♪♪ Let's pray. Father, that's our prayer. In a world ravaged by this pandemic, in a nation on edge, oh, that we might find this rest in Jesus. Let the moments we now share be clear. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning, we're gonna begin to see a side of America we never dreamed possible. Consider "blue laws." Let's cut to the chase. Let's put Wikipedia on the screen for us, please. Blue laws. "Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, are laws designed to restrict or ban some or all Sunday activities for religious or secular reasons, particularly to promote the observance of a day of worship or rest. Blue laws may also restrict shopping or ban sale of certain items on specific days, most often on Sundays in the Western world. Blue laws are enforced in parts of the United States and Canada, as well as some European countries, particularly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway, keeping most stores closed on Sundays." Speaking of America, I realize that we're in the thick of a season of political campaigning. And I know these three words have been batted about back and forth -- "law and order, law and order, law and order." Well, who wouldn't want law and order? I suppose it depends on how you define it. Why do I bring it up today? Because the day could come in America that in order to establish law and order, to deal with its ills, America will choose to resort to these old, kind of sleepy blue laws, Sunday laws, on many of the states's books. And, so, believing than an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of what? Of cure. In advance of anything, I want to share with you why I don't believe in Sunday blue laws. Let's go to the beginning. "In the beginning..." December 24th, Christmas Eve, 1968. The three astronauts -- they're inside that tiny, little Apollo 8 capsule, are huddled around that portal, and they're looking down on our terrestrial blue-green ball. And the three of them take turns reading the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis, Genesis 1. I want to go to that. We're not gonna read the 10 verses. I'll just settle for two. Go to the beginning of your Bible, the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1. They read from the King James. They read, by the way, to the largest television audience in history up until that moment. So the whole world is tuned in as these astronauts read these words. We'll read just verses 1 and 2. Genesis 1:1. I'm in the New International Version. "In the beginning --" Those are arguably the most well-known words of the Bible all over the planet. You could be an atheist and know about "In the beginning..." "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Verse 2 -- "Now, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." What follows is the account of Earth's creation, by the Creator, in six days. Evening-morning, evening-morning, evening-morning, evening-morning, six 24-hour days. The week culminates with the addition of a seventh day. I want you to drop down, please, to Chapter 2. Chapter 2. And here comes that last day of the week. "Thus --" This is Verse 1. "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day, He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it, He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." God says, "I have a gift for you, human race. I just made you on day number 6. I have a gift for you. I'm gonna give myself to you in the gift of the Sabbath. Every seventh day for the rest of time, in perpetuity, as long as there's life on this planet, there will be a seventh day, and every seventh day will remind you that you are mine and I am yours. I give myself to you in the gift of this day." [ Laughing ] Wow! That's pretty cool. George McCready Price, the philosopher, the scientist, and the Bible scholar, in that provocative book of his, "The Time of the End" -- You got to see this. A little twist here I had never thought of before, and I predict a bunch of you haven't either. So, this is George McCready Price. "From the beginning, the Creator planned to have a memorial of His method of --" Excuse me. And the italics are his. "Of His method of creating." I thought the Sabbath was to be a memorial of the fact that He created. No, no, no, no, no. McCready Price is saying, "No. It's the method, too." "It would be for the good and lasting happiness of mankind for them to remember His creatorship, His power, His sovereignty. He could have accomplished --" This is true, isn't it? "He could have accomplished the making of the earth and its plants and animals in one day --" Couldn't He have done it in one day? Well, he goes on. "Or even instantaneously." "Yo, let's have planet Earth." Fully populated. He could have done it. He didn't. He chose to do it a certain way. "But He did not." No, no, no, no. Keep reading now. "He might have prolonged this creative act for 10 days or 30, but He did not. He deliberately planned to do it by stages, spread out over six days, with a special extra day at the close as an official memorial of what He had done and how He had done it." My, my, my, my, my. There's something about the method. I never thought about that before. The