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East Ridge SDA Church

A Final Generation

Steven Grabiner

A Final Generation Part 1

So this morning during Sabbath school, something that never happened to me before, my voice just quit.

It's back a little bit, thanks to Nancy's cough drops, I guess, and whatever elixir is in them, but this may be a very short sermon.

Let's turn to our scripture reading, let's read it, and we'll go home.

Before we do that, again, welcome to everybody that's here.

I'm glad that you've each come to join us this Sabbath morning.

I pray, as Mike said, that you'll continue to visit with us, make this part of your church home.

Recently I was in Cuba and so I just wanted to show a couple of pictures.

I was at the seminary there and this is why my voice all of a sudden disappeared.

I was teaching about 9 hours a day, 9 to 10 hours a day, plus giving prayer meetings.

And just this morning it's like, okay, I quit.

Off to this side, that's like 1 of the dorms, and those 2 pictures with all those smiling faces are my students after the end of the class.

They did not look that way during the class.

As hard as it is to teach for 8 to 9 hours a day, could you imagine listening to the same guy talking for 4 or 5?

I mean, I know I'm interesting, but that's what I said.

But it was a really good visit, great trip, great group of students.

And they send their greetings back to each 1 of you as well.

In fact, they heard that there's going to be a mission trip, a youth mission trip to Cuba.

Did you know that, that this church is sponsoring a mission trip to Cuba?

They're hoping that the group would come down for 2 weeks if possible.

They've done organized things if we want to.

And if we could pray for the youth that would be going, and think of ways to support them, I think that would be a real blessing for them, for sure.

Some of you are not really very familiar with Seventh-day Adventism.

Some of you have been Seventh-day Adventists for a very long time.

Some of you are new Seventh-day Adventists.

1 of the classes that I taught there was Seventh-day Adventist history.

In the morning, we went through the book of Daniel and it was very refreshing to go through, you know, in 2 weeks the whole Adventist history.

I was reminded over and over again of how God has led the church And it's tremendously encouraging that God has a plan.

You know, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a really unique and heavenly experiment.

And by that I mean, Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the largest, second largest denomination in the world.

The first largest church is the Roman Catholic Church, but our structures are very different.

You know, the Roman Catholic Church is very hierarchical.

Obviously, the Pope is the head of the church, and then cardinals and bishops, and authority and decisions kind of come from top down.

We've had a lot of challenges, but it's exciting to be part of this church.

And so in that light, I wanted to discuss this topic, which this Sabbath and next Sabbath can be kind of a different sermon for me.

This is becoming another 1 of those heated conversations in the Seventh-day Adventist church.

In fact, in March, March 22 and 23, a friend of mine just sent me a flyer on this, in California at the Sac Central Church, there's gonna be a meeting discussing this topic.

March 22 and 23, you'll probably be able to live stream it.

Domshtig, who used to teach at the seminary, who lives nearby here now, he's gonna be there.

And they're gonna be exploring this topic.

And I just have to say that there's a lot of confusion or misunderstanding about this topic.

And so that's what I wanted to explore with you this morning.

But before we do, I want to share this quotation with you.

It's from Testimonies to Ministers, page 49.

And it says, the Church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon the earth upon which Christ bestows his supreme regard.

The church, and then what's the description about the church?

Yeah, feeble, defective, needing to be reproved and warned and counseled is what?

It's the place where God lavishes his love.

Just like a few weeks back, we looked at, I shared a quotation about how we're continually sinning, or we sin continually, and yet God's love is constantly embracing us as well.

And he does that individually, and he does that in relation to the church as a whole.

You know, as I said earlier, church is an amazing experiment.

And God's really trying to do amazing things as humanity and divinity interact.

How many of you had your lives changed in some aspect since you've known Jesus?

And he does it through the daily interactions of life.

That's the key point, that all throughout providence, the providences that God brings into our lives, And angelic beings are in awe of the transformations that's taking place, which again, is another amazing thought for me.

So as we kind of think through this, or as we just think about conflict in the church in general, or questions in the church in general, let's keep the big picture in mind.

The church is an amazing experiment that God's doing, but it's moving toward an end.

And no matter how weak a church, or we feel like we are, enfeebled or defective, we are the object of God's supreme regard.

But that love is for a purpose, and that's always important for us to keep in mind.

That When God lavishes his love on us, it's not simply that we could enjoy the benefits of that love, but that we could be transformative agents of sharing that love with others.

I said there's a lot of controversy, there's been several books written on the topic by a number of different writers, and next Sabbath we'll look a little bit more at that.

But this week, I wanted to share some areas where everybody agrees, and then look in the scriptures and see if we can get some clear teachings.

Everybody that's a Seventh-day Adventist, I really hope this is true, everybody that's a Seventh-day Adventist agrees that Jesus is coming.

So we all agree that Jesus is coming, and then by extension, if Jesus is coming, that means there will be a final generation.

There's a few other things that people agree on, And that's a few of these things are this.

There's gonna be a special work of character change in order to live to see Jesus come, something has to happen, right?

So there's gonna be a special work of character change and that Jesus in heaven is trying to bring that change about in our lives right now.

