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Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY230036A
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00:04 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:14 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:24 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:56 ♪ ♪ 01:06 Hello friends and welcome to another edition of 3ABN Today 01:10 I'm your host Ryan Day and as always we want to thank you for 01:13 joining us each and every day each and every week because 01:17 obviously the Three Angels Broadcasting Network would not 01:20 exist if it weren't for you. We know that God uses you with your 01:23 love, your prayers, and support that you extend to us each and 01:26 every week. We're so thankful and privileged to be able to be 01:29 a part of the 3ABN Family with you. And so today is not going 01:32 to disappoint at all because we have the 1888 Message Study 01:37 Committee in the house. And I'm excited about this because this 01:41 is a topic that I've been studying for a long time. I'm 01:44 certainly not a scholar. In fact I'm expecting to learn some 01:47 stuff today. But just a quick introduction. We're going to 01:51 come back and get a full introduction. We've got Drs. 01:53 Brian Schwartz and Lindy Schwartz with us and 01:56 then we also have Dr. Kelly Kinsley with us. It's a blessing 02:00 to have you guys and 02:01 they're locked and loaded. As you can see that've got their 02:02 Bibles, they've got their notes and you're not going to want to 02:05 change the channel. So before we get into the meat of this 02:09 discussion we're going to be blessed by Ms. Jennifer 02:12 LaMountain. She's going to be bringing us a beautiful song, a 02:16 medley, two songs. They're entitled How Big is God and of 02:19 course the classic How Great Thou Art. 02:22 ♪ ♪ 02:52 ♪ Though men may strive to go beyond the reach of space ♪ 03:04 ♪ To crawl beyond the distant glimmering stars ♪ 03:15 ♪ This world's a room so small within my Master's house ♪ 03:26 ♪ The open sky its but a portion of His yard ♪ 03:38 ♪ The winter's chill may cause a tiny seed to fall ♪ 03:49 ♪ To lie asleep till waked by summer's rain ♪ 04:00 ♪ The heart grown cold will warm and throb with life anew ♪ 04:12 ♪ The Master's touch will bring the glow again ♪ 04:23 ♪ How big is God, how big and wide His vast domain ♪ 04:35 ♪ To try to tell, these lips can only start ♪ 04:46 ♪ He's big enough to rule His mighty universe ♪ 04:57 ♪ Yet small enough to live within my heart ♪ 05:09 ♪ How big is God, How big is God How big is God ♪ 05:32 ♪ ♪ 05:38 ♪ How great Thou art, How great Thou art ♪ 05:46 ♪ Then sings my soul my Savior God to Thee ♪ 05:59 ♪ How great Thou art, How great Thou art ♪ 06:17 ♪ How great my gratefulness How great Thou art ♪ 06:28 ♪ How great Thou art ♪ 06:47 Amen, amen. I love Sister Jennifer LaMountain. Always a 06:53 blessing to have her bless us with a beautiful song. She's a 06:56 dear soul, a dear friend, so thank you Jennifer for sharing 06:59 that with us. Just a great song to set the mood. We serve a 07:03 great and mighty God and He showed up and did something 07:07 in 1888 and you may be at home right now watching this saying 07:11 You know what I'm going to tune in to this because maybe you've 07:13 had questions about the significance of what happened 07:16 in the church in 1888. What is the significance. We're going to 07:20 answer a lot of your questions during this program. If you have 07:23 any friends, family members or anyone that is just kind of 07:26 lurking around the house, drag them in the room right now, set 07:28 them down because this is going to be a powerful program that 07:31 we all need to learn about. And so that being said I want to 07:34 again introduce you guys and then I'm going to have you to 07:36 tell us a little bit more about yourself. I'm going to start 07:38 with you, Dr. Brian Schwartz Tell us a little bit about yourself 07:41 your background, where you're from. There may be someone 07:43 watching at home that doesn't know who you guys are and would 07:46 like to know. 07:47 Yeah absolutely. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you for the opportunity to 07:50 be back to 3ABN. I am a physician. Both Lindy and I are. 07:56 We live in the Dayton, Ohio area Practice Cardiology at the 07:59 Kettering Medical Center. I grew up in Michigan and went to 08:03 Andrews University and then met Lindy at Loma Linda University 08:06 Medical School. In fact, met Kelly out there as well so we've 08:09 been friends for a very long time. 08:12 Amen, praise the Lord. And you Dr. Lindy. Tell us a little bit 08:14 about yourself. 08:16 Yes and I want to thank you, Ryan for hosting us and for being the 08:19 occasion to come back to 3ABN It really is a blessing. So yes 08:24 so I was born and raised actually in the West Indies. My 08:26 family immigrated to the states a while ago but I was a 08:31 youngster, a young person actually in high school when I 08:34 came to the states. But we grew up Seventh-day Adventist. My dad 08:39 actually worked in the conference office down in 08:41 Trinidad. But when we came to the states, my family lives in 08:46 Washington State by Walla Walla I went to Walla Walla College 08:50 back in those days. Now it's a university. But anyway but again 08:53 we met at Loma Linda University Medical School and been married 08:58 for 33 years and we're very proud of it. 09:01 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord Well it's a blessing to have you 09:02 both here. And of course at the end of this big table we have 09:06 Dr. Kelly Kinsley. Tell us a little bit about yourself 09:08 brother. 