Saturday, March 7, 2009

THE LORD'S DAY(Part 8)Evangelist Lawrence Nelson
In this message we are going to discuss a day in which we can worship our God and have full assurance that we are keeping His day holy by obeying God's holy law as found in the Ten Commandments. Every true Christian believes in the Ten Commandments, and we read in the Bible if we commit sin we break God's law, for the Bible states in 1 John 3:4, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." And we read in scripture in Ezekiel 18:20, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." On the other hand the Bible tells us who are permitted entrance into heaven, for it declares, "They are those who keep the commandments of God." Revelation 22:14 says, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." I believe everyone who hears this tape wants to go to heaven. Every Christian believes that Jesus is now in heaven and is soon coming back to this earth to take those who obey Him to Paradise.
Let us pause here, as is our custom, to seek for divine aid in our search for the Lord's Day. Our heavenly Father, in the name of our dear Jesus we ask that Thy Holy Spirit guide us as we search for the Lord's Day. We thank Thee for this divine guidance, Amen.
We have discovered in these sermons that we can never rely on tradition for guidance for this is what Satan uses to teach his false doctrines. Only the Word of God, as found in the Bible, can be trusted. For a starting place let us agree on one point which no Protestant or Catholic will object. From creation to the time of Christ's crucifixion every saint of God observed the seventh-day Sabbath. Amen? Now we are ready for a question: How come most churches of our day keep Sunday, the first day of the week? If God expects us to keep Sunday as His holy day after the cross we should be able to find such a change in the New Testament, right?
Did it ever occur to you that the pagans, from the beginning of time, up to the cross always kept Sunday in honor of their sun god? As a matter of fact they still do. Even in the Muslim world, which keeps Friday as a holy day, you will find they also keep Sunday. I know, for I have traveled in their lands and you just try to buy something on Sunday – everything is closed. Could it be that all major religions of the world are wrong in their day of worship?
Let us explore the New Testament to see if we can discover Sunday sacredness. Some will be surprised to find that the word "Sunday" does not appear in scripture. But we find the New Testament tells us that we should follow the example of Jesus as found in 1 Peter 2:21, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." As we examine which day Jesus worshiped we discover that He attended church on the seventh day according to the commandment, for the Bible states in Luke 4:16, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."
I remember taking our little daughter for a walk by a waterfall. The path became very slippery and I was afraid she might fall so I asked her to come and take my hand. I shall never forget her answer, "Daddy, I'm alright. I'm stepping just where you step. I won't slip and fall." I looked over my shoulder and sure enough she was stretching her little legs the utmost trying to step in every spot I was stepping in as her father. There is no question, the New Testament counsels us to follow in the steps of our Savior.
Since we have found that Sunday is not found in the scriptures. We noted that the Bible writers always called the day of the week by a number such as "the first day," "the second day," "the third day" and so on, but "the seventh day" is called the Sabbath in the New Testament. This brings us to another Bible fact; the first day of the week always comes after the seventh-day Sabbath.
As we continue our search for the Lord's Day we are amazed to find that the first day is mentioned only eight times in the New Testament. This should not be too difficult to find proof for Sunday sacredness. We will carefully examine each. Let us begin with the text found in Mark 16:9, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils." We have found that Christ rose on the first day and appeared to Mary Magdalene, but there is not one word about Sunday sacredness or that the first day is to be kept in place of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Next turn to our number two text found in Mark 16:1, 2 which reads, "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun." Now these verses tell us that Sabbath is past and the first day follows. We are discovering that the weekly cycle back then is exactly the same as it is in our day. We are told that the ladies came to anoint the Lord's body at the rising of the sun, but not one word about a change to God's commandment to keep holy Sunday.
This brings us to our third text found in Luke 23:54-56 and continuing to Luke 24:1. "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them." Now this is interesting. All the world knows that Christ was crucified and died on Friday which is called the preparation day. The Sabbath followed. But before sundown on Friday the body of Christ was placed in the sepulchre. The disciples then rested on the Sabbath day according to the fourth commandment. On Sunday morning they brought spices to anoint Christ's body. So far we are finding nothing about the Lord's Day being changed to Sunday.
Now let us examine verse number four found in Matthew 28:1, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." Now this verse tells of the disciples coming to the tomb on the first day of the week; the Sabbath is past. There is nothing about the first-day worship or a command to keep Sunday holy.
Text number five is John 20:1, "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." Now we must admit that this scripture reveals the same information of the four previous texts. If there had been a change in the day of worship the Bible would have made this very clear for the book of Matthew was written thirty-two years after the resurrection. The book of Mark was written thirty-six years after the resurrection. The book of Luke was written thirty-five years after the resurrection and the book of John was written sixty-six years after the resurrection.
Now consider John 20:19 – text number six. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." Here we find a text in which the disciples were gathered together Sunday evening. But why? To keep Sunday holy? To worship the risen Christ? Absolutely not! They are gathered together because they are afraid. They had a right to be afraid for they had been charged with breaking the Roman seal and stealing the body of Christ. They had not gathered to honor the risen Christ.
In fact the Bible tells us that on Sunday evening of the resurrection the disciples did not believe that Jesus was alive. Let me read this from scripture in Mark 16:11-14 in which Mary Magdalene saw Christ after the resurrection and told the disciples. "And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen."
There are only two more texts in which the first day is mentioned. Let us look at text number seven, 1 Corinthians 16:2. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." Here we find Paul writing to the brethren in which he tells them he is on his way to Jerusalem and will stop by to gather an offering for those who have been persecuted. Notice the words "lay by him in store" "upon the first day of the week." This is no church meeting. He is asking that they go over their books at home to see what offering they might be able to give. The Greek word for "store" is spelled "hezuto" meaning "by himself; in his home." There is nothing about worship.
Now we come to the last text. Here we find Sunday worship on the first day, or do we? Let us read Acts 20:7-13, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot."
What day is he talking about? Those of you who know your Bible will remember that the day in scripture begins at sunset. Let us review such texts. Leviticus 23:32, "It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." Then in Genesis 1:5 we read, "And God called the light Day, and darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." This is exactly how God determines the day in the New Testament. I'm reading in Mark 1:32, "And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils." So according to the Bible this meeting was held on what we now call Saturday night, that was actually Sunday, the first day since the day begins at sundown.
But I hear some say that their preacher declares that it was holy time because they were participating in the holy communion by breaking bread. But as we search the scriptures we discern the Christians who believed that Christ arose from the dead were so happy that Jesus was alive that they participated in the communion service every day. Listen as I'm reading from Acts 2:46, "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." Beloved, there is nothing in these eight texts that can be construed to indicate that the first day was now a holy day. On the contrary, this last text reveals that this meeting was held on Saturday night and on Sunday morning Paul traveled twenty miles across the island to meet the boat. Paul was never a Sunday keeper. At the close of his life he testified according to Acts 28:17, "Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans." The truth is that Paul always kept the seventh-day Sabbath as was the custom of the Jews. Time after time you find him keeping the Sabbath. You will never find one place in the New Testaments that Paul kept holy the first day, Sunday, as a holy day.
My friend, it is not safe to follow traditions upon which Sunday sacredness is commanded. Listen to the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 15:3, 9, 13, "He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? … But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. … Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Let's face the truth. Obedience to God's commandments is absolutely essential to being saved. Paul sums up this belief in Hebrews 5:9, "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." When you hear today a Protestant clergy state that we honor Christ by worshiping on Sunday you are listening to a lie.
However, the word of God does preach that Christ does authorize a memorial of His death and resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 11:26 we read, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." And Colossians 2:12 tells that baptism is to commemorate His burial and resurrection. I read, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
So we have discovered that there is not one text that could possibly be construed to teach Sunday keeping in the Bible. In a book by the name of Pope, King Again on p. 119 we will find listed sixteen texts which you cannot find in your Bible. Listen as I read: "The Catholic Church is absolutely right in declaring that Sunday observance is extra-Biblical. You may read your Bible through from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 but you will not find one text that says the Sabbath was ever changed from the seventh day to the first, or one text where the first day of the week is ever called a holy day, or one text where we are told to keep the first day of the week, or one text that says that Jesus ever kept the first day as a Sabbath, or one text where the first day of the week is ever given a sacred title, or one text that affirms that any of the apostles ever kept the first day as a Sabbath, or one text from any of their writings that authorizes its observance, or one text that gives any instruction as to how the first day of the week should be observed as a day of rest, or one text where it says that it was the established custom of the early Christian church to meet on that day, or one text where we are told not to work on the first day of the week, or one text where the apostles taught their converts to keep Sunday instead of Sabbath, or one text teaching that the first day was ever appointed as the Lord's Day, or one text that say that the seventh day is not now God's holy rest day, or one text that says that the seventh-day Sabbath has been abolished, or one text that releases us from observing the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of creation."
