Dr. McNulty continues from the first presentation, “Why Jesus Needs Closure” with thoughts on how we can heal the pain in the heart of our Redeemer.

<p>Dr. McNulty continues from the first presentation, “Why Jesus Needs Closure” with thoughts on how we can heal the pain in the heart of our Redeemer.</p>

<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>

Closure for Jesus

Norman McNulty

How YOU Can Bring Closure for Jesus

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this CAN meeting and for what you are doing here and We thank you for how your Holy Spirit is touching our hearts.

I just pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit again during this hour of worship.

I pray that the words that are spoken will be according to your will and that they will challenge us to come to a higher want with you.

I pray that this weekend wouldn't just be another camp meeting but that it would be a moment of life-changing opportunities that we take to come to a higher walk with Jesus.

I pray now that you would speak through me.

The title for this message is, How do we bring closure to Jesus?

This morning we talked about why Jesus needs closure.

We see that sin brings pain to the heart of God.

But how is it that this world of sin and suffering will finally come to an end?

Now here we are in May, it's May 19, 2018, And I think it's fair to say that God never intended for us to be here this long.

And how is it that this world of sin and suffering will be brought to a close?

You know I wrote a statement from Education page 263 this morning and I'm going to just repeat part of it as we continue in our message this morning.

Where Ellen White says, The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that from its very inception sin has brought to the heart of God.

When we see the agony that God, the Father, the Son went through on the cross, it should melt our hearts with respect to the sin in our lives.

And God had a purpose with what Jesus went through on the cross.

And I want you to turn to John chapter 12 verses 23 and 24.

And we find that in the experience of the cross God has a plan to bring an end to the sin and suffering in this world.

And Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Now obviously Jesus is speaking of his death.

Jesus being glorified with his death on the cross.

So the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

So Jesus is saying the hour is coming when I will be glorified and I will be glorified by my death on the cross, and not only will I be glorified, but my death is like me being a seed planted into the ground and dying.

Now many of you are into farming or gardening and you have an understanding of what it means to plant a seed.

Now, specifically a seed of wheat or a seed of corn, you could use that particular kernel of corn or that particular seed of wheat to eat it and gain nourishment.

But If you plant that seed, that seed will die, but it will produce a plant that will eventually start off as a blade and then become an ear and then you develop a full corn in the ear where you have numerous kernels of corn or numerous seeds of wheat that are in the likeness of the seed that was planted.

If you plant a seed of corn you don't get an apple tree, you get a corn plant.

And Jesus is saying, unless I die, much fruit will not be brought forth.

And so Jesus is saying, my death will bring forth much fruit.

That fruit will be in the likeness of the seed that was planted.

And that harvest will be in the likeness of the seed that was planted.

In other words, Jesus' death on the cross will produce people that are like Jesus as He dies on the cross.

This harvest that Jesus alludes to in John chapter 12 is described in Revelation chapter 14 where we read in verse 14 and I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud 1 Sat like unto the Son of Man.

That's Jesus again He was glorified on the cross But he's coming back someday to harvest the fruit that is a result of his death on the cross.

1 like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And verse 16 says, He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

You know James chapter 5 says in verse 7, Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord.

And we read the first part of the verse and we're like, you know, I'm just being patient waiting for Jesus to come.

Someday Jesus is going to come again, as we talked about this morning.

It's going to bring an end to all of my sorrow and suffering.

But you know the Bible actually paints a different picture.

Yes, we're waiting for Jesus, but really He's waiting for us.

Verse 7 says, Behold the husband, that's Jesus, the 1 who's coming with a sharp sickle, waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain.

So Jesus, who is the farmer, is actually waiting for the precious fruit of the earth.

The seed was planted when Jesus died on the cross, and he's waiting for that seed to germinate and to come up from the ground and to mature so that eventually he will have a harvest where he can thrust in his sickle and gather the grain that he intended to mature when he died on the cross.

That is to be in the likeness of him when he died on the cross.

You see, Revelation 14 verses 14 through 20 describes the harvest of the righteous and then of the wicked.

The righteous are the harvest of wheat, the wicked are the harvest of grapes.

But the harvest of wheat, the righteous, they are produced in an interesting sequence.

Here actually Revelation 14 verses 1-5 describe the 144, 000 who are like Jesus in character.

In their mouth is found no guile, just like Jesus in 1 Peter 2, verses 20-22, where it says when he was reviled, reviled not again.

When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.

We see that he was an example that we should follow his steps.

It says that they are without fault before the throne of God.

Hebrews 9, 14 says that Jesus presented himself without spot but the word in the Greek for spot is the same word as fall in Revelation 14.

The 144, 000 are found without fall before the throne of God.

We see them in Revelation 14 verses 1 through 5.

And then Revelation 14 verses 6 through 12 tell us that the 144, 000 are produced by the preaching of the 3 angels messages.

And when the 3 angels messages produce the 144, 000, then we have a harvest.

Now verse 13 of Revelation 14 tells us that there will be those who die in the preaching of the third angels message who will participate in the special resurrection.

But the great harvest at the end of the world is a result of the 3 angels messages producing a harvest Known as the 144, 000 who are the much fruit that Jesus Described when he said except a corner we fall into the ground and I have a bite of the lawn But if it died it bringeth forth much fruit And it brings forth much fruit by the outpouring of the early rain and then the latter rain.

Now, what is it about the 3 angels' messages that produce the harvest?

And how does this bring closure for Jesus?

I'll mention in passing that the first angel's message has the everlasting gospel preached unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, you do realize that the 3 Angels messages are not just for North American Adventists.

To every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and if you go out and see the rest of the world, you will realize just how large of a task that God has set before his feet is.

And if you're not even preaching the message where you are, what are we doing?

But that everlasting gospel, the gospel that never changed, is described in Romans 1 verses 16 and 17, and this point is often missed by almost all of Christianity and probably most of 7 Theodemus.

But if you turn to Romans 1, 16 and 17, which describes the everlasting gospel, Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation that word power is the Greek word dunamis which is similar to dynamite Meaning that the gospel has explosive dynamite power to blow up your simple heart It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes and that word for believe is the Greek word That is the same as faith so for everyone who has faith the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to the Jews first and also the Greek meaning that it is for everybody now what is so powerful about this gospel that it's like dynamite You believe in this gospel and it's like dynamite.

Well if you go to verse 17, notice what verse 17 says.

For therein, in the gospel, It's not some theory, but it's in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.

Now you know what most Christianity teaches?

They say that in the gospel the righteousness of God is declared.

And they say that the Book of Romans proves that the gospel is only a legal transaction that gives you forgiveness but doesn't change your life.

And that's not what Paul is teaching in the Book of Romans.

In the Book of Romans, he says that the everlasting gospel has dynamite power to change your life because in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed in the lives of those who have faith.

The power is that the righteousness of God is not simply declared by God's people, but it's demonstrated.

And then it goes on to say, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

And Ellen White says several have written to me inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message.

And I've answered it is the third angel's message in Verity.

And we mostly stop right there and say, see, justification by faith is the third angel's message.

And then she goes on to say, she quotes Revelation 18.1, by the way, this is Review and Herald April 1, 1890.

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How YOU Can Bring Closure for Jesus

Transcript

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