09:09 Thank you. I want to thank you also Ryan for having us here and 09:12 I really appreciate it. I come from the north coast of 09:16 California. We call this redwood country. I mean it is the real 09:19 redwoods. So that's where I practice. I'm a physician up 09:23 there. And I didn't grow up in the Adventist church. I grew up 09:27 in a different denomination. We didn't really study the Bible 09:30 much. But what turned me on is my mom was given Bible studies 09:37 by a nurse friend of hers and I would just listen in and my 09:41 interest in the Bible grew. And so I'm thankful. I graduated 09:48 from Lodi Academy and Pacific Union College and Loma Linda 09:51 University. It's just a pleasure to be here and talk about this 09:54 subject as something I love. 09:55 Amen, amen. Well it's a blessing to have each and every one of 09:58 you guys and I know we're going to spend the next few minutes 10:00 together. We're going to be unpacking the significance of 10:03 what happened in the church in 1888. You hear that date float 10:08 around a lot in people's conversations. I know that I 10:10 have preached many sermons where I've included quotes and 10:14 information pertaining to the significance that Righteousness 10:17 by faith message in 1888 but I just want to start by asking you 10:21 guys...You know there was once a time probably in your lives 10:24 when you didn't know about 1888 or the significance of what 10:29 happened in the church and how that message eventually would 10:32 impact you. But what was your Christian experience like or 10:35 your mentality like before adopting or embracing the 1888 10:39 message. 10:41 (Everybody talking at once) Yeah. Who'll start? 10:43 So yeah I'm 3rd and 4th generation Seventh-day 10:48 Adventist. So I grew up going to Adventist schools but I can 10:54 remember even as a young person feeling that at some point I was 10:58 going to do something wrong that wouldn't meet God's standard and 11:01 I just felt inside my heart that try as hard as I could I 11:07 couldn't achieve the level of righteousness that I knew was 11:09 required. I remember going to Academy and thinking all right 11:13 this is the year that I'm going to be perfect. I became a 11:16 Sabbath School teacher and got really involved with reading my 11:17 Bible. That didn't last too long I knew I was just going to fail 11:21 this year. And little by little by the time I went to college 11:25 I kind of stopped going to church. I believe there was a 11:29 God. I believe the Adventist message was true but I knew that 11:32 deep inside my heart I wasn't good enough and I was never 11:35 going to be able to be. And so that was for other people who 11:40 had a lot more willpower and a lot more strength and were just 11:44 a lot more naturally righteous than I was. And so I actually 11:49 left the Adventist church when I got my acceptance to Loma Linda 11:52 to medical school. The one thing I wanted to get. I didn't go to 11:59 church until May of my very first year at Loma Linda when I 12:01 believed that God sent me a personal vision. At 2 o'clock in 12:05 the morning I can still remember it like the day. Sound asleep, 12:09 woke up looking straight up and I could still see Jesus coming 12:13 in the clouds. People around me were saying Praise the Lord, 12:16 Jesus is coming and Hallelujah Jesus is coming. I tried to 12:20 raise my hand, I tried to say Praise the Lord and I couldn't. 12:22 Right then and there I knelt down beside my bed. I said, Lord 12:26 I know I've been running away from you. I want to study your 12:29 Bible, I know you're calling for me one more time but I am not 12:32 going to be a Seventh-day Adventist. I went on a journey 12:36 searching for truth over the next couple of years until I 12:40 discovered this message. 12:41 All right. We'll get back to that when you discovered it. 12:43 So what about you? Before this 1888 message came into your life 12:48 to your understanding what was your experience like? 12:51 So I was a "good" Seventh-day Adventist. I was always going to 12:56 be a Seventh-day Adventist. I didn't have any inkling of 13:02 leaving the church because I knew it was the right church. 13:04 As to what I believed was interesting because I believed 13:08 that the book of John was wonderful. That's all you needed 13:11 the gospel of John which is powerful. I still love the 13:13 gospel of John today. Fantastic material. But there's more to 13:18 the gospel than that. When I met Brian, he asked me a lot of 13:22 questions about good Adventist things that I knew nothing about 13:27 Things like even the cleansing of the sanctuary and the nature 13:31 of Christ and I said well what in the world is all of that? But 13:34 when we actually discovered the message together and when I 13:37 started studying it put everything in context so it made 13:43 sense. And I've been on fire ever since. We've come in 13:49 contact with the message was it 198(6) 7. Changed my spiritual 13:57 experience, my relationship with God completely. And I believe 14:00 the message is so powerful it can transform lives. 14:04 Amen, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Dr. Kelly... 14:06 Ryan, I started to answer this question but as I said I didn't 14:09 grow up a Seventh-day Adventist but after I was baptized I kind 14:13 of did all the Seventh-day Adventist stuff. I kind of knew 14:16 the basics but there was so much I didn't know and when I went to 14:20 PUC (Pacific Union College) the Lord showed me a couple of things. 14:21 One is He taught me about the sanctuary. I had no clue about 14:24 that. And I picked up this book The Cross and Its Shadow. I love 14:29 that. And I started...I had this desire I need to know the Bible 14:35 for myself. I took a Bible class at PUC and it was a doctrinal 14:38 studies class where we learned a set of doctrines. The next 14:42 quarter I couldn't take it from this amazing teacher again. I 14:44 had to take it from another teacher and there were some 14:47 differences and I realized I needed to study this for myself. 14:50 So I started studying the Bible and the Lord led me to the PUC 14:54 bookstore and I found this little book in there called 14:56 Lessons on Faith. And that book, many people will testify, that 15:00 book was powerful and I just saw just the practicality and the 15:04 power in the gospel was expressed there in words and 15:07 that touched my heart but it wasn't until Loma Linda when I 15:11 was able to put that together with this copy of, oh some 15:15 sermons back in 1895 and I had never read it but then I started 15:20 to learn more and some of the history and the significance and 15:23 that was at Loma Linda when I knew more. 15:27 Wow, Amazing. 