From a presentation by Jeff Pippenger

A theologian recently suggested that the blotting out of sin takes place at the close of judgment. I’ve heard other understandings of what the blotting out of sin does and when it takes place. In relation to the Sunday Law it is clear what the blotting out of sin does and when it takes place. When we understand what it is and when it happens, there’s a warning message connected with it that we need to understand.

In our study today we’ll see the blotting out of sin illustrated in the judgment going on in the Most Holy Place. One of the ways that we’ll see it correctly is if we understand that the judgment is an ongoing process. The judgment doesn’t take place at one time by Christ; and the information we’re told about the judgment is not some kind of sand box illustration that the Lord wants us to believe even though it really doesn’t happen that way.

The information that we have demonstrates that Christ goes in an orderly fashion in the judgment—He begins with the dead and there comes a point where He begins judging the living. The judgment begins at the house of God, and after the house of God, judgment will proceed out into the world. We need to see this process of the judgment as an ongoing thing that had a beginning point in 1844, and an ending point when Michael stands up and human probation closes.

"It is possible to be a formal, partial believer, and yet be found wanting, and lose eternal life. It is possible to practice some of the Bible injunctions, and be regarded as a Christian, and yet perish because you are lacking in essential qualifications that constitute Christian character. The destroying angels have the commission from the Lord, ‘Begin at my sanctuary.’ And ‘they began at the ancient men which were before the house. ‘If the warnings which God has given are neglected or regarded with indifference, if you suffer sin to be cherished, you are sealing your soul’s destiny; you will be weighed in the balances and found wanting. Grace, peace, and pardon will be withdrawn forever; Jesus will have passed by, never again to come within the reach of your prayers and entreaties. While mercy still lingers, while Jesus is making intercession for us, let us make thorough work for eternity." Review and Herald, January 11, 1887.

Here Sister White says it begins at the sanctuary but there’s a point that if we’re not going to live up to the light that’s been given us, and it comes our time in the judgment, we’re going to be found wanting. After we are found wanting, the Lord will never listen to our prayers again. There is a time when living people will be judged and they will be lost—but they will continue to live for a certain amount of time but the Lord’s not going to hear their prayers. I would suggest this begins at the Sunday Law where the church is divided by that test and then it’s going to proceed out into the world.

"By the king’s examination of the guests at the feast is represented a work of judgment. The guests at the gospel feast are those who profess to serve God, those whose names are written in the book of life. But not all who profess to be Christians are true disciples. Before the final reward is given, it must be decided who are fitted to share the inheritance of the righteous. This decision must be made prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven; for when He comes, His reward is with Him, ‘to give every man according as his work shall be. Revelation 22:12. Before His coming, then, the character of every man’s work will have been determined, and to every one of Christ’s followers the reward will have been apportioned according to his deeds." Christ’s Object Lessons, 310.

So we see that this judgment takes place before the second coming of Christ. I hope we all understand this but not all Seventh-day Adventists understand this. New Theology teaches that it’s at Christ’s Second Coming that this is all determined.

"In 1844 our great High Priest entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to begin the work of the investigative judgment. The cases of the righteous dead have been passing in review before God. When that work shall be completed, judgment is to be pronounced upon the living. How precious, how important are these solemn moments! Each of us has a case pending in the court of heaven. We are individually to be judged according to the deeds done in the body." Selected Messages, book I, 125.

She says the righteous dead are being judged, passing in review, one at a time the Lord is going through the righteous dead. The warning message to us is that very soon the work will begin with the living. Because we profess to be among God’s people, we will be there right at the beginning of the judgment of the living. We all have no reason, unless the Lord laid us to rest by some accident, why we shouldn’t all expect to be here when the Sunday Law arrives and the judgment of the living begins. Depending on our mental, spiritual state, we can listen to this material and be thinking about other things, or we can be listening to this material and noticing that all the way through Sister White and the Bible is emphasizing is we have to have our character ready when our name comes up in the judgment—sooner than we think.

"While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14." The Great Controversy, 425.

