Episode Transcript
Welcome to God's. Last message to the world. Presented by Dr.
Allan Lindsay. This is an eight part series showing the certainty of Bible prophecy, the accurate fulfillment of past prophecies. Give confidence in those that are yet to be fulfilled.
This presentation is entitled Two Marks, two Decisions. Your choice. Hello once again, and a very sincere welcome to you all.
To those of you who are present in the studio, we've appreciated so much your presence. And this is the last of the series. And to those out there in TV land or watching on YouTube, it's not like zoom, is it? With zoom, I can see the faces of those that you speak to.
But without zoom, it's just an unknown world out there. But no matter where you're living in the world, I'm glad that you're tuned in today and welcome. And we need, of course, the presence of the Holy Spirit.
So let us bow heads in a word of prayer. Our loving Father in Heaven, we look back over the times that we have been speaking on this very important subject, the last message to go to the world. We thank you for the evidence that we have of the Holy Spirit being present.
We are opening your word, and we dare not do that without asking for the guidance of the one who inspired these words to be written in the first place. So we ask that he may be present today to guide us into an understanding of truth and to help us to get to know Jesus better the source and the origin and the finisher of our faith. So Lord bless us.
Now we ask in Jesus'precious name. Amen. I'm sure that many of you have gone on a trip in a car, maybe with friends or family.
And in planning your trip, you have found your book of maps, for you wanted to know the names of the places you were going to pass through in the car, or maybe looking at the points of interest that were there before you reached your destination. On leaving home with your faithful map book, you would have noticed that the towns and the tourist sites that you passed through came in this same order as they were on the map. And I'm sure that that would have given you confidence that you were on the right road and that you would reach your destination just as the map had shown you.
During this series, we have been looking at a map. If you can go back to the first few presentations in this series, we laid out a chart, a map, if you like, of events that prophecy indicated would happen, particularly focusing on the time of the end. And as you'll notice, there on the chart, there was the time of the end.
That crucial time that Daniel spoke about the book of Daniel was to be opened, we noticed, in the time of the end. And how did we discover when the time of the end began. We looked at another chapter in the Book of Daniel, chapter seven, which spoke about a prophetic time period of 1260 years.
When that period ended, and it extended from 538 to 1798, that was the beginning of the time of the end. And as we've noticed in that early series, when we started to lay out this map of prophecy, in the time of the end, a prophecy was to be fulfilled, that was to be proclaimed and yet was sealed up until the time of the end. And that was that longest time prophecy in the Bible, the 2300 days standing for 2300 years.
We discovered when we looked at that prophecy that it ended in the time of the end, just as the angel had predicted to Daniel in the year 1844. And then in 1844, the three angels messages, the last warning message that God is ever going to send to this world, that began to be preached to the world, reaching to the glorious coming of Jesus at the end. Well, once we commenced in our journey in actual time, we saw from the map that the events and the places of interest that were foretold in Bible prophecy have all been passed through.
We have noticed that prophecy pointed unearringly to the events that we have seen as presented on the map. Well, today we come to the last presentation in this series on the message that God is sending to the world. That message, described in the Bible as the message given by three angels in Revelation 14, has been the focus of our study so far, living as all of us are today in what the Bible called remember the time of the end.
In our last presentation, we began to look at the third angel's message, the last one of those angels, and the message it bore to the world. And so let us look in Revelation 14, verses nine and ten what it says. Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast and his image, look at the wording of this and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which has poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation.
As you look at those words, dear friends, here is a message that carries the most severe and terrible warning of any message in the whole of the Bible, and yet it comes from Jesus. How do we reconcile that? Because it comes to us from the one who loves us. And I want to underscore that in your thinking, and who also knows the deceptions and the strategies and the attacks that Jesus'enemy Satan is going to use in his final attempts to have the world worshipping himself.
Since Jesus loves us all so much, he doesn't want any of us to be deceived and involved in Satan's final, terrifying deceptions, he sends his last message to the world from a heart of infinite compassion. And I want you to remember that as we go through our sharing this morning, we've found that the Bible clearly identifies the beast as the symbol of the Church of Rome, a church that began so well. As I think I reminded you, in our last presentation, paul, the Apostle Paul, wrote one of his greatest letters in the New Testament to the church in Rome.