15:28 It's interesting, I just want to say, that at Loma Linda is where 15:31 we discovered this message and people like to say things about 15:34 Southern California and Loma Linda but God can triumph over 15:38 everything and that's where I lot of young people actually 15:41 began to study the message. 15:43 Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay so I know some of you at home are 15:45 saying, all right get to it, get to it. What in the world 15:48 happened in 1888? And that's actually what I want to launch 15:50 into because I feel like we're going to get some pieces of how 15:53 this message has impacted you guys on an individual level and 15:56 we're going to give time for you guys to develop that, but let's 16:00 go back to 1888 and we keep calling it the 1888 message but 16:06 really we're talking about the gospel made more clear. Because 16:11 up to that point, God was leading His church for sure but there 16:15 were some elements missing for us to have a better 16:18 understanding of the fullness of what the gospel is about. So 16:22 1888 there's a general conference session. Something 16:26 happens and so let's develop, let's talk about what happened 16:29 in 1888 at the general conference session and what 16:32 really ultimately came about that we know today as the 1888 16:35 message. 16:36 If I may very briefly even back up a little bit before that. 16:39 Obviously, we came through 1844, the great disappointment, when 16:42 we were expecting Jesus to come in the clouds. And then Ellen 16:46 White was talking about how we were growing Laodicean as early 16:51 as the 1860s. And she starts identifying that. Her husband 16:55 joined in on that and then the leaders began to realize you 16:58 know we've lost our first love. And she began saying things like 17:03 we preach the law, the law, the law until we are as dry as the 17:06 hills of Gilboa, and that's desert over in Israel. It's 17:11 very, very dry. And Adventists were in those days actually 17:16 quite adept at arguing about Biblical truth. We could 17:19 establish that the law not one jot will pass until all this... 17:25 That the 10 commandments were still, in effect, the Sabbath was 17:27 still important and they would win arguments, but they... 17:29 I remember taking classes at Andrews and learning about the 17:34 development of SDA theology pre 1888 it seems like it was 17:37 nothing for a minister to go travel just to debate someone 17:40 on theology. 17:41 They weren't winning hearts. And so this was kind of a reset. And 17:46 so the actual 1888 meeting and I'm going to read a quote in a 17:50 little bit that really high lights what that is but Ellen 17:53 White identified that as the point where God was bringing the 17:58 outpouring of the Holy Spirit in such a measure that she was 18:02 equating it with the outpouring of the latter rain. It was to do 18:05 something to capture the hearts of God's people that I believe 18:08 would have culminated in Jesus being able to come back in that 18:12 very generation had it been completely grasped totally. 18:15 Yeah had they adopted the fullness of what the message was 18:17 teaching. Okay. So what happened How did this message come about? 18:23 What type of transition happened in the minds and hearts of men 18:26 that began to listen to the Holy Spirit that brought about this 18:30 1888 message? 18:33 You want to comment on that? (No) The two messengers that 18:39 came with the message Ellen White said that it warmed her 18:45 heart. And in fact, she said that she had been thinking some of 18:48 these things but she hadn't heard it except these two 18:53 messengers. There were a lot of things going on during the 18:55 conference though. She says in her own words that there was 19:03 opposition, resistance to the message that was being preached. 19:06 But the biggest thing that was most important to her, she said 19:10 like Brian said, they'd been preaching the law, the law but 19:13 what this message highlighted was the uplifted Savior and 19:18 and all that happened at the conference related to the 19:22 uplifted Savior. And the capstone quote that we like to 19:29 speak about is the one in Testimonies to Ministers. We can 19:32 bring that up. I have it written down. First of all, I just want 19:36 to mention one thing that she wrote and she said related to 19:40 this message that several had written to her inquiring if the 19:44 message of justification by faith, which was what she heard 19:47 in 1888 was the third angel's message and I answered, It is 19:52 the third angel's message in verity. In other words, she was 19:55 already saying that this is it. So Adventists as they looked at 19:59 the third angel's message came up with the law but she saw 20:02 something else there that was very crucial. 20:05 So this is what she said. She said: The Lord in His great 20:10 mercy sent a most precious message to His people through 20:13 Elders Waggoner and Jones. 20:14 Elders Waggoner and Jones were the two messengers that came 20:17 Now Ellen White could have begun this quote by saying the Lord in 20:21 His mercy, but she said In His great mercy, not just mercy 20:26 which means that there were some condition going on within the 20:29 church that needed a great message and she said it was most 20:33 precious not just precious. It was most precious. 20:38 And this message was to bring more prominently before the 20:41 world the uplifted Savior, the sacrifice for the sins of the 20:45 whole world. It presented Justification through faith in 20:49 the Surety; it invited the people to receive the 20:53 righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience 20:55 to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. 21:00 Now it's interesting this is written to the Seventh-day 21:02 Adventist church and she's telling the church, the Seventh- 21:08 day Adventist church in 1888 that we have lost sight of Jesus 21:11 So anyway. Continue on just to read the quote. Next slide... 