The 1st Angel’s message | Dr. Conrad Vine

Um we’re going to be mostly be focused on Revelation chapter um 13 and 14 this

morning. And uh if you have your Bibles, if you want to follow me, you maybe want to open them to Revelation uh chapter

13. We’re going to be starting out our time together in this particular chapter. And so we’re going to go on a

journey today through uh the three angels messages. And as we begin um I’d

like to uh invite you to bow your heads with me and we invite the presence of our heavenly father. So shall we pray?

Our dear heavenly father, we thank you for the freedom we have to worship here.

Father, we thank you for the leaders of this church, uh, Pastor Sykes and brother Will who’ve made this Sabbath

possible. I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will descend upon us today in a powerful way. Lord, we would hear your

voice speaking to our hearts. Lord, we don’t come to hear preachers, but we come to hear the voice of Jesus. And so,

Father, I’m asking now that you still the voices of this world. Uh that you put aside from our minds the worries and

all the cares and the concerns that we’ve been carrying throughout this week. And Father, I pray that you’ll

replace that with a peace that passes all human understanding. And so Lord, as we bow our heads and as we open our

hearts, I pray that you will speak through me and for me that the words I speak will be from your throne of grace

and they will yield a harvest of righteousness in the heart and mind of everyone who hears these messages. In

the name of Jesus, we humbly pray. Amen. Amen. All right. So um our first uh first talk

uh sermon today is basically called the first angel’s message. And this is going to be um our journey today uh for our

first service. We’re going to first of all talk about Satan’s endtime attack on God’s people. We’re then going to look

at God’s end time offer. How does God respond to the end time attack upon the

world and upon God’s people in particular? And that in particular today will be the first angel’s message. Then

we’ll look at the other two angels messages in our next two services. So, um, have you noticed, um, the Epstein

files in the news recently? It’s all over the place. Yes.

And it’s was almost with every passing day, you realize that we are plumbing new depths of depravity.

It’s not just child trafficking. Uh, we’re now talking about child sacrifice

and the eating of children and drinking of their blood. And we’re also talking about the torture of children to

increase the adrenaline in their blood before the the elites of our world are going to drink it. And as I’ve been

looking through some of the news reports on the Epstein files, what has struck me is the fact that we have a global elite

class in our world today uh who know no restraints on their fallen desires. And

they have they basically yielded themselves over to Satan and his control. And we are we’re talking about

some of the world’s top bank owners and bankers, some of the world’s top politicians, some of the world’s most

powerful media magnates, social media giants, corporate industry giants, and

so forth. And I realize that there is a class of people in our world today who operate outside of any moral boundaries

and operate outside of any legal parameters and they’re not accountable to anybody. despite all the stuff that’s

come out, nobody, it seems, is going to be arrested or charged with any of these horrific crimes and you realize that

among the elites of our world today, Satan is playing a very direct and active role.

And these Epstein files are pulling back the the the wool over our eyes and helping us realize that Satan is as a

roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We read in the in the book of Revelation

12 and verse 12 that Satan is angry at being cast out of heaven and he’s come

down to earth with great wrath because he knows that his time is short. And Jesus was clear with the disciples in ma

Matthew 7 and Mark 12 and 13 that false prophets would arise and seek to deceive

in the even the very le of God. And Paul makes it clear to us that false teachers

would arise from within the ranks of the faithful in Acts 20:29. And John made it

clear in his first epistle chapter 2 that the spirit of antichrist was already developing and growing in the

time of the early church. And so if we just take a brief overview of scripture, we realize that Satan is working to

destroy all that is good on planet earth. He’s working to destroy the followers of Christ. Satan is trying to

destroy the image of God in these small children who’ve been trafficked and kidnapped and had ver vile things done

to them. Satan works through demons. He works through natural disasters. He

works through false teachers. He works works through false messiahs, through false prophets. He works through godless

earthly powers. And he works through rulers that know not God but follow their fallen desires. And when we look

at the scriptures, we realize that in the final crisis, there is going to be a

counterfeit godhead counterfeiting all that God says and does. And we see this

in this in in Revelation uh uh chapter 13 in particular. So, Revelation 12,3

and 14 are the heart of the book of Revelation. And they describe the final crisis between good and evil. And so,

Revelation 12 gives us a panoramic overview of the fact that there was war in heaven and Satan was cast out of

heaven and now there is a war being waged on planet earth against the saints of God. That’s what Revelation 12

teaches us in summary. Revelation 13 then describes how Satan attacks the

church of God uh through the dragon, through the sea beast, and through the land beast. We’ll come into those in a

bit more detail in a few moments. And then Revelation 14 describes how God

responds to these attacks by Satan. So Revelation 12 is the overview. There is

a war between good and evil. And we see it on the streets of our cities. We know about that war with good and evil in our

own hearts as well. Revelation 13 is how Satan attacks God’s people. And

Revelation 14 is God’s response to this world as it comes under satanic attack.

And so, uh, within this within this, um, this broader picture we’ve just painted here, um, Satan, uh, there’s there’s an

unholy or a counterfeit godhead that is attacking the saints of God. Now, the first member of that unholy godhead is

the dragon of Revelation 12 and Revelation 13 and verse one. And this

dragon figure in Revelation 12, he’s associated with the serpent in the Garden of Eden. And the scripture in

Revelation 12:9 calls him the devil. and Satan. And that dragon figure, he shares

his authority with the land beast and with the sea beast. So the dragon

appears to be the the counterpart to the play the part played by God the father in the great controversy between good

and evil. But I want to focus right now on the sea beast and the land beast itself. Revelation 13:1

says this. It says they got an image there of Revelation 12. uh the woman and

the dragon and there’s a pregnant woman there and uh the pure church through time under attack by Satan and uh but

when we come to Revelation 13 and verse one um this is what the text says. It

says um and I saw a beast rising out of the sea having 10 horns and seven heads

and on its horns were 10 diadems and on its heads were blasphemous names. So

this is what we like to call as Adventists the sea beast. And we normally identify this historically with

the papacy itself. Now when you look at the description of this, we have a beast with seven heads and 10 horns. And we

ask ourselves, have we seen that before? And the answer is, oh yes, we have. In Revelation 12, um we see there that um

the dragon is described um in verse three has a great red dragon with seven

heads and 10 horns. And so this sea beast looks like the dragon. He has

seven heads and he has 10 horns. In John 14:9, Jesus says this, “If anyone has

seen me, he has seen the father.” And so when we look at the sea beast, we

see that the sea beast resembles the dragon in the same way that Christ resembles the his heavenly father. If

you see Christ, you’ve seen the father. If you see the sea beast, you’ve seen the dragon. They both have seven heads

and 10 horns. And so there is a clue here that this sea beast is a

counterfeit for Christ himself. Just as the dragon plays the opposite role to God the father, the Satan against God in

the great controversy. Revelation 13 and:e 2 goes on to say this

after and the beast that I saw was like a leopard and its feet were like a bears and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth

and the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.

This verse tells us that the sea beast receives his authority from the dragon reminding us of what Jesus taught us in

Matthew 28:18 where Jesus said, “All authority has been given me in heaven

and in earth.” Who did Jesus receive his authority from? From his heavenly father. And so the sea beast receives

his authority from the dragon. If the dragon is a counterfeit for God the Father, then the sea beast is

increasingly appearing to be a counterfeit for Jesus Christ himself in this unholy godhead that attacks the

saints of God at the end of time. The next verse, Revelation 13:3 says this.

It says, “One of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In

amazement, the whole earth followed the beast.” And so this passage here uh the apostle

pon apostle John doesn’t want us to miss an important part about this the counterfeit ministry of the sea beast in

revelation 138 it describes Jesus Christ it says there and all the inhabitants of

the earth will worship it that is the sea beast and everyone whose name has not been found written from the

foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb that was slaughtered. Now, I’ve put it up there in in in red

on the screen there. You see it there. That that phrase, the one that has been slaughtered is exactly the same phrase,

and that refers to Jesus Christ. It’s exactly the same phrase in the Greek as

one of the heads of the sea beast received a death flow. It’s the same word that’s used.

