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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

Brian Hindman

His Truth Is Marching On

Well, our subject this morning is 1 that's very special to me.

I had the privilege of being born and raised in the truth in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and it is so precious to me I feel myself even getting emotional just thinking about the subject of what we're talking about today, I've entitled it, His Truth is Marching On.

It is continuing on as it has from the very beginning of time.

October 22, 2016, the Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church.

We want to discover today the blessing that we have to be part of God's truth, his special message for the time that we are living just before Jesus comes.

A special message that he is coming soon, that we are in fact indeed bound for the promised land and it is incumbent upon us to be diligent in preparation for that momentous, climactic event, which is soon to happen.

Well, would you bow your heads with me and let us have an additional prayer as we begin our study.

Our Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you so much for guiding and leading each 1 of us in our walk with you.

Father, you are a very personal God and you love each 1 of us individually so very much that you gave your only son for us and I pray today as we study and learn and discover and reflect upon how you have led us in our past that we have truly nothing to fear for the future Unless we forget your providential guidance and leading in our past history Guide us today dear God.

Amen Well, it's probably not any surprise to you that truth is under attack Truth is under attack and it has been under attack from the very beginning.

If we go back to the Garden of Eden we hear a deception that Satan gave.

The very first deception in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3 verse 4, the serpent said unto the woman, that is Eve, ye shall not surely die.

God had said if you eat of the fruit you shall surely die.

Satan came in and introduced a deception or a lie and said you will not surely die.

Now Eve had a choice to make and unfortunately she along with her husband Adam chose to believe Satan and presumed upon the goodness and mercy of God that he would excuse their transgression and overlook it.

Well today the same is true that truth is still under attack even more so I believe.

We read in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 10, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.

And now comes the reason why they perish.

Here's why, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

Truth is something that is contained in the Word of God, something that we must not just mentally assent to but we must treasure and love and admire.

Jesus himself says in John 14 6, I am the way, the truth and the life.

He is the truth, his word is the truth, his law is the truth.

Everything connected with Jesus is the truth.

Well I want to ask a question this morning as we begin who is God's true family God defines family in the Bible Did you know that?

He defines what family is and that writing might be kind of small up there So if you want to take your Bibles and I guess I need to stay close to this And open up with me to Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew chapter 12, let us listen to Jesus as he defines what family is.

It's not just having the coincidence of being born into a certain bloodline.

No person has control over the family that they're born in.

This is based on something else, something that we can choose to be involved with.

Let's read this short account here, Matthew 12, and we're gonna look at verse 46 through 50.

And we're asking the question, who is God's true family?

And if you're tracking with me this morning I hope and pray that you want to be part of that family, the true family of God.

The Bible says in Matthew 12 verse 46, While he yet talked to the people behold his mother and his brethren, this is His actual mother and brother, stood without.

They stood outside desiring to speak with Him.

There was such a crowd of people that they could not reach inside where Jesus was speaking with His disciples and they could not get in and talk with him.

Verse 47, Then 1 said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee.

But he answered and said unto them, I'm sorry and said unto him that told him, who is my mother and who are my brethren?" So Jesus understands the question.

He understands what's being asked of Him.

And now here listen very carefully in verse 49, and He stretched forth His hand toward his disciples and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.

Now that might seem like a curious thing for Jesus to say his disciples are his mother and his brother, but what does he actually mean by that?

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." My brothers and sisters here today, family to Jesus is doing the will of God.

Those who accept and surrender and submit to God's will that is what is closest and most dearest to Jesus Christ.

His family are those who follow Jesus, that follow their Heavenly Father and the Apostle Paul expands on this a little bit further in the New Testament Galatians 329 he says, and if ye be Christ, if you belong to him, if you have a faith relationship and a connection with him, he then says, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

He was promised to inherit the entire earth, the entire world rather.

The entire world was promised to him and his descendants.

So if we receive Christ and accept him as our Savior, we are spiritual Israel as it were.

The seed, the family of Abraham, and that family is not based so much on genetics and DNA as it is based on the principles of righteousness and truth.