Beloved, there is but one choice for the Christian – obey God and keep holy the Lord's Day which the Bible teaches is the seventh-day Sabbath. Protestant ministers who profess to teach only the Bible could tell you the truth, but scripture reveals that in the very end of time this will never happen. I am reading Revelation 13:15 – 17 that tells us what we may expect. "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
This brings up the question, What is an image to the beast? We have found in these studies that the beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Catholic Church. Who is the image of the papacy? Perhaps this will help – those who were acquainted with my father have often stated that I am the image of my father. I, of course, am not my father, but I look like him, talk like him and act like him. An image of the beast of Rome would have to be a religious power here in America that would enforce the mark of the beast, which we have established is Sunday worship. America has long been known as the world center of Protestantism. But a change is fast developing called the Ecumenical movement in which Protestants are becoming like Catholicism; in other words, making an image to the beast. These two religious powers are working together with one goal – that Protestants and Catholics will become united in doctrine. This is why Protestant churches no longer "protest" against the papacy but openly declare the pope to be the greatest spiritual force in our world today. Few, if any, have any idea of how closely these two religious bodies are working together.
Take the example of Billy Graham. He is recognized as Protestantism's greatest evangelist. I will let the following quote reveal how the Catholics and Protestants are working together. This is taken from a new book entitled Billy Graham and His Friends p. 36, 37. "Graham was in a meeting in San Antonio, Texas. He said that the Roman Church has giving tremendous cooperation in areas where he had held crusades. He added, 'A great portion of our support today is from the Catholics. We never hold a crusade without priests and nuns being much in evidence in the audience.' By September 1992 the Catholic diocese of Portland, Oregon had set a goal to supply 6,000 of the 10,000 councilors needed for the Graham crusade. All Catholics who responded to the altar call were channeled to Catholic churches. Billy Graham said that he had a Roman Catholic bishop stand beside him and bless the converts as they came forward in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1979 almost 3500 decision cards were turned over to the Catholic Church."
I'm sure that this is an eye-opener to the majority of Protestants. With this in mind consider how Catholicism has always claimed the power of the state to achieve its goals. Now we discover Protestantism is also determined to do the same by securing the power of the state to achieve its goals. You have often heard of the Protestant organization called The Religious Right, but did you know that they have openly declared to change America by the power of our government? Their recent book Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right by Sarah Diamond p. 135 are these startling words, "The concept that Christians are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian right." Jerry Falwell has publicly endorsed Dominion Press Books.
And listen to this found in their book called Manifesto: A coalition on the Bible , Appendix A, page 7, "We affirm that the great commission is a mandate of the Lord to make … Bible-obeying disciples of all nations. It is therefore to the great benefit of all mankind, Christian and non-Christians alike, to make every society's judicial and legal system into a close approximation to the laws and commandments of the Bible as its citizens will allow." Believe it or not, this Protestant movements teaches that when all else fails to achieve what they are striving for that the death penalty (notice that) will make it possible to clean up America. In their paper called Church and State, p. 10 of January 1991 are these unbelievable words, "The death penalty is advocated for homosexuals, astrologers, witches, teachers of false doctrine and incorrigible children." This is exactly what Revelation 13:15 - 17 declares will take place in America.
Don't think this plan is held by a few Protestant leaders. In a book The Answer to the Biblical Law p. 279 by John Rushdoony, published by the Presbyterian Reformed Publishing House, I find this statement, "Warfare is not child's play. It is a grim and ugly matter. The Canaanites were under judicial death sentence by God. They were spiritually and morally degenerate. These laws assert a still valid general principle. If warfare is to destroy evil that an evil order be overthrown and in some cases some or many people be executed." Keep in mind that the leaders of this Protestant organization endorses these words; leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robinson and a host of others. With such a movement these religious right people aim to reeducate the Protestant churches. If they succeed, this will become the blueprint for the image of the beast here in America to force the mark of the beast.
When one considers how the morals have fallen in America it is little wonder that many Protestant church leaders believe the death penalty is the answer. God has said things will get worse and worse for Inspiration declares we shall experience a time of trouble such as never was. We have not been told exactly how this will happen, but one thing is for sure, God declares the image of the beast in America will cause all to worship the mark of the beast. Let me read it again, "He had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Revelation 13:15.
A well-known spiritual writer has written in a book called The Great Controversy on p. 445, "The image to the beast represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant church's shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas." The same author wrote in The Signs of the Times p. 3 in 1910, "When the Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy."
If you have any doubt that I may have overemphasized the intent of this great Protestant movement to join the papacy in forcing a national Sunday law in America, let me read from the Institutes of Biblical Law p. 833 by the Presbyterians. "Sabbath violations were capital crimes. Capital crimes were major ones. If the Hebrew Sabbath is binding today its implications and applications are equally binding. If the standard of the Hebrew Sabbath are binding then entering a place of business on the Sabbath is morally a capital crime and an abomination in the sight of God."
I used to preach about the image and the beast by faith, but not any more. Anyone watching the Protestant movement in America today can see an image to the beast developing right before our eyes. I appeal to you to join with me and become a part of God's last-day remnant who keep the commandments of God, including the fourth, promising by His grace to keep holy the Lord's Day, the seventh-day Sabbath, and be ready to meet Jesus who soon will appear in the sky to take you home with Him.
Let us pray. Dear Father, help us to show our allegiance to Thy creative power by keeping holy the Lord's Day, the seventh day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
www.ElderNelson.com

Friday, March 6, 2009

THE MARK OF THE BEAST(Part 7)Evangelist Lawrence Nelson
The authority of this presentation is found in Revelation 14: 9, 10: "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb."
Nowhere in the entire Bible will you find a more startling warning given by God against a most grievous sin of our day. These Bible verses describe the consequences of those who refuse to heed this message and cling to the mark of the beast. Anyone in the their right mind can understand this mighty appeal of a loving God. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die for you and He wants you to spend eternity with Him in a glorious place called heaven. Yet, God cannot accept those who knowingly disobey His warning.
The most important question for this generation is: What is the mark of the beast? We will discover God's Holy Scripture gives the answer – so simple that even a child can understand. Therefore, this requires a fearless presentation as we read in Isaiah 58:1, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."
My friend, this question is a life and a death issue. This is why we must ask God for His help. Please bow your head with me as I pray. Loving Father, we have now come to the most important truth in this series which requires Thy Holy Spirit to guide us as we search for the answer to the question, What is the mark of the beast. We need to know so that we can intelligently decide to have nothing to do with it and to be saved in Thy kingdom. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.
The mark of the beast actually identifies anyone who has decided to obey the devil and worship him. It is no wonder that God has promised to destroy those who accept Satan's authority. This mark has to do with worship; will we obey God and worship Him as He commands or will we worship a counterfeit god that the Bible calls the man of sin. This act of worship includes all Christians and non-Christians and divides them into two distinct groups. One group worships the Almighty God in obedience to His commandments which requires us to keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath. The other group, knowingly obey the beast by their worship on a day dedicated to the pagan sun god, Baal.
I realize that this is a shocking statement, but please hear me out for I am revealing this terrible fact because I love you. During the last six sermons I have never failed to give you a "Thus saith the Lord God" to back up every statement made and this sermon will be no exception. I promise to do the same – to give you absolute Biblical proof – to back up every truth presented.
Now let us briefly review the divine prophecies that reveal this great counterfeit system which is soon to control the world. I am reading Revelation 13: 1 – 3, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Please note that this beast of Revelation 13 (which you will find is beast #6 on your visual aid) is comprised of all the traditions and doctrines developed by the dragon power which you find is beast #1.
Beginning with Nimrod, Satan's first monarch, who built the Tower of Babel in defiance of God which God destroyed, eventually the dragon passed all its pagan traditions to Babylon (beast #2), who then passed them on to Medo-Persia (beast #3), who passed them on to Greece (beast #4), who passed them on to pagan Rome (beast #5), and who finally gave them all to papal Rome (beast #6). The scriptures are very emphatic about this beast of Revelation 13. You will notice in verse 2 its horns came from pagan Rome (beast #5), its body from the leopard, Greece (beast #4), its feet were taken from the bear (beast #3), and its head came from the lion (beast #2), and the papal authority came from the dragon as we read in Revelation 13:2, "The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, (and then note these words…) and great authority." No one will question that the authority of the papacy is found in its pagan traditions.