21:16 They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, 21:20 His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All 21:25 power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts 21:29 unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own 21:34 righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the 21:39 message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the 21:43 third angel's message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud 21:47 voice, (not whisper but a loud voice) and attended with the 21:50 outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure. 21:53 So as we read this I'm not going to go back and unpack a lot of 22:00 what is here, but she says that this message, when received, 22:05 would be met with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in large 22:10 measure, which the church has been waiting for. That's the 22:13 latter rain that we've been waiting for, praying for, we 22:16 pray for the latter rain. 22:18 And the purpose is to give the message to the whole world. 22:20 The whole world needs to be warned before Jesus comes back. 22:24 I think that's one of the most significant things is that this 22:27 is a message, not just for us. This is a message He intended 22:30 that is supposed to go everywhere, every nation, 22:33 kindred, tongue, and people. 22:35 Of course, that's the gospel, that's the gospel and again not 22:39 trying to criticize or be critical here but we've already 22:42 established the fact that up to this point it seemed like we had 22:46 been on a track of law, law, law law, commandments, commandments 22:50 commandments. We have that down pat but we were missing the 22:54 Giver of the law, the rule giver I guess you could say. But yet 22:58 some of those people, and there maybe even some at home... 23:02 because I have met many people that again are in opposition to 23:04 even this message. I don't need the 1888 message and maybe it's 23:09 people that are very legalistic in mindset who have this idea 23:13 that they are uplifting Christ by talking about the law. And so 23:17 how would you respond to that. Someone who says that by 23:19 focusing on the law, the commandments because it's you 23:22 know again you know sin is the transgression of the law so you 23:25 focus on the law. You are focusing on Jesus because it's 23:27 the law of God, it's the law of Jesus so how would you respond 23:29 to someone who says I don't really need this 1888 message 23:32 As long as I'm focusing on the law I am focusing on Christ. 23:35 Ryan, what I would say for me is the 1888 message points me to 23:39 the power to even be able to keep the law. One of the things 23:43 in this quote it says is inviting the people to receive 23:45 the righteousness of Christ. And the righteousness of Christ, a 23:48 lot of times we think of that as a declaration but here she's 23:55 talking about it in light of a manifestation. It's manifest in 24:00 the hearts of the people and this was to introduce the people 24:02 of God and to remind them of who God is and why He's called us to 24:08 do this. And yes the law is important but now He wants to 24:10 give us the tools to actually do that. 24:12 One thing I would also say is I don't want to use words that 24:16 might not be accessible but sometimes our language is very 24:22 man-centered we call it anthropocentric. I just got a 24:26 big word. This message makes us Christocentric. We're focused on 24:31 Jesus the uplifted Savior. Let me just read a quote I have 24:35 that's not on the slides because I want to go back and look at 24:38 I think we need to look at all the differences of this quote 24:41 But there's a quote that she has in 21 Manuscript release where 24:46 she makes a statement that I find fascinating. And it is: 24:51 Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel. It's amazing 24:58 right. 25:00 Christ and Him crucified. 25:01 Yes but she says, she says, hanging upon the cross Christ 25:05 was the gospel. Now she says we have a message. Isn't that great 25:10 I'd like to back up just saying that you'd asked the question if 25:15 we just focus on the law isn't that enough. Are some of us 25:19 legalistic and we hear that certain ways. I think actually 25:22 in our hearts, fallen hearts that we have, we're all 25:25 naturally legalistic. Every single pagan religion out there 25:29 appeals to the fact that there's something that I need to do in 25:32 order to make myself right with God before He can accept me. 25:37 The truth about the 1888 message is that as Romans 5 says it's 25:42 while I was a sinner, as an enemy, while I was running away 25:47 from God, He is the good shepherd who is out seeking His lost 25:50 sheep. And... 25:52 Yes that's what this message is about. 25:53 When I was searching from place to place to place looking for 25:56 something saying I need something more for my heart it 26:01 was when I heard that little message at the second regional 26:05 1888 conference. My friend Don had been up there on Friday 26:08 night and said you've got to come back to this meeting. I 26:10 went up on Sabbath and it was hearing a message on Agape and 26:15 the message of the cross. But hearing that God is pursuing me 26:19 I'm not the one pursuing Him. He pursues and seeks until He 26:24 finds. And realizing that I can run but He's going to pursue me 26:29 He's the hound of heaven out looking for me. It completely 26:33 transformed my life, it completely transformed my 26:36 experience being up and down, up and down going to revivals 26:38 looking for a way to try to get myself right with God instead 26:43 realizing that He is the one reconciling me. He's pursuing me 26:47 And when I realized what Jesus went through on the cross it 26:50 melted my heart and it took a lot of that roller coaster out 26:56 of my experience. 