Why We Are Here, Part 6

This sermon was preached during Annual Council 2025 on Wednesday, October 15. Elements of oral style have been retained.—Editors.

We have covered some important territory in our time together. We started by talking about godly passion for His work and how we can recover that through a return to prayer. We talked about the absolute, core necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Without that, everything else we’ve talked about is completely useless. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit of God; otherwise, we are simply a valley of dry bones.

We then began to get into the mission of the church, and we’ve been laying some building blocks. The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is comprised, first of all, of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Second, we take it one step further: the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12. We’ve summed up those messages. The first angel says: Honor and worship the Creator, for justice is coming, and time is running out. Angel number two: Trying to earn my salvation or setting aside God’s law won’t work. And the third angel: I can choose my own destruction, but God, in His love, will do all He possibly can to change my mind.

Greater Importance Today

Then there is a third and final factor. The Great Commission, the three angels’ messages, and a third factor together determine our unique mission as a Seventh-day Adventist movement. To find that final factor, we need to ask and answer an important question: If you were the devil—and I trust you’re not—and you knew that the three angels’ messages were God’s last messages to a dying world, what would you spend your time doing? Distracting and deceiving.

Sometimes we make the devil into something so “other” that logic seems irrelevant to what he tries to do. Sadly, he’s very logical. He reads his Bible. He knows what it says. He knows the three angels’ messages are the final things God says to the world. So, of course, he spends his time distracting and deceiving people about them. He seeks to distract people from hearing the messages in the first place. He keeps them busy, keeps them at war, gives them success, makes life really difficult—whatever it takes to keep them from hearing those messages. And if they do hear the three angels’ messages, he does his best to deceive people about what they actually mean.

The context in which we now live has changed, and consequently the level of distraction and the level of deception that the devil creates in these last days can and will be overwhelming.

This isn’t some brain wave on my part or yours. It’s how Satan has worked for a very long time. During the Protestant Reformation, as the work of Martin Luther began to spread, momentum built for God, and Ellen White had this to say: “But Satan was not idle. He now attempted what he has attempted in every other reformatory movement—to deceive and destroy the people by palming off upon them a counterfeit in place of the true work.”[1]

Have you noticed the extreme lack of creativity the devil has? Everything he does is derivative. He can’t start anything on his own—only God is the Creator. But Satan will take the true, and then he’ll massage it so that it becomes a counterfeit.

And that brings us to a crucial point. If you or I had preached the three angels’ messages 2,000 years ago, they would not have had the same power that they do today.

How come? Because 1844 had not yet passed. But now that 1844 has passed, the final judgment hour—the first angel’s message—has begun, and we are now living in the last days of earth’s history. And thus the 2,000-year-old words of the three angels now take on an incredible new urgency.

I want you to imagine that it’s a hot day in August. Let’s imagine we’re in Texas, in the United States, in August. It’s a hot day, and I’m thirsty.

I come to your door and say, “Do you have any water?” You would logically conclude, “It’s a hot day, he’s thirsty; let me get him a glass of water.”

But now imagine that my house is on fire, and I come to your door and say, “Do you have any water?” They’re the exact same words, but the context makes all the difference in the world.

At the risk of understatement, much of the world today is “on fire” in the sense that spiritual disaster is relentlessly becoming more and more prevalent on this earth. Clearly this is not 2,000 years ago. The context in which we now live has changed, and consequently the level of distraction and the level of deception that the devil creates in these last days can and will be overwhelming. That is, unless someone steps up to expose those deceptions. Then people will be able to see the truth and understand what God is actually trying to say through the three angels’ messages.

Playing Darts With the Devil

I want you to imagine a dartboard. For those unfamiliar with the game, you get three darts and stand at a specified distance from a round board. The ultimate goal is to hit the bull’s-eye, the red part in the middle of the board. That’s where the maximum points are, because it’s one of the hardest places to hit.

Now imagine that you are forced to play a game of darts. Imagine further that the penalty for missing the bull’s-eye is death. Moreover, imagine this: The devil is standing between you and the dartboard, actively trying to guide your darts away from the bull’s-eye. In other words, he is trying to deceive and distract you into hitting a different part of the board. He’s happy if you hit anywhere else—just don’t hit the bull’s-eye.

Do you still want to play? It would be nice to opt out, but unfortunately, we can’t. None of us can. Here’s what that game might look like.

Evolution

The first deception that the devil throws people’s way is a general and powerful one. It has to do with a false creation story: evolution. Simply put, evolution is the theory that all the various species of biological life on the planet today came about through the natural selection of inherited variations over long periods of time.

God’s last-day people are explicitly identified as those who keep His commandments and remain faithful to Jesus—not to be saved, but because they have been saved.