Please consider carefully what God says of those who accept and obey the dragon's traditions. I am reading verse four of Revelation 13, "They worshipped the dragon" (that's beast #1), for obedience is the highest form of worship. Therefore, those who obey the beast of Revelation 13 are worshipping Satan. Let's read all the verse to make sure, "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
God wants us to be absolutely positive so He has given us six major points of identity. These are as follows:
Blasphemy. Revelation 13:5 says, "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies." The pope claims to be another god. "Thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director; finally, thou art another god on earth." History of the Councils, Volume 14, column 109.
It was to rule for 1260 years. The papacy was to rule the world for 1260 years. This is found in Revelation 13:5, "And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." According to Ezekiel 4:6, a day stands for a year in prophecy. Therefore 1260 days are 1260 years. The papacy destroyed the Ostrogoths in 538 and thereby began their universal rulership of the world which continued until 1798 when the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, by the order of Napoleon. This was a papal reign of 1260 years – exactly as God had said.
It would be a persecuting power. The papal power would be a persecuting power. Revelation 13:7, "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." During the papal reign of 1260 years the papacy destroyed from 100 – 140 million of the saints of God. The present pope has recently admitted that they had persecuted during the Dark Ages.
It would receive a deadly wound. The papal power was to receive a deadly wound and the wound would be healed. Revelation 13:3 says, "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." The papal kingdom was destroyed by France in 1798 when Berthier took the pope prisoner, but in 1929 his throne was restored by Mussolini of Italy and the deadly wound began to heal. Today it is almost completely healed for almost all governments of the world have their ambassadors to the pope.
The number of this beast is the number of a man's name. God has given a specific number to this papal power. Revelation 13:18 tells us, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." The pope's official title is "Vicarius Filii Dei." The official language of the papacy is Latin and by adding up the value of each Latin letter it comes to 666. Amazingly you can also do this with the Bible languages of Greek and Hebrew. All three languages will give you the same number – 666.
Its wound is to be fully healed and once again all the world will wonder after the beast. God's Word predicts that almost the entire world will worship (that is obey) the papal power. This is found in Revelation 13:8, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life." Please keep in mind that these are God's words – they are not mine. Here are six absolute points of identity.
Now we come to the question, Where in the scriptures does God describe true worship of obedience that He will accept? In the book of Revelation chapter 14 verses six and seven, God's final appeal is given by three mighty angels declaring in positive words that God will accept only the worship of obedience. I read, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth; and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: (then notice…) and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
And where is this command to worship God explained in detail? – It is found in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8 – 11, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." The Catholic Church has changed the fourth commandment to read, "Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day" – leaving out "the seventh day." This makes it possible for the papacy to command worship on the first day to honor the dragon's pagan sun god instead of worshiping the Creator who made heaven and earth.
Now the question: How and when did the pope change God's eternal Ten Commandments? You will be surprised at the answer. I am quoting from Pope Nicholas, "The pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things even the precepts of Christ." Decretal Dei Translet. I continue to quote, "The pope's will stands for reason. He can dispense above the law and of wrong made right by correcting and changing laws." DIS-96. It is in the changing of God's holy law that we discover the mark of authority of the beast. I shall read this to you from an authentic Catholic testimony, "The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." The Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1893.
"Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day. Take note: this is a change for which there is no scriptural authority." That's taken from the Catholic Doctrinal Catechism by Reverend Stephen Keenan, p. 174.
Again I quote, "She, the Church, took the pagan sun-day and made it the Christian Sunday and thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Boldar, a sun-god, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." The Catholic World 1894. "Nowhere in the Bible, do we find that Christ or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandments of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day – that is, the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church of Rome outside the Bible." Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947.
Here is a challenge by Rome: an offer that has never been taken, "I have repeatedly offered $1000.00 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the Holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' The Catholic Church says, 'No, by my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week,' and lo, the entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." That's taken from Priest Enright of Kansas City, Missouri.
Does the papacy admit that she changed the Sabbath and that it is her mark? – In reply to a letter of October 28, 1895 asking the Church if it claimed the change of the Sabbath as her mark the following was received: "Of course the Catholic Church claims the change was her act and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." C. F. Thomas, Chancellor. Now these statements of fact by Catholic Church writers make it absolutely clear that the mark of the beast is the counterfeit Sunday sacredness that is commanded by the pope of Rome.
You may be further surprised to discover that the Protestant churches of the world agree with Rome. I shall now read from Protestant testimony, the Presbyterian Church: "The Christian Sabbath, Sunday, is not in the scriptures and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Dwight's Theology, Volume 4, p. 401. From the Congregational Church we read, "There is no command in the Bible requiring us to observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath." The Mode and Subjects of Baptism by Fowler.
The Lutheran Church says, "The observance of the Lord's Day, Sunday, is not found on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church." Augsburg Confessions of Faith, as quoted in Cox's Sabbath Manual, p. 287. The Episcopalian Church teaches, "The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always on a human ordinance and it was far from the intention of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect. Far [be it] from them and from the apostolic church to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday." History of the Christian Religion of the Church, Neander, p. 186.
We read from the Methodist Church, "It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism, nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week." Logical Compends, 1902, by Reverent Amos Benny, p. 180, 181.
Now we come to the Baptists. Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual, in a paper read before the New York ministers' conference held on November 13, 1893 made this candid admission before a group of ministers, "There was, and is, a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said however, with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week with all its duties, privileges, and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject which I have studied for many years I ask, Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament – absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism and christened with the name of the sun-god and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism."
Now, by comparing the Catholic testimony which reveals that they adopted Sunday-keeping from the pagan sun worshipers with that of the Protestant testimony admitting that there is no Bible authority for keeping holy the first day of the week, an honest individual discovers he must make a decision. He must choose to give his allegiance to truth or error; to God's Holy Word the Bible or to the devil's traditions. It's a decision that you must make. We must keep the seventh-day Sabbath according to God's commandments or we must obey the dragon by keeping the first day holy. By this decision you receive the seal of God or the mark of the beast.
Let us take a moment to consider the original seventh-day Sabbath which contains the seal of God. What makes a seal authentic when placed on a legal document? – The seal must contain the ruler's name giving his title and dominion. You will find God's genuine seal in the Ten Commandments, centered in the fourth containing His name – "The Lord thy God" – His title – "The Creator" – His dominion – "Heaven and Earth" – which makes the Ten Commandments a legal document requiring His servants to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.
Keep in mind that God has stated in Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not." Since these commandments were spoken by God we read in Psalms 89:34, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Therefore, the Bible states, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." Isaiah 8:16. Is it any wonder then that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, has given to us the greatest warning message found in the scriptures? You read this in Revelation 14: 9 – 11, "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." God will destroy all those who accept and obey the mark of the beast.
In the same chapter He tells of those whom He will accept. I'm reading Revelation 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
Now I must read to you Rome's challenge. Listen carefully. "I'm going to propose a very plain and serious question to which I would entreat all who profess to follow the Bible and the Bible only, to give their most earnest attention. It is this, Why do you not keep holy the Sabbath day? The command of Almighty God stands clearly written in the Bible with these words, 'Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work.' Exodus 20: 8, 9. Such being God's command then I ask again, Why do you not obey it? Why do you not keep holy the Sabbath day? You will answer me, perhaps, that you do keep holy the Sabbath day for that you abstain from all worldly business and diligently go to church and say your prayers and read your Bible at home every Sunday of your life. But Sunday is not the Sabbath day. Sunday is the first day of the week. The Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. Almighty God did not give a commandment that men should keep holy one day in seven, and He assigned a reason for choosing this day rather than any other; a reason that belongs only to the seventh day of the week and cannot be applied to any other. He says, 'For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.' Almighty God ordered that all men should rest from their labors on the seventh day because He too had rested on that day. He did not rest on Sunday, the first day of the week, but on Saturday, the seventh day. On Sunday, the first day of the week, He began the work of creation. He did not finish it. It was on Saturday that He ended His work which He had made. 'And He rested on the seventh day from all his work which He had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.' Genesis 2: 2, 3. Nothing can be plainer and easier to understand than all this, and there is nobody who attempts to deny it. It is acknowledged by everybody that the day that Almighty God appointed to be kept holy was Saturday, not Sunday.
