Christian Life

Words, Part I

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In Hebrews 4:2, the apostle Paul says, “For the gospel is preached to us as well as them, but the word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith.” Friends, I need to forewarn you. What we will be studying in this article could be very discouraging, if you do not have enough faith. But if you realize that for everything God has told us to do or not to do, He will give us the grace and power to do it—if we trust in Him and choose to follow Him—then what we are going to study can be very exciting.

Heaven Talk

Have you ever wondered how people talk in heaven? Do you talk in your home the way people talk in heaven? When do you think you should learn to talk like people talk in heaven? Now? Yes, now!

In the Book of James, we are told that the one who controls his tongue is a perfect man. (James 3:2.) If you are not yet perfect, do not be discouraged. Just take hold of the Lord by faith and say, “Lord, this is the way you want me to speak, and I am determined, by Your grace, to talk the way You want me to talk.” If you follow the principles, the Lord will give you the power and the grace to talk His way. Of course, we need to understand how God wants us to talk.

As I have studied the Spirit of Prophecy writings, I have been interested to discover how much Ellen White wrote on the subject of speech in reference to the family. We are going to look at some of these principles, and I hope they will be as great a blessing to you as they have been to me.

Plan Each Morning

One of the first principles is that we need to plan in the morning what we are going to say.

“The first missionary work is to see that love, light, and joy come into the home circle. Let us not be looking for some great temperance or missionary work to do until we have first done the duties at home. Every morning we should think, What kind act can I do today? What tender word can I speak? Kind words at home are blessed sunshine. The husband needs them, the wife needs them, the children need them.” Review and Herald, December 23, 1884.

What do you suppose, friends, would happen in our homes if every morning, every husband, before he got out of bed, was thinking to himself, “What kind word, what tender word, what kind act can I do today for my wife or for my children?” If every wife was thinking before she got out of bed, “What kind word can I speak to my husband today? What tender act could I do for him or for my children?” If we started making plans the first thing in the morning, like the Lord has instructed us, would that make a difference in our homes?

We need the sunshine of kind and tender words in our homes, but that is going to take some planning. Have you noticed that anything worthwhile does not just happen? Someone has to make plans. If we want our speech to be right, the time to start is before we ever get out of bed in the morning. We need to start making plans then—“What kind and tender word could I speak to my spouse today? What act could I do for my spouse today or for my children?” If we start making plans each morning, like the Lord has told us to do, it will have a tremendous influence in our homes. Who knows? We might even think of something kind and tender to say before breakfast!

How We Should Speak

How should we speak? In The Signs of the Times, November 14, 1911, Ellen White advised that we should “cultivate soft tones.” What is the opposite of soft? Harsh—so we want to avoid all harshness of expression.

Mrs. White also said, “We should accustom ourselves to speak in pleasant tones.” Ibid., February 22, 1905. We all like to be spoken to with pleasant tones. She also told us what to avoid: “Never let a frown gather upon your brow.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 532. That is a high standard! Did you know that people do not frown in heaven? They do not, and we are to cultivate a heavenly atmosphere in our homes.

She continued, “Never let a frown gather upon your brow or a harsh word escape your lips. Harsh words sour the temper and wound the hearts of children, and in some cases these wounds are difficult to heal. Children are sensitive . . . .” Ibid. Are your children sensitive? I have known for a long time that my children are sensitive, but I have learned, as I have studied this subject, that all children are sensitive. “Children are sensitive to the least injustice, and some become discouraged under it and will neither heed the loud, angry voice of command nor care for threatenings of punishment.” Ibid. Some become discouraged and may finally decide they do not care whether they are punished or not; they will do what pleases them. We do not want our children to develop that frame of mind, so we must avoid all harsh words and not let frowns develop on our brows.

Passionate Words

We are all tempted to speak passionately at times. What should we do when we realize passionate feelings are arising, and we are about to really let somebody have it? There are all kinds of expressions for this in our language. Have you heard anyone say that they are going to give somebody “a piece of their mind”? Usually they do not mean a good piece!

What should we do when such feelings start to develop? “When about to speak passionately, close your mouth. Don’t utter a word. Pray before you speak, and heavenly angels will come to your assistance and drive back the evil angels, who would lead you to dishonor God, reproach His cause, and weaken your own soul.” Ibid., vol. 2, 82.

When we are tempted to speak passionately, it is time not to speak. It is time to close our mouths. If we are really heated up, we might even need to seek a private place, get down on our knees, and have a session of prayer, asking the Lord to calm our souls so our spirits will not be chaffed. We cannot avoid speaking passionately if our spirits are chaffed. That irritableness in our spirits has to be taken away. The Lord has to take it away, or no matter what we say, our words will not be right. Friends, if we ask, God will give us victory over the passion of spirit. We must have that. Otherwise, when we open our mouths, no matter how good are our intentions, we will have a lot of apologizing to do, to say the least.

Begins in the Home

“The work of sanctification begins in the home. . . .

“In the home the spirit of criticism and faultfinding should have no place. . . .

“No harsh, passionate word is ever spoken without grieving the Lord Jesus, and hurting the heart of speaker and of hearer. From the Christian home all angry or trifling speeches will be excluded; for in the home above nothing of this character finds place.” The Signs of the Times, February 17, 1904.

We are to avoid all angry, trifling, passionate speeches. In the Christian home, those must be excluded, along with the spirit of criticism and faultfinding. That does not mean we are to close our eyes and not be aware of what is going wrong, but we are not to have a spirit of trying to tear down.

Have you ever noticed how sensitive we are to having our faults exposed? I have been amazed, over and over again, at how sensitive we as human beings are. We may have a hundred things wrong, but to have someone point out even one fault, just about tears us to pieces. Have you ever wondered about your children? Since we as adults are sensitive to having someone point out any fault that we have, do you suppose our children might be sensitive to having their faults pointed out? If you keep that in mind, it will be a great help to you.

We need to do a lot of praying, friends, before we seek to point out a fault in our children. Remember, they are just as sensitive as we are, maybe more so. It takes great tact and love and kindness to be able to point out a fault and have it received in the right way so that the child will be drawn to Jesus and be determined to correct it. Mrs. White talked about this: “When you are obliged to correct a child, do not raise the voice to a high key . . . .” Ibid.

Some of us have this problem. I personally have to do a lot of praying about this. It is easy for me to raise my voice to a high key. What happens when we do that? “Do not raise the voice to a high key bringing into it that which will arouse the worst passions of the child’s heart.” Ibid. When the voice is raised to a high key, what is a natural response for the listener? It is easy for the child to feel like he or she is getting scolded, and that might be exactly what is happening.

Hasty Speech

“Restrain every hasty speech that struggles for utterance. Before you speak that fretful, impatient word, stop and think of the influence which, if spoken, it will exert. Remember that children are quick to hear every word, and to mark every intonation of the voice.” Ibid.

I have tested this out on our dog. I did not want to test it on my children. I have found that I can speak the most severe reproofs, commands, and awful things to our dog, and if I speak softly, with a smile on my voice, she just wags her tail. But if I yell at her, telling her that I love her and that she is a good dog, she starts to cower. Children will respond just as dogs do. They recognize the tone of our voices. That is why we are to accustom ourselves to always speaking in pleasant tones.

Should we not reprove our children? God has commanded us to not allow the faults of our children to pass by without being corrected. Notice what Mrs. White wrote about this: “Under all circumstances reproof should be spoken in love. . . .

“Not one word is to be spoken unadvisedly.” Ibid., February 22, 1905.

Corrupt Communication

The Bible talks about corrupt communication in 1 Corinthians. What is corrupt communication? “No evil speaking, no frivolous talk, no fretful repining or impure suggestions, will escape the lips of him who is following Christ. . . . A corrupt communication does not mean only words that are vile. It means any expression contrary to holy principles and pure, undefiled religion. It includes impure hints and covert insinuations of evil. Unless instantly resisted, these lead to great sin.

“Upon every family, upon every individual Christian, is laid the duty of barring the way against corrupt speech. When in the company of those who indulge in foolish talk, it is our duty to change the subject of conversation if possible.” Ibid.

We do not want corrupt communication in our homes. We cannot have it in our homes if we are getting ready to go to heaven, because people do not talk like that in heaven.

False Witness

Mrs. White also gave the definition of false witness: “We think with horror of the cannibal who feasts on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim; but are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, dissecting character? . . .

“God’s Word condemns also the use of those meaningless phrases and expletives that border on profanity.” Ibid., March 1, 1905.

Do you know what an expletive is? An expletive is a word that is not used according to its dictionary definition, but is used to express emotion. Unfortunately, many people use the characteristics of God as expletives, thereby breaking the third commandment. The characteristics of God are listed in Exodus 34:6. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth . . . .” Those are the characteristics of God.

One of the words used to describe His characteristics is the word merciful. Have you ever heard the word mercy used as an expletive? That is a name for God, friends. It is part of His character. To use that word just to express emotion is to break the third commandment. Part of His Name is the word gracious. To use that word in a flippant way is to break the third commandment.

There are all sorts of words that I do not want to repeat and develop bad habits of speaking by repeating them, but you know what I am talking about. Have you ever heard somebody say, “Oh, _____”? There are several words that could follow that. Some of them men’s names—and they are not used to refer to any man. They are just used to express emotion. Those are expletives. Mrs. White calls them “meaningless phrases.” Jesus never used those. You will not find any expletives that He ever used in the entire Gospel account, and He is our example.

Deceptive Compliments

The Bible condemns the deceptive compliments, meaningless phrases, and expletives that border on profanity. Oh, friends, this bothers me. This is a problem, friends, for Christians. We have a big problem in giving deceptive compliments, trying to make people feel good in saying something to them that we do not really believe. That is breaking the ninth commandment.

“The evasions of truth, the exaggerations . . .” You know, some people have become so used to exaggerating that in their common, everyday speech—whatever they are talking about—they exaggerate. That will not happen in heaven, friends. They do not make understatements or give exaggerations there. Since I have studied this, I am trying to correct my own speech. We need to be careful that our speech is accurate.

“Closely allied to gossip is the covert [hidden] insinuation, the sly innuendo, by which the unclean in heart seek to insinuate the evil they dare not openly express. Every approach to these practices the youth should be taught to shun as we would shun the leprosy.” Ibid.

Friends, if we are getting ready for heaven, we must train our children to not speak the way they hear other people speaking. Other people are not to be our guides. Jesus is our Guide. We must train our children from babyhood that they must not say anything that they hear other people speaking. This is one of the reasons we as parents need to take time to talk with our children. We need to know how they speak and what they are saying. If they are picking up phrases and expressions from someone else that are not suitable, not understanding what they mean, we must correct their speech and teach them how to speak appropriately. This is also a reason for being careful with whom our children associate.

Quarreling Children

What do you do with children in the home who are quarreling? Ellen White gave counsel regarding that. “Parents, do all in your power to keep disagreements out of the home circle. If the children quarrel, remind them that God has said, ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.’ Teach them never to let the sun go down on angry feelings or sin unconfessed. Teach them that harmony should reign in the home, even as it reigns in heaven. . . .

“Repress every harsh word. Remember that fretting and scolding are as injurious to your children as profanity, and that too much management is as bad as no management at all. Be firm, but let no loud, angry words escape your lips. [There, again, are two kinds of speech we are to avoid—harsh words and loud, angry words.] Rule your children with tenderness and compassion, remembering that ‘their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.’ . . . Work with loving tenderness; for this is the way Christ works.” The Signs of the Times, April 23, 1902.

Of what are we to remind the children? Not to let the sun go down on their wrath. That is a very literal expression from the Bible. (Ephesians 4:26.) We are to tell our children to not let the sun go down before they have made things right—to not let the sun go down on unconfessed sin or angry feelings.

Self-Control

“God looks into every secret thing of life. By some a constant battle is maintained for self-control.” The Signs of the Times, August 23, 1899. Perhaps you have a constant battle with your tongue. God knows that, friend. You may have to keep up a constant battle your whole life, but God will give you the victory. “Daily they [those battling for self-control] strive silently and prayerfully against harshness of speech and temper. These strivings may never be appreciated by human beings. They may get no praise from human lips for keeping back the hasty words which sought for utterance. The world will never see these conquests, and if it could, it would only despise the conquerors. But in heaven’s record they are registered as overcomers. There is One who witnesses every secret combat and every silent victory, and He says, ‘He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.’ [Proverbs 16:32.]” Ibid.

Scolding

A few statements about scolding have already been addressed, but in the following statement, we are given some counsel on dealing with children who are in trouble. Now, children from the earliest ages get into troubles of various kinds. Their feelings are aroused; maybe they are angry or depressed or hurt or discouraged. Children have all of these kinds of problems just as do adults. To them, their trials are just as severe as our trials are to us. How do we deal with these?

“The little ones must be carefully soothed when in trouble. Children between babyhood and manhood and womanhood do not generally receive the attention they should have. Mothers are needed who will so guide their children that they will regard themselves as a part of the family. Let the mother talk with her children regarding their hopes and their perplexities. Let parents remember that their children are to be cared for in preference to strangers. They are to be kept in a sunny atmosphere, under the mother’s guidance. Be careful that you are not rude to your children, either in speech or in temper. Require obedience, and do not allow yourself to speak carelessly to your children, because your manners and your words are their lesson-book. Help them gently, tenderly, over this period of their life. Let the sunshine of your presence make sunshine in their hearts. These growing boys and girls feel very sensitive, and by roughness you may mar their whole life. Be careful, mothers. Never scold; for that never helps.” Ibid., August 23, 1899. We do not want to do something that would never help, do we? That does not mean, however, that we should not be firm. The very next sentence says, “Firmness is ever to be united with love in the home life.” Ibid.

Harmony

How much harmonious speech in the home means to the children! “Allow in the home nothing that savors of cheapness or commonness. You are preparing your children for entrance into the City of God, and nothing that defiles can enter there.

“Be pleasant and cheerful. Remember that love is the power that binds your children to you.” Ibid., September 16, 1903. We should always remember that sentence. It is the power of love that binds our children to us.