Now, most people, when they think about evolution, think of its most famous proponent, Charles Darwin. Interestingly, in July 1844, Darwin developed his original research into a 230-page work he simply titled Essay, which would become the foundation of evolutionary theory.

Again, notice the timing: 1844. It appears the devil reads his Bible too. In the very same year that a message comes to the forefront proclaiming, “Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Rev. 14:7), another message begins to take root—one that will eventually trumpet that God is not the Creator of all things.

It’s a major deception, and it has all kinds of philosophical and societal implications that still ripple today. It’s a powerful deception that continues to sweep people away from God even now.

Sin Is Good or Is Nonexistent

The second deception is this: Sin is good or does not exist.

The idea that sin is good has been around since the beginning, when the devil lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 3). It’s the same old lie—that disobedience to God somehow makes you more free, more enlightened. And that lie is still alive and well today. But the Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).

If the devil can’t get you to believe that sin is good, his next-best option is to convince you that sin doesn’t exist at all.

Today many people reject even the concept of sin. It’s seen as offensive, outdated, or judgmental. We don’t have “sinful” choices anymore, they say—just different choices, personal preferences, “your truth” and “my truth.” Even if they contradict each other completely, that’s fine, because, in this worldview, truth is relative to the observer.

“There is no such thing as sin,” the devil says. It’s a powerful deception that keeps people from hitting the bull’s-eye.

Hell

The third deception is a false representation of God—specifically, the idea of eternal torment in hell.

You’re familiar with the theory: If you’re good, you go straight to heaven; if you’re bad, you go straight to hell, where you burn forever and ever and ever.

But the Bible teaches the opposite. “The soul who sins shall die” (Eze. 18:20). Not live forever in flames—die. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

To be clear, Adventists do believe in hell. It’s just far more efficient than most people think. The Bible teaches that at the end of time, those who have defiantly rejected God will indeed meet the fires of hell. But when the fuel is burned up, the fire goes out. The consequences are eternal, but the fire itself is temporary.

When I was in high school and first heard that, I remember thinking, Why does that matter so much? But Ellen White explained it plainly:

“It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.”[2]

That’s why it matters.

Many people around us still live in fear of that false picture of God. They won’t even open a Bible, because they’re terrified they’ll find that horror confirmed. But Adventists are among the few who believe the biblical understanding of God’s character. We have the key to unmask this deception.

The next two deceptions that the devil uses to keep people from hitting the bull’s-eye are the two sides of Babylon that we have already discussed.

Salvation and the Law

We have the fourth deception: a false way of salvation—through works, earning your salvation. And the fifth deception: a false way of knowing God—the idea that the law of God is gone or has been altered.

Yesterday we talked about how we’re saved by grace, not by works. We are created to do good works—not to be saved, but because we have already been saved, and because the change is already working inside of us as Jesus lives within (see Eph. 2:8-10).

So prominent is this idea of growth in grace and righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ that there’s a verse at the end of the three angels’ messages that speaks directly to it: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).

That’s pretty clear. God’s last-day people are explicitly identified as those who keep His commandments and remain faithful to Jesus—not to be saved, but because they have been saved, and Jesus is inside them, growing them into people of love and mercy and power and strength and dignity and honor and obedience.

Good works are the fruit, not the root, of salvation. Good works do not establish the remnant; they simply reveal it.

With Jesus on your side, the devil is a beaten foe. But if you willingly stray into the devil’s territory, he will welcome you—and it will not end well for you.

Unity Without the Word

The next deception is a global one. It is a false revival—unity without the Word of God.

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ ” (John 8:31, 32).

What Jesus is saying is that true freedom can be found only in actual truth. It can’t be found anywhere else. True freedom can be found only in actual truth, truth that is the Word of God. Furthermore, true Christian unity can also be found only in the truth of God’s Word. For it is only God’s Word that accurately shows us what we are to be unified in doing and in what way we are to do it. True unity is therefore unswervingly faithful to Christ and to His Word, the Bible. If unity or revival among Christians is attempted without this faithfulness to Scripture, we are to have no part of it.

And yet, all over the world today, in Christian denominations across the globe, there is a growing call for “unity.” The ecumenical movement continues at full pace.

You may not see it every day in your news feed, but throughout any given year you’ll see it multiple times. You’ll see various church leaders of great stature calling for everybody to come back together. They’ll say, “We’re stronger together than we are separate. Set aside the differences we have. Never mind that those differences are about the Word of God. Let’s just get together.”

Brothers and sisters, at the very end of time there will indeed be great unity on this planet. But it will not be God’s unity. When the call comes for us to join up with other groups that are not faithful to God’s Word, our answer must be polite but firm and clear: “No, thank you.”

It is a powerful deception. People will think there is safety in numbers. As they grow nervous and the world becomes a darker, more difficult place, they will look for sources of comfort. And they will see it in “unity.” But the devil will use it to sweep millions away.