"Why do you then keep holy Sunday instead of Saturday? You tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed? – But by whom? Who had authority to change an express command of Almighty God when God had spoken and said, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,' who shall dare say, 'Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day, but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead'? This is the most important question which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only, and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of the day the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments. You believe the other nine are still binding. Who gave you the authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which the fourth commandment is expressly altered or at least from which you can confidently infer that it was the will of God that Christians should make that change in its observance which you have made."
Now Rome gives you the answer. "The present generation of Protestants keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday because they received it as part of the Christian religion from the last generation, and that generation received it from the generation before and so on. Backward from one generation to another by a continual succession until we come to the time of the so-called Reformation when it so happened that those who conducted the change of religion of this country left this particular portion of Catholic faith and practice untouched.
"Now mind you, in all this you would greatly misunderstand me if you supposed that I was quarreling with you for acting in this matter on a true and a right principle - in other words, a Catholic principle - the acceptance, without hesitation, of that which has been handed down to you by unbroken tradition. What I do quarrel with you is this: For your lack of consistency in occasionally acting upon a true principle, but your adoption as a general rule of a false one. You keep Sunday and not Saturday and you do so rightly for this was the practice of all Christians when Protestantism began. But you have abandoned other Catholic observances which were equally universal at that day preferring the novelties introduced by the men who invented Protestantism to the unvarying tradition of about 1500 years.
"We blame you not for keeping Sunday for your weekly holiday instead of Saturday, but for rejecting tradition which is the only safe and clear rule by which this observance can be justified. In outward act we do the same as yourself in this matter; we too no longer observe the ancient Sabbath, but Sunday instead. But there is this important difference between us. We do not pretend, as you do, to derive our authority for doing so from a book, but we derive it from a living teacher and that teacher is the Church. We Catholics then have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed – namely the authority of the Church of the Living God, 'the pillar and ground of truth,' (1 Timothy 3:15) whereas you who are Protestants have really no authority for it in the Bible and you will not allow that there be authority for it anywhere else." That is Rome's challenge to you taken from The Liberty of Christian Doctrines, p 3, 4. Also found in the book, The Pope King Again, by Alonzo Baker, p. 119 – 122.
So, it's an undeniable fact that the fourth commandment is of God which demands that we keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath in honor of God our Creator. But this has been changed by the papal Church to honor the dragon's Sunday, who claims that he has power to change what God commands. The dragon is commanding you to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, to honor the ancient sun god of old Babylon.
Now in closing, there is one further question for those who have honestly thought all their lives they were honoring God by keeping Sunday holy: Will I be lost if I don't keep the Bible Sabbath? Listen carefully. There was an owner of a country store who was a very honest man. He sold yardage to the community - to the mothers who made clothing for their families. He was a faithful believer in the commandments of God. One day a lady bought just one yard of cloth. When she got home she discovered it was a half-inch short and it could not be used after all. She had trusted the storeowner. He had never cheated her before. She measured the piece of cloth with her yardstick and found that it was a half-inch too short. She went back to the store stating that she had measured the cloth with her yardstick and found it to be less than a yard. The owner measured it once again and found it to be exactly right.
Then she had a happy thought. She went over to the hardware section and picked up a tape measure and gave it to the owner who measured the material and to his amazement he found that his yardstick was one-half inch short. Now you fill in the rest of the story. Can this honest man continue to use his old yardstick to sell cloth? He now knows that it is defective. He is an honest man. Will God hold it against him because he unknowingly used an inaccurate yardstick? – Of course not. But can he continue to use the old yardstick and be accepted by God as an honest man? – Of course not.
God has given us a divine rule to follow. In James 4:17 I read, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." The time has come, my friend, when I must ask you to make a decision for eternal life. In Joshua 24:15 we read, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I believe you to be honest in heart and you have chosen to obey God and keep His seventh-day Sabbath holy, God helping you.
Let us pray. Loving Father, I present to you this precious child of God who has promised, with Thy help, to keep holy the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Place these dear ones' name in Your Book of Life and give them strength that they may be faithful. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
www.ElderNelson.com

Thursday, March 5, 2009

THE MYSTERY NUMBER 666(Part 6)
By: Evangelist Lawrence Nelson


"We are living, we are dwelling, In a grand and awful time – To be living is sublime. And the prince of evil spirits, Great deceiver of the world! Cometh with unwonted power, Knowing that his reign will cease When the kingdom shall be given To the mighty Prince of Peace. He, alone, who thus is faithful, Who abideth to the end, Hath the promise, in the kingdom An eternity to spend." So writes Arthur C. Coxe in his beloved hymn.
This war that began in heaven is soon to end in this old world. We are told in Revelation 12:7 – 9, "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
In your visual aids which came with this sermon please notice #1, the dragon, which we have just talked about. Praise God that we are not left in doubt as to the outcome for God has revealed exactly how this war will end. I am reading from Revelation 19:11 – 16, 19, 20: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." Now listen carefully: "The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."
As we come to this final showdown we must never forget there is a people that the devil is determined to destroy, for in Revelation 12:17 it tells us, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant." I wish that you would place the woman at the end of your beast chart (figure #8). Any lady listening to this tape knows what a remnant is – it's the last part of a bolt of cloth. Thus Satan is making war with the remnant of her seed. Who are they? – Those "which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Thank God we can be saved by the sword of the Lord which is the Word of God.
Before we continue let us pause here to pray for heavenly guidance. Heavenly Father, As we compare Thy truth with the false doctrines of Satan, may Thy Holy Spirit clearly reveal the difference between truth and error so that there will be no doubt concerning Thy truth. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Now, in the visual aids before you, we found in our study of the Old Testament times that the dragon power of old Babylon continually fought against the God of Israel through its following governments: Medo-Persia, Greece and pagan Rome with its traditions of false teachings of pagan worship. Finally Satan was able to penetrate God's Israel causing His very Church to become like Babylon and crucify Jesus, the Messiah.
Since the cross Satan has again infiltrated God's Christian Church with his pagan teachings of traditions, so that today the majority of professed Christians no longer believe the Bible truths, but reject their Lord by accepting the false traditions of Babylon. This is why God has given to the world this end-time final warning message contained in the Three Angels' Messages in which He clearly states that in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament era His professed followers are thus proclaimed to have fallen twice.
I'm reading Revelation 14:8, "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." God is saying in this verse that Babylon has fallen. In the day when Christ was upon the earth, and since many of the churches of our day no longer follow the Word of God, they too have become fallen Babylon.
The question before us is this: Where do we stand in this final battle? Shall we accept the Word of God as found in the scripture and obey its teachings, or shall we follow the majority which have accepted the traditions of Satan? Modern religion is a mixture of both scripture and traditions of paganism and God will have none of it. The Bible truth is the original and tradition is that of satanic origin and is nothing more than a counterfeit. Therefore it is very important that we understand the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit.
When I was a boy about eight years of age I went to a little church in Los Angeles where my father was the church treasurer. Every Sabbath evening when the sun went down he would gather the collection together and write the receipts. I was delighted when he gave me a little job. I was given all the nickels, the dimes, quarters and fifty-cent pieces, along with the silver dollars to count them and get them ready for wrapping. I would count forty nickels and put them in a pile and then I would count out fifty dimes and so on. Of course my Dad would check everything over. One of the things that really intrigued me was the fact that we would often find some counterfeit coins.
Back in those days loose change was worth a lot. Today evil men don't waste their time in making counterfeit coins; they try to make $20 and $100 counterfeit bills. When I was a boy a dime was worth a dime. I remember getting three cans of Campbell soup for a dime, and believe it or not the cans were one-third larger than they are now. How times have changed! If a man could make a counterfeit fifty-cent piece he could feed his family for a whole day. I was always watching to see if I could find any counterfeit coins that were mixed with the genuine coins. When I did I would put them in a little cloth bag together with the loose change that my father took to the bank on Monday. Then we would watch as the bank teller dumped the sack of loose change on the counter to see what would happen. When the coins hit the marble slab the teller's eyes would light up and she would say, "I hear the sound of a counterfeit." Believe me, she would find them every time. Why? – Because she knew the sound of the original coin.
In this tape we want to see if we can tell the difference between the counterfeit and the genuine; the difference between truth and error. We are going to clarify God's warning message. Since God loves all the people He would like to have every soul in His kingdom. This is why He has given the warning message that we may be ready to meet Him. Like the days before the flood God said He would destroy the world because the people no longer obeyed His Word. Back then, if you wanted to be saved you had to get into the ark. Today's message is not another warning of a worldwide flood that is about to happen, but rather it is a warning message of the eternal destruction of all who worship the beast and obey its traditions. The issue before us is of tremendous consequence.
