Called & Chosen (Pastor Bob Maehre, 12/21/24)

Good to be here today.

And I appreciate, like I said, everything.

Sabbath school and I can see that I'm talking to people who, oh, thank you, it's up there.

Great.

People who know the Lord and people who know their Bibles and that's exciting.

I'm Pastor Bob Mayer and that was my wife who sang.

She's an LPC.

About 1977, I sculpted Daniel Two and sold a lot of them all over the place.

And after I got married, we joined forces and now we created Pave Products.

And that's, Susan and I recorded the whole Adventist hymnal for smaller churches or prayer

meeting or wherever, if you need accompaniment music.

So it's all accompaniment music.

It's not her singing, which it would have been nice to have that on there, but it's

not.

It's just accompaniment.

That way if you want to sing first and second stanzas only, you can, et cetera.

So just a little introduction to who we are.

So the title is Chosen and Called.

And I went the wrong direction.

There we go.

The Bible says in Luke, I'm writing to you, Theophilus, so that you may know for certain

the things you were taught.

I love that.

We need to know for certain the things we're taught, don't we?

Especially we as Seventh-day Adventists because we have some peculiar beliefs, peculiar in

Christianity.

But it's all right there in Scripture, and we believe the Bible as we have it without

higher education trying to criticize it.

We don't need to do that.

So the Bible says, now while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division

was on duty, he was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood.

And you know God had his hand in that.

Whether he was chosen or not, just wanted you to know you are chosen.

You are definitely chosen by God himself.

So it was a custom of the priesthood to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense.

Now this is so fascinating, and it didn't dawn on me until just the other day, believe

it or not, that he was burning incense.

And guess what happened?

An angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense appeared to him.

This is significant.

And Zechariah visibly shaken, this is a little different translation than King James, but

I kind of like it, visibly shaken when he saw the angel was seized with fear as just

about any of us would be.

Someone appeared all of a sudden, whoa, where did you come from?

And even if it wasn't an angel, you know, it would be startling, right?

But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard

and Elizabeth, your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him John.

The reason why it's so significant is I have been a study, a student of the sanctuary for

quite a while.

And so I want to share with you some things from the sanctuary.

And this is so awesome.

The altar of burnt sacrifice and the incense represents the prayers of the saints.

And so he shouldn't be surprised.

Hey, I'm here to answer your prayer.

Oh, that's fitting.

He continues, the angel says, joy and gladness will come to you and many will rejoice at

his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

So interesting.

He must never drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even

before his birth.

He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

Guess what?

This is our job as well.

And as we go on, you'll see.

And he will go as a forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to

turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom

of the just.

Isn't that our task as a people?

We are to go in the spirit and power of Elijah.

We have the Elijah message.

Turn to the Lord before it's too late.

Give your heart to Jesus.

And to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.

We are in the same spot.

Only now we have the second coming to prepare people for.

Isn't that exciting?

I think it's the most exciting thing in the world that the second coming is soon and our

job is to prepare people for it.

Well, how do you do that?

Well, you talk about Jesus, don't you?

You tell him that he is the light of your life.

If you have questions about your life, Jesus has the answer.

If you don't know about things in the Bible, Jesus is your answer.

And the sanctuary is all about Jesus.

Jesus is pictured in the sanctuary throughout.

It is a battle plan of how to deal with sin.

That's what Jesus is all about.

It's what his coming was all about.

And so the cross is the center of all time and space.

You stop and think about it.

You know, it's the most unique thing that's ever happened in the history of this world

and it is the center of all time and space.

And by the way, as almost artists convey, the cross is symbolized by the altar of burnt

sacrifice.

And that's true.

They're accurate.

But now I ask you a question.

Why is that?

Because you see where the priest in the person is kneeling down on the right side of the

altar of burnt sacrifice?

That's where the lamb died.

Why isn't that the symbol of Jesus' cross?

Well, I hope that we have time to answer that question because it's at the end and I'm

hoping to get there.

I'm going to keep an eye on the clock.

We're going to study the Bible and the Bible through the eyes of the sanctuary.

The Bible says, thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary.

And I find it disheartening that some good, well-meaning members of the church are questioning

the sanctuary, maybe even trying to just push it aside.

I don't understand that at all.

The Bible says that the incense is symbolized the prayers of the saints.