And the last thing I think everybody agrees with is that the great controversy needs to end.

Our lesson study this morning went through Revelation chapter 6, and what's the cry that they say the souls under the altars, what do they cry out?

So there's this desire in the universe, in our own hearts, that the great controversy, the cosmic conflict be concluded.

Jesus is gonna come, there is gonna be a final generation.

That group of people is gonna have something happen to them.

What Jesus is doing in heaven now is at the center of it and it will bring the controversy to a close.

A Final Generation Part 2

And as Richard mentioned, there is going to be a wonderful meal after this.

I wonder if they're going to be serving ice cream.

So, kind of a little insight as I was watching the children's story.

You know that whole beautiful container of soy ice cream just got wasted.

But there was an interesting illustration there, wasn't there?

I mean, maybe you didn't get the impact because you weren't watching it and you didn't have the saliva going as some of us on the front did.

But here was something tasty, delicious, And what happened to it?

And of course, that would be the wrong thing to do, to put soap on ice cream, obviously.

And as I was watching it, I was thinking, you know, that really goes with my sermon in a certain sense, in that there are beautiful truths in scripture that get perverted when something wrong is added to them.

And we could think about that in lots of different directions, but it really relates to my topic this morning, which was also followed up from last week, the final generation.

We started talking about this, and again, it's a beautiful truth, which is very Christ-centered, and yet it gets perverted, or it gets misapplied, or it becomes, What's the word I want?

It becomes repulsive to us, just like ice cream with dish soap on top of it.

And actually, as he was doing it, I was thinking, so what's he gonna do?

But the dish soap was a real good visual, smelled nice, looked really pretty, but certainly is revulsive.

It's often the case that there could be a beautiful truth of scripture, but something's added to it, and then that truth becomes repulsive.

So let's see if we can get the beauty out of this truth this morning.

Last week, we started talking about this and So there is a final generation.

This is what we talked about last week, right?

And because Jesus is going to come, that means there will be a final generation.

If he's going to come, there has to be a group of people that are there at the end of time.

This final group of people do have a unique work of character change.

They're gonna go through something called a time of trouble, which is unparalleled in earth's history.

But the other main important thing, fourth 1 on that list, is that Christ's ministry in heaven is at the center.

It's what Jesus is doing now in heaven that is of great importance to us.

And the last point on that list is the great controversy needs to be wrapped up, amen?

The sin needs to come to an end, would you agree with that?

So those are all true and those are all beautiful and we can embrace those as well.

But I'd like to continue the topic, and what really got me going on this is a book that someone gave me, and it's called God's Character and the Last Generation.

It's published by Pacific Press, and most of the writers work at the seminary, and they're all very godly, very dedicated individuals.

I don't agree with everything in this book, and this is what got me thinking about this.

And 2 of the concerns of the writers are on your screen.

First concern is that the writers in this book would question the fact whether the last generation makes any contribution to God's vindication.

The great controversy between good and evil and it's important that God's character be vindicated and We'll see how that vindication clearly takes place at the cross But the question is is there a role that the last generation plays in that vindication?

The authors in this book, the writers in this book would say no.

And then the other concern that they have, and I would be concerned about this as well, is that some people might say that we need to have absolute perfection or absolute sinlessness.

And so I would agree with the writers that if somebody's claiming absolute perfection, that's something we should shy away from.

But it raises the question, what is absolute perfection anyway?

So these are the 2 things I wanna discuss with you this morning from the scripture and see if we could find out What's the true aspect about this, or at least what the true aspect about this is from my viewpoint?

So I invite you to turn with me to Revelation chapter 12, verses 10 through 12.

And this is another hymn in the book of Revelation.

As I mentioned last week, there are 7 major of these hymn sections.

It's found in chapter 12, which is the chapter in the book of Revelation that really talks about this cosmic conflict, the battle between good and evil and the war that began in heaven.

And so as we look at this passage, I want to keep in mind some questions.

First question is, can it be said that the final generation in any way contributes to God's vindication?

Can we say that or is that something we should stay away from saying?

And then of course the last question would be, What about the character development of this group of people?

So let's look at the song, Revelation chapter 12 in verse 10.

And there's several interesting points about it.

First of all, it's the only hymn in the book of Revelation that talks about our enemy, the accuser of the brethren, which is Satan.

Revelation 12 and verse 10, then I heard a, what everyone?

I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Who's the loud voice?

And so there's lots of suggestions who this loud voice is.

There are times when a group of people can be said to have spoken with 1 voice.

So possibly this is the court in heaven, the living creatures and the 24 elders, whoever they are, it could be them.

It's an unidentified loud voice in heaven.

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.

This is a kind of a point in the story where this loud voice in heaven, I'm gonna suggest it's the united voice of the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures in their role as part of the divine council, they are saying, now the salvation, the power, the kingdom, the authority of our Christ has come.

And that is something that we should say amen to.

When God ultimately takes his reign and we looked last week in Revelation 19 and we saw that at the end of the story in Revelation is when that's actualized.

But here's this voice in heaven and they're singing, now is the time and we are excited.

For or because the accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.

