Inverness SDA Church Sermon: - The Rising of the Reformers on these last days.

 Sabbath 31/10/20

Inverness SDA Church Sermon by Tarisai P Ziyambi: - The Rising of the Reformers on these last days.

Opening hymn: 506 [A mighty fortress is our God] by Martin Luther

Closing Hymn : 413 [God has spoken by His prophets]

Scripture reading: John 3:27-31 " John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.He must increase, but I must decrease.He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all".

It's always a blessing to be given yet another opportunity to share the message with you Inverness Church, we never thought that our churches would be still closed until now. Strange developments have occurred this year and we are living in the new abnormal, our civil liberties are set aside in an effort to "circuit break" the tide of Covid19. We have witnessed with horror the beheading of a teacher in France and similar terrorism as a result of abused freedom of expression. The social media giants have been caught up censoring speech and cancel culture for dissent is the tool in the hands of triggered WOKE society. This last spring we witnessed the BLM protests which turned violent with looting and it's reported that the claims on insurance can amount to a billion dollars, even this week we have witnessed the similar violence in Philadelphia after the police killed yet another black man. The tide of racial tension and coupled with highly tribal US 2020 general election has left us all alarmed by the rumours of war and political tribalism which has divided families, communities and countries. The harbingers I just mentioned demonstrate to us that we are in the verge of a stupendous crisis and 'who but God through prophetic message has warned us to flee from the wrath to come?' Unless we prepare ourselves both intellectually and spirituality to be settled into the Truth (by studying and sharing it), we will be like a reed shaken by the wind and will not be able to stand like the brave Hebrew boys on the plain of Dura. Those who stood up against threats of fire or lions dens have left an example of what we ought to be in these darkening days. Today is exactly 503 years since Martin Luther bravely kindled the fire of the reformation by nailing his theses on the Church doors in Wittenberg. The spirit that led this Protestant reformation is needed now, to fulfill Revelation 18:1 "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory". Today I am testifying that indeed the gospel of the kingdom of God is spreading far and wide, the enemy thought to thwart the needed lightning of the earth by faithful messangers but with the lockdown, many have been afforded the wilderness experience and from one zoom various platforms, the voices of ones crying in the wilderness has been heard. The time has also come for you and I to also " Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" Isaiah 60:1-3.

Ezekiel in chapter 37 see our present valley of dry bones, the army of God has a name that they live but we're in a death like stupor. "And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. " verses 3-6. It is interesting that the world instead of remembering the significance of the Protestant reformation which was kindled on this day 503 years ago, the world is celebrating (Halloween) and still holding on to spiritualism which teaches that "ye shall not surely die", the vision of bones moving responding to a voice is interesting one to share today but does not contradict the teaching that the dead are dead and cannot be spoken to and respond, the exception is the only through Christ can the dead live. It's interesting that breath had to enter into the dry bones and they would live, it's not my intention to bring the great mask debate to the pulpit, what I can say is that our spiritual nostrils should be unbridled so that we can receive the Holy Spirit. How can one live without the breath of God entering their within?

"So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts"  verses 7-11.

The prophetic message and the reception of present Truth is the tool that is used by God to resurrect the dry bones. The time of the end is upon us ( see Daniel 11:40), the agents of evil are uniting and consolidating their energies for the last great crisis but in Revelation 17: 14 we are told that there is a lamb that will prevail against the gigantic masterpiece of Satan. In preparation for the last crisis, God will raise up reformers " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" Malachi 4: 5-6. 

It's interesting to learn that Elijah the Tishbite came to the scene at the time of an unholy alliance between the King (Ahab), The woman ( Jezebel) and false prophets of Baal. John the Baptist the second Elijah, came also at a time when the governor Herod and Herodias were also in an unholy alliance as Herodias was Phillip's wife. Salome the false prophetes danced till she was eventually rewarded with John's head on a plate.