26:57 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Did you have something you 26:59 want to add to that? 27:01 Yes, this quote it's so powerful. Let me just finish a couple of 27:05 points and then you can go back and discuss the rest of this 27:08 and Kelly was... But so hanging upon the cross, Christ was the 27:13 gospel. Now we have a message. Behold the Lamb of God which 27:16 takes away the sin of the world. Will not our church members keep 27:19 their eyes fixed on a crucified and risen Savior in whom their 27:25 hopes of eternal life are centered. Now listen to this. 27:29 This is our message, our argument, our doctrine. In other 27:34 words somehow Christ crucified is our message, our argument, 27:39 our doctrine. That's it. We should be able to find as we 27:42 focus on that recognizing that all, we won't be worried that if 27:49 we focus on Christ it'll be cheap and we won't fulfill the 27:51 law. But in this, she goes on to say if we focus on Christ it 27:58 removed any thought of sinning from us. The cross is that 28:01 powerful, as Paul said. 28:04 Absolutely. Great point, great point. Dr. Kelly, you want to 28:06 add anything to that brother? 28:07 I just love that passage that Lindy was referring to. Hanging 28:11 upon the cross, Christ is the gospel. The paragraph before 28:14 that she's recounting Jesus and how He says if it be possible 28:20 remove this cup from me. You recall that in the garden. And 28:24 it said if that had happened what would have happened to the 28:28 plan of salvation? I mean she says the plan of salvation would 28:35 have been frustrated. And then it says, There arose before Him 28:38 the picture of a lost world, of lost Ryan and lost Brian and 28:43 lost Lindy and lost every one of us. He saw that. And yet then He 28:49 said not my will but Thine be done. And that's what we see on 28:52 the cross as we see Christ, we see God willing to sacrifice all 28:56 on behalf of every one of us and each one of us individually. 29:02 Absolutely. 29:03 So stating what happened on the cross revealed to me that God 29:06 love me more than He loves Himself. When Jesus was going to 29:10 The Cross, Desire of Ages, p.753 says He could not see through 29:14 the portals of the tomb. He was weighing this in the garden as 29:18 Kelly mentioned and then He made a decision that He was going to 29:21 save each of us even if it was only one of us at no matter what 29:27 the cost to Himself. That causes your heart to melt. It causes 29:31 you to respond. It's like how can I not respond to a God that 29:35 is pursuing me and loves me that much. And somehow growing up 29:39 in Adventism in the 70s and the 80s I had not heard that. And 29:45 there's so many Adventists today that still have not. 29:47 Yeah, this is something that you know everything you guys 29:49 were saying before I had even known what the 1888 message was 29:52 Christ sent this to me early on before I really knew what it was 29:55 you know. But it was the gospel. When you have a true balanced 29:59 clear understanding of the gospel you're no longer tunnel 30:03 visioned on an aspect of the gospel. You know the law is an 30:07 aspect of the gospel, it's an important part of the gospel but 30:09 the law in and of itself is not the gospel. The gospel itself is 30:14 how Christ fulfilled that law, the work that He has done for 30:16 us. And in accepting that and allowing His righteousness to be 30:20 applied blood I couldn't see that for years. And so I 30:22 remember early on before I even knew what this was you know just 30:25 simply reviewing and coming to understand that conversation 30:29 that Jesus had with Nicodemus in John 3 and which Mrs. White 30:33 says perhaps there's no other passage in all of the Bible 30:37 where the gospel is made more clear that John 3. And so you go 30:40 back there and a lot of people focus on John 3:16, beautiful 30:43 text, I love the text, I love that beautiful truth, but verse 30:46 14 is what does it for me. You know as Moses lifted up the 30:49 serpent in the wilderness so shall also the Son of Man be 30:52 lifted up. Now tie that to John 12 where he says that I, if I be 30:56 lifted up will draw all men unto me. You cannot separate the 30:59 cross from the gospel. But yet a lot of people say well you 31:02 know all the other evangelicals...You know 31:05 I think sometimes we're so focused on us being different 31:06 that the other evangelical world and we certainly need to be 31:10 different in the Biblical appropriateness as the Bible 31:14 brings out but I think we become so focused on trying to be 31:17 different and so opposite different than that evangelicals 31:20 that we try to go as far away from that as possible but yet in 31:23 the process we removed Christ from the equation and that is 31:26 basically, what happened pre 1888 But Jesus sends Jones and 31:31 Waggoner to wake us up to shake us up a bit, hey let's look at 31:34 what that Bible actually says. 31:35 It was a reset. 31:37 Yeah, there you go yeah. 31:38 So I think if we look at the quote that we from Testimonies 31:42 to Ministers and unpack that I think we'll see even the 31:45 uniqueness of the cross in Adventism and specifically in 31:51 Adventism in the end time, what we've been called to do. Because 31:55 some people you know it's the reformation gospel. Well 31:58 actually what they did was that gospel brought that sanctuary 32:02 truth, it gave it a way forward. And it's in this quote. So it's 32:07 important to note that this was a sacrifice for the sins of the 32:11 entire world. We didn't ask for a sacrifice. He gave it to us. 32:17 He's the initiator and that's one of the themes of the 1888 32:19 message is Christ is the initiator of our salvation for 32:23 the whole world. So the next one... 32:27 So Jones and Waggoner put the focus on that Jesus is actually 32:29 the Savior of the world. God has done something for every single 32:34 person before you even know it before you can even respond to 32:37 it. He's the Savior of all men. There's no a reason that any 32:41 single person should be lost because Christ has paid the 32:45 penalty for everyone. And it's the gift that He gives us. The 32:48 gift is Himself. 32:51 Amen, amen, praise the Lord. So this is the (number 2). Let's 32:53 go to the second slide. 32:56 Now so it says that It presented justification through faith in 33:01 the Surety: It invited the people to receive the 33:03 righteousness of Christ. 33:10 I was wanting you to develop that, there may be someone 33:13 watching (multiple voices) about justification through faith. 33:17 What are we talking about there? Those are big words. What is 33:21 justification through faith. 