What does that tell us? It tells us that just as Jesus was slaughtered from the foundation of the

world and he rose again, so this sea beast experiences a death or appears to

experience a death and then faces its own resurrection. So again, this sea beast is starting to appear more and

more like a counterfeit to Jesus Christ. Jesus received his authority from his father. The sea beast receives its

authority from the dragon. Um, if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the father. If you’ve seen the sea beast, you’ve seen

Satan. Uh you see that uh Jesus was slaughtered from the foundation of the world, but he had a resurrection. And

this sea beast also has be looks like it’s being slaughtered as well. It’s the same verb being used in the Greek here.

So the sea beast experiences a death and then a resurrection as did Jesus Christ.

And then Revelation 13:4 it says there they worshiped the dragon for he had

given his authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast and who can fight against

it. Now this passage has the phrase who is like the beast which is almost identical to one of the names for Jesus

which is Michael which means who is like unto God. And so once again we see that

that the sea beast is almost a mirror image of Jesus Christ. Uh who one name

is for Jesus is Michael who is like unto God. And this phrase who is like the sea beast is a very very um it’s almost a

parallel phrase that is being used. And then in Revelation 13:5 we see that the

sea beast um was given authority for a certain period of time. Revelation 13

and5 it says this. This sea beast was given a mouth uttering horty and blasphemous words and it was allowed to

exercise authority for how long? 42 months. Now we understand as

Adventists that the primary way of interpreting this 42 months is a period

of 1260 days which corresponds to the three uh time times and half a time and

the 1260 days of papal supremacy from 538 to 1798 AD. We understand that

because in in the apop apocalyptic prophecy a day equals a year of real

time. We understand this as Adventists. But if you look at this from another perspective, how long was the ministry

of Jesus Christ on planet Earth? 3 and 1/2 years. It was from fall AD27

to Passover AD.31. It’s a period of 3 and 1/2 years. And so, uh, this sea

beast, um, receives its authority from the dragon as Jesus received his authority from the father. If you see

the sea beast, you see the dragon. If you see Jesus, you’ve seen you’ve seen our heavenly father. Um the the the one

of the names for Christ is who is like unto God. And this phrase about the sea beast is who is like unto the dragon

unto this beast. And uh Jesus was slaughtered from the foundation of the world and has a resurrection. And this

sea beast looks like it’s being slaughtered as well. And now we find that Jesus had a literal ministry of 42

months on planet Earth. And this sea beast has 42 months of authority time given for it to reign in authority over

the world. So in essence, while the dragon is a counterfeit of God the father, the sea beast is a counterfeit

for God the son. The sea beast walks, looks and talks like Jesus Christ, but

is really a perversion of everything that Jesus stands for. And that sea beast is, we know, the papacy, a

blasphemous power that is strictly speaking the antichrist of prophecy. And

so it’s not surprising that the antichrist looks in so many ways like the true Christ himself, Jesus of

Nazareth. And so then we come to verse 11. We’re moving on here to the sea beast. Uh sorry, the land beast. And the

land beast, it says this. It says, “Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and

it spoke like a dragon.” Now in the book of Revelation, the word lamb appears 29

times. 29 times the word lamb appears in the book of revelation and 28 of those

times refer to Jesus Christ. The only time in the book of revelation

that the word lamb appears that does not refer to Jesus Christ is here in Revelation 13:11. This uh se lamb beast

that had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. And I’ve often asked myself um lambs don’t have horns

as far as I know. Um, lambs don’t have horns. And so there

is something strange about this creature. Um, my my uncle used to raise

uh raise sheep in Ireland on the family farm. And uh during lamming time, you go

to the lamming shed and lots of little lambs are coming out and I can tell you lambs are cute little animals. They

don’t really have horns. But this beast, it seems a lot like

Jesus Christ. So why then would we say that this land beast is a counterfeit for the Holy

Spirit? Well, in John 14:16, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit

would come as quote another comforter. Now, there are two words for another in

the Greek language. There is heteros. We get the word heterosexual from that.

The word heteros means another but of a different kind. So male and female, it’s

another but of a different kind. heterosexual. But there’s another word and this is the word that Jesus uses in

John 14:16. He uses the word alon which means another but of the same kind.

So Jesus was the first comforter and the holy spirit is the second comforter.

But if Jesus is not present with his disciples then he will send the holy spirit to be with his disciples. The

holy spirit was not the original comforter that is Christ himself. But the work of the Holy Spirit was to

replace the direct activity of Jesus in the lives of disciples. And the Holy Spirit work is modeled on that of Jesus.

And he operates on behalf of Jesus. Which is why in Revelation 13:12, we’re reading about this land beast. It says

it exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf. And it makes

the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound had been healed. And so the land beast is

not interested in promoting itself, but his purpose is to advance the power and the interests and the prominence of the

sea beast. And likewise, the Holy Spirit does not promote himself, but glorifies

Jesus and points us to Jesus and brings to our remembrance the words that Christ has spoken in the gospels. So the land

beast relates to the sea beast in the same way that the Holy Spirit relates to Jesus Christ.

The next verse, Revelation 13:13, um, says this. It says, “It performs

great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of

all.” Now, we ask ourselves, did the Holy Spirit ever bring fire down from heaven? Yes, he did. Um, Acts chapter 2

at Pentecost, the tong tongues of fire settled on the heads of those disciples as they were praying in that upper room.

And uh it was the greatest and most powerful act of the Holy Spirit up until that time. And so when this verse here,

Revelation 13:3, it speaks about the land beast bringing down fire from

heaven, this is a counterfeit for what the Holy Spirit did at Pentecost. If the

Holy Spirit brings down fire upon the heads of the disciples, um this this uh land beast makes fire come down from

heaven to earth in the sight of all. And uh we ask ourselves, is this possible?

Well, I’ve been a missionary for many years in many countries. And I’ll tell you this. Um in West Africa, there are

shamans who can call down fire from heaven. Literally, this is real.

Uh shamans are um individuals who are so in touch with the occult that they don’t

just see the physical world, but they see the spirit world as well. In 2 Kings chapter 5, when Gahhesi comes

up and he sees the armies of Syria around the city of Dothan, Elisha comes

up and Gahhesi is scared. He all he sees is the armies of Syria coming to attack

them. And Elisha says, he says, he prays, “Oh Lord, open his eyes that he

he may see that there are more with us than against us.” And he says, “The Lord, open the eyes of the servant.” And

he saw that the hills were alive with with horsemen and chariots of fire. Remember that story? Now Elisha didn’t

say, “Oh Lord, open my eyes that I may see.” Elisha said, “Open his eyes that

he may see.” By implication, Elisha knew that those horsemen and chariots of fire

were out there. He knew they were there, but the servant couldn’t see them. And um our missionaries when I was serving

with AFM, they would tell me stories of how um if a missionary arrived in town, a shaman would want to demonstrate their

fat power and they would call down bolts of lightning to strike that missionary from heaven.

And uh there was a young lady from uh from Europe came. She was coming from a very secular background. She was an

Adventist. And when she first arrived in one of those countries uh she didn’t believe it was Benin, which is really

the home of voodoo. as she didn’t believe that the shaman could actually call down lightning from heaven.

And so a more experienced missionary says, “Well, I’ll be praying for you as you walk home tonight.” And as she

walked back to her home in the village, bolts of lightning were coming down and striking the feet the ground 50 ft to

her right and to her left, but nothing touched that young lady.