“Keep your words and actions free from anger. Do nothing that will destroy the harmony of the home. Let the sharp words [there is another type of word to avoid] that you are tempted to speak die unspoken. Such words wound and bruise the hearts of the hearers.” Ibid.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Rein, Rain, Reign

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There are two spirits that are always struggling for control of our minds. I know there are many of you who have burdens on your hearts and in your minds—financial, spiritual, emotional, and physical burdens. I invite you to take God at His Word and cast those anxieties, those burdens, those worries upon Christ, because He is our Burden-bearer. He knows best how to meet the needs and to use the circumstances to draw us close to Him. Do that now, so as we open God’s Word, those things are not the first burden in your heart but God’s Word and seeking what He has for you is first in your hearts.

Homophones

As I have pondered about the Holy Spirit, three identical sounding words—homophones—came to my mind: rein, rain, and reign. They sound exactly the same, but they are quite different in spelling and definition. Sounding the same is all, really, that they have in common, except they each apply to the Holy Spirit.

Originating from a Latin word, the root of which is to arrest, the first noun definition of rein, given by Webster’s, is: “The strap of a bridle fastened to the curve or a snaffle on each side by which the rider of a horse restrains and governs him.” If we “give rein,” it gives license to the animal to leave without restraint; we have no control. To “take the reins” is to take guidance or government; to give a restraining influence, a guiding power. The verb definition of rein is to govern—check or direct—by a bridle.

The second word we will look at is rain. The verb definition of this word is “to fall in drops from clouds” or “as water, to pour or shower down from the upper regions like rain from the clouds.” Ibid. In the Scriptures, the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven.” Exodus 16:4. When witnessing a severe thunderstorm, we sometimes use the expression, “It is raining cats and dogs.” The noun form of rain is “the descent of water in drops from the clouds.” Ibid. It is different from mist or fog, because the drops are visible.

The third word we will consider is reign. The verb definition of this word is: “to possess or exercise sovereign power or authority to rule or exercise governmental authority as a king or queen or emperor.” Ibid. The noun form refers more to the “royal authority, supreme power, sovereignty as the queen, or emperor.” Ibid.

I have thought a lot about those words, because I like words. My dad was an English teacher, and my mom was an early grade teacher; so words were always fun. As a family, we played games with dictionaries. Our first books were encyclopaedia sets. We had all kinds of fun with words and things at our house.

Rein

The Holy Spirit begins in our life with rein. “. . . the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins.” Psalm 7:9. In this verse, “the hearts” refers to our emotions, and the governing power of our minds or ourselves is referred to by “the reins.” Rein associates with the governing power of man over an animal. It is attached to a bridle with a bit in the mouth of the horse or oxen, so that it is uncomfortable for the animal not to submit. There are types of bits that make it even more uncomfortable for the animal when it is being “broken”; its will is being broken to be in submission to the master.

This is especially meaningful to me, because one of the places God has worked, and continues to work, with me is found in James 1:26: “If any man [or woman] among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his [or her] tongue, but deceiv-eth his [or her] own heart, this man’s [or woman’s] religion [is] vain.” Vain is not a good description of how we want to be. We are to bridle our tongues. Our words betray very quickly who our master is.

I appreciate the beginning of the following verse very much, because it starts, “I,” referring to God. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalm 32:8. This is part of the rein. It is not a bit and bridle here, but He instructs us and teaches us that He can guide us simply with the way He looks. Sometimes that look tells us, “That person is who you need to talk to today,” or “That person is who you need to touch today.” It tells us, also, “Do not be like the horse or the mule which have no understanding.” God gives us understanding, “whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” Verse 9. I like the way this ends in verse 11, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” That is what happens when the reins of the Holy Spirit bridle our mouths, and we can follow Him, even with the glance of His eye, to know where to go and what to do.

Another way that rein is used is found in Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 300, “God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness. Those who are accounted good workers will need to draw nigh to God, they will need the divine touch. They will need to drink more deeply and continuously at the fountain of living water, in order that they may discern God’s work at every point. Workers may make mistakes, but you should give them a chance to correct their errors, give them an opportunity to learn caution, by leaving the work in their hands.” So sometimes we can learn things that we need to learn, but if we give someone a job to do, we should not quickly jerk it out of their hands.

Rain

Our next definition is for rain. Rain nourishes the earth and all growing things. I hope that you have had the opportunity to have your windows open when it is raining. I so much enjoy hearing the rain, then, as the rain stops, listening to the birds as they start singing and the little crickets and bugs as they start their chirping. Everything feels so clean and smells so fresh after a rain shower. Rain purifies and cleanses.

The work of the reins, the bit and bridle, that move us to where God’s eye even guides us, leads to the early rains that germinate the seed. The seed is the Word of God in our lives as we are led by the Holy Spirit. In James 5:7, 8 it says, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” There the early rain and latter rain are connected with the preparation for the Lord’s coming. Christ longs for us to receive that early rain to germinate the seed, and the latter rain to ripen and bring to fruition the gifts and the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

The showers of rain we receive remind me of the refreshing—that rain that cleanses us, that leads us and guides us. The rain from the Holy Spirit will bring something else: “The presence of the Spirit with God’s workers will give the presentation of the truth a power that not all the honor or glory of the world can give.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 22. Only the Holy Spirit can give that kind of power. “The Spirit furnishes the strength that sustains striving, wrestling souls in every emergency, amidst the unfriendliness of relatives, the hatred of the world, and the realization of their own imperfections and mistakes.” Ibid. He does not cast us off because of us. He works with us; He cleanses us; He purifies us; He changes us.

Reign

The last word we will study is reign, which is associated with authority or rule of a sovereign. Psalm 146:10 says, “The Lord shall reign for ever.” One of my favorite verses is Revelation 19:6: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

God wants to take the reins of our minds, the reins of our hearts and bring us into submission to His will. We can fight that, but He wants to reign as ruler in our hearts. We must give Him the reins; we must allow His rain to cleanse us that He may reign. The Word of God is true; He will reign forever. The question is, “Will we allow Him to reign in our lives today so that He may reign forever in your heart or my heart?” The only way that He can do that is to now give Him the reins to our hearts and our minds; ask Him, and participate, enjoy, revel in the early and latter rains that He sends, the refreshing that He brings. Place Him on the throne to reign moment by moment and day by day.

I like lists, and many years ago, in my studies, I came across this Ellen White statement which includes a list that will help us prepare for the rein, rain, and reign. “Seek the Lord most earnestly, put away your sins, and tarry in Jerusalem till ye be endowed with power from on high. Let God set you apart to the work. Purify your souls by obeying the truth.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 443. Those are the five things on the list.

“Seek the Lord most earnestly, put away your sins, and tarry [where you are] till you are endowed with power from on high. Let God set you apart to the work. Purify your souls by obeying the truth. Faith without works is dead. Put not off the day of preparation. Slumber not in a state of unpreparedness, having no oil in your vessels with your lamps. Let none leave their safety for eternity to hang upon a peradventure. Let not the question remain in perilous uncertainty. Ask yourselves earnestly, Am I among the saved, or the unsaved? Shall I stand, or shall I not stand? He only that hath clean hands and a pure heart shall stand in that day.” Ibid. [Emphasis in original.]

May you allow the Holy Spirit to take your reins today, so you are prepared to receive the early rain and latter rain that you may enjoy forever the kingdom which reigneth forever.

[All emphasis added unless otherwise noted.]

Paula Currey, a surgical nurse, lives near Wichita, Kansas, with her husband Steve. She may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Words, Part II

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A statement in The Signs of the Times, November 11, 1903, speaks of the power of love: “Never treat your children harshly; for harshness arouses stubbornness and resistance. You will find that they are most easily and successfully governed by kindness and gentleness.” Kindness and gentleness is what we need. “Love breaks down all barriers, and gentleness subdues the most stubborn will. Treat your children as you would wish to be treated were you in their place. Let there be no scolding, no loud-voiced, angry commands.” Ibid. Do not be discouraged, friends. Remember to have faith and say, “Lord, this is how You have told me to speak. I am choosing to follow Your counsel. Give me the grace to speak this way.” Friends, the Lord will do it. The Lord will answer your prayer. If you keep praying, the Lord will keep answering.

No Disagreements

Counsel is also given that the father and mother, in reference to their speech, should not have verbal disagreements between themselves in the children’s presence. Mrs. White says, “Not a particle of variance should be shown by parents in the management of their children. Parents are to work together as a unit. There must be no division. But many parents work at cross-purposes, and thus the children are spoiled by mismanagement. If parents do not agree, let them absent themselves from the presence of their children until an understanding can be arrived at.” Review and Herald, March 30, 1897. Oh friends, if parents would honor this, it would save so much trouble in the home.

As parents, we must have a united front. We must not have the father saying one thing and the mother saying another. That will destroy harmony, and it will ruin the child. Having said this, it does not mean we are to be wishy-washy. When we say, “No,” it has to mean no, and when we say, “Yes,” it has to mean yes.

“Scolding, loud-voiced commands, or threatenings should never be heard. Parents should keep the atmosphere of the home pure and fragrant with kind words, with tender sympathy and love; but at the same time, they are to be firm and unyielding in principle.” Ibid. If a principle is involved, we are not to give way. “If you are firm with your children [this simply means that when you say, ‘No,’ it means no], they may think that you do not love them.” They may think this way for a while, but Mrs. White says, “This you may expect; but never manifest harshness. Justice and mercy must clasp hands; there must be no wavering or impulsive movements.” Ibid.

True Words

Counsel has been given on a subject about which you would think Christians would never need to be counseled, but Ellen White spent considerable time on this subject. Our words at home are always to be true. Oh friends, one of my cherished memories of my own home is that I can never, ever remember either my father or my mother, at any time, telling me something that was not true. My parents did not have to explain to me, as I grew up, that there was not a Santa Claus, because they had never told me that there was a Santa Claus. Neither did they have to explain to me that there was no real Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse or a hundred other things that some children believe. If you tell your children fictitious or untrue stories or speak anything that is untrue, someday their confidence in you is going to be weakened, because a child believes everything that their parents tell them—until they find out their parents do not always tell the truth. Then they flip the other way, and they do not believe anything their parents say.

Mrs. White says, “Never let your children have the semblance of an excuse for saying, Mother does not tell the truth. Father does not tell the truth.” Review and Herald, April 13, 1897. Children, from their earliest years, should have confidence that if mommy said it, it is so. If daddy said it, it is so. We often do not realize how our words affect whether or not our children are going to believe what they hear in Sabbath School or church.

Criticism

Ellen White also speaks about criticism. She wrote, “We should abstain from all evil-speaking and evil-surmising.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891. Do you know what evil surmising is? I suppose it is something that every individual has been tempted to do at some time or another. Have you ever had suspicions about someone or something—you did not yet have the facts, but things just did not seem right to you? When this happens, you may have suspicions, and you may have to watch things develop, but it is dangerous to talk about your suspicions. This is evil surmising. You think something is bad; you do not yet have the facts; you do not yet have the evidence, but it looks bad. You think there is something awry, so you start talking about it, which starts all kinds of trouble in homes and churches and institutions and everywhere else.

“We should abstain from all evil-speaking and evil-surmising. Our children will be in danger of losing all respect for religion if we indulge in criticism of others.” Ibid.

I have thought about this so many times. How would I feel if someone who knew me really well began telling everybody all of the mistakes I have made? I have made so many mistakes that if anyone but the Lord knew them all, I suppose they would think that I am a bad person. I would prefer that all of the mistakes I have made not be publicized to everybody. Do you suppose that there are other people who feel the same way? When we are talking about the subject of criticism, people think that we are talking about something that is not true, but this is not the case. We can destroy each other while telling the truth! We can destroy our neighbors, and in the process, we will destroy our children. Ellen White says that they will lose all respect for religion.

Respect Those Older

The relationship of our children with the elderly has become very painful in America today. Our young people do not respect older people. Ellen White wrote: “Teach your children to be kind and courteous to all, and especially to respect the old. If you do all that God has given you to do, you will have no time to criticize your neighbor.” Ibid.

Jesting and Joking

I was once acquainted with a person who told a lot of jokes. He was one of the funniest persons I ever knew. When I was with him, I laughed and laughed and laughed, and everybody else did, too. He was a religious person, but when he would give a testimony in church, the young people did not give it much account. Our words need to be true.

When I was in academy, I learned how to tell jokes. I was very fortunate that about the time I started learning how to tell jokes, I read some statements in the Spirit of Prophecy stating that if I jested and joked, I would lose the Holy Spirit. When I found that out, I had to make a decision whether I was going to be a jester and a joker and a popular person, or whether I was going to have the Holy Spirit.

In the same article, it says, “Instead of indulging in jesting and joking, suppose you begin to exalt Jesus, talking of his wonderful charms.” Ibid. Oh friends, that is what we need in our homes. That is what we need in our churches. We need to be exalting Jesus and talking of His wonderful charms, the unsearchable riches of Christ.

The Way Jesus Spoke

One of the main facets of the unsearchable riches of Christ is the way that He spoke. When the people that were sent to arrest Jesus returned without Him, the rulers and the Pharisees asked, “Why did you not bring Him?” They said, “Never a man spoke like this Man.” (John 7:45, 46.)

Friends, if we would learn to speak in our homes as did Jesus, the Christian religion would have an irresistible power, a charm over our children. They would go out from home, telling whomever they meet that the Christian religion is true. They would know it is true, because they have seen the image of Christ demonstrated by their father or their mother. The way we speak at home can mean the salvation of our children. It could be one of the most powerful Christian influences on our children, if we learn to speak to each other in our homes like Christ spoke. You know the children are listening to the way that we as parents speak to each other.

“If you had good home religion, you would be a bright and shining light, and represent Christ to a lost world.” Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.

“In the parable of the virgins, five were found wise, and five foolish. Can it be possible that half of us will be found without the oil of grace in our lamps?” Ibid. The apostle Paul said that our speech is always to be with grace. (Colossians 4:6.) “Shall we come to the marriage feast too late? We have slept too long; shall we sleep on, and be lost at last? Are there those here who have been sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, and will they continue to do so till Christ shall come?” Ibid.

Mothers’ Words

Ellen White had some special words of counsel to speak to mothers concerning their words. These are some of the most beautiful statements in all of the Spirit of Prophecy, in my opinion, in relation to speech.

