sermon: A Reminder and a Warning to Be Prepared
Clyde Finklea
Given 20-Sep-25; Sermon #1837A; 41 minutes
Here we are in the third season. There are three seasons in a year that God summons us to appear before Him. And we know that in the first season God has revealed to us what He has done. In the second season, God's revealed to us what He's doing, and in this third season, God's revealing to us what He's going to do.
So in each season, we are summoned to a holy convocation. The word that's used here for convocation, I mentioned this before, from the root word that means rehearsal. It's similar to a wedding rehearsal. So we are here when we get to the feast, but when we begin on trumpets, we will be there to prepare for the greatest wedding that'll ever take place. And that'll be the beginning of it.
Alright, so we are just a few days away from this third season in the first holy congregation or rehearsal. During this season, we refer to it as the Feast of Trumpets. Now while the other appointed feasts are given a name like the Sabbath, Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, a Day of Atonement and such, this feast really has no title. It's simply Yom Teruah; it means a day of blowing.
Now, looking in, digging into that word to, I guess you could also say that there is an indication in there that it's kind of a day of shouting, cheering, and so on. But since the blowing of the trumpets became the distinguishing characteristic of the day, it became known as the Feast of Trumpets, the feast that called people to prepare to stand before judgment of God, the judgment of God.
All right, now, the importance of the feast is indicated by the fact that Israel anticipated its arrival on the first day of each month. That's the new moons. Through short blasts of the trumpets, and you can reference that in Numbers 10:10. Now these short blasts were in anticipation of the long alarm blast that's to be sounded on the new moon of the seventh month.
I'd like to read to you from a commentary written in the Pentateuch. I think I said that right. Concerning this, and I quote, In Numbers 29:1, the assembly is called a day of blowing the horn. This is the shofar, the ram's horn. This act must be differentiated from the sounding of the trumpet, not the shofar, which took place while the offerings were brought on the festivals and the new moons.
So the blowing of the shofar had consequently quite a different significance and was more awe-inspiring than the blowing of the silver trumpets, which generally was a joyous sound. So the sound of shofar, consisting of as handed down by tradition of three distinctive shofar notes - that tekiah, shevarim, and teruah - has been looked upon from time immemorial as a call to contrition and penitence.
As a reminder of the shofar sound of Sinai, it is also referred to as the Day of Memorial, the beginning of the ten days of repentance, which culminate in the Day of Atonement. As a time of self-examination and humble petition for forgiveness, unquote.
Now to Israel, blowing of the trumpets was not only understood as a blast of remembrance, but also a call to repent and prepare oneself to stand trial before God, who would execute His judgment ten days later on the Day of Atonement. Now the Jewish people today call these days the ten days of awe, all the ten days of penitence.
So the Jews, I do not know that they all do this, but most of them will begin, will celebrate the first day and beginning this day, the ten days; they fast during the daytime. They actually, and then in the evenings, they eat all they want and they will do that all the way up to Atonement. Well they do a full day's fast.
And, they do this because they, they look at this as either you're going to face Atonement or you are going to face God's judgment. So you need, we need to be reflecting back and remembering and mostly to, mostly to the Jews, if you'll know, pretty much in every holy day, if you look through the scriptures, He always takes them back to remind them of, of His delivering them from Egypt, from slavery in Egypt.
Uh, so how does this apply to us today? And we know that trumpets is the fourth or middle of God's seven annual holidays and kind of functions like a little tipping point because it's going to point us back to the fulfillment of something that has already occurred. And that would be the first season that God called us to Passover.
He summoned us to go before Jesus to observe the Passover where our Lord and Savior gave Himself and gave His life, His precious sinless blood for us and for our sins. Then we enter into the Days of Unleavened Bread. Um, and, and then, of course, we get to Pentecost, and then it points forward to God's direct and climactic intervention in the affairs of man, namely, the Day of the Lord, leading directly to the literal return of Jesus Christ and His establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
If you remember Peter's sermon on Pentecost, he was, he was, he, he was, he's right dead into the Day of the Lord. He pointed to that in his, in his message. Now, so this feast, it's a feast that calls people to first to remember something, remember it, that is remember something that's already occurred. And two, to prepare, that is to prepare for something that is about to occur.
