes us more than anyother time in the week.And we should be looking for ourSabbaths to grow and to change um on aweekly basis. So, what are we saying inconclusion today?Well, as Seventh-day Adventists,this is our fundamental belief number13.And it says this, "The universal churchis comprised composed of all who trulybelieve in Christ,but in the last days, a time ofwidespread apostasy,a remnant has been called out to keepthe commandments of God and the faith ofJesus.This remnant announces the arrival ofhis judgment hour, proclaims salvationthrough Christ, and heralds the approachof his second advent. This proclamationis symbolized by the three angels ofRevelation 14. It coincides with thework of judgment in heaven and resultsin a work of repentance and reform onEarth.Every believer is called to have apersonal part in this worldwidewitness."Now, that's our fundamental belief. Itdoesn't mention the Seventh-dayAdventist Church, but it is talkingabout Seventh-day Adventists.It's talking about those who that finalremnantwho keep the commandments of God andhave the faith of Jesus.And as long as you keep the commandmentsof God and exhibit and have the faith ofJesus, you are included among thatremnant.And when we cease keeping thecommandments of God and we deny thefaith of Jesus, we lose that remnantstatus.It's not a guarantee.Okay?It's not once an Adventist, alwayssaved.This is a call to faithfulness to God ona moment-by-moment basis.And this group of people find theirnatural home in the Seventh-dayAdventist Church, but it's really amovement at the end of time.And this movement has a task to do.And that movement has does these things.They proclaim the arrival of thejudgment hour of God.We proclaim a salvation through Christand his righteousness.

We announce thesecond coming of Jesus Christ.And it coincides with the work ofrepentance and reform on Earth.A putting away of sinwhilst the heavenly judgment goes on inheaven above.I want to invite you today to think, "AmI in that group todayor am I not?"Maybe you're here today because somebodyinvited you and you're kind of curious.Maybe you're here today becauseum you've been brought by somebody else.Maybe you're an Adventist by socialconvenience cuz you've always beenraised an Adventist. You're afourth-generation Adventist. I'd saywe'll praise the Lord that you're hereeven if for those reasons.But I don't want you to leave this placean Adventist because of those reasons.I want you to leave this place asSeventh-day Adventist by convictionthat God has a faithful remnant in thelast days.Those remnant have two spiritualcharacteristics. They keep thecommandments of God and they have thefaith of Jesus Christ.And we're going to leave this place,this house of prayer, this camp meeting,asking God to give us the wisdom, theinsight, the conviction, the grace, andthe power so we can indeed keep thecommandments of God not just externally,but be so changed from the inside itbecomes our nature and our character.And to get to give us the gift of faith,the faith of Jesus Christ, that ourfaith in Jesus will put down deep rootsthan ever before and our trust in himwill shine out in every aspect of ourlives.That's my prayer for myself and it's myprayer for you.That when the world sees us, they maysee these difficult people.But when God sees us, he sees those whoare faithful commandment keepers whohave the faith of Jesus Christ.They're Seventh-day Adventists not justin name,by convenience, but by conviction and byhonest conversion.I want to be in that group, don't you?If you want to be in that group, let'sbow your head with me. We'll haveconclude with a word of prayer.Heavenly Father,I want to thank you that in Earth's lastdays, you've called a movement into thisworld.A movement drawn from every nation,tribe, language, and people.

Lord, wecall them Seventh-day Adventists, butthey have two characteristics, Lord.They keep the commandments of God on theinterior and on the exterior.And they have the faith of Jesus.And I pray, Heavenly Father,that your Holy Spirit will so fill eachone of us todayand so transform usthat as we leave this house of prayereven today, that we will be Adventist byconviction, by deep conviction, that ourlove for our Lord and Savior will burnbrighter and shine brighter than everbefore, that we will be putting downdeeper roots of faith in the word of Godso we may know how to live in these lasttroubled times.Father, we're asking today that we willbe counted among the righteous in thatfinal resurrection. We're asking say,Lord, that we will have a part to playin that final proclamation of mercy to adying and a corrupted world.I ask, Father, that as we live our liveshere in New Zealand and wherever we maybe watching this program for, thatwherever we may living, Lord, may peopleknow that there is a living God inIsrael and he saves to the utmost. Thathis arm is not so short that he cannotsave and his ear is not so dull that hecannot hear.And so we're asking today, Father, thatwe will once again be a movement soldout for love of God and for love of adying world.Father, work that miracle in each one ofus.Father, strip away the gods of thisworld and fill us alone with the worshipof the true and living God.We ask you these mercies in the name ofJesus, our Lord and soon-coming Savior.Amen.