Chris Holland

It Is Written Canada

The Accountability Factor

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

Have you ever wondered what's the difference between a sheep and a goat?

Now, I'm no farmer, I'm a preacher, and I need to be careful in giving too much careful analysis to animals that I have worked with very little.

However, with a little research, 1 would find some noted differences.

For example, goats are considered browsers.

They nibble at their food, which is usually leaves, tender shoots, or other soft vegetation.

But sheep, on the other hand, are grazers.

They feed for hours at a time, eating small portions of food all day long.

They love clover and grasses, and they eat it right down to the soil.

Goats are naturally curious creatures, but very independent.

On the other hand, sheep like to be in the flock.

In fact, when a sheep is away from the flock, they become agitated and upset.

1 other difference is that most goats have hair while sheep have wool.

Now I am sure that there are other differences, but why all of this talk of sheep and goats?

We've been studying about hope for a helpless planet.

And we've looked at Jesus' reminder and warning in Matthew 24 to watch and be ready.

And in Matthew 25, we now look at the third in a series of 3 parables that are teaching us how we can be ready for the return of Jesus.

Listen to these words of Jesus in Matthew 25, verses 31 to 33.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on His throne of glory.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them 1 from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left." This parable uses a metaphorical or symbolic language to describe the judgment.

How will Jesus decide who is and who is not going to heaven?

And he makes the comparison to sheep and goats.

The sheep he places on his right hand, but the goats he places on his left hand.

Right at the outset, before any information is given, we see a difference.

In the Bible, the right hand is a symbol of power and favor.

The sheep seem to be favored for some reason.

Jesus gives us the answers in verses 34 to 36.

Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

I was in prison and you came to me." Did you hear that?

We've had several studies on the joy of going to heaven.

These sheep, which represent God's true people, are invited into the courts of heaven.

Sheep are often used to describe God's people.

In fact, in John chapter 10 and verse 4, Jesus uses this illustration, John chapter 10 and verse 4.

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Because the sheep know his voice, they have acts of kindness.

The Bible says that they feed the hungry.

They provide shelter to the homeless, clothing for the naked, and comfort and healing for the sick.

Jesus is inviting those individuals into heaven who have provided acts of kindness.

Right now, I know what someone is thinking.

Are you saying that people are saved by their works?

I fully believe the words of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, words you probably have memorized.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

I also believe the words of Paul in Titus, Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, where Paul further emphasizes this very important reality.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Those who will go to heaven are saved by the grace and mercy of God alone.

I want to be very clear with you on that and I want you to notice something very interesting though.

While we are not saved by our works, listen to the words from the book of Revelation in chapter 20 and verse 13.

And they were judged, each 1 according to his works.

And I don't want to confuse you more, but listen to the very words of Jesus back in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 27.

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works.

Now here is the principle, and I want you to listen very carefully.

We are saved 100% by the grace and mercy of God.

It is His gift to us and it is a free gift as we make a decision to follow him and give our lives to him.

But the Bible is also very clear that we are judged by our works.

You see, as Jesus enters our life and saves a sinner like me who doesn't deserve his salvation, His grace and mercy makes me worthy of heaven.

Jesus takes my imperfect heart and makes it perfect.

He invites me to come as I am, but here's the thing, He doesn't want me to stay that way.

He invites me and gives me the power to change.

As we make a decision to follow Jesus, He cleanses us, takes away our sin, and the Holy Spirit enters our life.

And as the Holy Spirit enters our life, He begins to change us.

Paul writes about what the Holy Spirit does in our life in Galatians chapter 5, Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 to 25.

In Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 to 25, Paul writes these words to the believers on how the Holy Spirit changes us.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

As we walk with Jesus and give our life to him, the Holy Spirit enters our life and produces fruit, the fruit of the Spirit.

This is why Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 20, therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Several years ago I learned the art of grafting trees, specifically apple trees.

And over the past few years, I have probably tried close to 100 different varieties of apples.

And you know, if I go to an orchard, I'm pretty good at identifying what is an apple tree, and what is a peach tree, and what is a cherry tree.

But you know, I really wouldn't know with absolute certainty until those trees did something, until those trees produced fruit.

And here lies the principle of the Christian life.

The fruit we bear demonstrates who we are.

Norman McNulty

Le Center SDA Church

Waiting For the Wrong Messiah

Father in heaven, we thank you so much for bringing us here this Sabbath day, and I just pray that you would pour out your Spirit in a special way, and be with me and give me the words to speak, and may we have an understanding of who we are looking for and waiting for is my prayer in Jesus' name, Amen.

The title for our message this morning is Waiting for the Wrong Messiah.

Seventh-day Adventists by our given name are looking for the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven.

Just as Jesus came the first time, the first advent to the Jews.

We believe that Jesus will come back in the clouds of heaven and every eye will see him.

