GYC 2025: Seeing the Invisible

<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>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Answering the Angels

Kameron DeVasher

01 Why Is There Evil in the Universe?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this absolutely beautiful day.

Thank you for the opportunity to have life at all, and particularly, Lord, for the privilege of knowing you and the hope of eternal life that you provide.

Help it not only to be clear, but to be convincing, convicting, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, converting to the soul.

Lord, help us to know you and become like you, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, you're going to need your Bibles.

Now I've got presentation slides on the screen and I'll let you know ahead of time the very last slide and our presentation today will be a QR code where you can download all the slides for this presentation series, okay?

So if you stick by, you're welcome to take pictures and please take notes and all those kind of things, but if you need that, that will be provided at the end, okay?

So a whole seminar, as you might have heard last night, is entitled Answering the Angels, and it's about these questions.

We often talk about skeptics having questions about God, criticisms about how could a good God make such a bad world, and why is it, all these different things, which are legitimate concerns.

1 thing I have discovered through this study is that not only do skeptics have those questions, loyal believers have those questions, faithful angels of God who've never fallen have the exact same questions and even more.

I think we're going to run into some questions you didn't even know were questions and be like, oh man, I'm glad we talked about this before I ran out into this in the wild, okay?

But let's talk about some of these things.

First of all, why is there evil in the universe?

This is the framework foundational 1 that many skeptics have their exit ramp from belief because of wrestling with this question So let's dive right into it.

If you have your Bible, I'm sorry since you have your Bibles Let's take them out to Matthew chapter 13 Matthew chapter 13.

This is a day full of parables in Jesus' ministry and honestly it doesn't particularly stand out as a notable parable.

I mean it's, and then another parable, and then another parable.

And it starts in verse 24, it's the parable of the wheat and the tares, but it starts saying, another parable he put forth to them.

And then in verse 31, another parable he put forth.

So it's just, and verse 33, another parable.

So he's just a day full of telling important stories, parables, but for some reason this 1 stands out, and we know it does as we keep reading.

But let's look at it, starting with verse 24.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

Now we're gonna break this 1 as Randy Skeet would say, microscopically, okay?

First of all, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed.

So he's the owner of the field and he's the sower of the seed, yes?

It just kind of introduces these other men sleeping.

But while men slept, his enemy, now we've got a third character, his enemy, I don't know if you catch this, but it doesn't just say an enemy.

His enemy, like these dudes know each other.

His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and did what else?

He sowed good seed and while men slept in the cover of darkness, his enemy comes in and goes out another way.

So the story continues, but when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

I don't know how many of you have had that experience when you went to vacation Bible school, or elementary school, or Sabbath school, and they wanted to teach you about agriculture, and they'll give you a seed in a Styrofoam cup with some dirt, or maybe the toothpicks on the avocado, you know, and I was just enthralled by these agriculture metaphors when I was a kid, and I had these like jack in the beanstalk expectations that as soon as the seed touches the soil and the water activates it, boom, overnight, I'm gonna come back and you're gonna have a fruity.

But you know what happens, you put that seed in the dirt, low water, you come back the next day, nothing.

And It doesn't take too much of that for a young child's hyperactivity to be like, this just doesn't work, I hate it.

The point is that when you sow seed, good or bad, it doesn't instantly spring up and appear.

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

So it's not like it's only tares, but they also appeared.

So now you have a garden, you have a field with 2 crops growing intertwined.

Now we're introduced to the servants of the owner.

I'm just gonna go ahead and throw it out.

I believe that these are the men who are sleeping.

Now let's talk about, are they loyal to the owner?

They are, and notice, they treat him kindly.

Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?

The owner did not outsource the sowing of the seed, but the cultivation of the crop and the harvesting, he does employ servants to do.

So apparently he sowed the seed, he hires these servants, and now apparently he told them, I have planted a field full of wheat, I'd like you to go work it.

But when they look down, what do they see?

Sir, respectfully, did you not sow good seed in your field?

And notice there is a discrepancy between what he said and what he said and what they see.

This creates a problem to solve and they respectfully Ask him about it, sir Did you not sow good seed in your field?

So I want to emphasize this by asking the question are they demonstrating disloyalty Is it possible to be loyal to God and have questions for God?

Not only am I going to pause it this week, that not only is it possible, I believe he invites it.

He says, come let us raise, he expects us to have questions because we're dealing with some big, difficult things.

Don't blithely like, okay, No, no, let's think through it.

02 How Can an Honest God Defeat a Lying Devil?

This is Answering the Angels, now session 2.

How can an honest God defeat a lying devil?

He was cast the earth that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.

But before we do anything, let's start with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, again, we thank you so much for the opportunity to be here in Orlando.

Thank you for this great controversy theme that we can dive into and for your word giving us the answers we need.

Bless us now as we seek to understand it and apply it in our lives.

Very brief summary from our last presentation.

How can there be bad in God's good universe, essentially?

And we noticed that God did not create the devil.

And from that then God had to respond somehow.

I mean, he could have just not responded and let the whole thing go crazy, but no, he did respond by casting him out.

