EVIL LATTER DAYS (1)
Pastor Enrique Ivaldi - Christ Our Righteousness Congregation
A Sermon Delivered in June 24, 2006. 2 PETER 1, 12.
1. Jesus is coming soon and the gospel of John says in the eleventh chapter that He died not only for that nation, but that He might gather together all the people scattered abroad into one. St Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 1: that in the fullness of time He might gather together all in one. It is just going to be one big church. Don’t you want to go? Oh, friend, determine today that you are going to do whatever thing, follow the teaching in the Bible, do whatever you need to do, in order not to miss out on this. This is all-important; I mean, to be ready to go. Have you ever imagined in your mind’s eye what it is going to be like to go to church in heaven? We are going to go; the Bible says in Isaiah 66 that every Sabbath all flesh is going to come together and worship. Have you ever tried to imagine in your mind what it is going to be like to come together and worship in the heavenly city? Think of all the people who you love that you cannot worship with right now because they are asleep in Jesus, 1 Thess 4, but they are going to be there and you are all going to be together and are going to worship the Lord. It is going to be so moving. --- Oh, friends, be faithful today, make a pledge with the Lord. Say, ‘Lord, I am willing, whatever thy design is for me, I am willing to follow thee and do whatever thou wanteth me to do.’ Make a pledge with the Lord today. Brethren, the only thing, the only kind of loyalty that means anything to God is from the heart. That is the only thing that means anything to God. He is not interested in pretense; in fact, He cannot stand it.
2. The subject I want to study with you about I could have entitled «In harmony with the Providence of God.» We could introduce this subject in either the Old or the New Testament. Both have a lot to say about this subject. Proverbs 4.18 is a familiar verse that I hope you have memorized. ‘But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.’ Notice it does not say the room of the just, it says the path of the just. What is a path? A path is some place where you walk. As you walk that path, if you stay on the path the light is going to get more and more and more. But it is also true, friend, that if you do not keep walking on the path, the light is going to become darkness because the light is moving.
3. The Bible talks about truth (2 Peter 1.12.) There are certain things that can be preached at one time that cannot be preached at another time. Noah preached a message about a flood; that was present truth then. There are some truths that are timeless, but there is some truth that is present truth. Present truth today is not exactly the same as it was a hundred years ago, do you believe that? Remnant groups undergo huge troubles to reach the good agreement that leads to accord, because they think is not open to discussion to apply to a church in emergency in 21 century the methods used by Saxons residing in the States in 19 century, people who obviously had a diverse insight on the same truths, ministering to an sprouting church, under conditions far better than ours. Well, this is something absurd; but they blindly persist in such attitudes: and doing so they don’t even get fellowship with Christians of a similar persuasion, but are at odds among them & thus go ahead, in proud self destruction. Present truth today is not exactly the same as it was a hundred years ago.
4. The light is moving. Perhaps there was a time when that people said that was not true, but it is true today.
5. Friends, the Lord has been impressing upon my mind that very soon God’s sincere servants are going to have to preach things that we never thought we were going to preach. I have been asking the Lord to prepare my heart and my mind. Do you realize we are in a situation very similar to the Jews in the time of Christ? The devil had manipulated them into a situation through what they had been taught and what they had believed, where they were ready to reject the truth. Notice what Jesus said about this in the gospel of John. « Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.» John 12.35---36. It goes on to say that although He had done all these miracles in front of them they did not believe. They had built up a list of criteria, some articles of faith, & said if it is the Christ it has to meet these criteria, and we can prove it from the Old Testament. Jesus didn’t meet their criteria. Let me tell you, friends, when prophecy is fulfilled, if you study religious history you will find that almost every time, it is not fulfilled in the way that we have in our preconceived ideas thought it would be fulfilled.
6. See brethren, if you are not walking in the light, if you step back a step, then pretty soon the light is two steps ahead of you, then three steps, and then pretty soon you are in the dark. People who were once in the light are now in the dark. They think they are still in the light; I think in tiny American synods, people in Europe making Walther or Pieper ‘the prophet;’ and, you see this, the Jews thought they were still in the light but they were not in the light at all. Jesus made it very plain to them that they were not in the light. Jesus says, «I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness» John 12.46. They were in the dark and thought they were in the light.
7. Jesus says, «Walk while ye have the light.» Step fast, friends, because the light today is moving quickly. If you do not step fast you are going to be in the dark and you will lose your soul and not even know until it is too late. Jesus said, «While you have the light, walk in it.» Because if you do not the darkness is going to overtake you and you will not even know where you are going. You will think you are headed for the kingdom of heaven and when Jesus comes you will have the most awful bitter shock of your life and find out that you are lost and it is too late and there is no second chance.
8. The Bible let us know that in the latter days faith shall be scarce in earth & the love of most of people shall wax cold, Lu 18.8; Matt 24.12. Then is obvious that only a few Christians among the crowd of profess-ants [nominal Christians] would be saved. ‘What that means Pastor?’ asks one. Well, very soon we are going to find out, friends. Walk ye in the light. « Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.» John 12.35.
