Salvation

Born Loser: Woman at the Well

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I want to share some thoughts about a lady who I call “the born loser,” and I want to introduce the subject by pointing out that Jesus sometimes did not give the same answer to what was essentially the same question. We are going to look at three situations in which three different persons asked Him the same question, “Who are you?” and He gave a different answer to each one; which is interesting to think about, is it not?

The first one is where Jesus has been brought to trial for His life. Before Pilate really wanted to be out of bed, they have come clamoring to have him condemn Jesus. Pilate is not in a good mood. He is not interested in what is going on except that there is a certain routine that must be gone through. He asks Jesus an indifferent question and he gets an indifferent answer. “Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou sayest.’ ” Matthew 27:11. “Are you the King of the Jews? So what, let’s get it over with.” An indifferent question and an indifferent answer.

Pilate gradually becomes convicted by his conscience that Jesus was an innocent man. Pilot did not really want to be involved in condemning an innocent man. He seized upon an opportunity to pass the problem on to somebody else. He sent Jesus to Herod because He had learned that Jesus was from Galilee and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.” Luke 23:6–8. Herod, at first, was alarmed and thought it was John the Baptist whom he had beheaded coming back to life, but gradually that fear faded away. As Jesus comes before him he simply wants to satisfy his curiosity. “Then he [that is Herod] questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.” Verse 9. Jesus had only a few words for the governor Pilate, but He had no words at all for Herod. This is what I would call the idly curious question and the stony, stern answer.

Pilate asked his indifferent question and he got an indifferent answer. When the priests and elders began shouting their accusations, Jesus had not a single word for them. Neither had He a single word for Herod. All of which says a great deal about their condition, does it not?

Who Are You?

John, chapter 4, finds somebody else asking Jesus, “Who are you?” This is the woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus was resting. The disciples have gone into the village of Samaria to buy food. While Jesus is sitting at the well, the woman of Samaria comes to get water. He asks her for a drink which surprises her very greatly. A Jew would not do that because the Samaritans were an anathema to the Jews.

This deep animosity goes way back in history to the time when Solomon died and Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, took the kingdom. Finally Jeroboam took ten of the tribes to the North and rebelled against the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah in the South. Israel was in what we call, Samaria. A separate capital was set up for Samaria under the leadership of Israel. Israel’s kings, most of them, were very wicked kings. The tensions grew and the gulf widened. When the Babylonians came and took captives, there were a few people in Samaria who were not taken captive. These people left, gradually united their thinking, lives, and cultures with the pagans who lived around them. By the time the great captivity was over 70 years later, when Ezra and Nehemiah came back to rebuild the temple, these Samaritans were probably less than half Jewish in their religion and probably more than half pagan. They worshipped idols and other things forbidden by the law of God. They volunteered to help build the temple, but their idolatrous attitudes caused the Jews to refuse them that permission. So tension and bitterness between Jew and Samaritan remained through the ages. Beyond buying or selling, the Jews would have nothing to do with a Samaritan.

I Divorce Thee! , I Divorce Thee!,  I Divorce Thee!

The conversation that takes place between Jesus and this Samaritan woman is interesting and revealing. “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Go, call thy husband, and come hither.’ The woman answered and said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.’ ” John 4:16–18. Some have an idea that she was having a wonderful time flitting around gaily from husband to husband. I am afraid that is not very realistic. There was certainly nothing happy about this woman’s situation.

In that culture, in that time, in that place, what would cause five men to have enough feeling toward this woman to propose marriage to her, establish her as the queen of the home, and then change their mind and drive her away from the home? I think the reason would be because she had no children. That was an unforgivable fault in that culture, because a man’s lineage must be preserved, his name must be preserved, there must be children born. She was having a wretched time, a miserable time. She had been established as the queen of a home, the exalted position of a Hebrew wife, and then dethroned five times. I spoke on this subject once in a church and afterward a lady going out the door said, “You surprised me, Elder Larson. I thought she was a prostitute.” I said, “Well, I’m not an authority on the subject, but so far as I know, they don’t marry their customers. They just move on.” Five times she had to stand before the elders and listen to her husband pronounce those words of doom, “I divorce thee. I divorce thee. I divorce thee.” You say that three times and you are divorced.

What could she do? Go down to the dime store and get a job? There was no dime store. If there had been, they would not have hired a woman. Go down to some office in town and get a job in an office? There were no offices in town. And if there were, they would not hire a woman. Women did not get office jobs until the earliest part of the last century.

“I Want to Talk to You”

Now I am interested in the fact that Jesus, who has very little time for Pilate, the governor of the Jews, He who wasted not a single word on Herod, when this lady came along said, “Hey, come on, sit down, let’s talk. I want to talk to you.” He had plenty of time for her. Desire of Ages, 184, says, “The King of heaven came to this outcast soul.” And He did her a tremendous amount of good. He caused her life to turn completely around. She was, of course, living in sin. She was breaking the rules. Her sense of personhood was gone, her sense of self-worth was gone, she was just a piece of wasted, worthless, useless, human garbage, cast out on the garbage dump of humanity. And Jesus, King of heaven, who brushed Pilate off with a quick answer and who just scorned Herod, this same Jesus said to her, “Hey, let’s talk. I want to talk to you.” This was an altogether different experience for her.

Jesus Says to the Woman “I am He”

You may be wondering, did this woman ask Jesus who He was? Oh yes, look at John 4:25, 26; “The woman saith unto him, ‘I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus saith unto the woman, ‘I that speak unto thee am He.’ ” He took her words as a question. He answered her question. It was implied. Oriental courtesy is not too direct. Oriental people think that we are horribly discourteous and direct in the way that we speak to each other. They go carefully around in devious ways in what they say one to another. “Jesus saith unto her, ‘I that speak unto thee am He.’ ” In the Greek it is a linear verb, like a line, showing continuous action. “I that am continually speaking to thee am He.” So He had been speaking to her for a long time by the Holy Spirit. “I continually speak to thee.” When are you going to start listening to Me? That is when things are going to be different. I like the way Jesus handled this and the way He handles every case of human need.

I do not know how old she was; probably not too young, not too old. Men were still attracted to her. But in any case, she was so messed up, she was so worthless, she was so wasted, she was useless, and it did not matter what happened to her. People come to that situation in different ways.

God Heals Hearts

We held evangelistic meetings in the state of New Jersey way down on the coast at a little place called Cape May Court House. That was the name of the town. The only place we could find to hold our meetings was a firemen’s hall in which bingo games were held on other nights of the week than when we were there. Part of the arrangement was that when we left after our weekend services, we had to set the place back in order for the bingo games. I thought it was interesting to watch a Seventh-day Adventist pastor carefully going around and setting up a room for a bingo game. I had never seen that before.

We had quite an interest there, for a little town. One gentleman who came, we learned, was the city engineer. It took us a little while to get acquainted with him because he would leave during the closing song. So we went to his home and visited him. We found that he was very interested in what he was hearing. We learned also that some while before, less than a year before, he had found it necessary to go out to the front of his house and pick the body of his wife up from the street, where she had been hit and killed by a car. He said later, “Life was over for me. It was finished.” And he began to drink heavily. Different persons in town who knew him talked to us, hoping we could do something for him. He was just drinking himself to death.

The meetings made a difference. He came all the way through. He had decided that if these two ministers have come once, they will probably come again, so I better be prepared. He went downtown and bought two very expensive bottles of brandy to serve to us when we came again. When we explained that we did not use brandy, he was very surprised. He had been an engineer in the navy, and he said he had seen lots of chaplains drinking brandy in the navy. We had to explain that Adventists were kind of different on some of these things and he accepted that. I do not know what he did with the brandy, but he did not offer it to us anymore. His interest grew, and he identified himself with the message, and he began to say, “Hey, life is beginning all over for me again.” He was beginning to get a different look on his face.

Because of the exceptional interest that we had in this small town, we decided to extend the meetings one week longer than the normal length of the series. And to put in something special, we sent for Barbara Morton to come and sing for us every night. She came, and when we picked her up at the airport and listened to her talk, we learned that things were going a little bit hard for her. Her daughters had gone from home. She was alone, so she had put all of her furniture in storage, and she was just living in a station wagon, going from church to church to present concerts.

Empty People

For the first meeting she sang a beautiful series of songs. But our engineer did not show up. I went to see him the next day because I wanted to know what was wrong. It seemed that when he was a child he had been neighbor to the home where Madam Schumann Heink lived. She was a terrific opera singer of her time. Well, he listened to her practice and vocalize, and he did not appreciate lady singers at all after hearing Madam Schumann Heink practice. He thought that Barbara Morton was probably going to be something like Madam Schumann Heink, and he was not going to expose himself to that. We told him, “Well, you are making a mistake, man, you better come down and listen to her and see her.” So he did. The next night he was there and you should have seen what happened. This naval engineer went down like a mast in a high wind. They just took to each other automatically. Some things can happen really fast at times, and this week was one of those times.

We came to the last Sabbath. We had a baptism on Sabbath and a church dinner afterwards, honoring the newly baptized people. We got over to the school building where they were having the dinner set up, and everything was ready, but for some reason Barbara was not there. We looked around and our engineer was not there either. I finally went back from the dinner hall to the church and sure enough there were Barbara and Russell having a conversation about some subject. So I told them dinner was ready. She went to get her purse and as he walked out the door with me he said, “You know Ralph, that woman is lonely.” I said to myself, “Well, she’s lonely, huh?” I took a plate from another table and put it down by Barbara’s plate for Russell. You know that worked fine. She did not show any signs of loneliness through the whole dinner.