So that's why Zacharias, as he was lighting the incense, shouldn't have been surprised

that the angel said, look, I'm here to answer your prayers.

It's really awesome.

So there are three Christian principles that we need to live our lives by.

And some of us might struggle with the question, am I really on God's side?

Do I have a name prepared in the book of life?

Is my name written there?

Am I sure?

We want to be certain, don't we, that we have a place prepared for us in heaven.

And there are three things in the holy place that give us a little clues.

And we can be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves so that we know that we have a place.

And the first question is, what's with my prayer life?

Do I talk to Jesus as to a friend every day?

Do I stop and have worship morning and evening or however many times we need to do that?

And I need to go get some water right now.

I get dry, especially in the wintertime.

So the next thing, the three, I'm cutting to the chase, by the way.

This is, I'm giving you one sermon and I have four of these about the sanctuary.

So if it seems a little abbreviated, man, it is.

So the second thing is the word of God.

The table of showbread represents the word of God.

Where to eat or to digest or to take in the word, where to study the Bible.

And so that's the second question we can ask ourselves.

Do I take time on a regular basis to look in my Bible, to open it, or does it sit and

collect dust on the shelf?

Now I understand that nowadays our Bibles are right here.

So but you know what I mean.

Do we study the Bible?

Do we take time to listen to God speak to us?

The third principle is witness.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world, but he also said, you are the light of the world.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify who?

Your Father in heaven.

It's all about glorifying God.

We'd work not to earn our salvation, but to give glory to God and to spread the good news

that he's coming.

And because of the, the Bible says in Revelation 12, 11, and they overcame him because of the

blood of the Lamb.

Amen.

And because of the word of their testimony.

And they love not their lives even unto death.

Now, boy, that's a little bit harder, isn't it?

I mean, Bible study and prayer we do in our homes, but guess where we have to do testimony?

Somewhere else.

Or I guess we could get on Facebook and type to our friends.

But do we have a witness?

Do we have something to share with others of what God has done with us personally?

Those are hard questions, but we need to answer those because there are three rules of the

Christian life, prayer, Bible study, and share.

And so we need to ask ourselves just honestly and openly because you know what the saddest

thing would be?

To have a Seventh-day Adventist lose salvation, not be in heaven.

That seems like the saddest person in the whole wide world because we're so close to

the kingdom.

But, you know, I mean, you read your Bible, you understand that, you know, a lot of people

won't be there.

Will we be there?

That's the question, and I want us to have the right answer.

We're not working our way to heaven by sharing, by studying the Bible.

No, it's a relationship with Jesus, isn't it?

It's talking to Him just like He's your buddy.

And what can I do?

What plan do you have for me today, Lord?

So the sanctuary symbolizes also our Christian walk in the holy place because that's where

we live.

You know that.

Heaven begins right now.

Have you caught that?

Or are you living in a kind of a wrong place kind of a life?

Sometimes I wonder, you know, stuff happens to all of us.

But you know what, as we go through life with Jesus in our hearts, it makes those things,

it dims the pain of those things, doesn't it?

It does.

And that's how we need to live our lives.

In the positive, not in the negative, but in the positive, we can do all things through

Christ who strengthens us.

So we want to look at the sanctuary as it symbolizes Jesus' life on earth and then in

heaven.

And there are two sections to that.

And what's fascinating to me is, of course, Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation

of the world.

It's mentioned 24 times in Revelation.

Every animal that was sacrificed represented Jesus on the cross.

And John the Baptist, this is our task.

He did our task.

We're to do the same task.

We're to say to everyone, behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

We're to show people Jesus, aren't we?

So the Bible talks about Jesus, and it's in the prophecies of Daniel 8 and 9.

And I find it so fascinating.

Here's a little diagram of the sanctuary to scale pretty much, except I didn't get the

burnt sacrifice right in the middle.

That's where it should be.

But notice that the Ark of the Covenant is exactly in the middle of the second half.

You see, we have so much detail about the sanctuary that we can present things like

this.

And guess what?

One is talking about the Day of Atonement, where the Ark is.

That's where Jesus is now in the most holy place.

And one is showing the world the sacrifice of Jesus as Passover did.

And it represents law and grace.

The rest of Christianity wants to just talk about grace.

But we are called to talk about the balance between law and grace.

We have a special task.

