A man called me the other day. He was complaining that the SDA church has too many doctrines. He said that all we needed to do was believe on the Lord and we would be saved and that more than this only was detail.

I told him that when he became an Adventist he agreed to the fact that we had a certain set of doctrines. I asked him why had he changed his mind and what had happened. He said that he was only twelve when he was baptized and now he saw things differently.

I didn't but I wanted to tell him that if he didn't believe in all the doctrines that maybe he ought not be a Seventh-day Adventist. I think that would be the most ethical thing to do. Nobody makes us join the church; it is a free choice. We can come and go as we please. I cannot understand how a person would join the church or even stay a member if they thought that the church had too many doctrines or that some of the doctrines were not true.

But listen to this clincher. He said that he had no intention of not being an Adventist, but that he intended to do all in his power to get the church to change and back down from its beliefs.

He said that he didn't feel that the church had any right to tell a person how to live. Now I believe in religious liberty, but I don't believe in anarchy. I didn't have to marry my wife. I had liberty, but when I took the marriage vows I had to give up my freedom to do what I wanted to do in respect to other women. Do you see where I am coming from?

God allows a person to choose to serve Him or not, but once we go on record as intending to serve Him, two things happen. One is that our name is written in the Lambs' book of life and the other is that God will hold us accountable for our commitment. That is just as right as your wife or husband holding you accountable to be faithful to them. A marriage that has no accountability is no marriage at all. So a person who goes on record as being a follower of Jesus becomes in that moment accountable, and by that we mean from that time God judges them for the way that they live.

Some may think that is not fair, but you can see that it has to be this way. We are in a terrible situation here in this planet. The very Son of God suffered and died here and it will not have been in vain.

Jesus died to lift sin off the back of this poor lost race. More than that He died to get sin out of our very hearts. People who commit themselves to the process and then proceed to resist will actually be in worse shape than had they not signed up at all.

Contrary to popular belief, the issue at the end of the second millennium among those who are professing to be followers of Christ is not whether Jesus' life, death and sacrifice is how we are saved. The issue now is, will we or will we not let Him save us in the fullest sense of the word.

Unfortunately, there is either some misunderstanding or there is some intentional resistance out there about what salvation is all about. That is, what does it mean to have salvation?

It is a two-way street. Jesus has accepted the responsibility to save us. Our responsibility is to let Him do it.

We must understand that salvation is not about some day but it is about now. We call it assurance. But this assurance is not just an assurance that at some time somehow He will take me to heaven, but this assurance can only be real if we are allowing Him to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness in the here and now. People who see it some other way must have a savior that the Bible doesn't know anything about.

Friends, when we gave our lives to Jesus, whenever it was, we either made the best decision of our lives or the worst. Which it finally will be depends on if we have followed through or not.

We might say, "But Lord, I was just kidding," or "Lord, I am taking a break," but as far as the Lord is concerned He doesn't joke around. When we gave our lives to Jesus, He wrote our name in the Lamb's book of life. He committed Himself to save us and if we signed up and didn't follow through we will have, as they say, the devil to pay.

We are approaching the time in which the end of all things is at hand. Now having said that, I don't even know what I am saying. What lies before us is so bad that the Bible says it will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

In the twenty-first century this world has been through a lot of trouble, yet Scripture is telling us that the worse is yet to come. Now I am not telling you this so that you can go out after this meeting and jump off a bridge to put yourself out of your misery. The reason I am telling you this is so that we might be prepared to stand through it all. As you know, I live in Florida . Down there we have a hurricane season that lasts six months of the year, from June through November. The most dangerous time is the months of August and September. A few years ago we suffered a terrible hurricane called Hurricane Andrew. The cost of Andrew was around 20 billion dollars and more than a 150 square miles was devastated. There had been nothing quite like it in this country. Fortunately, the loss of life was minimal.

I don't need to tell you that in Florida we take hurricanes seriously. When hurricane season comes we go on a hurricane readiness footing. We think about it, we talk about it, we plan for it and we get our lives prepared for it. Our conference has an organization called TEAM (Team Emergency Assistance Management) that responds in cases of disaster.

I hope you can guess what I am leading up to. We are about to experience a storm that will not only hit Florida but will touch every part of the world and everyone who lives in it. We call this storm the end of the world and when it is over islands will have disappeared, cities will have been destroyed and there may be in the neighborhood of five billion deaths. There is no escaping this. If you were born from the 1920s forward--even earlier--you have a pretty good chance of being there when it happens.

There will be absolutely no way for even the people of God to survive what is going to come on the earth unless God Himself prepares them and protects them.

