Here We Stand!
According to a group of people, today is going to be the end of the world. Newscasts covered the story. News anchors are making fun of the prediction of the end of the world. We as Christians need to share where we stand.
Have you ever lost your wallet? People will ask you “where did you last remember having it or where did you last use your wallet”? When something precious is lost, it gets our full attention. Jesus told stories of a lost coin, lost sheep and a lost son.
No matter what you feel like, Jesus loves you. The truth is very valuable and precious. Truth should be cherished. How much do we value the truth? Please hear me this morning-the Truth is Jesus Christ!
What do you consider is treasure? What is the greatest treasure? Turn in your Bible to:
Revelation 12:1-4
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
The devil understands this truth very well. The greatest truth is Jesus Christ and the truth that comes from Him. There is so much confusion in our culture about truth. Our society doesn’t want to hear about absolute truth. God is calling on us to take a stand for truth. Is it something we are really willing to do and value?
There is a well known saying that “the truth hurts”. In reality, the truth saves us and brings us liberty and freedom. Are we running from the very thing we want? The devil is very subtle by trying to convince people they will lose something or miss out on something if they follow Jesus. Jesus left us a treasure-God’s truth.
Many centuries ago, the truth began to be covered by layers of error.
Truth of salvation as a free gift was replaced by false teaching of salvation by human effort.
Truth of Jesus as our only access to God was replaced by access only by human priests.
The authority of the Bible was replaced by the authority of the Pope and of human tradition.
Forgiveness was no longer a free gift to be received but was a payment to be earned.
The Sabbath day, a holy and sanctified day and a memorial of Creation was replaced by Sunday, a day of human choosing.
Confession only to God was replaced by confession to priests.
The Bible is God’s gift to everyone was forbidden to be read or even possessed by any except church leaders.
Ten commandment Law of God was changed to suit a church that had lost its way. ( Removed the third commandment-you shall not make for yourself any carved image ).
God is calling for us to take a stand. Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has done his best to hide the truth of God. The Waldenses in Italy stood for truth even at the cost of their lives.
All through time God has had a people on earth that were faithful and followed Him. On 31. October 1517 Martin Luther wrote and submitted 95 Theses that directly confronted error that had begun centuries before. He grew up in the Catholic church and was a priest. Luther was asked on 16. April 1521 in Germany if he would recant his statement. He replied to the council that he was standing on what is in the Bible and not the teaching of the Pope and the Catholic church. Luther was cast out of the Catholic church and declared a heretic.
If we forget where we have come from, we won’t know where we are headed. If we forget all that God has done throughout history, the reformation, and in the recent past, we will lose our purpose and reason we are who we are today!
The devil is a master at deception. People that don’t stand for truth will be deceived. There are 2 ways to be deceived:
1. Hang on and cherish sin in your life.
2. Do not read and study the Word of God in the Bible.
There are confused Seventh-day Adventist Protestant Christians who say is there really something to all this? Is this something that is unique, special and Biblical? Or is it something where we can just make our own choice? The devil is very clever at confusing us. He doesn’t want us to look back at where we have come from. We are no better than anyone else. It is easy to look at what everyone else is doing. We may say that is so attractive! Why can’t we be like them? What’s wrong with us? We are not like them!
There is a reason why. What is it that compels people to live like these incredible people? The following people loved Jesus and had a deep understanding of what Jesus did on the cross.
The Early Christian Church
The Waldenses
The Albigenses
Martin Luther
Do you think these people had a fancy church? Did they judge their church or what services the church could give? Or was it their love of truth and their preaching from the Bible?
God has brought us here for a reason. God loves people that love the truth. There will be no power in our lives if we aren’t looking for truth. Truth won’t move you or change you unless you are sincerely looking for truth.
Truth is more than just what is in the Bible. Every area of our life needs to be based on Truth. The Bible will change your life when the heart is sincere. The truth in the Bible will become a part of you.
In Revelation 12:4, who is the woman? The Church is the woman. Who is the Church? You and I are the church. The devil wants to devour Jesus in our hearts. As soon as Jesus is born in our hearts, the devil seeks to destroy our connection to Christ.
The following men stood up for truth and found a friend in Jesus:
Ulrich Zwingli
John Calvin
John Huss
John Tyler
Martin Luther
William Miller
Have you found Jesus? Everything is centered in Jesus. Don’t be concerned about mega churches. The devil knows he cannot attack the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist ( SDA ) Protestant Christian church because he knows the theology is right. The pastor says he preaches this in the utmost humility and not in arrogance.
The devil is deceptive and clever. He attacks the SDA church through people in the church. Here is how the devil thinks: If I can get people in the church to be unkind, unloving and bitter, I can destroy that church.
Like William Miller, if you have found a friend in Jesus, you will be a loving, compassionate person for Jesus Christ. To stand for Jesus will invite anger by those that oppose Jesus. Are we building a will to save ourselves? There is a time coming when we won’t have the freedom to worship and share the truth. We must humble ourselves before the cross so the shed blood of Jesus can be victorious in our lives.
Many people are making fun of those that say the end of the world is coming today on 21. May 2011. We also are a movement that teaches and preaches that the end of the world is coming. Apocalyptic truth is Jesus is coming again. Are you willing to say: “Jesus, here I stand”!
This sermon was preached on Sabbath, 21 May 2011 at Bellingham, Washington Seventh-day Adventist Protestant Christian Church by Pastor Brandon Korter.