Sharing the Everlasting Gospel: A Call to Action - Sermon Audio 2549

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Gary Webster. Speaker B All right, let's bow together in prayer, shall we? Father, the time is running out. You want us to be helping men and women, boys and girls, to be ready for the coming of Jesus. Lord, they're out there. Jesus said the fields are white to the harvest. In his time, disciples couldn't see it, but he sure reaped a whole lot in that village. Father, we pray that you will bless us this morning. Open our hearts to what you want to do for us and through us. Send your spirit with power now. In Jesus name, Amen. Speaker B I want to begin with a quote from Ellen White. I don't usually begin with a quote from Ellen White. I certainly love Ellen White's writings. I read it every day. But I love this quote here that's sort of really struck a. Speaker B In a special sense. Seventh Day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. This is it. We have the last warning for a perishing world. She says, on them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import, the proclamation of the first, the second and the third angels. Messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention. The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned. God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them. Quite a challenging statement, isn't it? I've discovered. Speaker B I hope it's not true here, but I've discovered that one of the reasons we are not sharing them is many of us don't realize exactly what they are. That may sound rather strange and maybe it's different in your church. And I wanted to talk to us very quickly this morning about what these are and why they are so important and how they can help our world today. You know the first angel's message? Let's read it. I saw another angel. Thank God. Angels are busy in revelation. Speaker B They're active, flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach. Now, that doesn't mean standing up in front of the pulpit and preaching. Preaching in the Bible means proclaiming. One on one is proclaiming. All of that is proclaiming. Speaker B Preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people saying with a loud voice, everybody's got to hear this message. Fear God. Give glory to him, the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of waters. Right here, there are three imperatives. We call them three commands that this angel gives, and these are they. Number one, fear God. It doesn't mean bite your fingernails in the corner being scared stiff. What it means is to love and respect or reverence God. And Deuteronomy tells us how we do that. We do that by keeping his commandments. That's what it means to love and respect God. That's the first imperative. The second imperative is glorify God, which basically means live to lift him up in everything you do. How does Paul say whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do it all to the glory of God. Everything in life from you and I should be to lift up Jesus higher than we've lifted him before. Third imperative in the first angel is worship God as creator. In other words, give your total allegiance to Him. How are you gonna do that in the end time? Well, keep your Sabbath. That's a good place to start. He's saying, calling us back. Fear God. Glorify God. Worship God. That is the angels call to the planet. Speaker B Why? Why should people do that at such a time as this? The answer is given right there in the middle of this verse. Because for. Because the hour of his judgment has come. Now, when the angel says that in the Greek language, it means he's already. It's already begun. It started. You know, sometimes as Seventh Day Adventists, we are so pedestrian in the work of God, we think we've got all the time in the world. No, we haven't. There is a judgment going on in heaven right now while we sit here. I'm sure they've stopped for the Sabbath, but that's what the Bible teaches us very clearly. Now, that's okay for you and I because we know Jesus, but it's not okay for the people who don't know Christ. That's not good news for them, but that's why they need to fear God. Why do you need to fear God? Because the judgment has started. And we're going to be judged by God's commandments. That's the teaching of the Bible. So how shall we stand then? Speaker B How shall we stand in Other words, how shall we fear God in the right sense? How shall we glorify God in all we do? How shall we worship the Creator God at a time when God is going to judge the world by those commandments? How shall we do that? I thank God for that little phrase. Those three words in the yellow there. The everlasting gospel. That's how people will do that. You'll see a statement from Ellen White as we come to a close. The gospel in a nutshell is Christ and him crucified. That's what the gospel is, Christ and him crucified. I love the way Paul put it. First Corinthians 15. He really spells out in a nutshell what the gospel is, doesn't he? Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gosp which I have preached to you. Boy, did Paul preach it. You couldn't shut the man up right. He had so come in love with Jesus that he was just on fire, he says, by which you are saved by this Gospel, for I delivered to you that Christ died for our sins. You and I every day ought to put our name where it says our sins. You know, sometimes we say that, so it just slips off the tongue so easily. But he died for me, my stuff. That he was buried, that he rose again the third day. Now, how is that the gospel? How is that good news that he died? He rose again. How is that the good news? Well, look at the way Paul speaks to his friends in Rome. He wants to come to the city of Rome. Notice what he says. So as much as is in me, I am ready. That means I'm eager. I can't wait to preach the gospel. Why? Because he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. You know, I think of myself sometimes. Sometimes we're ashamed of the gospel. We're too scared to speak it sometimes what it means, what Jesus means to us. And I'm talking about myself sometimes. That's a shame. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of it. Why aren't I ashamed of it? Says Paul. For it is the power of God to salvation. It can save to the uttermost, to the guttermost, for everyone who believes. Why does it save people? Because, he says, for in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written. The just shall live by faith. Which means the person who is righteous by his faith, he will live. He will have eternal life. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of that gospel. And then I love these verses in Romans, chapter three. Look at them. These are Dynamite words. This is what the world needs. But now, the righteousness of God, apart from the law, I mean, aside from human effort, he's saying it's revealed even the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus to all and on all who believe, being justified, declared righteous. You know, had a good illustration of that from some friends who lived in Western Australia. They used to steal milk bottles from the front porch of people. Remember those days when the milk bottle got delivered on your front doorstep? Am I the only one that old? Speaker B Yeah. They dropped the milk bottles on the front door and you leave the money there for them to pick up. Well, these boys were going around their town stealing milk bottles, and the dad heard about it and he said, I don't want my boys to go to prison one day because they've stol. Because one thing will lead to another. So he decided, I'm going to put the wind up them. So he went down to the police station, knew the constable well, he was a personal friend. He said, I want you to arrest my boys if you see them stealing milk bottles. Then he went down to the courthouse to see his friend the judge, and he says, I want you to try my boys in your court. So sure enough, one day the boys were caught stealing milk bottles. So the policeman saw them, put him in his wagon, took them down to the courthouse, and there they stand before the judge, said, how do you boys plead around here? Guilty, your honor. Guilty. And then he gave them a lecture on stealing and how that was not good to do. And don't do that, boys, you'll end in prison one day. And then he finished by saying, acquitted. Now, hang on a bit. What does acquitted mean? Counted as if they never did that. They never did the thing. But they were caught with the red bottle, the milk bottles in their hand, red hot. Speaker B Not condemned, I should say, not even accounted. As if you stole the milk bottle. Now that's the word for justified in the Bible. You and I are treated as if we never even did it in the first place. But we're as guilty as a pig in the mud. Speaker B But when we come to Christ, we counted as if we never did it. The world needs to hear that. Being justified, declared freely, it's free by his grace through the redemption, the price that Jesus paid with his blood. It says there, through faith. Beautiful, beautiful story. Do you know that truth has driven people to the world? Drove John Wesley to get on his horse and go for 200,000 miles just because he knew he was now right with God. He'd been trying Desperately, day by day, to be right with God, by his human effort. And finally he found the secret, couldn't shut the man up. Wanted to tell the world of this Jesus. Marvelous. When we know Christ and his righteousness, we will do anything. Speaker B I love these words from 2nd Corinthians 5. This is the gospel, isn't it? That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing, not crediting their trespasses to them. Well, who did he credit them to? Ah, read on. He made him Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might be the righteousness of God if we're in Him. Brothers and sisters, we take this for granted so much sometimes it's the most beautiful truth in the world. This is what will change the world. You'll see in a moment from the certainty of the Lord. That gospel leads people when they accept this Jesus, that leads them to fear God, meaning they lovingly obey him. What would you have me do? Wasn't that the case with Paul? Meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. Speaker B Away he goes. Speaker B People who hear that Gospel, they live not for themselves anymore, they live for Jesus. They're willing to worship the Creator, even keep his Sabbath, when finally the truth dawns on them. What would you have me to do? I'll talk briefly about the second angel's message. Speaker B Second angel's message is a vital one. Babylon has fallen. What's going on here? Another angel followed, saying, babylon is fallen. It's fallen that great city, because she has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of their fornication. Now, Babylon the Great in the book of Revelation consists of these three powers. The dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast. You know who they are? Basically, they represent Christian and non Christian religions and all worldviews and ideologies that are not following God and his Word. That's in a nutshell in the end of time. That's Babylon the Great consists of all of that. Speaker B Babylon the Great. Now, why has Babylon fallen? I want you to notice why it's fallen. Another angel followed, saying, babylon is fallen. Is fallen is that great city. Because this is why she's fallen. She made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. So what's this wine that this prostitute gets people drunk with, causes them to lose their minds with? Well, Jesus spoke once about his teachings, likened them to new wine, grape juice, you know, he said, you can't put new wine in old wineskins. And he was talking about the Pharisees teaching as