Warnings, Choices, Results
Dick Schell
Midland SDA Church
April 3, 2010
Warnings, sometimes come in the form of a prophet’s delivery or writings, other times we receive a mental alert, no doubt from the Holy Spirit, and sometimes in the past God was speaking directly to a group or person.
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:19 – 21:
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scriptures is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
We get these lines of communication from the Holy Scripture or from writings that are to the law and to the testimony since the Bible was completed.
Sometimes they come just enough in advance for us to make adjustments and changes to save ourselves. Possibly saving our lives.
The sad things about these warnings are that they are not always heeded, but sneered at, made fun of, or just ignored.
Heaven
Law of love, foundation for God’s government.
No forced obedience, perfect harmony, no discord
Angels joyfully acknowledged Christ’s supremacy.
Christ only could fully execute God’s councils, Lucifer “son of the morning” was there.
Ezekiel 28 – 12 – 15, (parts), Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee; Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of they brightness.
Even Lucifer bowed yet there was a strange and fierce conflict: The warning signs were there.
Truth, justice, loyalty vs. envy, jealousy
Pride in his own glory. Desire for self exaltation
Isaiah 14: 13, 14: for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”.
Why should Christ have the supremacy?
Engaged in creating discontent, secretly, kindled a spirit of dissatisfaction.
Yet God bore long with Lucifer.
Ezekiel 28: 18 God finally had to say, “ I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Results: Wars – Great Controversy (Battle of the mind) – 6,000 years of trouble (disease famine, pestilences – Disruptions in the universe – death of Jesus.
Garden of Eden
A new creation, like in heaven perfect harmony.
A new beginning, no sin, no dissention
Yet God knew that there needed to be knowledge of right and wrong. His law was eternal, universal and immutable.
Scripture: Genesis 2: 16,17: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 3: 3: Eve’s reply to the serpent” but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, not shall you touch it, lest you die.”
Remember there had been war in heaven and sin had reared it ugly head:
Revelation 12: 7: And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and his angels. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. Luke 10:18 Jesus speaking to His disciples said “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Warnings were there – choices were made – wrong choices and notice both man and woman were warned. A desire for goodness exists in every heart, but eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every man’s experience. There is in nature a bent to evil, a force which unaided he cannot resist. To withstand this force, to attain that ideal which in his inmost he accepts as along worthy, he can find help in but one power. That power is Christ.
Result – Death – Spread of sin – God forgotten – Debauchery- hostility to God and Heaven.
Flood: Some 1200 to 1500 years after creation we find conditions comparable to our day.
Genesis 6:5, 6, 7,8,13 & 14: And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh in come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth.”
Earth still rich & beautiful – Majestic trees
Human race retained much of its early vigor
Man’s existence measured by centuries
Men only sought to gratify the desires of their own proud hearts
Wickedness – was open and daring
Polygamy introduced – Marriage relationships not respected
Human life regarded with indifference
120 years before the flood, an angel declared to Noah God’s purpose.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
God gave him dimensions
Material – Gopher wood (Cypress)
Here is an example of believing of what God says.
All Noah possessed he invested in the ark.
Many at first appeared to receive the warning but later became the boldest and most defiant scoffers.
Idol worshipers were the foremost in rejecting the preaching of Noah.
Noah was regarded as a fanatic. Majority not on the side of right.
Noah stands like a rock amid the tempest.
. The experts have spoken.
Doubts – Laws of nature fixed – No rain, mist, dew watered the earth
Noah’s message was made into a grand delusion.
Period of probation about to expire. – Ark is finished-Food stored – Last solemn appeal – Chance to seek a refuge
Mercy had ceased its pleadings for the guilty race.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month on that day all of the fountains of the great deep were broken up. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground.
Sodom & Gomorrah
Idleness and riches make the heart hard – vice and crime follow.
Their whole year seemed as one round of festivity.