She says, “It is the heart that needs culture; for it is with the heart-life that women have to do. . . . The precious, finer feelings are to be carefully nourished that they may bloom into actions of goodness, truth, and holiness. . . . The words that are spoken by a mother should be choice words.” The Signs of the Times, March 23, 1891. God will give you the power to do it. He will give you the grace to do it.

“The mother should keep herself under perfect control, doing nothing that will arouse in the child a spirit of defiance. She is to give no loud-voiced commands. She will gain much by keeping the voice low and gentle. . . . If she is a wise Christian, she will not attempt to force the child to submit. She prays earnestly, and as she prays, she is conscious of a renewal of spiritual power. She sees that the same power that is working in her is working also in the child. He becomes more gentle, more submissive. The battle is won.” Ibid., April 1, 1903.

Our Child’s Faults

We are not to mention our children’s faults in the presence of others. “Remember that your child has rights which should be respected. Be very careful never to bring against him an unjust charge. Never punish him [now read this carefully] without giving him an opportunity to explain. Listen patiently to his troubles and perplexities. Never tell others in his hearing of his faults, or his clever sayings or doings. Even in the presence of his brothers and sisters these things should not be spoken of.” Ibid., April 23, 1902.

She goes on to say, “By speaking of his bright words and acts, you encourage self-confidence. By speaking of his faults, you humiliate him without softening him. Hatred springs up in his heart against your course, which he regards as cruel and unjust.” Ibid.

Heaven Talk

Friends, the things we have been studying are the way in which people talk in heaven. They do not speak any unpleasant words there. There are no loud, angry-voiced commands there, no angry, passionate words. They do not utter any unpleasant words there. In fact, a statement from Upward Look, 163, says, “No unpleasant words are spoken in heaven. There no unkind thoughts are cherished. There envy, evil surmising, hatred, and strife find no place.” We are to learn here how to speak, so we will be able to go to heaven. We are to learn it here, and the place we learn it, friends, is in our homes.

Confession

When I was a boy, I thought that everybody in the Adventist Church understood this, but I have had cause to wonder. The apostle James says, “He that does not offend in word is a perfect man.” James 3:2.

I do not know about you, but I have had to go to many people a number of times in my life and confess that what I had said was either not so or not right. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Friends, the Lord wants to cleanse us from our improper speech. He wants to cleanse us from all the things that we have said in the past to our wives or our husbands or our children that have been wrong. But He cannot do it if we do not confess. This is so simple and basic; I was a minister for a number of years before I realized that there were many Christians who did not understand this.

Confession of sin is not just kneeling down by your bed at night and saying, “Lord, I confess my sins.” That is not proper confession; it is not wrong, but Ellen White states, in the chapter “Confession,” in Steps to Christ, that true confession is specific. Friends, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart right now and telling you that you have something to confess to someone about words you have spoken, I want to appeal to you to not forget it. Write it down right now. Do not let the day go by—maybe you need to write a letter or make a long-distance telephone call.

If we want to reform our speech, one of the first steps is to confess what we have spoken that has injured or damaged someone else or is untrue or is unkind. That is a first step in procuring the kind of speech we desire in our homes.

Maybe you need to confess something to your children. Your child will never turn away from the Christian religion because you decided to confess your sins, because you decided to say to him or her, “I am sorry I said or did this to you and I want you to forgive me.” Your child will not turn away from the Christian religion when you do that.

Unless we confess our sins, the Holy Spirit cannot come into our lives and give us the power that we need to change. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes [them] will have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13. That is talking about eternal prosperity, not just temporal prosperity.

Friends, I stand myself in very great need of mercy, do you? I know that if I am going to receive the mercy of God in my life, I must confess, and then I must forsake. Do you want that experience? Decide right now you are not going to let the day go by before making whatever confession to whomever you need to make it. It may take you more than one day.

When I first became convicted on this subject, it was as a result of a sermon I listened to by a retired Adventist minister who said that when he became a Christian, he had to write 726 letters of confession. I hope that you do not have to write that many, but I would write however many letters I need to write or call however many people I need to call, to have a clear conscience.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Surrender, Part I

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We need to look at our sin problem and ourselves from a new perspective. When it comes to righteousness, we are nothing but in the way! And yet, we are to seek for it: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. We are told to seek for God’s righteousness, but in reality, it is He who seeks us, and we respond to His seeking, as we are told in Romans 3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

Verse 12 continues, “They are all gone out of the way . . . .” We have all gone out of the way to ignore God and His authority. We want our own authority; we want to do our own thing. The fact is that we, like Eve, want to be our own gods. Oh, we want God to feed us, clothe us, protect us, and take care of us, but we do not want Him to tell us what to do, unless what He tells us is in agreement with what we think or with what we want to do.

Deep down inside, we desire to be our own gods, to call our own shots, to do our own thing, to have our own kingdoms.

The word kingdom comes from two words—king and dominion. A kingdom is a place where one king has total and complete control and authority. We want to have our own kingdoms. We want to be our own authority.

The temptation to be our own god appeals to the unfallen as well as the fallen. When it appealed to Eve, she was in an unfallen state. Before her, it appealed to an unfallen angel, the highest of all the angels, the one closest to the throne of God. A desire arose in Lucifer’s heart to have his own authority, to call his own shots, to be his own king, his own god.

Problem of Pride

Isaiah 14:12–15 gives the reason for Lucifer’s fall: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Lucifer wanted his freedom. He did not want to be under God’s authority. He wanted to establish his own authority.

Pride was the problem. Pride turned an angel into the devil. Ellen White wrote: “There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 154. “Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18.

Pride is an overly high opinion of one’s self, and it leads to rebellion. We need to ask ourselves, How are we doing with pride? Pride is a very dangerous sin—the most dangerous and incurable, we are told. We do not have to have a fallen nature for it to arise, and the reason this is important to us is because it can happen after we have been converted. This is why conversion is not a one time event. It is a daily, moment-by-moment experience.

Satan Spreads the Misery

Lucifer, or Satan, sold his idea to a third of the angels, and they were all cast out of the kingdom of God to this earth, where Satan went about setting up his kingdom. He well knew the power of pride, since he had already fallen for it, so that is the tool he used. He went to the ones who had been created in the very image of God, who, if they had stayed on track, would have become more and more like God throughout eternity. He convinced them that if they would come out from under God’s authority, and develop their own authority, they would become like God.

The bottom line of the lie he told them was, “Come out from under God’s authority, and you will gain status, you will gain knowledge, you will gain authority, you will gain freedom.” As one preacher has said, “As long as a train stays on those twin ribbons of steel, it has a lot more freedom than what we call a ‘free train.’ When a train jumps the tracks and takes off across the meadow, it is free all right, but it is only free to crash.”

The enticement was, “Adam and Eve, come out from under God’s authority and get your own authority.” But the truth was that they already had authority. We are told in Genesis 1 that they were given dominion—in other words, authority and jurisdiction—over the whole world, over the fish, the fowls, and the beasts of the field. Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, [even] the heavens, [are] the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men,” and in Psalm 8:4–6, we read, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet.”

Through trickery, though, Satan deceptively snatched that dominion away from them. Adam and Eve had been given authority, as mentioned previously, over all things on earth, and if they had exercised their authority, they probably could have ordered the serpent out of the garden. Adam had been placed in the garden to keep it, to protect it. It was in his possession. He was to take care of it; he was to guard it, but instead, he lost it and the whole world with it to the devil.

How Could This Happen?

How could this happen? First, in spite of being warned to the contrary, Adam allowed Eve to wander away from his side. “The angels had cautioned Eve to beware of separating herself from her husband while occupied in their daily labor in the garden; with him she would be in less danger from temptation than if she were alone.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 53. Alone, Eve became deceived, and then she became Satan’s evangelist. Adam was her first convert. As a result of their actions, they both entered into slavery.

Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The Greek word doulos, which is here translated servant, properly signifies slave. So Adam and Eve became slaves to Satan, and the slave owner owns what the slave owns. This is how Satan gained Adam and Eve’s possessions, how he took this world under his dominion.

Adam and Eve yielded their dominion and their authority, and this is why, when Christ came 4,000 years later, Satan could offer the world to Him. “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” Luke 4:5, 6. The Greek word exousia, translated power, means “authority or jursdiction.”

As long as Adam and Eve were under God’s authority, they had power or authority. As soon as they tried to get more authority, by coming out from under God’s authority, they lost all authority, even over their own wills.

Rebellion of Sin

Every single sin, no matter how big or how little we think it is, is rebellion against God’s authority. This is the underlying issue. Sinning says, “I want to be my own god.” As it says in the parable in Luke 19:14, “We will not have this [man] to reign over us.” This is what we are saying when we sin. We are telling God, “I want to be my own king, and I want my own kingdom. I do not want You to be King over me.” We certainly would not say those words to Him directly, but our actions are actually saying it. Do you see why there is no such thing as a little sin?

“He who willfully breaks one commandment, does not, in spirit and truth, keep any of them. ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ James 2:10.

“It is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God’s expressed will in the least particular; for this shows that there is yet communion between the soul and sin. The heart is divided in its service. There is a virtual denial of God, a rebellion against the laws of His government.” Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 51.

For what many would consider one little sin, Adam and Eve lost their noble place of authority and joy and communion with God, and they were placed in the position of bondage and fear and servitude to a new master.

Either/Or

A man had legally lost the world’s dominion, and it had to be legally reclaimed by a man. The second Adam had to come and redeem what the first Adam lost. The whole history of humanity boils down to those two men. We are either in Adam or we are in Christ. We are either in the flesh or we are in the Spirit. If we choose to be in Christ, then we can experience Christ’s victory. If we choose to stay in Adam, then we stay in Adam’s bondage.

The question is, How do we make the switch? We are all born into Adam. We have all inherited his nature, and his tendency to rebellion. The only way out is to be reborn into Christ.

We read, in 1 John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.” When we are born again, we are born to win.

Christ Conquered

Christ defeated Satan when He was in the wilderness of temptation, on the same ground, with the same test on which Adam fell. How did Christ win the victory? He did not do it by pulling rank. He did not do it by using power that He brought with Him from heaven. He did not do it by being God. He did it by being a man, totally and completely dependent upon and surrendered to God. His weapons were the Spirit of God and the Word of God. With these weapons, He conquered. Adam could have done this. We can do the same thing.

Because of Christ’s victory, authority again changed hands. Christ’s followers no longer have to remain in bondage to the world, to the flesh, and to the devil. The sad part is that most people do not know this. Many Christians do not realize this. Most have probably heard it or read it, but they either do not believe it, because the news seems too good to be true, or, like many throughout history, they believe the truth that we can be free, but they do not know the truth about how to be free. They do not have a clue.

People do not know how to be victorious because they do not learn from God. God tells us how, but a majority of people has been trying a failed plan. This faulty plan did not work the first time somebody tried it, and it will not work today, but many of us keep trying it anyway.

You know, the definition of insanity is to keep trying the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We have been in this state of insanity for about 6,000 years, and God wants us to come out of it. He has tried desperately to teach us another way.

In 1888, God tried to teach the way, but it apparently appeared to be too simple and too humbling to self, so that way has been repeatedly rejected. It is still the only way. Whether we accept it or reject it, it is still the only way. We need to look at the way; we need to humble ourselves to receive it. God wants us to come back under His plan and under His authority. He wants us to take back some of the lost dominion. We would not get it all back right now; we would not have dominion over the animals, for example, but we could have dominion over the flesh and the devil, in the area of temptation. This is what we need. We can have victory!

Not Over Until Under

One thing is certain. We will never be over the things that God wants under us until we get under the things that God sets over us. We must learn to submit to Him. Do you know that there is a large number of Christians who are very committed to the truth and the cause of God, but they are not submitted to the God of the truth and the cause?

Romans 8:37 tells us that we can be more than conquerors through Christ.

“For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17. So, by one man’s offence—Adam’s—death reigned, but if we are no longer in Adam but in Christ, then we reign over the world, the flesh, and the devil. But we will never be over until we are under.

A Biblical Example

The centurion understood this concept very well. In Matthew 8:5–10 is the story of a centurion who came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. Jesus said, “Yes, I will come and do it.”

But the centurion said, “No, You do not need to come to my place of dwelling. Just speak the word only, and my servant will be healed.” And the centurion began to explain to Jesus, “I know how this works, because I am a man under authority.” The centurion understood. “The only reason I have authority over 100 Roman soldiers is because I am under the authority of the Roman Government.” And he understood that Christ had authority over evil and sickness and death because He was under the authority of His Father. He was over because He was under.

Not of Ourselves

In John 5:30, Jesus makes this very clear: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

Jesus sent out 70 disciples as lambs among wolves. Their experience is recorded in Luke 10:17: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” How could they have that kind of power? Verse 16 says, “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.”

Do you see the chain of command? There is the Father over Jesus and Jesus over the 70, and the 70 over the devil. It is an authority thing.

Verse 18 says, “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Well, He not only beheld it, but He was the One who cast him out. In verse 19, it says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The first power in this text is translated from the Greek word exousia meaning “authority.” The second power is translated from dunamis, which is actually referring to “strength.” In other words, “Behold, I give unto you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength of the enemy [Satan].”

Authority vs. Power

Authority is a lot better than power. You can have power and have no authority, but when you have authority, you have more than power. You know, when a little skinny police officer holds up his hand and blows his whistle in front of an eighteen-wheeler truck and that eighteen-wheeler comes to a stop, is it because of that little policeman’s power to stop it? No, it could have just run right over him. It is all about authority. The policeman represents authority, and that is why the truck stops. He is under, so he is over.

The devil has power, but he has no authority. Apostasy has no authority, except what men will allow it to have. You may usurp some authority on your own, and people who do not know any better may submit to it, but it will not last long. Someday your little kingdom will come down around you. To have real authority, you must be under real authority.