Now, let's begin with looking at, and II Peter, let's see what the apostle Peter had to say about this reminder about reminding people that something that we should never forget. Uh, II Peter, the third chapter. We'll start there.
II Peter 3:1-2 Now beloved, I am writing this second epistle to you. In both, that is in the first epistle and in the second epistle, I am stirring up your pure minds by causing you to remember, in order for you to be mindful of the words that were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior, spoken by us, the apostles.
Knowing this first, that in the last days there will come mockers walking according to their own personal lust and asking, where is the promise of His coming.
II Peter 3:4-7 For ever since the forefathers died, everything has remained the same as from the beginning of creation. But this fact is hidden from them, they themselves choosing to ignore it, that by the word of God, the heavens existed of old and the earth came forth out of the water and amid the water. By which the world at that time, having been deluged with water, had itself been destroyed. But the present heavens and earth are being held in store by His word and are being reserved for fire in the day of the judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
All right, now let's just, back up here to chapter one. II Peter chapter 1. And I want to begin here. I want to begin this, this section in, in verse 12.
II Peter 1:12 Therefore, I will not neglect to make you always mindful of these things, although you already know them and have been established in the present truth.
We've been called for the truth. We know what the truth is. He's telling them, he said, you already know these things, and he's going to remind them of them again. And that's why we have to hear the same messages over and over again. We got to remember, and Peter says he will make sure they do.
So he's intent on reminding them of what they already knew and embraced as the truth. Same thing with us, you know, because this message is for us today. The letter, the people who wrote this letter in the beginning, they are gone, they are dead. These words are written and are written for the end time church too. We're here.
And we are reading it now and it's just as though he wrote this letter directly to us. OK, so they already knew and they embraced, they already, he's reminding him of something they already knew. OK, because it really is impossible to remind somebody of something they never knew, right?
So on the Day of Memorial, when God said, this is blowing a day of memorial, He wants you to remember something's already done, already happened, already passed, something you already knew. He seeks to remind them of truth, which they continue to embrace this truth, and He reminds them of their responsibility of working hard at developing Christian character, a holy and righteous character of Jesus Christ.
II Peter 1:13-15 For I consider it my duty as long as I am in this tabernacle, that is in his flesh, to stir you up by causing you to remember these things, knowing that shortly the putting off of my tabernacle, that is, he knows he's fixing to be martyred, will come even as our Lord Jesus Christ has signified to me. But I will make every effort that after my departure, you may always have a written remembrance of these things in order to practice them for yourself.
II Peter 1:16-18 For we did not follow cleverly concocted myths as our authority when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were eyewitnesses of His magnificent glory. Because He received glory and honor from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the majestic glory when He said, this is My Son, the beloved in whom I am well pleased. And this is the voice from heaven that we heard when we were with Him on that holy mountain.
John just mentioned this in the sermonette. This is the transfiguration; transfiguration is what it's referred to. It was a holy mountain then because Christ was on it.
All right, now, Peter begins to inject a little warning. Verse 19. So he's reminding him of something, and now he's warning.
II Peter 1:19-21 We also possess the confirmed prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing first, knowing this, no prophecy of scripture originates as anyone's own private interpretation. And because prophecy was not brought at any time by human will, but the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
So Peter here again is both reminding us of something and he's also warning us at the same time. Now let's get, let's back up to verse one, so we can begin to see what these things he was talking about. So, II Peter 1:1.
II Peter 1:1-4 That Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained the same precious faith as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue. Through which He has given to us the greatest and most precious promises that through these, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
OK. Peter is reminding us that we have been given a precious faith through Jesus Christ, who has been sacrificed once for all, and our past sins have been forgiven as depicted by the fulfillment of the Passover. Now we have been freed from the slavery of Satan. Satan is a type of the Pharaoh when He delivered them from Egypt, in the favor of their slaves.
This is, that was the type of, that was the physical type, that this is the spiritual type. The spiritual type is that we are freed from the slavery of Satan. He held us captive in this world and sin, so He's delivered us from the slavery of Satan and sin and called to a life of righteousness, as depicted by the Days of Unleavened Bread.
During those days, we had, we eat unleavened bread every day picturing the feeding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, feeding upon Him, it's words. All right, and, and furthermore, we've been given the promise of the Holy Spirit and making us the first fruits of the New Covenant. That's depicted by the Feast of First Fruits. As it's sometimes called, and we generally refer to it as Pentecost.