After dinner, it had been arranged that she would go to the old folks’ home in town and sing for the people there. Russell, our engineer, volunteered to take her to the old folks’ home, but in spite of the fact that he was the city engineer, he lost his way and could not find it and wound up down at the beach somehow. So they spent their whole afternoon at the beach and barely got back in time for the meeting that night. To make a long story short, they finally were united in marriage, and lived very happily as long as the Lord gave them life. They have both gone to their rest now.

God’s Delicate Work

Life can be just used up. Life can have no more future to it. Life can just appear like it is pointless, worthless, wasted, useless, and then it can start all over again. When? When we start listening to Jesus Christ. “When are you going to start listening to Me?” That is what He keeps saying over and over again. And that is the question we all need to take very seriously. I think most of us here, could tell a similar story. There are many times when we are in that condition. Everybody is an evidence of how God works with a single individual, bringing them through this life situation and that life situation, step by step, little by little, until finally that moment, when the decision is made, and life begins all over again.

The woman at the well was a born loser. But her life tells a marvelous story. Her life was hopelessly messed up. Then the woman met Jesus and her life began all over again. She was changed into something wonderful and new. Do not turn away from these outcasts with misunderstanding; do not turn away from them because you do not think there is much there. There is a lot there. This story tells of the Lord Jesus Christ as One who moves very close, doing exquisitely delicate work as He deals with human hearts. Bringing us to the place where we recognize that we can have a wonderful, wonderful life in Him.

The End

Lost in Eden, part 1

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“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13. If you are trying to find someone, the reason is obvious, you have become separated from someone. Do you understand what is involved in the statement, separated from God? When Adam sinned we know that by this act he lost his connection from God. But a plan of salvation was developed whereby, through the atonement of Christ, Adam and Eve could be reunited once more with their Creator.

“And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” Colossians 1:21. Notice the word “alienated.” That means separated. And then it says, “enemies.” Where? In your mind. In Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2, 396, it tells us that the mind is that which instigates sin. “The mind controls the whole man.” The mind is that which either connects or separates from God, for man is controlled by his mind. The term “separated from God’ refers to a man with a carnal mind who has not been born again of the Holy Spirit and is therefore separated from the spiritual life of God.

Man at Creation

Man was originally created in a state of purity. From the book Healthful Living, 9, Ellen White says, “We are God’s workmanship…a temple which the Lord Himself has fitted up for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.” Adam and Eve in Eden were partakers of the divine nature. They were connected with God constantly. But as the consequences of sin in Eden, they lost their intimate connection or their union with God. They lost the robe of light which had previously surrounded them. The nakedness of their bodies now vividly illustrated the present nakedness of their souls, for they were separated from divine nature which they had lost.

Restoration of man to his original condition at creation is the very essence of the gospel. Peter speaks of this in 2 Peter 1:2-4. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Original Sin

Historic Seventh-day Adventists do not accept the original sin doctrine developed by St. Augustine. But we feel 100% safe in following the scripture in which the term “separated” represents the loss of man’s connection with God, through sin, for which Christ offers a remedy. How beautiful to understand that when we refer to man being separated from God, or of a baby having been born separated from God, we do not infer that such a one is cut off from the nearness of God, for there is a plan of salvation in operation.

God watches over the formation of an individual in the womb. He forms every cell. Every heartbeat is created by Him. God furnishes the power for every breath. Every hair of the head is numbered. Angels are sent to watch and protect the little one. When this child becomes an adult and still remains in a state of separation, God is ever near. He constantly sends the Spirit to speak to the mind. He entreats with the invitation, “Come,” producing conviction, repentance, surrender and a spiritual life through the Word. Providence thus ministers and teaches us of the way to God.

Separated from God

The sinner is constantly being led into a response. The person who is in a state of separation is not connected with God; he is lost just as Adam was lost in Eden. Until man closes his probation by persistence to the truth, Christ remains near. So near, we are told that He stands at the heart’s door knocking, calling us to open the door that He may come in. If the sinner responds by refusal to open the door, he remains in a lost condition, separated from God.

Let us consider Adam at his creation. The Spirit of Prophecy in the Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 926, states, “God created him connected with the Father and the Son.” “From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator.” Desire of Ages, 161

It was through the indwelling of the Creator that Adam and Eve were partakers of God’s divine nature. The law of God “was written upon their hearts.” This is identical to that which is promised in the new covenant experience. Notice the following statements closely. “Adam and Eve at their creation had knowledge of the original law of God. It was imprinted upon their hearts.” Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1084. “In the beginning, man was created in the image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the nature and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were written upon his heart.” Great Controversy, 467. “When Adam and Eve were created and placed in their Eden home, they had knowledge of the law that was to govern them. Its precepts were imprinted on their hearts by Jehovah Himself and they were acquainted with its claims upon them.” Signs of the Times, April, 22, 1886. Perhaps this can be summed up in this beautiful statement in Selected Messages, vol. 3, 133, “All was a sinless transcript of Himself.”

The Power Source

It is good for us to remember that regardless of the purity of Adam and Eve at their creation, in themselves they possessed no inherent spiritual power as an inseparable part of themselves. Signs of the Times, May 31, 1896, says, “God created him that every faculty might be the faculty of His divine mind.”

With such a purpose, God gave man the power of choice. Man could choose to remain united to the source of power, his Creator, permitting God to continually guide his mind, or he could separate himself from His indwelling presence and power. Sadly, Adam and Eve chose separation. When man disregards the divine Spirit, his mind comes under the control of the spirit of Satan. This is how they became lost in Eden.

What did Adam really lose in the fall? “Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the Divine One.” Desire of Ages, 161. “Sin brought separation between man and his Maker.” Ministry of Healing, 419. “By sin we have been severed from the life of God.” Desire of Ages, 203

We have no idea of the sorrow that filled heaven when man yielded to temptation. Ellen White stated, “When man sinned all heaven was filled with sorrow; for through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, for through sin, man became carnal and the carnal heart is enmity against God, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893

Adam and Eve unplugged themselves from the source of power; just as you unplug the lamp and the light goes out. So, “The light, the garments of heavenly innocence, departed from these tried, deceived souls, and in parting with the garments of innocence, they drew about them the dark robes of ignorance of God.” Upward Look, 198. What a picture this portrays! “So by sin, man lost his connection with God. Of himself he has no means of salvation.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 165. He was in Eden, but he was lost.

The result of their separation also brought the impossibility of sinless living without God dwelling within them. The result of separation in our lives makes it impossible for us to live sinless lives without an indwelling God. “It was not possible for man out of Eden, separated from the light and the love of God since the fall, to resist the temptations of Satan in his own strength.” Redemption, 44. So the picture is clear.

What Man Lost

Permit me to extract the key phrases from quotations presented. These are direct quotes concerning what happened when Adam fell. Notice, he lost his “connection with God,” he lost his “open communion with his Maker,” he lost his source of divine power to resist Satan,” he lost his beautiful garment of light and love,” he became an “enemy of God,” “a partaker of satanic nature,” his mind became “carnal”; a mind that could not obey the divine law. The law of God was no longer “imprinted upon his heart.” His very nature became “evil.” He drew about him the “dark robes of ignorance of God.” He ceased to be “the temple of God” for “Satan controlled his mind.” Thus fallen man was in a state of continual opposition to the mighty God.

Ellen White tried to impress it upon us, that it is impossible to go to heaven without being connected with God. We hear from the pulpits today that we may sin until Jesus comes and then go to heaven. That is a lie! There must be a connection of the divine power with our life which will give us victory or we shall never see His face. “Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God.” Testimonies to Ministers, 79. At creation man was not made so that he could not be separated from God. If this had been so, he could never have fallen. He would have been a mere automaton. Jesus would have failed as a man if He had not pleaded with God every single day for power.

A Daily Decision

In Acts of the Apostles, 55, it says, “Those only who are constantly receiving fresh supplies of grace, will have power proportionate to their daily need and their ability to use that power.” “Satan charmed the first Adam by his sophistry just as he charms men and women today by leading them to believe a lie. Adam did not reach above his humanity for divine power. He believed the words of Satan.” Signs of the Times, December 3, 1902. They became lost in Eden.

How important it is for you and me to be daily seeking a fresh supply of God’s grace. We may know all the truth. We may be members of God’s true family, but without this personal connection with God, we will never have victory over Satan. Adam and Eve were lost in Eden and we can be in God’s church today and we too, can be lost. We must experience a complete victory over sin to be sealed before Jesus’ second coming. Join me in a deeper daily commitment to God. What does the scripture say? “Ask and ye shall receive.” “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” As Jesus attained daily victory over Satan in His personal connection with God, so we may also experience the same in our lives.

The End

Who Shall Enter the Pearly Gates?

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In the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:14, Jesus makes the statement, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” I was thinking of that and a quote came to my mind from Ellen G. White where she said over a hundred years ago, that if Jesus was to return today, not one in twenty would be ready to meet their Lord. That means 100 are called, but not even five of 100, are chosen. It almost sounds like this is kind of unfair, but is God unfair or unjust? No! What is the reason that so many are invited and only a few are finally selected? God is the one who is sending out the invitation and He is the One who makes the decision as to who shall enter the pearly gates.