The devil recognizes whether or not you have authority. He is not fooled. Acts 19:13–16 says, “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of [one] Sceva, a Jew, [and] chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

These exorcists were fortunate. The name of Jesus is not a magical charm, and if we are not surrendered to Jesus, the devil knows it. I say that these exorcists were fortunate because he let them know right away that they did not have any authority. We may not like the way they found out, but it is a good thing that they did find out right then and there. Most of the time the devil is smarter than that, and he does not let us know right away. He plays games with us, and we could end up like the group in Matthew 7:21–23 that comes to the end of time and says, “Lord, Lord, look at all these things we did in Your name. We prophesied; we even cast out devils,” but Christ says, “I never knew you.” It was not Christ who helped them cast out the devils. Who helped them cast out the devils? It was the devil; he was playing a game with them. They did not have any authority over him, but he did not let them know that.

Committed but not Submitted

There are very many who are committed, but they are not submitted. They are committed to the truth, but they are not submitted to God. They are not surrendered. The foolish virgins of Matthew 25 are an example.

“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.” Verses 1–8.

You know the rest of the story. The door was shut. The five foolish virgins did not make it inside. All ten were virgins—symbolic of a pure religion and a pure doctrine—and they carried lamps.

“Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105. They had the Word of God, and they were not scoffers. They were waiting for the bridegroom to come. Was sleeping the problem? No, all ten slept, both the wise and the foolish, so that was not the problem.

“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 [they are never surrendered; they have never submitted] to the Holy Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up. This class are represented also by the stony-ground hearers. They receive the word with readiness, but they fail of assimilating its principles. Its influence is not abiding. The Spirit works upon man’s heart, according to his desire and consent implanting in him a new nature; but the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work. They do not know God. They have not studied His character.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 411.

Surrender

So, commitment without surrender can be very dangerous. In fact, it can be downright scary. The word commitment really did not come into large usage among English-speaking Christians until the 1960s. Whenever a word gains popularity, it usually pushes out another word, and in the 1960s, the word commitment pushed out the word surrender. Christians used to talk about being surrendered; now we talk about being committed.

Dangers

As a Bible worker, I am becoming concerned about this, because at the end of a Bible study, I always want a commitment, but I am starting to rethink this. We need to get people to surrender; commitment is not enough. If they have commitment without surrender, we well know the results. We see people come into truth and then fall away.

In 1 Corinthians 13:3, it talks about a people that are so committed to the truth and the cause of God that they are willing to become martyrs for Him. It says that they are willing to give their bodies to be burned. That is commitment! Yet, they are still not saved.

Others become committed but not surrendered, and, eventually, they become discouraged, because they see they are not progressing. If they are honest with themselves, they know that their hearts have not changed; they are still rotten inside; they are just going through the outward motions. They are putting on a show. They usually end up becoming liberal, or what we call antinomians, and they come up with new theologies such as, we do not have to keep God’s Law, because we cannot keep it.

So, you see that commitment without surrender is very dangerous. Commitment without surrender can make us very sincere, legalistic, Pharisaical zealots, but it will never change our hearts. There is no joy in that kind of religion. It may puff up the flesh, but it will never make us Christlike Christians.

Many people are fighting a very worthy battle, but they are fighting it at the wrong time, with the wrong tools, and in the wrong way. When we fight the battle without first surrendering, then we are doing all those things. We can fight all we want, for all we are worth, but we are still going to lose. So why are we so reluctant to surrender?

Hardest Thing To Do

Surrendering seems to be the hardest thing in the world to do. One reason is fear. We are afraid of what God is going to do with us and what He is going to ask of us, if we fully surrender. That just shows that we really do not know Him. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to be blessed by Him. The key is knowing Him. What is He like? What is His character like? How does He think and feel?

We will never know the answers to these questions if we are not spending time with Him each day. If we are not doing this, then we do not stand a chance. But as we spend time with Him each day, getting to know Him and to trust Him, a safe environment will develop in which to surrender.

To be continued . . .

Steve Currey is a Bible worker for Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: stevecurrey@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Surrender, Part II

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When we are only committed to the cause, we are still in charge, for the most part, but we can still rebel. When we are surrendered, we cannot be rebels. When we surrender, we give up our authority, and we come under the authority of Another.

So, why do we not surrender? Fear could be one reason, but another reason is that we just plain do not know how. Commitment without surrender is what most people have been trying to do for the last 6,000 years, and this is why we are still here. It does not work any better now than it did the first time it was tried. It is insane to keep trying it, but we do just the same, perhaps because we do not know anything else to do. God, however, wants us to know another way—the only way that works.

The only way that works is so simple that we often miss the real meaning. It just does not sink in, but we cannot afford to miss it. Before we study it, though, we need to first consider how the mind works in the area of temptation.

The Bible presents, a number of times, the battle between the flesh and the spirit. Through the Spirit of Prophecy, we are told a lot about the higher powers and the lower powers of the mind. Think of your brain as being divided into sections.

Higher Powers

The higher powers are located where science calls the frontal lobe of the brain. That is where the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Romans 8:16 talks about how the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirits: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” This is referring to the frontal lobe of the brain where, Ellen White states, rests the higher powers. The Bible would call it the spirit. The higher powers contain the intellect, the reason, and the conscience.

The higher powers take in information and store it in the intellect. Then the reason takes that information and cogitates from cause to effect, based on your intellect or what you know. If you do such and such, what will or will not happen; if you do not do such and such, what will or will not happen?

You know what the conscience does. If you do not think or act according to reason and intellect, your conscience makes you feel bad. It is a warning signal. It makes you feel guilty. It pricks you.

Lower Powers

The lower powers would originate in the lower part of the brain, in what could be called the animal instinct part of the brain. It tells your heart to beat and your lungs to breathe without your thinking about those things. The lower powers are what the Bible calls the flesh.

The flesh contains the appetite, the passions, and the desires. God placed these things in you. In and of themselves they are not bad, but they are to be kept under the control of the higher powers. When Adam and Eve fell, the lower powers began to reign over the higher powers, and they have been in control ever since.

The appetite says, If it tastes good, eat it. The passions say, If it feels good, do it. Desire says, If you want it, get it. Satan knows how to work this system. Every temptation he sends to you enters through that channel—either through appetite, passion, or desire.

Galatians 5:16, 17 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” It does not say that you will not have the lust of the flesh; it says that you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. It is not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to yield to the temptation. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

The Will

These two things are contrary to each other, so when temptation enters, the flesh votes one way and the spirit votes the other. They never agree, because they are contrary one to another. In order for temptation to pass, then, we need to have a third representative—the will. The will is the governing power in the nature of man.

I heard Stephen Vincent Wallace, several years ago, explain it this way: “This is the land of Me, and in the land of Me, the capital city is Mind. In the capital city of Mind is the House of Representatives, and there are three that sit in that House of Representatives. There is a representative from the kingdom of darkness (that would be the flesh). There is a representative from the Kingdom of Light (that would be the Spirit). Then there is our representative, the will.” For anything to pass, you must have a two-thirds majority, so the will decides if you are going to listen to the higher powers or whether you are going to listen to the lower powers. That is what makes the final decision.

This is why God gave us the health message and why the health message is so important. It is not just so we can be healthy, but it is to keep the frontal lobe of the brain clear. Things like drugs, alcohol, rock music, television, caffeine, and nicotine tend to numb the frontal lobe. When the frontal lobe is numb and it is supposed to be putting out an argument for righteousness, what kind of argument is it going to give? Not a very good one! The will may then listen to the lower powers.

The Will’s Authority

There are other verses in the Bible that speak of this, such as Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Romans 13:14 says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].”

We are not to make any provision for it, so unless your will is surrendered to Christ and is under the authority of God, it is not going to have authority over the lower powers. This is why it is so important to surrender the will.

You need to understand that this is not talking about willpower. That is what the world uses, and most of God’s people have tried using their willpower for the last 6,000 years, and it has not worked. It might work with sins that are not that appealing to you, but if you encounter sins that really appeal to you, ones known as besetting sins, then you really do not have any willpower. Willpower is not what is meant, but the right exercise of the will. We need to surrender our wills to God.

In Luke 17:20, 21, some people talked to Christ about the location of the kingdom of God. He told them, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” In Part I of this study, the word kingdom was identified as coming from two words, king and dominion. Dominion is where one king has complete and total control and authority. Your heart is to be that place, that dominion, on this earth for God. Your heart is to be like a branch office of the kingdom in heaven. In the kingdom of heaven, one King has complete and total control and authority, and He is to have that same dominion in our hearts.

When you pray the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6) and repeat the words, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” do you ever stop and think about what you are asking? You are asking that God’s kingdom come; His will be done here, on earth, in you, as it is in heaven.

It is of the utmost importance that you learn to surrender your will to God. You need to stop using the old willpower, grit your teeth, struggle and strain method, and start using the surrender method. When you do this, you will find that exercising your will with the higher powers of your brain will not be nearly as difficult. This does not mean you will have smooth sailing, but it will be a whole lot easier than the other willpower method.

You can read about the willpower method and how it works in Romans 7. That is the method of which Paul is speaking in this passage. You can just feel the frustration as he is describing it, because it does not work.

Born to Win

Christ had to deal with this problem too. He had a fallen nature with which to contend. (See The Desire of Ages, 112.) I personally believe that He was born with the equivalent of a born-again nature, and that is how He could win. This is the same nature we can have, and this is why we can win too.

When you are born again, you are born to win. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.” 1 John 5:4. Like Christ, you can have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil, but to have it, it is essential that you learn to surrender everything to God, just as Christ did. You must learn to yield your will. If you do not, you are either going to get discouraged and give up or you are going to stay committed but not submitted and end up in the foolish virgin camp (Matthew 25:1–13) or the Matthew 7:21–23 camp: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Or you may end up in the 1 Corinthians 13:3 camp: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

Reprobate

If you are not careful, you will learn to ignore the Holy Spirit’s promptings and pleadings. Romans 1:28 tells us that God gives such people over to a reprobate mind. “And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”

The dictionary definition of a reprobate is “a thoroughly bad person.” I made up my own definition of a reprobate mind. You most likely will not find this in one of the more scholarly, theological resources, but it works for me, and I hope it helps you. To me, a reprobate mind means, “to have the brain in your head upside down.” In other words, letting the lower powers control the higher powers. So when God gives you up to a reprobate mind, He leaves you to being controlled by those lower powers. They will never be under the control of the higher powers. Your will will never be surrendered.

The best example of surrender and dependence, of course, is Christ. Just in the Book of John there are at least 30 verses where He says that everything He had and everything He did was totally surrendered to His Father. His will, His work, His words, His doctrine, His mission, and His decisions all came from the Father. They were all surrendered. Christ did nothing of Himself. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30. How could He do that? Was it because He was committed only? It was because He was totally dependent and surrendered to the Father. When you are willing to be to Jesus what Jesus was to the Father, then Jesus will be to you what the Father was to Him.

Like Jesus

Philippians 2:5–11 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In other words, have the same attitude Jesus had. He made Himself of no reputation; He emptied Himself; He laid down His privileges; He took the form of a servant; He humbled Himself. You and I are to have the same attitude.

Verses 10 and 11 tell us that everyone in the whole universe, fallen and unfallen, will bow down and “confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” They will confess Jesus’ lordship and His right to reign, His sovereign authority, and His right to have sovereign authority. The whole universe, fallen and unfallen, is going to acknowledge this.

Prayer Life

How did Jesus keep His will surrendered to the Father? Oh, the secret seems to be in His prayer life. He spent time every day, before He did anything else, surrendering His will to the Father. Sometimes He spent all night in prayer. The best example of this is the night He spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42.) Three times He had to yield His will to the Father. It was a struggle, even to the point of sweating blood. Nevertheless, He was able to do it, and you can follow His example.

Impossible on Your Own

The following statements are some of the clearest on the surrender of the will and of the heart. I hope they will be helpful to you.

“It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.’ ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ Job 14:4; Romans 8:7.” Steps to Christ, 18.

What an interesting statement! This is the part where I think a lot of people get confused and why they use that old method of willpower, which has been tried for 6,000 years. The next statement explains it. It says, “Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” Ibid.

“The Saviour said, ‘Except a man be born from above,’ unless he shall receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, ‘he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ John 3:3, margin.” Ibid.

The word see means to “perceive with understanding experientially.” You know, when you have your own little kingdom going where you call your own shots and do your own thing, where you are in total and complete control and authority, you not only cannot see the kingdom of God, but you do not even want to know about it.

Ellen White continues, “The idea that it is necessary only to develop the good that exists in man by nature, is a fatal deception. . . .

“It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul the apostle saw all this when he exclaimed, ‘I consent unto the law that it is good.’ ‘The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.’ But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, ‘I am carnal, sold under sin.’ Romans 7:16, 12, 14. He [Paul] longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?’ Romans 7:24, margin. Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages.” Ibid., 18, 19.

Have you ever longed for that for which Paul longed—that purity and righteousness? Have you figured out yet, as he did, that you are powerless to obtain it? The only way to receive it is to surrender your will to God. The quicker you figure it out, the better off you will be. “To all, there is but one answer, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29.” Ibid., 19.

To be continued . . .

Steve Currey is a Bible worker for Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: stevecurrey@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Knowing the Time, Part I

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In Romans 13:11–14, we read: “And, knowing the time, that already it is the hour for you to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is far gone, the day has drawn near. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us be clothed with the weapons of light. Let us walk becomingly, as in the day, not with carousing and drunkenness and sexual orgies and sensuality, not with strife and jealousy. But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not make provision for the flesh that you should do its lusts.” That is quite a Scripture!

Paul says that now is the time. It is the hour already for you to awake out of sleep. Do you know the time? Do you know that now is the time? Now is the time to wake up, because we do not have very much time left.

Knowing the Time in the World

I would like for you to consider just two things. The first thing is knowing the time in the world. I will not take the space to prove this, although it can be proven. If we compare Daniel 7 and Daniel 11, we will see that the great time of persecution of God’s saints, which was to last 1,260 years, was to extend until the time of the end. When that period was over, then the world was going to enter the period called, in Daniel’s prophecy, the time of the end. Most Bible writers call it the latter days or the last days.

That period of time (1,260 days) came to an end in 1798. We, then, have been in the last days or in the time of the end for over 200 years. The last days—the time of the end—is the last epochal period of this world’s history. At the end of that time, probation will close, and Jesus will come, and that will be the end of this age, the end of the world, as we know it. We are not at the beginning of the time of the end; we are at the end of the time of the end.