As the lightning shineth from the east even into the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

We're not looking for a second chance if we've been left behind or a third chance in the new millennium.

We know that this earth right now, The life that we live right now is the 1 and only probation, and that a day is coming when probation will close, and sometime after that Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven.

As Seventh-day Adventists we understand that very clearly from scripture, But could it be possible yet that somehow, despite all of that knowledge, we are somehow waiting for the wrong Messiah?

Let's open up to our scripture reading from the Gospel of John Chapter 1, and we will look at these verses again.

And we read, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus came into the world that He made, and they didn't know Him.

You know, 2, 000 years ago, you would not have met a Jew who did not look forward to the coming of the Messiah.

The Jews longed for the coming of the Messiah who would bring glory to their long downtrodden nation.

And you know the Jews are still looking for that fulfillment.

Let me quote to you from a recent Jewish statement that I found from Wikipedia.

This is what they say, The world is in desperate need of messianic redemption.

To the extent that we are aware of the problems of society is the extent we will yearn for redemption.

As the Talmud says, 1 of the first questions asked of a Jew on Judgment Day is, did you yearn for the arrival of the Messiah?

How can we hasten the coming of the Messiah?

The best way is to love all humanity generously, to keep the mitzvah of the Torah as best we can, and to encourage others to do so as well.

Despite the gloom, the world does seem headed toward redemption.

1 apparent sign is that the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel and made it bloom again.

Additionally, a major movement is afoot of young Jews returning to Torah tradition.

The Messiah can come any day and it all depends on our actions.

God is ready when we are for His King David says, redemption will come today if you hearken to His voice.

You know there's a few statements of truth in there.

Did you yearn for the arrival of the Messiah?

And how can we hasten the coming of the Messiah?

And yet despite all of that, the Jews missed the coming of the true Messiah when He came.

And here they are, 2, 000 years later, still thinking that somehow the Messiah is coming, and that they just need to yearn for His arrival and hasten His coming as if somehow He has not yet come.

And yet scripture says, He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

How is it that you could wait for the coming of the Messiah for more than a thousand years, and when He came not recognize Him?

That the Jews had been waiting for more than a thousand years for the Messiah to come, and when he came they knew him not.

Let me read to you some statements from Desire of Ages.

It's from the chapter in Desire of Ages entitled God's Chosen People.

In Desire of Ages, page 27, starting in paragraph 1, we read, For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Savior's coming.

Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes.

In song and prophecy, in simple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined his name, and yet at his coming they knew him not.

The Beloved of heaven was to them as a root out of a dry ground.

He had no form nor comeliness, and they saw in him no beauty that they should desire him.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not." And Isaiah 53 is quoted there as well as John chapter 1.

Jesus to the Jews was like a root out of a dry ground.

Like you see a root out of a dry ground, it's something that you cast aside and throw away.

Maybe you throw it on a pile of wood to be burned, but it's not something that you would see as being of value or of having use.

That's how the Jew saw Jesus, who was the true Messiah.

He didn't have any outwardly good looks, and so they didn't want him.

They somehow had missed the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53.

And when they saw the type of life that Jesus came to offer them, and of the redemption that He came to offer them, that was not the messianic redemption that they were looking for.

Continuing on in the next paragraph she says, Yet God had chosen Israel.

He had called them to preserve among men the knowledge of His law and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Savior.

He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world.

What Abraham was in the land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt, and Daniel on the courts of Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations.

God's chosen people were to reveal God to men.

They weren't supposed to hide under a bushel.

They were supposed to reveal Christ the way Abraham did, the way Joseph did, the way Daniel did.

They were to preserve among men the knowledge of his law and of the symbols and of the prophecies that pointed to the Savior.

And when I read that I can't help but think of Seventh-day Adventists today who are supposed to be preserving a knowledge of God's law and of an understanding of the prophecies that point to the second advent.

We are supposed to be preserving the knowledge of God as well.

We are supposed to be revealing God to men.

Page 28 of Desire of Ages, Notice this, but the Israelites fixed their hopes upon worldly greatness.

They were supposed to be revealing God to men, yet their hopes were fixed on worldly greatness, not on heavenly things.

So, yes, they believed in the Messiah, but the Messiah that they were looking for would bring them treasures on earth.

The Israelites fixed their hopes upon worldly greatness.

From the time of their entrance to the land of Canaan they departed from the commandments of God and followed the ways of the heathen." That's unbelievable.

God led them to the Promised Land, yet from the time that they entered Canaan they departed from God's law and they followed the ways of the heathen.

It was in vain that God sent them warning by his prophets.

In vain they suffered the chastisement of heathen oppression.

Every reformation was followed by deeper apostasy." So here they are, God's chosen people.

They enter into Canaan and instead of following God and his law they depart from the commandments of God and they followed the ways of the worldly heathen nations around them.

And when there would be revival and reformation, after the revival and reformation would go away, deeper apostasy followed.