One is Daniel chapter 8, and one is Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 8 · chapter mention Daniel 9 · chapter mention

And we don't have time to go into a lot of that, but notice that Daniel chapter 9 talks

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

about the midst of the week.

The Messiah appears, and He appears right on time with John the Baptist baptizing him

in the river.

And then in the midst of the week, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

In other words, Jesus died right on time, as the Bible prophesied Him, in the exact

time period, exact year, exact month, on Passover.

But guess what?

This is what gives me chills.

Daniel 9, 21.

This is Daniel.

While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first,

came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

You realize that 500 years before Jesus, His date, time, even moment of death was predicted

in the book of Daniel.

That is awesome.

What a God we serve.

It's amazing.

So Daniel predicted Jesus' death to the very moment.

So let's talk about the festivals of the sanctuary.

The festivals represent Jesus' life and His life after this earth.

So let's look at it a little bit.

I think we're doing pretty well on time.

By the way, do you want to get out at 12?

Perfectly at 12, or can I go a little bit over?

Okay.

There are seven festivals in the Bible.

Five of them are in the Pentateuch in Leviticus, and two more outside of those books.

By the way, there are seven, even if you don't count the ones that are after, because Passover

is actually three festivals in one festival.

That's how familiar three and one.

So the outer court represents this earth, and it does consistently.

And the most holy and the holy represent heaven.

Now, it's fairly consistent, except for one exception, and that is in the civil year.

The Jews had two calendars, just like we do.

We have a civil year, a regular year, from January 1 to December 31, and then we have

often a fiscal year.

That can be any time, whatever you choose.

It's your fiscal year.

So we're kind of familiar with two calendars.

They had two calendars, civil and a sacred year.

In the civil year, the festivals start with the Feast of Trumpets, and then they go to,

as you can see, they have atonement, Feast of Tabernacles.

Hanukkah and Purim are the two festivals that aren't in Leviticus.

They came later.

And then there's Passover, which here's the three festivals in one, and then Pentecost.

And the sacred year starts at Passover and then goes through the festivals.

So Jesus came right on time.

And the seven festivals just happened to align with the seven places in the sanctuary, the

seven pieces of furniture.

Now it isn't exact, but it's very, very close.

So you understand the Passover is also represented by the Altar of Her Sacrifice.

And Pentecost is where the new church was baptized and the new church of Christianity

began.

Remember at Pentecost, that's what happened.

And that was on this earth.

So then what happened?

Jesus went to heaven.

And so we're following Jesus of where he is.

And the Feast of Trumpets represents, well, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Hang on a second.

We want to find out when Jesus was born.

We as Adventists understand very clearly that the birth of Jesus was a what?

A pagan holiday.

That's where it started, okay, in history.

But we don't mind Christmas as Adventists because we're celebrating Jesus.

How can you be against Jesus?

So we love Christmas.

It's a beautiful time of year.

But Jesus wasn't born on December 25.

Of course, he was born.

And where have you heard that he was born?

Or when have you heard?

In the fall of the year.

Now I wanted to show you a simple method of deciding that.

Now if Dr. Davidson from Andrews University were here, he'd give you an amazing reason

why it's the fall of the year based on, I couldn't follow it to be honest with you.

I spent time at the seminary, but not as a teacher.

So Jesus lived according to the festivals.

And so when was his birthday?

Well, it's actually quite easy to figure it out.

Because Jesus said, or the Bible says that Jesus, when he began to teach, was about 30

years of age.

Now his time, that was when the priests began their ministries, when they were 30.

Can you imagine Jesus waiting?

Well, it was my birthday, but I'm not going to start now.

I'm going to start in six months.

No, I don't think so.

I think when his birthday came along, he wanted to begin his ministry.

His ministry was three and a half years.

That's it, three and a half years.

Amazing.

He did incredible things in three and a half years.

But don't you see that because it's a half year, when did he die?

At Passover.

That's the spring of the year.

And so a half year from that takes us to the trumpets or day of atonement time.

That's when Jesus was born, and it's the fall of the year.

It's really quite simple.

So now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, He that

believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.

Jesus tended to do things, and there isn't a lot of evidence for this, but there's just

enough to give us an idea.

Jesus, when was this?

At the feast, when people are gathered together.

And you remember, for most of his ministry, he said, now I'm going to heal you, but don't

tell anybody.

Why was that?

Because people would try to kill him sooner.

He had to at least get three and a half years in.