So the ability to call down fire from heaven is a satanic ability. when Elijah

was on Mount Carmel and he said, “We’re going to have a test here.” First Kings 18, he says, “The prophets of Baal call

down fire from heaven and if Ga Baal provides fire, let him be God. And I’m going to call on Jehovah to send down

fire. And if Jehovah sends down fire, let Jehovah be God.” And all the people said, “That’s a crazy test that could

never happen.” Is that what they said? Absolutely not. The people said, “That’s a good test. We’re going to stand and

watch and see what happens.” Why? because they knew the power of bail. They knew this could be done. The people

did not say that’s a ridiculous test. Imagine if if a nominating committee,

the board couldn’t decide who who was going to be, let’s say, the head elder as a hypothetical example. And so, we’re

going to stand in front of the church and say, “Well, let this pre elder pray for fire to come down from heaven and

burn this loaf of bread. Let this elder pray. And whoever calls down fire from heaven, let him be the head elder.” we’d

most likely say that’s a ridiculous way of deciding who the head elder is going to be. Wouldn’t you agree? Yes. But when

Elijah said, “Whoever calls fire down from heaven, let that let that that be God,” everybody said it’s a good test

because they knew the powers of the forces of darkness. And those powers are in our world today.

And in the Epstein files, we’re seeing that the elites in our nation, judges,

social media magnates, industrial giants, politicians, bankers, are

actively engaged in the worship of Satan. It’s not a Christian nation if our

elites are engaged in the worship of Satan and they can get away with it with all the human carnage that goes with it.

And so this land beast which is a representation of America we see in this

passage here it has satanic power

and we’re seeing that our elites are connected with Satan in a very very personal way with the release of the

Epstein files. Why does Satan bring down fire from heaven through the land beast which is a

counterfeit for the Holy Spirit? Revelation 13:14 tells us why.

It says by the signs it is allowed to perform on behalf of the uh im on behalf of the beast that

is the sea beast. It deceives the inhabitants of the earth. That’s the key point. Deception. Satan is looking to

deceive the inhabitants of the world. He’s looking to deceive me. He’s looking to deceive you. How many people here

today have noticed an upsurge in AI videos on the internet? Yes. Are we

seeing AI videos that look really credible and you have to think long and hard before you think is this real or is

it not real? Absolutely. Um it’s it’s uh now um kidnappers

they’re using AI and they’ll get your voice off the internet and then they will use AI and then they that it’ll

they’ll you’ll get a phone call from what you think is your spouse saying please could you send money to such and such an account or I’ve been kidnapped

would you please send money here and it’s an AI manif representation of your voice but it sounds to you like your

spouse or your child I mean it’s getting devilishly sophisticated these days we’re reaching the point that unless

you’re going to tell me to my face, I’m not going to believe anything. And why

we why do we have this so much deception? Well, Satan is trying to deceive the elect of God. We know that elsewhere in scripture. But also, if you

don’t know what you can trust, it means you’re not going to trust in anything.

If you think that everything is potentially a lie, it means you’re not going to commit to anything. And so the

way that Satan erodess faith and trust in the world is by spreading so much deception that nobody knows what to

believe. And because nobody wants to be deceived, nobody’s going to commit to anything or anyone in particular. And so

the erosion of trust actually destroys the the means for society to exist.

And so we have here um Satan’s final deception. uh his

attack on the saints of God will be through counterfeiting, through deception, and coercion to deceive the

very elect of God. And so, if we’re going to look at a summary of what we looked at thus far, this little chart on

the screen tells us that in the final crisis, there is a counterfeit uh godhead um that is seeking to deceive

the elect of God. On the one hand, you have a counterfeit appearance of Satan. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 we and um we

read there about um the the appearance of Satan, the paracia of the man of evil

and that’s going he will be destroyed by the appearance of Christ. The same noun is used the paracia. So Satan is going

to counterfeit the coming of Christ and it’ll be a counterfeit on the right hand side of the screen for the true

appearance of Jesus Christ. We see that Satan um has a counterfeit message for human for humanity through three fallen

angels. In Revelation 16, in the sixth of the final seven plagues, we read that

Satan sends forth four um three fallen spirits like demons and their message is

to gather the nations of the world to do battle against God Almighty. So God sends forth three angels to call people

to the true worship of God. And Satan sends forth three demonic beings to gather the nations to do battle against

God. You following the thing here? And then the next thing in this we have a counterfeit ministry of Jesus Christ um

by Satan and we have a true ministry of Jesus Christ. And if you just turn in your Bibles, I don’t have this on the

screen here, but if you turn in your Bibles to Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians

chapter 2 and verse 9, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 9.

And it describes there the appearance of Satan at the end of time to deceive the

nations of the world. Now the book great controversy talks about this and it says that Satan is going to be on the one

hand he’s going to be causing natural disasters all around the world and then on the other hand he’s going to appear

in person and say these natural disasters are called because of the commandment keepers of God and in order

to stop these natural disasters we all have to worship on the false day of worship which is the first day of the

week. And so this this 2 Thessalonians 2 describes this appearance of Satan. And it says there verse 9 um if you look at

the the last verse word of verse 8 is his coming. Do you see that his coming?

That’s referring to the coming of Christ. But the first verse of verse 9, 2 Thessalonians 2 refers to the the

appearance of or the the coming of Satan. Because the first words of chapter 2 and verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians

says, “The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan who

uses all power, signs, and lying wonders.” Now, just keep those three

words in your minds. Powers, signs, and lying wonders. Then turn over to Acts chapter 2 and look at how Peter

described the ministry of Christ at Pentecost. Acts chapter 2 and verse 22,

the Apostle Peter, he says there, Acts chapter 2 and verse 22, he says, “You that are Israelites, listen to all that

I have to say, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of

powers, wonders, and signs.” And so Jesus had a ministry of powers, wonders,

and signs. And Satan has a ministry of powers, signs, and lying wonders. So the

the the appearance of Satan and his ministry at the end of time, it will look like the ministry of Jesus Christ,

the same kind of miracles that Jesus performed. But the the only difference between the ministry of Satan and the

ministry of Christ is that Satan is is is a lying ministry. It’s a deceiving ministry. Jesus is power signs and

wonders. Satan is power signs and lying wonders. Which is why in Romans chapter 10:1 16,

faith comes through the hearing of the word of God, not through the performance of miracles.

Faith comes when God works on the human heart. Faith comes through the hearing of the word of God. And that’s what we

read in Romans 10 verse 145 and 16. The faith does not depend on the performance

of miracles because you don’t know who performed that miracle. when missionaries go to India and and

somebody says I have a dying child would you pray for my child what we used to say to our missionaries when I was with

AFM was um no you don’t automatically pray for that child you ask the family

have you already done puja in the Hindu temple have you performed the healing rituals

to Kali or Ganesh or Vishna yes I have well in that case I’m not

praying for your child why because our god is a jealous god and he does not share his glory with anybody

And if I pray to Jesus and you pray to Vishnu and that child is healed, who gets the glory?

And so Satan has a ministry at the end of time of powers, sign, and lying wonders. And that’s a counterfeit

ministry to the ministry of Christ, which was powers, sign, and wonders. It means don’t base your faith on miracles.

Don’t ba don’t lose your faith because God does not work a miracle for you, a miracle of healing. For instance, if a

member of your family is sick, that’s not a reason to lose your faith because faith is not based on physical miracles.

And so we have here a counterfeit ministry of Jesus Christ by Satan. And

we have a true ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. We have a counterfeit trinity in Revelation 13, Satan, the the

land beast and the sea beast. And we have the the true Godhead in the scriptures. You have a counterfeit for

the father in revelation 13:1 rep that’s the Satan um the dragon and he is the

counterfeit for our heavenly father the the sea beast is a counterfeit for God the son for Jesus Christ and the the

land beast is a counterfeit for the holy spirit and uh the latter rain that we

had to pray for in Joel chapter 2 and Zechariah chapter 10 the latter rain that will bring the harvest to fruition

before Jesus comes again will have a satanic counterfeit which is the fire coming down from heaven from the sea

beast at the end of time. So at the end of time, don’t believe the evidence of your own eyes.

Just because it’s on CNN or Fox doesn’t mean it’s true. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t believe it doesn’t mean

it’s true. George Washington in his last will, he gave a warning to America. He said, “Don’t believe everything you read

on the internet.”

So faith comes through the hearing of the word of God. Amen. Amen. And if we are to withstand these final

deceptions which are designed to strip you of eternal life,

we need to spend time as individuals in the word of God. We’re not here today as Adventists.