Let me read once more Revelation 14:8 – 10. "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." Let us make sure as we go over some of the following teachings to see if they are God's genuine beliefs or that of a counterfeit.
First let's talk about the trinity. In the scriptures, in Matthew 28:19 it says, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Bible is very clear that the Godhead is made up of three separate Beings. Now let us look at the false. The Bible tells of a counterfeit trinity in the book of Revelation 16:13, "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." You can see that the devil has his counterfeit trinity. Keep this in mind as we proceed.
Now let's take another. What's the difference between the devil's government and God's government? The government of God is based on love and this appeals to us. He tells us, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. God never forces anyone to obey Him; He would rather have His people honor Him because they love Him. Now tell me, you who are fathers, would you find any joy if you had to take a whip in your hand and force your little son to come to you and tell you that he loves you? Why of course not! When you come home from work you are filled with pride to see your little fellow run across the room with his outstretched arms and give you a big hug as he whispers in your ear, "Daddy, I love you."
God's kingdom is based on love, but the dragon's power has always been based on force. If you don't do as he says he will kill you. Let me read it to you in Revelation 13:15, "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." This power we are talking about in this tape has to do with the beast whose deadly wound is healed. God has pictured this counterfeit power as a woman riding the beast. Notice how God describes her with all her ornaments of gold and silver and adorned in purple. Look on your beast chart at #8. She is a harlot, an evil woman. This is God's symbol of a counterfeit church. God is telling us this power uses force. It will force you to do what it demands and this is not God's way with individuals.
Let's look at another teaching. What about God's existence? The Bible teaches that God always was. He was the Creator of everything that our eyes behold. He tells us in Isaiah 44:6, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." But the Bible also reveals that there is a counterfeit god in this world. Let me read this to you in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come (he's speaking of the Second Coming of Christ), except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself about all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." There is a man in Rome today who says, "I am God," but beloved, he never created anything.
I can hear someone say, "Surely this man, the pope, doesn't claim to be a god." But just listen to this: I am quoting from the Church, "All names which in the scripture are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the pope." That's taken from a Roman Catholic book The Authority of the Councils, book #2, chapter 17, volume 2, p. 266, edition 1619. I believe you are beginning to see and hear the true ring between truth and error.
Let us consider another false teaching. We find that each side in this war has a mediator, whether it is on the dragon's side or the true woman's side. In the Word of God in 1 Timothy 2:5 it says, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." In our last tape (#5 of this series) we talked about Christ as our mediator. My heart was thrilled as I brought to you a spiritual presentation of what Jesus is doing for us in heaven before the Father at the mercy seat where He sprinkles His own precious blood. He says to the Father, "I died for this sinner. He has asked Me for forgiveness and I want this person to be with Me in heaven." How wonderful it is that we have a mediator before God who is able to save us to the uttermost seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for us. (See Hebrews 7:25). Christ is our mediator before the Father.
But there is another power in this world that claims that the pope is the mediator. Let me read it to you from a Catholic source: "Therefore an appeal is always taken from an inferior judge to a superior judge. As no one is greater than himself so no special holes (sic) when made from the pope to God; because there is one consistory of the pope himself who is the key bearer. Therefore, no one can appeal from the pope to God, no one can enter into the consistory of God without the mediation of the pope." You will find this Catholic writing in the British Museum in London entitled, "An Appeal From a Decision of the Pope," by Augustinus de Ancona a Roman Catholic. Let me ask you, Did the pope ever die for you? Is the pope in heaven today standing at the mercy seat pleading his blood for you? Oh friend, you can just hear the ring that this is a counterfeit. We know from God's Word that Jesus is our mediator.
The devil has spread so much of his tradition in our world today that many find it difficult to understand the scripture. But God has provided His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, to guide us into all truth. Sometimes when I find a passage of scripture difficult to understand I just kneel down in my study and ask for the Holy Spirit to help me with spiritual eyesight. This is why we should pray every time we study the good Book. Remember the Word of God's promise, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." John 16:13.
But the counterfeit system does not teach this. Listen as I read from the book called Define the Church – a Roman Catholic book (p. 33) which says, "The Catholic Church recognizes that it cannot obtain a safeguard doctrine in any other way than by a living authority. This authority has always been recognized to exist in one man. Who is this man? – In the first place it was Saint Peter and since the death of Saint Peter it has been the successors, the popes, the Bishops' of Rome."
When you really want to find something you go to the author. No one knows more about the Bible than the author. God has revealed who the author of His Word is. Turn with me to 2 Peter 1:21. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." But the pope says, "Listen to me. I am the only one who knows how to explain the scripture." Surely you are beginning to hear the ring of a counterfeit.
Let's look at another doctrine. What is the foundation of God's true church? We find in 2 Timothy 3:16 these words, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Oh how we thank God for the Bible! What could we do without it? No wonder in the Dark Ages people died for this Book. They could be burned at the stake for possessing a few pages of scripture. Why? – Because they read in John 5:39, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." But what about the dragon's power of tradition? Remember what Christ said, "Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition?" Matthew 15:3. I can just hear the ring of the counterfeit.
Let's take a closer look at tradition. God says that we are to find His doctrines in the Bible, but some want tradition to take the place of the scriptures. In the Catholic book entitled Find the Church p. 32 we read these words, "The New Testament could not have been established by Christ by which men were to become acquainted with His doctrine." What's that! Let me continue with the quotation: "All things being so there is one thing evident the only means by which Christ chose to have His doctrine handed down was not a writing. It is not the scriptures." Can you sense the difference? Can you hear the ring of a counterfeit? Then I read in the book The Catholic Doctrines p. 606, "Traditions, not the scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built." There is no question about it, the Church of Rome is built upon traditions and not the Bible. Can you hear the ring of the counterfeit?
Let's look at another doctrine – the sacrifice for sin. In our last sermon we found in scripture that Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God. In Hebrews 9:28 we read, "Christ was once offered." Notice the word once. Let me read it again, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." But the dragon, by means of his tradition, has attempted to change this scripture. Consider the mass. Let me read this from The Manual of Christian Doctrine a Roman Catholic publication, p. 417, by John Joseph McBay. "What is the sacrifice that continues on earth? The sacrifice of the cross." Did you hear that? The Bible says that Jesus died once, but here we find that the mass continues to sacrifice. I continue to quote, "What is the sacrifice of the mass? It is the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood in order to represent and continue the sacrifice of the cross." Oh my friend, you can just hear the difference of the ring between the genuine and the counterfeit.
Let's look at some other doctrines quickly. What about baptism - is it sprinkling or immersion? The Bible talks about a man being baptized as being buried with Christ. Romans 6:4 reads, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." The baptismal candidate with the help of Christ dies to his past sins, is buried by his pastor into the watery grave, then brought up out of the water into the newness of life. This is the teaching of Biblical baptism. But this false baptism which takes a little water and sprinkles the candidate is a counterfeit.
You will remember when the eunuch of Ethiopia asked Philip if he could be baptized in Acts 8:37 he said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." Now consider this: When a little baby is brought to the priest to be baptized by sprinkling he does not yet have the ability to believe for he knows nothing about Jesus. He doesn't know that he is innocent of known sin and was born into a sinful world, so how can an infant understand that Jesus came from heaven and was crucified for the sins of the world. What does the scriptures say? – "If thou believest with all thy heart." I'm sure that you will agree with me that you can sense the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit. Where did sprinkling for baptism come from? - Not from the Word of God. It comes from the traditions of Babylon. This is why God calls you and me to come out of Babylon and come into God's true church.
Here is another doctrine. God says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:8, 10. When we realize that Christ has forgiven us of our sins and that we now belong to Him He pours out His blessings by giving us the strength of life to get the things we need. Because of our genuine love for Him we will gladly give Him of our tithes and offerings because we love Him so much.
But this counterfeit system says all you need to do in order to be forgiven is to buy an indulgence. Anyone in their right mind, with a knowledge of scriptures, knows that this is not right; it is a counterfeit. We don't buy our way into heaven. We have a Saviour that when we come to Him and repent of our sins He will freely forgive us. Salvation is a gift. This false system teaches in many countries, like Mexico where I have been, that when you come to a priest and say, "I have sinned, please forgive me," that you must do penance. You may have to make a large wooden cross and carry it to the top of a certain hill where you must dig a hole and plant the cross in an upright position. When you have done so the priest will then say, "I will forgive you."