"John the Baptist was a reformer. To him was committed a great work for the people of his time. And in preparation for that work, all his habits were carefully regulated, even from his birth...John separated himself from his friends, and from the luxuries of life, dwelling alone in the wilderness, and subsisting upon a purely vegetable diet. The simplicity of his dress—a garment woven of camel’s hair—was a rebuke to the extravagance and display of the people of his generation, especially of the Jewish priests. His diet also, of locusts and wild honey, was a rebuke to the gluttony that everywhere prevailed. - CTBH 38.5

He was a representative of those living in the last days, to whom God has intrusted sacred truths to present before the people, to prepare the way for the second appearing of Christ. And the same principles of temperance which John practiced should be observed by those who in our day are to warn the world of the coming of the Son of man. - CTBH 39.1

In the time of John the Baptist, greed for riches, and the love of luxury and display had become widespread. Sensuous pleasures, feasting and drinking, were causing physical disease and degeneracy, benumbing the spiritual perceptions, and lessening the sensibility to sin. John was to stand as a reformer. By his abstemious life and plain dress he was to rebuke the excesses of his time. Hence the directions given to the parents of John,—a lesson of temperance by an angel from the throne of heaven. - DA 100.5

John represented himself as the friend who acted as a messenger between the betrothed parties, preparing the way for the marriage. When the bridegroom had received his bride, the mission of the friend was fulfilled. He rejoiced in the happiness of those whose union he had promoted. So John had been called to direct the people to Jesus, and it was his joy to witness the success of the Saviour’s work. He said, “This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” - DA 179.3

Looking in faith to the Redeemer, John had risen to the height of self-abnegation. He sought not to attract men to himself, but to lift their thoughts higher and still higher, until they should rest upon the Lamb of God. He himself had been only a voice, a cry in the wilderness. Now with joy he accepted silence and obscurity, that the eyes of all might be turned to the Light of life. - DA 179.4

All who would perfect holiness in the fear of God must learn the lessons of temperance and self-control. The appetites and passions must be held in subjection to the higher powers of the mind. This self-discipline is essential to that mental strength and spiritual insight which will enable us to understand and to practice the sacred truths of God’s word. For this reason temperance finds its place in the work of preparation for Christ’s second coming. - DA 101.2

Unless we are able to have self-discipline we will not have mental strength and spiritual insight which will enable us to understand and to practice the sacred truths of God’s word. Our testimony will contradict the light we profess to have and be turned into darkness. "The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. In all human experience a theoretical knowledge of the truth has been proved to be insufficient for the saving of the soul. It does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness. A jealous regard for what is termed theological truth often accompanies a hatred of genuine truth as made manifest in life. The darkest chapters of history are burdened with the record of crimes committed by bigoted religionists. The Pharisees claimed to be children of Abraham, and boasted of their possession of the oracles of God; yet these advantages did not preserve them from selfishness, malignity, greed for gain, and the basest hypocrisy. They thought themselves the greatest religionists of the world, but their so-called orthodoxy led them to crucify the Lord of glory" DA 309.2.

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" Isaiah 8:20. If you therefore think yourself the greatest religionist of the world your testimony should harmonise with the the standard of righteousness, the law of God as exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ. When we see the hypocrisy in our lives and in Christianity, we then should know that reformation is needed. We are living in the age of falsehood, many Christians are now two faced lamb-like beasts who can easily be bought or sold, reeds shaken by the wind.

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet" Revelation 16:13

The unclean spirit out of the mouth of the false prophet is the fire that comes from untamed tongue. The terrorism in France this week and it's causes cannot be ignored because it touches on the freedom of expression and speech and it's limitations. In the Scriptures we are told regarding the tongue (speech), "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be" James 3:5-10. From these verses, we realize that the our words matter and should be used with wisdom, I understand also that we often err when exercising this right and the Christian will make effort to remedy the resulting harm by the tongue. 

Apostle James continues to say that "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace" James 3:13-18.

The rightful use of the tongue should also be coupled with freedom to offend without censorship or the extremes of beheadings. John the Baptist was beheaded for speaking against the adultery of Herod and Herodias ( Phillip's wife). The attempt by the state to limit freedom of speech to avoid such violence is itself Orwellian. The totalitarian regimes benefit by limiting speech for the purpose of the "common good". It requires patriotism to defend fundamental freedoms which have been acquired through the spilling of blood by our founding fathers.