We’re not sitting in this church. I hope because our parents want us here or because our spouse wants us here or

because maybe we hope to find a spouse. I don’t know. I noticed that young people go through

three phases when they’re growing up. The first phase is who shall I marry? The second phase is who will marry me?

The third phase will anybody marry me? So people tend to go through those three phases when they go to go as they’re

growing up. Um my father was a pastor in Dublin and he was living on basically bags of fish

and chips which is a traditional like working-class diet in England and the conference president came and see me and

said pastor Vine says if you don’t marry you’re going to starve to death and so my father had to go and marry and that’s

what he did and uh and so forth. So anyway, um I’m not sure why I I gave

that little nugget from my my past, but the point about this is is that there is a deception coming upon this world that

will it is seeking to deceive the elect of God. That means that Satan has you in his sights.

And what Satan is wanting to strip from you is the gift of eternal life.

Now, when you’re 16, you think that life goes on forever. When you’re 18, you think that lives go

life goes on forever. When you hit about 30 and your body starts to tip off the cliff a bit, you start to realize that

life is kind of short. Then you turn 40 and you start to discover you’re supposed to have annual certain times of

medical tests. Then you turn 50 and the doctor says, “Brother Vine, now the time has come is need to have you need to

have a certain test every couple of years.” And you start to dread going to them of your medical because the doctor

keeps saying, “Brother or so and so, the time has come. it’s time for you to start having this procedure or that

procedure. We need to start monitoring your PSA level or whatever the thing may be at the time. And the older you get,

the the faster you realize that life goes by. Amen. And the psalmist says, “Teach us the

brevity of our days that we may gain wisdom.” That once we realize that time is short,

we seek not for material goods, but for heavenly wisdom.

And there’s a tipping point in life. Young people don’t quite have that wisdom yet. But as you go through life

and you know you my wife and I, my my son was born when I was 30 and when he

turned 20 I turned 50. I thought where did the last 20 years go? Because when

you have children like time goes to fast forward or double fast forward or warp speed and you look back at those 20

years you think I wish I could have all those 20 years again. And the point about this is that as the older you get,

the more precious eternity becomes. And what Satan is trying to strip from

you and from me is the gift of eternal life. And eternal life is such a precious

gift. It is beyond our wildest imaginations. I hath not seen, nor have

they heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for those that love him. what

God has prepared for his children’s beyond our wildest imaginations and Satan is desperate to stop us from

getting it because he knows that he’s already lost it. So when we look at this assault by Satan

in in the in the dragon and the sea beast and the land beast, they’re a counterfeit for God the Father, God the

Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We realize that we are fighting a battle against

overwhelming forces. And so, how does God respond?

How does God respond? Well, what is God’s end time appeal? God responds to these final deceptions with three

messages of mercy to a dying world. There are three messages of mercy to a dying world. We’re just going to look

right now at the first message. Our next two services, we look at the other two messages. But the first message,

Revelation 14, uh, 6-7. If you want to go, if you want to follow in your Bibles, feel free. We’re going to be

staying mostly in this passage for the rest of our this this season together. But Revelation 14 6 and 7, it says this.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel to proclaim to those who live on

the earth to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory for

the hour of his judgment has come. and worship him who made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the springs of

water. This is God’s first message of mercy to a world that’s under satanic

attack. And what do we say about this? Well, this prophecy found its initial

fulfillment in the years 1840 to 44, what we now call the Millerite movement.

There was the great advent movement that announced the soon return of Jesus Christ to planet Earth. And the response

around the world was incredible. All around the world, there was an upsurge of interest in Bible prophecy. And in

many parts of the world, Bible study groups were formed in the highest and lowest areas of of society. And people

were caught up with the idea that Jesus Christ is returning soon. And it had a profoundly positive impact on many

people’s lives. I mean, the idea that Jesus is going to come in the clouds of glory and he’s

going to come for those who are in the lamb’s book of life and those who are not in the lamb’s book of life will be

destroyed by the glory of his coming. If that doesn’t change your life, I don’t know what will.

But Jesus is coming for his own and anybody can be found in the lamb’s book of life. Nobody is beyond the reach of

God. And so there was an incredible response to the the proclamation of the

first angel’s message. The first angel is God’s response to all these attacks by the counterfeit godhead, Satan, sea

beast, and lambbeast. And the text says, the text calls it, I put it up in red there, um, another angel flying in the

midst of the heaven. So this angel is a response to Satan and his deceptions um

and indicates that this is God’s last message of mercy from God himself. The angel is flying in the midst of heaven

and he has a message that says to every nation, tribe, language and people.

Now in chapter 13, the um the sea beast

we read there the counterfeit for Christ. It says it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

It was given over authority over every tribe and people and language and nation.

So the sea beast, the papacy has authority over every tribe, nation,

language, and people. Those four things. And in response, God sends his first

angel. And that angel has a message for every tribe, nation, language, and

people. Which means wherever Satan has his fingers, these messages from God are

going to reach. that whichever tribe or nation Satan thinks is his, God has a message for

that tribe or that nation or that people. That wherever evil has reached,

goodness is going to reach as well. Wherever the claims of Satan have taken root, the call of mercy from God is also

going to be heard. That nobody at the end of time is going to nobody’s going to be lost because they they didn’t have

a chance to hear God’s final message of mercy. You know, many years ago, President Bush signed an act of Congress

called the No Child Left Behind Act. Remember that? Well, this is more important. This is the No People Group

Left Behind Movement from God Above. That there is be no tribe on planet Earth that God does not wish to be

saved. It’s a rebuke to all forms of racism. God values every tribe, every

language, every tongue, and every people. And God is not willing that any should perish from any of the tribes,

languages, and peoples, and groups upon planet Earth today. that wherever Satan has his reach there, God is reaching

into that family as well. If Satan has reached into your family, then this message of mercy is for you as well.

Into a world that is broken, into a world that is under so much oppression, in a world of injustice and cruelty and

demonic activity, God says, “I’m going to I’m going to have my message of mercy is going to reach wherever Satan his

fingerprints are. They’re going to hear the voice of God as well.” And I praise God for that because no

matter how broken my or your life may be today, you’re here today in part to hear

just as one thing, which is that God has a message of mercy and hope for you. No matter what Satan has done to your

family, no m what no matter what Satan may have done to your people in the past, from whatever part of the world

we’re from here today, no matter what Satan may have done to your marriage or to your body or to your children, there

is a God of mercy who’s reaching out to you today. And these messages of mercy are for you if for nobody else.

That nobody is to be left behind in the eyes of God. I am so grateful we serve a

God of mercy. This final message of mercy is not just for unbelievers. Is

not just for those who are worldwide under the control, the authority and the deceptions of Satan and his beasts.

These messages of mercy um are for every inhabitant of planet earth. And as Satan’s deceptions at the end of time

are worldwide, so God’s final offer of mercy is also worldwide. Sister White

comments on this and uh she says there, okay, I’ve put the two texts side by side. There you have this is the sea

beast. It was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people,

language and nation. And in response, God sends them this first angel of the three angels to every nation, tribe,

language, and people. That is, God hasn’t forgotten you. He knows what you’ve been through. He

knows what Satan’s done to you. He knows the deceptions you’re living under. He knows the curses your people may be

under. But God still sends these angels with a message of mercy to you.

He knows his own. He knows what his children have been suffering. And so, Sister White talks about this in six

testimonies. She says there, “Nothing of human invention must be allowed to this work.” Amen.

Why are we here today is because for the last 2,000 years,

faithful gospel witnesses have told the story of Jesus.

You think of Simon ofSirene in North Africa. You think of Barnabas who we think went

to India. We think of Cornelius in Jopa. We think of Paul in Rome. We think of

the Ethiopian unic carrying the gospel into the heart of Africa. in that first generation and from those early am am am

am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am ambassadors of Christ the gospel spread from generation to generation all around the world and we are here today because

somebody somewhere passed on the message of Jesus Christ and my prayer is that the message of

Jesus Christ will not stop with us in this congregation but it will flow through this congregation to our

neighborhoods so when it says every nation tribe language and people it means every subdivision every district

in the Atlanta metro area that God’s purpose is for all people in Atlanta to

be saved, not just for those sitting here today. And it’s our privilege to announce good news to a world that is

dying for want of a savior. And so the the passage goes on here.