opposed to his. So his teachings he likened to new wine, pure grape juice. So the alcoholic wine, in other words, represents Babylon's false teachings. Babylon's teachings that intoxicate the world. They corrupt the world, in other words. Do they really? Come on now. How about the immortal soul? Because of this teaching, many people believe they can contact the dead. But they're not contacting the dead, they're contacting demons. That's pretty dangerous. That's corrupting. What about Sunday sacredness? Well, because of that we have evolution. There would not be atheism, there would not be evolution, I should say, had the Christian world remembered to keep the Sabbath holy. It's turned people to become believers that at the best, God used evolution, at the best to make everything. How about the eternal hell, just for three examples? Well, there are more atheists today because of that teaching than you'd care to. Speaker B Believe about. Speaker B If that's what God's like, he roasts and toasts people for eternity and enjoys it, then count me out. He needs a savior. That's the belief that people have. I hate God. So this message is critical. It matters what people believe. And that's why the final warning in Revelation, which joins the second angel, it says these words after these things. I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. He cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, babylon the great is fallen. It's fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit. How come? Why? Why is it now full of demons? Notice what he says next. Because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of their fornication. You see, doctrine matters. False doctrine actually ends up with demon possession right across the world. That's serious. And then comes that night cry from God himself. The last cry. What is it? Come out of her. My people, my brothers and sisters, this is not a game. There are good people in all these different isms. They're God's people. They need us to show them the way out. Because if they stay, they will receive the plagues. That's not a game. It's very serious. What this angel is telling us, doctrine matters. It bothers me sometimes when I hear people downplay doctrine because doctrine matters. False doctrine is going to corrupt the world and lead to demons controlling the whole planet. Almost. That's a serious matter. Let's come to the last angel's message. Third angel. Don't receive the mark of the beast. Well, we get that one. Don't we, we're all familiar that, hey, the first day worship, Sunday, that's ultimately the outward sign of the mark of the beast. That's the indicator that we worship the beast. But I don't think most of us really know what the third angel's message is about. Most of us don't realize. Let me share with you something from Ellen White. Speaker B This statement really challenged me to go think. Come on. I don't even understand this message properly. Several have written to me inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel's message. And I have answered it is the third angel's message. In Verity, this message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Savior, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the surety that's Jesus. It invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ which is made manifest, which is revealed in obedience to all the commandments of God. But what makes them obedience, the righteousness of Christ. It is the third angel's message which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice and attended with the outpouring of his spirit in a large measure. Have you read the third angel's message lately? Does it sound like justification by faith? Let me put it on the screen for you. But I want you to notice the words in yellow. A third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his might on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength, no mercy here into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. They have no rest, day or night, who worship the beast in his image. Whoever receives the mark, his name. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard, this is the last part of the third angel. Then I heard a loud voice, a voice from heaven saying to me. Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works. Follow them. What's going on here? Speaker B How do you see the justification in all of that? Well, I hope you paid attention to the words in yellow, because in a nutshell, here we have it. Drink the wine, the cup of God's wrath, tormented no Rest. Faith of Jesus. The dead who die in the Lord from now on, rest from their labors and their works do follow them. And one more. In whose presence? In the presence of the Lamb. Why is that there? How come all that is mentioned well with Christ? Because when you do that, you rest from your labors. You enter his rest, the spiritual rest. And your works follow you. You follow what God says. You obey God. The third angel's message is beautiful, brothers and sisters. Just think about it a little bit more. The world needs this message, you see, because. Speaker B The mark of the beast is all about man refusing to go and rest with God. He's stuck on himself. 