"The first point in this inquiry is, What is patriotism in any country? What is patriotism in itself? Patriotism is usually defined, in brief; as love of country; but love of country is more than the love of the mountains and hills, the plains, valleys, rivers, and rills, of which the country is composed. More fully defined, patriotism is the spirit which prompts obedience to the laws of one’s country, and to the support and defense of its existence, rights, and institutions. Thus, love of country is really love of the institutions and the principles which make a country what it is in all respects. If love of country were simply love of the mountains and hills, valleys and plains, rivers and rills,—the landscape,—of which the country is composed, there could never be any such thing as civil war; for plainly there could never be any dispute over that, among people inhabiting the same territory. It is evident, therefore, that patriotism in truth lies in love of the principles and institutions which make a country what it is in all respects it is loyalty to those specific principles and institutions. Hence, the patriot is correctly defined as “any defender of liberty, civil or religious.” A.T Jones [ What is Patriotism in the United States].

So what are those liberties, civil or religious we ought to be in patriotic about?"There can be no question but that the Declaration of Independence was the beginning of this nation ( United States of America). And the first principle embodied in that immortal declaration is that “all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. The first and greatest of all the rights of men is religious right. And “religion” is “the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it.” The first of all duties is to the Creator, because to him we owe our existence. Therefore the first of all commandments, and the first that there can possibly be, is this: “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” Mark 12 : 29, 30.

Calvinism has also had profound effects upon the development of Western Law,and especially upon American law. The Puritans carried forward the Lutheran concept of the sanctity of individual conscience and also, in law, the sanctity of individual will be as reflected in property and contract rights... Seventeenth century Puritans, including men like John Hampden, John Lilburne, Walter Udall, William Penn and others, by their disobedience to English law, laid the foundations for the English and American law of civil rights and civil liberties as expressed in our respective constitutions: freedom of speech and press, free exercise of religion, the privilege against self-incrimination, the independence of the jury from judicial dictation, the right not to be imprisoned without cause, and many other such rights and freedoms. We also owe to Calvinist congregationalism the religious basis of our concepts of social contract and government by consent of the governed" Berman, The Interaction of Law and Religion, 66-67 in Robbins Ecclesiastical Megalomania Pg 22-23.

Foremost among those who were called to lead the church from the darkness of popery into the light of a purer faith, stood Martin Luther. Zealous, ardent, and devoted, knowing no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foundation for religious faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther was the man for his time; through him, God accomplished a great work for the reformation of the church and the enlightenment of the world. - GC88 120.1

The fear of the Lord dwelt in the heart of Luther, enabling him to maintain his steadfastness of purpose, and leading him to deep humility before God. He had an abiding sense of his dependence upon divine aid, and he did not fail to begin each day with prayer, while his heart was continually breathing a petition for guidance and support. “To pray well,” he often said, “is the better half of study.” - GC88 122.1

“It is incredible,” he wrote, “what sins and atrocities are committed in Rome; they must be seen and heard to be believed. So that it is usual to say, ‘If there be a hell, Rome is built above it. It is an abyss whence all sins proceed.” - GC88 124.3

He firmly declared that Christians should receive no other doctrines than those which rest on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. But light and darkness cannot harmonize. Between truth and error there is an irrepressible conflict. To uphold and defend the one is to attack and overthrow the other. Our Saviour himself declared, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” [Matthew 10:34.] Said Luther, a few years after the opening of the Reformation, “God does not conduct, but drives me forward. I am not master of my own actions. I would gladly live in repose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and revolutions.” He was now about to be urged into the contest. - GC88 126.3

The Roman Church had made merchandise of the grace of God. The tables of the money-changers [Matthew 21:12.] were set up beside her altars, and the air resounded with the shouts of buyers and sellers. Under the plea of raising funds for the erection of St. Peter’s church at Rome, indulgences for sin were publicly offered for sale by the authority of the pope. By the price of crime a temple was to be built up for God’s worship,—the corner-stone laid with the wages of iniquity. But the very means adopted for Rome’s aggrandizement provoked the deadliest blow to her power and greatness. It was this that aroused the most determined and successful of the enemies of popery, and led to the battle which shook the papal throne, and jostled the triple crown upon the pontiff’s head...The doctrine of indulgences had been opposed by men of learning and piety in the Romish Church, and there were many who had no faith in pretensions so contrary to both reason and revelation. No prelate dared lift his voice against this iniquitous traffic, but the minds of men were becoming disturbed and uneasy, and many eagerly inquired if God would not work through some instrumentality for the purification of his church. GC 128.2