fact -- okay, the Sabbath is, "Yo, I came from a creator." Yeah, but not just the fact of creation. The method of creation. "I did it in stages so that I could have a seventh stage, and that will be just you and me together." Oh, my. Can you believe the gift of the Sabbath? The brilliant Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel -- he referred to the Sabbath as a palace in time. For the rest of time, the Creator, every seventh day, communing with his creation, drawing close to these who are created in His own image. He feels a special affinity to you right now because you're in His image. You're not a strange creation to Him. He feels a closeness to you. The Sabbath, every seventh day, to remind us. My, oh, my, oh, my. No wonder the Sabbath is both the geometric center of the 10 Commandments -- In Hebrew, the number of words on either side is the same. So it's in the geometric center and it's also the thematic and literary center. Come on. Let's go to Exodus 20. Let's go to the 10 Commandments. Everybody loves the 10 Commandments. Everybody knows the story about the 10 Commandments. Hey, did you grow up watching "The Prince of Egypt"? Come on, tell me the truth. Did you grow up watching "The Prince of Egypt"? Yes, you did. If you did not grow up watching "The Prince of Egypt," then you're older and you watched Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments." But they did it a lot better with the animation. Oh, I love the story of -- It was Moses, wasn't it? The Prince of Egypt, Moses, and that burning bush. Shhhhhh! What a story. And when you get to the 10 Commandments, you remember seeing that hand of God? Shooooo! Shooooo! Shooooo! As God, with His own finger, writes the 10 Commandments, carves them into granite. Oh, I love the story. In fact, the Sabbath actually is couched in two stories. My friend Sigve Tonstad in his book, "The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day," has helped me to see this. First, let me quote Tonstad, and then we'll take a look at those stories. Let's put Tonstad on the screen here. He's a physician, he's a New Testament scholar, and a writer. "The seventh day...is not willing --" If the Sabbath had a mind of its own. "The seventh day...is not willing to be estranged from its narratival roots." That's just theological-speak from the stories that provide its foundation. Keep going. "The story of God's faithfulness that is etched in the seventh day --" Oh, I love this -- "envisions a chain reaction of blessing, forging the Sabbath into a conduit of grace to all creation." What he's telling us is, "You got to know the stories. You got to know the stories. Once you know the stories, then the Sabbath -- embedded in those two stories -- it shines with more glory." Okay, so, we got to find the story. So, did you get to Exodus 20 here? I'm talking. I haven't even gotten to Exodus 20 yet. Let's go to the beginning of the Commandments, Exodus 20. Okay, I got it. Verse 1. And God spoke all these words, okay? So we know God is gonna first speak the Commandments, and then -- shooo, shooo, shooo! -- he's gonna write them with his finger. Verse 2. Whoa! Before He even begins the 10 commandments, he tells a story. Look at this. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Who doesn't love the Exodus story? Is there anybody here that doesn't love the Exodus story? And even in "The Prince of Egypt," I love it. Once they get out -- They get out at midnight. And they run into the Red Sea. Do you remember that? Shooo! That wind and the walls towering. I love that part every single time, don't you? That's the story of the Exodus. What's the Exodus? It's when God saved a nation of slaves. He liberated them. He delivered them. He redeemed them. He saved them. Before He says a word about, "Hey, would you do this for happiness and would you do this for happiness or would you do that?", He says, "I want to tell you a story. Don't you ever forget --" And, by the way, it's the greatest story of liberation in human literature, except for Calvary. And it was intended to be the story of Calvary. That's the whole point -- deliverance, set free, no more evil taskmasters. Yep. So, He tells this story and then He tells the 10 Commandments. He speaks the 10 Commandments. And then, in the Fourth Commandment, he tells one more story. It's the only other story. So, I got to get back to Exodus 20. And drop down to the Fourth Commandment. That will be Verse 8. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns." Why? Verse 11. "For in six days --" Here comes the story now. I'm gonna tell you a story. "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." "Once upon a time, before you were born, I made your parents. They were the first two on this planet. And I've been friends with the human race ever since, no matter how you treat me. You are in my image. And I long for friendship with you, too." Every seventh day -- that's what Tonstad is telling us. Every seventh day, two stories -- Exodus that goes back to the creation. Two great narratival bookends. For the entire human race, the seventh-day Sabbath. I want to get Tonstad one more time. Let's put him on the screen here. "The person who experiences God's faithfulness in the rest --" You're resting. Come on. That's the joy of the Sabbath. You get to rest. "...in the rest of the Sabbath is to extend the privilege to son and daughter, to male and female slave, to the resident alien, even to the cows, the cattle, triggering --" I love this -- "triggering an avalanche of blessing that is to make all Creation beneficiaries of the Sabbath." Guess what. When we celebrate the Sabbath -- This is what Tonstad is saying. When God gave us the Sabbath and we celebrate it, the blessing is not just for me, me, me, me. No, it just kind of -- It's this chain reaction of blessing. It spreads even to animal life. Man! This must be a big deal. This day must be a big deal to God and to His friends. It's no wonder Jesus, one day, decided to give Himself a title. I want you to see this title. Now let's go to the Book of Mark now, that little dramatic Gospel of Mark, Chapter 2. Mark 2. Let's drop down to the last two lines of Mark 2. So, Jesus is talking to His friends. He's got his Disciples. They're all around Him. And, by the way, it's on the Sabbath when He's doing this. So, they're all around Him, and He's loving on them. And He says, "Hey, guys and ladies, I want to tell you something." This is Verse 27 in Mark 2. "Then Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for --" What? For man. Mm-hmm. "Not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." He just gave Himself a title. And, by the way, there's some Christians -- And some Christians, I'm telling you -- Hey, can you leave that verse up for a minute on the screen, that last -- the Verse 27? Yeah, thank you. Watch this. There's some Christians who read it this way. "Then Jesus said to His Disciples, 'The Sabbath was made for Jews and not Jews for the Sabbath." Are you serious? The Sabbath was made for Jews? Oh, man, that's bad news for me. You know why? Because Genesis 2 says woman was made for man. And if woman was made for only Jews, I'm in big trouble. [ Laughter ] Right? No. This is humanity. This is the human race. The Sabbath was made for the human race, not the human race for the Sabbath. In fact, you know what? Jesus says, "And so the Son of Man --" Let's put that next text up, please, 28. "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." This is the same word. Then you say, "Dwight, what does this word mean? What is the actual language?" Glad you asked. William "Skip" MacCarty -- he wrote in a book called "Perspectives on the Sabbath: Four Views," in his opening, extended essay -- I wish you could read it. It's just a dynamic essay on the Sabbath. Let's put William "Skip" MacCarty. "When Mark recorded Jesus' words, 'the Sabbath was made for man,' he chose Greek terms that would communicate the universal and permanent character of the Sabbath." Keep reading. "The Greek term anthropos --" Okay? Anthropos -- what is that? Hey, anthropology. Come on, we got an anthropology department here. What is anthropology? The study of humanity. It's not the study of males, right? It's the study of the human race -- anthropology. "The Greek term anthropos --" the Sabbath was made for anthropos -- "is the generic term for humankind. Numerous scholars have understood Mark 2:27 as Jesus' affirmation of the creation origin and universal character of the Sabbath." That's what Jesus is saying. He says, "I have a title now. You can call me this. I'm Lord of the Sabbath." Wow! He was Lord of salvation. I knew that. But now I can call Him Lord of the Sabbath. He says, "That's my title. I'm Lord of this day." Let's read it again, one more time. "Then Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.' So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." I tell you what -- I am against Sunday blue laws as a solution to law and order, simply because Jesus is Lord of the seventh-day Sabbath. That's why. Let me show you another text. Go to the very end of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. That's our theme book here for "American Apocalypse," this series. And, oh, boy, don't miss next time. Revelation 1. Go to Revelation 1. Verse 10, 'cause we know that John has been incarcerated for his faith. He's a follower of Christ. And they put him on this penal colony, this little rocky outcropping in the Aegean Sea. He can't swim anywhere. He's there. Verse 10. Revelation 1:10. "And on the Lord's Day, I was in the Spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet." "Aha, Dwight! I told you. That's all -- I was waiting for that text, because there it is. That is proof that Sunday is in the Bible. There it is. Lookit. Dwight, do you have eyes? 