"Raising the Right Arm" Prophecy & Medical Ministry Camp Meeting

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Uchee Pines Institute

Plenaries with Norman McNulty

Norman McNulty

Revelation’s Sanctuary Theme

The Third Angel for Our Time

The Straight Testimony from the Most Holy Place

Adventism and the Vindication of God

The Sealing of the 144,000

Abraham - Father of the Three Angels’ Messages

The Mystery of God Finished

The Song of Moses and the Song Of the Lamb

Jesus and the Third Angel’s Message

Sleeping At Midnight

Father in heaven, we come before you this evening and we thank you for the opportunity of worshiping you and coming before you in prayer.

And as we enter into this meeting this evening, we do want to Remember those who are suffering tonight and those who are facing trouble.

We want to remember the people in Mexico who have suffered a devastating earthquake today, as well as the people on the island of Dominica and some of the other islands that have already been affected by this latest hurricane Maria, and we want to pray for the people in Puerto Rico and any other island that may be in the path of this hurricane that you would offer protection.

So, Lord, we know that You are the sustainer of all things and that You can protect as You see fit, but we also know that You have allowed things to happen as the 4 angels are allowing the 4 winds to be released.

So may we have our lives in order with you, may our hearts be right with you, may we trust in you, and may we follow you, and we just pray again for the people who have been affected by the earthquake, the people who are in this line of this hurricane that is coming.

And be with us now as we enter into this meeting.

May we shift gears in our minds to focus on spiritual things, biblical topics, and may our minds rest on heavenly things these next few moments.

These words would be a blessing to each 1 of us as we seek to follow you.

So we thank you for bringing us out this evening.

Be with us in this meeting, I pray in Jesus' name.

The title for the message this evening is Adventism and the Vindication of God.

And I want to start by reading a statement from Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 68 and 69.

The plan of salvation had a broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of man.

Now, obviously the salvation of man is of utmost importance, but it had a broader and a deeper purpose than the salvation of man.

It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth.

It was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded.

But notice this next phrase, but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe.

You realize that yes, Jesus came to save you.

That the God of the universe stooped down to this earth to bring you personal salvation, yet that was not the only thing that was on the mind of God, on the mind of Christ, as He came to this earth.

It was to vindicate the character of God before the universe.

The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to men, but before the universe it would justify God and His Son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan.

Now I'm not going to spend really any time on the rebellion of Satan.

We've already heard 2 excellent presentations on that this week.

But I'm going to keep moving along in this idea that Jesus came to this earth, yes, to save us.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I want you to turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 3 verse 4.

And here the Apostle Paul says, God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." You know, sometimes it's a bit hard to understand, Paul.

Today's English version says, you must win your case when you are being tried.

The New International Version says so that you may be proved right in your words and prevail in your judging.

But you know, Paul again is borrowing from the Old Testament in this passage.

But what he's saying is, God, Let you be true, but every man a liar.

People can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, when you have finished judging, may your name be clear.

May you be proved to be true, may you be justified in what you say.

Now in order to understand a little bit more clearly what Paul is saying here, he's quoting Psalms 51, specifically David who is speaking to God after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

And let's pick it up in Psalms chapter 51, verse 1.

David says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before thee." Now notice verse 4, "...against thee, the only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." Now notice this prayer of David which Paul quotes in the book of Romans to say, there is a day that is coming when God will be judged.

And when he is judged, he will be proven to be true and man will be proven to be a liar who has spoken against God, and God will be justified by what he says.

And David understands this because he is the 1 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he is repenting, and he is writing down his repentance, and it is in scripture.

He says, Against you, God, only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

And he's saying, not only does he say that you might be justified when you speak and be clear when you judge, he's saying, wash me throughly.

You could say thoroughly, but it's through and through.

God, I have sinned a terrible sin against you.

And I know because of your mercy you are going to forgive me, but here's my prayer.

Because of this terrible sin that I have committed, I have dishonored your name.

So when you forgive me, Please don't only just forgive me.