Increased Travel

Daniel said, in Daniel 12:4, that at the time of the end two things would happen.

He said that many are going to travel to and fro. In other words, it is going to be a time of great travel. Are we living in a time of the greatest travel since the beginning of the world? There has never, ever been a time like today. Never!

Society thought we were living in a time of great travel when I was a boy, because we had airplanes. I traveled half way around the world when I was about seven years old. But let me tell you, it was absolutely nothing compared with today.

When I was boy, I used to go with my father to the Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado. My father was a businessman, and at times he would need to travel by plane. While waiting for my father to depart, I would look out the airport windows, and would usually see four or five airliners waiting there—DC7s and a few Lockheed Electras. Those planes could hold between 40 and 50 passengers. That was the total number of airplanes generally at Stapleton at any one time, and I was there many times.

How is it today? At the new Denver International Airport, there are between 50 and 100 airplanes at any given time, and those planes do not hold just 40 or 50 passengers, like they did when I was a boy. They hold 100, 200, or more passengers!

We are living in a time when there is more travel. I have done a little traveling myself, and I have been in the airports of London and Paris, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Los Angeles. If you go to any one of these places, you will see people from all over the world.

There has never before been a time like this. We are living in the time of the end. In the time of the end, travel is going to be increased.

Increased Knowledge

The second thing mentioned, in Daniel 12:4, is that in the time of the end there is going to be a great increase of knowledge. It says, “Knowledge shall be increased.” Are we living in a time when there has been an explosion of knowledge?

Some of you are too young to remember how things used to be, just a short time ago. Do you realize that just a few years ago, if you had a cataract in your eye and you had it removed, that after the surgery you would be sandbagged? Sandbags would be placed around your head, and you would have to lie in a hospital bed, sometimes for up to two weeks or more. But do you know how it is done today? I recently took a close relative of mine to have a cataract removed, and it was an outpatient procedure. We walked in, got it done, walked out, and went home—pretty much business as usual the rest of the day. That is just one example; there are hundreds of other examples.

A second example of increased knowledge is our cars, our airplanes, and our machines. Computers now monitor these things, indicating to us when service, repairs, or changes are needed. I am old enough to remember when it was not that way. Things were mechanical, and we thought we had a great increase of knowledge then, but now things are electrical, and everything is connected to a computer.

I remember telling people 20 years ago that we were living in an age of an explosion of knowledge—that there would soon come a time when, through the computer, we would be able to access central data banks and find out whatever we wanted that is known to man. We have been doing that now for several years.

Earthquakes

Third, in Matthew 24, Jesus said that in the last days there would come a time when there would be great earthquakes. Have you noticed the increase of earthquakes lately?

We used to live in southern California, and, while residing there, we were always apprehensive of earthquakes. While traveling in southern California recently, I was shown a newspaper that identified the different areas where earthquakes had occurred in the last several weeks—there were over 60 places! We do not even hear about those earthquakes on the news, because the news does not report the little ones.

If you want to do an interesting study, look on the Internet for the web site that is just about earthquakes. Do you know when the incidents of earthquakes started increasing? About 1800. The time of the end is going to be the time of earthquakes. They started increasing at the time of the end. It is interesting to note that the number of earthquakes stayed about the same for many hundreds of years—for over a thousand years—until about 1800; then, for a reason no one can explain, they started increasing. Why? Jesus said that in the time of the end there would be earthquakes. Since 1950, the number of occurrences has skyrocketed. So much so that between 1980 and 1990 there were as many serious major earthquakes as the world had experienced between a.d. 526 and 1797. That is a period of almost 1,300 years. Somebody may challenge that in old times they did not record them all, but they did record them when something major happened. They did not have seismographs, but they recorded the big ones, when buildings started falling down. It is one of the signs that we are living right near the end.

Rumors of War

Another sign, the fourth, which Jesus gave, was that there would be “wars and rumors of wars.” We do not need to expound on this. World War I was going to be the war to end all wars. Did it end all wars? No, the United States was in another world war within 20 years after it ended. Since World War II, there has been a war somewhere in the world all the time—some coup d’état, revolution, or war somewhere in the world.

Peace Movement

The fifth sign of knowing the time in the world you can study out for yourselves. Bible prophecy tells us that in the last days there is going to be a great, international religious peace movement. Predicted both in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, it is not a true revival or a true religion. Read Micah 4:1–6 carefully, and you will see that is the case. They are going to be preparing for war at the same time they are talking peace.

Hearts Fail for Fear

And, then, number six. In Luke 21, Jesus said that the time of the end will be a time when men’s hearts will fail them for fear. Are we living in a time when men’s hearts are failing them for fear? People are afraid. One thing of which they are afraid is what is happening to the worldwide economy—not just the United States, not just Europe, but the economy of the world. The worldwide economy is shaky today, and economists are scared to death. People are saying that we are out of the recession, but we are deeper in debt than ever before.

We are concerned about the environment. We are destroying our environment. One reason for concern is the natural disasters.

Have you heard on the news of the concern regarding Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming? A certain part of the park has been closed off, because the experts are saying that this area in the park could blow at any time. If it blows, it will be the biggest volcanic explosion in history, and it will be heard hundreds of miles away.

At the huge crater, where the ground is lifting, the temperature is rising and has now risen so much that all the fish are dead and there is nothing living directly around it. Just a few inches under the soil, the temperature is 200 degrees. If it completely blows, the scientists are telling us that the entire United States will be completely covered with five inches of ash, and there will be no living thing within about a 600-mile radius—everything will die. It could bring on a miniature ice age; it could destroy crops all through the Midwest.

I am not saying it will be as bad as predicted; nobody knows. But the people who have studied this phenomenon are scared. Jesus said, “Men’s hearts would be failing them for fear because of the things that are coming on the earth.” Do you realize the economic consequences of something like that? If it occurs, just that one thing alone could cause a worldwide depression.

And then, of course, there is terrorism. Everybody knows about terrorism today—not just the United States. They know about it in Spain. They know about it in London. They know about it in the Middle East. They know about it in South America. Terrorism! And, of course, there is crime, crime, crime.

Pestilences

Number seven. Jesus said that in the last days there would be pestilences. We are experiencing pestilences like never before in world history. One example is cancer. Oh! Somebody may say that cancer has been around for hundreds of years. Of course it has, but in 1945, do you know how many people were getting cancer? One in fifteen. In 1945 (if you read the Spirit of Prophecy), the number getting cancer had skyrocketed from what it had been in the past. Do you know what the numbers are today? One in three. Is that a pestilence? It is a pestilence, friends.

Then we have the new pestilences such as Mad Cow Disease. If you have ever read the book Deadly Feasts (Richard Rhodes, Touchstone, New York, New York, 1998), you know that Mad Cow Disease is a ticking time bomb. It is a disease that, in the future, could absolutely decimate Western Europe, the United States, and many other countries of the world. Some people think this disease is even more dangerous than AIDS. Whether or not it is I do not know. It is one of those illnesses that has a long lapse from the time a person is exposed until symptoms develop. In addition to AIDS, we have the plague or the pestilence of all the old diseases that we thought had been cured.

For example, when I was in graduate school—less than 30 years ago—we were told that the disease of smallpox would be completely eradicated, because it is a disease peculiar only to human beings. We were told that vaccinations would be available to everyone, and this would eliminate it. It would die out and would be known only in the history books. Well, this we did not succeed in doing!

We are discovering that the diseases we were so confident in knowing how to control, we cannot control. For example, have you heard in the news that we now have new bugs or new microorganisms? They are actually the old ones, but they are now resistant to our drugs. This is serious. If an elderly person gets a staph infection that does not respond to drugs, they will be in a very critical situation.

Days of Lot

In Luke 17:27–30, Jesus said that in the last days it is going to be like it was in the days of Lot. You have read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis. You have probably read what Ezekiel said about it in Ezekiel 16:49, 50, what Jude said about it, and what Peter said about it in 11 Peter. Jesus told us that this is the way the world is going to be in the last days when the Son of man is revealed.

I studied this subject a few years ago, and what I found was shocking. Do you realize that never before in the history of the world has homosexuality been accepted worldwide, until our time? It was accepted in Sodom, and it was accepted among the Canaanites. In Leviticus 18, we find that that is one of the reasons why the Canaanites were destroyed. It was accepted in the ten tribes of Israel, and that is one of the reasons why they were destroyed, sent out as wanderers among the nations. At a later time, it was accepted in the city of Rome, and that is one of the reasons why Rome was destroyed. It later was accepted in the nation of France, and that is one of the reasons for the French Revolution. But in the last days, it will not be a country or a city only that accepts it; it will be accepted by the whole world. We do not realize how true prophecy always is. When it says worldwide, it means worldwide.

A few days ago my wife and I were visiting with our nephew who is serving in the United States armed forces. He told me something I did not know. You think you can never get shocked, but then you learn something new. He told me that among the Muslims in Afghanistan, where he served, and throughout the neighboring countries, homosexuality is rampant. He said that they do not want the Christians to find out about it; they try to keep it secret. The United States military has to instruct the soldiers to be careful in certain situations. The prophecy of Jesus has been fulfilled exactly. We are living right at the time of the end.

When homosexuality becomes accepted, study the story of Sodom; study the story of the ten tribes; study the story of the Canaanites; study the story of Rome; study the story of France. God is not going to let that go on, friends. It is going to end.

Great Unbelief

Number nine. In the last days, according to the Book of Revelation, according to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:24, there will come a time of gross darkness of the greatest deceptions ever to come on the world. We are living in that time.

And, finally, number ten. According to 11 Peter 3:3–7, the last days will be a time of great unbelief. The unbelief will be so great that it says that those living will deny that the heavens came into existence by the Word of God. That is exactly what has happened in the last few years—and all of it has happened since 1798. The theory of evolution to explain how we got here without God has been developed. We want a reason explaining how we got here without God. It says, in 11 Peter 3, that they would say that “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning.” Do you realize that that is a word-for-word description of the theory of Uniformitarianism on which modern geology is based?

In 1979, my family and I traveled to the East Coast of Pennsylvania to visit my brother who was pastoring there. During Christmas time we went to the Smithsonian Institute, and while we were there, we split up to go to different places, because we could not see it all, and different people wanted to see different things. I decided that I wanted to see the geology building, which is where they tell you that this item is this many millions of years old and that item is that many millions of years old.

I visited every single exhibit to see what evidence they had for the age of each item. Do you know what evidence they had? They had only one piece of evidence for everything. This is the Uniformitarian Theory. Peter predicted the Uniformitarian Theory long before these people believed they invented it. The Bible predicted that it would be in the last days.

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Part I

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To the believers in Corinth, the apostle Paul delivered some of the most definitive and eloquent illustrations and instructions regarding relationships with one another. Beginning in chapter 12 of his first letter and continuing on through chapter 13, he clearly describes what must be for there to be unity and harmony among believers in the church.

These chapters are so important that we have been counseled to memorize them.

“The twelfth and thirteenth chapters of 1 Corinthians should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart. Through His servant Paul, the Lord has placed before us these subjects for our consideration, and those who have the privilege of being brought together in church capacity will be united, understandingly and intelligently. The figure of the members which compose the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another.” Sermons and Talks, Book 2, 119, 120.

Different Gifts and Functions

In 1 Corinthians 12, the diversities of spiritual gifts given to the church are to help it become ready for the kingdom. They are to unite the church. After addressing spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul discusses how these gifts work together in the body. “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” “For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?” 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14, 15.

The Church is compared to the physical body. One lesson we can learn from this representation is that all parts of the body do not do the same thing, but all parts of the body work together for the benefit and blessing of the entire body. Paul illustrates this by asking a rhetorical question, “If the whole body [were] an eye, where [would be] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [would be] the smelling?” 1 Corinthians 12:17. As each part of the body has different functions, so each member of the church has different gifts or functions. Thus the whole is blessed by a diversity providing a unity that is far more powerful.

“The vine has many branches, but though all the branches are different, they do not quarrel. In diversity there is unity. All the branches obtain their nourishment from one source. This is an illustration of the unity that is to exist among Christ’s followers. In their different lines of work they all have but one Head. The same Spirit, in different ways, works through them. There is harmonious action, though the gifts differ. Study this chapter. You will see from it that the man who is truly united with Christ will never act as though he were a complete whole in himself. . . .

“The perfection of the church depends not on each member being fashioned exactly alike. God calls for each one to take his proper place, to stand in his lot to do his appointed work according to the ability which has been given him (Letter 19, 1901).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1090.

Another lesson to be learned from the body representing the church is that just as the hand without the rest of the body is not much good, so one member working without the rest of the church is not much good. For the church to work as God would have it, each must fulfill a part. You may think that you cannot do very much, but every part has a necessary function. “By a comparison of the church with the human body, the apostle aptly illustrated the close and harmonious relationship that should exist among all members of the church of Christ.” The Acts of the Apostles, 317.

Notice something very significant about these gifts. They are given so that the body may work as a whole, not as individual parts. “God’s servants are to work together, blending in kindly, courteous order, ‘in honor preferring one another.’ Romans 12:10. There is to be no unkind criticism, no pulling to pieces of another’s work; and there are to be no separate parties. Every man to whom the Lord has entrusted a message has his specific work. Each one has an individuality of his own, which he is not to sink in that of any other man. Yet each is to work in harmony with his brethren. In their service God’s workers are to be essentially one. No one is to set himself up as a criterion, speaking disrespectfully of his fellow workers or treating them as inferior. Under God each is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by the other laborers. Together they are to carry the work forward to completion.” Ibid., 275, 276.

Care for One Another

Continuing on in 1 Corinthians 12:25, 26: “That there should be no schism in the body, but [that] the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with [it]; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with [it].” From these verses, we notice that the body feels for (cares for) other members of the body. I should not be biting and devouring any part of the body of Christ, but I should be working together with the body to keep it alive by caring for it. In this life, no one in his right mind cuts off part of his body or bites it. Just so, I should treat the spiritual body with love and concern.