'The Lord's Day.'" Are you serious? Are you joshing me? Are you telling me that that one little phrase tucked in at the end of the Bible somehow erases the Creator's chiseled finger scribbling in granite? That wipes away the Creator's gift of the seventh-day Sabbath to the human race? Are you jumping to that conclusion? Man, don't try getting your exercise by jumping to conclusions. It will kill you every time. Be honest with me. What are you saying about this little Lord's Day? That everything gets obliterated? All of God's outpouring, Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, is just gone now? What do you mean that has reference to Sunday? [ Chuckles ] What's the day Jesus is Lord of? You tell me. What did we just read in that Fourth Commandment? "The Sabbath of the Lord your God." Didn't we read that? Yeah. That's the Lord's Day. You want the Lord's Day? That's it. Jesus said, "I'm Lord of that day." Look at Isaiah. Let's put Isaiah 58 on the screen here. God's speaking. "If you call the Sabbath --" He's talking about the seventh-day Sabbath, 'cause that's the only Sabbath the Bible knows. "If you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable --" What's going on here? "I have a day. I've given you six days for you. I have a day that I am Lord of." The Lord's Day is the seventh-day Sabbath. Skip again. William MacCarty on the screen. "Biblical evidence that the 'Lord's Day' meant Sunday is entirely lacking. As does the rest of the New Testament, John, in his own Gospel, twice refers to Sunday as 'the first day of the week,' not the 'Lord's Day.'" He could have said -- 'Cause it was written 40, 50 years after the resurrection, he could have said, "Listen, when Jesus rose on the Lord's Day --" 'Cause y'all know that's the Lord's Day, right? He could have put that in. He didn't, 'cause nobody had ever heard of a Lord's Day as the day for Sunday. The only way John refers to Sunday is, it's the first day. The only day in the Bible that has a name, a proper name, is the Sabbath. Oh, and they did call the day before the Sabbath the preparation day to get ready for the Sabbath. That's all the way through the Bible. So, the Lord's Day is clearly and Biblically -- Well, let's finish the quotation. "The historical records reveal that the first unambiguous connection between 'Lord's Day' and Sunday does not show up in Christian literature until the second half of the second century --" whoa! -- "many decades after John used the term. Therefore, it is clear that those who interpret the 'Lord's Day' in Revelation 1:10 as Sunday do this on the basis of extrabiblical --" It's not in the Bible. You have to go outside the Bible. "That is much later than the time when John wrote Revelation." Keep reading. "This is an unsound methodology of Biblical interpretation." And I agree. Clearly, the Lord's Day is the only holy day, the only Sabbath, which is the seventh day. That's the Lord's Day. It's the day that Jesus is Lord of. To go a century and a half later into history and grab the way the Lord's Day's is used then and drag it all the way back into New Testament times and say, "This is what it means," you can't do that. No scholar would do that. You can't do that. It's found nowhere but this one place, where John says, "On the Sabbath, I was in meditation and prayer when Jesus showed up to me." The Lord of the Sabbath shows up on the Sabbath day to John. Take that one. "What's the deal, Dwight?" Here's the deal. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. And, by the way, when He dies -- Watch this. When He dies -- What's the day He died on? Friday, Good Friday. What's the day he rose on? Sunday. What does He do on this day? This is the seventh day. This is the Sabbath. What does the creator of the universe and the creator of the human race and the planet called Earth -- what does He do on the day He gave as a day of rest? He rests. "I rest my case." He rests. He could have risen on Saturday. Why not? No. "I gave this to you to be our day together." He rests. He sleeps. Wow. I repeat, if you're wanting law and order as a solution to America's ills, I suggest you go to God's law and the seventh-day Sabbath. And, by the way, let me quickly add I am against any civil law that attempts to define and legislate religious practice, the religious practice of worship. No law should tell us anything about worship. It is not the domain of government. It is the domain of the kingdom of God and only that domain. Yeah. There's only one holy day. There's only one Lord's Day. And it's the seventh day, Sabbath day. "Well, how did we get into this confusing mess, Dwight? Come on. Tell me." Okay. Go to the Book of Daniel. Come on, there's one line. The Protestant Reformers -- Martin Luther, John Knox among them. They went to the Book of Daniel and they found this one line and they said, "Aha!" Go back to the Old Testament. I want you to see this in your own Bible. Come on. Daniel. Daniel's a little bit hard to find. You'll run into Ezekiel real fast. Right after Ezekiel, there's Daniel. So, go to Daniel 7, because Daniel -- Daniel has just been shown four animal kingdoms. They're representatives. They're symbols, like the eagle is the symbol of the United States. They are symbols of empires. There's a Babylonian empire. There's Middle Persian empire. There's the Greek -- the Greece empire. And then there's the Roman empire. And when we pick it up, Daniel has just seen this nondescript beast with 10 horns and iron fangs roaring out of the water. And Daniel is so stunned -- I want you to see this. Verse 8, Daniel 7. Drop down to Verse 8. Alright. "While I was thinking about the horns --" There were 10 horns on this beast. "While I was there thinking about those horns, there before me was another