The inhabitants of Sodom had passed the limit of divine forbearance
Evening – two angels – Middle Eastern hospitality
Genesis 19: 1,2:
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, “Here now my lords, please turn in to your servants house and spend the night, and wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way.
Geneses 19:12, 13, 17, 26: And the men (angels) said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou have in the city bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters and said. Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
Warnings – Lot went out to his sons –in-laws and was mocked – superstitious fellow!!!
The daughters were influenced by husbands – well enough off where they were – great possessions.
When choosing a home think of the children, consider moral & religious influences – surroundings. Don’t displease God by placing oneself in an atmosphere of worldliness and unbelief.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for they life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all of the plain; escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
That morning – activities, business, pleasures of the day, suddenly & unexpectedly the tempest broke – fire and brimstone – all consumed. suddenly & unexpectedly like the Asian tsunami.
Result: The fair vale of Siddim became desolation. Souls lost, families torn apart, destinies decided.
Jonah – Nineveh
Scripture: Jonah 1:2: Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me;
Not wholly given over to evil
Instrument – Jonah who ran the opposite direction. In his hour of despair the Lord did not desert him.
God revealed to Nineveh in an unmistakable & remarkable manner what was coming. A whale spitting out a man on the beach would be quite a sight and the news would go like lightning .
Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown
40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. Jonah was like a street corner preacher.
Spirit of God pressed the message home. – Multitudes repented in deep humiliation.
The message was not in vain. Nineveh repented, later to fall prey to surrounding nations.
Result: Doom averted, Later Nineveh fell prey to surrounding nations – Forgot God and became very boastful.
Fall of Jerusalem:
Warning from Micah in the Old Testament:
Micah 3:10 – 12 - Who build up Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with iniquity: Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.
Magnificent Temple Bldgs. At the time of Christ
As Christ and His disciples are sitting on the Mt of Oives the rays of the setting sun light up the snowy white marble of the temple walls
The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing, the cup of God’s long deferred wrath was almost full.
Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief & rebellion & hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God.
Scripture: Matthew 23: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate.
Matthew 24: 15-20: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains; Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes; And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days; But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.
Retreat of Cestius(who was holding siege) – was pursued by the Jews allowing the Christians an opportunity to leave. And not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Siege was then resumed by Titus – terrible calamities – horrors of starvation – In-human torture – thousand perished from famine and pestilences.
Titus did not want to destroy the temple – Josephus made an appeal to surrender- his words were answered with curses.
In vain Titus attempted to save the temple. One greater than he had declared not one stone was to be left upon another.
Mark 13:1,2, Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!. And Jesus answered and said to him. “Do you see these great buildings? No one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down. “
End-Times:
Transition here: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no. nor shall ever be.
We are standing on the threshold of the crisis of the ages. So it was in the days of Noah, so with Lot, so with the Jewish Nation prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and so it will be in the last days.
Men will continue to erect expensive buildings, costing millions of dollars; special attention will be called to their architectural beauty, and the firmness and solidarity with which they are constructed, they will share the same fate as the temple in Jerusalem.
Matt. 24: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 42: Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world? And Jesus answered: Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet, all of these are the beginning of sorrows. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. HMMM….Haiti, Chile, Japan, Taipei, Philippines, CA All in 2010 just in the last three months.
Watching from a treadmill at the gym the History Channel had
a feature on the last days(end of the world
as they termed it.) Even quoting scripture. Seemed to be a discussion between a
Christian and a Scientist. Statements made like A volcano eruption &
earthquake in the Canary Islands causing the mountain to fall in the sea would
create a tsunami of water 100’ high and would be very destructive 20 miles in
on the East coast of the United States; or Yellowstone Park is a boiling pot of
a volcano and if it erupted it could decimate the Mid-West’s economy and
ecosystem.
2 Tim 3:1 – 4 – But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Does this fit our society today? Each one seems to rate a 10 on a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being low and 10 high.