In Romans 12:10–16, several specific graces of the spirit are identified. We are to be of one mind, kindly affectionate, esteem others better than ourselves, and give preference to them. “In the Lord’s plan human beings have been made necessary to one another. To every one God has entrusted talents, to be used in helping others to walk in the path of right. It is by unselfish service for others that we improve and increase our talents.

“Like the different parts of a machine, all are closely related to one another, and all dependent upon one great Center. There is to be unity in diversity. No member of the Lord’s firm can work successfully in independence. Each is to work under the supervision of God; all are to use their entrusted capabilities in His service, that each may minister to the perfection of the whole. . . .

“He who claims to be a Christian should examine himself and see if he is as kind and considerate of his fellow beings as he desires his fellow beings to be of him. . . . Christ taught that rank or wealth should make no difference in our treatment of one another and that in the light of heaven all are brethren. Earthly possessions or worldly honor do not count in God’s valuation of man. He created all men equal; He is no respecter of persons. He values a man according to the virtue of his character.” In Heavenly Places, 287.

Christian Love

Concluding 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul pleads, “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” What is the “more excellent way”? It is Christian love, which we all must have. Love is one of the key ingredients for the body to stay together.

“The Lord desires me to call the attention of His people to the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Read this chapter every day, and from it obtain comfort and strength. Learn from it the value that God places on sanctified, heaven-born love, and let the lesson that it teaches come home to your hearts. Learn that Christlike love is of heavenly birth, and that without it all other qualifications are worthless.” Review and Herald, July 21, 1904.

The invitation contained in this short paragraph is to read, meditate, and learn of heavenly love. If we do not understand the value God places on heavenly love, all other qualifications, however wonderful they may be, are worthless. It is vital for all to become interested in 1 Corinthians 13 and to study what true love really is, for this is the kind of love that God wants His followers to possess. “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35. The world must see that the followers of Christ have His love in their lives.

“In the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians the apostle Paul defines true, Christlike love. It would be well to print this chapter in small type in every paper issued from our presses. Put it in the Gospel Herald that it may preach its living sermon wherever the paper may go. This chapter is an expression of the obedience of all who love God and keep His commandments. It is brought into action in the life of every true believer.” The Gospel Herald, January 1, 1901.

Study of Heavenly Love

We can begin a study of heavenly love in the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become [as] sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

These verses tell us that we can do a variety of “good” things, but if we fail to do them for the right reason, which is love, they are worthless. What matters is the motive as to why I am doing the things that I do. Is it because I love God and my neighbor as myself? Having eloquent speech, understanding mysteries, obtaining knowledge, or giving to the poor are all commendable, but without love from a pure heart, what good are they? “The attribute that Christ appreciates most in man is charity (love) out of a pure heart. This is the fruit borne upon the Christian tree (MS 16, 1892).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1091.

Practical Description

The apostle Paul continues his instruction in a practical description of heavenly love in verses 4–8: “Love suffers long [and] is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up [arrogant]; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether [there are] prophecies, they will fail; whether [there are] tongues, they will cease; whether [there is] knowledge, it will vanish away.”

From these verses we see that love is a very complex attribute that has nothing to do with selfishness. Love is always thinking of the other person. This kind of love is tough; it does not fail when put through the stress and strain of life. If each one possessed this kind of love, it would be wonderful to be around him or her. All too often we experience the opposite, as individuals become irritated, impatient, or proud. “Love is a plant of heavenly origin, and if we would have it flourish in our hearts, we must cultivate it daily. Mildness, gentleness, long suffering, not being easily provoked, bearing all things, enduring all things,—these are the fruits upon the precious tree of love.” Review and Herald, June 5, 1888.

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these [is] love.” These verses, in 1 Corinthians 13:9–13, conclude the picture of heavenly love that Paul paints in simple, yet eloquent language.

Cultivate This Love

We must cultivate this love, and it must be shown to those around us—especially to those in our families and within the “household of faith.” Galatians 6:10. It is a serious concern that we, as God’s professed people, are sadly lacking in this heavenly love. We do not demonstrate the care that we should have for one another. Instead, we are splitting up and biting and devouring one another. But heavenly love does not cover sin. Instead, it hates the sin and loves the sinner. If I really love God, I will demonstrate this heavenly love to all with whom I associate, in the home, at the work place, or in the household of faith.

“Let us bring into the daily experience the instruction contained in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Believers must bring into their lives a stronger love for one another, a growing interest in one another.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, 143.

“O that there might be seen among our people a deep and thorough work of repentance and reformation! O that they would fall on the Rock, and be broken! Let us crucify self, that in our hearts may grow up a strong love for Christ and for one another. Let us bring into the daily experience the instruction contained in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Self must be surrendered to God before there can take possession of the life that strong, steady belief in the truth that is broad and comprehensive; that casts out from the heart all enmity, all petty differences, and transforms coldness into Christlike affection.

“Why should not believers love one another? It is impossible to love Christ, and at the same time act discourteously toward one another. It is impossible to have the Christ-love in the heart, and at the same time draw apart from one another, showing no love or sympathy. The deeper our love for Christ, the deeper will be our love for one another.” Review and Herald, February 24, 1903.

Heaven Begins on Earth

“To possess true godliness means to love one another, to help one another, to make apparent the religion of Jesus in our lives. We are to be consecrated channels through which the love of Christ flows to those who need help. . . . He who approaches nearest to obedience to the divine law will be of the most service to God. He who follows Christ, reaching out after His goodness, His compassion, His love for the human family, will be accepted by God as a worker together with Him. . . .

“When the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness for one another, they will realize that His banner over them is love and His fruit will be sweet to their taste. Heaven will begin on earth. They will make a heaven below in which to prepare for heaven above.” In Heavenly Places, 287.

Did you get that? Heaven will begin on earth when the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness for one another. God has made it necessary for us to work with one another.

Union is Strength

“Union is strength, and the Lord desires that this truth should be ever revealed in all the members of the body of Christ. All are to be united in love, in meekness, in lowliness of mind. Organized into a society of believers for the purpose of combining and diffusing their influence, they are to work as Christ worked. They are ever to show courtesy and respect for one another. Every talent has its place and is to be kept under the control of the Holy Spirit.

“The church is a Christian society formed for the members composing it, that each member may enjoy the assistance of all the graces and talents of the other members, and the working of God upon them, according to their several gifts and abilities. The church is united in the holy bonds of fellowship in order that each member may be benefited by the influence of the other. All are to bind themselves to the covenant of love and harmony. The Christian principles and graces of the whole society of believers are to gather strength and force in harmonious action. Each believer is to be benefited and improved by the refining and transforming influence of the varied capabilities of the other members, that the things lacking in one may be more abundantly displayed in another. All the members are to draw together, that the church may become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. . . .

“Those who wear Christ’s yoke will draw together. They will cultivate sympathy and forbearance, and in holy emulation will strive to show to others the tender sympathy and love of which they feel such great need themselves. He who is weak and inexperienced, although he is weak, may be strengthened by the more hopeful and by those of mature experience. Although the least of all, he is a stone that must shine in the building. He is a vital member of the organized body, united to Christ, the living head, and through Christ identified with all the excellencies of Christ’s character so that the Saviour is not ashamed to call him brother. . . .

“A church, separate and distinct from the world, is in the estimation of heaven the greatest object in all the earth. . . . The church is to be as God designed it should be, a representative of God’s family in another world.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 15–17.

What Weakens

“Nothing so manifestly weakens a church as disunion and strife. Nothing so wars against Christ and the truth as this spirit. . . .

“He in whose heart Christ abides recognizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother. Christ never wars against Christ. Christ never exerts an influence against Christ. Christians are to do their work, whatever it may be, in the unity of the Spirit, for the perfecting of the whole body.” My Life Today, 276.

Manifest Christ’s Qualities

“The life of Christ was a life charged with a divine message of the love of God, and he longed intensely to impart this love to others in rich measure. Compassion beamed from his countenance, and his conduct was characterized by grace, humility, truth, and love. Every member of his church militant must manifest the same qualities, if he would join the church triumphant. The love of Christ is so broad, so full of glory, that in comparison to it, everything that men esteem as great, dwindles into insignificance. When we obtain a view of it, we exclaim, O the depth of the riches of the love that God bestowed upon men in the gift of his only begotten Son!” Christian Education, 76, 77.

“We are to be one with him as he is one with the Father, and then we are beloved by the infinite God as members of the body of Christ, as branches of the living Vine. We are to be attached to the parent stock, and to receive nourishment from the Vine. Christ is our glorified Head, and the divine love flowing from the heart of God, rests in Christ, and is communicated to those who have been united to him. This divine love entering the soul inspires it with gratitude, frees it from its spiritual feebleness, from pride, vanity, and selfishness, and from all that would deform the Christian character.” Ibid., 76.

“How tender we should be in our dealings with those who are striving for the crown of life. He who in love and tenderness has helped a soul in need may at another time be himself in need of compassionate words of hope and courage.—Manuscript 63, May 18, 1898, ‘Home Missionary Work.’ ” This Day With God, 147.

To be continued . . .

Jana Grosboll, an Electrical Engineering graduate student, serves Steps to Life as its Network Administrator. She may be contacted by e-mail at: janagrosboll@stepstolife.org.

Surrender, Part III

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From Steps to Christ, 47, we read: “Many are inquiring, ‘How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?’ You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin.” This is the condition we are in! Mrs. White continues, “Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. . . . What you need to understand is the true force of the will. [Now, again, this is not talking about willpower.] . . . Everything depends on the right action of the will.”

What is the right action of the will? This is what we want to know. We do know it is not willpower.

“The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. . . .

“Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.” Ibid., 47, 48.

We keep seeing that we need to yield the will, but we have not found out how. We are going to find out how shortly. Continuing on with this quote, it says,

“Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.” Ibid., 48.

This is a good promise, but we still do not know how to do it.

Take My Heart

The next Spirit of Prophecy quote is based on the story of two worshippers, as recorded in Luke 18:9–14. You remember that the Pharisee said, “Well, I am glad I am not like that character,” referring to the publican. But the publican beat on his chest and said, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.” Mrs. White says, “The prayer of the publican was heard because it showed dependence reaching forth to lay hold upon Omnipotence. Self to the publican appeared nothing but shame. Thus it must be seen by all who seek God. By faith—faith that renounces all self-trust—the needy suppliant is to lay hold upon infinite power.

“No outward observances can take the place of simple faith and entire renunciation of self. But no man can empty himself of self.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 159.

How to Surrender

Is this not a real problem? You have to be emptied of self, but it says that no man can do it. Now we are going to find out how to surrender.

“We can only consent for Christ to accomplish the work.” Ibid. What does consent mean? It means, “to give permission.” If you go into the hospital for surgery, you give the doctor permission to cut your body. You sign a consent form.

Then, she tells us exactly how to give that permission; she even gives us the words to say: “Then the language of the soul will be, Lord, take my heart; for I cannot give it. It is Thy property. Keep it pure, for I cannot keep it for Thee. Save me in spite of myself, my weak, unchristlike self. Mold me, fashion me, raise me into a pure and holy atmosphere, where the rich current of Thy love can flow through my soul.” Ibid.

In other words, you need to tell the Lord, “I want You to take my heart, my will. I cannot give you my heart, but I am giving You permission to come in and take it. Take my heart and purify it. Bring it into harmony with Your will. Then, after You clean it up for me, do not just give it back to me, because I will just mess it up again. You will have to keep it for me too.”

First Thing

When you decide to surrender your heart, your will, to God, you need to do so verbally, first thing in the morning. Now, you can do it all day long. You can send up silent prayers every time you run into a temptation or a problem or see anything that needs correcting. You can just tell Him, “Take my will, right now.” You can do that silently, but at least once a day, in the morning, you need to say it verbally, out loud, so the whole on-looking universe can hear you give God that permission. There are rules to the great controversy, and one of the rules is that supernatural powers cannot intervene in human affairs without being given permission. You need to give permission. This prayer is a legal contract between you and God, and the whole universe needs to hear and see it happen.

Step by Step

“It is not only at the beginning of the Christian life that this renunciation of self is to be made. At every advance step heavenward it is to be renewed. All our good works are dependent on a power outside of ourselves. Therefore there needs to be a continual reaching out of the heart after God, a continual, earnest, heartbreaking confession of sin and humbling of the soul before Him. Only by constant renunciation of self and dependence on Christ can we walk safely.” Ibid., 159, 160.

“All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. . . . Sin will become hateful to us.” The Desire of Ages, 668.

Is this not what you want?

Satan’s Control Broken

“There were many in Christ’s day, as there are today, over whom the control of Satan for the time seemed broken; through the grace of God they were set free from the evil spirits that had held dominion over the soul. They rejoiced in the love of God; but, like the stony-ground hearers of the parable, they did not abide in His love. They did not surrender themselves to God daily. . . .

“When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan. But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world.” Ibid., 323, 324.

Job is a good example of this. The representatives from the different worlds came together for a council meeting. When God called the roll and said, “Earth,” Satan answered, “Here.” He had taken dominion of the world when Adam and Eve sinned. “And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Job 1:7, 8.

“Have you considered My servant Job?” God asked. “He is down there walking around in your kingdom, in your territory, but he is not one of your subjects. He is one of Mine. You do not have any authority in his heart; he is surrendered to Me.” This is the way you and I are to be. Job was a branch office of the kingdom of heaven.

Working Together

When God shows you something in your life that needs to be corrected, do not argue with Him. Do not rebel against Him. Do not ignore Him. Do not start using your willpower or using your human strength. Give Him your will. Surrender it to Him, so He can change it. After you have surrendered, then use it. That is when you make an effort, and God supplies His power, and right where the two come together is a point of victory—His power and your effort combined. You need to surrender your will and learn to cooperate with Him. You need to learn how to work with Him.

Matthew 24:14 says, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The good news is that you can be loyal and faithful to God, just as was Job. The good news of the kingdom is the kingdom of God within you, where Christ has complete and total control and authority. This needs to be preached in all the world, so people can decide in which kingdom they want to be.

If it is your desire to be part of God’s kingdom and quit trying to stand with one foot in Satan’s kingdom and the other foot in God’s kingdom, ask Him to help you to surrender your will totally and completely to Him today.