9. When God reveals that something is so, when something is the truth, and God reveals by His Holy Spirit that that is the truth, that truth is to stand and no later suppositions contrary to the light are to be entertained. When God reveals what is truth that truth is to stand and no later suppositions, or after suppositions, contrary to the light are to be entertained. Do you believe this? Are there some things that God has revealed as the truth? Friends, bible prophecy, just as we’ve been studying and teaching it along the years, it’s true; and it will remain. It will stand. --- Our understanding is probably made wider step-by-step, as the prophecies are fulfilled. Papacy has been the Antichrist and still is the Antichrist; although another bigger than it has usurped of late its crown & power and now uses it from within in the aim for a global government’s agenda. It is ‘a moral body of individuals,’ thousands of men placed in key places, in all countries, in all disciplines, ranks; all levels? Yes, it is this way. It perceptibly started by the French Revolution. «The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is…» «And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.» Rev 17. --- Here is wisdom, brethren and sisters in the Lord. --- That is the truth. The God of heaven, the Holy Ghost, witnesses that that’s the truth. How dare we engage in discussions over something and have opposing viewpoints over something that God has already told us is the truth. Ah, let me tell you, friends, if you turn your back on something that God has revealed through His Holy Spirit as the truth, God is not going to work a wonder to save you. You are just going to go right out into darkness and that is going to be the end. You will think you are following the light; the devil will provide his light for you, but it will not lead you to the right place.
10. Jesus said the one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. He thinks he is going to heaven but he is not. This concept of a spiritual light that is moving and the person who does not keep walking in the light finds himself in the dark, explains many spiritual phenomenon that are happening all around us that otherwise would be very confusing. --- May I ask you a question? Do you believe God arranged the old Israel church organization or that He had a hand in setting it up? Was there a time when they were in the light? Yes there was. They had been called by God and chosen as His special people. That passed back there when still they were Jacob-Israel’s lineage. At those days there were people sharing communion within the twelve tribes. They had been in the light. They had, friends, the spirit of prophecy. They had all the Old Testament; that is the spirit of prophecy. After that they went to the Babylonian captivity. When they come out of Babylon turning back to Jerusalem they did it as Judaism, the kind of religion confronting our Lord all through His ministry. They were any longer the old Israel of God, they were but the Jews. Well, when the light moved, they did not move with it. God had more light for them and they would not accept it. They stayed put and as a result they were left in the dark.
11. Jesus is the light of the world. I want you to notice Revelation 14 and what it says about the 144,000. «These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.» When the light moves (Jesus is the light of the world,) the 144,000 follow. The problem today is that when the light moves, there are so many people who do not follow it, they stay-put. They get left in the dark and are then spiritually blind. There was a time when they were in the light but the light moved and they did not move with it. As the ecclesiastical authorities rejected the light and life of men in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every ensuing generation for churcheaucracies. That is quite a statement. And, do you know what the word every means? In means that in every single succeeding generation the same thing has happened. Again and again the history of Christ’s withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God, they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church; but ‘the religious leaders’ would not tolerate the light. What happened? The religious leaders would not walk in the light. What happened then? Those that bore it were forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. Let me stop right here my preaching for just a moment and make an appeal to you. If you do not have in your heart right now a deep, earnest longing and love for truth, go home and pray and ask the Lord to give you a love for the truth. If you do not have a love for the truth you are going to be lost. Just read 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter. Everyone who does not love the truth is going to be deceived. In your heart right now, if you do not have an earnest, deep, sincere craving, longing for truth, if you do not love the truth, if you are not willing to walk in the truth, go home to your secret place & say, «Lord, please change my heart and give me a love for the truth.» Friends, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14.6). If you do not love truth, you do not love Him, no matter what you profess.
12. You know, in our day hardly any of the professed followers of the Reformers are set-off by their spirit. Few are listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever dress it may be presented. I do not know how many times I have prayed, ‘Lord, help me to accept the truth, however you decide to send it.’ I did change friends. I realized how many false doctrines had been taught, and I made amends, I followed the truth, no matter the price. Now let me tell you people, there are a lot of men who will not accept truth that comes from a few men, small congregations, independent Pastors. --- Would you accept the truth if God sent it to you from people that had less chances than you are and less ‘theological educated’ than you and not as smart as you are? Would you accept the truth if God sent you a message of truth through a humble man holding to his Bible to death? Or would you say, ‘I have a campus education. They couldn’t possibly know something that I do not know.’ Have you ever thought through that you do not get to decide how God is going to send you the truth? I always say to the people that I’m always amazed at the excuses people would give for not believing the truth. ‘The preacher was boring.’ Now, I have wondered, when people get to the Day of Judgment and are lost, are they going to feel better about being lost if they have a good excuse than the people who had poor excuses? Do you suppose they will? They are all outside the Holy City and one fellow says, ‘I am better off than he is; I have a good excuse for being here. My preacher was boring. I didn’t like his personality. Church members were unfriendly. The school I went to was too strict. That person over there belonged to the church and they hurt my feelings.’ How is all that going to sound outside the Holy City? Is that the excuse you want to give to the Lord because you did not follow the truth?
