Sermon given on September 25, 2010 at Patna, SDA Church in Diego Martin, Trinidad.

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Norman McNulty

The Synagogue of Satan

And it's good to be back at Patton on the Sabbath.

And I just want to say as well that I've personally been blessed by Michael's ministry here at Patton and the Sabbath school classes that I've attended so we will certainly miss you and wish God's blessing on you as you go to Texas.

It's it's definitely a blessing to be here this Sabbath morning and I'm looking forward to sharing a few things with you.

Before we get into our message, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, I thank you for this Sabbath day.

I thank you for the opportunity to open your word and to consider the message for our time.

And I pray that you will give us a special blessing this Sabbath morning, in Jesus' name, amen.

How many of you are thankful to be Seventh-day Adventists?

And why are you thankful to be an Adventist?

Is it because of the friends that we have at church?

Is it because we get a day off when the rest of the world gets no rest?

Is that why you're thankful to be a Seventh-day Adventist?

If you live the health message and live to be 90, 95 years old, 1 of the reasons you live longer is because you've had an extra day of rest every week for years.

But is that why we are thankful to be Seventh-day Adventists?

I would again say today, the reason why we are thankful to be Seventh-day Adventists is because of the message that God has given to us.

How many of you are thankful for the message of Adventism?

Now the rest of the Christian world understands that Jesus died for us and that is the foundation of Christianity and of Adventism.

However, we have a complete understanding of Scripture that helps us to understand the message for this hour.

Now do you think the message for this hour is important?

What about our message for this hour is important?

The crucial aspect of our message for this time is that we have a message of warning, announcing that the judgment hour has come, that Jesus is coming soon, and that if you are not on the right side at the end, you will be lost.

What we are gonna look at today is, how is it that so many people in the Christian world are deceived?

What is it that leads people to only accept part of scripture and not all of scripture as truth that guides us into a complete and full Christian life?

And the title for my message today is the synagogue of Satan It's an interesting concept we saw in our passage Revelation chapter 2 Verses 8 and 9 let's read that where Jesus says to the church of Smyrna, and under the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things say at the first and the last, which was dead and is alive, I know thy works in tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich.

And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.

Now the question is, who is Jesus talking about when he says There are people who say they are Jews, but they really aren't.

Well, first of all, who are these people that are saying they are Jews?

Well, if we look at this message, now the message to the church of Smyrna is to the second of the 7 churches of Revelation.

And how many of us have studied the 7 churches, the message to the 7 churches?

So what we see, you have 7 churches, and briefly, the first 4 churches deteriorate from Ephesus, then you have Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira.

Now, It is true that Smyrna as the second church receives no rebuke, but there are people in the church of Smyrna that are actually the synagogue of Satan.

So you have Ephesus, the first church, which is the church of the first century, which was doctrinally pure, but they left their first love.

Then you have the Church of Smyrna, which went through tribulation, and they had people in their midst which were of the synagogue of Satan.

Then you have the Church of Pergamos from 313 to 538.

And then Thyatira beginning in 538, the fourth church, that is the Church of Papal Rome.

And then you have Sardis, which was the leftover remnants of the Reformation, then you have Philadelphia, the Millerite movement, then you have Laodicea, which is the Advent movement.

Now, in the Church of Smyrna, which is from 100 to 313 AD, you have a group of people who say they are Jews, but they're not.

Now, 1 way to solve the problem, are these literal Jews or are they not, is to just use some common sense.

People know if you're an American or if you're not, right?

You can say you're an American, but if you can't speak English or Spanish, chances are you may not be an American.

You can say you're Trinidadian, but if you don't know who the Prime Minister is, and if you don't know what roti is, you may just not be Trinidadian.

And for the record, I'm not Trinidadian, but I do like roti.

These people said they were Jews, but clearly they were not.

Now, everyone knew who a literal Jew was, but let's look at Galatians 3, verses 26 to 29 to understand who these people were claiming to be.

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all 1 in Christ Jesus.

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." This is what Christ is saying to the church of Smyrna.

There are some of you who claim to be Jews, or you claim to be Abraham's spiritual seed, or you claim to be Christians, but in reality you are not.

Now this is a serious charge by Christ, But Christ does not lie.

The Bible says Christ does not lie, amen?

Christ is saying these people claim to be Christians, but in reality, they are of the synagogue of Satan.

Did you realize that Satan has a religious body of believers that follow him?

The Bible teaches, according to Christ, that there is a synagogue of Satan, and it showed up in the church of Smyrna, beginning at around 100 AD.

Now you may say, well, the synagogue of Satan was a group of people way back from 100 to 313, and we don't have to worry about the synagogue of Satan anymore.

Let's go to Revelation 3, verse 9, to the Church of Philadelphia.

And the 2 things that Philadelphia and Smyrna have in common, they received no rebuke from Christ, and they both had people who said they were Jews, but were really of the synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 3 verse 9, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.

Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." Now I don't have time to go through every church and explain all the details, but the bottom line with the Church of Philadelphia is that this was the church from 1798 to 1844, which consisted of the preaching of the Advent movement, culminating in the Millerite movement from 1833 to 1844.

The people who accepted the Advent message were the Philadelphian church, and they received no rebuke from Christ.

The people who rejected the message of the Advent message constituted the synagogue of Satan.

And when William Miller came along and said, Jesus is coming in 10 years, they said, oh no, he's not coming for another thousand years.

And so Jesus says they say they are Jews, they say they are Christians, but they are not.

And notice 1 other thing that Jesus says here in the message to Philadelphia that he doesn't say it away to Smyrna.

He says those who say they are Jews and are not, he says they do lie.

Now he didn't say that in Smyrna, but he says that here in Philadelphia.

So to say that you're something, but you really are, is to lie.

You say you're a Christian, but you're really not.

Does the Bible say anything about those who lie to give us some kind of an understanding of what it means to be a liar in a spiritual sense.

I would invite you to turn with me to 1 John 2, verse 4.

1 John 2, verse 4 says, He that says, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

People say, I know Christ, He is my Savior, but you know what?

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The Synagogue of Satan

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