horn --" now keep reading, keep reading -- "a little horn, which came up among them, and three of the first horns were --" bup-bup-bup-bup -- "uprooted before this little horn." And, by the way, let me tell you about this little horn. "This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. When the apocalypse describes this same power, it records it this way -- "with a mouth that spoke blasphemies." You can only speak blasphemies to God. This is a religious power. And because it's symbolized by a horn, it's also a political, because the horn in the Bible is the sign of political strength. So it's a religio-political power. The Reformers were clear. You know why they were clear? Because of Verse 25. This is what convinced them. When they saw this, they said, "We know who that horn is." Drop down to Verse 25. Speaking of this little horn, "He will speak against the Most High." So he is anti-God. Anti-God. We'll talk about anti-Christ. "Anti-" means "instead of" or "against." "He will speak against the Most High and oppress the Most High's holy people," the saints, "and he will try to change the set times and the laws. And the holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times, and half a time." That's 3 1/2 years in Hebrew language. 3 1/2 years. That's prophetic time. That's 1,260 days. That's the long -- The Reformers are absolutely clear. That is the long, dark, bloody Middle Ages of Christian history. The dark and Middle Ages, which were ruled by one power also in Rome -- the anti-Christ. And did you notice what the power wants to do? The power wants to change set times and holy laws. Did the power do what the Reformers believed it did? Well, let's ask the power. In all deference and courtesy, have you changed anything in Christianity since you came to power? Rome answers now. The answers will be on the screen. These are her answers. "I have changed the 10 Commandments and I have changed the Sabbath." Ooh! Set times, holy law. Let's see. Let's go to Rome. "The Convert's Catechism." This is an instruction book for those who join the Roman Catholic Church. It's in Q&A form. "Question -- Which is the Sabbath day? Answer -- Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question -- Why do we observe Sunday, then, instead of Saturday? Answer -- we observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." That's pretty clear. But the beloved cardinal James Gibbons, in his best-seller book "Faith of our Fathers" -- he was an American cardinal -- is just as clear. We'll put Cardinal Gibbons on the screen. "You may read the Bible," the cardinal writes, "from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday." Whoa! What's going in here? Let's go to the "Catholic Encyclopedia" and ask it. Oh, the "Catholic Encyclopedia" responds, "The church, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath of the seventh day of the week to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to --" Wait a minute, wait a minute. Third Commandment? We just read the Fourth Commandment. Oh! It's the Third Commandment for them because there was a Commandment that was a bit bothersome. Commandment number 2 reads, "You shall not make unto you any graven image." And this power said, "Let's remove that, please," so it got removed. Oops. We only have nine Commandments now. Well, that's not a problem. Take the 10th Commandment and cut it in two. And that's it now today. So that's why it's called the Third Commandment. We know it's the Fourth Commandment. Oh, but the law just got changed, didn't it? Yeah. Read it again. "The church, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath of the seventh day of the week to the first made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day." "Yeah, but, Dwight, come on, come on, come on. If the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, then why do most Protestant churches also worship on Sunday, when they go by the Bible?" Well, that's a very good question. The Catholic Church, in fact, asked that same question. "Why do you?" Notice this -- down here at Notre Dame, he was a priest and a professor. His name -- John A. O'Brien. He wrote the book "The Faith of Millions." We'll put it on the screen right now. John A. O'Brien, the late John A. O'Brien. "But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion dir--" he's talking about Protestants -- "who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church --" he's talking about Rome -- "observe Sunday instead of Saturday?" Why does that happen? "Well, yes, of course, it is inconsistent," he writes, "but this change was made about 15 centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time, the custom was universally observed." Keep reading. "They --" the Protestants -- "have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible." "They are not following the Bible," the Catholic Church says. "They're following us." Keep reading one more line. "That observance remains," O'Brien writes, "as a reminder --" to the Protestants -- "of the Mother Church --" Rome -- "from which the non-Catholic sects broke away, like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair." End quote. Mer-cy! That wasn't from