A Final Generation Part 3

You could tell by the title, Final Generation Number 3, that I'm kind of continuing the thoughts that we've started a couple of weeks back, looking at this idea that there are going to be a group of people that live to see Jesus come.

That's 1 of the reasons that this church exists, because we believe Jesus is coming.

That's the Adventist part in the name of the congregation.

But We also believe there are going to be a group of people that will live to see him.

We studied this a couple of weeks ago in our early morning Bible study, going through the book of Revelation.

So Jesus is coming, there is going to be a group of people, and that group of people have a unique role in this world's history.

Simply by being part of a group of people that will live to see Jesus come, that means they're gonna be unique, right?

That part of that group will not, well, all those that live to see Jesus come will not taste death.

According to scriptures, there's only been 2 people that have had that experience.

So again, this is definitely a unique group of people.

And what Jesus is doing now for us in heaven is very important.

And a couple of weeks ago, I began looking at this, or I referred at least to this book, it's called God's Character in the Last Generation.

And the concerns of the writers is to correct wrong thinking about this final generation.

And a few weeks ago, we looked at some of their concerns, is there any way that the final generation contributes to God's vindication?

We looked at Revelation chapter 12 and we saw that in fact that last group of people although Jesus clearly has vindicated God in His death, there is something for you and I to participate in.

Our lives do tell for the truthfulness of the Word of God.

We also looked a couple of weeks ago at this idea of absolute perfection or absolute sinlessness, and we realized there's no such thing here as absolute perfection.

The only absolutely perfect being in the universe is who?

At the same time, God wants you and I to continue to mature in our characters where we come to the point where we would rather die than commit sin.

That's what God's longing for in our growth, in our character, our character perfection, always based on what Jesus Christ has done.

The writers have some other concerns, and that's what I wanna look at this morning.

It's gonna be our last in this short series.

And 1 of the concerns of the writers is this.

They say several times throughout the book that there's a group of people that believe that Jesus is, quote, exactly like us, and that if you overcome, somehow that is meritorious.

So the concern of the writers is that they feel that some people are saying if you overcome, somehow that makes you worthy.

Both those ideas that Jesus quote is exactly like us or if we overcome that is meritorious, both of those ideas, we would be uncomfortable with, Those ideas actually would be heretical in a certain aspect to think that Jesus is exactly like us because we sin and he didn't.

Or to think that our overcoming is meritorious.

So what I wanna explore this morning is this idea about Jesus and the incarnation.

But before I do, I need to say something else.

This argument that there are certain people that are saying that Jesus must be exactly like us or that our overcoming is meritorious is what we would call a straw man in an argument.

No, I'm not talking about the Wizard of Oz and the straw man.

You set up a position and then you attack it and you say, for example, just kind of a random illustration here since Richard spoke up.

If I were to say some unusual thing about Richard, what could I say about you?

If I were to say that Richard was a racist, for example, and I were to claim that he was a racist and then defend it or say how bad racism was, well, That would be a straw man.

Richard's not a racist, but I would be pinning something on him that he doesn't believe and then I would be demolishing it.

And it's a bit of a concern to me in this book that some of the authors, they say there are people that are arguing that when you overcome, that's meritorious.

But I really don't know anybody that says that.

There may be people out there that do, but the concerns of the writers of that book, they haven't demonstrated that to me, so I'm a little concerned about straw man fallacies, straw man arguments.

If we're going to critique something, it would be very important for us to have an honest critique of it.

That if I'm gonna disagree with somebody or if they're gonna disagree with me, we should at least honestly or clearly portray that person's position.

So this morning, what I wanna look at is 3 questions with you, and I realize this is a sensitive topic.

A lot of people might disagree with me on this topic, but 3 questions for us this morning.

What kind of man, and when I say man, I mean human being here, man, obviously because Jesus became a man, but what kind of man did God become?

What realm did Jesus walk into, into the incarnation?

Question number 2 is, what was God's purpose for the incarnation?

And then the last question for us is, well, how long does God remain man?

And for me, these are very important topics because the humanity of Jesus Christ is very sensitive, but it's a very important topic for us to understand.

It's like the golden chain that links us to God.

And we need to approach this topic gently, we need to approach it reverently, need to study it carefully in scriptures.

But Jesus gave real proof of his humanity in his life.

So again, when we approach this concept of Christ in the incarnation, Christ's divinity being clothed with humanity, we need to be a little bit like Moses when he approached the burning bush.

What did God say when Moses came up to the burning bush?

And so when we begin to ask these kind of questions, particularly the first 1, what kind of man did God become?

What kind of humanity did God assume in the incarnation?

A little bit like Moses, like this is sacred ground, but it's a very fruitful study for us.

And so let's kind of go and you have your Bibles with you, I'm assuming.

And first of all, let's be very clear that Jesus was not exactly like us Because every 1 of us have committed sin.

I'm going to put a number of verses on the screen.

But 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, it tells us, verse 21 speaking about God, He made Him, God made Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We need to be 100% clear on that, that in Christ's life, he never committed sin.

If he did, he would not be able to be our Savior.

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A Final Generation

A Final Generation Part 2

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