The central passage we looked at, by the way, if you ever want to do this Bible study with anyone, it's actually a very simple study.

You start with Matthew 13 and go through the parable.

You got Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, look behind the scenes.

You can see Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 through 9 where he casts him out of heaven.

And then you go to the, you add some great controversy in there, a little, I mean not great controversy, but just a little bit of spirit prophecy, but really not much.

It's just, I really want people to see that this concept of the great controversy and God's response to it is not like a few words from the Bible and then books and books from Ellen White where she made it.

This is a Biblical concept that simply Ellen White comments on helps clarify, but it's deeply rooted squarely on scripture.

So let's be clear about that Anyway, so our topic now is how can an honest God defeat a lying devil?

Well, let's go back to Ezekiel 28 verse 16 Let me ask this question.

What was the thing that got Satan thrown out?

Did he, I mean, and I've heard people spiritualize, well, in a sense, he broke all the commitments.

Like, okay, okay, but I mean, just logistically, what did he actually do?

We can all have guesses, and they might have some level of veracity to them, but let's see what the text says.

By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.'" By the abundance of your trading, what did he say?

It's like a commercial term, it's traffic.

In fact, in the King James, you'll see that word, T-R-A-F-F-I-C-K.

It's the only time it's used in the Bible, traffic.

By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.

Therefore, because of that, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.

I destroyed you a covering cherub from the midst of this fiery stone." So the question is, was Lucifer cast out of heaven for selling something?

In Job chapter 1, Job chapter 1, verses 1 through 5, is a great thing for Job.

He's a righteous man, he's got children and a household, he's got wealth and influence, yet it hasn't ruined his character.

I mean, he's just a really good guy, Job.

And it says in verse 5, I'm sorry, verse 3, so this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

And if Job only was 5 verses long, good for Job.

And if you notice, it's a sharp juxtaposition from down here on earth where Job is living this life, all of a sudden verse 6 comes along, "'Now there was a day when the sons of God "'came to present themselves before the Lord, "'and Satan also came among them.' There was a day.

Now notice it's not, it starts with Job here on earth and where he lives there in the east with his household and his family, but this is completely disconnected from that.

This meeting takes place in the presence of God in heaven, right?

Because notice, they came to present themselves before the Lord.

The Lord is calling people in and He hosts a meeting there.

There was a day when the sons of God, which should put a question in our minds, who are these sons of God?

And we'll come back to that in just a second.

But There was a day when the sons of God, which should put a question in our minds, who are these sons of God?

But there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord.

So apparently a meeting was called and they come from other places to assemble before the Lord.

And it adds, and Satan also came among them.

Now this seems to have a problem with what we had just studied in our first 1.

Didn't Satan used to live in heavenly places right there at the right hand of God?

Yes, but as we saw last time, what has happened?

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

But now, There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them.

There are several questions in this simple sentence, right?

Well, it goes on to say, and the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come?

Which strongly implies, as we just saw in the previous text, everybody at this meeting comes from somewhere else.

The Lord's the 1 who stays still, and everybody comes to Him.

So He calls a meeting, and Everybody shows up who's supposed to be at the meeting, and he's taking roll call and attendance, and all of a sudden, Satan's there, which I'm guessing changes the dynamic of the room.

Right, All the things got tense, things got weird.

Anselm Lorden said, "'From going to and fro on the earth "'and from walking back and forth on it.'" Where does he claim to be from?

In what condition was he in on the earth?

Apparently free to walk around up and down.

He's basically saying, I run that place and I'm here representing it today.

Well, don't we know he was stuck in a tree?

03 Why Didn’t Satan Die at Calvary, Too?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this gorgeous day.

Thank you for these good friends and church family we get to fellowship with.

Thank you for what it reveals to us about who you are and your plans for us and our part in your universe.

Bless us now as we revisit these themes, go deeper into your word and trust in advance that you will bless us greatly for we pray it in Jesus name.

Now, just to review where we've gone so far, we started in Matthew chapter 13, and we looked at the parable of the wheat and the tares.

And we noted that Jesus, per request of his disciples, broke down every element of that and explained how the world was the field.

The good seeds of the righteous, the wicked are the bad seeds, the tears.

The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels.

And those were the angels who are asking the questions about, Sir, how is it possible that you said you sowed good seed, but we see that there's bad seed?

And we laid the premise from the Bible that it is not disloyalty to have questions for God.

In fact, he's the 1 who invites us, come let us reason together.

We should be able to give a reason for the hope that's in us.

So it's a reasonable thing to have questions because this is a big topic.

The existence of sin, God's response to it, how he's going to end it, and where do we fit into all of that?

So we looked at the first presentation about the enemy.

Of course, it's Lucifer, and God did not create the devil.

He created a perfect being who chose to rebel.

And we notice how God's response was not to destroy him instantly, though he could have, and he would have been just in doing it, but it would not have solved the problem because there was an on-looking universe of people who were evaluating all of these things and trying to wrestle and understand what the deal was.

So the Lord, instead of blotting him out of existence, cast him out of his position in heaven, out of the heavenly realms and to the earth.