"God’s love for his church is infinite. His care over his heritage is unceasing. He suffers no affliction to come upon the church but such as is essential for her purification, her present and eternal good. He will purify his church even as he purified the temple at the beginning and close of his ministry on earth." The Kress Collection, 114.

Christ promised to purify this church twice—He purified it once at the Great Disappointment in 1844, where the amount of believers went from 50,000 down to 50 in 1 day! This happens again in the fourth angel’s, at the Sunday Law. Sister White has abundant evidence that the greatest majority will go out from among us at that test, once again the numbers of the people will come down as Christ purifies His church.

"When Jesus began His public ministry, He cleansed the temple from its sacrilegious profanation. Among the last acts of His ministry was the second cleansing of the temple. So in the last work for the warning of the world, two distinct calls are made to the churches." The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 985.

It’s at the fourth angel’s message that this second cleansing of Adventism takes place. We’ve already demonstrated that the fourth angel’s message of Revelation 18 begins in earnest at the Sunday Law, when the church is purified—the Latter Rain is poured out—empowering God’s people to call those out of Babylon.

The Great Controversy, 485 "Thus will be realized the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant promise:"

I don’t think as Laodecians that we’ve really placed this promise on the proper level of priorities for the goals that we should set for ourselves as Adventist Christians at the end of the world—listen to it closely:

"Thus will be realized the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant promise: ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’ ‘In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.’ Jeremiah 31:34; 50:20. ‘In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem.’ Isaiah 4:2-3.

"‘The work of the investigative judgment and the blotting out of sins is to be accomplished before the second advent of the Lord. Since the dead are to be judged out of the things written in the books, it is impossible that the sins of men should be blotted out until after the judgment at which their cases are to be investigated. But the apostle Peter distinctly states that the sins of believers will be blotted out ‘when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ.’ Acts 3:19-20." The Great Controversy, 485.

There is a time here identified when our sins will be blotted out, if we’ve done the advance work necessary for that to take place. This is one of the many promises of the Bible that at the end of the world there’s going to be a group of people illustrated by Isaiah as a glorious beautiful branch, and the Lord will forgive their sins and never remember them again. This is the purification of the church and this takes place when my judgment comes before the Lord, your judgment comes before the Lord if we’re faithful. Our sins are blotted out and He doesn’t remember them ever again! Quite a high holy calling for all of us—particularly when it’s connected with this Sunday issue and the Sunday Law is imminent.

"The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Here are ‘the times of refreshing’ to which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said: ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus.’ Acts 3:19-20.

"Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works, with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Revelation 13:13. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand." The Great Controversy, 611-612.

Sister White says this blotting out of sins and the presence of the Lord is the Latter Rain. If we’re going to receive the Latter Rain, if our sins are going to be blotted out and then the work that we’re going to do is go out and give the Pentecostal message at the end of the world, it means that probation is still open for some people in the world. Their sins have not yet been blotted out. They’re still under investigation so the blotting out of sin that the Bible speaks about takes place in conjunction with the judgment and the house of God will be the first to have their sins blotted out if they have prepared for it.

Those who haven’t prepared for it will have a blotting as well—their names are blotted out of the Book of Life at that same time. That’s what we’re heading forward to right now, either our sins blotted out of the book of sins or our name blotted out of the Book of Life. The same test that brings that experience to us will move into the world. Everyone in the world will be confronted with that same test—the Law of God as represented in the Sunday Law.

"The words should come to us now with impelling earnestness, ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’ Acts 3:19.

"There are many among us who are deficient in spirituality, and who, unless they are wholly converted, will certainly be lost. Can you afford to run the risk? Pride and weakness of faith are depriving many of the rich blessings of God. There are many who, unless they humble their hearts before the Lord, will be surprised and disappointed when the cry is heard, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.’ Matthew 25:6. (remember, the parable of the ten virgins is a parable of the advent experience) They have the theory of the truth, but they have no oil in their vessels with their lamps. Our faith at this time must not stop with an assent to, or belief in, the theory of the third angel’s message. We must have the oil of the grace of Christ that will feed the lamp and cause the light of life to shine forth, showing the way to those who are in darkness." Counsels on Health, 128-129.