False Witnesses

The seventh deception starts to get very personal. False witnesses.

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).

I was a biblical languages minor in my undergrad work, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Greek and Hebrew. Looking carefully at the Greek of this text, I can tell you with great authority that what it means is exactly what it says: “In later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”

I emphasize that because often we get so caught up in our modern mindset that the idea of demons and demonic teaching seems outdated. But no, the Bible says it clearly. All the prophecies of Scripture have come to pass just as God said they would. This prophecy is no different. God’s Spirit told His servant Paul that there will come a time when people will abandon the faith and instead follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

What this means is that there will be people teaching on this planet things that are straight from the devil. It’s a direct pipeline of falsehood.

Many years ago a friend of mine, when he was a young boy, was washing dishes in the kitchen. He was standing there at the sink, washing dishes, getting everything cleaned up, when suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stood up. His eyes opened wide. He dropped the dish in the sink and ran into the living room, where he saw his brother sitting on a chair.

My friend said to his brother, “Who are you talking to?”

And his brother said, “I’m talking with Mom.”

Unfortunately, their mother had passed away some time earlier.

My friend’s brother ultimately left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He said, “You Adventists are wrong. You say that the dead don’t know anything. But I saw Mom. I heard her with my own two ears. I saw her with my own two eyes. It was Mom—and you are wrong.”

In the 1960s they used to say, “If it feels good, do it.” Today they say, “If it feels good, it’s true.”

Ellen White puts it this way: “Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils.”[3]

To me, this is one of the most unfair things that the devil does. He plays dirty all the time, but this is particularly dirty. Think about the ties that people have on this planet. For many people, especially those who do know Jesus, family is all they have; it’s the only thing holding them steady.

And then, when dear Aunt Betsy dies but then suddenly “comes back” into their bedroom at midnight one night, what are they going to do? What are these people, who do not know the truth of God’s Word, supposed to do? It is cruel that the devil would do this. And yet we know from the book of Revelation that spiritualism will reach untold heights at the very end of time.

Interestingly, the Fox sisters here in the United States started a pronounced wave of popular spiritualism in the late 1840s, shortly after 1844.

The state of the dead may be one of the most important doctrines that Adventism teaches in these last days. If you know of anyone dabbling in the occult, whether family members or church members in your field, they are in great danger. Witchcraft, spells, séances, Ouija boards—none of these have any place in a Christian’s life, or anyone else’s life, for that matter.

With Jesus on your side, the devil is a beaten foe. But if you willingly stray into the devil’s territory, he will welcome you—and it will not end well for you.

The belief that the dead are not really dead is a powerful deception. Without fail, it is spiritually deadly to those who stay in it. And sadly, this deception already has most of Christianity and the rest of the world in its grip.

A False Second Coming

The devil saves one of his best cards for last. Deception eight: a false Second Coming.

This deception has at least two parts. First, the secret rapture—dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism arose in the nineteenth century, and the idea of a secret rapture rose to marked prominence in the 1830s—within just a few years of 1844. It’s not just a handful of people who believe in it. There are millions upon millions, particularly among evangelical Christians all over the world, who hold to this idea of a secret rapture. But the Bible does not speak of a secret second coming of Jesus.

In Matthew 24:26, 27, Jesus specifically warns against believing in a secret return. We will all see, hear, and notice the second coming of Christ. If someone tells you that Jesus has already returned, He hasn’t. When He comes, you will know it.

Furthermore, there is no second chance after Jesus comes. Dispensationalism teaches the opposite. It says there’s a secret rapture, and if you don’t make it the first time, you can wait a few years, and if you’ve been “left behind,” you’ll get a second chance. But the Bible says no. When Jesus returns the second time, that’s it.

The second part of this deception comes when Satan himself will impersonate Christ.

Speaking of those who oppose the gospel, Paul writes: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:13, 14).

The embodiment of evil—the one in whom darkness dwells, the author of lies, deceit, and destruction, the very personification of darkness—can yet pass himself off as one of the good guys. He can appear as an angel of light, an angel of God.

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:8, 9).

At first glance this may seem like the devil’s usual method of deception through counterfeit miracles. But let’s look deeper.

The Greek word used here for “coming” is parousia. In common Greek usage before the Christian era, parousia simply meant a “presence” or a “coming.” But in the early Christian church it became a technical term, specifically for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

So look again at what Paul says: “The Lord will consume [the lawless one] with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming [parousia]. The coming [parousia] of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan.”

Do you see it? The Bible itself describes a counterfeit Parousia. The antichrist power will have its own “coming,” its own imitation of Christ’s return.