So with the last year of his life, in the feast times, at the festivals, that's when

he started broadcasting who he was and what he was about.

Jesus is the water of life.

And Jesus is the light of the world.

So the water of life was at a festival, and also the light of the world.

The feast of Hanukkah, or the feast of lights, is something that Jews still celebrate today,

but it started in the intertestamental time.

But Jesus kept that festival.

So and then the next festival in Jesus' life was Purim.

You remember what Purim was?

It was when Queen Esther and the Jews were about to be killed, every one of them, and

God delivered them from death.

So what happened in Jesus' life?

This happens just before Passover, not too long before Passover.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb, snatching him from death, according to the festival

of Purim.

Now it's interesting because that's the thing that was the tipping thing for the Jews, for

the leaders of Jewish nation.

He's raising people from the dead.

We've got to get rid of this guy.

And so therefore, the next one was Passover.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, died for you and me.

We were discussing that at Sabbath school.

It's such an awesome truth.

We want to spread it to the world.

The world doesn't know how awesome it is.

Jesus gave up part of his Godhead for you and me.

He can only be in one place at a time.

He can't be omnipresent anymore.

That is the most incredible thing I've heard, isn't it?

I mean, wow.

Jesus, the Lamb of God.

I give you the invitation today.

There might be someone who hasn't given their heart fully to God.

There was a time when I hadn't.

I was about 20 years old before I really committed my life to Jesus.

And I was raised in Battle Creek, Michigan.

So you understand that there's lots of us that are what I call, and we have called ourselves,

Nominal Adventists.

We're Seventh Adventists in name, but we haven't committed our soul to Jesus.

So I ask you this morning, isn't it time to do that?

To say, Lord, I want to commit my heart to you 100 percent, and I want my name written

in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Well now we have to turn to the sacred year, because we went through the civil year all

the way to the Passover.

Now the sacred year begins with Passover.

And so Jesus is still on this earth and he dies for us.

And then Pentecost comes along, and it's right in a transition point.

But Pentecost, Jesus starts his new church on earth.

And so from Passover to Pentecost is 50 days, right?

But from Pentecost to the next festival, Feast of Trumpets, is quite a time.

And it was, because the Feast of Trumpets started in 1833.

Now I know that for sure, because that's when Miller, Mr. Miller, started preaching.

And he preached for 10 years, from 1833 to 1843.

And guess how long the Feast of Trumpets is?

Ten days.

Day for a year.

So brothers and sisters, we have a lot to praise the Lord about.

Because the next one is the Day of Atonement.

And you know what happened on the Day of Atonement.

In 1844.

Now we typically leave Jesus in the Most Holy Place.

But see, that's not the end of the festivals.

And he lived his life by the festivals.

So when Jesus leaves the Day of Atonement, what happens?

He comes to get us.

And where does he go?

If you're in the Most Holy Place and you leave, where do you end up?

In the Holy Place.

It's very simple.

You go there.

And so we are with Jesus in heaven for a thousand years, and that's the next festival.

But I kind of got ahead of myself.

Because we need to talk about 1844.

Because it's been under some scrutiny and some criticism.

And I want to tell you that we haven't believed in fairy tales.

1844 is an incredible date.

And I want to tell you what happened.

Jesus entered the Most Holy Place.

He really did that.

On October 22, 1844.

The Day of Atonement.

It just so happened that Ellen White's first vision was in that year in December, after

the Great Disappointment, when they figured out what the problem was.

Now also, what we don't realize, and I had the privilege of preaching this in Washington,

New Hampshire, where the first Sabbath-keeping Adventists.

It was so cool.

And they hadn't thought of it.

But the Bible says, and let's go back, the word, sedig, the word that we translate, cleansed,

can also mean restored.

See, and that's what tripped us up.

Someone came along and said, oh, it doesn't mean cleansed, it means restored.

And we got all Twitter-painted about that.

But we shouldn't have.

Because guess what?

It means both.

Our view of 1844 has been correct all along.

Jesus started the work of the investigative judgment, cleansing the sanctuary from sin.

Okay?

But it also means restored.

What needed to be restored?

And there it is in pink.

The Sabbath needed to be restored.

And guess what?

What do we have from the sanctuary that we still have?

I mean, after all, we don't have the sanctuary, do we?

The earthly one, we have the one in heaven.

But we don't have the earthly one.

It's gone.

There's nothing left except what was in the Ark of the Covenant.