You see it’s highlighted in red on the screen there. This angel bears the eternal gospel or

the everlasting gospel. It’s the same gospel that was proclaimed in Eden. The promise of one who would

crush the serpent’s head. It’s the gospel that was proclaimed throughout the Old Testament prophets then by the

apostles. That gospel is to be proclaimed in God’s end time appeal. And

what is that gospel? It is the good news about Christ’s birth, his ministry, his teachings, his love for sinners, his

death on Calvary, his resurrection from uh from the dead, his ascension to heaven, his ministry in the heavenly

sanctuary, and his soon return for his own. All whose names are found in the Lamb’s book of life. And this angel who

goes to every nation, tribe, language, and people fulfills the promise of Christ who said in Matthew 24:14, “This

gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end shall

come.” So the proclamation of the first angel’s message is a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus of Matthew 24:14.

And so the the text says for inde uh if you look at Hebrews 4 um verse two and

the first part of that verse Paul talks to the the Jewish Christians and he said the good news came to us just as to

them. Now some people today say that the God of the Old Testament is different to the God of the New Testament or they say

the gospel in the Old Testament times was different to the gospel in New Testament times. But the apostle Paul

says here that the same gospel came to us that is in apostolic times as was

preached to them. What he’s referring to is what happened at Mount Si that the law of God is an integral part of the

gospel message. The gospel includes the promise of redeemer found in Genesis 3:15. It was

proclaimed at Mount Si with the giving of the law which points towards the lawgiver. It was preached by both Jesus

and the apostles. The gospel is of a sinner loving, place-taking, sinbearing,

guilt pardoning, and soon-coming Savior. Amen. Sister White comments on this in manuscript 32. She says there, “The

message proclaimed by the angel flying in the midst of heaven is the everlasting gospel. The same gospel that

was declared in Eden when God said to the serpent, “I’ll put emity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed

and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Here was

the first promise of a savior who would stand in the field of battle to contest

um to contest where am I? Here um the the power of Satan and prevail against him. Christ came to our world to

represent the character of God as it is represented in his holy law. For his law

is a transcript of his character. Christ was both the law and the gospel. The

angel that proclaims the everlasting gospel proclaims the law of God. For the gospel of salvation brings men to

obedience of the law whereby their characters are formed after the divine divine similitude.

And so you cannot say I am a gospel Christian and do away with the law of God.

Because the law is an expression of the character of God himself. Justification by faith does mean that we

are declared innocent of our sins when we are justified. But it means more than that. To justify, we look at the 1888

message. To justify means to make righteous. God supplies just what the

sinner lacks. It’s not just a legal declaration you are now innocent. Justification by faith also means that

God changes the sinner from the inside out. Amen. That he put he writes his law upon my

heart so that I want to do his will. So instinctively I follow his will. So that

as the psalmist says I delight to do thy will. Amen. You know um uh do um

I’ve been year 26 I’ve been married for 26 years now. And what I’ve noticed is when as you go through marriage you get

to know what your spouse wants and thinks most of the time. Anybody else? Does that resonate with anybody else here today? that when when

you’ve just got married, we keep talking about communication because you need to know what the other person is thinking.

But after 26 years of marriage, we don’t need to communicate quite so much because you know what the other person is thinking.

I’m not saying you should stop communicating, but you know, you know what the other person is thinking. Well,

in our first year of marriage, if somebody said to me, “Car, would you like to come back by to our home on,

let’s say, Thursday night next week?” I’d say, “Sure.” I go and say to my wife, “We agreed to go and visit

somebody on Thursday night next week.” And she said, “What did you do?” She says, “Don’t you know that Thursday

night is Sabbath preparation night in our house?” Oh, yeah. So, I did. I forgot about that. She says, “Why didn’t

you ask me before you committed?” And after 26 years, I’ve learned I It’s always better to ask.

But now, I don’t need to ask my wife because I know that Thursday night is Sabbath preparation time. I instinctively say that’s just not going

to work for us. maybe Tuesday night because Wednesday night is prayer meeting. Tuesday night is about the only night we have off in the week with all

the other commitments that go on. And so as you walk with somebody um as you walk with somebody through

life, you get to know their character. They get to know your character. You start to reflect who they are and they

start to reflect who you are. And as Sister White says, one of her most common statements in the spirit of

prophecy is this. By beholding, we become change. It’s multiple times. The more we

behold our Lord and Savior in our personal lives and we reflect on his teachings, the more we reflect his

character, the more we know instinctively what is the right thing to do. You cannot be justification changes

the heart. And why is that? Because the law of God is a transcript of his holy character. You cannot be reconciled to

God and not be reconciled to his character. Like when you marry somebody, what are

you actually marrying? Sorry.

Their character. Exactly. Um when you know when when when I first saw my wife

um she I was sitting in Baku in the German cathedral there and um I saw this

young lady kind of walking out of the corner of my eye. She had a long brown coat on because it was winter and she

kind of scooted sideways and sat down right in front of me. I hadn’t seen her face, but I thought that’s the one.

And you may laugh about it, but 26 years of very happy marriage later, my wife

says, “Men are so shallow.” I says, “Well, did I make a good judgment call?”

And she says, “Why did you want to marry me?” I said, “I just saw the way you shuffled sideways. There was such grace.

On such major things, life decisions are made.” Um I wouldn’t suggest that for marriage

counseling, you know, stand in front of somebody else and shuffle sideways. But um I saw the grace with which she moved

and she was sitting on her own in a Muslim country as a young lady, I knew she was an Adventist by

conviction. Amen. Just the fact that she was on her own in church as a young lady in a Muslim

country, she’s an Adventist by conviction. Amen. And then she turned around and I thought, well, that’s a relief. That’s a

good choice. She didn’t quite fall in love with me the same way as I fell in love with her.

But I’ve noticed over the years that um

a godly wife is like the presence of the Holy Spirit in a godly man’s life. And when a man marries a godly woman, he

needs to listen to her because she may not make sense, but it’s often the voice of the Holy Spirit.

And I’ve learned over the years that the closer we come together, the more I know what she thinks, the more she knows what

I think about things. And you really become an extension of each other at all times.

We are to be found in Christ and Christ is to be in us. To be in Christ means

justification. To be declared innocent. He died for my in my place. But for Christ to be in me is the hope of glory

because that is Christ changed me from the inside out. And so this everlasting gospel that the angel proclaims, it

calls us to obedience to the law of God, to the ten commandments. True justification by faith transforms the

sinner into a righteous individual where the law of God is now written on our heart. So the natural expression of

being justified is obedience to the commandments of God. When my wife says

to me on Valentine’s Day, which is today, is it not? Ah, that’s a good reminder. So, uh,

maybe now I’ll not use as an example because this is going to go on the internet and she’ll catch me. So, for her birthday, my wife may say, um, uh,

Connor, let’s let’s maybe just go out for a meal this week to celebrate, uh, uh, her birthday. And I say, sure. Now,

I know where she wants to go, but if I drive in town to where I want to go, which is Taco Bell to get the cheesy

bean and rice burritos, um, that’s not going to that’s not going to meet the mark. you know, I know where

she likes to go, but if I drive past where she goes, knowing where that’s what she wants and to go to Taco Bell,

um, yes, we’ve gone for a meal together, but I’m not really fulfilling her wishes.

And as Christians, we know the will of God, and we’re not to take shortcuts in that

process. I know God’s will, but I’m going to do something different. And as after a while you find joy in a

marital relationship, a marital covenant. As a husband, I find joy in bringing joy to my wife’s heart. And if

she wants to go to ex restaurant, then I’ll be happy to go to X restaurant. Even if I really want to go to Taco

Bell, we will go to X restaurant. Likewise, we’re in a marital covenant with the heavenly bridegroom.

And we find joy in honoring the wishes of the heavenly bridegroom.