Please take seriously what I am about to say now because this is what this sermon is about. We as Christians don't have to fear the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, neither do we have to fear the seven last plagues or even the death decree. I just told you that God Himself is committed to protecting his people through all of that.

There is something that we do have to fear and that is what comes before all of that and that is the close of probation. Probation will close at the end of the pre-advent judgment. That is the judgment that takes place before the coming of Jesus. When that judgment is finished, then probation is closed.

I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but the concept of the pre-advent judgment is uniquely Adventist. Most of our Christian brothers and sisters of other denominations either hadn't thought about it or else they may think that those who accept Jesus are somehow out of the judgment loop so to speak.

I am going to show you today that the close of probation is a fearful time. You can pass it over lightly if you wish. We can talk about our assurance of salvation if we wish, or better yet, we can take the position that an increasing number of Seventh-day Adventist are taking and that is they do not believe in the Investigative Judgment.

You can make Santa Claus go away by not believing in him. But we can't make the investigative Judgment go away by saying that we don't believe in it. You know there are a lot of people who are living in a fatal state of denial. For some reason we have psyched ourselves into thinking that if you believe in something it is, and if you don't believe in it, it isn't. It may be that way with Santa Claus, but it doesn't work in things having to do with the Almighty. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, and whether we believe it or not is really not important as to whether it happens or not, but it will be a life and death issue to us and could even eternally affect those we love.

Jesus is our friend, our brother, our Savior and our God. He was very plain about the pre-advent judgment. We may not take it seriously, but He did. As you will see in a little bit, over and over again He has warned us--yes, I say warned us--that something was going to happen that could catch us off guard and that if we weren't ready for it we would be lost.

We are living in a time in which Jesus is calling sinners to repentance. But Scripture is clear that there will be a fundamental change in the foreseeable future. In one place it says, "My Spirit will not always strive with men."

There are some people out there who know that they are not totally committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. They must be waiting for a special sale or something. Some people may be thinking of waiting for what is called the latter rain to get themselves right with God. As you know, just before the close of probation God will pour out a special measure of His grace called the latter rain. The latter rain, just like real rain, will be given by God to prepare those who will be translated to stand through the great time of trouble and the seven last plagues. It will also give those who receive it special power to call God's people who are scattered in many other traditions to come out and join together.

A person who knows that they are not what they ought to be right now, and who persist in resisting the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit and are waiting until some time in the future to change, are in for a big disappointment.

Listen to this:

"I was shown that if God's people make no efforts on their part, but wait for the refreshing to come upon them and remove their wrongs and correct their errors; if they depend upon that to cleanse them from filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and fit them to engage in the loud cry of the third angel, they will be found wanting. The refreshing or power of God comes only on those who have prepared themselves for it by doing the work which God bids them, namely, cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Now that is clear, isn't it? The bottom line, friends, is that we do not have until the coming of Jesus to get ready for the coming of Jesus. We had might as well get used to that fact.

Another thing is that if we are knowingly putting off being what we know that Jesus wants us to be, thinking that it is His problem and He will have to give us some kind of a break or a discount or something, we need to think again.

I am convinced, and I am going to prove it to you now from the Word of God, that we will have to do what needs to be done before probation closes. We are about to discover the close of probation will come as a complete surprise to a majority of people who were planning to be ready someday.

Someone may be thinking about now, "I know that you are wrong already, Pastor O'Ffill, because I just heard you say, 'We have to do what needs to be done.' I've got news for you, Pastor. Jesus did it all on the cross and all that I have to do is to accept it."

I'll tell you what. Don't go away mad, Better yet, stick with me. We will go right to the Word of God and see what God himself has to say about it. And when I say God himself, I don't mean through one of the prophets, I mean God himself, I mean Jesus. Let's see what Jesus has to say about all of this.

You already know the story of the ten grooms-maids. We call it the parable of the ten virgins. Let's read it. Before we do. You might be thinking, "I wonder why the Bible talks about the ten young ladies waiting for the groom. In this country the young ladies in a wedding are a part of the bride's party."

Let me tell you. We used to live in South Asia . Over there the most important person at the wedding is the groom. I heard of a wedding one time where the bride wasn't even there for the festivities. They went over and picked her up afterwards! So in that part of the world a wedding has a different focus of attention. It is the groom.