The Sabbath needed to be restored.

And that happened right on time.

It makes me, it's exciting.

It happened right on time.

So now we know the sanctuary is in heaven.

We understand that now.

The Second Coming was preached around the world.

The William Miller message was preached all over the world, and they didn't even know

it.

But it was preached by children in different countries and by priests in other countries.

God had a movement, and the devil had a movement, too.

Now Morris Code isn't from the devil.

It's a really wonderful thing, but you know what?

It is the infancy of modern technology.

Morris Code invented in 1844.

After that, telephone.

After, well, now we have, you know, it's incredible what we have today.

But it had to start somewhere.

So 1844 was a time of infant.

The church was infant.

The knowledge was infant.

Darwin and Karl Marx both published a precursor to the real book that was published a little

later, but their first books came out in 1844.

And guess what that is all about?

Atheism.

We are living in the last days of Earth's history, and we're being attacked by every

front.

Joseph Smith dies in 1844, trying to escape from jail.

And another false religion was born.

It wasn't exactly born then, but by him dying, he becomes a saint and immortalized, and the

church grew rapidly.

So we are in the time of the end, and it is for sure.

We don't have to have any doubt about it.

So what's next?

What's the next big thing that happens?

The Feast of Booths.

What does it represent?

Jesus pictured it through the years.

There are thousands.

Look on the internet and put in the Second Coming visuals.

You'll see pictures of all kinds.

It's the most exciting thing, aside from Jesus dying on the cross, that has ever happened

to planet Earth, and it's right around the corner.

Jesus Second Coming.

And the saved will be with Jesus throughout eternity.

Wow.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and they

lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

What did we say was the Hanukkah?

Feast of lights.

That's in the holy place.

That's where the lights are.

Seven branch candlestick.

And that's where we will be through the thousand years.

Some have questioned that, but that's where we're going to be.

There's no second chance.

There's no, you know, all these other theories about the last days of Earth's history, the

Second Coming.

We're going to be with Jesus in heaven.

And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared

as a bride adorned for her husband.

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall

go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the Earth.

So what's the next festival?

Purim.

You remember what happened in Purim?

Purim is model and miniature of the Battle of Armageddon.

The Battle of Armageddon starts before Jesus comes.

You and I will be taking part in that.

We will be, you know, battled from all kinds of places.

But God will be with his church.

He will bring us off more than conquerors.

An exciting, exciting, exciting time.

But then the second half of the Battle of Armageddon happens after the thousand years.

And the Bible tells it this way, and they went up on the breadth of the Earth, the wicked,

encompassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city.

And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Wow.

I don't want to be in that group, do you?

What do we have to do to not be in that group?

Well, here's the wonderful thing.

It's such a blessing.

Your life is so much easier on Jesus' side than on the devil's side.

The devil wants you to make a think that's just the opposite.

Isn't that exciting?

Jesus loves us so much.

And I asked the question, why does the burnt offering representing Jesus' death on the

cross?

Because he died the death of the sinners.

And how are the sinners dealt with?

They're dealt with fire.

It's a strange thing that God has to do.

He's the creator.

He doesn't like to do this terrible thing that has to be done at the end of his whole

battle.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death.

So we come full circle.

All of the festivals taken care of.

And this sanctuary message that we have is so awesome, it's amazing.

And I just wanted you to know that.

It's the end of the sanctuary.

The end of sin and sinners.

And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of

it.

Why?

Because they are all a symbol of how God deals with sin.

And when sin is over, we don't need a temple anymore.

Amazing, isn't it?

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were

passed away.

I want to be there with you guys.

Because I know you're going to be there.

And I'm going to be there.

Right family?

We want to be there.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying.

Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Heaven begins.

But wait a minute.

No, heaven begins right now.

For us.

Because we are children of the heavenly King.

Let's live in that knowledge, shall we?

Live in the positive.

We're in heaven.

In our hearts and minds.

We still have to suffer through this old world.

But being in heaven helps us.

It helps us along the troubles of this old world.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much.

That the God has planned it out so meticulously.

And every little, almost detail is presented for us in the Bible.

And we thank you for the Bible.

We thank you for Jesus.

He was born to die for us.

And we thank you and we praise you.

We ask you to give us your message in our hearts.

Your truth burned in our souls.

So that we will never doubt.

But always trust in Jesus.

Amen.