We call it the Book of Romans, a wonderful book. But as time passed in the church in Rome, they began to adopt teachings not found in the Bible and to persecute and also to destroy those who resisted the authority that resided in the Bishop of Rome. We're found, too, in Revelation 13 that a nation was to arise in the time of the end identified in the Bible, as we noticed, as the United States of America.
That will eventually, and this is prophesied, and it seems so unreasonable to us today, but it's been prophesied that this nation will finally force the world to worship this beast and also to make an image that was to be also worshipped as well. But there is a third prediction concerning the global influence of the United States, and I want you to notice what it will finally force upon the world as well. And it's found in Revelation chapter 13 and verses 16 and 17.
He causes all. Now that he is referring to this second beast, the United States of America. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave.
Notice how universal it will be. He forecauses all that's a force there to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no. 1 may buy or sell.
An economic boycott is involved in this, except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. It's to this important subject, friends, that we now turn the mark of the beast. Just as the Bible teaches that there will be two worships as we move towards the days when Jesus will come, and all the world must choose one of those two, jesus or the beast.
So the Bible also teaches that there will be two marks or seals of authority that will demonstrate people's allegiance to their choice of worship. Let's consider the first of these. It's referred to in the Bible as the seal of God, placed on the foreheads of the servants of God.
In reading the Book of Revelation from Jesus, we read something very interesting in chapters six and seven that helps us to understand this seal. So let's look together at the Book of Revelation, chapter six and verse 14. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain was moved out of its place.
Now, these verses that we're going to read are describing the Second Coming of Christ and its effect upon the world, particularly upon those who are not ready to meet Jesus. And it goes on to say and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man notice this those who are not ready to meet Jesus hid. Themselves in the caves and in the rocks and the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
A terrible scene with those who have delayed or not wanted to give their lives over to Jesus and worship Him. When the Second Coming comes, notice they're crying on the rocks and the mountains to fall on them, rather than face the one who is coming to earth, Jesus, in his wonderful return. Then we notice the next verse, which points to what they will ask.
And notice the question for the great day they call out of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? These people are not ready to meet Jesus, but as they think of what they're about to suffer and the great day of his wrath has come, the question comes to their mind who will be able to stand in that day? And the answer is given in the very next verse. Now it's the next chapter, but it's a continuation to answer that question. Notice the Revelation, chapter seven, and verse one.
After these things, the things that have just been described, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds. Notice this of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. And then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.
And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, don't harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their forehead. Now remember, this is answering that question who will be able to stand? And John next sees in vision this angel coming down to the earth, the winds of strife that the angels are holding. They're saying, Hold back those winds.
Don't let them blow, because there's a work to be done. And that work is that there is a seal to be placed on the foreheads of God's people, a great message before Jesus comes, he will hold back the winds of strife in the world and send angels to seal his servants with the seal of God in their foreheads. What then is this seal? In Bible times, and it's still true today, I notice that kings and those in authority always seal the laws with a seal to indicate the authority behind the law.
In fact, in Isaiah, chapter eight, verse 16, we read the Lord saying, bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples to be authentic all such seals, and I've looked at a few of them in my life all such seals must have three components to be true. Seals to indicate the authority of the one giving this law. And what are those three things? First of all, they all must name the lawgiver, for obvious reasons.
Who's giving this law? The name of the lawgiver must be given in the seal, the title or the status. Is he entitled to pass laws? Is he just an ordinary common man? Or is he the king who is passing this law? And then, too, the seal must contain the territory over which the lawgiver rules. Have a look at this seal.
This seal. On the left is the seal of the Father of our present Queen in England, queen Elizabeth II. King George VI.
And while it may be a little bit difficult for you to see on that seal, he's got three things written on that seal to make it a seal of his authority. First of all, his name, George VI, his title, his King, that entitles him to pass this law. And then the territory over Great Britain and the dominions is how they described his territory.
Three things. Now, notice on the right I've put a picture of the seal of Australia. When Parliament here in Australia passes laws, it goes across the laws go across to the Governor General, who puts the seal of authority on those laws.
And notice what's on the seal of Australia, elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. The same three essential items the name, the title or the status, and then the territory over which the lawgiver rules. So God's law, god's law must also be sealed to show us who's the authority behind the Ten Commandments is.