I first want to ask the question, what kind of God do we serve? Is He merciful? Is He long-suffering? Is He kind? Is He just? Is He fair? In Acts 10:34, it says, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, ‘Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.’” God is not looking at my position; He is not looking at my profession; He is not looking at my good looks or bad looks; He is not looking at my wealth or lack of wealth; He is not looking at my status or worldly accomplishments; at my intelligence or church office. The next verse makes it a little clearer, “But in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” These are exactly the same qualifications of the same message which is preached in the First Angel’s message in Revelation 14:7. It says there, “Fear God, and give glory to him.”

What Is God Like

Moses wanted to know what God was like. Moses said, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” Exodus 33:18. Was that a good request? He wanted to know what God was like. We read in Exodus 34:5-7, “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.’” It is good to know that He is a God who is merciful. However, in the next verse it says, “That will by no means clear the guilty.” Even though He is merciful, long-suffering and kind, yet, He is also just.

In Micah 7:18 it says, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy.” He loves to do it. Should not we also delight in mercy? “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:3, 4. God wants everyone to be saved. He wants everyone to learn truth and to accept Him and to have salvation. This shows us His desires and what He is like.

God Wants You Eternally Saved

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. Again, God does not want anyone to be lost, rather He wants every single person to have salvation. That is why He sends the invitation to all.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. Over and over again the Bible tells us that the Lord wants every single person to be saved. He has this desire because He wants us to live with Him. One of the greatest truths is that God is merciful and gracious, and one proof is that you and I are still here today so that we can receive a message of invitation. God is merciful, He is still waiting, He is still pleading. He does not want us to be lost.

The Wedding Feast

In Matthew 22:1-14 we read a parable about a wedding feast. “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants [that was the first time] to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.” A king’s invitation is refused. “Again, [a second time] he sent forth other servants, saying, ‘Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.’ But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But saith he to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.’” Now comes the third call. “’Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.’ So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.’”

Why Will So Many People Refuse a Free Gift?

If the Lord called so many people and sent out all the invitations, what is the reason that only a few are responding? “The Word of God plainly tells us that few will be saved, and that the greater number of those, even, who are called will prove themselves unworthy of everlasting life. They will have no part in heaven, but will have their portion with Satan, and experience the second death.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 2, 293, 294

In Testimonies to the Church, vol. 5, 50, it says, “Many hear the invitation of mercy, are tested and proved; but few are sealed with the seal of the living God. Few will humble themselves as a little child, that they may enter the kingdom of heaven.” Pride makes it difficult to humble ourselves. The reason it is so difficult is because of self. Self is not dead, and it must be crucified.

Make Your Calling and Election Sure

“Probationary time is granted us, opportunities and privileges are given us to make our calling and election sure.” Review and Herald, November 22, 1898. We need to feed upon Jesus. We need to look beyond like Abraham. He looked at the city whose builder was God.

In Psalm 90:12 it says, “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” When you realize that everything you have here is only for a short time, you start thinking about things which are eternal. Review and Herald, May 8, 1900, says, “’Many are called, but few are chosen.’ This is a true statement of the final outcome. Man is very dear to the heart of God, and all are invited to this feast. But many come not having on the wedding garment. They do not accept Christ’s righteousness. They have not repented and made peace with God. They have not received his free gift.” Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:20, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

True or Artificial Righteousness?

The Pharisees had righteousness, but what kind of righteousness did they have? “The rabbis counted their righteousness a passport to heaven, but Jesus declared it to be insufficient and unworthy. External ceremonies and a theoretical knowledge of truth constituted Pharisaical righteousness. While they were punctilious in ritual observances, their lives were immoral and debased. Their so-called righteousness could never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Desire of Ages, 309

“The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness.” Desire of Ages, 309. Many today believe this, but it is not true. Jesus says it is unacceptable. “Men may profess faith in the truth; but if it does not make them sincere, kind, patient, forbearing, heavenly-minded, it is a curse to its possessors and through their influence it is a curse to the world.” Desire of Ages, 310

“’Many are called,’ Christ said, ‘But few are chosen.’ If we would remember that we are on test and trial before the heavenly universe, that God is proving us to see what spirit we are, there would be more serious contemplation, more earnest prayer.” Signs of the Times, August 9, 1899. We are living in the day of the investigative judgment. We are living in the time of probation. We are living in the time when God is testing us to reveal what character we have developed.

The Bible simply states in Matthew 22:3, that after the invited guests received the first invitation, they would not come. They were not interested, is what they were saying. Do you think people know what they missed? No, they did not. They had no idea what they missed, and that is why they refused.

Excuses

In Luke 14:18-20, talking about the same parable, we are told, “They all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it.’” That is kind of foolish, because he had already bought it. He should have looked at it before he bought it. But he said he had bought a piece of ground and wanted to look at it. “And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.’” Today we probably would say, “We bought a car and we have to try it out.” “And another said, ‘I have married a wife.’” He should have brought her with him. Why are people making excuses? They are simply not interested. There is actually nothing wrong with all these things that the people did. What is wrong is their priorities. Jesus said to seek heaven first. After they were invited the second time, they went further and became more bold. Now they start making fun of the whole thing. They even went so far as to start persecuting the ones who preached the message killing some as they become more bold and hard.

Jesus said, “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Matthew 19:30. “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:11, 12. What a sad situation. The nation of Israel, chosen by God to be missionaries to the world, and He said that they would be in outer darkness.

The Wedding Garment

“When the wedding was furnished with guests, the king came in to see the guests, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’” Matthew 22:10, 11. What was his answer? Nothing. He had nothing to say. He was invited, and he knew what he was doing, because he was invited and accepted the invitation, but he refused the wedding garment. “By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ’s true followers will possess.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 310. That is a requirement; the pure, spotless character of Jesus Christ.

“Are you ready? Have you the wedding garment on? That garment will never cover deceit, impurity, corruption, or hypocrisy.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 5, 220. “It is character that decides destiny.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 74. “It is not money or land or position, but the possession of a Christlike character that will open to us the gates of paradise.” Christian Service, 247

What are True Christians Like?

What is a Christlike character? A Christlike character is “purity, refinement, peace, and love.” Counsels on Stewardship, 113. “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, and charity are the elements of a Christlike character.” Reflecting Christ, 173. “When the Holy Spirit is abiding in the heart, it will lead the human agent to see his own defects of character, to pity the weakness of others, to forgive as he wishes to be forgiven. He will be pitiful, courteous, Christlike.” The Faith I Live By, 53. “No rebuffs, no harsh, stinging, condemnatory words will come from our lips.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, 204. “Those who profess to be followers of Christ, and are at the same time rough, unkind, and uncourteous, in words or deportment, have not learned of Jesus. A blustering, overbearing, faultfinding man is not a Christian; for to be a Christian is to be Christlike.” Reflecting Christ, 305

A holy temper, and Christlike life is not only accessible, it is attainable; and my friends, it is also mandatory. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” The decision is ours. Let us accept the wedding garment on God’s simple condition of obedience. “The white garment is purity of character, the righteousness of Christ imparted to the sinner. This is indeed a garment of heavenly texture, that can be bought only of Christ for a life of willing obedience.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 4, 88. Many are called, many are invited, but few are chosen. The outcome is based solely on a personally acquired Christlike character, and this is the only condition. If we are like Christ, we will be chosen. God has given us the power, He has given us the promise, He has given the help. May God help us as we do this with a humble heart, is my prayer.

The End

The Leaven of Rebellion

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When Jesus walked among men, He gave a most wonderful discourse the day He ordained His twelve apostles to the work of the ministry. He had spent the night praying for wisdom to break the deceptive power that had come over the minds of men. Following this night of prayer, He gave His most famous sermon—the rule of life for all men: “The Sermon on the Mount.”

We are told in the book Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, 13, that the twelve beatitudes, are an “advancing line of Christian experience.” The first step is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:3. The very first step toward Christ is to realize our own poverty and to have a humble view of ourselves. We must not only have this experience when we first come to the Lord, but we must daily retake this initial step in the Christian walk. Paul has instructed us, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Colossians 2:6

Sometimes a good way to understand the importance of humility is to think about the results of a life where it is lacking. In this article, we will look at the first beatitude by studying a story where pride was the ruling element instead of humility.

Rebellion in Heaven

A few thousand years ago there was a great rebellion in Heaven. Lucifer said in his heart, “I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13, 14. This is no admission of humility. Lucifer was determined to be rich, and clothed with the same honor, authority and power as his Creator. Today we are living in a world that has been subtly sold on Lucifer’s deceptive philosophy.

“The same spirit that prompted rebellion in Heaven still inspires rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy which he pursued with the angels.” Great Controversy, 500. What was this policy that Satan used to take a third of the angels in rebellion? How could he get angels out of a perfect Heaven where there was peace and joy, to accept strife, discord, and bitterness? And now, he has instilled his policy into the minds of men and deceived the world with it.

Lucifer, “was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to God’s dear Son. His countenance . . . was brighter and more beautiful” than all the other angels. Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 17. In his heart he became envious of Christ, and the very first manifestation of his envy was that he “gradually assumed command” over the angels, which devolved on Jesus alone, Ibid. Beware when someone starts assuming command, over others, that does not belong to them.