Furthermore, in this false system you can buy your loved ones to heaven with money. For example, here is a wealthy family and the husband has just died leaving his wife to grieve. The priest comes in and plays upon her emotions saying something like this, "Your husband earned a lot of money in a way he shouldn't have for he wasn't an honest man. He is going to burn in purgatory for a long time. But if you will give the church $10,000 I will pray him out today." Is this the kind of a God we have? My friend, you can just sense the difference.
Now let's talk about how God is going to punish the wicked. God tells of a day when hell will burn. We read in 2 Peter 3:7, "The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." So hell is not burning today because the judgment has not been completed. God never condemns a man unless He examines him. He is a loving judge, a caring judge; He wants to save us. He doesn't want us to be burned in hell. This is why the Lord has done everything possible to save us. But if a man or woman or youth reject the mercy of God they will finally be destroyed in hell. This false system teaches that as soon as you die you will go to purgatory, which is burning now.
I have been in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. I was amazed as I looked at that tremendous picture of purgatory. There are pictured infants whose parents had failed to have them baptized before they died and they are now burning in hell for thousands of years and forevermore. Is this the kind of God we have? – Oh no! God is not like that. God is a God of love. Purgatory is not burning today. Let us have no fear. Such teachings are a counterfeit.
Now consider with me the teachings regarding sin. The Bible states in Ezekiel 18:4, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." When you turn to the dragon, that old serpent called the devil and Satan as stated in Genesis 3:4 Satan states, "Ye shall not surely die." Again you can hear the ring of a counterfeit.
What about the Ten Commandments? When we read the Bible we find that they are eternal and changeless, but most preachers in today's world are following the traditions of Babylon and preach that the Commandments have been done away with. But what does God say? – "The works of his hand are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Psalm 111:7, 8. Why would anyone want to change what God has said? And yet God has told us that the dragon would actually attempt to do this for we read in His Word, he would "think to change times and laws." Daniel 7:25.
We could go on and on about these counterfeits, but what we want to know is where did they come from. The Bible teaches that they all came from the dragon. When Satan developed his first great empire called Babylon that eventually crumbled, all of its pagan traditions were transferred to Medo-Persia and then passed on to Greece, and from Greece it was given to pagan Rome and pagan Rome passed them all on to papal Rome. (Check your beast chart which clearly reveals it).
One of these days this great beast power, whose deadly wound was healed, will eventually control the New World Order and affect your life. The Bible says clearly, "Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Revelation 13:4. Once more may I read to you from the Church of Rome where they got their traditions? I have never found anything written so clearly as that found in Cardinal Newman's book concerning the origin of the doctrines of this great organization. Let me read it to you from his book entitled The Development of Christian Doctrine. "Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use." What is he saying? – We've got all these doctrines from devil worship. Isn't that amazing! Then he names them: "The use of temples and those dedicated to particular saints and ornamented on occasion with branches of trees, incense, lamps, candles, votive offerings to recover from illness, holy water, asylums, holy days and seasons, the use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring of marriage, turning to the east, images at later date, all are of pagan origin and sanctified by their adoption into the church." p. 371 – 373. This quotation of a cardinal reveals where Easter worship came from and the forty days of Lent, together with Halloween, the celebration of the dead coming up out of their graves honoring their father of lies when Satan said, "Ye shall not surely die."
Now it is time in this sermon to discover the meaning of the mystery number 666. In Revelation 13:18 we read, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." There are those today who claim that this could be a Social Security number, however the Bible plainly states that it is the number of a man that is connected with the beast of Revelation 13. (Look at your beast chart #8).
Please permit me to use an illustration to explain this number. Many of you have gone to another town in search of somebody but you did not know where they lived. Where do you start? You visit a corner grocery store and ask someone if they know where this person lives. They tell you, "Of course, just continue on down this road for two miles and you will come to a railroad crossing. Go another two miles and you will find a road that turns off to the right. Take this road and continue two more miles and you will come to a bridge. After you have crossed the bridge take the first road to the left and you will see a house with red shutters. It is a two-story house with a great veranda across the front. You will notice a mailbox up in front with the number 666 on it."
You get in your car, follow down the road two miles, cross a railroad track and go another two miles and come to a road that turns to the right, then turn and go another two miles and cross a bridge and you'll find a road going to the left. Immediately you see the two-story house with the red shutters and a porch all the way across the front. Out in front is the mailbox with the number 666. There isn't any doubt in your mind that you have found the right place.
God wants us to be absolutely positive as He adds these unquestionable facts. Listen carefully. When the pope is crowned, the tiara is placed on his head representing that he is the god of heaven, the god of this earth, and the god of hell. On the crown there used to be the words "Vicarius Filii Dei" which means "the vicar of the Son of God." But you won't find these words there today and in a moment I will tell you why. Since Latin is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church (look at your visual aids which has these words written) you will notice that these words have different values. I'm going to discuss the values found in the different words. For your interest, I have before me a Duoy Catholic Bible. In a note explaining Revelation 13:18 it states, "Numeral letters of his name shall make up his number." Nothing could be stated more clearly for even the Church of Rome knows what this means.
You will now discover that each letter of "Vicarius Filii Dei" stands for in the Latin language.
V = 5 F = 0 D = 500 112
I = 1 I = 1 E = 0 53
C = 100 L = 50 I = 1 501
A = 0 I = 1 501 666
R = 0 I = 1
I = 1 53
U = 5
S = 0 112
Add these up and you have six hundred and sixty-six. Could God have done anything more to reveal this truth? The Bible tells us, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
Let me tell you something that you won't find in any book or library. I once worked in the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and I know whereof I speak. Many years ago the General Conference leadership wanted to publish a book about these things that we have been studying. They instructed an artist to draw the artwork throughout the book to illustrate the message. When he came to the "666" the artist sought for a picture of the pope wearing the crown with the words "Vicarius Filii Dei." He could not find one so he did the next best thing and took a photograph of the pope wearing the crown and then with his pen placed the words "Vicarius Filii Dei" on the crown.
When this book was published it wasn't long before one day the best lawyers in the world knocked at the door of the General Conference. They said, "You have done something illegal and we are going to sue you." When the General Conference realized what had happened they knew that they were in big trouble. When I studied for the ministry at what is now called La Sierra University Elder Sorenson, one of my professors of religion, told me what happened. He said that our church sent men to Europe to find evidence that these words were once on the pope's crown. Since this was before the war all the libraries and archives of Europe were still in existence. They spent many days searching and finally found a number of men and women that had actually seen these words on the pope's crown. They were able to get their sworn statements documented by law that could be used in any court in the world. With this information the General Conference sent word to Rome that they were ready to go to court. Nothing more happened.
But, listen to this. On November 15, 1915 Rome published the following in Our Sunday Visitor, the official Catholic paper for North America. "Is it true that the words of the Apocalypse Revelation in the thirteenth chapter, eighteenth verse, refers to the pope?" And then it answers, "The words referred to are these: 'This is wisdom. He that hath understanding let him count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six.' The title of the Pope of Rome is 'Vicarius Filii Dei.' This is inscribed on his miter and if you take the letters of his title, which represent Latin numerals (printed large) and add them together they come to 666." So the Church admits these words are on the pope's original tiara. What you have been hearing in these tapes is all based on the Word of God and it never fails.
Let us pray. Thank you God, for giving us the absolute truth so that we can make a right decision to have nothing to do with the mark of the beast. Help us to obey Thy Word, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
www.ElderNelson.com

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

THE PRIEST, HIS CONFESSIONAL AND THE CHURCH (Part 5)By: Evangelist Lawrence Nelson
I trust that this message will lift our thoughts higher and higher to the throne of God where we may be able, by faith, to visualize God the Father and Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit – all working together to make our salvation possible. We will see revealed in this message the divine love of God as we have never seen it before. This is what the Three Angels' Messages are all about.
In the book of Revelation 14:7 we read, "The hour of his judgment is come." We want to know what kind of a God we must face and with what law will this judgment deal with. In searching for the answers we will also discover the wonderful news that there is absolutely no question about our Lord's ability to save us. God has loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die for you and for me, and Jesus has demonstrated this love for us on Calvary. Furthermore, they love us so much that they want us to live with them in heaven for eternity. What an amazing revelation.
This is why Jesus spoke those wonderful words in John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." What a blessed hope! Praise God.