Normally I speak strictly on prophecy and this is a prophetic study but some of the criticism I receive is that the material I present does not call for revival, but if we’re going to be on the right side of the blotting out where our sins are blotted out, there’s a call that just keeps coming through; ‘Repent, be converted, Repent, be converted! That your sins go before hand to judgment’

What does it mean to go before hand? They have to be dealt with before the blotting out takes place. We can’t wait for the Sunday Law and expect at that time that we can just somehow muster the genuine repentance necessary to be among God’s people at the end of the world. Our sins must go before hand to judgment—today—right now! This is part of the prophetic message, like it or not.

"I have no specific time of which to speak when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will take place—when the mighty angel will come down from heaven, and unite with the third angel in closing up the work for this world; my message is that our only safety is in being ready for the heavenly refreshing, having our lamps trimmed and burning. Christ has told us to watch; ‘for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.’ ‘Watch and pray’ is the charge that is given us by our Redeemer. Day by day we are to seek the enlightenment of the Spirit of God, that it may do its office work upon the soul and character. 0, how much time has been wasted through giving attention to trifling things. Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Selected Messages, book 1, 192.

Some say, "you’ve been identifying when the Holy Spirit’s going to be poured out and Sister White says ‘I have no specific time of which to speak when it will be poured out’." She doesn’t say we’ll never know when it’s going to be poured out. When you pull her writings together along with the Bible it’s pretty easy to see when the Latter Rain comes, it comes when the church is purified. But the message is, ‘repent and be converted NOW’.

"Angels keep a faithful record of every man’s work, and as judgment passes upon the house of God, the sentence of each is recorded by his name, and the angel is commissioned to spare not the unfaithful servants, but to cut them down at the time of slaughter. And that which was committed to their trust is taken from them. Their earthly treasure is then swept away, and they have lost all. And the crowns they might have worn, had they been faithful, are put upon the heads of those saved by the faithful servants whose means was constantly in use for God." Testimonies, vol. 1, 198.

There are some faithful servants and some unfaithful servants. There comes a point where the unfaithful servants close their probation on the wrong side of God. They’re lost forever and the crowns they might have worn had they sent their sins beforehand into judgment, will be given to the people that are outside the two groups of unfaithful and faithful, the ones that have not at that point in time understood the issue for the hour. Sister White is upholding one of the main premises we’ve been making—that the Sunday Law purifies God’s church prior to the Loud Cry message when God’s other children in Babylon come out and stand with God’s people.

In this passage it says those other children that are in Babylon are going to wear the crowns of the Seventh-day Adventists that ended up being unfaithful servants and that will be wiped out in the plagues.

Latter Rain/Refreshing:

Sister White uses the phrase ‘time of trouble’ for both the time of trouble that begins when Michael stands up and human probation closes forever. She also uses ‘time of trouble’ to describe what takes place immediately after the Sunday Law where National apostasy is followed by national ruin. In Adventism, the time of trouble that begins after the Sunday Law we’ve understood as the ‘little time of trouble’. When human probation closes for good it’s the ‘great time of trouble’ and in this passage in ‘Early Writings’ she makes the distinction between the two.

"On page 33 is given the following: ‘I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God’s dear, waiting saints. I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully." [She’s just quoting there what she’s going to comment on now.]

"This view was given in 1847 when there were but very few of the Advent brethren observing the Sabbath, and of these but few supposed that its observance was of sufficient importance to draw a line between the people of God and unbelievers. Now the fulfillment of that view is beginning to be seen. ‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out." Early Writings, 85-86.

It’s clear she’s talking about the little time of trouble that begins at the Sunday Law, that salvation’s still open, and at that time the message of the third angel is finishing it’s work and the Latter Rain’s poured out. She directly ties the Latter Rain with this refreshing from the presence of the Lord that in Acts we’re told comes from the blotting out of sin. The blotting out of sin is the final work that Christ will do on His faithful followers. The blotting out of the names in the Book of Life is the final work that He does on the unfaithful.