God knew the heart of Lucifer. Before anything else was apparent, except that one “little” manifestation, God called a meeting. Before the assembled angelic host, He conferred special honor upon His Son. He explained that His Son was equal with Himself and the angels were all under His mild and gentle rulership. When this was stated, Lucifer bowed down and worshipped with the other angels, but in his heart there was a strange conflict. Fighting in his heart against love, joy, and peace were envy, jealousy, and hatred. This time, when he left the presence of God, he determined that he was not ever again going to bow in acknowledgment to the authority of God’s Son. Thus began the mystery of iniquity.

Lucifer gloried in his loftiness. This is not the result of “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It is the result of pride. He questioned why Christ should be honored before himself. He did not like being in second place, and if we cannot take being less than in first place, we have the same problem. Lucifer wanted to take the place of Christ and be above Him. However, Lucifer carefully concealed his real purposes. A second meeting of the angelic hosts was called by Lucifer himself. He introduced his subject, which was himself, and indicated that it was not right for Jesus to be preferred above him.

Proofing the Bread

When a baker prepares to make bread, one of the first things he does is “proof” the yeast to make sure it is active. This is done by putting the yeast in warm water with some flour and sweetener. If the yeast is active, the “proof” mixture quickly starts fomenting and bubbling. Then you know the yeast, even though unseen, has the strength to raise the bread. This leaven of rebellion started fomenting and working among the angels in Heaven, just as a little yeast does when it is “proofed.” Satan “stated to them that he had called them together to assure them that he no longer would submit to this invasion of his rights and theirs.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 18. He told them that they should not allow their rights to be invaded either.

The sure result of Satan’s leaven followed—”there was contention among the angels.” Ibid., 19. Whenever we see contention, there is some leaven working underneath that we cannot see. Contention is the “proof” that somewhere some of Satan’s leaven is at work. The angels were deceived by Satan’s leaven into thinking that they were only trying to make Heaven a better place. “They were discontented and unhappy because they could not look into God’s unsearchable wisdom and ascertain His purposes.” Ibid. “Oh”, they thought, “If only God would take us into His plans, how much better we could make things.”

“Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him by the holy beings under his command, he had so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned. Lucifer had presented the purposes of God in a false light, misconstruing and distorting them to excite dissent and dissatisfaction. He cunningly drew his hearers on to give utterance to their feelings; then these expressions were repeated by him when it would serve his purpose, as evidence that the angels were not in harmony with the government of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 38. Beware when anyone tries to draw you into saying words of distrust. This is some of the leaven of rebellion at work.

Satan made claims that were not in actuality the real situation. “While claiming for himself perfect loyalty to God . . . he urged that changes in the order and laws of Heaven were necessary for the stability of the divine government.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 38. This was his leaven working silently and imperceptibly. In reality Satan was working “to excite opposition to the law of God and to instill his own discontent into the minds of the angels under him.” However, he claimed to be “seeking to remove dissatisfaction and to reconcile disaffected angels to the order of Heaven.” The dissatisfaction he implanted, he now claimed he was trying to remove. “While secretly fomenting discord and rebellion, he with consummate craft caused it to appear as his sole purpose to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace.” Ibid. Beware when someone claims to be doing the opposite of what is really happening.

“While there was no open outbreak, division of feeling imperceptibly grew among the angels . . . they were now discontented and unhappy because they could not penetrate His unsearchable counsels; they were dissatisfied with His purpose in exalting Christ.” The disloyal angels now “stood ready to second Lucifer’s demand for equal authority with the Son of God.” Ibid.

What Does the Leaven Represent?

At the Lord’s Supper, we eat unleavened bread. There is a reason. The leaven represents this subtle reasoning of Satan. He told them that “henceforth all the sweet liberty the angels had enjoyed was at an end.” That is some of his leaven. Paul admonishes us, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

The leaven of rebellion once in the heart does a fearful work. One of its terrible deceptive manifestations is in complicating simple things by making them mysterious. “Everything simple Satan shrouded in mystery.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 41. The same thing is still happening today. Some of the simplest statements in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy have been made complicated and then conveniently dispensed of. Beware when anyone takes plain statements of inspiration and makes them of none effect by making them complicated.

Hearing of Satan’s demand for equal authority, the loyal angels hastened to inform Jesus of the situation and found Him in counsel with His Father. The Lord saw that the seed of rebellion had grown so strong that there was no turning back. The disloyal angels had lived in the full light of the love of God. But now, their hearts were fully set in them to do evil. “They had learned the lesson of genuine rebellion against the unchangeable law of God; and this is incurable.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 21

Loyal angels pled and reasoned with Lucifer, but he became angry and told them they were deluded slaves. A third meeting of the angels, vastly different from the first, was called by the Father. (Lucifer had, on his own, called the second meeting of the angels.) Instead of bowing low before His Creator, Lucifer “stood up proudly and urged that he should be equal with God and be taken into conference with the Father and understand His purposes.” Ibid., 22. The angels each displayed their hearts at that meeting; each case was decided. To make it plain to the angelic hosts what was in each heart, each angel had to join one army or the other. (There was no fence riding.) Then there was war in Heaven resulting in Satan and his angels being physically cast out of Heaven.

The disloyal angels were sorely disappointed at being cast out of Heaven. They “had become turbulent with disappointed hopes. Instead of greater good, they were experiencing the sad results of disobedience and disregard of law. Never more would these unhappy beings be swayed by the mild rule of Jesus Christ.” Ibid., 29

Forever too Late

After Satan was cast out of Heaven, he had time for reflection. A most interesting note is made about this by Ellen White. “Satan trembled . . . He was all alone in meditation upon the past, the present, and his future plans. His mighty frame shook as with a tempest. An angel from Heaven was passing. He called him, and entreated an interview with Christ.” This was granted him. As Satan and Jesus talked, Satan told Jesus “that he repented of his rebellion, and wished again the favor of God. He was willing to take the place God had previously assigned him, and be under his wise command. Christ wept at Satan’s woe, but told him, as the mind of God, that he could never be received into Heaven. Heaven must not be placed in jeopardy. All Heaven would be marred should he be received back; for sin and rebellion originated with him. The seeds of rebellion were still within him.” Ibid., 29

Satan was full of grief and anger when Jesus told him he would not be allowed back into Heaven. He went off alone in meditation to think about his wretched condition. “To be commander out of Heaven, was vastly different from being thus honored in Heaven. The loss he had sustained of all the privileges of Heaven seemed too much to be borne. He wished to regain these.” Ibid., 30. Satan determined to get back at God for not allowing him back into Heaven. He then talked to his angels and said, “We must overthrow Adam and Eve. That’s how we will get back at God. That’s what we’ll do.” He started right then to make his plans to get the leaven of sin into Adam and Eve. But even Satan “shuddered at the thought of plunging this holy, happy pair into the misery and remorse he was himself enduring.” Ibid., 32. Nevertheless, his rebellion was so great that he went right ahead with his plans for their fall.

The War

Are you fighting the good fight of faith against the leaven of rebellion in your own heart? The devil would like to trick people into thinking that they can stay on the fence and be safe, but there is no middle ground in this war. Before it is done, you are going to join an army and everyone is going to know which side you are on. The great issue is still the authority of the Creator, and His mark of creatorship is the seventh-day Sabbath. The initial fight in Heaven and the fight today have not changed. It is still over the authority of God.

The Lord says “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” Genesis 3:15. This is an enmity that we must have—to hate with a perfect hatred this rebellion against God and His law. If the seeds of rebellion are not cast out, the leaven grows, silently and imperceptibly until it takes over the heart.

Satan’s Special Tool

Today there are all kinds of theories floating around. People are surmising this and that about many elements of God and His government that have never been revealed to us in inspiration. I cannot help but think of Satan’s first trick. “This has been his special work with great success ever since his fall, to lead men to pry into the secrets of the Almighty.” Ibid., 36. What has been revealed to us belongs to us and to our children to obey. But what has not been revealed, we had better leave alone or we may enter into the fomenting rebellion of Satan. There are things that God “has been pleased to withhold from mortals. They are elated with their ideas of progression, and charmed with their own vain philosophy; but grope in midnight darkness relative to true knowledge. They are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Ibid., 37

Do not think that Satan has forgotten this secret even in the ranks of Historic Adventists. He is working to instill this “irreverent curiosity,” to lead us to pry into things that God “has been pleased not to reveal to mortals.” Then he tempts men to disobey by leading them to believe that they are entering a wonderful “field of knowledge.” But all of this is a deception.

Satan uses very skillfully what God will not use—deceit. Deceit in the heart works like yeast does in the mixture when the baker “proofs” it—it foments and bubbles. Some of the elements of this fomenting and bubbling are seen in the following: evil curiosity about what somebody else is saying or doing, getting people to say things, then repeating it and using it as evidence against them, gossiping, backbiting, and flattering. You can see the results of this kind of leaven in the disunity and discontent that is sure to follow. Whenever you see contention, that is a sure sign that the leaven is at work.

A lesson that we would do well to ponder and copy is how God dealt with Satan’s rebellion. God could have easily destroyed Satan and his followers. But instead of using force, He chose to use love, kindness, and truth. He sent His Son who was the Truth to show the whole universe the evil of deceit. When Jesus came to deliver us from the deceptions of Satan, He emptied Himself and took one step after another in the path of humility. He showed us that He was not grasping for power. He walked among the lowly of this earth. He was despised and rejected of men. He took on our nature that He might expel the leaven of sin and rebellion from our hearts. It must be cast out of our heart or it will overtake us.