666. A lot of meanings here. But 6, 6, 6. He won't move on to rest in God. He will do it his way instead of God's way. This is what the issue is all about. Speaker B I want to come to this quote here. Speaker B Love. It happened on the Sabbath. Come to me, Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath says all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Stop looking to yourself, look to me. Speaker B Come to Calvary. That's our message. That's why Ellen says our message is Christ. Christ. This is our doctrine. This is our teaching. Everything must be wrapped up in Him. I love these words from Ellen White. Notice them. A great work is to be accomplished in setting before men and women the saving truths of the gospel. This is the means ordained by God to stem the tide of moral corruption. Is the world getting morally corrupt? You better believe it. My wife and I lived in Tasmania for five years. And every year they had this dark mofo thing. I tell you. What was it? Dark. Thousand people swim in the Derwent river with no clothes on. That's dark enough. Speaker B Then they roll around in animal gizzards and blood, have a cross upside down. The guy who runs it all, he's got in his car park at his museum. God. It's my car park. God's car park. This is God next door. Come on. That's just the tip of the iceberg for this guy. The world is morally dark, big time. And she says what the world needs is the saving truths of the gospel. That's what's going to change things. He says this is. She says this is his means of restoring his moral image in man. That's discipleship. It's the gospel. You know, brethren sisters, England would have had a revolution like the French had. We're told they would have had a bloodbath just like the French had. Had it not been for the Preaching of the gospel. John, John Wesley and his brother Charles and George Whitefield. Because they preached the gospel, lives were changed. And it stopped England from going down the same pathway. The gospel changes society. It changes hearts. And that's what she says next. Look what she says. The very next phrase to present these truths, the truths of the gospel, is the work of the third angel's message. The Lord designs that the presentation of this message shall be the highest. There's nothing higher than the highest. It shall be the greatest. Nothing greater than the greatest. The greatest work carried on in the world at this time. You know, Hornsby, Waitara, Sydney needs this message. There are many people groping in the dark. They're wanting something better, but they don't know how to and where to get it. And they need the Lord Jesus. Speaker B I love. I was looking for the statement this morning where she says, the gospel, this is our message. Everything must be encapsulated. Speaker B The three angels message is the vehicle in which to preach that good news. It's the vehicle in which lives will be changed when they hear the gospel. I love the story of the little girl. She was lost in a big city. Ever been lost in a big crowd? Man? I got lost in the Royal show in Perth once. Man, did I freak out. Where was mom and dad? You know? So this little girl, she's bawling her eyes out. She's lost. And a policeman came up to her. Speaker B And he calmed her down. And after he'd calmed her down, he said, say, little girl, what's your name? Said, Mr. Policeman, my name is Sally. That's good. He said, okay, Sally, what's your mummy's name? Well, Daddy calls her darling. That wasn't gonna help. Speaker B So what's your daddy's name? Mommy calls him honey. Not getting anywhere here. So then he said to the little girl, he said, say, Sally, is there something big next to your house so that if we got you to the big thing, you could get home from the big thing? He thought for a while and said, yeah. Yes, Mr. Policeman, there is. Right next to our house, right next door, there's a church. And on top of the church, there's a big cross. Mr. Policeman, if you can get me to the cross, I can get home from the cross. And that's the truth, brothers and sisters. You take people to the cross and they can get home from the cross to their heavenly home, Right? It's the truth. Take me to the cross. And that's what Ellen White says. That's our message. That's our doctrine. That's our warning to the impenitent. Don't think sin is serious. Go to Calvary. What happened to Jesus when he took our sin? Don't think God loves us. Go to Calvary. Look how big the love of God is. Brothers and sisters, this is what the world needs. It needs you and I. Whether it's a seminar or whether it's a book, whether it's sending someone a link to a good DVD that's going to share Jesus. There's a thousand ways to share Jesus, but share him we must, because people need the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaker B We're going to pray. Are we good? Okay, let's do that together. Speaker B Are we going to sing a song too after? That's the way it goes. Let's pray together. Speaker B Father in Heaven, it's too late in the day for each of us to not be concerned about lost people. It's alright for us if we've found Jesus, or rather he's found us and our lives are hidden with Christ in God. What a joy. What a privilege. What a blessing to know that Jesus is coming. Speaker B But what about the people who don't know Jesus? Speaker B Lord, forgive us because we are so pedestrian. Forgive me Lord, because there are times don't even really care too much about our neighbors. Lord, help us to be like Christ who came to seek and save that which was lost. He gave up everything. Speaker B Just to save a soul. Speaker B Father, our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. If you want to say to the Lord this morning, Lord, number one, first of all, I want to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, I want to be found in Jesus. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection. And if you want to also say to the Lord, Lord, count me in. I want to be used of Jesus to help people know Christ by sharing these messages in a very practical way. If either of those things or both of them is your decision this morning, just raise your hand just where you are. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Lord, please Lord, help us. Maybe we need to raise our hand because we need to know this Jesus, Lord. Maybe we need to raise our hand because we need your help to share Jesus more with others. Thank you Father for loving us. In Jesus name, Amen. Speaker B This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org.au. Speaker A This program has been brought to you by 3 ABN Australia Radio.