There a place in the Ten Commandments where we find the name of the lawgiver, the title of the lawgiver, and the territory over which the lawgiver rules. It's interesting, dear friends, that there's only one, only one of the Ten Commandments that contains all three. And that one is the Fourth Commandment.
The Fourth Commandment is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. That is, the Creator of all. I want you to look at, therefore, the Fourth Commandment, and let's see if you can find the seal of God.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work. For in six days, the Lord there's the name made that indicates we are hearing the words of the Creator made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. And he rested on the 7th day, therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
In that Fourth Commandment, we find the name, the title and the territory over which he rules. And if you remove the Fourth Commandment out of the Ten, a sun worshipper, somebody who's worshipping the sun God, could look at all the other Nine Commandments and say, yes, I can accept those commandments as coming from the sun God. But when he reads the Fourth Commandment where it says that the Lord who is giving these Ten Commandments is the one who created the heavens and everything that's in it, he would have to say, hold on.
That means the one who's giving these Ten Commandments than giving us the Fourth Commandment is the one who created the Son. He's greater than the sun God. This Fourth Commandment is so important in all the Ten because it alone contains the name and the status and the territory of the law.
Giver remove the Fourth Commandment, my friends, from the Ten, and we don't know who is giving this law and why he should be giving it and why we should obey it. But since he's identified in the Fourth Commandment as the Creator that nothing that's been made was not made without Him making it, that's what the Bible tells us. Therefore, the fact that he made everything in this universe, everything in this world, gives Him the authority for our worship.
The Sabbath is referred to in the Old Testament as a sign or a seal. And it's interesting that those two words are used interchangeably in the Bible to mean the same thing. Have a look at the text in Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse twelve.
Moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths. The Lord is speaking here. Why did he give us the Sabbaths? To be a sign between Me, them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
Here's a wonderful verse that gives us the reason as to why God, or one reason why God has given us the Sabbath. I have given them my Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, who's making us holy. As we progress in the Christian life, the Sabbath was given as a sign.
Then too, we read in the next verse in verse 19 I am the Lord your God, walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them and hallow my Sabbaths notice, and they will be a sign between you, Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Notice why he's given us the Sabbath, that we may know that he is the Lord our God. As we look at those verses, the Sabbath is clearly a sign for two very important ideas that we may know that it is the Lord who is making us holy, helping us to grow in living the Christian life, and that we may know that he is the Lord our God.
It's interesting as you look through the Bible, that the Bible calls the 7th day Sabbath with a number of interesting descriptive titles. It's called the Sabbath of the Lord. It's called my holy day, where God refers to the Sabbath as his holy day.
It's the only day in the seven where it says God blessed that day and he sanctified it, he made it holy. And if it's the only day that God has blessed, then we are going to receive that blessing when we keep it. I have found that to be so true because he's given us this day not only to provide us with physical rest, six days you shall labor, but the 7th do no work.
We need that physical rest, but we also need the spiritual rest in this very stress filled world in which we live today. Revelation Seven tells us that the seal of God is placed on the foreheads of God's servants. What does that mean? Does it mean, as I hear some people saying, well, it's going to be a chip that's a sort of inserted beneath the skin on the forehead? No, nothing like that.
This is a symbolic vision, and all that is in a symbolic vision must be symbols of something. It's not going to be a mark that everybody's going to see that is going to be imprinted on our foreheads. What does it mean then? Why on the foreheads? I'm reminded that in the new Covenant that God wants to make with those who give their hearts to Him, and we read of this in Hebrews Eight, verse ten, that God has promised to put his laws in our minds and write them on our hearts.
So under the New Covenant, God has promised to put his laws in our mind. It's the mind where we remember things just behind our forehead, as it were. And when it says that the Lord is going to put his laws in our mind and write them on our hearts, it means that he's leading us to commit our lives to Him, as we remember with our mind.
As the Fourth Commandment says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And because it's written also in our hearts. I'm reminded of those words of Jesus when he said, if you love me.
We sometimes associate that with our hearts, don't we? If we love Jesus, if you love me, keep my commandments. Jesus said, we don't keep the commandments, dear friends, to earn our salvation. We don't keep the Sabbath in order that we might receive eternal life and be saved.