God has promised that with His stripes we will be healed. The prayer of David must become our own prayer. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalms 139:23, 24. God will bring us the victory. We must begin having the victory by casting down our pride and by realizing our spiritual poverty. We must work out in our own experience the great principle, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

The End

Self Deception

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Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Corinthians 3:18. This is a curious concept. How can you be guilty of self deception ? Other people deceive us by withholding or giving wrong information to us. But how can you withhold information from yourself? I do not think that is possible. What about giving yourself wrong information? That is possible.

The will is stronger than both the imagination and memory. This may seem mysterious, but consider this situation. You have done something, about which you are not happy. As you remember the circumstances, you wish you had done differently. You think, “Well, this would have been a better way. If I had done this or if I had said this, it would have been much better.” Reconstructing the situation up to the point that you can be prepared for another situation of the same kind, and planning to handle it more skillfully the next time is okay. But do not go too far with this because if you keep remembering the better way, you may, after a while, persuade yourself that you actually have done it that way. That is extremely dangerous. James writes about that in James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” You can deceive your own heart.

Examples of Self Deception

It is a curious thing to notice that the Jewish leaders who rejected Christ, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who led the revolt against the directorship of Moses, thought themselves doing right. You could say they were sincere if you were not too particular how you define the word sincerity.

Speaking of the priests and rulers of Christ’s time, Ellen White writes in Desire of Ages, 541, “Satan told them that in order to maintain their authority, they must put Jesus to death. Yet such was their deception that they were well pleased with themselves. They regarded themselves as patriots, who were seeking the nation’s salvation.” This is a fearful self-deception.

Ellen White, says of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Patriarchs and Prophets, 397, “They ventured still further, and at last they really believed themselves to be actuated by zeal for God.” They were planning revolt against Moses and developed a plan far enough that they were ready to kill Moses, yet thought they were led by the Lord.

How does self deception happen? Does sincerity not provide an excuse? Are people judged and held guilty if they are sincere?

The process of self deception is slow. It takes, sometimes, quite a little time. And it can happen to anybody. The Jews had the Scriptures and were looking right at the Messiah in person, watching His miracles, and hearing His marvelous teachings, but they were not immune from self deception. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had been in the mountain with Moses when God spoke to Moses personally on the mountaintop. Surely they would be immune from making such a mistake and getting into self deception. But that is not the case.

It begins with something small. The devil does not come out at once and urge you to murder somebody. He did not come at once at the very beginning to urge the Jewish leaders to murder Christ; or Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to murder Moses. Probably all of them would have rejected such a thought. Satan has to start with something smaller.

The Process of Self Deception

With Korah, self deception started with self pity. Patriarchs and Prophets, 395, tells us that Korah was part of the family of Levi. He was in some sense related to the tribe of Levi, but he was not chosen to be among the priesthood, which he resented. Self-pity, we are told, is a very pernicious emotion in the human heart. What starts with self-pity eventually comes to murder. It was this way with the Jewish priests. They had been upset over the fact that shepherds had heard the angels singing. Why had not the angels sung to the rabbis? When the shepherds came, why did they not come to the rabbis? They felt slighted, passed by, and that is where it began with them.

“Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul . . . by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul.” Desire of Ages, 322

“A temptation, slight at first, had been harbored, and had strengthened as it was encouraged, until their minds were controlled by Satan.”Patriarchs and Prophets, 396. The mind can go completely under the control of Satan. Starting with a small temptation, there is no telling where it will lead. From a small temptation comes a redefining of events in a person’s thinking, “that’s the way it actually happened. I wish it would have happened like this.” As it becomes reinforced repeatedly, a person actually begins to think it did happen like that. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram thought over the unhappy experiences of their deliverance from Egypt. Passing by the happy thoughts, they thought about going back to the wilderness by the command of God. They thought about the various hardships and trials the people had had and reconstructed it in their minds until they came to believe it was Moses’ fault. Moses had done his best and had offered to sacrifice his life. But when the mind starts reconstructing the past, it can come to believe what did not happen at all.

Starting with a small temptation, you reconstruct things in the mind, wishing that it had been like this instead of the way it actually was, until you actually begin to believe events were according to your reconstruction. Now you are believing your lies and are literally deceiving yourself. The will, which wants it to be that way, is stronger than the memory of how it actually was. When the will and memory come into conflict, the will is going to win if the conflict lasts very long. The memory cannot resist the power of the will. When a person believes his own lies, he is what they call a pathological liar. He is in desperate shape.

“It is by sinful indulgence that men give Satan access to their minds, and they go from one stage of wickedness to another. The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier for them to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last their habits of wrongdoing become fixed. Sin ceases to appear sinful to them.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 404

We are not excusable, if we walk in darkness when the light is available to us. We are responsible for everything we know of the will of God and for everything that He gives us opportunity to know. The Jews who rejected Jesus and the people who rebelled against Moses had ample opportunity to have things straight. They had enough experience to know. Jesus has given us all the information that we need about our situation. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-pity or an apparently tiny sin. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-justification, to disregard a small ray of light, or to utter doubts.

Zedekiah’s Mistake

Another outstanding Bible example of self deception is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

Zedekiah could not bring himself to stand for truth. Three Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image on the Plain of Dura. You know that famous story by heart, but did you know that those three Israelites were not the only Israelites who were there that day? Zedekiah also went to Babylon. Why?

“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together [notice] the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” Daniel 3:1-3. The Babylonians considered Israel a province and they called it the Province Beyond the River with Zedekiah as the governor of the province. In Israel, of course, he was called king; but he knew he was no king. What was he doing in Babylon? He was there to stand on the Plain of Dura, and, if he obeyed the king’s command, he was to bow before that golden image.

Imagine Zedekiah anxiously looking around. He was aware there were other Israelites there. He probably saw the other three standing tall and wondered for a moment if he should stand tall too, but then his courage failed. He had had a lot of time to think about this.

It is a long, long journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, while prince of Babylon, had made a very fast journey across that Arabian desert. He had taken an army and had gone up the Euphrates River in the slow and normal manner and down the sea coast, planning to invade Egypt way down south. But when he was nearing Egypt a messenger came to him with the news that his father, the king of Babylon, had died. Nebuchadnezzar was prince of Babylon at this time. Because he naturally feared that somebody else might try to take the kingdom before he got back to assert his right to the throne, he left most of his army to fend for themselves, and took a few specially chosen men, and went straight across the desert toward Babylon. It took him three weeks even at that.

Zedekiah had three weeks of going that way to think about what he had done and to persuade himself that he had done the right thing. You know, he was reconstructing his memory, putting all of it together, convincing himself, persuading himself that he had done the right thing in bowing before that image on the Plain of Dura despite the fact he saw the deliverance that came.

He elected to follow the princes of the church instead of the prophet of the church. So then Jerusalem was besieged, burned, and the temple was destroyed. Thousands were slain. Zedekiah and some of his family tried to escape , but they were caught, and taken to Ribla, where Zedekiah was forced to watch while his sons were slaughtered. Then his eyes were put out and he himself was taken to Babylon to die. He died miserably. Can you imagine another six weeks going again to Babylon, his sightless eyes staring forever at the last thing they had seen, the slaughter of his sons?

Process Decisions

How do these things come to us? I call them process decisions. Very few people decide they are going to be lost. But people make process decisions. By a little rejection of light here, a little embracing of sin there, little by little people finally come to a place where they cannot turn back.

If we are to examine ourselves in the light of this biblical material, we ought to recognize the danger of the process decisions that are about us. We can make process decisions by deciding that it is perfectly all right for us to associate with sinners. Proverbs 1:10 says, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” We have the experiences of Samson and Solomon. We have the experience of all Israel, and we have the experience of modern Israel seeking the embrace of the daughters of Babylon. A decision to fellowship and build a relationship with sinners, other than a saving relationship, can be a process decision. The one who decides to marry one who does not follow God needs to remember this counsel. If you would not have a home where the shadows are never lifted, do not unite your life with one who is an enemy of God.

A decision to seek the pleasures of the world can be a process decision—”it will not mean anything to go to the theater a few times. It will not hurt to just watch some fictional programs on television. It will not hurt to go to a few dances.” This can end with the destruction of your own life.

A decision to seek wealth instead of service, to serve yourself in this world instead of serving the Lord can be a process decision that is extremely dangerous. The Scriptures warn us in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase; this is also vanity.” A decision to ignore missionary responsibilities, a decision to procrastinate, a decision to just wait a little longer may end in destruction. “God’s people cannot with safety enter into intimate associations with those who know the truth, but do not practice it.” Messages to Young People, 390. Inasmuch as there are ever more persons among us now who know the truth, but are not practicing it, we need to think about this as well.

The Effect of Our Words

The words are an indication of what is in the heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” But the words are more than an indication of character, they have power to react upon the character. Did you follow that? The words are more than an indication of character. Words tell what kind of person you are. But also, they react on the character. You can talk yourself into things. You can say things that are not true until you believe them. “Men are influenced by their own words. Often under a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really believe; but the expression reacts upon the thoughts. They are deceived by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at Satan’s instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or decision, they are often too proud to retract it and try to prove themselves in the right, until they come to believe that they are.” Desire of Ages, 323. This is how a person can become a pathological liar and become so self deceived that he loses contact with reality and believes his own imaginations to be true.

We are in a period of time in which we need to watch very, very carefully that we do not practice self deception upon ourselves. A time that we need to take very great care that we do not let anybody else practice deception on us. May the Lord bless us and help us to carry these words from His sacred word and from His inspired counsels into all of our thoughts and life practices.