Wash me through and through and clean me up so this never happens again.

Because when you forgive me and you say that I am now a righteous man again, you will need to be justified when you say so.

Because people could say, God, what business do you have forgiving David?

How could you say that David is now justified by faith?

How could you say now that David is forgiven and he is a righteous man by faith?

And David understands that and says, Lord, I know because of your tender mercies you are going to forgive me.

But when you forgive me, please cleanse me, please clean me, please wash me through and through so that This never happens again because I don't want your name to be dishonored when you speak on my behalf." Now when have you ever confessed your sin to God in such a way?

You know, the harsh reality for many of us is that we know sometimes that something that we're going to do is a sin, and we do it anyway, and we say, well, God will forgive me, and I'll just ask him to forgive me later when I ask him to forgive me." That's not a broken and a contrite heart that David is displaying here as he is coming before God and saying, have mercy upon me, God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before thee.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil on thy sight, that thou, or that you, might be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge." You see there is something that is at stake here that David realizes.

Yes, God is concerned about his personal salvation.

God is concerned about David being saved, but David also knows that God's name must be vindicated before the universe when he says, I have saved David and made things right even though he sinned.

And David is saying, God, when you speak, because of what I've done that has dishonored your name, please change my life so that there is evidence to support your case that I am now a righteous man again by faith." And that's why God would say of David that he was a man after God's own heart.

Now people like to go to town with it and say, see, David was a man after God's own heart and he committed adultery with Bathsheba, so why does it matter what I do?

Now Ellen White has some things to say about that.

She says in patriarchs and prophets, page 720, paragraph 4, that David's sin misrepresented the character of God and cast reproach upon his name.

So David understands that he has misrepresented the character of God.

He understands that he has cast reproach upon the name of God.

And furthermore, Ellen White says this, Very many reading the history, this is Patriarchs and Prophets, page 722, paragraph 4, Very many reading the history of David's fall have inquired, why has this record been made public?

Why did God see fit to throw open to the world this dark passage in the life of 1 so highly honored of heaven?

She goes on to say, The prophet in his reproof to David had declared concerning his sin, By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.

Sometimes in our selfishness we think, oh, I can just do this and get away with it, and we forget to think about how this affects the name of God and the honor of His name.

So many times we ask silly questions such as, if I do this thing, will it affect my eternal salvation?

Surely God will overlook this and still let me get into heaven, because look at what happened to David.

Continuing, through successive generations, Listen to this.

Since a reproach has been brought upon religion, God and his word have been blasphemed, souls have been hardened in unbelief, and many under a cloak of piety have become bold in sin.

But the history of David furnishes no countenance to sin.

It was when he was walking in the counsel of God that he was called a man after God's own heart.

When he sinned, this ceased to be true of him until by repentance he had returned to the Lord.

So please don't go around and say, oh, David was a man after God's own heart and he was committing adultery with Bathsheba.

No, he was not a man after God's own heart when he was committing adultery, but we see the evidence that he returned to being a man after God's own heart when in Psalms 51 he realizes that because of his sin he has blasphemed the name of God, he has misrepresented the character of God, and because of God's tender mercy, he knows that God is going to forgive him, but he's saying, God, please cleanse me so that this won't happen again, because you're putting your name on the line by saying, I am now righteous again.

Now how many of us see God in such a way?

How many of us see God as someone who is putting his name on the line when he forgives us of our sins?

Now we understand David is a man after God's own heart, and he understands that God is a God of tender mercy.

And I mean, what David did is as bad as it could get.

He had premeditated murder and adultery to go with it.

I mean, by all accounts, he would say that there's no hope for that guy.

But because God forgave him, and God did so, here's the other amazing thing, God forgave him knowing that people would use this as an excuse of presumption to continue in their own sinful way.

But because God is merciful and because he understood the sincerity of David's repentance, God forgave him.

David became again a man after God's own heart when he came to God in repentance and said, God, I understand that your name is going to be on the line.

Series

Plenaries with Norman McNulty

Adventism and the Vindication of God

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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