Chester Clark

Ouachita Hills College

Me vs. You, Part 1

Tonight I want to talk about me versus you.

Father in heaven, today we are in need of your spirit.

We confess that our minds are feeble, our hearts are deceitful, and we need your spirit to guide them.

As we open your word, we just wanna pray that you would help us, that our hearts might be turned towards you, that we might become more like you in character.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 28.

We're gonna be looking at the Bible story here, a little bit of context for what we as Seventh-day Adventists know and speak of as the great controversy.

In the great controversy, we understand there's a conflict between opposing forces, right?

There's something happening in this world that is bigger than us.

Something happening that's bigger than nations and systems of thought or theology.

There's some struggle that's taking place on a spiritual level and on a cosmic level that we are involved in.

You know, as Seventh-day Adventists, we believe in taking things in context.

And sometimes there are many things that we teach as Seventh-day Adventists that it's difficult for others to understand at first because they see them in a different context than we see them.

There are especially principles that we as Seventh-day Adventists living in the last days of Earth's history have been called to teach and to preach and to live by, which most of the world, and in fact many Christians and many Adventists today, don't understand anymore because they've taken them out of context.

And when we talk about context, we usually think about, well, we read the whole chapter, right?

Usually we think of that as meaning context, but the context of any passage is the verses that are around it, but it's also the entire book that it's found in.

It's the entire Bible, ultimately, as you read the whole Bible, ultimately you get a better context for what God is doing and for what is happening.

And beyond the Bible, we actually have a broader context, and here's where we have the advantage as Adventists.

We have an understanding of the great controversy.

And the great controversy provides the ultimate context for understanding any truth, any lifestyle reform, Anything that God is speaking to his people today can best be understood in the context of the great controversy.

And so we look in Ezekiel chapter 28 this evening.

Ezekiel chapter 28, the story of the fall of Lucifer.

The Bible here is speaking of the prince of Tyre, but it's speaking of, symbolically, I guess you would say, of Lucifer.

Because it says in verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covers, and I have set you so.

You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Clearly, this is talking about Lucifer, that most exalted of the angels.

The Bible says in verse 15, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

And notice how iniquity was found in Lucifer.

Verse 17, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.

Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.

I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee.

The Bible says that Lucifer began to think about himself and he realized that he was 1 of the most beautiful beings in all of the universe.

The Bible says that God who loves the beautiful, amen, adorned him with precious stones, jewels.

By the way, this is a side off the topic, but I have to say it.

Some of us don't understand Why can't we wear jewelry?

God loves jewelry, but there's something, if the perfect heart of Lucifer was lifted up because of his beauty, then how about our fallen hearts?

Might we be tempted also to focus on the external instead of the internal?

He adorned Lucifer with every precious stone, But he says to us living in the fallen world with fallen human natures, we're going to get to that in a minute Avoid focusing on the external let your adorning be the adorning of the heart You see God knows our weaknesses, and it's to spare us from the temptations to give us an advantage in overcoming that He gives us the counsel He does about adornment.

Isaiah chapter 14, what are we talking about this evening?

The Bible says in verse 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?

How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations?

For you, verse 13, for you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.

Verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

Do you notice something that is repeated over and over in these verses?

We sometimes say he had an eye problem, right?

Sin came about because Lucifer became focused on himself.

Lucifer became totally focused on Lucifer.

And as he thought of how beautiful he was, and he thought of all the power he had, and as he basked in the praise and the honor that he received from his fellow created beings, Lucifer began to set his eyes on the very throne of God.

And he began to say, I want to be not just the way I am now, I want to be higher, I want to be more powerful, I want to have more honor, even worship.

Lucifer's thoughts became centered on himself.

And this, my friends, is the very essence of sin.

If you could distill sin into its original state, if you could break it down to its smallest component it would be selfishness.

It would be living for me instead of living for you.

And so Lucifer began to, he began to think these thoughts and say these words and feel these feelings, and as he did so, he began to develop a character that was altogether out of harmony with the character of God.

Because there's something completely different from that that completely defines the character of God.

We sometimes try to put it in human terms with words like love or charity.

And we read, for example, read 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

And the characteristic of charity is, it's looking outward, not inward.

It's not seeking its own, it's seeking the benefit of others.

It's not lifting itself up, it's trying to lift other people up.

In fact, if you and I could live in complete harmony with charity as described in 1 Corinthians 13, we would have the character of God, right?

But Lucifer was not living in harmony with 1 Corinthians 13.

He was living in harmony with, well, the Prince of Tyre would later live in the same way, selfishly.

And so this is how the whole great controversy began.

A conflict between not just 2 people, but 2 ways of living.

And we sometimes think of the conflict between God and Satan, we sometimes think of that controversy that is ensued as some sort of a battle, you know?

There's the good angels and there's the evil angels.

And they're out duking it out somewhere, you know?

They're fighting over our, and it becomes personal to us in the fact that we say, well, they come onto our campus, you know?

They're fighting over our rooms and our hearts and our lives.

But the fact of the matter is, at its essence, again, the great controversy is about character.

And it's about whose character we're going to have.

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Me vs. You, Part 1

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