Sermon Tone Analysis

In the last few sermons I’ve shared a whole lot of Bible texts.

If you didn’t get them all written down but want to go study them for yourselves, I have two solutions for you.

I’m going to show you two slides that have QR codes.

If you pull your phone out now and log in to the Bonners Ferry Adventist wifi and then open you camera app, you’ll be ready to point and click.

Most phones now days will allow you to just point the camera app at the QR code and then click the screen below the QR code to go to the website, but if your phone doesn’t do that, both of theses solutions are really easy to find anyway:

Download the faithlife app and follow along on our digital bulletin.

As I go through the slides it will show you the verses I’m using.

These digital bulletins are available after the service as well.

If you want to actually read through my notes, you can go to sermons.faithlife.com and search for Jason Worf.

You’ll find sermon manuscripts and sermon audio files for my latest sermons.

title slide

Introduction

Today we’re exploring the one of the last two messages in the series Back to Basics.

Throughout this series we’ve been looking at some fundamental themes in the story of salvation.

So far we’ve covered Scripture, Salvation, Sanctuary, Sabbath, and the State of the Dead.

When we talk about salvation, there are three solutions in God’s salvation plan:

[advance slide]

The penalty of sin

The power of sin

The presence of sin

Jesus’s death provides salvation from the penalty of sin, his spirit gives us power over sin, and sometime soon Jesus will come again to save us from the presence of sin.

Here are a few of His promises:

[advance slide]

Revelation 3:11

“I am coming soon.

Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”

Revelation 16:15

“Behold, I am coming as a thief.

Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

Revelation 22:7

“And behold, I am coming soon.

Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Revelation 22:12

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”

Revelation 22:20

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus!”

There are many ideas about the second coming and the end of the world, or as some people think, the age of peace.

Psychics and occultists teach that aliens who come in UFO’s will bring peace to the world.

Many evangelical churches teach a secret rapture where the righteous will simply vanish from the earth before a period of tribulation when the earth will experience terrible wars and natural disasters.

Some Christian traditions teach a “spiritual” coming—meaning that Jesus has already come or will come in a spiritual sense in our hearts and as a result bring peace to the world.

What is the truth?

When can we expect this promise to be fulfilled?

And what will this second coming be like?

Signs of the end

In the first half of Matthew 24 Jesus clarifies that although wars and famines and disease and earthquakes will increase (he calls it sorrows or birth pains) these are really just the beginning.

Look at the statistics and you’ll find that the 20th century was one of the bloodiest the world has every seen, and the past 100 years have seen a dramatic uptick in the frequency and destructive power of earthquakes.

But this fact is only important because we know prophecy.

[advance slide]

Daniel 2 reminds us that we are in the period of divided Europe (the feet) and that the next event is God setting up His kingdom that will last forever.

[advance slide]

Daniel 7 & 8 remind us that the little horn power received its deadly wound a couple hundred years ago, and that the heavenly sanctuary is now being cleansed.

The only thing left is for the dominion to be given to the saints (Daniel 7:27).

Dark day and stars falling

Just to add emphasis to the end of these prophecies we can look at Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24 that points to the time just after the saints would be persecuted by the little horn.

[advance slide]

Matthew 24:29

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven…”

The dark day—May 19, 1780, the day was so dark from Maine all the way down to New Jersey that people had to light candles at noon to see.

This phenomenon was significant enough at that time that it was reported throughout the world by news outlets.

It was reported that the sun wasn’t visible, and that night the moon looked red.

Leonids—In 1833 there was such a spectacular meteor shower (known as a leonid) that the world heard about it.

To date it remains the largest meteor shower that we are aware of with estimates that over 100,000 meteoroids entered the atmosphere every hour for a 9 hour period.

Subsequent leonids have produces in the hundreds or even thousands per hour, but never quite so many as in 1833.

This event propelled William Miller and the other believers in Jesus 2nd advent as they shared their messages in churches.

These “signs in the heavens” are significant in that they point to the end of the great persecution of the little horn, and because we know that the next thing in the prophetic timeline is God setting up his kingdom.

The Gospel to the World

[advance slide]

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus gave His litmus test for the second coming as the gospel going to all the world.

What Gospel is that?

It’s the “Everlasting Gospel” spoken about in Revelation 14:6-12.

In the early 1800’s Christians rapidly translated the Bible into lots of languages.

In 2014 the Bible had been translated into 531 languages.

By 2020 the full Bible was translated into 704 languages with parts of the Bible in another 1,160 languages.

The gospel message has more potential today than it ever has in earth’s history.

Still there are over a billion people in what some are calling “Bible poverty,” with over 3,000 languages yet to reach with the text of the Bible and the message of the gospel.

But Bible translators around the world have a goal to reach every language group in the world by 2033!

The Feast of Tabernacles

[advance slide]

Here’s one last demonstration that we are in the time of the end.

In our conversation about the sanctuary we explored the feasts in Leviticus 23.

We determined that we are now in the fulfillment of the day of atonement, and the next and last feast to be fulfilled is the feast of booths—which will only happen when Jesus takes us to heaven where he has prepared rooms for us.

No One Knows the Day or Hour

Can you know for certain the date and time when Jesus will come?

Jesus tells us that we can know the general time frame, but beyond that we need to simply remain ready.

[advance slide]

Mark 13:28-33

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates…

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

33 Be on guard, keep awake.

For you do not know when the time will come.

Don’t Sleep

I hope you can see that we are getting close to the 2nd coming.

Paul counsels us in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 to “let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

In Revelation 3:3 Jesus encourages us to watch, lest he come upon us like a thief

[advance slide]

Revelation 3:3

“Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”