The End

The Pledge & Peter’s Ladder

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“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:1-4

Peter was one of the apostles, and he states that he is writing to those who have obtained the same faith that he and the other believers have. Do you have the faith of the apostolic church? If you do, then this book, written by Peter, is for you. In the book, The Great Controversy, we are told that the religion of these early Christians was a terror to evil doers. If your faith is a terror to evil doers, this book is written to you. And, if you truly have this faith, Peter says that grace always comes first and is followed by peace. You will never find the order reversed, because peace comes as the result of grace.

Did you notice how we receive grace and obtain peace? “In the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” There is only one way by which people are able to gain a knowledge of God. When the Jews rejected that one way, they were lost. There is no other way—no spare tire in the system of salvation. “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Matthew 11:27. The only way that you can know anything about the Father is through the Son. Any religion that denies Jesus and yet professes to worship God is a fraud.

“He who by faith lays hold firmly upon the invisible One, will reveal the character of Jesus. With lowliness of heart he will accept Christ’s invitation to the weary and the heavy laden. Instead of unloading his burdens upon his neighbor, with whose heart-sorrows he is unacquainted, he will seek rest by taking upon himself the yoke of Christ. Let us abide in Jesus. Then He alone—formed within, the hope of glory—will appear in our every word and deed.” Review and Herald, May 26, 1904

This is not to say that we should never seek counsel from another person; but if you have a spiritual problem, you need Divine help. Another human being can solve an accounting problem; but if you are experiencing a spiritual problem, the solution is for the other person to direct your mind to the divine-human burden bearer.

Cause for Spiritual Weakness

Think this matter through. If God has given me all things that pertain unto life, if He has promised me grace and peace, is it really excusable for me to spend my time unloading all of my troubles upon my neighbors? Inspiration tells us that when we do this, we are really insulting God, as He is the only One who can help us. Our failure to follow this plan is the reason behind so much of our spiritual weakness.

“Is not this why there is among us so much spiritual feebleness. Why do we not take everything to the Lord in prayer? He stands at the head of humanity enabling men through His sacrifice to become partakers of the divine nature, to lay hold upon infinite power that will transform them into the likeness of the divine.” Ibid.

We can become partakers of the divine nature through God’s promises if we choose to accept them by faith and ask the Lord to make us partakers of His divine nature. This opens the way for a miracle to take place in our character development. There follows a progression of change in our lives that Peter marks out, which has become known as “Peter’s ladder.” “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” 2 Peter 1:5-9

Remember that Peter is writing to people who have obtained like faith as himself. These are baptized Christians. When you are baptized, you make a public confession to the whole world that you have forsaken your sins and you are starting a new life. Peter says, however, that if you do not climb this ladder, adding to your faith moral excellence, to moral excellence knowledge, you are not walking the Christian path. You have forgotten the significance of your baptism. It is only when we follow this progression that we may know the certainty of our salvation. “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.” Verse 10

In cooperation with Christ, each one of us is to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. (See Philipians 2:12, 13.) Doing the works He bids us to do, trials will come to us; but we are to learn to depend completely upon Him for grace and for guidance. We are to learn to live as in the presence of Christ because perfection of character only comes through the gift of His righteousness. He says here in verse 4 that we are to become partakers of the divine nature.

Have you tried to comprehend in your mind what it means to become a partaker of the divine nature? What does the word nature mean? Now this has been a matter of debate among Adventists for a long time. You have all heard of the debate over the nature of Christ. When you talk about the nature of anybody, what are you talking about? What does it mean to become a partaker of the divine nature?

It is natural for you to do according to your nature. As you become a partaker of the divin nature it will become natural for you to think, speak and act like Jesus would if He were in your place. If I am partaking of the divine nature, that will affect, first of all, the way that I think; and as a result of that, it will affect the way that I speak and act.

The Pledge

Ellen White said that we should take the following pledge:

“I choose to guard against speaking words that discourage and resolve never to engage in evil speaking and backbiting. I choose to refuse to serve Satan by implanting seeds of doubt. I choose to guard against cherishing unbelief or expressing it to others. I solemnly promise to speak only those words that are pleasing to God, choosing to discipline the tongue by disciplining the mind; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Review and Herald, May 26, 1904. Speaking of this pledge, she said that we need to take this pledge just as much as we need to have a pledge against the use of intoxicating liquor. The exciting thing is that if the Lord tells us to pledge something, then He is going to give us the ability to fulfill that pledge.

How would you ever fulfill this pledge? I do not know how. All I know is that God says to make the pledge; and if He tells me to make it, He is going to help me to fulfill it because every command is a promise. There is divine power in this because God has said to do it; and when you choose to do something that God says to do, you are going to have divine power come into your life and help you to do that thing. Get down on your knees and say, “Lord, You told me to do this. I may never have done it one day in my whole life before this; but You told me to do it, and I am choosing to do it.”

In the very next paragraph she writes, “Through the help that Christ can give, we shall be able to learn to bridle the tongue.”

Do you know what would be the result if we were all to climb the whole ladder every day? Ellen White says that when this scripture actually comes to pass in the church, we are going to have conversions like they had on the Day of Pentecost.

For a long time I have been praying that something would take place similar to what happened during the sixteenth century Reformation. When Martin Luther preached, fifty million people walked out of the Catholic Church. We have been promised that when we are living out what we have been studying in these first ten verses here in 2 Peter, there are going to be hundreds and thousands of people converted like on the Day of Pentecost.

Are You Predestinated?

There are some people who are concerned about predestination. In fact, there is only one election that you will find in the Bible. The elect are the people who follow Peter’s instructions. He says, “If you do this, you make your calling and election sure.” You will be part of God’s elect. The good news is that not one person needs to fail of having everlasting life.

Do not let the devil convince you that are so wicked that the Lord cannot save you. That is not true. If you choose to learn daily of Jesus, no matter how bad your past has been, no matter what you have done or how vile you have been, the Lord can save you. This is the plan. Follow the instructions. He says that if you do these things, you will never stumble. “For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:11

Peter then goes on to say, If you do this, (the things that we have been reading about in the first ten verses), you are not going to stumble or fall; you are going to have an entrance, and it is going to be abundant. You will not just squeak through; you are going to have an abundant entrance into the kingdom. This is a divine, life insurance policy. This is a life insurance policy that insures that you are going to have eternal life if you follow these instructions. This is the contract; this is the agreement.

Peter then continues, “I know that I am going to be put to death soon, as the Lord has told me; but as long as I am here, I’m not going to be negligent to keep on reminding you about this.” (See Verses 12-15.)

No Unpleasant Words in Heaven

A few years ago when I was reading the book Upward Look for the first time, there was a statement on page 163 that caught my attention so much that I have never forgotten it. In fact, I have used it many times in counseling people. Ellen White said, “In heaven no unpleasant words are spoken.” Would you like to be in a place where there are no unpleasant words spoken? The people who go to heaven when Jesus comes are going to be people who, before that time, have learned to talk like they talk in heaven. I want to learn; how about you?

“Oh,” somebody says, “you have to rebuke sin.” Jesus rebuked sin. I want to learn to do it in the way that He did it. Somebody says, “Well, you have to warn people.” I believe that. That is the loving thing to do. I want to learn to warn people in the way that the angels and Jesus warned people. We are not talking about not facing reality. But in heaven, no unpleasant words are spoken. What could happen in our homes if we learned to speak like they speak in heaven? If we start putting this into practice, what could happen? Let me tell you one thing that would happen. The Adventist pastors all over the world would not have to spend so many thousands of hours that they are spending right now trying to counsel people to mend their broken marriages. That is one of the things that would happen just right away. We would start spending more time in evangelism all over the world; because what I am talking about is a worldwide problem.

Why do they never speak unpleasant words in heaven? Why? She tells us why on that very same page. Because “no unkind thoughts are cherished.” Friend, it is so easy. Let me tell you what the devil is trying to do. The devil is trying to get you to concentrate on my character defects and me to concentrate on your character defects so that in our minds we will pour forth a torrent of words. If we are not going to speak unpleasant words, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, we must not cherish unkind thoughts. I do not claim to come up to the standard, but I am determined by the grace of God to reach it. How about you? I want a change in my tongue; and to have a change in my tongue, I know that I will have to have a change in my mind and my spirit. I am determined, by the grace of God, that what He says can be done in my life because He is not a respector of persons. He is willing to do it for me; and He is willing to do it for you, if we are willing.

From what we have studied, I hope that nobody can ever deceive you by telling you that your character has no relation to your salvation; just believe and everything will be all right. From what we read in the Bible, nobody should ever be able to deceive you on that point. It is too plain!

I want the change in my mind that will result in a change in my tongue, that will result in a change in my behavior. Do you want it, too? I am just simple enough to believe that if we pray and are sincere, the Lord will answer our prayer. Let us pray for that miracle to start happening in our lives.

When God is Silent

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The study of the providence of God has been highly recommended to us. We are told that John the Baptist, while living his retired life in the wilderness of Judea, studied the providence of God in nature. We are told that Jesus Christ Himself studied carefully the providence of God during His years at Nazareth. We are also told that He loved to go out into the mountains around Nazareth, into the forests and glens to find places to pray and to study the providence of God. We have an example of this providence in action recorded in Matthew 15.