Knowing the Time, Part II

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In Part 1 of this article [February 2006], ten points were given which help us know that, without question, we are living in the last days of this world. We are not at the beginning of the time of the end; we are at the end of the time of the end.

As important as it is to know the time in the world—and that is important—it is even more important to know the time in the church. Do you know the time in the church? Well, if you do not, I hope you will start a study on this subject.

Time in the Church

Verse 1 of 11 Timothy 3 says: “This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come”; grievous, difficult times are going to come. Then several social problems are listed, such as children being disobedient to their parents, people being fierce and brutal, not loving their neighbor, loving money. It gives a whole list of social problems! Coming to the end of these social problems, verse 5 tells us what is going to go on in the Christian church in the last days. This is scary. It describes the people as, “having a form of godliness [having a form of piety, a form of religion] but denying its power.”

What is going to happen in the church in the last days? The people are going to be very religious. In the Midwest, monstrous churches are being erected like none ever before built. There are churches in Wichita, Kansas, that will hold over 4,000 people. They are like huge amphitheaters or auditoriums, so for people to see and hear the speaker from the back, five or six large screens are used with an enlarged projection of the speaker. Oh, let me tell you, friends, we have religion today. We have a form of religion, but the Bible says that people will deny the power of it.

Power of Godliness

Let me describe very briefly what it means to deny the power of religion, to deny the power of the gospel, to deny the power of godliness. When Jesus came to this world, He did not come just to die on a cross and pay the price for our sins. That was part of it, but that was not everything. Before Jesus ever died on the cross, He lived in this world for over 30 years as our example, to show us how to live. He said, “If you will follow Me, I will give you the power to become like Me.”

John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become the sons of God, even those who believe in His name.” And when He returns, it says in 1 John 3:2, we are going to be like Him. What is the power of godliness? The power of godliness is the power of God to take some wretch like me who has a sinful nature, a weak will, and a wicked mind and transform me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to make me—I say this reverently—like Jesus Christ. That is what the gospel is about.

Born of the Holy Spirit

If you have a form of religion and you go to church, pray, sing, read, shout, witness, and do all kinds of good things, but a transformation of character through the Holy Spirit never happens in your life, you will not be saved. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” John 3:5. He did not say that he should not; He said that he could not enter the kingdom of heaven. To enter, you must be born of the Holy Spirit, and when that happens, the Holy Spirit will work a miracle inside of you.

Ellen White says that it is through the Spirit that the heart is made pure. (The Desire of Ages, 671.) The Spirit has to work a change in you; otherwise you cannot go to heaven—even if you go to church. The power of God is the power to change your life so you do not think like the devil anymore, but you think like Jesus Christ. You do not feel like the devil; you feel like Jesus Christ. You no longer talk like the devil; you talk like Jesus Christ. You no longer act like the devil; you act like Jesus Christ, especially in your home. “A Christian in the home is a Christian everywhere.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1085.

Form of Godliness

But in the last days there is going to be a people who will have a form of godliness. They will have all the outward trophies of religion. They will go to church; they will pray; they will sing; they will witness; they will prophesy; they will talk in tongues; they will work miracles. In Matthew 7:21–23, you may read about these people who come to the Lord and say, “Lord, You made a mistake. I know I am saved, because I cast out devils in Your name, and I prophesied in Your name, and I worked many powerful miracles in Your name.” And then Jesus will say to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. You who break the law are not a loyal subject.”

Some people say that it is just too bad that it is this way, but they guess they will just have to endure it. Oh, no, it is not that way. Oh, no, that is not what the Bible says. We did not read the end of the text: “Having the form of godliness but denying the power of it, from these turn away.” 11 Timothy 3:5. This is where it gets tough. Paul says that in the last days there is going to be a people who have a form of godliness but they deny the power. Let me put it plainly: denying the power is the new theology that tells us that we cannot overcome sin. That is denying the power.

Turn Away

When new theology is being preached, is Paul telling us to just stay in there and do the best we can, because we are living in the last days? What does he say? He says to turn away. Do you get the thrust of that? I know people all over—I have friends—who are trying to stay in there. I heard of one person who said that if it gets too bad while the Sabbath School lesson is being taught, just go into the bathroom and read the Bible and The Great Controversy. Is that what Paul is telling us to do? Go into the bathroom and read your Bible while all this racket is going on? Paul said to turn away! Are you going to do it?

I have friends who tend to think that I am a fanatic. They have decided that they are not going to turn away; they are going to stay in there and fight to clean things up. But let me tell you what happens after they stay in this situation a few years. Instead of getting it cleaned up, they become spiritually anesthetized, until they do not even see that there is a problem in the church anymore. I have seen it happen repeatedly. Do not say that you will be strong; you can resist it; you will be all right; you are going to be a light. That is not what the Bible says to do.

You are a human being, and when God tells you to turn away from something, if you want to be saved, you better turn away. If you do not, you will become like that with which you associate. Do not ever forget that.

Why was the Seventh-day Adventist Church raised up in the first place? Why did we not just stay with the Baptists and the Methodists and the other Christian churches? Why? Because they rejected the truth of the Three Angels’ Messages.

I am sorry to have to say this, but there are many Seventh-day Adventist preachers and many Seventh-day Adventist churches today that have rejected the Three Angels’ Messages. If you are in one of them, you better get out. From those people turn away—people who no longer believe in the investigative judgment; people who no longer know who Babylon is; people who no longer know who the beast or antichrist is. The Bible says that there will be people who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof; from these turn away.

Similar to Jews’ Experience

Number two. What is the time in the church? It is the last days. It is the time of the end. What is going to happen at the time of the end in the church? Read Selected Messages, Book 1, 406. Ellen White said that God told her this over and over again. If God told Ellen White something over and over again, do you suppose that it may have some rather unusual importance?

What did He tell her over and over again? He told her that our experience in the second advent movement, just before the second coming of Christ, would be very similar to the experience of the Jews just before the first coming of Christ. That is not just a prophecy anymore; it is happening right around us.

Immodest Dress

Number three. This is a point I would encourage you to study more on your own. Isaiah 2 begins a prophecy about the last days, which continues in chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 3:16–26, it indicates that there is going to be immodest and prideful dress among the daughters of Zion in the last days.

I do not want any woman to think I am trying to point a finger at her, because I am not. I am not trying to say that women are any worse sinners than men. Men have their own problems, and women have their own problems. Let me explain what the men’s problem is; then I will explain what the women’s problem is.

A man’s problem is that he has a moral responsibility to guard his eyes. Men have a natural tendency to look at women, and the fewer clothes the women have on, the more the men tend to look. Jesus warned against that. In Job 31:1, Job said, “I cut a covenant; I made a covenant with my eyes. Why should I look intently upon a virgin?” He said, “ I will not do it.” Men have to guard their eyes. That is a man’s problem. A man has a moral responsibility to God to say, “Lord, help me to be careful as to what I am looking at, and what I am thinking about when I am looking at it.”

A woman has an opposite problem. Just as men are tempted to look at women, women are tempted to encourage men to look at them. Oh, my dear sister, do you realize that by immodest clothing, by the kind of clothing described in Isaiah 3, you can help to take some men to hell? Read Matthew 5:27–30. It was in regard to this problem that Jesus told men that it would be better to pluck out their eye or cut off their hand to get rid of it, to get away. If you are a woman and some man goes to hell as the result of looking at you, do you not think that the Lord is going to tell you about it in the Day of Judgment?

Number four. In Isaiah 8:12, we read, “Say not a confederacy or a conspiracy to all those who say a confederacy or a conspiracy. Do not fear their fear.” This is something that is happening in Adventism today and has been happening for over 20 years.

Wake Up

Number five. In Matthew 25—the story of the ten virgins—we see that the church in the last days is asleep. Have you ever gone into your closet or wherever you do your private praying and said, “Lord, please have mercy on me and wake me up”? Paul said, in Romans 13:11, that it is the hour to wake out of sleep. It is time to wake up. Ask the Lord to please wake you up, to send the Holy Spirit to help you hear that still, small voice. Do you realize that probation is going to close, and Jesus is going to come, and some Seventh-day Adventists are not going to wake up until it is too late? In Early Writings, 71, Mrs. White describes it exactly. When the plagues begin to fall, then they wake up, but it is too late to wake up then.

Number six. What has happened in Adventism while we have been asleep? In Matthew 13, Jesus told us what would happen while we were asleep. He said that while men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. There have been so many tares sown in Adventism that unless the Lord works a miracle the tares will choke out the wheat crop. (See Review and Herald, October 3, 1899.)

That is one of the reasons that there are independent Seventh-day Adventist churches today, because Ellen White says very clearly that it is possible for the tares to choke out the wheat, so there is no crop.

Yielded Leaders

Now we come to one of the most important points of all. Do you believe that we are in the last years of this earth’s history? Following is one of the most startling prophecies ever written by the pen of Ellen White about what is going to happen in Adventism in the last years of earth’s history. It was written during the time of the alpha of apostasy. “In His Word the Lord declared what He would do for Israel if they would obey His voice.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, 379. What did God promise to do for them, if they would obey His voice? He said, “You would be the head and not the tail”; “I will bless you, I will bless the fruit of your womb, I will bless your cattle, I will bless your crops, I will bless your children, I will bless your land.” Deuteronomy 28:13; 7:13.

In fact, if they had followed the Lord fully, they would not even have had to chase the Canaanites out of Canaan. The Lord told them that He was willing to send hornets after them; they would not even have to do it. (Exodus 23:28.) Read the blessings that were promised to the children of Israel, if they would have obeyed; it makes your mouth water! We wonder, with promises such as this, how anybody could not pay attention! But here is what happened.

“But the leaders of the people yielded to the temptations of Satan, and God could not give them the blessings He designed them to have, because they did not obey His voice but listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer.” Ibid. Who yielded? The leaders of the people! God could not give Israel the blessings He desired, because they listened to Satan’s temptations. They did not obey God; they listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer.

That is the easy part to read. Now we will read something that is absolutely scalding hot. “This experience [the experience of the leaders leading the people astray, listening to the voice and policy of Lucifer, and not obeying the Lord] will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God, who have been established by His grace and power.” Ibid. Who are the people of God who have been established by His grace and power in the last days? They are the Seventh-day Adventists. God could not do for ancient Israel what He wanted to do, because the leaders listened to the temptations of Satan; they did not obey God. They obeyed the voice and policy of Lucifer. Mrs. White says that the same thing is going to happen at the end, in the last days.

Sanctify Lucifer

If we are now in the last days, what do you think is happening right now? The leaders of God’s people have succumbed to the temptations of Satan. They are not obedient; they are not following Bible order. They have listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer, and then somebody says that we have to stay with this! This is God’s church? Wait a minute! Are the synagogue of Satan and God’s church the same thing? She says, “Men whom He has greatly honored will in the closing scenes of this earth’s history pattern after ancient Israel.” Ibid.

Jesus and Lucifer do not work in partnership. Do not ever get that wrong. Again, Jesus and Lucifer do not work in partnership. A few years ago we received a phone call from a clergyman who was quite irate. I am not saying that the people in our church did not make a mistake, because they went to his church’s parking lot while the congregation was meeting and put literature on the windshields of the cars parked there. That was not wise, because it was private property. The clergyman was quite irate because of this literature. (This clergyman was a clergyman in Babylon.) This literature told the evils of Halloween. Halloween is a holiday that has its origin in Druid and Satan worship. Halloween is all right today, he told us, because (concerning his church) we sanctified it.

Can you sanctify what Lucifer does? Friends, Seventh-day Adventists think like this today. They think that we, because we are Seventh-day Adventists, can sanctify something, and it is all right, even if it is the voice and policy of Lucifer.

Ellen White said that these leaders of ancient times listened to the voice and policy of Lucifer, and it is going to happen in the last years—and it is happening. It has been happening for several years already.

How to Relate

How do you relate to this? Some people get angry. There are a lot of angry Seventh-day Adventists today, because of the wickedness and evil going on in Adventism. There are some people who are just absolutely, white-hot angry. They are like the zealots in the time of Christ. They were angry too. They were ready to start a revolt and drive out the Romans. One of those zealots was one of Jesus’ disciples.

But then there are other people who say that we are to just stay in there no matter what the church or its leaders do, because it is the true church, and we will lose our souls if we leave it. In 11 Timothy 3:5, we have already studied that Paul said, in such a situation, we better turn away. We need to investigate the question, and then we need to understand the answer to that question.

Ellen White was shown that just as it was before the first coming of Christ, it would be before the Second Coming of Christ. It is one of the greatest signs that we are right at the end.

What about You?

How are you going to come out of all this? Friends, Jesus is coming soon. Ellen White saw that few Adventists would be saved. (Testimonies, vol. 1, 608, 609.) I am sorry that few people are going to be saved in the world, and I am sorry that few people are going to be saved in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I have said that I wish the whole city of Wichita, Kansas, would be saved, but it will not be. I can preach, but then the people have to decide. I wish the whole Seventh-day Adventist Church would be saved, but it will not be. You, however, can make a decision as to whether or not you are going to be saved.

I have often thought about Noah and his family in the ark. When the rain was falling, do you suppose any of them said, “There are so few of us in here; I wish I were out there with the others”? The people were drowning out there! Even though there were only a few in the ark, they were glad they were in it. I want to tell you something, friends. The few people who stay with the Three Angels’ Messages will triumph with it. Do you want to be part of that group?

I am sad. I am not happy reporting to you from the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible about what is happening. I do not like to see people lose their souls. I am not happy about that, but I cannot help it. I tell them, and they will not listen. They say that I am a fanatic. Is anybody listening? Is anybody willing to live by the Word of God? Is anybody willing to say, Yes, I will still believe, and I will still spread the Three Angels’ Messages?

The Three Angels’ Messages will triumph. They are infallible. If you stay with them, you will triumph also. I have decided that this is where I want to stay. I am not going to attend a church where the Three Angels’ Messages are not preached, no matter what name is on the front of the building. It is the Three Angels’ Messages that are going to triumph, not a name.