me. That was from the Roman Catholic Church to every Protestant in America today. You have no reason to worship on Sunday, except as you return to the Mother Church. Come on. You have your mother's picture in your pocket, don't you, runaway? You got your mother's picture in your pocket. It's time to come home now. We need to do business together. Come on home. Isn't that amazing? You didn't hear that from me. So, you see? That is why I am against Sunday blue laws as a law-and-order solution in America, because I fear blue laws, one day, will attempt to legislate the wrong day, the first day, in place of the right day, the seventh day. And then I'm in a jam, because now the law says I have to do what I know is not in the Bible. "Oh, come on, Dwight. It's not gonna happen in America. We're free to worship on any day we want." Oh, hey, my friend, my friend, my friend, have you seen what's coming down the track straight at us? Anybody looking up? Anybody looking ahead? What's coming down the track straight at us. You can't be listening, you can't be watching, you can't be thinking if you don't see it. When I saw the President of the United States cross the road filled with protestors outside The White House the other day, carrying, of all things, in his hands a Bible and posing for pictures in front of a church across the street, it was a somber reminder to me of Revelation 13's prediction of what sadly will come true in this nation, and I saw it in the flash of that camera snap. A politician taking over and saying, "Hey, I can do this, too." Wow. A prophecy about America we're gonna examine very carefully next time together. Please don't miss it. The title -- "American Apocalypse: Is the Religious Right Wrong?" Come on. Straight down the track. Straight down the track. It's no wonder God's last law and order appealed to the human race. I mean, how can you talk about law and order and reject the law of God? Give me a break. How can you talk about law and order and reject the law of God if you're a spiritual leader? God's last passionate appeal to the human race -- He shouts out the truth about the Creator and His Sabbath. We'll end with this. Go to Revelation, back to our theme book. Revelation 14. Now, while you're finding Chapter 14, I want the cameras to zoom in on this beautiful -- We call it this the Rose Window. This is a picture of the Second Coming. It towers high above every act of worship in this space. And I'm glad the ancient Pioneers made sure that this was the picture -- a reminder of what it means to be an Adventist, a Seventh-Day Adventist. Do you know where that picture comes from? Leave that picture up, please. I'm gonna read the words to you. We're not gonna put them on the screen. Drop down to Verse 14 in Revelation 14. And I want to show you that the artist is taking Revelation 14 in designing the picture. "I looked," John writes, "and there before me was a white cloud." Let's see. Oh, we got the white cloud, don't we? "There before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of Man." That's Jesus' favorite title for himself. So, there, we see Him. Yes, we do. "With a crown of gold on His head --" we got that -- "and a sharp sickle in His hand." We got that. "Now, Dwight, why are you doing this?" Because I need you to know that Revelation 14:14 is describing the Second Coming of Jesus, and immediately preceding these words is God's passionate last appeal to the human race in the form of three angels who have messages for humanity. I want to go to the first angel for our last reading. Go up to Verse 6. "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal Gospel --" Let's put that on the screen, please. "And he had the eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth -- to every nation, tribe, language, and people. And He said in a loud voice --" Megafoni, with a megaphone, he cried out, "'Fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.'" I want to iso a couple lines here. First of all, the angel announces, "The hour of God's judgment has come." You know what the angel is saying? The angel is saying, "Listen, boy. Listen, girl. You got a conscience. You have a voice that speaks in between your ears and you hear that voice and you recognize it immediately." It's the same voice I hear, by the way. My conscience hears the same voice. That voice has been telling you, "We're running out of time. We're running out of time. We're running out of time. Judgment is here. Listen to that voice." That's what that angel is saying. "Listen to my voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit Himself." I don't know what He's been telling you lately, but if you've been laughing it off, if you've been saying, "Hey, another time, I'll get to that. I don't have time to deal with this now." If you've been saying, "Mañana," you can't say "Mañana" anymore. Today is the day. Whatever you've been playing with, whatever you're chained to, today is the day that you get set free. "Dwight, it's not that easy." It is that easy. Of course there's a battle. There's an enemy that will fight to the last drop of blood for you, not on your behalf, but to hold on to you. Behold, the hour of His judgment has come. We're