13. O many times those who are seeking for light are by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they may render obedience. As the churchly authorities rejected the light and life of men in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. --- You see it friends, we are living in a time that a few years ago nobody expected to see. People used to thought that it would be only from the outside that we would be persecuted and oppressed. But we have far more to fear from within than from without. Who would have thought that in Christendom the apostasy would become so great that in many places it would become spiritually dangerous to even attend the local smaller congregation because error was being forced home to the people? --- But when we go to the Scriptures we see all of this prophesied --- we just did not understand it, we did not see how all that could happen. People did not expect it to happen just the way it has but nevertheless it has been prophesied. Some had said that these things would not happen until after the Death Decrees. Friends, that theory is a dangerous deception. The Death Decrees does not initiate the-tribulation-the-bigger, it brings the tribulation to a climax, it brings on the end of the tribulation. We are in the tribulation right now and it is going to get worse and those who are waiting to take a bold unyielding stand for the truth until the Death Decrees test are simply preparing to receive the mark of the beast.
14. And finally if you are not hearing the genuine doctrines of true Reformers and heirs preached in your church, if you are hearing the same kinds of sermons that you could hear in any other ‘evangelical’ church, then you are in troubles & you are endangering your soul if you do not either find a Remnant congregation or start a home church where you can teach the truth to at least your own family. Our opportunities for learning and knowing God’s last message to a perishing world & being prepared for what is coming on the world are very limited at best --- and we dare not allow ourselves and our families to be exposed to either heretical preaching or ‘peace and safety’ messages that come just before destruction (1 Thessalonians 5.1--- 2.) Brethren, we have no time to throw away in listening to fables. Our minds should not be thus diverted, but should be occupied with the present truth, and seeking wisdom that we may obtain a more thorough knowledge of our position, that with meekness we may be able to give a reason of our hope from the Scriptures. While false doctrines and dangerous errors are pressed upon the mind, we cannot but go ahead dwelling upon the truth which is to fit & prepare Christ’s Congregation to stand in the day of the Lord.
15. Every Gottesdienst after church you should be more fitted to stand in the day of the Lord than before. Those who link in sympathy with the world will surely be destroyed. Not all who profess to keep the pure doctrine will be sealed. Many renowned Ministers will fall over like stars from heavens. I knew some of them in my lifetime. Men of finite judgment cannot see that in patterning after these men who have so often opened to them the treasures of God’s word, they will surely endanger their souls. However high any minister may have stood in the favour of God, if he neglects to follow out the light given him of God, if he refuses to be taught as a little child, he will go into darkness and satanic delusions & will lead others in the same path. It is now that we must keep our children and ourselves unspotted from the world. Ah, what a big fight is this! Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly shape and preparing for the mark of the beast. Study the entire chapters of the Scriptures I did mention today, friends, and then how could you ever say that it does not matter which congregation you attend or what preacher you are listening to? The choice as to which church you attend could easily determine the eternal destiny of your entire family.
16. Now, pray, tell me, did the Jews have the spirit of Prophecy? Yes, they did. But when the greatest prophet, Elias, came to them they rejected him and the result was that they were not ready to accept the Messiah. Now in spite of everything that had happened --- they had been in apostasy for hundreds of years --- if they would have accepted Elias’ message they would have gotten turned around. When I say Elias here I’m talking about John the Baptist, the ‘Friend of the Bridegroom,’ as the old fathers called him. --- You know, one of the things what’re so amazing to me when I study sacred history is the mercy of God. I cannot take it in. For instance, the mercy of God on us, I cannot take in. And I believe in preaching straight because I want to see every of you saved. I want to see not just the people out in the world saved; I would like to see ‘almost Christians’ saved, would you? Friends, they are not going to be saved unless someone tells them the present truth, the whole truth for the latter days.
17. Let’s follow what happened. The Jews rejected Elias/John and as a result they were not prepared for the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. In spite of everything else that had happened as far as apostasy, if they had accepted the Elias’ message they would have received Christ. John the Baptist told them who the Christ was; he said, ‘This is Him.’ He told them exactly who Christ was. If they had accepted John the Baptist they would have accepted Jesus. We have ‘a tiny congregation Elias prophet,’ don’t we? Do you know that if you listen to our message and read & study and obey the Word, you will be saved? God does not play games, friends. Be sure about.
18. You know brethren, if the people of this world, not just Christians in our fellowship, did not have all these false teachers and just the Bible and believed it like it reads, not a single soul would be lost --- not one. The word of salvation is big enough to save everyone in the world, but if you do not walk in the light, the light moves and you are left in the dark. – Well, it’s enough for today. Our dear Lord willing, we shall close the issue the next time. Grant He all us are humbled by His truths. Amen.
May the Lord bless His Word in our hearts, by Christ’s merits. Amen. And amen.
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Emitte Agnum, Domine, dominatorem terræ,
de Petra deserti ad montem filiæ Sion. Isaíæ XVI, 1.
(Send thou, O LORD, the Lamb ruler of the land, from the wilderness of Petra to the Mount of the daughter of Sion. Is 16, 1.)
posted by Barruel @ 10:23 AM
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