But let me read. Matthew 25:1-13:

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

You don't have to be a student of Greek to catch on to this story. It is obvious that the ten young women represent people who know about the coming of Jesus. In fact, they are going to the trouble to be out waiting for him. You will notice that the groom didn't come when they expected him to, and so the story says that they all went to sleep. Isn't this what has happened to us? Our church was organized around the expected soon return of Jesus. More than 150 years have passed now and He still hasn't come back yet. So the story says that everyone went to sleep.

Though everyone slept, there was a difference. While they all slept something happened in the case of five of them. Their oil ran out. In Scripture, oil represents the Holy Spirit. You can already guess what Jesus is telling us. And so when the Lord didn't come when they were expecting Him, half of those who are waiting began to get spiritually cold. When they get the word that the groom is about to come, all of a sudden they decide to get religious. You know what happened. It was too late.

Jesus is saying to the people that hear the parable--and that includes us--He is saying, "Look out! You don't know when I am coming. If you are spiritually cold when you hear that I am coming it will be too late. You will not have time to get it all together again. The parable is significant, because it is telling about something that happens before the Lord comes. It says that for some there will be an awareness that something is wrong but then it will be too late to do anything about it.

Listen to this. Christ's Object Lessons , page 411:

"The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working.

"This is the class that in time of peril are found crying, Peace and safety. They lull their hearts into security, and dream not of danger. When startled from their lethargy, they discern their destitution, and entreat others to supply their lack; but in spiritual things no man can make up another's deficiency."

An Old Testament text describes this crowd. It says, (Ezekiel 33:31): "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness."

In the New Testament there they are again. The Scripture says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves...lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

In another place we read in Christ's Object Lessons , page 412:

"It is in a crisis that character is revealed. When the earnest voice proclaimed at midnight, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him," and the sleeping virgins were roused from their slumbers, it was seen who had made preparation for the event. Both parties were taken unawares; but one was prepared for the emergency, and the other was found without preparation. The great final test comes at the close of human probation, when it will be too late for the soul's need to be supplied."

The parable of the ten virgins is very clear. There will come a time in which it will be too late for a person to upgrade their spiritual life.

In another place Jesus tells what will happen to the people who figure that the coming of Jesus is on hold. In this story He also tells us that He doesn't treat us all the same when it comes to being ready for His coming.

Listen to this. Luke 12:45-48:

"But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

There is an interesting component of this story that adds information to the lesson that we learned from the parable of the ten virgins.

This story is telling us that God doesn't judge everyone with the same yardstick. Here we are told that the more a person knew what they should be doing, and yet if they refused to let the Holy Spirit give them the power to do it, they will be held more accountable in the judgment than a person who didn't quite understand all that was going on. This is why in a way it would have been better that we had never become Seventh-day Adventists if we are refusing to go forward or are in fact going backward in our spiritual lives.

In another place the Bible states this principle in another way. It says "woe be to the person who having put their hand to the plow turns back."

Think about it for a minute now. I don't believe that God is asking too much. He has invested everything to save us. He has promised that there has no temptation or trial that can come, but that He will make a way of escape for us. For His part He is committed to saving us. He only expects that for our part we will grow in grace. When we refuse to let Him finish the work in us that we asked Him to begin, we are in fact rejecting Him. Friends, He is perfectly just to hold us accountable for our commitment to Him. When you marry your spouse is it asking too much that the other person is accountable for their commitment?

Notice that I did not say that God is fair in holding us accountable. God is not fair; He is just. Let me explain the difference.

Supposing that there are four people. Someone has $100 to give to the four. Fairness says that the benefactor will give $25 to each person. Now, there is something that I didn't tell you about the four people. Among the four people there is a person who is out of work. There is a single mother, there is a person who is on a pension and there is a young executive. Fairness will divide the $100 equally. Justice on the other hand will divide the hundred dollars up based on the needs of each person. Do you see what I mean?

No, God is not fair. If He were fair He would treat everyone the same. But Jesus tells us in this story that He doesn't treat everyone the same. How thankful I am that God is not fair but that He is just.

Let's continue. Here is another text. Remember now, Jesus is not talking to the pagans or the heathen. In fact, when Jesus is preaching or teaching He is usually talking to people who claim to be followers of God.

Listen to this: Luke 21:34-36, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

There goes the concept again. He is saying, "Look out, you might be caught off guard."

In these texts Jesus tells what may very well happen to those who at one time were real serious about spiritual things, but as time went by they began to get distracted by the things of the world.

If you don't mind, I would like to add something else here. Notice that the danger in this text that Jesus points out is hardly what we would call legalism. The danger is that those who once were serious about spiritual things begin to get into partying, drinking alcoholic beverages and making money.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are many who would disagree with me, but I continue to be convinced that the danger to the church at this time is not legalism but lawlessness. I continue to be convinced that what we should be addressing in our lives and in the church is our slide toward worldliness.