"The third angel’s message is swelling into a loud cry, and you must not feel at liberty to neglect the present duty, and still entertain the idea that at some future time you will be the recipients of great blessing, when without any effort on your part a wonderful revival will take place. Today you are to give yourselves to God, that He may make of you vessels unto honor, and meet for His service. Today you are to give yourself to God that you may be emptied of self, emptied of envy, jealousy, evil surmising, strife, everything that shall be dishonoring to God. Today you are to have your vessel purified that it may be ready for the heavenly dew, ready for the showers of the latter rain; for the latter rain will come, and the blessing of God will fill every soul that IS purified from every defilement. It IS our work today to yield our souls to Christ, that we may be fitted for the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord-fitted for the baptism of the Holy Spirit." Selected Messages, book I, 190-191.

This ‘presence of the Lord’ is the Latter Rain, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It takes place in connection with the blotting out of our sins in the judgment and the great gospel promise that Sister White mentioned in Great Controversy, is at that time period God will remember our sins no more. We stand at the end, I’m not suggesting that before human probation closes, some of the people receiving the Latter Rain … I don’t know of evidence that martyrdom does not take place before human probation closes, but those people’s sins are blotted out and it takes place during the Sunday Law crisis. They remain righteous forever, whether they have to be resurrected or they live until the Lord returns.

That brings the question to us, are we ready for that today? This Sunday Law issue and the things connected with it come as an overwhelming surprise. They come suddenly and unexpectedly and all the virgins slept but there is a message that’s designed by God to arouse those sleeping virgins and this message is that probation is about to close.

It is always in the context that the virgins have so many distractions going on around them, whether it’s their work, or whether it’s the valiant struggle they’re going after for the Lord with theology, or whether it’s a crisis in their family, or an illness—there’s so many things at this time period that the virgins are being distracted with, that this message has to be internalized.

We have to hear what God is saying to us through the prophecies with what’s going on in the world today, demonstrating the prophecies are fulfilling. Hopefully, we will be drawn to an experience where we’ll bring the Holy Spirit close enough to us that He can awaken us that we’re truly here. It’s wake-up time; it’s time to send our sins before hand into judgment that when the times of refreshing come our sins will be blotted out.

"I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth now eagerly laid hold upon it. All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them. They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, ‘It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel." Early Writings, 271.

"The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles, showing in a high, elevated sense, the line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God, and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God, and those who keep a spurious rest-day. When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. Those who after having heard the truth, continue to regard this day as holy, bear the signature of the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws." Bible Training School, December 1, 1903.

The only way that those people who haven’t previously understood the Sunday Law issue are going to understand it, is when they see people that aren’t simply proclaiming the truth—they are experiencing the truth. It’s worse than a dead message to give a truth filled message if it is not in agreement with your life. Christ said that He was the Truth. He said, "the words that I speak unto you are truth", and they said about Him that never a man spoke like this before.

They said that is the words that He said were truth definitely, but they agreed 100% with His lifestyle, He was the truth. At the purification of the church the faithful will be those that have entered into this sanctified experience they’re going to be proclaiming the truth but they’re also going to be living it and when that happens, there’s a power that goes with it that changes lives. That can happen today, for every one of us if we repent and be converted and send our sins before hand into the judgment. If we wait to do that until the Sunday Law then we’re foolish virgins and we’re going to be lost.

"I was pointed down to the time when the third angel’s message was closing. The power of God had rested upon His people; they had accomplished their work and were prepared for the trying hour before them. They had received the latter rain, or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the living testimony had been revived. The last great warning had sounded everywhere, and it had stirred up and enraged the inhabitants of the earth who would not receive the message. Early Writings, 279.

She says the living testimony had been revived, and there are people in Adventism that say that when we went into apostasy in 1888 by rejecting the message, the Lord gave us a period of grace but finally He laid the prophet to rest but there comes a time at the end of the world where He’s going to raise a prophet up again and the living testimony will be revived again and we’re going to have a prophet again. If you go into the CD-ROM and look at what Sister White understands the living testimony is, it’s not the prophetic ministry, it’s the testimony that you and I give if we really have a genuine Christian experience and the Holy Spirit is abiding in our hearts. That’s the living testimony.