So, the man who God had put here on the earth, Adam, to be the ruler of this world, given dominion over creation, as long as he was loyal to God, would hold that rulership position.

But, as Satan accurately recounted in Luke chapter 4 that this authority was given to him when Satan rebelled against God.

So now Christ comes not only to give an answer to the obfuscations and the deceptions and the falses of Satan, but to be the answer to them.

That God needed to not only declare the truth, he needed to demonstrate the truth.

And thus Jesus could say, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, that my righteousness is to be revealed in the person of Jesus.

And of course, that revelation came to a climax at Calvary.

When Jesus bowed his head and died, but never once for a moment did he give in to Satan, did he sell out in any way, did he rebel against God, he died faithful and he could declare in all honesty, it is finished.

And at that moment of Calvary, The onlooking universe saw for the very first time 2 very critical things.

Number 1, they saw the truth about who God was in the person of Jesus.

They had witnessed his sacrificial life and his ministry, his love and belovedness, and now his self-sacrifice on the cross.

And they realized that everything God had claimed about himself was true, because they could see it in Jesus.

At the same time, everything that God had said about Satan was true too, that he is indeed a liar and or a murderer and we noted that the last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken when they witnessed Calvary and how that power of Christ's sacrifice will be a guarantee that there won't be another rebellion amongst the heavenly universe.

Anyway, that brings us essentially up to speed in our first 2 presentations, but now we go to the next question, which is this.

He said, Now is the judgment of this world.

Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

The last link of sympathy has been broken, and Jesus is victorious, and all God's people said, Amen.

Well, that leaves us with a question, though.

Why is He still going 2, 000 years later?

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.'" And notice that the devil didn't just sin, he was the beginning of sin.

Iniquity was found in you, Scripture says.

So, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, right?

That is, to be made tangible, to appear here, the Incarnation, why Jesus was sent.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might do what?

Okay, So he came here to be the answer to all of Satan's argumentations and slanders and falsehood, to reveal the character of God, to end Satan, and he was successful.

Okay, so we beg the question, if that's why Jesus came, and that's what Jesus accomplished, why is Satan still alive now?

Because as we had talked about, the on-looking universe, the loyal angels and those sons of God in the heavenly realm, apparently for 4, 000 years had some level of sympathy for Satan.

But just like the sons of God and Job, let's hear him out.

But at Calvary, there's nothing more to say.

So, couldn't you, if you were the God the Father, turn to those angelic hosts and say, now do you see Why he can't just be quarantined, he needs to be killed.

Right, this is not a negotiation, we're not gonna have an arbitration, we need an elimination.

I'm guessing all the angel hosts would be like, we see it now, we knew him, but now we're done.

As we already mentioned, Christ's life revealed the character of God, and Christ's death revealed the character of Satan.

Because God had more than 1 purpose in coming to this earth.

Jesus Himself explains in Luke 19, verse 10, 10 For the Son of Man has come to do what?

So did Jesus come to destroy the works of the devil?

He had a phase 2, a secondary purpose, another side of the coin, where not only eliminating evil, but also redeeming, saving what was lost.

Praise the Lord, we don't colloquially refer to this as the plan of destruction.

So in order for the plan to be accomplished, it would be insufficient to merely kill Satan and sinners.

By the way, if God said at Calvary, OK, all the questions have been answered, all Satan and his followers are done, Is that good news?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

04 How Will God Destroy the Wicked Fairly and Finally?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you again for this day.

Thank you for the privilege of knowing you.

Thank you for the fellowship we can enjoy here in GYC.

And thank you for the truth that we get to see in your Word.

Not that the material will be good, because it is good.

But Lord, that our understanding will be good.

And that we'll be not merely informed, but we'll be transformed into your likeness.

We've answered about in step 1, the origin of evil.

How could there be evil in otherwise good world?

We looked at the question about why didn't Satan die at Calvary 2?

The answer to that is very simple, because it's not called the plan of destruction.

It's called the plan of salvation, in order for the plan to be complete.

So now we look at this final step in the great controversy process.

Now, let me be clear, there will be a presentation tomorrow, by God's grace.

Series

Answering the Angels

05 Will Heaven Be Safe With Us in It?

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Talking Points 4th Quarter 2022: On Death, Dying, and the Future Hope

14 All Things New

30m

Looking Unto Jesus

42m

Christ and the Heavenly Sanctuary

06 Living in the Day of Atonement, Part 02

1h 5m

The Future of Adventism: Will Our Biblical Foundation Give Way to Culture?

2. The Future of the Everlasting Gospel

1h 16m

The Everlasting Gospel

7. Looking Unto Jesus

55m

Righteousness by Faith

41m

GYC 2013 Seminar: The Individual Conflict: Victory Over Sin

06-Closing Arguments

1h

The Great Object of Life

52m

How the Three Angel’s Message Works

55m

Nothing to Wear

51m

Bryan Choi Weekend

02 Appropriating the Righteousness of Christ

52m

Established in the Present Truth

The Finishing of the Mystery of God

1h 11m

Sound Doctrine