You may not feel like I do, but I believe that as a church we would do well to get back into preaching some dos and don'ts for a change. In recent years there has been an emphasis on trying to help people to understand what it means to be "free in Christ." I am afraid that to some extent we have gone too far. Now we have led people to believe that almost anything goes.

Before I go on to another text, I would like to talk to you for a minute about the word "freedom."

There is an idea out there these days that we ought to have more and more freedom. There are people who believe that the more freedom we have the better. Friends, I don't believe that is necessarily the case. If that were true our ultimate goal then would be the elimination of all law. Of course that would be ridiculous. You may not have noticed but there are forces at work in society that are pushing for moral anarchy. I don't need to tell you that some of these concepts are getting into our lifestyles and are even creeping into the church.

Where there is freedom there will be change. This can be good or it can be bad. By its very nature freedom is hostile to anything that would constrain it or try to hold it back. Freedom is always pressing the limits. It tries to remove the constraint that is nearest to it and when that constraint falls it moves on to the next.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can imagine where this could lead. Unrestricted freedom can actually be an enemy of law and moral virtues.

Freedom without law to hold it back will actually try to destroy law and order. Under the cry of freedom there are forces out there today that are trying to break down the constraints of religion and morality. There are forces out there that are trying to do away with the concepts of family and community as we know them.

Please listen to me now. I hope that we will never forget that true freedom is a freedom that is connected with order. True freedom is a freedom which exists along with standards and virtue. In fact, true freedom cannot exist without standards and virtue. Please write this down. True freedom can only be the space between the walls of the will of God. Only with the Ten Commandments on one side and the Sermon on the Mount on the other will we be able to understand what it means to be "free in Christ." In fact, that is what the Bible is talking about when it speaks of being free in Christ.

The next text that I am going to read now is the scariest of all. That is because it is the clearest.

Matthew 24:37-44, "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

You remember that Noah preached for 120 years. The day came in which it was time for the altar call. The animals that didn't have the power of choice were led to safety by an angel. Then Noah must have invited the people to come on in. We know what happened. The only ones that came on board were his immediate family.

Notice what happened next. The door of the ark was shut. Here comes the part that is scary. It didn't begin to rain the day that the door was shut. In fact, it didn't rain for seven days. But watch this now. Those that didn't get in the ark were lost the minute that the door was shut. They were still alive, but their death warrant had been signed. When the door closed they were lost.

Jesus says that that will be the way it will be just before He comes. He says they were eating and drinking until the day that Noah went into the ark and they knew not. Knew not what? They didn't know for seven days that they were lost.

I want to read a couple of more texts. Here is one. Notice that all of these texts are Jesus' own words. Matthew 24:48-50, " But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, (51) And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The words "in such an hour as you think not" means that we do not control the things that are happening. This text is also telling us not to set dates for the close of probation. The problem with time setting is that it is always in the future. The danger of this is that tomorrow never comes.

The great problem with time setting is that if He were to come on a particular day then we would logically have until that day to prepare. Of course, that is not the case inasmuch as before He comes in the clouds of heaven there have been a series of events proceeding His coming. Among them is the close of probation.

This next text is the clincher. It is found in the last book of the Bible, Revelations 22:11, 12: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

Can't we see it then? Jesus says, "It is finished," and then He says, "Now I will come soon." Soon after what? Soon after He has closed the door of mercy like the door to the ark was closed. Those who are lost will not be lost when He comes but when He says, "It is finished." Those who are saved will not be saved when He comes but when He says, "It is finished."

"God is love. He has shown that love in the gift of Christ. When 'He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' He withheld nothing from His purchased possession (John 3:16). He gave all heaven, from which we may draw strength and efficiency, that we be not repulsed or overcome by our great adversary. But the love of God does not lead Him to excuse sin. He did not excuse it in Satan; He did not excuse it in Adam or in Cain; nor will He excuse it in any other of the children of men. He will not connive at our sins or overlook our defects of character. He expects us to overcome in His name" ( Christ's Object Lessons, p. 316 ).

Friends, the question is not, can we be ready for the close of probation? Of course we can. God is the one who has set up the standard and He is the one who has provided the way.

The question is only one: Will we lay aside every weight as the Scripture admonishes us to do and will we run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith?

If there are any who have been waiting for tomorrow, let me remind you that tomorrow never comes. Now is the time of salvation; now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.