You see, we've been given everything that pertains to life and godliness. So in verse 5, let's pick it up. Let's continue.
II Peter 1:5 He says for this very reason also, having applied all diligence, besides, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge.
Now, we, we've gone through this many times before and I've looked at this and I've always, I've always considered this section here from Peter as a bit of an outline to the conversion process. And he's telling us that we have to apply all diligence. We got to make, in other words, some, some translations will say make every effort, to add to your faith or supplement the faith that God called us to Jesus Christ.
Now, virtue, if you look it up, different translations. I think I looked this up one time and it was like, may in six or seven different translations and they were all, they translated all different. But one of the things that stood out to me was that it, it means moral excellence. It can be translated as moral excellence.
So he's telling us to add to that knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love. And then finally, that final step of love, the love of God, that's our goal, ain't it? To become like Jesus Christ in His holy and righteous character we know that God is love.
And He's creating us once again in His likeness. He's created us in His image. We look like Him, or similar to the God kind. Now He wants us to be made in His likeness, and that's what He's doing with us now. That's what He's creating in us, the very likeness of Jesus Christ His Son.
All right. Well, if these things, I noticed this what Peter says, if these things, those are the things, remember, he said he pointed back to when he was one of them, these things, he said, if these things exist in you and abound, they will cause you to be neither lacking effort nor lacking fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But Peter is, he's, he's also warning us here as we see here in verse 9 and 10. Let's take a look at that.
II Peter 1:9-10 But the one in whom these things are not present is spiritually blind, so shortsighted that he has forgotten that he was purified from his own sins. For this reason, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you do these things, you will never fall any time.
Now, where we heard that before? Spiritual blindness did not Jesus say to the Laodiceans? Now we are, we are, we are in this age, and the Laodicean attitude is going to be, is revealed, and I do not know, it may have been revealed all down through the centuries, but we know that it's going to be prevalent at the end of the age and not only that, but the other attitudes as well, but He says that they were spiritually blind and naked and have no white robes on.
Well doesn't it say somewhere in Revelation where the white robes, fine linen, or the righteousness of the saints? So apparently they I do not, I do not think the Laodiceans were blatantly, you know, just sinning. I do not think, I do not think that at all. I think they thought they were good. They were doing good. They were keeping God's commandments and probably trucking right along, but they, they did not make every effort apparently to keep growing in the graces and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And we have to go back to what Peter said, you have to make every effort to do this, and you must continue doing this and you must be kept being reminded of it, to keep doing it because if he, he said, if these things exist in you and abound, they will cause you to be neither lacking effort or lacking fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and we know that fruit, as in John 15 shows us that bearing the fruit, that is the fruit of God's love, which is what joy, peace, faith, long suffering, kindness, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control, as long as we are, we will not like, he says, when you will not lack any fruit because that fruit it says in John 15, will glorifies God.
Much fruit brings glory to Him. That is because we are growing in that love. We're growing in God's love, producing the fruits of His Spirit and becoming more and more like who, like Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, so if you're spiritually blind, you can't, you do not, you do not see these things. To me, the Laodicean to me was more to me like someone who was like self-righteous. And that's something we cannot allow ourselves to get into. You know, we do not need to be looking at each other and judging each other. We need to be looking at ourselves, judging ourselves and making sure that we are not short-sighted and that we haven't forgotten.
That's why he keeps reminding them because he said that he's so shortsighted. They forgotten they were purified from their old sins. Is that why God keeps telling Israel? Go, remember how I brought you out of Egypt? Delivered you from slavery?
Remember how He brought us out of spiritual Egypt under Satan's rule? Remember that? Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that He called you to Christ. He called us to Christ. And He forgave our sins through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ because He gave Himself for us.
So we do not ever want to reach a point of spiritual blindness. And then he says right here, because he said, you know, the Laodiceans are spiritually blind in verse 10 what he says, for this reason, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you do these things, the things he just told us to do, you will never fall any time. And that's, that's an amazing promise there.
Uh, the word sure here when it says make your election sure, it's, it simply means firm, steadfast, secure. So we've got to make our calling secure. Remember the words spoken by Jesus when He said that many are called but few are chosen. What do you think He meant by that?