We’re sharing our experience in the Lord with others. We’re seeing ourselves being used as tools for the Lord. That’s available to us now,

Jesus endured the cross for the goal that was set before Him. It is a truth about human beings that we were created in the image of God—we are goal motivated people. In everything we do we have a goal, even if we don’t recognize it as a goal. I’m sitting on the couch and I need a drink of water, I have to recognize I need that drink of water before I get up and get it. That’s how we operate in our life, whether it’s getting a drink of water or deciding you’re going to build a mansion. Jesus was goal motivated too and if we don’t believe that we can have a living testimony, if that isn’t our goal today, then we’re going to put it off until we’re spewed out of the mouth of the Lord as foolish virgins at the Sunday Law. We have to believe and accept these things as promises in the context that time is running out.

Review and Sabbath, July 13, 1897. "The time has come for the true light to shine amid moral darkness. The third angel’s message has been sent forth to the world, warning men against receiving the mark of the beast or of his image in their foreheads or in their hands. To receive this mark means to come to the same decision as the beast has done, and to advocate the same ideas, in direct opposition to the word of God. Of all who receive this mark, God says, ‘The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.’"

To receive this mark means to come to the same decision as the Beast power. He accomplishes things through a hierarchy. He accomplishes things through human power. If I in my dealings with my wife use human strength to control her—I’m bearing the signature of the Antichrist. When threatened, if I form some kind of human league with friends, to resist the threat, outside of the grace of the Lord, that’s ecumenism. That’s the signature of Antichrist. The more deeply we look at the character of the Beast, the more we can bring it home into our own experience and see if that’s the kind of faith we’re developing.

Sister White had a vision where God’s people were going up the mountainside and the path got narrower and narrower. Everything was thrown off along the way until they’re just hanging on the rope to swing over the chasm. Part of what gets thrown off, if we’re faithful, is dependence on human power whether a group, or our own human power because that’s nothing more than the character of the beast.

"If the light of truth has been presented to you, revealing the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and showing that there is no foundation in the word of God for Sunday observance, and yet you still cling to the false Sabbath, refusing to keep holy the Sabbath which God calls ‘My holy day,’ you receive the mark of the beast. When does this take place?—When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday and worship God, while you know that there is not a word in the Bible showing Sunday to be other than a common working-day, you consent to receive the mark of the beast, and refuse the seal of God. If we I receive this mark in our foreheads or in our hands, the judgments pronounced against the disobedient must fall upon us. But the seal of the living God is placed upon those who conscientiously keep the Sabbath of the Lord.

"‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every; imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ...The earth also was corrupt, before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ...And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’ They were to be cut off because they had polluted the earth which God created to be enjoyed by a righteous people.

"‘As it was in the days of Noah,’ declared Christ, ‘so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.’ And is it not so? Anyone who will look into the daily papers may see a long list of crimes-drunkenness, theft, robbery, embezzlement, murder. Sometimes whole families are murdered, that man’s desires to possess money or goods that do not belong to him may be gratified. The world is indeed becoming as it was in the days of Noah, because men openly disregard God’s commands.

"Sunday is a child of the papacy. It has been nourished and cradled by the Protestant world as a genuine requirement of Jehovah, but it has no foundation in the word of God. The Christian world is tested by their relation to this matter."

We will be the first tested because we understand the issues, But the whole world is going to be tested by their relation to Sabbath and Sunday. The Sunday test is where everybody in the world is blotted out of the book of life or their sins are blotted out. Although some of them never made their commitment to have their name in the Book of Life, it all takes place under the Sunday Law. "The Christian world is tested by their relation to this matter."