It flows from our love for Jesus. And by keeping the 7th day Sabbath and the Fourth Commandment, we acknowledge our acceptance of his authority, because the Sabbath was given as a memorial that he's created the world, and it's his creation of the world that gives Him authority to give us the Ten Commandments. Since we've seen that God's enemy satan has always wanted to be worshipped in the place of God, and we've talked about that in earlier presentations.
Satan, therefore, must change that commandment. That shows the reason why we should worship God if he wants us to worship himself rather than God. And because the Sabbath was given to give God his authority, satan, who wants the authority for people to obey and worship him, must do something with that fourth commandment.
This means that Satan must produce his own seal to represent his own authority if he's to persuade the world eventually to worship the beast. As we've noticed in himself, he must supply a counterfeit mark and have it placed on the foreheads or in the hands of those who choose to worship the beast. I think it's important, friends, as I think about counterfeits, that we should remember this about a counterfeit.
The closer it is to the original, the more likely we are to be deceived. If I owed you $10 and I met you one day and down the street and got a bit of paper out of my pocket and wrote on it, this is the $10 that I owe you and handed it to you, I would hope you would not be deceived. I can imagine the look you would give me handing me back that bit of paper.
But if I had access to all to make on a piece of paper that had little clear spots in the paper, with lots of lines on the paper, just like a $10 note, but I was the one who was producing it then. If I handed that to you, you are much more likely to be deceived, because the closer it is to the original, the more successful it is as a counterfeit. And the other point I want you to remember about counterfeits is that counterfeits always come after the genuine.
Think about that. You can't have a counterfeit of something that doesn't yet exist. You've got to have the genuine, and then you must have the counterfeit.
When we studied Daniel Seven and the work of the Little Horn, we read something very important about what the little Horn power would do in the future. And it's found in Daniel, chapter seven and verse 25. Now, if you look at Daniel Seven, verse 25, in that same verse, it talks about how this power would persecute God's people, make war upon them, persecute them for 1260 years.
It's in that same verse. But in the middle of that verse is these interesting words and he shall intend to change times and law. Now, this is referring to the Little Horn power, which is the same power as the beast power.
Here is a prediction that was made way back in the days of Daniel, that this power, when it rises up, will intend to change God's times and law. Well, I don't think this is in reference to man's laws. Man's laws can change very easily.
It must refer to God's law, that this power would intend or think, as the one version of the Bible says, think to change God's divine laws. Here is a prediction that the Church of Rome one day would intend to modify or change God's law. I want you to notice these words in a very reputable Roman Catholic encyclopedia.
It's called prompter bibliothaca. And in volume two, under the article Papa, it says this surprising words the pope can modify divine law. Notice that the pope can change divine law.
Why? Look at the statement since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon the earth. Those are very strong and strange words, dear friends, that a mere man, because the pope is a mere man, can even think that he can change, modify the Ten Commandments. And that leads me, therefore, to ask the question has this Church, the Roman Church, changed God's law? And more particularly, has it changed the law concerning times and concerning God's seal of authority? There are many quotes available from Catholic theologians, even cardinals and popes, that the Church changed the Sabbath to Sunday early in its history.
And the claim is made that because the Church notice what I'm using, and these are words that I find in their writings, because the Church believes it is above the Bible, it has the authority. Notice the word I'm using, too, to make changes even in God's law. The Bible says in two Corinthians 13, verse one, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word is established.
And I'm just going to go beyond that by one and give you four witnesses to what I'm about to say. In 1895, a letter was sent to Cardinal Gibbons in the United States. Now, he was the leading man, the leading Roman Catholic cardinal in America at the time.
And the question was asked, and this are the words of the question does the Catholic Church roman Catholic Church claim the act of changing the observance of the Sabbath from the 7th to the first day of the week as a mark of her power? Does she claim that that change is a mark of her authority and power? An amazing question. Notice what the cardinal answered. Of course, the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act.
It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything religious in the matter, spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. What a claim that the changing of God's law is a mark of the Church's power to change.
That's number one. But let's have a look at number two. How do you prove that the Church has power to command festivals and feasts, rather, and holy days? How do you prove it? That's the question that is asked in this book, which is called A Manual of Christian Doctrine.
