<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Lawrenceburg SDA Church

Norman McNulty

Truth Triumphant

Well, good morning and happy Sabbath to each 1 of you.

I want to give a special welcome to my mother today, who's visiting.

Today is her birthday, so it's good to have her here.

And I look on that row, I see all the important women in my life, my mother, my wife, my 2 daughters and my sister.

You know, when I was growing up, I was 1 of 3 brothers and my dad was around and my mom was outnumbered.

But now I kind of know what it's like for my mom who was surrounded by men I'm a man surrounded by women But God knew what he was doing and I'm very blessed.

So and then tomorrow is my wife's birthday.

So we're thankful that everyone's here this week.

And before we get into our message for this morning, I would invite you to bow your heads with me for prayer.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you so much for your blessings that you give to each 1 of us.

And I just pray now that you would give me words to speak that will bring honor and glory to you, that Jesus will be lifted up, that I will be lost side of, and that each 1 of us will gain something from this message that will help us in our walk with Christ.

The title for our message this morning is Truth Triumphant.

Some of you may be familiar with a book written by B.G.

Well, I was fortunate enough to come across an original copy that Pastor Schomburg's father had owned and he had donated it to the Pathfinders.

So I snagged a copy that nobody else seemed to notice.

Actually when the book mobile came by because I didn't go by the Pathfinder sell, but I still made a donation to the Pathfinders.

It's a powerful book that details the story of God's church in the wilderness during the 1260 years.

Revelation chapter 12, which we read part of that for our scripture reading this morning, details much of the history in an overview description of the struggles that God's faithful people went through during the 1, 260 years.

And through it all, truth was triumphant as God's faithful saints who loved Jesus so much were willing to stand for truth even at the risk of their lives.

In Great Controversy, page 41 we read, Under the fiercest persecution, these witnesses for Jesus kept their faith unsullied.

Though deprived of every comfort, shut away from the light of the sun, making their home in the dark but friendly bosom of the earth, they uttered no complaint.

With words of faith, patience, and hope, they encouraged 1 another to endure privation and distress.

The loss of every earthly blessing could not force them to renounce their belief in Christ.

Trials and persecutions were but steps bringing them nearer their rest and their reward.

And it makes me wonder when you look at such faithful saints, such faithful Christians during such a long period of history where they were subjected to persecution, were told that the loss of every earthly blessing could not force them to renounce their belief in Christ.

And I have to ask myself, and I think we should all ask ourselves, how strong is my faith in Christ?

How strong is my belief in Christ that I would be willing to lose every earthly blessing to hang on to what I have in Jesus?

Because that is what it really means to be a Christian.

To hold on to Jesus even if we lose everything else.

No matter what trials or persecutions we may be going through.

No matter what loss, no matter what difficulty we may be facing because of our belief in Christ, we will hold on to Him.

You know there is something special about falling in love with Jesus.

And when you fall in love with the Jesus of Scripture, you become willing to die for Him and for everything that He stands for.

You know there's a lot of different ideas that are out there in the world about who Jesus is and sometimes as Christians we don't even always represent Christ as well as we could to the world.

But 1 thing that we know for sure is that Jesus died for us, Jesus loved us, Jesus is our Savior.

And Jesus says of Himself in John 14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." When we learn to fall in love with the Jesus of Scripture we find in Jesus a way of life, a way of living, the way that Jesus lived here on this earth.

And when we see that Jesus is the truth we understand that because Jesus also describes Himself as the Word of God, we understand that everything that the Bible says, every truth that the Bible describes gives us a better comprehension of who Jesus is.

When we fall in love with Jesus, Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, who is our Savior and Redeemer.

We will be willing to forego every earthly blessing as we hang on to our Savior, the Jesus of scripture.

In fact Jesus says, not only am I the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus says in John 16, verse 13, and I invite you to turn there.

In John 16, verse 13 Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, and I'll be it, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.

For He will not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.

That is the promise that Jesus has given us regarding the Holy Spirit.

And certainly if Jesus is the truth, then the Holy Spirit is going to lead us to Jesus who is the truth.

The Holy Spirit is going to lead us to the truth as it is in Jesus.

And just a few verses earlier Jesus says, the Holy Spirit when He has come He will reprove or convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

Of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged." So, as we fall in love with the Jesus of Scripture, and as the Holy Spirit comes into our lives we find that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.

And we will find that as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will find that truth is not relative.

That truth in scripture is plainly understood.