33:22 That's really key. 33:23 Yes, that is key. 33:25 So in the evangelical world and even much of Adventism, we have 33:28 the idea that justification by faith is just boom the books in 33:32 heaven have been set right and now Christ just covers you with 33:34 the robe. But Jones and Waggoner really and what Ellen White was 33:38 saying in this quote is that justification by faith is 33:41 actually a heartfelt response that changes us. We respond by 33:46 faith. We are broken by seeing what Christ has done on the 33:50 cross, so we are now reconciled to Him. There is a heart change 33:54 that goes on by faith and it's the faith of Jesus that was 34:00 demonstrated on the cross that we respond to. Now faith comes 34:05 forward in us. It's a creative power, it's a personal universe 34:08 that God speaks the word, God demonstrates faith and as a 34:11 result faith begins coming up in each of our heart's and it's 34:16 going to keep growing. It's going to go all the way to 34:17 maturity unless we shut it down, unless we stifle it. 34:20 Yeah so I respond in faith by the work that Christ has done 34:24 Yes, Lord, I want your sacrifice to be applied to me, I accept 34:28 that sacrifice, I accept that blood that's been shed for me so 34:31 that I can have eternal life. I'm expressing that faith and 34:35 now Christ pardons me, He justifies me but according to 34:38 what He's done, not what I've done. Right? This is the 34:41 fundamental gospel. 34:42 He's already justified you. 34:44 We're essentially talking about the courtyard. (Yeah) This is 34:45 the courtyard of the sanctuary. You know you have to express 34:49 faith in receiving that sacrifice and obviously the 34:52 laver would represent the cleansing work of what Christ is 34:54 doing in our life and that baptismal experience that we 34:57 have when we're expressing that new-found faith in our life. But 35:01 then we move on obviously to the sanctification aspect. But this 35:04 is talking about the justification through faith in 35:07 the surety and inviting the people to receive the 35:10 righteousness of Christ. That's what a lot of people have missed 35:13 They find and receive the law, I like the law, like the ten 35:15 commandments but they haven't really received the 35:18 righteousness of Christ yet. 35:19 Okay. A couple points. So this idea and Brian was hitting on 35:23 this. Two things I see in this. So the faith begins with Jesus 35:31 His faith is given to us and Waggoner has a quote, we won't 35:37 get into the quote but if you look at this idea about 35:40 justification through faith we're not looking at my weak 35:45 little faith. Jesus Christ had faith. He lived by faith. Ellen 35:49 White said He died in faith. And that faith creates a 35:55 response. It's a responsive faith so it begins first with 35:59 the faith of Jesus but includes our response to His faith. His 36:03 faith is given to us which is a perfect faith. The fact that we 36:06 have to receive means that it was a gift that was given to us 36:10 so that's a _word received. You can't receive what 36:17 you've not been given you receive it. So that's another 36:20 concept that can't _ down on. Yes? 36:23 This quote reminds me that everything we do is a response 36:27 to what God has already done. We love Him because He first 36:31 loved us. It's the goodness of God leads us to repentance. 36:36 Even to experience justification by faith is based on the fact 36:42 that he has already justified us That justification is in Christ 36:46 and if we receive Christ and we appreciate what He did on the 36:49 cross and our heart responds, we then experience justification by 36:53 faith. It's a response to the justification that He's already 36:55 provided the human race. (Yeah) 36:57 Amen, I love that. 36:58 Ryan, I think a passage that brings that out in 2 Corinthians 37:01 chapter 5 verse 14. I love this passage, the whole thing, but 37:06 I'm just going to read the first 14 and 15. It says: For the love 37:10 of Christ compels us...pushes us forward, right...because we 37:17 judge thus that if one died for all then all died and He died 37:21 for all those who live should live no longer for 37:25 themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again. 37:28 I love that, I love that. Beautiful passage. 37:31 The quote also says that when you receive the righteousness 37:35 you become obedient. So we don't see a partition necessarily 37:41 between this justifying and sanctifying process. This 37:45 justification creates in us a sanctifying process a kind of... 37:51 yes, a response. 37:52 That fulfills the law. 37:53 That's Romans 1:5. Romans 1:5 states that we have been 37:56 given grace for obedience. The natural response of when you 38:00 have received the grace of Christ because you put your 38:02 faith in Him to accept what He's done for you. He saves you by 38:06 His grace through faith right but that faith now causes a 38:10 response, it causes a response, which is of course our obedience 38:16 It's the work that He does. He who began a good work is 38:19 faithful to complete it. We cooperate with Him, we respond, 38:23 we receive it but He is the initiator and He is the one that 38:26 will see it through unless we say no I don't want it. 38:30 Work out your faith with fear and trembling for it is God that 38:34 worketh in you to will and to do His good pleasure. 38:37 It's 100 percent Him. That's what I love about this message 38:40 and the gospel entirely is that it's 100 percent focused on what 38:45 Christ has done and is doing through us because of the faith 38:48 we bring. 38:50 Okay, this is awesome. 38:53 So they needed to have their eyes directed to His divine 38:54 person. 38:56 And what I want to say about this message also, the uplifted 39:00 Savior represented both His divine nature and the human 39:04 nature which He assumed. Do I have time to talk about that? 39:12 person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human 39:15 family. We cannot make God hate us. He loves us. 39:18 And then All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense 39:23 rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own 39:28 righteousness to the helpless human agent. 