I've mentioned this before. This is just the way I look at it. Did God call many people, you know, and just say, I think I'll, OK, now I can choose which ones I want. Let's see, I'll take this one. I do not want that one. He, he, he ain't doing too good. I'll take that one. No.
There is no unfairness with God. Everyone, God calls to Christ has the same opportunity, and what is that same opportunity? It is to truly repent and do those things that Peter said to do. It makes sense that the few who were chosen are simply the ones who have really truly repented and are making every effort to secure our precious calling.
Remember Jesus said that in that narrow gate. There is many are going to try to enter, but they are not going to be able to. He said only a few make it in. Peter's saying that those who are not showing the evidence of Christ likeness, although they have been called by God and truth has been revealed to them. And I'm talking about all of us, all of us.
Doesn't, I'm talking about the ones that excuse me, that the, the many, that doesn't perceive Christ's sacrifice of great value and are not driven or motivated, or motivated to, to truly repent. They think they repent. They keep God's commandments, but they are not growing. And apparently not producing the fruits that He requires.
All right, on this feast day. So we see that God wants us to remember, remember this, remember something. He instructed Israel to remember their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. I've said that before and we too are instructed to remember our deliverance from spiritual slavery and spiritual Egypt, and He wants us to be prepared because of what is about to occur is going to happen and when it does, it's going to happen very quickly when it begins.
Uh, we do not know. We do not know if this trumpets might be, might be the time when the trumpets go off. I do not think so, but I mean, I, we do not know. Uh, there is going to be it, but there is going to be a time when it will be too late. We'll see that here in a little bit, and some are going to be caught unprepared.
I remember the parable of the ten virgins. Half, half of them were unprepared I said there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And he's referring, I think, to those who called but not prepared.
All right, let's look at a, a final reminder in the book of Revelation. Let's go to chapter 22, begin there. Revelation 22.
Revelation 22:6-7 And he said to me, this is, this is John writing speaking. The angel said to him, said, these words are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets and His angel to show His servants the things that must shortly come to pass. Behold, I'm coming quickly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
Now hang on to that word keeps. See this again. Uh, let's go back real quick to chapter, chapter one. Revelation chapter one. And we just, we just pick it up in verse one.
Revelation 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show His servants the things that are ordained to come to pass shortly, and He made it known, having sent it by His angel to His servant John, who gave witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and all the things that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and who keep the things that are written therein for the time is at hand.
It was written, brother, almost 2000 years ago. How much closer are we now? Oh. OK, we are right, it's right at the door.
Now notice what he said. He said, he said it here in, in chapter one. And he also repeated it in chapter 22, the first chapter and the last chapter of the book of Revelation, this prophecy. He said, blessed is the one who reads it and keeps it. Now, you can't keep it if you do not read it.
So we must read the book, the prophecy. A lot of people do not like, apparently do not like to go to Revelation or talk about it, but let me tell you something. He says blessed is the one that reads it and hears it and keeps it. So we need to read it so we can kind of get a vision or understanding a little bit.
I understand we are going to have the wide open complete and clear understanding of these things cause Revelation has a lot of symbols in it and you gotta, you gotta know what's the symbol and what's not. Because you can symbolize something to death, you know, I mean, you can let your imagination run wild with symbols. But he's saying that you got to read it. And he said, you've got to keep it. Just hang on to that a minute.
He said, keep the things that are written in from the time is at hand. OK, so be sure you've read that book, the prophecy. If you haven't, between now and Feast of Trumpets, y'all read it if you haven't. Uh, in chapter in the first chapter in the last chapter, of course, we instructed to keep these things.
Um, now Thayer defines this word keep. Uh, I think Strong's definition would probably be guard, but Strong's defines it this way. He says, to attend to carefully, take care of, and to guard. But this is, this is the one that really got my attention. He said metaphorically to keep one in the state in which he is.
All right, that's important because it's going to be a time, I said, it's going to be too late. All right, Revelation back to 22. Let's go back there again. We'll pick back up in 22, verse 8.
Revelation 22:8-9 Says now I John I was the one who saw and heard these things, and when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things. But he said that as the angels see that you do, do not do this, for I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book, worship God.
Again, those who keep one in the state in which he is, let's hope that that state is one of preparedness and not unpreparedness.