Luther, though still a papist of the straitest sort, was filled with horror at the blasphemous assumptions of the indulgence-mongers. Many of his own congregation had purchased certificates of pardon, and they soon began to come to their pastor, confessing their various sins, and expecting absolution, not because they were penitent and wished to reform, but on the ground of the indulgence. Luther refused them absolution, and warned them that unless they should repent and reform their lives, they must perish in their sins. In great perplexity they repaired to Tetzel with the complaint that their confessor had refused his certificates; and some boldly demanded that their money be returned to them. The friar was filled with rage. He uttered the most terrible curses, caused fires to be lighted in the public squares, and declared that he had orders from the pope “to burn the heretics who dared oppose his most holy indulgences.” - GC88 128.3

Luther now entered boldly upon his work as a champion of the truth. His voice was heard from the pulpit in earnest, solemn warning. He set before the people the offensive character of sin, and taught them that it is impossible for man, by his own works, to lessen its guilt or evade its punishment. Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased; it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy the indulgences, but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He related his own painful experience on vainly seeking by humiliation and penance to secure salvation, and assured his hearers that it was by looking away from himself and believing in Christ that he found peace and joy. - GC88 129.1

As Tetzel continued his traffic and his impious pretensions, Luther determined upon a more effectual protest against these crying abuses. An occasion soon offered. The castle church of Wittenberg possessed many relics, which on certain holy days were exhibited to the people, and full remission of sins was granted to all who then visited the church and made confession. According on these days the people in great numbers resorted thither. One of the most important of these occasions, the festival of “All-Saints,” was approaching. On the preceding day, Luther, joining the crowds that were already making their way to the church, posted on its door a paper containing ninety-five propositions against the doctrine of indulgences. He declared his willingness to defend these theses next day at the university, against all who should see fit to attack them. 

His propositions attracted universal attention. They were read and re-read and repeated in every direction. Great excitement was created in the university and in the whole city. By these theses it was shown that the power to grant the pardon of sin, and to remit its penalty, had never been committed to the pope or to any other man. The whole scheme was a farce,—an artifice to extort money by playing upon the superstitions of the people,—a device of Satan to destroy the souls of all who should trust to its lying pretensions. It was also clearly shown that the gospel of Christ is the most valuable treasure of the church, and that the grace of God, therein revealed, is freely bestowed upon all who seek it by repentance and faith. - GC88 129.3

The writings of Luther had kindled everywhere a new interest in the Holy Scriptures, and not only from all parts of Germany, but from other lands, students flocked to the university. Young men, coming in sight of Wittenberg for the first time, would “raise their hands to heaven, and bless God for having caused the light of truth to shine forth from Wittenberg, as in former ages from Mount Zion, that it might penetrate to the most distant lands.” 

Opposition is the lot of all whom God employs to present truths specially applicable to their time. There was a present truth in the days of Luther,—a truth at that time of special importance; there is a present truth for the church today. He who does all things according to the counsel of his will, has been pleased to place men under various circumstances, and to enjoin upon them duties peculiar to the times in which they live, and the conditions under which they are placed. If they would prize the light given them, broader views of truth would be opened before them. But truth is no more desired by the majority today than it was by the papists who opposed Luther. There is the same disposition to accept the theories and traditions of men instead of the Word of God as in former ages. Those who present the truth for this time should not expect to be received with greater favor than were earlier reformers. The great controversy between truth and error, between Christ and Satan, is to increase in intensity to the close of this world’s history. - GC88 143.3

Said Jesus to his disciples: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” [John 15:19, 20.] And on the other hand our Lord declared plainly: “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. [Luke 6:26.] The spirit of the world is no more in harmony with the Spirit of Christ today than in earlier times; and those who preach the Word of God in its purity will be received with no greater favor now than then. The forms of opposition to the truth may change, the enmity may be less open because it is more subtle; but the same antagonism still exists, and will be manifested to the end of time. - GC88 144.1