The sermon is based on an article I wrote earlier. You can read the article here.
Tag / tampa first seventh-day adventist church
Is Truth a Popularity Contest?
And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. Revelation 13:8 NLT
Sadly many put their confidence in popular opinion, while the Bible tells us the vast majority of the world will worship the beast.
Interestingly while Jesus claimed to be God, the majority accused Him of blasphemy and had Him crucified for making such a claim. Later the beast claims to be God, but, instead of accusing him of blasphemy, the majority worships him. Truth is clearly not a popularity contest.
Occasionally, at church or the Adventist school where I teach Bible and evangelism, someone will ask me, “What do we believe about such and such?” My response has always been, “I don’t know what you believe, but here is what I and many Seventh-day Adventists believe,” and I show them in the Bible what I believe and why. I am not going to tell someone what they believe. That is not teaching. That’s brainwashing. Besides truth is not truth just because everyone in the Adventist church believes it. Truth is not a popularity contest in the church or the world. Truth is truth only if the Bible supports it.
During the Dark Ages, when people did not have access to the Bible, people trusted their priests to tell them what they believed, and because of that there was a lot of brainwashing going on.
Even before the Dark Ages, priests abused their authority, and tried to brainwash people into believing whatever they believed. This happened in Jesus’ day when those in “authority” were trying to capture Jesus.
When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
“We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
“Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? John 7:45-48 NLT
The guards experienced and heard the Word of God speaking to them and believed. Since the Pharisees did not want to believe, they mocked at this. In John 7 the Pharisees misconstrued Scripture to try and prove their point, but amazingly, instead of hanging their hat on Scripture, they hung it on the fact that none of the rulers or leaders believed. Is truth a popularity contest? If everyone else believes something is it right, and if no one else believes it, then is it wrong? Is that how it works?
The number of people who believe something simply because everyone else believes it is staggering. Take the state of the dead for example. Years ago I attended the funeral of a dear Adventist saint. Her family believed in the immortality of the soul and asked the Adventist preacher doing her funeral to “put her in heaven now.” The pastor replied that he could not do that since it simply is not true. However he told them he believed in liberty of conscience and freedom of speech so if one of them wanted to stand up and say she was in heaven, they could. So one of the family members stood up and talked about how her grandmother was now in heaven. I remember she kept saying “we cling to this!” Very emphatically, yet she gave no Scriptural reference other than that is what everyone believes. So I am not sure exactly what it was she was clinging to other than popular belief. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul tells us to “comfort each other with these words” about the resurrection. Sadly instead of comforting each other with the words Paul told us to use to comfort each other, many people use phrases about going straight to heaven when you die that are nowhere in the Bible and Paul nor anyone else ever suggested that we use. Sadly those phrases have been used so often that people believe it because they have heard it so many times.
When it comes to Sabbath keeping, I have heard so many people say that Sunday must be the true day because the whole world can’t be wrong. They forget that at the time of the flood only 8 people were right! Truth is not a popularity contest.
And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. Acts 17:11 NLT
Like the temple guards, the Bereans were interested in new ideas as long as they were found in Scripture. They didn’t believe something because Paul and Silas believed it or because a ruler did. On their own they searched the Scriptures daily to find truth.
I have heard Seventh-day Adventists telling their Baptist and Methodist friends to search the Bible for themselves because their pastors could be wrong. I have watched some of the same Seventh-day Adventists listening to their own favorite Adventist preachers, without bothering to search the Scriptures, because, after all, their pastor is Adventist, so he is automatically right, right? Wrong! We all make mistakes, as we all continue to learn and grow.
Let’s not be like the foolish Pharisees in John 7, who hung their hats on how many people believed or did not believe something. Truth is not a popularity contest. Let’s search the Scriptures ourselves to find truth.
You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.
The Powerful Privilege of Prayer
Does God Expect us to Give Even When We’re Broke?
Why Did God Strike Uzzah? -Comparing Scripture with Scripture
What did Jesus Mean by “Fulfill” and ‘Till” in Matthew 5:17-18?
This week’s Sabbath School lesson.
The Sabbath before and after the cross.