Jesus was not always easy to understand, at least it seemed so to the disciples. But you have to look at it from His standpoint, too; they were not always easy to teach. He had a very difficult lesson that He needed to teach them at this point in their educational experience. To teach them this particular lesson, He set up what appeared to be a five—day seminar. He took them over the hill country from Galilee to the area of Tyre and Sidon, fifty or sixty miles to the northwest. I would estimate that it took them at least two days to go, two days to come back, with one day spent there.

What was this special effort all about? Was it for a woman who had a devil-possessed daughter? Well, yes; but that is only a small part of it. That was the easiest thing that Jesus had to do on this particular journey. His biggest job was not to deal with the devil-possessed daughter of a woman but to deal with the tradition-possessed minds of the twelve disciples. They thought like Jews; they lived like Jews, and they were Jews. They had imbibed the spirit of the rabbis, which had a particular view of the world that Jesus had to deal with. It was not appropriate for His cause and for His disciples to have the world view of the rabbis. The Jews had a saying, “Just as the best of serpents should be crushed, even so, the best of Gentiles should be slain.” This was an opinion that all of His disciples held. Before He could use them as missionaries to the Gentile world, Jesus had to get a new idea into their minds.

Preparation before Commission

Just before His return to heaven, Jesus said to His disciples, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. If Jesus had not done some special educational work for them, they would have choked and sputtered when He said Samaria. When He said, “Unto the uttermost part of the earth,” they would have just been aghast. (Out there was where those curs, those mongrels, those horrible Gentiles lived.) He had a job to do before they would even consider such a thing.

We have now the woman to consider. We are told that she was a woman of Canaan. The Canaanites, were the oldest race of people who lived in that area. Actually, however, she probably did not know herself who her ancestors were. Centuries before, the Assyrians, a small but ambitious nation of people, sought to control the whole country. To accomplish this, they first used force and cruelty, believing that if they were mean and cruel enough, nobody would ever dream of rebelling against their power. This did not work, however, and people rebelled anyway. Later in their history, they resorted to the practice of relocation people. By taking them away from their homelands and mixing them all up, they hoped to leave them without sufficient strength in numbers to be able to mount a rebellion. This resulted in the people encountering, and to a large degree assimilating, various types of cultural and religious attitudes.

Many years later, when Cyrus permitted the Jews from Babylon to go back to Jerusalem, secular historical tell us that he did the same thing for many other people. Under his rule, if you could still remember and if you had a desire to do so, you were allowed to return to your ancestral homeland. This resulted in another great transmigration of people all over the vast area. There had been a great deal of inter-marriage with the different peoples. So if you lived in the area of Tyre and Sidon, like this woman did, and you were referred to as a woman of Canaan, that did not mean very much. It would be very, very difficult for you to be sure whose blood was in your veins; but for certain, it was not the blood of Abraham.

On the other hand, before a Jewish boy learned to read and write, he learned his pedigree. He learned to prove that he was descended from Abraham; so by groups of seven, he memorized the most outstanding ancestors of his ancestral line. He did not try to remember all of the but enough to show you that he was indeed in line with Abraham. If you called upon him to tell you who he was, he would not just say, “I am Joseph, ” or “I am David.” He would say, “I am Joseph, son of, son of, son of, son…” all the way back to “son of Abraham.” That is what counted. You had to be a son of Abraham. So people with an attitude like this looked at this woman as if she were just a cur, or mongrel. Because of this situation, she was ideally suited to be the subject of this seminar.

The stage is set; the players are there: the pagan, the prejudiced disciples, and the compassionate Saviour. But as we watch the action unfold, we may be at first as puzzled and bewildered as the disciples were.

The woman comes with her first appeal to Jesus. “Lord, have mercy on me; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” Jesus’ first answer to her is silence. So what does the silence mean? The disciples think, of course, that it means rejection. That is what they understand his apparent indifference to mean. They cannot understand why He does not finished the job and get rid of the woman. But Jesus knows what He is doing, and He works carefully in this educational situation.

Now as we look on and see somebody appealing to the Saviour and His answer is silence, we possibly can identify with that because we have had that experience, have we not? Have we not presented some request to the Lord and received silence as an answer? A young college girl was talking to me about some of her problems one day. I asked her, “Have you talked to the Lord about it?”

She answered, “Yes, I have. But it seems like God just doesn’t say anything.” That is not so uncommon. I think that it is really quite common that we talk to the Lord about something and the answer appears to be silence. What does the silence mean? This is a question that we can reflect upon with profit.

Why Silence?

Does it mean that God does not hear? Does it mean that He does not care? Does it mean that the answer is no? Well, certainly it cannot mean that He does not hear. We know that He hears. Certainly it does not mean that He does not care, whether we are looking at this situation or our own situation. After all, He had walked fifty miles or more just to get to this woman to take care of her problem; so He certainly cares. In our case, we know that He died for us; He lives for us, so He cares. So it cannot mean that He does not hear; it cannot mean that He does not care. Well, does it mean that the answer is no? Not necessarily. What, then, does it mean?

We may get a clue from Romans 8:26 where we are told, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” In The Desire of Ages, 200, we find these words: “The Saviour longs to give us a greater blessing than we ask.” The Saviour wants to give us something bigger and better than we are asking for. Well, why does He not do it? What is holding Him back?

We need to think about that for a moment. Physical things can be given by surprise, but spiritual things cannot. We can surprise somebody with a gift of money or property or land or personal things. We even have surprise parties where everything is a total surprise to somebody. And that works. You can put something physical in a person’s hand, but you cannot put something spiritual into someone’s heart by surprise. That is impossible. The heart must be wanting that spiritual gift before it can be given. I think that if you will just do a little thinking about it, you will see that this is true. How can you give a spiritual gift of peace or happiness or joy or anything like that to somebody whose heart is just far, far away and not concerned about peace or happiness or joy? It cannot be done. Because a spiritual gift cannot be given unless it is desired, God sometimes finds it necessary to delay an answer to our prayers. You see, we are carnally minded.

Here is a simple illustration. Suppose the pastor of a church says, “Wednesday evening at 7:30 there is going to be prayer meeting and everybody who comes is going to receive a blessing. The Lord has promised it.”

So we go to the pastor and ask, “What did you say that we are going to receive Wednesday night?”

He answers, “A blessing.”

“What can I do with a blessing? Can I eat it?”

“No, you cannot eat it.”

“Can I wear it?”

“No, you cannot wear it.”

“Can I put it in the bank?”

“No, you cannot put it in the bank.”

Suppose that on Sabbath morning the pastor were to say, “We are going to have prayer meeting on Wednesday night and everybody who comes is going to get a new $20 bill.” Do you think that you could make it to prayer meeting? On, yes! We understand this. We would be there, everyone of us, young and old. We put so much more value on money than we do on what the Lord has promised, and that is a problem. That is a problem that God has to deal with, and one of His ways of dealing with it is with His silence.

“Lord, I need a new pair of shoes.” Silence. “Lord, this is the second time that I am telling You that I need a new pair of shoes.” Silence. “Lord, pardon me for mentioning this third time, but I need a new pair of shoes.” Silence. “What is the matter with God?” Silence. “I wonder if it could be something the matter with me.” “Now we are getting somewhere,” God says.

Better Answers

You see, God delays the answer to our prayer because He wants to give us something better than we ask. Why do we always have to talk about shoes?” He asks. “Why can’t we talk about something important? Did I not promise you that I would take care of all things? Did I not say, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you?’ Why do you always come to Me with a list of physical things that you want?”

Record, or try to remember all of your praying for a week, making a list of all of the physical things that you ask the Lord for and a list of all of the spiritual things that you ask for. I suspect that the list of physical things will be quite a bit longer because we have to talk about shoes, clothes, our house, and all of our other things. All the while, God is saying, “Talk about something important. You need the joy of Christ in your life far more than you need new shoes. Why can you not talk about that?”

As we move along, we take notice of His disciples’ confusion on this point. You see, He answered the lady twice and He spoke to the disciples once. When they noticed that He was not answering her, they interpreted it to mean rejection and they said, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.”

He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That throws them into confusion and this is what He wanted to do. You see, His body language, if we want to call it that, and His speech did not agree. “I am only sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Therefore, I am not sending her away.” What? “What is He saying?” the disciples mutter one to another. He should be saying, “I am only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; therefore I am sending her away.” That would make sense. But He says one thing with His body language and He says something else with his words; so they begin to puzzle, and that is what He wants.

Weakening Prejudice

It was with this point that He drove His first wedge and opened a crack in that big wall of prejudice. “He is surely not suggesting to us that this mongrel, this cur, is a lost sheep of the house of Israel, is He? Or is He? Could that be what He is saying?” This is the thought that He wanted to be forming in their minds.

We now come to His second answer to her, and it seems even worse than the first. He had just been ignoring her as if He did not even see her, but now He stops and looks at her and she pleads again, “Lord, have mercy on me.”

Looking at her, He says, “You are a dog.”

Well that is even worse than the silence. We wonder that she even held on. We are told that she saw something in His face that He could not hide (see The Desire of Ages, 184), so she latched on to that. If you have ever worked among third-world people, you may have discovered something. They may not have the greatest education, but it is very difficult to fool them. They are very shrewd judges of human nature. They read your face, your eyes, your actions. This Canaanite woman probably had very little education; she may not have known how to read or write, but she could read His face. She saw something there that she latched on to. So when Jesus said to her, “You are a dog,” instead of walking away, she replied, “You say I’m a dog and I do not deny it; but if I am a dog, where are my crumbs? You do not look like a man who would starve His dog to death.”