Interestingly. How did they answer? By this very act of changing the Sabath into Sunday, which is admitted by Protestants, and therefore they contradict themselves by keeping Sunday so strictly and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church. That's quite an admission as well.
But look at the third witness that I give you. This is written by Canon Caffarata in a book entitled notice the title The Catechism Simply Explained. They give this to those who are interested in the teachings of the church.
But notice what he said, a word about Sunday. God said, Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday.
Why then do we keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday? And now notice the answer. The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. And then it continues protestants who say they go by the Bible and the Bible only, and that they do not believe anything that is not in the Bible, must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday, when God distinctly said, keep holy the Sabbath day.
The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible. So without knowing it and look at that last part of this statement. Without knowing it, they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church.
And my last witness is written by Father Enright, who at the time was president of Redemptorist College in Kansas City in Missouri. And he spoke these words in a lecture at Hartford on February 18, 1884. But these have never been rescinded.
So what does he say? 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 the law of the holy Catholic Church alone.
The Bible says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 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. Dear friends, these are solemn words I say again, and I want you to understand, as I've said several times in this series, because I don't want you to misunderstand me. God loves the Church and loves people in the Church, and loves those who are living up to what they know to be true.
But at the same time, God has seen what Satan will do, working through earthly agencies to destroy the reason as to why God has the authority to speak his laws so well. It's clear that the Roman Church claims that the changing of the biblical Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday is the mark of her authority. She actually uses those words, just as the Sabbath is the seal of God and is the sign of God's authority as the Creator, as we saw in our last presentation, the.
Book of Revelation predicts that in the future the United States will reach across the gulf and clasp the hand of the Roman power and force the world. Do you notice those words? Now we mustn't look today at the problems that America is facing. Things are going to change in the future, and its global influence will influence the world by law to honor Sunday as the day of rest.
And at that time, dear friends, some people will obey because they're convinced in their minds that they should pay homage and render obedience to Rome, and they receive the mark on their forehead. Remember what I said earlier, but there are millions in the world who are disinterested in religion, but they will comply with the law because of the requirements of the law that you honor and rest on that day. They will comply not by religious conviction, but merely because they'll obey the law.
And that's why the mark of the beast is given either in their forehead or in the hand. Did you notice that the seal of God is placed only in the forehead? Because you will have to believe here. And if it's here, it's not a matter of whether you comply through a law or not.
The only law that you feel committed to obey will be the law that God has placed in our minds. I don't believe that all the world is going to become religious, dear friends, but it's true that millions will at this time of this law, give their allegiance to the beast. They will accept the authority of the beast in their lives.
They will heed the voice of the beast and obey the commands of the beast. And in doing that, they've made a choice not to worship and obey the commands of God. All the world will be brought to the ultimate choice will we obey Jesus? And we have many, many wonderful reasons, dear friends, to obey Jesus.
When we think of all that Jesus has done for us, when we think of him being equal with God, as the Book of Philippians tells us. And yet he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of man, of humanity. And eventually, as the Bible says, he became obedient unto death.
Here is the one who created the world, created the universe, who by the miracle of that birth, became a helpless babe and grew a life among humanity, and finally was crucified by those whom he came to save. Dear friends, what I've just said, that is essentially the gospel. It's the good news about Jesus.
Those present to us, those words present to us the ultimate reason why we should worship this wonderful Jesus. That's our choice and will be the choice of all the world before Jesus returns. In Romans six and verse 16, look at these words where the apostle Paul, interestingly enough, is writing to the Church in Rome.
Notice, do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey? You are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. Do you notice what Paul is saying there? That do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey you're? That one slaves whom you obey. If you obey Jesus, you become one of his slaves or servants, but not slave in the sense that we normally use it.
You just love to obey him because you love him. But if you choose to obey the commands of another organization, in this case the beast, then you become slaves, servants of the beast. It's the one you obey that's going to make the decision of the choice of whom you worship.
It means, dear friends, that when we keep Saturday holy, the 7th day, we're obeying what Jesus has commanded. When we keep Sunday holy the first day, we are obeying what the Church of Rome, as we've seen, has commanded. I want you to notice some wonderful words written in a very wonderful book.
The book Desire of Ages has these words on page 763. And may I just say a word about Desire of Ages as a book on the life of Christ. Some years ago, the librarian working in the Library of Congress, that's one of the leading libraries, if not the leading library in the United States.