And so this everlasting gospel is proclaimed by the first angel’s message is an invitation to a transformed life

and to a renewed heart and to God to take out our heart of stone and to give us a heart of flesh. The text goes on to

say this. Revelation 14:12. It says here is a call for the endurance

of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. Justification means

finds expression where it’s revealed to the world in a transformed heart in a renewed will and with love and obedience

for the commandments of God rather than our own fallen and faulty and sinful desires. Um at Jones wrote about this in

the American Sentinel back in 1888. He said this, “We believe that it is by the obedience of Christ alone that men are

made righteous.” Amen. I’ve noticed as a pastor that many Adventists come to the point of death

with no assurance of salvation. And the most common thing I hear from

dying Adventists is this. I’m not good enough. I’ve messed my life up. I look back on

my life, my life is filled with regret. I God can save other people, but I’m

beyond the reach of his grace. And the response from a from a biblical perspective is dear sister, dear

brother, it is true, you ain’t good enough. And there’s nothing you can do about

that. And you can’t undo the past. But as one man sinned and so death came to

all, so by one man’s act life of obedience, life comes to all and justification and righteousness. You are

saved by the righteousness and the perfection of Christ, not by your own righteousness or your own attempts at

perfection. And we need to hear that as Adventists today because too many of us have no assurance of salvation.

We are not saved by how good we are, how nice we are on Sabbath, whether we are whether we are plant-based in meals or

strictly between meals. I’m strictly plant-based between meals. Okay? Um that’s a joke, by the way. Um but we’re

not saved because of the fact we sit on church on Sabbath morning. We’re not saved by the fact that we return a faithful tithe. Those things don’t earn

us salvation. Those are the expressions of a saved life because we want to bring honor and glory

to our heavenly father. We want to bring put a smile on his face. We want God to look down and not say, “Is that my boy?”

We want him to look down and say, “That’s my boy.” We want God to look down on us and say to Job, “Have you

considered the saints in the Advent Hope Church in East Atlanta? Have you considered those saints

downstairs that they are righteous in all they do?” And they’re righteous because they’ve been transformed from the inside out. Amen.

We don’t want Satan to say to God, “Have you considered those saints in Atlanta? Do you know what they really do? Do you

know what they’re like in their private time?” No. We want God to say to Atlanta, “Look at my saints in Atlanta.”

Look at the look at how they live their lives. They have transformed lives and transformed hearts. And their community

is a transformed community drawn from people from every nation, tribe, language, and people, which is how God

wants us to be. Amen. And so AG Jones goes on to say that the

righteousness of Christ on the screen is the gift of God. It is received by faith and kept by faith. And there is no

righteousness that will avail for any man except this righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto

all and upon all them that believe. And I say amen and amen to that. Sister White described it thus in testimonies

to ministers uh page 92. She says the gospel message from 1888. She says the

the most precious message. She says it presented justification through faith in the shortity. It invited the people to

receive the righteousness of Christ which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. So when I

receive the righteousness of Christ, I receive his righteousness. And Christ, not just his righteousness, I don’t just

have faith in him. I ask Jesus to live within me. I’m asking him to do for me what I

cannot do for myself. I’m like a beach covered in oil and a beach covered in

oil needs a cleanup crew to come and take all the gunge away. There’s so much gunge in my heart. I cannot clean myself

up. I cannot self-medicate myself. I cannot self-csychize myself. I can’t

read books about five ways to a healthier, better, richer me. I need to ask Christ to do for me what I

cannot do for myself. I’m asking him to bring to completion the good work that he’s begun in me. and he’s promised he

will bring it to completion in his time and in his way. My part of the promise of that process is to ride with him for

that journey and to not fight him every step of the way. And so the the text goes on to say then

I saw uh he said in a loud voice a bit in red um fear God and give glory to him

or to give him glory. Now to fear God means to reverence God to recognize his great power and his works in our lives.

We acknowledge him as our creator and as our redeemer. And we affirm his sovereignty over the claims of the first

beast and the mark of the beast imposed by the second beast. But what does it mean to give him glory?

Well, if you’re going to compare scripture with scripture, look at Revelation 16 there. Revelation

16:8 talking about the six the final plagues there. It says that um those who

are suffering under the judgments of God, it says they did not repent and give him glory.

So in that verse there just two chapters later, the idea of giving glory to God is synonymous with turning away from

sin. So if the command is to fear God and

give him glory, this is a call to repentance. When John the Baptist came, he said,

“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” When Jesus came, Matthew

chapter 3, repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. And at Pentecost, they

said, “What must we do to be saved?” Acts um 238:39, “Repent and believe on

the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Okay? And so John the Baptist said, “The first uh first way to enter the kingdom

of God is through repentance.” Jesus said, “We are to repent.” Peter the apostle at Pentecost said we are to

repent and the final angel’s message the first of the final three is that we are to fear God and give him glory which

means we are to turn from our wicked ways and when we turn from our wicked ways we

draw closer to God. You know James the apostle said um resist the devil and he

will flee from you and the next verse says draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So your face is either

turned towards our heavenly father or your face is turned towards Satan whether you like to admit it or not. And

when we repent, we’re turning our face in our life away from the the effect of yielding control to Satan. We are asking

God to take control of our lives. And so to repent doesn’t just mean I’m turning away from wicked ways. It means I’m

changing the direction of my life. So I now want to follow the will of God rather than the lies and the temptations

of Satan. And so to fear God and give glory to him means we are to repent of

our wicked ways. On the screen there we see Ecclesiastes 12:13. Fear God and

keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. And 1 John 5:3, for

this is the love of God. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.

And so a grace-based church is one that says that the claims of the law are still binding. Amen.

But you will overcome by the grace of God. A grace-based church should not be

saying, “The law was done away with at Calvary. Now you can do as you please.” That is not biblical.

The law of God is still binding on humanity today. Even in the secular world, in America

today, the horror of what happened with Jeffrey Epstein tells us that in many

people’s hearts, the law of God is still written. Many people still have an instinctive horror at what happened at

that island and to those children. That tells us if people are horrified that there is still that there is still

God’s footprints in their hearts, that they still have a sense of moral outrage that these things are happening.

So we may be living in a secular society, but the outrage at Epstein tells us that there are people in this

nation and around the world who still bear the footprints of a loving God in their hearts. And that brings us hope

because when we call people to obedience to the commandments of God, then they understand what we’re talking

about. To make to give glory to God, manuscript

16 says this, to give glory to God is to reveal his character in our own and thus

make him known. And whatever way we make known the father and the son, we glorify

God. So God wants us to reveal his character to the world through our own characters,

our own characters. Maybe the hardest saying teaching of

Jesus is love your enemies. So to me, that’s the hardest teaching of

Jesus. I can forgive you, but I’m still going to be bear a grudge against you.

You hurt me, I hurt you back. where Jesus says, “Pray for those who

persecute you. Bless those who despitefully use you. Love your enemies.” It’s what sets Christianity

apart from everything else. When the Dalai Lama was asked many years ago for an image of the that captured

Christianity, he didn’t choose Calvary. He chose Jesus washing the feet of Judas.

that he said that picture there captures the essence of the Christian faith because no other faith out there um um

holds high forgiveness as a spiritual and moral value. Many years ago I used to do um mini chip

programs in Dubai in the Middle East and we talked there for three nights with large groups of Muslims about um

arththeroscerosis and diabetes and stroke and cancer. But have you ever done a chip program? I think number 17

in that program is called heart health. And the the founder Dr. Hans Deal gave a brilliant sermon on forgiveness.

And what I found in the Middle East was that that one program had a bigger impact than the rest of the program

combined because in Islam there is no concept of forgiveness. It’s a shame and honor religion. You hurt me, I’m honor

bound to hurt you back to restore my honor. And that just leads to cycles of violence that go down through the

centuries. But the concept of forgiveness, it sets the whole community free from

the need to have cycles of violence. And so

to give glory to God is to reveal his character in our own and thus make him known.

Is there somebody today that you love to hate and would hate to love?

Maybe that’s who God is calling you to forgive today. We can lap up sermons and talks and

Sabbath school presentations. But when the rubber meets the road, it means

that each one of us has to say, “Lord, is there somebody I need to forgive today?