There is however a big question to be answered: Why hasn't Christ come? Let us think about this for a few moments. What is He waiting for? Certainly the signs that tell of His coming can be seen taking place all around us. This world in which we live is becoming so rotten that many pray daily, "Come, Lord Jesus," so why hasn't He come? You will be amazed when I tell you that God has a problem and it is a tremendously big problem. How can He save the sinner without saving the sin? Think it through. Let me put it in these words: How can He destroy sin without taking the life of the sinner? One thing is certain, God can never take a sinner to heaven with infectious sin for it would spread throughout the universe and heaven would become like this sin-cursed earth. It's a big problem, believe me. But praise the Lord, God is able and He has a solution. This will be our study in this tape.
Before we proceed, let us pray. Loving Father, as we try to comprehend how God can destroy sin within us and then take us to heaven where we will never sin again, we plead to open our spiritual eyes so we can understand how Thou art able to do this and guarantee that sin will never arise again. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
In the Word of God we read that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." John 14:6. The Psalmist wrote, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary." Psalm 77:13. In this study we will discover that God's way in which He can separate sin from the sinner is found in the Bible sanctuary system.
In the Old Testament there is an earthly sanctuary mentioned in many places, and when we turn to the New Testament we find that Paul also talks about a sanctuary. But the sanctuary mentioned in the New Testament is of that in heaven. In Hebrews 7:25 it tells us that our precious Lord is now our High Priest. Look at your visual aid #11, which pictures Christ as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary where He is able to save us from our sins. Let's read it, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
In Hebrews 8:2 Paul explains that Christ is now "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." In Hebrews 8:5 Paul refers us back to the sanctuary of the Old Testament which existed on this earth. (Look at your sanctuary picture #1). Paul states, "Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." From this verse we learn that the sanctuary on earth was made after the pattern of the heavenly sanctuary. Please keep this in mind for this is very important.
Now let us take a look at the earthly sanctuary. We are going to examine every part to discover how it is used to separate sin from the sinner. Focus your attention now on visual aid #5. First of all you will notice that it is a sanctuary surrounded by a courtyard. As you enter within you will find the altar of sacrifice and at the entrance of the sanctuary there is a wash basin called a laver to be used for cleansing. Next we enter the sanctuary and find there are two rooms – one called the Holy and the other the Most Holy. Within the Holy Place are the altar of incense, the candlesticks and the table of shewbread. The Most Holy room is separated from the Holy by a veil. In the Most Holy is the ark of God.
Now let us see how God uses these to separate sin from the sinner. First of all the sinner is to bring a sacrificial lamb for his sin. (You will notice visual aid #2). Remember, the lamb represents Jesus Christ. Before it is placed on the altar of sacrifice the sinner must confess his sins over the lamb and then with his own hand take a knife and slay the victim (you will see this demonstrated for you in visual aid #3) then he gives the dying lamb to the priest to sacrifice on the altar.
The priest is also required to take some of the blood of the lamb into the sanctuary. But before he enters he must make sure that he is physically clean so he uses the laver (as pictured in visual aid #4) which is just outside the entrance to the sanctuary. Here he washes his hands and feet before entering the Holy Place. As he passes into the sanctuary (as described in picture #6) he goes by the candlestick which is composed of solid gold and on top of each branch is a bowl in which he has placed olive oil to burn for light. You will notice that there are no windows in the sanctuary so the burning of the candlestick provides the light that is needed. This candlestick represents Jesus Christ for He said, "I am the light of the world."
As you look to the right in the Holy Place (visual aid #7), you will notice a table of shewbread overlaid with pure gold. On this table are two separate piles of six loaves representing the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The shewbread also represents Christ for Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." John 6:35. Just before the veil which separates the Holy from the Most Holy compartments there is another piece of furniture called the altar of incense. This is pictured for you in visual aid #8. Here is where the priest takes the blood that he has brought into the sanctuary, from the lamb that was slain by the sinner, and with his finger puts some of the blood on the horns of the altar and sprinkles the rest before the veil. This is the place where the incense of your prayers come up before God for forgiveness, for pardon, for restoration and for victory over sin.
As we open the veil and pass through into the Most Holy we come to that beautiful symbol which represents the throne of God. It is called the Ark of the Covenant. This is pictured for you in #9. It is overlaid with pure gold. Two angels with their wings hover over the mercy seat. You will notice that these angels are looking down on the mercy seat in wonder and amazement for it is difficult for them to comprehend how the mercy of God is so great that He would give His Son to die for our sins. The angels of heaven are never able to sing the song that you and I can sing, such as "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb" for only we who have sinned can experience salvation.
As we gaze upon this symbol of God's throne you will notice that the mercy seat is above the Ten Commandments revealing the wonderful truth that God has provided His mercy for all who have broken His law, repented and asked forgiveness. Within the ark are two tables of stone which, we read in Exodus 31:18, are the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God. You will find this illustrated in visual aid #10.
Everything in this earthly sanctuary was made by Moses and his people under God's direction according to the pattern showed to Moses on the mountain. But note this: There is one exception, for God said to Moses when it came to the law, "I will do this. I will write it with My own finger." Let me read it to you in Exodus 31:18, "And he gave unto Moses…two tables of stone, written with the finger of God." This is very important. You remember when Moses was coming down from the mount carrying those two tables of stone he saw the children of Israel worshiping an idol of a calf which represented the sun-god of the pagan religion. Moses became so angry that his people would turn from serving God and worship an idol that he threw the table of the law down on the ground breaking them to pieces, showing the people that they had broken God's law.
God wanted the people to realize that His law was eternal so He said to Moses, "I will write them again. You make two tables of stone, but leave the writing to Me. I will do it." Let me read the exact words in Deuteronomy 10:1, 2, "At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, … and I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables." It is interesting to note that there are sixty-six books in the Bible, all written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But when it came to the law of God He said, "I will write them, for they reveal my character."
You will remember that the earthly sanctuary was a copy of the heavenly sanctuary, so this law of ten commandments is a bona fide copy of the law which is in the heavenly sanctuary. It is interesting to note that in the final end of time, when the plagues fall, God is going to open up the heavenly sanctuary for all on this earth to see that the Ten Commandments are in the sanctuary above. It is found in Revelation 11:19. "The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
Now you may question why God gave us such a law. Because it tells us what is right and what is wrong. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:13, "Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man." James clearly describes this law in James 2:10, 11, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."
These Ten Commandments, if kept by the grace of God, become a law of liberty giving us the privilege to live with Christ forever in heaven. But, if we disregard and disobey this law it becomes a law of death. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:4. Paul further tells us, "The wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.
Now, since we all have sinned, this brings us to the "sin problem." God cannot take sin to heaven, so how can He separate sin from the sinner so those who have sinned can be restored to live with Him? – Praise God, the sanctuary gives us the answer! Please consider how this sanctuary system is used by God to make a sinner eligible for heaven. Let us take a person, as portrayed in your visual aid # 2, who is just like you and me, who has committed a sin, and his conscience troubles him for he feels the guilt of sin. This is described in Leviticus 4:28, "If his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge," what is he to do? - "then he shall bring a lamb for his sacrifice to the sanctuary."
Let's follow this man. He comes with his lamb and enters the courtyard where he finds the altar of sacrifice. What does he do? – He takes the little lamb, that represented Christ, and places his hands over the lamb's head confessing his sin (illustration #3). In the next verse, Leviticus 4:29, we read, "He shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering."
There are those in the world today who teach that the priest took the life of the lamb, as we find in the Catholic mass of our day. But the Word of God plainly tells us that it was the sinner that must slay the lamb. Please forgive me if I make this personal. When you have sinned do you really envision Jesus dying for your sin on Calvary? Do you realize that it is you that took the life of the Lamb of God? This was what God was trying to teach His people in the sanctuary system. He wanted all to know the enormous cost to God to be able to forgive your sins. You may be tempted to commit the same sin again, but when you know the pain and the anguish that your sin caused Christ to suffer and to die, you will pray to God for power never to commit that sin again. Remember, it was the sinner's hand that must slay the victim.
Now at this point the priest takes some of the blood from the slain lamb, which has been placed upon the altar of sacrifice to be consumed, and with this blood he enters the sanctuary. But first he washes and cleanses himself and then enters the sanctuary, passing by the candlestick and shewbread he comes to the altar of incense which you will see in picture #8. He takes the lamb's blood on his finger and places it on the horns of the altar and sprinkles the rest of the blood before the veil.
Why is he doing this? – There is something here that is very important about this blood that we must not overlook. In Leviticus 17:11 I read, "The life of the flesh is in the blood," so when the sins are confessed upon the head of the lamb, and the life is taken, the sin remains in the blood. This is why the blood containing the sin is carried into the sanctuary by the priest and deposited within the sanctuary. In this way God is teaching us how He can separate sin from the sinner.