In that library they collect all the books that are printed, no matter what they're dealing with. And over the years they've accumulated many, many books on the life of Jesus. But not long ago, the librarian was asked, of all the books that you've ever received about the life of Christ, is there one book that stands out in its spirituality and its application? And the librarian said, without hesitation, I would recommend the book Desire of Ages.
And I want you to notice therefore, the words that the author has written, the warfare against God's law which was begun in Heaven. Notice those words. It's referring there, of course, to the fact, as the Bible says in Revelation twelve, that way, way back there was war in Heaven.
And the two contenders were Michael or Jesus and his angels fighting against Satan, the dragon and his angels. And the issue at that time was that the leading angel, Lucifer or Satan, said, we do not want to keep restricted by your laws. The law of God was one of the issues back in that war in heaven so long ago.
So the warfare against God's law which was begun in Heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Every man, everyone that I'm looking at here in this room today, and those of you who I'm looking at through television, every one of us will be asked or required to decide who we will obey. The statement goes on to say, every man will be tested.
Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided, not just locally, not just in Australia or somewhere else in the world, but by the whole world. All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men. There will be but how many classes? Just two.
And all, again, will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion. It's a simple choice, but has very serious consequences. All.
And that's one reason why the third Angel's message was sent by a loving God knowing the issues at the end of time, knowing that Satan will use earthly forces and kingdoms to work against God. And when you realize that creation is God's symbol of authority, that's why we should obey Him. And dear friends, can I just say this too, that that's why we're living at a time when creation is being so severely attacked in the media, in our universities, education, why do we read and hear so much about the fact that this world was not created? It just happened millions of years ago by accident, when single cells began to multiply and gradually change to make the world that we know today without a God guiding.
Because there is no God in that theory. It just happened by accident. And we are accidents by chance.
Why do we read and hear so much about that today? Because God is the creator and Satan. One thing he hates is that that gives God the authority of the world. And that's the one thing his enemy does not want to acknowledge.
All will decide. This final conflict, dear friends, is more profound than just a matter of days. I meet some people who say, well, even if I give just one day in seven, if I happen to choose Friday, does it really matter? Can I choose Tuesday? But the commandment was not given to us.
Remember one day in seven. It was given very clearly. Remember the 7th day after the six days of work by the Creator.
We have had some children between my wife and myself. And if when they were young, if I asked one of them to go along into the medicine cabinet and bring me the 7th bottle, providing I knew they could count, if they looked at the bottles and saw that, well, number one looked a much better bottle than number seven, I'll take dad, the first bottle. You would know, I'm sure, that I would have every right to say, but you didn't obey me.
I said with the 7th, if I had said to you, I could have said to just choose one of the bottles that are listed there as seven bottles in the shelf. And you choose made the choice of the most attractive one or the biggest one. You had every right to bring me one bottle, but not if I said bring me the 7th bottle.
The 7th bottle. The final conflict is so profound. The day a person keeps is the sign of the authority that person accepts in his or her own life.
If we keep the Sabbath, we're announcing to the world that we accept the authority of the one who created the Sabbath for worship. If we keep Sunday, we're announcing to the world that we have accepted the authority of the one who has changed God's holy law and made Sunday the day of rest. It.
Does that mean that when we keep Sunday today, we have the mark of the beast? I meet some people who are fearful that because they have been keeping Sunday, they say, well, does that mean that we have the mark of the beast? I've always answered that question on the basis of what the Bible says, dear friends, no. A thousand times no. No one has the mark of the beast today.
But as the Book of Revelation indicates, in the future, the United States of America will influence its global power and influence to make a law. And all the countries of the world, the civilized countries of the world, will follow the lead of the United States, and they too will make a law enforcing the observance of the first day of the week. When that happens, those who yield and make the choice to follow and obey the beast on the basis of Bible evidence, dear friends, receive the mark of the beast.
When we hear and understand the issues and make our choice, then the mark is received. I know, dear friends, this seems impossible today, but we are seeing a growing intimacy between the Protestant churches in America and the Roman Catholic Church. Prominent Catholic and evangelical leaders have signed a document entitled Evangelicals and Catholics.