Revelation 22:10-12 And he said, do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book because the time is near. That the one who was unrighteous, be unrighteous still. That the one who is filthy be filthy still, that the one who is righteous be righteous still, and that the one who is holy be holy still. And behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me to render to each one according as his work shall be.
Revelation 22:13-14 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, blessed, he says it again, of those who keep His commandments and that they may have the right to eat the tree of life and may enter into the gates into the city.
Now, I want to, let's just continue verse 16.
Revelation 22:16-18 I, Jesus sent My angel to testify these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. The Spirit and the bride say, come, and let the one who hears come. Let the one who thirsts come. Let the one who desires to partake of the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. That if anyone adds to these things, add the plagues that are written in this book.
Know what they are? Well, if you hadn't read the book, you do not know. OK. So he's telling you, you need to read it, so you do not add to and take away from anything. But the plagues he's talking about, if you, it's interesting because, you know, seven is an important number to God.
It, it kind of represents a, a completion or perfection or completion. But just as he tells us to go back and remember from, from the first month of the Passover, they started blowing the trumpets every month, right? All the way up to the seventh one and, and Pentecost, I mean, Trumpets is, is the only holy day that begins at the beginning of a month.
And when that one's blown, it's, it's over. I mean, that one's blown. That is the warning, boom. Price is fixing to come. There is a lot of things coming with it. But if you look in there, there is seven months, you've got a scroll with seven seals. And you've got the seventh seal is open.
You've got seven angels with seven trumpets, and with that seventh trumpet angel begins to sound his horn. Bam. Guess what happened? The first resurrection. Will we be ready by then? You do not want to be here after that angel blows that seventh trumpet.
Because what it does, and it opens up, seven more angels come with seven plagues. And those that have been resurrected, remember that seventh trumpet gas, I guess at the end of all them trumpet blowing and blowing and blowing. You know, it is going to be a lot of shouting and screaming and cheering because they are going to hear us up in the air with Christ above Jerusalem, above the clouds.
But what about those that were unprepared? Well they got to look forward to. See, we do not come back with Christ until the plagues are over, the bowl plagues. When they get to the seventh one, boom, we see Jesus Christ coming out of heaven with his army. His saints and his holy angels.
He goes straight back to Jerusalem, Mount of Olives. And he takes over. But what about those that are knocking on the door at that seventh trumpet. Wait a minute, let me. I'm, I want to come in. I want to come in, so. Don't know you. You were unprepared. That's a scary thing to me.
And from the things that are written in this book. He who testifies these things says, surely I'm coming quickly. That is when all these things begin, when that trumpet begins to blow. It's all coming, it's going to be coming fast. He said, Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
And we will begin to wrap it up here. The trumpet blast of the feast of, of this, of this feast status that we are going to be observing here in a, in a few days is a reminder, first of all, reminder of what God has done. And a warning and what He's doing, because remember who Jesus Christ is still building. Is He not His congregation of first fruits.
But there is going to come a point when that's it, the last one. And it's warning us to be prepared for what He is about to do once those trumpets begin to be blown. So we could look at this basically like the Jews do, you know, maybe we do need to reflect when we get to this day and those ten days up to Atonement.
We need to, we need to think about these things. Think back and remember how God miraculously pulled you out of something, I'll guarantee you I could tell you the story of my life, mine and Carolyn. I recall us. Um, and I know there is many, many stories out there of how God called them out of, out of the sick and dying world.
Um so we maybe we need to reflect back on those things. And, and, and make sure and go back and study that outline that Peter gave us, make sure that you're doing those things. So that you'll be prepared. Because like the Jews are thinking. Will we face Atonement or will we face judgment and some of the people there.
During this time, and some will be I think we will face Atonement. They probably there is going to be a lot of repentance going on. There is a remnant of Israel. There is innumerable multitude that comes through there wherever they are, and whenever they come in.
I know it's through the two Revelation that they, they repent. Maybe they will be the ones that live on in the millennium because all the wicked's gone. They're going to be dead. The ungodly is not, there ain't going to be no ungodly on God's kingdom. There may be some slipped in, who knows, they might have put a few in there, but we are going to either face Atonement or judgment. So which one do you want to face?
All right, I'm going to end here in verse 21.
Revelation 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.