Eugene Prewitt

Ouachita Hills College

Brief Thoughts on the Final Test


Let's kneel for prayer. Our Father in heaven, I ask that you would join us here this morning, that you'd help us to understand your holy Bible. I ask for this gift in the name of Jesus, amen. I have good news, good news. Very good news.

For those in Revelation class, I have prepared this morning a one-page review for the essay on the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God. You know, that was a 19-page document, right? So how many of you would like to say thank you to me for that. Thank you. You're welcome.

All right, Eric. Good. And we're gonna talk some about some things on here this morning for worship. Then tomorrow, God willing, if I can, if I'm successful, I will have a one-page review on the judgment. And maybe that'll set a pattern that'll just help you in this week to process and get things done.

Turn with me to your Bibles to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Now I'll just give you a hint for those of you who ever are teaching in a school like this in the future. If you have worship the morning of finals, if you don't do something like this, you might have low attendance. And I just thought for you.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, and we're looking at verse 6. And these words, which I command thee this day, What does it say? Shall be in thine heart. Now when you hear that, shall be in thine heart, I hope it reminds you of Matthew 12, where you hear out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So the idea, when you put those verses together, is that the words that you hear, that God commands us, God's commands are to be in our heart, but that's because His commands are to be in our lips.

Let's go on to verse 7. Do you see it in verse 7? And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. If you see the connection between verse 6 and 7, the commands of God are to be in our heart, but when they're in our heart, they ought to be in our mouth.

And so in verse 7, we teach them diligently to our children. Look at verse 8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. So here's the metaphor that makes itself so apparent in the book of Revelation. A metaphor of the commands of God being as if they're in our hand or as if they're in our forehead.

We could ask the question, why in the forehead? And while there might be more than 1 good answer, I'd like you to turn to Exodus 13 for 1 of them. Exodus chapter 13. And we're looking at verse 9. Exodus 13 verse 9.

9, Exodus 13 verse 9, And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be, what does it say? In thy mouth, for with a strong hand, the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. So I remember this verse saying something different than it says right now. Does that ever happen to you when you're preaching? So I'm glad we got the point we did from Deuteronomy 6, because what I expected to be here in Exodus 13, which probably is in some other verse nearby, is that the reason the law of God is as a memorial between our eyes is so that we can teach it.

It's for the purpose of sharing it. It's exactly, yeah, and I'll have to find that for you soon. Turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 3, and we're looking at verse 3. The first part of the verse reminds me that we're under a flood watch again today. Not that we get as much rain today as we got last week, but the ground is already full, so the rain that comes just runs off.

Jeremiah 3, verse 3, therefore the showers have been withholden and there hath been no latter rain. And thou hast a, what does it say? A whore's forehead, you refuse to be ashamed. So the contrast in these Old Testament verses, there's the verse that speaks, or the metaphor of God's law in the heart, but the law is in the heart and it ought to be in our mouth. We ought to be sharing with the people who need to know.

By way of contrast, the whore, her forehead is hardened, and that represents that she refuses to be ashamed. But what should she be ashamed for? Her harlotry, right? She should be ashamed for her violation of God's law. So you have in 1 hand a class that are teaching God's law.

On the other hand, a class that are refusing to be ashamed for breaking God's law. And in Revelation, these show up again. There's a whore and she has things written in her forehead, and there are the servants of God and they have the seal of God in their forehead. Look at 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel, chapter 16.

At 1 Samuel chapter 16. 1 Samuel 16, verse 7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks on the, what's it say? The outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

When we read about the mark of the beast in Revelation 13, that it's enforced by laws, so that those who will not conform can't buy or sell, and eventually they're put to death. If it's enforced by human laws, it has to be something that can be observed by humans. That is, the mark of the beast must be some outward thing. But what is it that God is looking for? God is looking at the heart.

And in fact, in Revelation, while people can choose to submit to the mark of the beast, it's God who does the writing of the seal. More particularly, it's an angel. In other words, it's not that I put the seal in my forehead, but in Revelation 7, God is the 1 who sends his angel to put the seal in the forehead. God writes his law on the inside. Men do their very best to write their law on the outside.

They know what they're looking for. Turn in your Bibles to Revelation. Revelation, and looking at chapter 14. Revelation, chapter 14, and looking at verse 7. The message that goes to the whole world is, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.

Here is a message that comes to the whole world and is saying, worship God as creator. If you're gonna just really simplify everything right now for this planet, there are not many churches who are taking a gospel to the world that involves honoring God as creator. I only know of 1. Even the offshoots from this 1 don't count, because they're not taking the gospel to the world. There's only 1 organization taking the gospel to the world, and that gospel including this idea, honor God as creator.

That should be comforting to you somewhat, to think that you're in the church that's doing that. Look at 2 Peter 3, in verse 3, looks to be very related to the first angel's message. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. So here in the end of time, when we have a message going to the world, we have also a crop of people rising up who are making light of something. They're scoffing something.

Look at what they scoff in verse 4. And saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of what? So here are people that acknowledge the idea of creation, but they don't acknowledge the idea of something changing in the end of time, something special or different of a soon coming Christ. Look at verse 5.

For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Now in verse 4 they talked about creation, but in verse 5, they deny a creation that happens by the word of God, by God just speaking and it's being done. Verse 6, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. What they're denying is the idea of a six-day creation, the idea of a literal worldwide flood, and the idea of a soon-coming facing of judgment. What are they mocking?

They're mocking the first angel's message. Does it make sense to you that if there is a class of people taking this message to the world that the judgment is here, worship God as creator, that that message, if it's not accepted by everyone, that people would rise up against it. And those that rise up against it would make light of it, and what would they make light of? The idea that God created the world in 6 days, that there was a worldwide flood, that there's a special judgment coming. These are the 2 classes in Revelation that are split down the middle.

And there's just an irony that is so deep and so wide that very many of the mainline Christian churches today, following the lead of Catholicism, have adopted the idea of theistic evolution. That is that God used evolution to slowly create apes and higher forms from the lowest levels of single cell life, and what has the Pope had to say about that? He said that is a fine doctrine, as long as at the very end you say that God is the 1 who put the soul into that highest level. And that is what, that's the Roman doctrine. It doesn't honor God, it might honor God as the 1 who created mankind, but what does the first of those messages say?

That's right, the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that in them is as it were. In other words, not theistic evolution. Summary of all that we've said this morning, although I'm gonna hand you a sheet if you're in Revelation class that says a whole lot more, is that the issue over the mark and the seal isn't just an issue over internal ideas. It's an issue over a message going to the world. There is a message that goes to the world and when it's rejected, the rejecting of that message is a further corruption of Babylon.

Scoffers are scoffing at the message, God's people are giving the message. The seal of God written in the forehead ought to have an impact on what we have to say with our mouth. We ought to be shared. And when the message comes to the world, to the whore as it were, what is it that makes her characteristic of being a spiritual whore? She refuses to be ashamed for breaking God's commandment law.

And so there is Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, but there sure are many of her daughters that refuse to be ashamed when they hear the message to honor God this way. And God predicted the rise of theistic evolution even in our day. It's just incredible that God predicted that as early as he did. Let's kneel for a closing prayer. Our Father in heaven, I want to thank you for a law that can be in our mouth, that we can represent you to a world that doesn't understand.

Prepare us for the exam coming this week, but more particularly for the exam that's coming at the end of this world. We aim to pass that 1. We ask for the gift of your spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Brief Thoughts on the Final Test

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