And because of that, Ellen White could faithfully write:

“As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation (Rev. 1:13-15). The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air, ‘Christ has come! Christ has come!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones, he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to the sorceries, saying: This is ‘the great power of God.’ ”[4]

This will be a massive deception. It will be global. Millions upon millions will be swept away. Your neighbors and mine will come knocking on our doors: “Hey, remember you used to talk about Jesus coming back? You were right! He’s here, just as you said!”

When the devil shows up and pulls out all the stops on his pyrotechnic display, the world will wonder after him and the beast power. A proper, biblical understanding of Christ and His second coming will be crucial to avoiding this deception. And we have an obligation to tell people the truth before that deception comes.

We have both the privilege and the duty of sharing Jesus Christ in the context of His three angels’ messages with as many people as possible before it’s too late. There is a world of people out there who cannot afford to miss the bull’s-eye.

The Mark of the Beast

And finally, the last lie: the mark of the beast.

This is the third side of Babylon—the combination of church and state, using the civil power of government to enforce religious observance on the people of the earth.

This is why, in this nation and in many others around the world, the Adventist Church is at the forefront of seeking to preserve religious liberty. Prayerfully and by the power of God’s Spirit, we do all that we can to influence legislators to preserve religious liberty. Because when that freedom disappears, the state will be used to enforce religion. And we just saw who will be in charge of religion on this planet.

Every person will have to decide: Will I worship Jesus in His way, on His day? Or will I worship the beast in his way, on his day?

The Sabbath will play a pivotal role, revealing our allegiance to Jesus. As we’ve already seen, no one will be saved because they kept the Sabbath holy—only Jesus saves. But Sabbathkeeping will reveal the deeper issue at stake with the mark of the beast: Who has my heart? Who has my true allegiance? Who truly has my affections? Is it the Creator God of the first angel’s message, or Satan and his counterfeits?

Sadly, much of the world will prove its allegiance to earthly things rather than to Jesus. The Adventist Church is among a very small group of people who still teach the truth about God’s Bible Sabbath. We are one of the few remaining groups on the planet that have a correct understanding of righteousness by faith. We have an obligation to unmask this deception.

There is no time to lose, because this last lie—the mark of the beast—will be such a powerful deception that most of the planet will be deceived by it.

Our Mission and Message

As we look at all these deceptions, we realize Satan has us coming and going. He attacks our beginning through evolution. He corrupts our life through sin. He distorts our picture of God through the teaching of eternal torment. What is he so concerned about that he would go through all this effort to keep us from hitting the bull’s-eye?

Well, what is the bull’s-eye? The bull’s-eye is knowing Jesus. It’s not complicated. Jesus is at the heart of the Seventh-day Adventist message and mission. Any other understanding is incorrect.

As Adventists we can sometimes get caught up in the excitement of Bible prophecy. But sometimes people get so caught up in the details that they forget Jesus. And we can’t do that. We must never forget that the only reason those prophecies are given is so that people might know Him. That’s why they’re there. The Bible is a means to an end. We are called to worship Him and to do all that is within our power to help other people see Him too.

And now we are ready to see what the unique mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church really is.

The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has three parts:

1. The Great Commission of Matthew 28

2. The three angels’ messages of Revelation 14

3. The context of our times: widespread deception

We must take that context into account, because it explains much of what God has said the Adventist Church must be about. These three elements—our commission, our message, and our context—define who we are and why we exist.

Our mission is carried out in the context of the final deceptions of Satan. Satan has been in the business of deceiving humanity since Adam and Eve, but at the end of time the number and power of his deceptions will rise dramatically. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has been called at this particular time in history to help as many people as possible stand with honor for Christ through all the final deceptions Satan has and will bring.

Therefore, the unique message of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is that Jesus is coming soon, that evil will soon be ended, that the final deceptions of Satan have begun, and that Jesus is our Savior and the solution to those deceptions.

And the mission of the church is intimately tied to that message.

The following are not my words, but the words of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in business session. The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is this: To “make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the three angels’ messages in preparation for His soon return.”

That is why we are here. Jesus is coming soon. Time is running out. We have both the privilege and the duty of sharing Jesus Christ in the context of His three angels’ messages with as many people as possible before it’s too late. There is a world of people out there who cannot afford to miss the bull’s-eye.

May we, as His end-time church, be firmly grounded in the Bible. May His Spirit empower us to focus on and fulfill His mission. And may the final proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His three angels’ messages saturate this planet soon with all the speed that God and we can muster.

To read part 1 of this sermon series, click here.

To read part 2 of this sermon series, click here.

To read part 3 of this sermon series, click here.

To read part 4 of this sermon series, click here.

To read part 5 of this sermon series, click here.

[1] Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 186.

[2] Ibid., p. 536.

[3] Ibid., p. 560.

[4] Ibid., pp. 624, 625.