39:32 (Okay) When we see that we are going right back to Romans 39:35 chapter 5 verses 6, 8 and 10. We were without strength, we 39:38 were helpless, we were sinners, we were enemies. Even despite 39:46 all of that Jesus Christ took the initiative to do something 39:52 for the helpless human agent. So how do we know that God has 39:56 done something for everybody? Because we are helpless. We 40:00 can't help ourselves. For that reason God, I believe, in Christ 40:06 has put humanity on vantage ground. We are lost because we 40:10 choose to reject the gift He's given us. 40:13 That's a powerful point. It literally just comes down to a 40:17 rejection of what Christ has already done for us. There's 40:21 nothing that we have to do to add to it because He's already 40:23 completed the work. We just simply in losing out on 40:25 salvation is living a life contrary and rejecting what He 40:29 has already done for us. 40:30 Rejecting the gospel. Rejecting the Good News, rejecting the 40:33 actual gift of Christ Himself to humanity. 40:35 That's a powerful thought, a powerful thought. 40:38 And then the last slide. This is the message because it's such 40:42 good news. It's unbelievably good news. 40:44 This is the message that God commanded...He didn't say can 40:47 you, please. He commanded to be given to the world. It is the 40:52 third angel's message. This message speaks about the 40:54 commandments, first of all, it speaks about the gospel, 40:55 the everlasting gospel. That's first and then it ends up with 41:01 obedience to all the commandments and the faith of 41:05 Jesus. That faith that we receive engenders in us faith 41:09 to respond and receive what He's given us. So the whole package... 41:14 First, second, and third angels' messages wrapped up in this 41:18 quote. 41:19 Of course, absolutely. So that's a powerful point. 41:20 Seventh-day Adventists were really put in this world as 41:24 prophetic messengers, the ones that actually call the world to 41:28 repentance before Jesus comes. To do that they have to proclaim 41:32 the gospel. They have to live it they have to demonstrate it but 41:34 they also have to proclaim it and that's what we're asked to 41:37 do in Revelation 14 at the beginning of the three angels' 41:39 And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having 41:42 the (in unison) everlasting gospel. 41:43 It is a judgment hour message. That quote as it ends puts the 41:50 focus on this is our core work. It's taking those three angels' 41:54 messages and giving it to the world. So we're talking about 41:58 history, 1888 is a long time ago 100 years ago and so it begs the 42:03 question why are we still here? (Right, right) Probably because 42:07 There's some folk not getting it yet. That's what it is. 42:13 We haven't either understood it or we haven't given it to the 42:15 world. 42:16 Some of us at home, some of us we don't get it yet and Jesus is 42:20 waiting on us. Look I want to come but we've got to 42:25 understand the gospel of Christ. The power of the gospel. Yes I 42:30 love that. So I think we've already answered this question 42:32 just in the beautiful explanation that we have done 42:36 given here in regards to this gospel message that was sent 42:40 through Jones and Waggoner to wake us up, to bring that love 42:43 back and help us to understand who Christ is and His work for 42:46 us. But I'm going to ask this question just because I feel 42:48 like it's important. There's still, probably someone watching 42:50 right now that saying you know what I...1888 was so long ago 42:53 but you're calling it the 1888 message. It seems like it's just 42:59 an old message that we just need to let go. Just let it stay with 43:03 1888. Is it still relevant today and why is it still relevant 43:06 today? 43:08 Yeah absolutely. So I am convicted that is the key for 43:11 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It's not just that oh 43:14 let's get together in a prayer meeting and pray for the Holy 43:17 Spirit. We need to recover the very message that God sent that 43:22 brought with it the latter rain and the outpouring of the Holy 43:24 Spirit. And so we have to go back and look at our history. 43:28 History's been very important. But the other thing that's super 43:30 important to me and has been for the last 30 years plus since 43:35 we've been studying this is it anchors why we are still here. 43:38 As a young person now some of the young people we tell them 43:43 well a thousand years is like a day for God, God's going to come 43:47 in His own timetable. It feels like the second coming is so 43:50 far off I can't even relate to it. The second coming will come 43:53 when a generation catches hold of this message and that's what 43:57 God's waiting for. It could be and it should be in fact it must 44:00 be our generation. 44:02 Man, that's so true. You want to add anything to that Dr Kelly 44:04 If somebody says to you why is this message relevant today? 44:08 It just seems so old, it's 1888 we haven't grasped, maybe 44:11 someone said we have a new gospel, what would be your 44:14 response to that? 44:15 To me the most significant thing is it's a message the Lord sent. 44:17 And if the Lord sent a message it should be important to me 44:22 and the messages the Lord sends they're really important in all 44:27 times for all places. They still apply to us. So yeah there's 44:30 maybe there's ways to say it differently and a way to make it 44:35 more relevant in some ways but the basic principle, the core in 44:38 what God sent to this church is the foundation of the should be 44:43 the foundation and basis of everything we deliver, every 44:46 doctrinal presentation. 44:48 I think God sent the message because He wants to be reunited 44:51 with His people and she talks about this...In Ellen White's 44:59 mind there has been a delay and you know Israel didn't enter 45:04 into the promised land because of unbelief. She identifies the 45:09 same thing with the church that we haven't entered the heavenly 45:12 Canaan because of unbelief. So the Lord sent the message, most 45:17 precious and because of unbelief we're still here. And so it's 45:22 relevant because we're still here. 45:25 We're still here. We still got to preach it. Okay, brother. 