Is there somebody that I need I need you to drain the anger from my heart to drain the pus that’s in there that will

lead to stroke? It will lead to cancer. It will lead to a hardening of the heart physically and spiritually because

that’s what anger does to you. Unresolved anger leads to depression and a host of other problems in life.

Lord, today on these Sabbath hours, if your Holy Spirit is saying to me, Sister

So and so, Brother So and So, there’s this person in your life that you need to forgive today.

And we’ve gone very quiet. And I want to encourage you today to forgive that person.

And if you’re saying, “Lord, I’m not sure I can forgive them today.” Then do at least do this. When you kneel down

for your prayers, morning or evening, morning and evening, pray for them the same blessings that you pray for

yourself and God will change your heart towards that person

and you will no longer be a prisoner of your past. and the bitterness that’s

hardening your hot soul, the bitterness that’s poisoning all your other relationships because you cannot be

bitter with this person from your past, not expect it to poison on your relationships today.

To give glory to God is to reveal his character and thus make him known. That

means we’re to be a debt-free church, not just financially, but spiritually.

Living lives of forgiveness. living life saying, “I refuse to allow this to come between us.” Now, you may need to draw

boundaries. So, somebody abused you in the past. You say, “I forgive you, but you’re not coming anywhere near me again.” That’s not a lack of

forgiveness. That’s common sense. But at least we can choose to forgive.

Vengeance is mine, sayaith the Lord. He will repay. We can pour whole coals of burning fire

on their head. Say Romans chapter 12 there. But when we forgive and we listen

to somebody else, we discover that even again we come back to Epstein. Many of Epstein’s enablers were themselves

victims. Many of the women who were luring other girls into these trafficking rings were

themselves the victims of abuse and trafficking. It changes you in ways you don’t like.

And then you do things you never thought you could do. And as a general rule, it is hurting people that hurt other

people. And so I’m glad that God is the one who

judges us, not us. But he’s calling us today, this church,

our church here in East Atlanta. He’s calling us to manifest and demonstrate

his his character to the world around us. To give glory to God is to reveal

his character and thus make him known. Uh we read further on

the new covenant. This is the heart of the 1888 message from Ron Duffield. It says, “The new covenant is God’s one-way

promise to write his law in our hearts and to give us everlasting salvation as a free gift in Christ. The old covenant

is a vain promise of the people to be faithful and obey, which gives birth to bondage.” Galatians 2:24. So it is that

under the new covenant, salvation comes by believing God’s promises to enable us to obey, not by our making promises to

him which we cannot ourselves keep. God cannot lie because when he speaks

something is. He spoke and there was light. He spoke and there was earth. He

spoke and there was water above and there was water below. Faith is believe is knowing what the word of God says

depending on what the word of God says and trusting that the word of God can do for us what we cannot imagine to do for

ourselves. And when we trust God in that way and we say the new covenant doesn’t depend on

my faithfulness to God. It means me trusting his faithfulness to me.

It’s his faithfulness to me is going to carry me through those dark chapters of life. And it’s his faithfulness to me that’s

going to change me day by day and more and more into the image and the character of Christ himself.

For the hour of his judgment has come. We go on in the la this first angel’s message here. Fear God and give him

glory for the hour of his judgment has come. The pre-advent judgment when the eternal destiny of every human being is

determined. It began in 1844 as read in Daniel 8:13 and 14. And that pre-advent

judgment in heaven parallels the proclamation of the three angels messages which is God’s last offer of

mercy to sinful humanity. Every person is morally accountable to God for regarding their decision to accept or to

reject the gospel. Nobody can escape the judgment of God.

Ecclesiastes 12:4 says, “For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

There’s no redacted emails in the heavenly judgment. There’s no redaction. There’s no

protection of the powerful. There’s no cover up to avoid the inconvenient truths leaking out. God will bring every

deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Now,

Paul states that every person must appear before the judgment seat of God to be recompense what he or she has

done. 2 Corinthians 5:10. And the first angel’s message is God’s appeal to the lost to turn to him in repentance and

faith because he is not willing that any should perish but that all will come to repentance as we see on the screen

there. So Ecclesiastes 12:14 says God will bring every deed into judgment including every secret thing whether

good or evil. Second Peter 3:9 says he’s not wanting any to perish but all to

come to repentance. That’s good news. And if you turn in your Bibles to a text that’s not going to appear on the screen

as we draw coming to the the final stretch of this discussion on the first angel’s message, but if you turn in your

Bibles to Romans chapter 8, there’s a very very famous verse there. Says there

is therefore now no what? No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now just just a little

hint on on the Greek here. The word the Jewish word the Greek word for judge for um judgment to come into a judgment is

crisis. We get the word crisis from that. Okay. Everybody comes into judgment.

But the Greek word for criminal, to be a felon, to be condemned is

crimmer. We get the word criminal. Criminal from that. And so what Paul

says here is there is therefore no crimma, no condemnation for those who

are in Christ Jesus. Yes, we come into the pre-advent judgment, but there is no condemnation for those who are safe in

Christ Jesus. Amen. And amen. It’s wonderful news to know that if I’m in Christ Jesus, my faith is secure in him.

That when when my name comes up in the pre-advent judgment, there is nothing to be afraid of. There is no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus. Yes, I come into crisis, but no, I am not condemned as a criminal.

And that’s good news. It’s wonderful news. And so the the angel’s message is

to give glory to God for the hour of his judgment has come. And next slide. And

um the three angels messages are followed immediately by the announcement in

Revelation 14:14 by the announcement of the second coming. So the proclamation of this pre-advent judgment is an

announcement that Christ’s second coming is at hand. And we spoke about this last night. Sister White says that the there

will be a civil war in America and that civil war will usher in the time of trouble of Daniel 12 1-2. Daniel 12 1-2

happens when probation closes. And here in America, we have people across the social media talking about

civil war in America. Have you heard that? There is civil war coming. And we also have in America the poor on food stamps

and people who can’t can’t eat. I know there’s some abuse in the system, but there are many genuinely poor people who

depend on those food stamps. And Sister White says when the poor do not have enough food to eat because the rich are

holding back the supply of food, that will lead to a new civil war in America. So when Sister White talks about the

poor not being able to eat and a civil war and that’s the close of probation, that means that the pre-vent judgment is

almost reaching its climax. Wow. That we are coming close to the end of time. And if there’s if and this is not

a call to become a prepper tonight. This is a call to put our spiritual house in order.

It’s a call to say, “Lord, is there anything between me and you? Is there anything in my life I cannot give as a holy sacrifice to a holy God? Is there

anything in my life that will keep me out of the lamb’s book of life?” It was one unconfessed and cherished sin, the

eating of the fruit, took Adam and Eve out of the promised land, the Garden of Eden. It was one sin that kept Moses out

of the promised land, striking the rock. Don’t keep a cherished, unconfessed sin

in your life today and think it doesn’t matter. To those who much has been given, much

will be asked. We live in incredible light. And so the call to fear God and

give him glory is a call to repentance even among God’s professing people.

And again, if the Holy Spirit is whispering something into your ear now, if the Holy Spirit is whispering

something to your ear now, don’t harden your hearts. But today, sometime in a quiet in the

car, by your bed, maybe go for a walk. Give that thing over to God

and ask God for forgiveness. Claim the promise of forgiveness and ask for grace and strength to never fall for that

temptation ever again. We are in the investigative judgment says Ellen White review and herald 1896

and the work for the time that is for today 2026 is solemn heart searching the

duty to devolves upon everyone to consider to watch and to pray. You are not bidden by our lord to examine your

neighbor’s heart. Let your investigative powers be put to work and discover what evil is lurking in your own hearts. What

defects are in your character? What work needs to be done in your own home. To quote Michael Jackson, it’s time to look

at the man in the mirror and be honest about what you see.

Not just in your Sabbath best, but be honest about the thoughts of your own heart and the inclinations of your mind.