Continuing in the next paragraph, Had Israel been true to God, he could have accomplished his purpose through their honor and exaltation.

If they had walked in the ways of obedience he would have made them high above all nations, which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor." Which is what they were looking for in the first place.

Now, on Page 29, a few paragraphs down, Ellen White says, While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no true conception of his mission.

So they wanted the Messiah to come, but they didn't understand the mission behind the Messiah.

Now, if you want the Messiah to come but you don't understand the mission of the Messiah, aren't you setting yourself up for failure, to reject him?

They did not seek redemption from sin but deliverance from the Romans." Now notice, when Jesus came they were in bondage to the Roman nation and they wanted deliverance from the bondage that they were under, But the reason why they were in bondage to the Romans was because of their continual apostasy of departing from God's law and of following His ways, and of listening to the messages of the prophets.

And so rather than studying scripture and walking in the way of the Lord, they did their own way because of their life of sin, and God allowed them to come into bondage so that they might seek God and turn to Him again.

And they simply looked for a Messiah to deliver them from the result of their sin, rather from sin itself.

They looked for the Messiah to come as a conqueror, to break the oppressor's power and exalt Israel to universal dominion.

Thus the way was prepared for them to reject the Savior." So they wanted to continue the way they lived their lives.

They just wanted deliverance from the oppression, but it was their sin that had led to the oppression, It had led to their bondage, and they wanted deliverance from their bondage, and they wanted the Messiah to deliver them from their bondage, but they didn't want deliverance from the cause of their bondage.

They wanted to keep living like the nations around them, but they wanted to be the greatest nation of all the nations.

They wanted to outdo the world, but yet they're God's people.

Now is there something wrong with God's people trying to outdo the world in worldly ways and heathen customs.

That's what the Jewish nation was looking for.

Shawn Boonstra

Voice Of Prophecy

The Forgotten Ones

Today, on The Voice of Prophecy, we're going to look at a group of people that has been essentially thrown away by the rest of society, and then we're going to find out if you and I are part of that group.

You know, there's a group of people whose origins date all the way back to feudal Japan, a group that's known as the Burakumen, if I'm pronouncing it correctly.

And that word means the village people, and it doesn't mean it in a good way like the disco group from the 70s.

These village people are outcasts, and the title Burakuman is meant to be a slur that puts these people at the bottom rung of the social ladder.

So of course the question is, how did they get there?

Well, way back in history, this group of people had undesirable jobs that made them unclean, because their jobs were associated with death.

These were butchers, undertakers, gravediggers, executioners—they were the merchants of death.

And the rest of the Japanese public considered them dirty and defiled.

But a buraku is a small village in the country, typically that was set away from everybody else.

And even though the word Buraku today is sometimes used to refer to any small village, it does have a negative stigma.

You don't want to be identified with those people.

And you know, almost every civilization has had these.

And nobody's really sure how the Burakumin came into existence.

Either these people became unclean because of their jobs, or they started doing the jobs because they were considered unclean.

So when these people came across members of the higher classes, they were expected to show deference.

And famously, back in 1859, 1 judge declared that some of the burakumon were worth only one-seventh of a regular person.

And even after the end of the feudal system, by the end of the 19th century, the social stigma these people lived with followed them.

It's still there to some degree even today.

And that's because family history is a matter of public record in Japan, and it's easy to figure out if someone has a buraku past.

So, even though the negative associations are steadily moving into the past, some people still experience trouble getting jobs or finding marriage partners because very traditional employers or families might still go look at your past before they agree to anything.

In fact, as recently as 1975, a sort of black market book suddenly started making the rounds.

It's about a 300-page document, a directory of all the names and locations of these Buraku communities.

And this book made it possible for potential employers, or even potential mates, to go look up your street address and figure out if your family comes from 1 of these villages.

And according to 1 report I pulled up on Wikipedia, and yeah, I know, it's not the world's most reliable source, but it's not bad.

According to 1 report, the authors of the directory said this in the preface, and I quote, At this time, we have decided to go against public opinion.

They're talking about the modern trend now to bury the past.

We've decided to go against public opinion and create this book for personnel managers grappling with employment issues and families pained by problems with their children's marriages.

Now, the book was quickly banned, but from time to time it still makes the rounds, confirming suspicions that the stigma associated from coming from 1 of these villages has not disappeared.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

The Accountability Factor

29m

Waiting For the Wrong Messiah

47m

The Forgotten Ones

30m

Stories of Christ’s Return- Part 2

29m

Stories of Christ’s Return- Part 1

29m

Heaven Is For Real

42m

Loving as Jesus Would

56m

From Trials to Triumph, From Atheist to a Theist

48m

The Tipping Point

29m

Commencement Message iShare 2014

35m

Sabbath School Panel

1h

Dwelling in the Secret Place

45m

Sound Doctrine