And that Jesus has made truth clear enough so that we can understand what the way is that we should walk in.

And the Holy Spirit, who leads us to Jesus, has a work to do in the lives of the believers.

Because we are all growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So, there are things in our lives that the Holy Spirit points out so that we can have an understanding of what things we may need to put away as we grow in our walk with Jesus.

We see that the Holy Spirit convinces the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

That tells me that a Spirit filled church will be a place where those who stand in the pulpit will not be afraid to call sin by its right name.

And that friends in the church who see other friends going in a way that's contrary to the word of God, will not be afraid to lovingly say, this is not the way, this is not the way to walk in, because a true friend will tell you when you're not going on the right path.

A spirit-filled church will not be afraid to call sin by its right name.

And a spirit filled church will proclaim the righteousness of Christ with the love of Jesus, and of the reality that we are living in the hour of God's judgment.

And that really connects with the 3 angels' messages of the everlasting gospel, the good news of the righteousness of Christ, and of the fact that we're living in the hour of God's judgment.

You know, as I thought about this message and as I thought about the church in the wilderness who was willing to forego every earthly blessing to hang on to their faith in Christ.

You think of those who were persecuted, and my wife's parents lead a tour through Europe every year that goes through some of these places where the Waldensees were hiding in caves from those who were persecuting them, but who were willing to hang on to their faith no matter what.

It made me wonder, why am I a follower of Jesus today?

What is it about Jesus that causes me to follow all of the truths in Scripture as I understand them to be.

And to take it a step further, why am I a Seventh-day Atheist?

You know when you look at Revelation 12 we see a controversy that begins in Heaven.

There is war in Heaven in Revelation 12, verse 7, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels.

And verse 8 says, and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven.

So, there was this controversy that starts in heaven.

This is well known to us, this is nothing new.

But that controversy comes down to this earth.

And the amazing thing, if you think about it, is that Jesus was willing to inject himself personally into this controversy.

He came as a human being, and that's what Revelation 12 starts talking about, this woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.

And Christ is the child that the woman is travailing in birth and is paying to be delivered of.

Now most people in their right mind try to stay away from controversy and Christ if He didn't love us so much would have stayed up in Heaven and would not have bothered to inject Himself into the controversy that he knew he would be injected into by coming to this earth because scripture makes it very clear that from the very moment that Christ was born the dragon or the devil and Satan tried to destroy him.

And if you want to think of the worst face of evil on this earth, imagine some kind of a monster who would try to snatch a newborn baby out of a mother's arms and put that baby to death.

Scripture says that's the way Satan was when he tried to destroy Christ.

But Christ and His Father loved the world so much that Christ came to this earth and was delivered and was a conqueror and was caught up to God and to His throne.

And then we see starting in verse 6, the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand 203 score days.

This is the 1260 years during the great controversy where the woman which represents God's church flees into the wilderness and through that period of time the truth of God is preserved by faithful saints who love Jesus so much that rather than compromising the truth of God's Word they were willing to, if necessary, die for their faith.

And the controversy continues all the way down to verse 17 And this is the final battle in the controversy, where you will, if you will, where Satan, the dragon, is enraged with the woman, or God's church, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you haven't thought of it this way, but every once in a while as a Seventh-day Adventist you need to be reminded of the reality that as a member of God's remnant church which keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ.

We are a focal point in the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

That the devil is directing his attacks against those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Because such a church, such a woman who lives in such a way is a direct threat to the claims that Satan is making in the controversy against God.

God raised up the remnant of the seed of the woman, the Seventh-day Adventist movement for a very special purpose.

God raised up this movement not to be another church along the many that dot the theological landscape as good as they may be.

Because when we understand scripture and we understand Revelation 13, an end time deception is coming.

Back to Menu

Truth Triumphant

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Though the Heavens Fall

The Greatest Want of the World

35m

Tools to Facilitate Lifestyle Change

1h 2m

AMEN Luncheon Session- Part 1

34m

How to Find Hope When It is Lost?

48m

Simple Christianity

What Will We Do

57m

Beat Diabetes, Prediabetes, & Overweight

Beat Diabetes, Prediabetes, & Overweight - Part 1

1h 7m

Identity Theft

5. Pioneer Stories

46m

My Sabbath Journey

26m

Fall Week of Prayer 2012

In the Midst of Chaos

25m

Gardening 101

Pest and Weeds

41m

Behold, He Comes

50m

The Blood Sacrifice and Blood Applied

1h

Sound Doctrine