– The Constitution will be abrogated(repeal, cancel), We are seeing this right now, not in the religious realm at present, but! When, if there is a setting aside of certain unalienable rights, then what is next? Control of our unalienable rights are happening before our very eyes. Witness the arguments and controvery,i.e. Glen Beck on Fox.
GC 605, “Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third angel’s message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Something like Noah huh? Religious intolerance would be pronounced groundless and absurd. This land could never become other than what it has been-the defender of religious freedom. Really? It will never rain!!!
Great Controversy, Chapter 38 – Final Warnings – Read it!!!!!!!
December 7, 1941
Sunday morning in Honolulu. Paradise, sunny, another day of sun, warm temperatures.
There were warnings. The Japanese Navy could not be located. Thought to be in the North Pacific and not in the area of Pearl Harbor.
Most of the Battle Ships were in the harbor that morning, the carriers were at sea thankfully.
Around 7 – 8 a.m. a two man radar station on an outlying island noticed that their screens were full of objects indicating a large squadron of planes, immediate radio to the Oahu and were told that a group of B-17’s were coming in from the mainland and probably that is what you are seeing. Another warning gone unheeded.
A two-man midget sub was spotted in the harbor another sign that something was not right, yet the high command did not go on alert.
Shortly after 8 a.m., Hawaiian time – 1:00 p.m. Washington time the Japanese aircraft struck with a vengeance, straffing, and bombing the harbor with ships lined up like sitting ducks, creating major destruction.
On December 7, 1941, an announcement was made during the football game between the hometown Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. All the generals and admirals at Griffith Stadium were instructed to report to their duty stations. Little did they know their lives would be changed forever and America would be at war, or on war footings, for the next half-century. Pear Harbor had been attacked.
When the attack was over 2,800 men were dead, some trapped in the battle ship Arizona where they are to this day.
The next day December 8 FDR speaking to congress said “this day will live in infamy”, and declared war on Japan and Germany on the same day. There is another day coming that will not live in infamy, the day Jesus Christ ascends from the heavens.
For 3-1/2 years there was war with Japan, millions of lives were lost. Lives young and old were affected in various ways, from dying to being wounded to lives being changed in working habits, and thoughts and just living. Scars that today are still there and always will be until a new earth is created.
Your personal warnings, Choices - Results
Debts,
Your spending more than your making; debt is increasing and becoming your master(jailer); Debt is ruining your relationships; The word “bankruptcy” is becoming a word in your vocabulary.
Choices: Create a budget; become more frugal; make sure you are being fair with God’s money.
Results: Less tension in-house; a sense of peace and tranquility when the economic storms break.
Intemperance,
Your weight is increasing; Your sleeping too little; your working too much; your prescription intake is increasing
You can eat better; Your sleeping patterns can be changed by choosing better hours; You can elect to live a natural life style. Seek a lower BMI(Body Mass Index).
Results: Active minds; Quality of life----longer life, receptivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Less disease over a life-time, less down time.
Lack of Bible Study,
Your decisions are becoming less and less Bible based, You are becoming less and less aware of what the Bible says of end-times, losing your focus. Your personality is changing, less like Christ and more like the world.
Get back to the Bible, get on your knees daily, ask God for directions.
Too much idle time,
Satan is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours. “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”
None Constructive activities being engaged in. Like the latest of anything to attract and keep your attention. Letting days and weeks go by without constructive engagements.
Seek for constructive engagements. Involve yourself in the church, community and family.
Procrastination.
One word – “Tomorrow” “Manana”
Matthew 24:44: Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Scripture: 2 Tim 3:12: Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Matthew 24:42: Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
You can make a choice at any age, whether you are well or sick, in the prime of life or nearing its end-and it carries eternal consequences.
Commitment--------------------------------------------
Vow to:
· Daily Connection to the Holy Spirit through prayer and supplication.
· Making some lifestyle changes that will enhance the quality of your life.
· Awareness to world conditions, preparation for His coming by our daily living a Christ-like life.
· Letting others know that time is short, signs are all around us, get ready!!
Jesus is Coming Soon!!!!!!