Permit me to illustrate further. In every city there is a laundry. On Monday morning people bring to the laundry their dirty clothes. Why? – Because they want them to get washed. This is what the sanctuary is all about. Your sins go into the sanctuary where they are washed, cleansed, and purified. God is doing for you what the laundry does. Let me read it to you in Ephesians 5:25 – 27, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."
This explains how Christ can cleanse and purify you "that He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." The sanctuary makes this so simple. An individual covered with the filth of sin can come to the Lamb of God who can wash us in His own blood and become spotless. The sanctuary is a complete laundry. God wants us to be cleansed so we can go to heaven with Him, for He cannot take you to heaven with your sins.
Think this through clearly. Only Christ can do the washing of our sin-soiled garments and make them white as snow. How can this happen to us? – You remember we are the sinners, but when we accept Christ as the Lamb of God as our Substitute, and confess our sin, and place them upon Him, then our sins have been transferred to Christ, the Lamb of God. Then by faith we follow Jesus, the resurrected Lamb of God, where He is now officiating as Priest in the heavenly sanctuary (picture #11). He takes our sins and presents them before God saying, "Father, I died for these sins. I've washed and cleansed this individual. He is now without fault and I want him to live with us." This is what is taking place in the heavenly sanctuary today for all who seek His forgiveness.
God has a way in which He can separate sin from the sinners. There is also another way in which the record of sins are taken within the sanctuary. We do not have time to discuss this in detail, but briefly, we are told in the scriptures that the priest often ate some of the victim being sacrificed, so within his body he carried the confessed sins with him as he entered the sanctuary. Thus in this way, by the blood carried by the priest into the sanctuary, or by the priest eating of the flesh containing the blood, the sins were brought before God's throne to be separated from the sinner.
Let us remember that there is a record kept within the sanctuary of all forgiven sins which must be blotted out completely. In Leviticus 16 we read about the Day of Atonement in which the sanctuary was to be cleansed of all confessed sins once a year. Let me read how this was to take place. I am reading Leviticus 16:7 (this is pictured for you in visual aid #12), "And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering."
Now let us see what took place. I'm reading verse fifteen. "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil." The high priest was to enter the Most Holy of the sanctuary where the ark is located. And what does he do with this blood? - (verse fourteen) He "sprinkle[s] it with his finger upon the mercy seat." Now consider what the high priest is doing. He takes of the blood of the Lord's goat and sprinkles it on the mercy seat of God's throne to remove all the records of the past confessed sins, thus cleansing the sanctuary.
I continue to read Leviticus 16:16, "He shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins." Finally the high priest (as pictured in #11) now takes all the sins from the mercy seat and carries them outside of the sanctuary and places these sins on the live scapegoat (as you will notice in your visual aid #12). I read verse ten of Leviticus 16, "But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." ( #13)
In verse twenty-one I read, "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness." This explains what Christ is actually going to do with our forgiven sins. He is going to place them all on the head of Lucifer, the devil, who has tempted us to commit these sins. The Lord is not going to carry these sins throughout eternity. He is going to put them back on the devil. Satan is going to die for them and be punished with eternal death.
Now consider this: When our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, comes from the heavenly sanctuary, in the clouds of heaven to take us home, the scripture says He will no longer carry our sins. We read in Hebrews 9:28, "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin." Did you notice those two words "without sin"? Why? – Our sins have been blotted out and have all been placed on the devil. The work of the sanctuary has been completed. We have been separated from our sins, cleansed, made holy, ready to go home and to live with Jesus.
Let us briefly consider a prophecy known as the "2300 days." Please see the 2300-day chart which explains exactly when Jesus Christ our High Priest was to enter into the Most Holy of the sanctuary. I am reading from Daniel 8:14, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." You will remember that in all of these studies of prophecy that a day stands for a year, so this 2300 days actually means 2300 years.
The beginning date of this prophecy was to be the year when a decree would be written to rebuild Jerusalem that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar as we read in Daniel 9:25. Darius was given this work by God and he made such a decree in the year 457 BC and there is no question about it. This date has been verified by the archeologists who have dug up the clay tablets giving the date of this decree. Now, when you take this date (457 BC) and add 2300 years it brings us to the year 1844 AD which was the date when the sanctuary was to be cleansed. This was the date when Jesus went into the Most Holy compartment of the sanctuary to perform its cleansing. Isn't it wonderful that Jesus, at this very moment, is standing before God's throne taking care of our confessed sins. Since His resurrection Jesus had been officiating in the first compartment of the sanctuary, but in 1844 He went into the second compartment where He is making the final work of atonement pleading with His own blood.
Can you picture in your own mind Jesus standing before God in front of the mercy seat saying, "Father, I died for this person. Look at My nail prints. I shed my blood to cover this man's sin. Father, I died to save this person. I want you to accept My sinless life for his sinful life." Praise God! What a Savior! What a plan He has to remove our sins and to save us!
I think the poet describes this so beautifully:
Father, I bring this worthless child to Thee,To claim Thy pardon yet once again. Receive him at My hands for he is Mine. He is a worthless child; he owes his guilt,But look not on him – he cannot bear Thy glance,Look Thou on me; his vileness I will hide. He pleads not for himself, Lord; he dare not plead.His cause is Mine; I am his Advocate. By that unchanging oath of Mine, by each pure drop of blood I lost for him,By all the sorrows graven on My soul, By every wound I bear,I claim "He is mine."Sin hath destroyed him, but sin has died in Me. Death has pursued him, but I have conquered death. Sin hath bound him, but Satan is my slave. My Father, hear not him, but hear thou Me.
Isn't it wonderful that we have a Savior who loves us so much that He is standing before our God today and pleading in our behalf! How can any of us go to sleep at night with one unconfessed sin when we have such a Savior for He alone can blot out our sins and forgive us. But there is a day coming very soon when the great Day of Atonement of the sanctuary system will come to an end in the heavenly court. Jesus is going to throw His censor down and repeat those words found in Revelation 22:11, 12, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Immediately after this Jesus is going to come in the clouds of glory, without sin, unto salvation.
Friend, are you ready for this? The sanctuary will have been cleansed. All forgiven sin has been separated from His people. All infectious sin has been removed and He will place all of these sins on the head of Satan. This brings me to a most solemn and serious challenge that I have ever made. Are you aware that the final day of atonement, which has been taking place since 1844, is about to end? We know that Jesus is coming soon, but are we aware that the sanctuary system is soon to end – before He comes, and no longer will there be any provision made if you should sin? When Jesus comes probation's time has ended.
Beloved. What we need in this hour is the power of divinity in our lives so that He can help us to overcome every sin. What did Jude 1:24 say? – "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." When Jesus returns there is no longer a sanctuary system to separate sin from the sinner. It is today, by the grace of God, that we are to gain victory. How wonderful that Christ has given us an example to show us how He overcame every temptation and by following Him we too can be overcomers.
The Bible says in Romans 8:3, He was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh," and in Philippians 2:7 it tells us He was "made in the likeness of men." So Jesus was tempted as no other man was ever tempted, yet He never sinned. How did the Lord do this? – He did not obtain victory of Himself, but He had faith in His Father that He would give Him the victory over every devils' temptation. Likewise we read in Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible."
Do you have faith enough to believe that when you need help the Holy Spirit will give you power to conquer the devil's temptations? I have personally learned that if I will each morning pray to God and say, "I want You to send the Holy Spirit to me today to alert me whenever the devil comes with temptation. Don't let me be caught unawares. Let the Holy Spirit arouse me when I am about to fall into temptation. Warn me so that I can immediately ask for Thy divine power," instantly God gives me divine power and the devil flees. I know what I'm talking about for I have experienced this.
Beloved, Jesus overcame when the power of His Father was given to Him. What God did for Christ as a man, He can do for you. So let us claim the promise as it says in Jude 1:24, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless." What a Savior! Not only can He forgive you, and wash you, and separate you from sin, but He can give you victory over every sin. Remember, what we make of ourselves in probationary time we will remain throughout all eternity. Death destroys the body, but makes no change in the character. When Jesus comes we must be ready to live a sinless life with Him.
Let us pray. Father, grant us divine power for we pray as Jesus did in faith, believing with Thine help that we may overcome every temptation and be ready to live with Jesus when He comes and never sin again. Thank you, God, for Your divine plan in which you can separate sin from us that we may live with Thee for eternity. Amen.
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