in it. That's what the conscience is saying to me and it's saying to you. I want to iso that last line now. "Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water." Do you know that this is a direct quotation from the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament? Same words in the New Testament and in the Greek Old Testament from the Fourth Commandment. Straight out of the Fourth Commandment. God says, "I have one passionate appeal to the human race, and it's gonna consist of the Fourth Commandment." And what's the Fourth Commandment about? "I have a day. I have a day you've forgotten about. I have a day most of the world has ignored. I have a day. It's the gift of myself to you. You can no longer ignore it. Come to me now. Come now. We're running out of time." That's the day that Jesus is Lord of. It's the seventh-day Sabbath day. There's only one Sabbath in the Bible. The Lord's Day is the seventh day. That's the day that Jesus is calling the human race to. "I am your creator. I know what academia has done. The American Academy has no time for creator anywhere. Never mind the academy now. We don't have time. I am your creator. I made you and I'm coming back and I wish I were coming for you. Come to me now. Come to me now." That's it. That's it. You know what it all comes down to? It all comes down authority. Whose authority will I accept? Whose authority has the right to command my allegiance? Whose authority calls for my obedience? Shall I obey my creator, who died for me, or shall I obey the anti-Christ power, who could care less for me? Whom will I obey? When Peter and the boys, the Disciples, were hauled in before the authorities in Jerusalem and they asked them to recant, Peter cried out to the judges, "We ought to obey God rather than man. We ought to obey God rather than man. As we'll find out next time, blue laws, Sunday laws, on steroids are headed this way. I'll tell you about a meeting that's taking place as we speak right now in Colorado. I'll tell you about it next time. They're pulling together. The coalition is building. Choose you this day whom you will serve. If God is God, follow Him. If Baal is God, follow Him. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Amen and amen. Take out your Connect Card. It's on the screen here -- pmchurch.org/connect. And you go drop down when you get to that page. You drop down to "Connect" and you'll see this Connect Card. We'll put it on the screen right now. Our next steps. My next step today is box number 1 -- "I accept Jesus as Lord of the seventh-day Sabbath." Many of you are gonna put a check mark right there because it's easy to. You've grown up with it. There are people watching across this nation and around the world right now -- live stream and on the web and television -- for whom this has been a new teaching. And I'm speaking to you right now. If you're wrestling with this for the first time, I want you to see that second box. "I need something. I need something to study. Send me something electronically." You put your e-mail address on that form -- you see the spot for it -- I'll send you something electronically. It's time that you study this out for yourself. Don't take my word for it. [ Scoffs ] Who am I? I'm just a believer, like you, in that book. Take the word of the Word of God as the choice for why you do what you do, and it will be clear to you, I promise you. Box number 3 -- I'd like to be baptized into Christ. For some reason, you put it off. You're young. You got time, you keep telling yourself. You don't have time. I keep telling you, you don't have time. If you have not surrendered your life to Jesus and you're not baptized into Christ, you just put a check mark there and give me an e-mail address. We'll be back in touch with you. Please. It's time. I'm gonna pray with you in a moment, but you got to listen to our closing hymn. Just three short stanzas, but just listen to this. Don't move, don't go anywhere. Stay right here. We'll end with a prayer. Let's stand. Oh, great Creator King, through your redeeming grace, renew our hearts, renew our lives. We know where we are on the journey of time. We see what's coming. But you've called us, as children of the Creator and savior, to stand tall for you. And so, Lord, enable every person listening now anywhere on this planet that same courage, that same trust. The best is yet to come through our Lord Jesus. In His name, we pray. Amen. I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us in worship today. It's by the continued support from viewers like you that we're able to bring you this program. Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, e-mails from viewers literally all over the world, telling me, "Look, Dwight. God has been blessing me this way. He's been doing this." I would love to hear from you, as well. Just visit our website -- you know it, newperceptions.tv -- and click on the contact link at the top of the page. Send me a note. Let me know what God has been doing right now in your life. Once again, thank you for being with us today. I hope you'll join us right here next time, and until then, may the God of grace journey with you every step of the way. ♪♪