Together, Lutherans and Catholics and Lutherans who started the Protestant Reformation have signed the Joint Declaration on Righteousness by Faith. On a state level, President Reagan and Pope John II teamed together to overthrow the Soviet Union. You may remember Washington has established for the first time diplomatic relations with Vatican City.
We have seen three presidents and a secretary of state bowing before the casket of Pope John II in Rome. Recent popes, and I'm thinking particularly of these two men, pope John Paul II and the current Pope Francis, have been increasingly calling on the world to legislate the keeping of Sunday. Did you hear what I said? These two popes are calling in their official apostolic letters, calling upon the world to legislate, to make laws, keeping Sunday as a day of rest.
The reason they give sounds plausible for the sake of families and to ease the pressure on global warming. But there's something behind that, I believe, to help the world to be ready for Jesus'soon return. It's been God's plan to raise up a people knowing the issues that the world is soon to confront.
A people to whom he's given the messages of the three angels as his last warning to the world. These messages come as I've tried to explain in this series. They come from a God of unending love who wants each one of us in the kingdom.
You know, one day, dear friends, he's planning on recreating a new earth. What a world it will be. I can't imagine.
In fact, the Bible says that we won't be able to imagine the wonderful world that God will recreate, a world that there'll be no more tears, no more sorrows, no more pain. It says in the Book of Revelation, no more death. And he wants all of us and those of you who are watching, to be a part of that new world for eternity.
So is there, among the thousands of groups within Christendom today, a group of people who are preaching the three angels messages? Yes, dear friends, there are among the thousands of divisions in Christendom, there is only one, only one group of people who are preaching the messages of the three angels. They are a people who were raised up out of that sweet, bitter experience of 1844. Do you remember what we said at the very first from prophecy? They are the people who were told in Revelation Ten, after that sweet and bitter experience, that they had to preach again, and this time they had to take the messages of the three angels to the whole world.
Who are they? The people known as the 7th day Adventist Church, who have grown from a handful of believers in the 1840s to a membership of more than 22 million today, and are now taking these three messages to 205. Out of the 215 recognized countries of the world, there are people who are sharing Jesus in each of these messages. Jesus in the judgment as our advocate.
Jesus as the creator. Jesus calling his people out of the confusion of fallen churches known as Babylon. Jesus giving his seal to his servants and warning the world of the false worship.
Of the beast and the reception of its mark are people who are preaching the everlasting gospel about Jesus and are keeping all of God's commandments out of love for him. And they have the faith of Jesus. Do you remember in Revelation 14, verse twelve, as we think of these three angels and their messages to the cities and the countries of the world, how did Jargod describe the people who would be doing this preaching? Revelation 14, verse twelve, here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.
During this series, dear friends, you have been listening to the words of Jesus, particularly the words in this last message that he's sending to the world. And I just wanted to remind you before I close that in his Sermon on the Mount, jesus told the story of two builders. And it speaks powerfully to us today when he said, therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them.
I will liken him to a wise man that built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell, and great was its fall. The only difference between these two both heard the sayings of Jesus, only one did them.
I leave the question with you. Are you building your house? Are you building your life on the rock or are you building it on sand? Because the day is soon to come when there'll be such a time of trouble in this world, you will need to be sure you're building on Jesus. Dear friends, to help you know more about what we've been sharing with you in this series, we'd like you to have the book The Great Controversy based on the Bible, and it traces God's hand in history and prophecy.
And it focuses on the issues that we've been considering in this series. For information how to obtain a copy of this book, go to this website that you will see on the screen GLM threeABN, australia.org au or call Three ABN in Australia on zero, two, four, nine, seven, three, three four, five, six.
That website will give you a lot of information, including giving you access to all the previous recordings of the series that you have been hearing. May the Lord bless you, each one. Let us pray.
Dear loving Father, we thank you for all that you have revealed to us in your word. Help us to open our hearts. Help us to open our hearts to Jesus.
And open our hearts to understanding the significance of your law and give us the desire to keep it and be blessed as we come to know the Lord of the Sabbath. I pray in Jesus'precious name. Amen.
Sam. You've been listening to God's last Message to the World, a production of 3ABN Australia television presented by Dr. Allan Lindsay.
For more information, visit GLM.3abnaustralia.org.au
