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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Siegfried Roeske

The Nature of Present Truth

Well this morning I would like to begin our sermon by asking a simple question.

I'm sure it's been asked many times in different ways.

I know today there's a lot of confusion regarding that question, And I thought it'd be nice to reaffirm our faith this morning Well Some would say because of the Sabbath is so important and the second coming of Jesus Well, I would say why then could you not be a good Seventh-day Baptist?

My dissertation was comparing the Sabbath, the Seventh-day Baptist, and the Seventh-day Adventist.

They have the Seventh-day Sabbath and they believe in Jesus' second coming.

Well, perhaps someone would say it's the everlasting gospel.

Matthew 24, Matthew 28, go ye into all the world.

But then I asked next, what is the everlasting gospel?

The everlasting gospel, Jesus from the foundation of the world has committed himself to this planet and the people whom he has created.

And so when they failed, he became the incarnate God, becoming incarnate in man, his humble birth, his perfect life, his death on Calvary, burial, his resurrection, ascension to the heavenly sanctuary, and now preparing to come again to take his children to be with him.

I do believe that is the everlasting gospel.

But then what what kind of pushes me a little further, are not most churches teaching this gospel?

And then I say, would the Lord raise up a movement in 1844 to do what is already being done.

And then my point would be if we keep it to that simple scenario I Would say we would owe to the Lord to sell all our institutions and stop this The overhead that we have to do what others already doing and we should join a large ecumenical movement who believe in this And get rid of this doubling up on everything and just support them put the money into the United Front.

In fact that's 1 of the movements you know the thinking of many Protestant Christians.

So it doesn't seem quite that the Lord would do that.

Besides, the Bible doesn't seem to speak very complimentary about nominal Christianity.

In 2 Timothy 3, 5, if you have your Bibles, maybe you ought to look that text up, is 1 of the reasons, I think, Why we have a Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Now in 2nd Timothy, the first part, It lists all the evils that are in the world.

Perilous times shall come, men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, and so on.

And I used to think, well, that's talking about the world.

But now I wonder if it's not talking about the world, but if it's talking about the church.

And then verse 5 it says having a form of godliness this is what leads me to believe it's not talking about the world because they don't profess godliness.

Having a form of godliness but denying their power thereof and then says from such turn away.

There seems to be a profession but there seems to be a lack of power.

Power in the life to change the life, to make an appreciative difference.

I have used a book in church leadership class for a number of years.

So what I'm going to share with you is the insights that have been gained by other Christians who love the Lord and are very committed.

His name is James Means and the title of the book is Effective Pastors for a New Generation.

The book tries to acquaint the theology student, the coming pastor, with the world that he faces and the Christianity that he faces.

It may be that a passionate desire to make the gospel attractive and non-offensive and the church user-friendly and influential has corrupted our fidelity to both biblical truth and ethical methodology or lifestyle.

Current evangelical popularity presents powerful pressure, not the power to know Jesus, but powerful pressure to compromise biblical values for the sake of social acceptance.

Our degree of compromise has reached epidemic proportions, but we're not aware of it.

Some time ago, the Rope Organization conducted a poll.

Actually 3 organizations, and they're well known.

1 of the polls is actually stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Have conducted some polls amongst Christians and have come up and have discovered this strange paradox.

Religion is growing in importance among Americans but morality is losing ground.

The same poll found very little difference in the behavior of the church and the unchurched on a wide range of items, including lying, cheating, and dishonesty.

Both the Roper Survey and the Barner Survey, that's another organization I think is located here in California, say this.

There's virtually no difference in the lifestyles of the average American and the born-again Christian.

More born-again Christians read Penthouse than watch the top-rated Christian TV shows.

What seems to be the cause of this problem is what I ask.

Now I would suggest that the problem lies in the fact that the popular gospel in fact is so ineffective and so powerless because it is not preached in God's ordained prophetic judgment hour setting.

And that is what makes truth present truth.

Okay and we'll cover this and present truth is what the world needs now And we'll look at that more closely.

In 2 Peter 1 12, if you have your Bibles there, you might want to turn to 2 Peter 1 12, and you probably know this text, I suppose, Seventh-day Adventist, Athenian, because this is where we get the idea of present truth right it's from the Bible and it's from Peter writing in 2nd Peter 1 verse 12 it says wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though you know them be established in present truth and white writes there are many precious truths contained in the Word of God, But it is present truth that the flock needs now.

First, just generally and then from the Bible, take it, take the simple statement, just a simple statement to show that context and framework make a difference.

Not much motivation Change the setting There's a fire where at 1409 Mills Avenue the houses burning down and the children are still inside.

Every fiber of my being, every nerve becomes tense, is motivated into action because the setting has empowered the statement of fact and made it meaningful to my own personal life.

I Believe that's the nature of present truth.

The setting empowers the gospel and ignites it.

It's kind of a sad little record of what happened here in the beginning.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

And Abel he also brought of the firstling of the flock of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering." Verse 5.

But unto Cain and to his offering he had no respect and then Cain was wroth and his countenance fell.

The Lord had respect unto Abel to his offering, but unto Cain and his offering he had not respect.

Both understood that they were to bring a lamb sacrifice in their worship, both understood that it was not really the lamb that will save them, but the Lamb pointed forward to the Lamb of God that would die for them and save them.

1 accepted that God appointed setting for the gospel, the Lamb.

The other rejected God's present true setting and brought the first counterfeit.

Besides, Cain might have reasoned, I am a kind of sensitive soul.

You know, it doesn't seem to bother Abel a whole lot, but you know, I don't like to kill.

I had someone in class the other day say the very thing, I'm so glad we don't have to sacrifice anymore and go through that horrible experience.

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The Nature of Present Truth

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