"God moves upon men to search the Scriptures for evidence to sustain Sunday. Those who search with a desire for truth will see that in the past they have been relying on tradition, and have accepted an institution of the papacy. Those who, with contrite hearts, search the word of God for truth, will receive a blessing from God. Their characters are formed after the divine similitude. The mind is in a state of continual advancement. By beholding they become changed into the divine likeness. ... "This subject opens before the earnest seeker after truth. It becomes more and more clear to him that God has not changed or altered the thing that has gone out of his lips. He sees the sanctity and blessing placed upon the seventh day, and the necessity for its observance. The more earnestly he investigates this subject, the more convinced he becomes of the truth of God’s word, as seen in the law of the Ten Commandments. His interest in truth is tested, his love for God proved, as he advances. If he submits his will to God’s will, all will be well. If he chooses obedience to God’s commandments at any cost, his peace and happiness will increase."

She’s speaking here about people who are confronted with the Sunday issue and haven’t known it before. The promise is that if they submit to God’s will, everything’s going to be happiness and peace. That’s our promise today if we recognize our sins and send them beforehand, in the judgment, all will be happiness and peace.

"Many excuse themselves for keeping Sunday by saying, ‘My father and grandfather were good Christians, and they died keeping Sunday. They will be saved, and I am willing to run the risk of doing as they did. The whole world keeps Sunday; and I am as well off as the rest of the members of my church.’ But will these excuses be accepted in the Judgment?—No, no. Had their fathers had the light and the messages of warning which God has sent to his people in these last days, they would, if they were candid, God-fearing men, have obeyed the commandments of God. Our fathers are not accountable for the light they never received, or for the message of warning they never beard; and shall their habits and customs be thought worthy of respect merely because they have been handed down from generation to generation? ‘If I had not Come and spoken unto them,’ said Christ, referring to the Jews, ‘they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. ...If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. ,

"Special truths have been adapted to the conditions of the nations as they have existed. The present truth, which is a test to the people of this generation, was not a test to the people of generations far back. If the light which now shines upon us in regard to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, had been given to the generations of the past, God would have held them accountable for that light. We are accountable only for the light that shines upon us. The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are testing us. If we are faithful and obedient, God will delight in us, and bless us as his own chosen, peculiar people. When perfect faith and perfect love and obedience abound, working in the hearts of those who are Christ’s followers, they will have a powerful influence. Light will emanate from them, dispelling the darkness around them, refining and elevating all who come within a sphere of their influence, and bringing to a knowledge of the truth all who are willing to be enlightened, and to follow in the humble path of obedience.

"Great blessings are promised to those who keep holy God’s Sabbath. ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,’ God says, ‘from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.’" Review and Sabbath, July 13,1897.

My wife and I came into contact with elderly Seventh-day Adventists, and they confronted us with Sabbath. We were getting ready to join a Sunday church. They gave us enough information that I spent the night before we were going to join that Sunday church way into the night studying because I could see the Bible upheld Sabbath. Finally I didn’t know what to do and I prayed to the Lord and said ‘you’ve got to help me on this one’, because this happened really fast for us and it was a long sincere prayer. I opened the Bible at random as you sometimes do, and I knew that this was three chapters He was giving me. It was Isaiah 56, 57 and 58. This same promise that she just closed with, and we never went back to that Sunday church and later on we joined the Adventist church.

The Sabbath, Sunday issue is what’s going to be the test for the world in our day. We’re the first tested by it because we’re Seventh-day Adventists and we have no excuse if we don’t understand it. We’re judged by the light we could have had if we applied ourselves. There are special truths given for each generation, and three hundred years ago, Sabbath-Sunday was not a special truth. The Sunday Law that’s coming ahead is a special truth for this generation, for those people outside of Adventism, but it’s not the special truth for us. The special truth for us is that if we’re going to be among those who our sins are blotted out, we have to send our sins beforehand to judgment; that’s our special truth. Our special truth is that we’re Laodecians and that we’ve been counseled that we’re dead in our sins, that our greatest need is for a revival and Sister White is clear that a revival means a returning to life, so if our greatest need is for a revival, it means that we’re spiritually dead.

One of the biggest deceptions for us here at the end of the world for Seventh-day Adventists is that it’s easy for us to look around at all the other Seventh-day Adventists illustrated in Ezekiel that are causing the faithful to sigh and cry, it’s easy to look at those that are getting ready to bow down to the Sunday Law and think that we’re OK. But how do we act in our home with our spouse and our children? How do we act with the brethren that we work with? It’s in a crisis that character is demonstrated not developed, we have a great crisis coming with the Sunday Law, but we have crises everyday. When these crises hit us, moment by moment throughout the day are we satisfied that we have the character that will stand the test ahead?