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Part II

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As long as we are in this world we must be linked with one another. Humanity is interlaced and interwoven with humanity. As Christians we are members one of another. The Lord has made us thus, and when disappointments come, we are not to think the worse of one another. We are individual members of the general body. In helplessness and disappointment we are fighting the battles of life, and the Lord designs us, as His sons and daughters, whom He calls His friends, to help one another. This is to be a part of our practical Christian work.” The Signs of the Times, February 7, 1900.

How is this unity (oneness) to be brought about?

“The prayer of Christ to His Father, contained in the seventeenth chapter of John, is to be our church creed. It shows us that our difference and disunion are dishonoring to God. . . .” Lift Him Up, 296.

Unity in Diversity

“[John 17:20, 21 quoted.] What kind of unity is spoken of in these words?—Unity in diversity. Our minds do not all run in the same channel, and we have not all been given the same work. God has given to every man his work according to his several ability. There are different kinds of work to be done, and workers of varied capabilities are needed. If our hearts are humble, if we have learned in the school of Christ to be meek and lowly, we may all press together in the narrow path marked out for us (MS 52, 1904). . . .

“[John 17:20-23 quoted.] What a wonderful statement! The unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality of either. In mind, in purpose, in character, they are one, but not in person. By partaking of the Spirit of God, conforming to the law of God, man becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ brings His disciples into a living union with Himself and with the Father. Through the working of the Holy Spirit upon the human mind, man is made complete in Christ Jesus. Unity with Christ establishes a bond of unity with one another. This unity is the most convincing proof to the world of the majesty and virtue of Christ, and of His power to take away sin (MS 111, 1903).” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1148.

What is it that establishes a bond of unity with one another? Unity with Christ. How do we have this unity with Christ? “By partaking of the Spirit of God, conforming to the law of God, man becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ brings His disciples into a living union with Himself and with the Father. Through the working of the Holy Spirit upon the human mind, man is made complete in Christ Jesus.” Ibid.

Love and Unity Connection

The following quotes show how love and unity are connected. Love is a key ingredient to having unity in the church.

“Little differences dwelt upon lead to actions that destroy Christian fellowship. Let us not allow the enemy thus to gain the advantage over us. Let us keep drawing nearer to God and to one another. . . . The heart of the Saviour is set upon His followers’ fulfilling God’s purpose in all its height and depth. They are to be one in Him, even though they are scattered the world over. . . . When Christ’s prayer is fully believed, . . . unity of action will be seen in our ranks. Brother will be bound to brother by the golden bonds of the love of Christ. The Spirit of God alone can bring about this oneness. He who sanctified Himself can sanctify His disciples. United with Him, they will be united with one another in the most holy faith.” God’s Amazing Grace, 210.

“God is the embodiment of benevolence, mercy, and love. Those who are truly connected with Him cannot be at variance with one another. His Spirit ruling in the heart will create harmony, love, and unity. The opposite of this is seen among the children of Satan. It is his work to stir up envy, strife, and jealousy. In the name of my Master I ask the professed followers of Christ: What fruit do you bear?” Testimonies, vol. 5, 28.

“Selfishness and pride hinder the pure love that unites us in spirit with Jesus Christ. If this love is truly cultivated, finite will blend with finite, and all will center in the Infinite. Humanity will unite with humanity, and all will be bound up with the heart of Infinite Love. Sanctified love for one another is sacred. In this great work Christian love for one another—far higher, more constant, more courteous, more unselfish, than has been seen—preserves Christian tenderness, Christian benevolence, and politeness, and enfolds the human brotherhood in the embrace of God, acknowledging the dignity with which God has invested the rights of man. This dignity Christians must ever cultivate for the honor and glory of God.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1140, 1141.

Christlike Forbearance

“Nothing can perfect a perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance. Satan can sow discord; Christ alone can harmonize the disagreeing elements. . . . When you as individual workers of the church love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself, then there will be no labored efforts to be in unity, there will be oneness in Christ, the ears to report will be closed, and no one will take up a reproach against his neighbor. The members of the church will cherish love and unity and be as one great family. Then we shall bear the credentials to the world that will testify that God has sent His Son into the world. Christ has said, ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.’ [John 13:35.]” Reflecting Christ, 200.

“True sanctification unites believers to Christ and to one another in the bonds of tender sympathy. This union causes to flow continually into the heart rich currents of Christlike love, which flows forth again in love for one another.

“The qualities which it is essential for all to possess are those which marked the completeness of Christ’s character—His love, His patience, His unselfishness, and His goodness. These attributes are gained by doing kindly actions with a kindly heart.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1141.

Perfect Oneness

“Our great need is unity, perfect oneness in God’s work.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 300.

“ ‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’ John 17:21.

“Let these words be oft repeated and let every soul train his ideas and spirit and action daily that he may fulfill this prayer of Jesus Christ. He does not request impossible things of His Father. He prays for the very things which must be in His disciples in relation to their oneness to each other and their unity and oneness with God and Jesus Christ. Anything short of this is not attaining to perfection of Christian character. The golden chain of love, binding the hearts of the believers in unity, in bonds of fellowship and love, and in oneness with Christ and the Father, makes the connection perfect, and bears to the world a testimony of the power of Christianity that cannot be controverted.” That I May Know Him, 173.

Cease Criticism

“I am determined to keep before the people the fact that we must have unity. We must cease all criticism. We must urge that the great peculiarity distinguishing Christians from all others, is the union that exists between them and the Lord Jesus Christ, by constant exercise of the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. This union, oneness with Christ, leads to unity with and love toward one another. Christians delight to honor God by obeying all His commandments. Bound together in love with Christ, they have love toward one another.” The Voice in Speech and Song, 347.

The “How” of Unity

So how do we gain this unity? “Strive earnestly for unity. Pray for it, work for it. It will bring spiritual health, elevation of thought, nobility of character, heavenly-mindedness, enabling you to overcome selfishness and evil surmisings, and to be more than conquerors through Him that loved you and gave Himself for you. Crucify self; esteem others better than yourselves. Thus you will be brought into oneness with Christ. Before the heavenly universe, and before the church and the world, you will bear unmistakable evidence that you are God’s sons and daughters. God will be glorified in the example that you set.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 188.

“Look at the cross of Calvary. It is a standing pledge of the boundless love, the measureless mercy, of the heavenly Father. O that all might repent and do their first works. When the churches do this, they will love God supremely and their neighbors as themselves. Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not vex Ephraim. Divisions will then be healed, the harsh sounds of strife will no more be heard in the borders of Israel. Through the grace freely given them of God, all will seek to answer the prayer of Christ, that His disciples should be one, even as He and the Father are one. Peace, love, mercy, and benevolence will be the abiding principles of the soul. The love of Christ will be the theme of every tongue, and it will no more be said by the True Witness, ‘I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love’ (Revelation 2:4). The people of God will be abiding in Christ, the love of Jesus will be revealed, and one Spirit will animate all hearts, regenerating and renewing all in the image of Christ, fashioning all hearts alike. As living branches of the True Vine, all will be united to Christ, the living head. Christ will abide in every heart, guiding, coz`mforting, sanctifying, and presenting to the world the unity of the followers of Jesus, thus bearing testimony that the heavenly credentials are supplied to the remnant church. In the oneness of Christ’s church it will be proved that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 385.

Experiencing the Cross

How are we to gain this oneness with Christ? By crucifying self, which involves a cross. I call it experiencing the cross. Look at how we can experience the cross.

Let us first look at the example of the experience of the disciples and the cross. Before Jesus was crucified, the disciples were frequently engaged in disputing about who would be the greatest. For example, in Mark 9:33, 34, we read, “Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, ‘What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?’ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who [would be the] greatest.” The disciples definitely had some strife as to who would be the greatest.

In the Book of Proverbs, the Bible tells us some things that cause strife. “A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.” Proverbs 16:28. “Where [there is] no wood, the fire goes out; And where [there is] no talebearer, strife ceases.” Proverbs 26:20. “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.” Proverbs 28:25.

But then we see that in the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 1, it says: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Something had happened with the disciples! They had become unified and were no longer having strife as to who would be the greatest. What happened to the disciples that changed them so? I believe it was experiencing the cross.

A Thoughtful Hour

When we start looking at the cross, we see nothing but the greatest love and selflessness manifested. There was nothing selfish about the cross. It is not something a selfish person would do—give your life for a bunch of rebels. We see there the greatest love manifested—a love that completely melts selfishness. To think that Someone would give His life so we could have life for eternity is just mind boggling. To think that anyone would love us that much! It is amazing! He not only gave His life, but He suffered agony, rejection, separation from His Father, and pain—for you and for me. How can we not be drawn to One with a love like that? This is part of the reason we are counseled to spend a thoughtful hour every day studying the life of Christ, and especially the closing scenes.

“It would be well to spend a thoughtful hour each day reviewing the life of Christ from the manger to Calvary. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination vividly grasp each scene, especially the closing ones of his earthly life. By thus contemplating his teachings and sufferings, and the infinite sacrifice made by him for the redemption of the race, we may strengthen our faith, quicken our love, and become more deeply imbued with the spirit which sustained our Saviour. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and faith at the foot of the cross. . . . Everything noble and generous in man will respond to the contemplation of Christ upon the cross.” Gospel Workers (1892), 246.

Crowning Act

“ ‘As I have loved you.’ [John 13:34.] The crowning act in the sacrifice of love was yet to come. Soon, in the scenes of the Saviour’s betrayal, trial, and crucifixion the disciples were to see the measure of his love. They were to see him hanging on the cross in dying agony, bearing the sins of the world. In this, and in his resurrection and ascension, they were to see a love so broad and deep that all doubt as to the meaning of the new commandment would be swept away. The knowledge of the Saviour’s matchless love for them was to bind them heart to heart, preparing the way for the Lord to anoint them with his Spirit. United by this love, they were to go forth to witness with convincing power to the divinity of their Leader. And their Christlike love for one another was to be the sign of their discipleship.

“How much of this love have we shown for one another? Might we not better begin without delay to love one another as Christ has loved us? Would we not then be a power for good in the world? ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.’ [John 13:35.]” Review and Herald, July 21, 1903.

“The disciples never realized Christ’s love for fallen man until they saw it expressed on the cross of Calvary, until He rose from the dead and proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ [John 11:25.] Lessons have been given in regard to this love which are just as new to us, as far as practice is concerned, as they were to the disciples before the death and resurrection of our Lord. When these lessons are brought into the practical life, when God’s people love one another as He requires them to do, there will be an entire change in the experience of the churches.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 109, 110.

“When the attention is fastened on the cross of Christ, the whole being is ennobled. The knowledge of the Saviour’s love subdues the soul, and lifts the mind above the things of time and sense. Let us learn to estimate all temporal things in the light that shines from the cross. Let us strive to fathom the depths of humiliation to which our Saviour descended in order to make man the possessor of eternal riches. As we study the plan of redemption, the heart will feel the throb of the Saviour’s love, and will be ravished by the charms of His character.

“It is the love of Christ that makes our heaven. But when we seek to tell of this love, language fails us. We think of His life on earth, of His sacrifice for us; we think of His work in heaven as our advocate, of the mansions He is preparing for those who love Him; and we can but exclaim, ‘O the heights and depths of the love of Christ!’ As we linger beneath the cross, we gain a faint conception of the love of God, and we say, ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ [1 John 4:10.] But in our contemplation of Christ, we are only lingering round the edge of a love that is measureless. His love is like a vast ocean, without bottom or shore.” Lift Him Up, 248.

“In all true disciples this love, like sacred fire, burns on the altar of the heart. It was on the earth that the love of God was revealed through Jesus. It is on the earth that his children are to let this love shine out through blameless lives. Thus sinners will be led to the cross, to behold the Lamb of God.” Review and Herald, May 6, 1902.

By Beholding

Have you experienced the cross and seen Christ’s love for you? As we look at His life, at His love, it is going to change us. By beholding, we are changed; we are going to become like Him. (11 Corinthians 3:18.) This is part of the way we can gain the experience that is talked about in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 of having love for one another and working in unity as a body. When we truly have this love, we will place others before ourselves, which involves crucifying self and letting Christ be enthroned within.

“By beholding Christ, you will become changed, until you will hate your former pride, your former vanity and self-esteem, your self-righteousness and unbelief. You will cast these sins aside as a worthless burden, and walk humbly, meekly, trustfully, before God. You will practice love, patience, gentleness, goodness, mercy, and every grace that dwells in the child of God, and will at last find a place among the sanctified and holy.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 388.

“He [Christ] became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Shall we feel it a hardship to deny ourselves? Shall we draw back from being partakers of his sufferings? His death ought to stir every fiber of the being, making us willing to consecrate to his work all that we have and are. As we think of what he has done for us, our hearts should be filled with love.” Review and Herald, December 1, 1910.

“To love as Christ loved means to manifest unselfishness at all times and in all places, by kind words and pleasant looks. These cost those who give them nothing, but they leave behind a fragrance that surrounds the soul. Their effect can never be estimated. Not only are they a blessing to the receiver, but to the giver; for they react upon him. Genuine love is a precious attribute of heavenly origin, which increases in fragrance in proportion as it is dispensed to others.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1140.

Foretaste of Heaven

1 Corinthians 12 and 13 tie together quite well. Chapter 12 tells us about the unity of the body, how each part has its job and works with the great whole. In chapter 13, we learn what love really is. If we truly have this love, it will enable us to have the unity, spoken of in chapter 12, with our fellow brothers and sisters. To learn what a person with this love is like, we must look at the life of Christ, especially at the cross, because it is the greatest display of love. Let us each keep pushing on to know Christ and not neglect the time with Him every day, so we can gain the experience of the cross, and possess this love and unity.

“Please read the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of 1 Corinthians. ‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.’ [1 Corinthians 13:13.] Let us wash our robe of character. Let us no longer bite and devour one another. Let those who claim to be Christians practise [sic] Christ’s words. ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men. . . . Let all your things be done with charity.’ [1 Corinthians 16:13, 14.]” Review and Herald, October 17, 1899.

It would be a foretaste of heaven to belong to a church that had these characteristics. If it is going to happen, it has to start somewhere. I want to start. How about you?

Jana Grosboll, an Electrical Engineering graduate student, serves Steps to Life as its Network Administrator. She may be contacted by e-mail at: janagrosboll@stepstolife.org.