The principles of faith and love and mercy contained in the Word of God.

Well did you know that God has always had a faithful people on earth?

Always has God had a people However small or few they may have been that were faithful and true to him We can read this in the spirit of prophecy letter 190 1905 the servant of the Lord says God has never left himself without witness on the earth And now I find it interesting that is actually a reference to what the Bible says itself in Acts Chapter 14 and verse 17.

Let me tell you something the more I read and study the Bible and the more I read and study the Spirit of Prophecy I see the complete harmony in what is being said.

That they are really saying the same thing just differently.

Often times the exact same thing and that's what we read in Acts chapter 14 where Paul and Silas as they are on a missionary journey they have performed a miracle in healing a crippled man And the people of the town were ready to proclaim them gods.

They were ready to declare that they were Jupiter and Mercury.

And they were bringing in bulls and they were going to bring in and offer sacrifices to Paul and Silas.

And when they saw what was happening they ran in amongst the people and said, no, no, no this is not so.

And then they said these words right here describing how God has operated in Acts 14 verse 17, nevertheless He speaking about God left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness.

God has always had a faithful people on earth.

He has always had a people that are true to him and the principles in his word.

Now the question might be asked, what value is there in stopping or pausing where we are at the moment and looking back and reflecting on what I like to call sacred history?

Yes, there is a history that we can study that is military history, political history, social history, socioeconomic history, but what is of most value to us today is what I call sacred history and that is the history of God's providence and His leading of His people in the past.

We find I believe an answer to that question in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 11 and 12.

1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 11 and 12 the Apostle Paul has just given a description or an account of the children of Israel in the Old Testament and how God led them.

And how He parted the Red Sea for them and wrought mighty miracles on their behalf.

And then He gives us this explanation as to why He's telling them this information.

1 Corinthians chapter 10 noticing verse 11 it says, now all these things happened unto them and the them would be God's people.

All these things happened unto them for what?

Notice the word doesn't say examples it says in samples That is actually if you look at the Greek for that word It is the word 2 posts which is where we get our word for type or typology It is a model or a symbol of something else all the things that happen to ancient Israel are types or examples of what is to come yet with God's people in the future.

So they are very relevant and they are very significant and important.

And he continues on and says, these things are written for our admonition, our counsel, our instruction, our understanding.

Because the ends of the world are come very near to where we are living today.

And then he says, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, take notice, lest he fall.

All the things that happened in the past are examples for God leading us in our yet future experience today.

Well, I wanna just briefly run through you very quickly an overview, a very brief overview of how God has had faithful witnesses on earth from the very beginning of Creation.

We see Adam, yes He chose to sin but He exercised true repentance towards God and He for 969 years the life span that he lived the Bible tells us, exercised repentance towards God and was truly sorry with godly sorrow for his sin.

That's an extremely long time and yet he was so faithful and true to God that he walked into Heaven as it were because God took him.

We see Noah preaching for 120 years that there would be a flood that God had designed that the earth would be destroyed because of the wickedness of man and that there would be a check placed on their wickedness.

All these things these men lived from the time of creation about 4000 BC until the time of the Flood which was circa 2344 BC.

Well moving on after the Flood from the Flood to the Exodus which was about 1487 BC Abraham was called to leave his family, leave his country and go to a place that God would show him.

And he followed and obeyed God based on faith trusting that God would lead and guide him.

And he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God and he faithfully followed God and was given a promise that he would be the father of a great nation and he was indeed a spiritual father to us today by faith.

And then we see his grandson Jacob who wrestled with the angel.

Yes he committed a grievous sin in lying to his father and trying to steal the birthright in a wrong way.

But Jacob wrestled with the angel and prevailed and God forgave him and he was renamed Israel, the father of many nations.

Coming all the way down to the flood 1487 B.C.

Moses was raised up as a deliverer for God's people and he faithfully led God's people through the Red Sea and across the wilderness for 40 years before he was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land because of his sin.

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His Truth Is Marching On

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