Seventh-day Adventists are familiar with something Jesus said in the sermon on the mount.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17-18 NKJV
We understand that Jesus was endorsing the law. Some though have tried to say that once Jesus fulfilled everything that He then did away with the law. They claim Jesus said “till” all is fulfilled. So did Jesus mean the law would only last till He fulfilled everything on the cross? Well let’s look at how the world “till” is used in Scripture. Paul tells Timothy,
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:13 NKJV
Did Paul mean for Timothy to stop reading and exhorting with doctrine once he got there? After all he said, “Till I come.” Of course not. Just like today, if you child is struggling with her homework and you tell her, “I will be home to help you in a few minutes. Hang in there till I get there,” you don’t mean for her to give up once you get there. Just as by saying “till I get there” you did not mean for her to stop once you got there, so Jesus did not mean for us to stop keeping the law once He “fulfilled” it. By fulfilling the law Jesus showed us how to keep the law fully. To fill means to make full, and Jesus showed us how to keep the fullness of the law by fulfilling the law .Some have the idea that Jesus emptied the law by filling it. Yet logic shows us to fulfill is to make full and not to make empty.
We see this truth as it is in Jesus in Matthew 3:15 Jesus tells John to baptize him to fulfill all righteousness. Once Jesus fulfilled the rite of baptism did he then abolish it? No. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus told his disciples to go baptize. By fulfilling baptism Jesus gave us all an example to continue following instead of discarding. Likewise by fulfilling the law Jesus gave us an example to continue in the law instead of discarding the law. We see that truth as it is in Jesus, that while no one was ever saved or will ever be saved by the law in either the Old or New Testament, the law is still our guide. Jesus shows us how to fulfill the law by being our example. He tells us, If you love me, Keep my commandments.” John 14;15.
Mother’s Day Tribute
I think its awesome how we all think we had the best mother in the world. That shows God gave each of us the perfect mother for us. I also sincerely am thankful for other mentors in my life besides my mother. I remember in 10th grade when my friend was moving out of state, when I told his family goodbye his mother gave me a piece of advice that I remember to to this day. She told me to always aim for the highest goals because you will never get more than what you aim for so just aim for the highest.
Video- Punishment of the Wicked in Light of the Cross
Are Study Bibles Inspired?
I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.
You may listen to the podcast version of this article here.
Study Bibles for the most part can be a huge blessing. However as a young Bible Worker back in the 1990’s I found them to be very challenging. Numerous times I would begin Bible studies with someone who knew very little about the Bible. They would run out to a bookstore in the community and buy a Study Bible, which they would be very proud to show me at our next Bible study. I would hide my disappointment and act happy for them. But almost always, later when the notes in their study Bible would contradict a Bible principle I was teaching I would need to remind them that the study notes are not inspired. Of course a more seasoned Bible student would realize that more readily than a new Bible student who was looking for something to cling to. Of course when I disagreed with the study notes, both the Bible student and I obviously realized I was not inspired either. So we would have to keep comparing Scripture with Scripture to get our final conclusions.
Even as Adventists we must understand we learn truth by comparing Scripture with Scripture, and not by comparing Scripture with our favorite authors or preachers. Our Adventist pioneers came out of various protestant churches and sat down together to study out different doctrines in the Bible. Even though their group Bible studies led to the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, our Adventist pioneers studied these things out for themselves. They did not study the Bible for us. It is still up to us to compare Scripture with Scripture just as they did so we too can know what is truth. The counsel given to Timothy is for all of us.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
Paul did not study for Timothy. Timothy had to study the Scriptures for himself. Likewise our Adventist pioneers did not study the Scriptures for you. You must study them for yourself.
Likewise commentaries like Study Bibles can be helpful, but keep in mind they are not inspired. In 1953 a group of dedicated people put together the 7 volume Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary. as scholarly and Spirit led as they were even they recognized their human limitations and fallibility. For example:
For such errors as may appear in these volumes we plead not only the indulgence of the reader but also his [or her] cooperation, so that future printings may come ever near to perfection. -Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1 Page 17.
and also,
This commentary is published with no thought of presenting a creed or determining for all time the denominational interpretation of any passage of Scripture. Neither the contributors nor the editors possess either the power or the desire to do so. Let this fact be clearly understood at the outset. -Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1 Page 18.
Let me make myself clear that I am not telling anyone to throw away their Study notes or commentaries. What I am saying is, remember study notes and commentaries are not on the same level as Scripture. Scripture is inspired and infallible. Notes in study Bibles and commentaries are not infallible.
You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.
In Light of The Cross 