And when you’re driving through all the rush hour traffic in Atlanta, I discovered yesterday there’s a lot of rush hour traffic out there and your

mind is in idle mode and you’re d you’re not directing your thinking. Where does

your mind really go? Does your mind go to heaven with thoughts or does your mind go down into

the gutter? Where does your mind go? Take that as a quick and dirty test for the n the state

of your sanctification. If your mind goes into the gutter when it go when you just sit in the car and

you’re sitting there like bored and you’re not thinking about anything, you don’t have to call anybody. You’re not doing any work. Where does your mind go?

Be honest with yourself. and ask God for a new heart and a new mind. Amen.

The final passage here says in red, “And worship him who made heaven

and earth, the sea, and the springs of water.”

We are to worship God as our creator. Now, Psalm 96:5

says this.

I’ve got three verses here to show you. All the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Amen. That word Lord is Yahweh, Jehovah. You may interpret it as Jesus Christ made

the heavens. Isaiah 40:25-28 says this. To whom then will you compare

me? Or who is my equal? Sayaith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see

who created these. He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name. Because he is great in

strength and mighty in power. Not one is missing. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord that is Yahweh is

the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. And that Yahweh character in the old in the Old

Testament is Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And Revelation 4:11, why do we worship God? It says, “You are worthy

our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and

they were created.” And so it is the Sabbath day to worship God as creator. And we could talk all

day about this, but we’ll just mention this in passing here. It is the Sabbath day links the the ten commandments to

God as creator. Yes. And we are about to dedicate America to the worship of God again. One nation

under God on the National Mall in May this year. And for across social media,

people are pushing for Sundays to be used for a day of family worship.

And there was a case in Maryland that went to the Supreme Court. And this is a very important case. And the Sunday

laws, the blue laws in Maryland were upheld in the 1960s. And why were they upheld? Because the Supreme Court said

even if Sunday had a had a Christian origin originally, they said if the justification for Sunday laws has a

secular purpose, that is in better employee productivity on Mondays and a

healthier social life and reduced pollution, then Sunday laws are constitutional.

So we already have a Supreme Court law, a decision that says that Sunday laws can be passed in our nation as long as

they are given with a secular rationale, which will be to preserve the family, to improve worker productivity, to reduce

employee workforce accidents because people are rested. And this is what our nation is moving

very fast toward in the next couple of months. So we need to be ready brothers and sisters. We read that in the book of

last day events, the final events will be rapid events. And so the Sabbath links

creation with the ten commandments in Exodus 20:es 8-11, the first time the

Sabbath commandment is given, we worship God because he is our creator. But in in Deuteronomy chapter 5, which

is the other version of the ten commandments, the only thing that’s difference in the two versions, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5 is the rationale given

for the fourth commandment in the version in Deuteronomy. And in Deuteronomy, we do not wor honor the Sabbath day because God is our creator.

We honor God because he delivered us from sin. Amen. From slavery in Egypt. And the point

there is God sets us free. He delivers us and then he invites us into a covenant with him. God doesn’t say enter

into a covenant with me then I will set you free from sin. In the story of the Exodus, God set his people free from

slavery in Egypt, brought them to Sinai and says now let’s enter into a covenant relationship now. That tells me that God

is at work in the lives of the godless today. He is seeking to move them from godlessness into a covenant relationship

with him. That’s good news. So, we had to worship him who made

heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. Our time is up. I don’t see any clock in this room. You

know, I love it when churches don’t have clocks.

I have no idea what time it is right now, but I suspect I’ve run over my time. I think I was given 30 minutes to

talk about the topic. I know. I I chatted at Dr. O’s church a while ago and it was 12:30 and I was about to

stand up to preach. You know, Dr. Owit Steline and and and uh I said, “Dr. O, like, how long have I got? It’s 12:30.”

He says, “Brother Vine,” he said, “Our next program is at 4:00.” He says, “Just make sure you finish by 10 to 4.” I

said, “Thank you, Dr. O.” And so I think they had a two. I think as a general rule, Adventist congregations are

immunized against the impact of long sermons. And uh and so anyway, let’s come to our conclusion here today then,

shall we? Uh for this first angel’s message, what do we say in conclusion? In the face of Satan’s endtime

deceptions and Satan’s counterfeit godhead, the the Satan, the sea beast,

and the lambbe lambbe beast counterfeiting God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And in the

face of Satan’s attempts to deceive the nations of the world, God responds with three messages of mercy. And the

conclusion of those says this, you see it on the screen. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints. Those who keep

the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. Now that is what God is seeking for today. And I want to ask

the question, we know about keeping the commandments of God. God writes his law in our heart. But what about the faith

of Jesus? What is this faith of Jesus? Because you can look at this is this in

the Greek is a subjective object subjective objective or uh objective genative construction. You can argue it

both ways. The difference is if if you read a book that says um um uh uh the

the the story of President Obama, does that mean that’s a story that he tells

or is that the story of his life? You can interpret it both ways. That’s a subject of an objective genative. So

when we read the phrase in the Greek, the faith of Jesus, does that mean the faith that Jesus demonstrated in his

heavenly father when he says into thy hands I commit my spirit? Or was it the faith that we are to have in Jesus our

Lord and Savior? You can interpret it both ways.

Manuscript 24 says, “The faith of Jesus, it is talked

of but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus that belongs to the third angel’s message?

Jesus becoming our sin bearer that he might become our sin pardoning savior. He was treated as we deserve to be

treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take his righteousness. And this last sentence

brings me such joy. Faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and

and entirely is the faith of Jesus. It’s trusting him for everything

explicitly and implicitly. When we’re awake and when we’re asleep, in good times and in bad times. When we’re proud

of what we’re doing, even though our righteousness is like filthy rags unto God. When we’re ashamed of our deeds and our thoughts. The faith of Jesus is the

fa our trust in the ability of Jesus to save us amply. That is, he can cover our

sins. His grace will cover our sins today. It is fully and entirely that is

the faith of Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen. So what is this first angel’s message about? In summary, the first

angel’s message calls for an end time people who reject the beasts of this world, the fallen powers of this world,

and their coercion and their false worship. A people who fear God. A people

who turn to God in genuine repentance. a people who receive the righteousness of Christ by faith. The people who so trust

in God’s promises to transform them from the inside out and that their faith in Jesus is made manifest to the world in a

loving obedience to the commandments of God and in particular through honoring the Sabbath day. Their eyes are fixed by

faith on Jesus. He’s their sinbearing savior. He’s their sinloving savior.

He’s their guilt forgiving savior. He’s their place-taking savior. and he is their personal soon cominging savior.

And today as we draw this reflection on the first angel’s message to a close, I want to invite you to turn your eyes

upon Jesus. We are saved through faith in Jesus, not through our own abilities.

And the faith of Jesus is trusting that Jesus can do amply and fully and abundantly more than we can imagine for

ourselves. That he is able. He is able. And he is able. and he will take us to

heaven above. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Ask him to live within you. Ask

him to give you the courage to follow through on his will. Ask him for the discernment to perceive his will. And

ask him for the grace to accept his will. And so as we draw this to a close as first angel’s message, it’s my prayer

that our neighbors, our families, our spouses, hope you only have one by the way, but our our spouses, our children,

our loved ones, our work colleagues, our fellow brothers and sisters will see in us a deeper and fuller manifestation of

the character of Jesus than ever before. By beholding, we become changed.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. that can walk full in his face and you will be amazed

what God can do for you. Amen. Let’s close this with a word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you today for

this message from this first angel. Father, I thank you today that there is

to be no nation left behind, no people group left behind, no city left behind,

no subdivision of Atlanta, no heart or home or hearth is to be left behind is

to be left out from this last message of mercy. And Father, today we receive that

message of mercy with gratitude and joy, realizing that you are not willing that any of us here should perish, but that

all should have eternal life. Father, by your mercy and by your grace,

we ask that uh Jesus will enter our hearts and our lives. Jesus, we ask you

that you will so fill us and change us from the inside out that the world sees nothing but you and uh everything of you

and nothing of us. Lord, as John the Baptist said in prison, he must increase

and I must decrease. May that be our experience today. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Amen.