Revelation for the Head and the Heart

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Norman McNulty

Christ and His Righteousness

Father, we thank you for this Sabbath that we have to come together and to study and to learn and to worship, and I thank you for all of the things that we have learned, and I pray for a special blessing now through these next presentations that all of the things that we've been discussing will come together and things will be very clear about the experience that we need to have and of the walk that we need to have and just bless me now as I share a few words I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

So, this particular presentation is entitled Christ and His Righteousness and it's based on Revelation chapter 14 verse 12.

Revelation chapter 14 verse 12, which before I get into the actual verses I'm going to read a couple of statements.

And for my last 2 presentations I'm going to just use my Bible and read a few quotes from my notes.

Sometimes it's helpful rather than to just look at everything on the screen to get your Bible out, open up the Bible and look at the verses.

So that's what we're gonna do the last couple of presentations.

But I'm gonna read to you a statement from Spiritual Gifts, volume 2, page 299.

Those who engage in the solemn work of bearing the third angel's message must move out decidedly, and in the spirit and power of God, fearlessly preach the truth and let it cut." You know, sometimes, And I'll keep reading the quote as we go here, but sometimes I feel like some of our churches have turned into social clubs where everyone wants to be made comfortable.

And sometimes open sin even comes into the church.

And we're so afraid of standing for Jesus and for His truth that we're afraid to preach the truth and let it cut.

But those who engage in the solemn work of bearing the third angel's message must move out decidedly and in the Spirit and power of God, fearlessly preach the truth and let it cut.

They should elevate the standard of truth and urge the people to come up to it.

It has been lowered down to meet the people in their condition of darkness and sin.

It is the pointed testimony that will bring up the people to decide.

The people have the privilege of listening to this kind of teaching from the pulpits of the day.

Now Ellen White's not saying that this privilege is a good thing, but she's saying you can go to the pulpits of the day, you can go to the church down the street and hear messages that will make you feel comfortable.

But notice what she says, but God has servants to whom he has entrusted a solemn fearful message to bring out and fit up a people for the coming of Christ.

There is a great difference in our faith and that of nominal professors as the heavens are higher than the earth.

Again that's Spiritual Gifts Volume 2, page 299.

Friends, we are Seventh-day Adventists, and we have a message to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus.

And now is not the time, I think I said this last night, to be lowering down our message, dumbing it down and making everybody feel like everything is fine when everything is not okay.

We have a message that is designed to call people to come up to Christ and that is the message that we need at this time.

So as we consider this message of Christ and His righteousness keep that in mind.

Now I'm going to read to you a statement from Early Writings page 254 which connects to Revelation 14-12 which is the topic for the presentation right now.

Early Writings page 254, the third angel closes his message thus, here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

So notice this, Ellen White very clearly equates Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 with the third angel's message.

I've heard some people in the third angel's message after verse 11 with a discussion of the Mark of the Beast.

But verse 12 of Revelation 14 is part of the third angel's message.

Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Then continuing she says, As he repeated these words, He pointed to the heavenly sanctuary.

The minds of all who embrace this message are directed to the most holy place where Jesus stands before the ark making His final intercession for all those for whom mercy still lingers and for those who have ignorantly broken the law of God.

So what we are going to do in the next few minutes, we are going to be looking at Revelation 14 verse 12, there are 3 key components, the patience of the saints, the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

That is the conclusion of the third angel's message.

Now in this symposium we haven't really spent a lot of time specifically talking about the first part of the third angel's message, but verses 9 through 11 make it very clear that if you worship the beast and the beast has been identified in the previous presentations, 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 the message goes on from there.

But then after you see the fact that those who worship the beast and receive his Mark, they will be destroyed by God.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Ellen White says in another place, this is Selected Messages, volume 2, page 384, the banner of the third angel has inscribed upon it the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

So this verse is crucial in the book of Revelation.

There are lots of important verses in the Bible, but certainly Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 is important.

You know we have talked a lot about theory and knowledge and all of these things are important for us to understand our prophetic landmarks.

Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 is describing a group of people who have the experience of the third angel's message.

You can have a knowledge of the third angel's message, but Revelation 14 verse 12 is describing people who have the experience of the third angel's message.

And if we want to go to heaven and if we want to be with Jesus, this is the experience we need to have, amen?

Now what makes the third angel's message so powerful?

The third angel's message, of course, is the final message of warning to the earth and of course as we've already heard in order to properly understand and experience the third angel's message we need the experience of the first and second angel's messages as first experienced by the Millerite Movement in the 1840s.

But the third angels' message will be the final message and the final experience and the final warning just before Jesus comes back.

And it describes a faithful group of people who have the patience of the saints and they keep the commandments of God, they keep the faith of Jesus.

So what makes this such a special experience?

You know as I've studied the third angel's message, which as we also heard from Testimonies Volume 9, page 19 in an earlier presentation, we as Seventh-day Adventists are to allow nothing else to absorb our attention.

As I've studied this message, I found something very fascinating to me about the third angel's message as described in verse 12 of Revelation 14.

And that is that in these 3 elements of verse 12 of Revelation 14, we find something very interesting that we can connect to, and I'm going to show this to you.

And I want to start off by turning to Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2.

We're going to look first at the patience of the saints, then we're going to look at the commandments of God, and then we're going to look at the faith of Jesus.

So there's a special group of people at the end of the world who are described as having the patience of the saints.

And Ellen White says in Great Controversy that God's people who go through the time of trouble must learn to endure weariness, hunger, and delay.

What's your character like when you are tired, hungry, You miss an airplane connection at the airport?

Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, wherefore saying we also are compassionate with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with what?

It's the same word in the Greek as Revelation 14.

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Now, there are modern translations that say, here is the endurance of the saints, or let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Because in the Greek, it's the same word.

And so when it says Jesus endured the cross, in English we don't say he patienced the cross, that's bad English, right?

Jesus endured the cross, meaning He had patience.

So when Paul says, let us run with patience, the race that is set before us, Jesus demonstrates that patience in His experience on the cross.

In fact, Ellen White says a manuscript releases volume 21, I believe it's page 39, it might be 37, Hanging on the Cross, Christ was the Gospel.

And 1 of the things that Jesus demonstrates on the cross is patience or endurance.

You know in Hebrews chapter 10 it says, and this is starting around verse 35, for you have need of patience, and I think it's 36, for you have need of patience that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise.

For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry, now the just shall live by faith.

So there's this concept in Hebrews chapter 10 and you connect it to Hebrews chapter 12 that while we are waiting for Jesus to come back we need patience or endurance.

And the question is with the race that has been set before us, how is it possible, as Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 says, here is the patience of the saints, how is it possible for us to have such patience?

And that's where Hebrews 12 gives us the answer.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

Now Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

It takes faith to have patience when you can't see the end from the beginning.

Jesus is a demonstration to us on the cross of how to have endurance or patience when you can't see through the present circumstance.

Ellen White tells us that Jesus could not see through the portals of the tomb.

But because of the joy that was set before him, those who would be saved because of his death on the cross, he endured what came his way.

So if Jesus is our example, if He endured the cross and we are to run with patience the race that is set before us, sometimes we can't see the end from the beginning.

But for Jesus, the joy that was set before Him was seeing those who would be saved in the Kingdom with Him as a result of His death on the cross.

For us, the joy that would be set before us would be being with Jesus when it's all said and done.

And when we see Jesus on the cross as the author and finisher of our faith, endearing what he went through, by faith we can trust in God to give us patience through the fiery trials of this present life.

So when we look at Revelation chapter 14 verse 12 we see a special group of people and they have the patience of the saints, they keep the commandments of God, and they keep the faith of Jesus.

And what we see is that if we want to know how to have patience look at Jesus on the cross.

Let us run with patience because Jesus endured the cross.

He demonstrated this patience and endurance that each 1 of us will need to be part of this special group of people described in Revelation chapter 14 verse 12.

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Christ and His Righteousness

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