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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Taj Pacleb

The Cross and the Ecumenical Apostasy

So good to see a lot of people here tonight.

I just literally got off the plane and had delayed flights, but I'm so glad the Lord got here right on time, it seems.

And it's been a while since I've been in Southern California preaching, and we just have a few moments together and so we're just going to jump into the presentation.

Tonight is entitled The Cross and the Ecumenical Apostasy.

I hope you brought a spiritual appetite as we feast upon the bread of life tonight.

Lord Jesus has promised to us that when we are hungry and thirsty for his righteousness, we will be filled.

And the Bible says that in God's presence is fullness, not emptiness, but fullness of joy.

At his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.

And so, looking forward to being filled tonight with his pleasures and with his goodness.

And so, we're going to pray and jump into the message.

I invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray.

Lord, thank you so much for your mercy that is new every morning, your compassions that never fail.

We thank you, Lord, that it was your mercy and your love that has drawn us and brought us to this place tonight.

And Lord, we have come seeking a blessing from the most holy place.

We've come seeking to see you more clearly than ever before.

Lord, we thank you that you promised that when we seek with all our hearts, that we will find.

And so, Lord, allow us to find that which you want us to understand from your Word tonight.

And I pray that it would not just be informational, but that it would be transformational, that it would touch to the very depths of who we are and make us different people as a result.

Please, again, fill this room in our hearts with your spirit.

Give us attentive minds, sensitive ears, and a soft heart that we might receive the word tonight.

It is our prayer in Jesus' precious name.

Our message tonight is entitled The Cross and the Ecumenical Apostasy.

I invite you to take your Bible and open with me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 58.

Isaiah, we're going to the 58th chapter, where we find a very familiar verse for us as Seventh-day Adventists, a verse that points out both our identity as well as our mission.

We're going to Isaiah chapter 58 and when you get there would you please let me know by saying amen.

Isaiah 58 it's a beautiful chapter I encourage you to read the whole thing at a later time but notice with me what the Bible says in verse 12 Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 12 it says and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwelling." Here in this very powerful prophetic word, We find both our identity as well as our mission as 7 day Adventists.

It tells us that we are to raise up a foundation that has been broken, a breach in a wall that has been destroyed.

It calls us the repairers and the restorers.

We are the pathfinders of the last day, the breach builders.

And as we think about this verse and the mission that God places upon us in this particular passage, this verse is actually an echo of the great work of God's people under the leadership of Nehemiah.

We remember the story of how Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem.

They broke down the walls and destroyed the whole city And it was under the work of Nehemiah that the walls were built up and the foundation was laid and and and the and the worship of Jehovah the true God continue on The surrounding walls were broken and As long as there was a breach There could never be rest for the people of God Even if most of the wall was up 1 little breach would have not brought rest to the people of God.

Because they could have easily been infiltrated and attacked by the enemy.

And so as we think about that story of the past, in applying it to the context of this verse today, We find that the work that Nehemiah did back then is the same work that we're to do in these last days because you see friends there's a breach in the wall that needs to be fixed.

But first of all let's ask the question what does this wall represent?

First of all, what is the purpose of a wall?

Many people think that a wall is to restrict.

But friends, when you think about the wall or a wall, the purpose or the primary purpose of a wall is to protect.

And so this wall that was surrounding the people of God in Jerusalem was there not to restrict the people, to keep them in bondage, no, it was to protect the people.

Well friends, what has God given to us that many people look upon as restrictive, but in reality, God has given it to us to protect us.

Most of the world and even most of the Christian world looks upon those 10 Commandments as restrictive, a bunch of do's and don'ts, a bunch of rules and regulations.

When you study about the true nature of God's law, we discover that his law is a law of love, and it's not given to restrict us, but to protect us from the evil results of sin and all the terrible suffering that it brings upon the guilty partakers also the innocent bystanders because sin infects everything it touches.

So God has given us the 10 Commandments which the Bible tells us is the law of liberty.

Tell me what is another word for liberty?

There are 10 principles of freedom not to restrict us but to protect us from sin, to protect us from evil and so the wall simply represents the law.

And so if the wall represents the law, then what is the breach in the law of God today?

What is the breach that has been broken down, that has been created in the law.

Oh friends, we all understand very clearly that most of the world keeps 9 commandments, but there's a breach in that law, and that breach is the fourth.

The very commandment that points to the rest that we have in God our Creator.

And that's the reason why the very next verse, Isaiah 58, verse 13, talks about the Sabbath.

You see, verse 12 describes the ones that's going to raise up the foundation of many generations, the restorer of the paths to dwell in and the 1 that is going to fix the breach in the wall.

And then verse 13 tells us what that breach is when it refers to the Sabbath that is being trampled underfoot by God's people.

Notice verse 13, if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath the delight The holy of the Lord honorable and shout honor him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Verse 14 is the promise then shout thou what?

Delight you see obedience to God when it's motivated by love is not drudgery, it's a delight.

It says thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord.

Now I'll cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

And so we find that the rebuilding of the wall symbolizes the restoration of the truth of God's word, God's law, God's commandments, specifically the Sabbath commandment, the very 1 that points to the rest that we have in the Lord Jesus.

Now as I mentioned before, friends, walls offer protection, not so much restriction.

The Sabbath is, and when we truly understand it, and when we understand what Ellen White says when she said that we need to preach the Sabbath more fully, we will see that it's much more than just pointing out the day on which the Sabbath is, but rather the experience that God wants us to enter to that the day points us to.

And that is ceasing from our own works and our own burdens and trying to work our way to heaven and resting in the completed work that God is doing in our lives.

And that's what it says in Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse 12.

The Bible says, I gave them my Sabbath to be a sign between them and me that they might know, that we might know that he is the Lord that sanctifies us.

The word sanctified meaning to set apart for a holy use.

Those who keep the Sabbath are accused as legalists, as doing things that are so restrictive, but no, the Sabbath is a sign for us to remember that we can never sanctify ourselves That only the Lord can sanctify and save us.

He's the only 1 that can make us holy You see if we work 7 days a week, we can't work our way to heaven So we rest on the seven-day Sabbath as an outward sign of the inward experience, acknowledging to God and to the world, saying that, God, I understand that I can never work my way to heaven.

I'm resting in the work that you're doing in my life.

Thus, the Sabbath is a sign of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

It's protecting us from the bondage of salvation by works.

Now, I can say more about that, but That's not the emphasis of the message tonight.

What I wanted to share about this is that, as I mentioned, the purpose of a wall is not to restrict but to protect.

But when you think about a wall, walls not only offer protection, but they also naturally bring division.

A wall offers protection, but by its very nature, A wall will bring division.

But division is an absolute necessity in order for us to experience heavenly rest.

And so listen friends, our mission is not so much to erect a wall of division, but rather to build up the wall of protection.

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The Cross and the Ecumenical Apostasy

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