We are in such a time of deception that we have to begin to really look close and hard about what’s going on in our individual experience and not be concerned about those in Adventism that are taking the course of New Theology or kingly power. I’m not suggesting that we don’t sigh and cry but that can be a deception. Our time is running out! We have to secure this living testimony, this living experience today. That’s our special test for this generation! It’s our special test in the sense that we are the ones that have been ordained to clarify the issue of Sabbath and Sunday—that’s the special test for the rest of this generation. The people that have their sins blotted out are the first to receive the Latter Rain and proclaim the Loud Cry message. They’re not going to be intellectually struggling about the Sabbath-Sunday issue when it hits. They’ll be totally settled in their mind. Their test is now, are they going to be prepared before that hits?

"Joshua is represented as pleading with the Angel. Are we engaged in the same work? Are our supplications ascending to God in living faith? Are we opening the door of the heart to Jesus, and closing every means of entrance to Satan? Are we daily obtaining clearer light and greater strength, that we may stand in Christ’s righteousness? Are we emptying our hearts of all selfishness, and cleansing them, preparatory to receiving the latter rain from heaven?

"Now is the time when we are to confess and forsake our sins that they may go beforehand to judgment and be blotted out. Now is the time to ‘cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ It is dangerous to delay this work. Satan is even now seeking by disasters upon sea and land to seal the fate of as many as possible. What is the defense of the people of God at this time? It is a living connection with heaven. If we would dwell in safety from the noisome pestilence, if we would be preserved from dangers seen and unseen, we must hide in God; we must secure the protecting care of Jesus and holy angels. In these days of peril, the Lord would have us walk before him in humility.

"Instead of trying to cover our sins, he would have us confess them, as Joshua confessed the sins of ancient Israel. We profess to be the depositaries of God’s law. We profess to be building up ‘the old waste places,’ and to be raising up ‘the foundations of many generations.’ If this great and solemn work has indeed been committed to us, how important that we depart from all iniquity! "We may be followed with testimony after testimony of reproof; but if we do not; overcome the disposition in us to do evil, if we do not respond to the light, we shall be in a state of condemnation before God. If, on the other hand, we live up to all the light that shines upon us, that light will continue to increase, and we shall have a clean record in heaven. The third angel’ s message is to lighten the earth with its glory; but only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it when it shall have swelled into the loud cry. As the intercession of Joshua was accepted, the command was given to those that stood by, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And unto Joshua the Angel said, ‘Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of I raiment.’ ‘So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.’ Even so will all I those who come to Jesus in penitence and faith receive the robe of Christ’s righteousness.

"As we approach the perils of the last days, the temptations of the enemy become stronger and more determined. Satan has come down in great power, knowing that his time is short; and he is working ‘with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. ‘The warning comes to us through God’s word, that, if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect.

"Wonderful events are soon to open before the world. The end of all things is at hand. The time of trouble is about to come upon the people of God. Then it is that the decree will go forth forbidding those who keep the Sabbath of the Lord to buy or sell, and threatening them with punishment, and even death, if they do not observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath." Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 155-156.

The prophetic message for the end of the world brings you to the Sunday Law test and that study brings you to the fact that we are sleeping Laodecians. Satan has so many distractions for us to prevent us from seeing that, and it’s not even worth listing them all. The call for us today is for us to recognize by faith that this is so, and by faith through His spirit analyze where we are individually. Do we really have a living testimony? Do we really have a regular daily living testimony? If we don’t, that’s a warning sign that there’s more work for us to do. There’s something that still needs to be sent beforehand into judgment. Judgment is about to close, it corresponds with the Sunday Law test. Sister White’s warned that the movement for Sunday Law legislation is going on in darkness! We don’t have to see it to know that it’s coming. All the other signs are there. Get ready! Get Ready! Get Ready!