45:29 So one of the things that made a difference in my life, my own 45:32 heart as I heard, you know, started reading and studying 45:35 some of these things is that it actually changed my motivation 45:39 for why to do any of the things I do. It has impacted my life 45:46 from early into medical school this has become more meaningful 45:50 and has grown year by year. It impacts the way I teach 45:53 Sabbath School, the way I present in church, the way I 45:56 interact with people there, every way. And it changed my 46:00 motivation to not do it in order so that I can get in. It changed 46:05 my motivation because I'm concerned about Him. I'm 46:08 concerned about you know how He's doing and all that sin 46:12 brings to Him, the pain that it brings to God's heart and if 46:15 there's anything that I can do by His grace working in my life 46:19 to end it and to advance His kingdom that's what I want to do 46:24 I heard a minister years ago say it's a little motto he used and 46:28 it just always stuck with me. It's not about what you do, it's 46:30 who you know and who you know changes what you do. When we put 46:33 the focus on the right place, in this case the right person, we 46:36 put the focus on Christ it's not that they do doesn't matter, it's 46:40 just when you put the focus on the do then you don't know the 46:43 Savior. But when you put the focus on the Savior they do is 46:47 now put in proper perspective. And when you come to know Him 46:50 now He again gives you the power to be able to do right. It's a 46:55 powerful thing to consider. What about...Does somebody want to 46:58 say something about the youth today. I mean again how do you 47:02 reach the youth with this message, right? Because there 47:04 maybe a young person might watch this. Oh, again, 1888 this 47:08 is from the old church and we're young, a new generation. How do 47:12 you reach the youth with such a message? 47:14 (Multiple voices) So here's the thing. Young people are smart. 47:22 And they see inconsistencies. So they can spot hypocrisy a mile 47:27 away. Of course, if we present ideas and present thoughts and 47:32 it's just information and there's a discrepancy in my own 47:35 personal life, our own personal life they'll spot that and that 47:41 is actually a powerful deterrent of keeping people away. But 47:45 really it comes down to really if the same thing that changes 47:49 my heart can change the youth's heart and that is the uplifted 47:54 Savior. We present Christ and Him crucified, what took place 47:58 on the cross, what does that really mean, what did God really 48:02 relinquish and what did He really put at risk. Those are 48:05 huge things and that makes all the difference in the world. 48:10 I love that, I love that. 48:11 Same thing that to go to the world is to go to the youth 48:13 because they're part of the world. 48:14 Give them the gospel, give them the gospel. And I'm talking 48:18 about the real gospel. Not your own version of what you might... 48:21 I talking about Christ-centered gospel. That's what it really 48:24 comes down to. You guys have an upcoming conference. Tell us a 48:27 little bit about that upcoming conference and how people can 48:29 learn more about what we're discussing today. 48:31 Yeah, every year we get together and do a conference typically at 48:36 one of the Adventists Universities and our website 48:40 1888msc.org, 1888msc.org will have the information about 48:50 our annual conferences. We also do seminars in churches. In the 48:56 past we had a full-time evangelist who was unfortunately 48:59 killed in a plane crash. But it's something that we love to 49:06 support is evangelism, revival meetings in churches and the 49:10 annual conference that you can see on the website is an 49:12 excellent way. We also get together and study as a ministry 49:19 One of the things that is so unique is that every year we get 49:22 together for what's called a board retreat and we just study 49:24 the gospel together and it's just wonderful. 49:27 And the dates, do you have the dates? 49:30 The dates, you can look at the website. 49:31 Go to the website. Bring that website up one more time. 49:35 1888msc.org again 1888msc.org Go to the website. You want to 49:44 know all about when this upcoming conference is happening 49:47 and you want to learn more about the gospel. This is what we're 49:50 talking about. I know we often say the 1888 message. Well 49:53 that's what it is because we were missing the gospel and it 49:56 came in the form of the 1888 General Conference session of 49:59 this message that was brought to the attention of the people that 50:02 we're talking about my friends if you've been tuning in or 50:04 maybe you're just now tuning in. It is the fundamental gospel 50:08 of Jesus Christ. The uplifted Savior Jesus. We put the 50:11 spotlight on Him. It's His righteousness not ours. It's His 50:15 faith not ours. That's what righteousness by faith is. We 50:20 obtain the righteousness of Christ by Christ's faith. 50:22 That's what it really, really, truly, truly is. Guys I've had 50:25 such a fun time today. We're not quite finished though because 50:28 perhaps maybe you want to support this effort, you want to 50:31 learn more, you want to get in contact with the 1888 Message 50:36 Study Committee. I had to make sure I showed that down because 50:38 I just want to say 1888 Committee but it's the 1888 50:42 Message Study Committee. Perhaps you have more questions you want 50:45 to support, you want to get in contact with them. Well there's 50:48 many different ways you can do that but we're going to actually 50:50 pull that up right now so you can know how to contact them and 50:54 maybe support the ministry. 50:56 If you would like more information about the 1888 50:58 Message Study Committee you can write to them at 51:02 8784 Valley View Drive, Berrien Springs, MI 49103. You can call 51:19 them (269) 473-1888. You can find them online at 51:25 1888msc.org or email them at info@1888msc.org |
Revised 2023-10-11