Jesus answered, “Okay, okay, you win.” What else could He do when she said, “I am not basing my plea on my character; I am placing it on Your character?” As Martin Luther said, “She threw His bag of promises down in front of Him, and He couldn’t step over it.”

Well, she got what she wanted and the disciples learned something. This was a hard lesson to learn, but they learned it. As the Jewish nation hardened itself and raised more and more barriers against the gospel message and the disciples were called upon to move farther and farther out into the Gentile world, they remembered this experience. They remembered that a mongrel cur can be a child of Abraham.

Originally, Paul and the disciples believed, “If ye be Abraham’s seed, then you can approach Christ.” Christ turned it right around. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:27-29

We often experience the silence of God when we pray. Does it mean that He does not hear? Oh, no. Does it mean that He does not care? Oh, no. It means that He wants us to think. He wants us to think about something that we are not thinking about because our mind is so taken up with shoes and socks and all of the physical things of life. “The Saviour longs to give us a greater blessing than we ask; and He delays the answer to our request that He may show us the evil of our own hearts, and our deep need of His grace.” The Desire of Ages, 200. He deliberately chooses to answer us with silence.

“Sometimes answers to our prayers come immediately, sometimes we have to wait patiently and continue earnestly to plead for the things that we need. We are to keep on asking, even if we do not realize the immediate response to our prayers.

“There are precious promises in the Scriptures to those who wait upon the Lord. We all desire an immediate answer to our prayers and are tempted to become discouraged if our prayer is not immediately answered…this is a great mistake. The delay is for our special benefit.” Counsels on Health, 380

“The God of providence still walks among us. Though His footsteps are not seen, though His positive and direct workings are not recognized or understood, the God of providence is still walking among us making journeys to reach us perhaps.” Reflecting Christ, 98

Thank God for His providence. Thank Him for His mercy, for His understanding, for His willingness to go anywhere, to do anything to bring any one of us to the salvation of the Lord. Thank God for the fact that every one of us has a page in the book of providence where every detail is numbered. Nothing happens to us except by His permission.

The Rule of the Judgment

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When I was a boy, there was a very popular magazine that I used to read just about every month called The Reader’s Digest. This magazine consisted of summarized articles from many other magazines and newspapers. At the back of the magazine there was always a condensed book for quick reading. However, when summarizing, a lot of details were left out that may have been important to the story. 

The Bible has many summary statements in which huge amounts of information are summarized in just a few sentences. For example, Matthew 22:37–40 contains in two or three sentences a summary statement by Jesus Christ. Jesus said that on these two things, the whole law and the prophets – everything – hangs. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave an even shorter summary that is often referred to as the golden rule. He said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

I have tried for many years to understand that sentence. There is an interesting paragraph from the book, The Desire of Ages, 640, that states, “Millions upon millions of human souls ready to perish, bound in chains of ignorance and sin, have never so much as heard of Christ’s love for them. Were our condition and theirs to be reversed, what would we desire for them to do for us? All this, so far as lies in our power, we are under the most solemn obligation to do for them. Christ’s rule of life, by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment, is, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them’ (Matthew 7:12).” 

This is the golden rule that will determine each person’s eternal destiny in the judgment. It is unfortunate that Christians spend so much time fighting with each other over differences of understanding about theology. However, that is reality. Some years ago, back in the 1990s, a huge controversy arose about whether Jesus died the first death or the second death on the cross of Calvary. The prophecy concerning what the Messiah would suffer for the human family is recorded in Psalm 18:4, 5. It says, “The pangs of death encompassed Me, the floods of ungodliness made Me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded Me; the snares of death confronted Me” (literal translation).

Some people have a rather shallow view of the cross of Christ, seeing Christ as only somebody who died as a martyr. But Jesus did not die on the cross of Calvary the death of the martyr. When the martyrs died, they died having a great hope. They knew that although other men put them to death, they would be raised again to eternal life. It is recorded as one man was being led to his martyrdom, a clergyman said to him, “We are going to cut you off from the church militant.” The martyr replied, “But not from the church triumphant. You might cut me off now, but you can’t cut me off forever because I’m going to be in the resurrection.”

Martyrs died with that hope. In fact, if you have ever studied a book such as Martyr’s Mirror or Foxes Book of Martyrs, you will know that there were many martyrs. Two examples were John Huss and Jerome. Both were burned at the stake. When the fire was lit and their bodies burned there was no screaming. Witnesses reported that as the flames arose around them they sang and the vehemence of the fire could scarcely stop their voices, and they died singing. Just before they died their lips were seen moving in prayer. They died singing and praying, because in their death they had hope. They knew it was temporary. By contrast, in recent years there have been a number of people who have lit themselves on fire and burned to death in terrible screaming agony. 

Life in this world, whether you are killed or martyred or not, is very temporary. One time there was a family that was brought before the judges for their faith. One of the youngest boys said, When we have family worship, we always pray for the government and the leaders for the government. The judges were deeply moved by this testimony, that this was a family that not only prayed, but they prayed for their enemies and the government, the people who were leading the government. However, because of their prejudice, they said that the father and the oldest son had to be burned at the stake anyway. As they were tied to the stake and the fire was lit, the son said to the father, Look up! I see the heavens opened and I see an innumerable company watching us. Angels were always present on those occasions. If you are one of God’s children, the Bible says angels accompany you everywhere you are, whatever you are doing, and they protect and guard God’s children from the innumerable dangers of which we are unaware.

A clergyman that was present said, Oh no. You’re not seeing angels from heaven, you are seeing the devil’s angels. The boy replied, No. I’m not seeing the devil’s angels. I’m seeing angels from God. They are watching us. It was by divine power those people died praying and singing with great joy, knowing that very soon, it would be to them, almost instantaneous, they would meet the Lord again when He returns in the clouds. 

Jesus Christ did not die the death of a martyr. In Matthew 27:46 it tells us the kind of death that Jesus died on the cross. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ ” Jesus died the death that a fallen sinful man will die if he does not accept the gospel – the plan of salvation. 

Jesus endured the pains of the second death – a death with no hope of a future. It is a death forsaken by God where the penalty of sin is paid by the sinner. Jesus endured that death so that you could be set free. 

“The great sin of God’s people at the present time is, we do not appreciate the value of the blessings God has bestowed upon us. We serve God with a divided heart. We cherish some idol and worship at its shrine.” This Day With God, 50. 

What does this divided heart mean? Suppose a suitor came to a young woman and told her, “I love you with half of my heart.” Would she respond, “That is wonderful, that is what I always wanted”? If he got it up to three quarters would she be completely satisfied? Never.

Dear friend, do you realize that we have a habit of doing this to the Lord all the time? We say we love Him and choose to follow Him, but our heart is divided. The book of James explains why there are so many people claiming their prayers are not answered. James 1:8 says, “… he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Verse 7 says that person is not going to receive anything in answer to his prayers and becomes discouraged with the Christian religion, believing he has tried it and found it doesn’t work. His prayer was unanswered because of his divided heart. 

The very first commandment and basic principle of the Christian religion is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15–17). The devil is expert in luring people by the love of those three things.

Modern advertising has captured the minds of people with lewd suggestive displays in store front windows, magazine ads, internet pop-ups, and on billboards. Everywhere the eye turns are pictures designed to appeal to the lust of the flesh. One must be diligent to make a covenant with their eyes to keep their minds pure. 

If the devil cannot trap you that way then he tries the lust of the eyes, your possessions. With some people, it is clothes and with others it is houses. With a lot of young men, in my generation, it was cars. I remember when I was in high school one young man’s father decided to buy his son a new car. This man came over with this new car to show it to all of us. It was a new type of Ford, a two-door hardtop convertible that the roof came down, one of the first ones made. It made a huge impression on the young men of my generation. I do not know whether the young men were impressed with girls more or cars, but they were impressed with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. 

If the devil cannot get you with either the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes he will try to get you with pride, which is one of the most fundamental problems with humanity. The apostle warned not to love those things that the rest of the world loves because they are all temporary. 

Do you appreciate what God has done for you, and do you tell Him so? Do you live like you appreciate it or is your heart divided? James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Every good gift, whether it comes through father or husband or daughter or anyone, comes from God, the ultimate Source of every good gift. For that reason, He deserves appreciation. 

“As the Giver of every blessing, God claims a certain portion of all we possess. This is His provision to sustain the preaching of the gospel. And by making this return to God, we are to show our appreciation of His gifts. But if we withhold from Him that which is His own, how can we claim His blessing? If we are unfaithful stewards of earthly things, how can we expect Him to entrust us with the things of heaven? It may be that here is the secret of unanswered prayer.” Prayer, 309.  

A problem for God’s professed people for thousands of years is that many do not appreciate Him. In the book of Malachi, it says, “ ‘For I am the Lord, I do not change … from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘But you said,  “In what way shall we turn?” ‘Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say,  “In what way have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try [prove] Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’ ” (Malachi 3:6–10).

I have met many people during my ministry who have told me that they cannot afford to pay tithe. But in reality, are you sure that you can afford not to pay tithe? 

The Lord promises those who honor Him that He will pour out a blessing on them so abundant that they will not even be able to receive it. Those who know and refuse are under a curse. A tithe is a tenth. Many can testify that 90% of your increase with God’s blessing stretches much further than 100% with God’s curse. 

Those in greatest need of God’s blessing on their finances are often those who say they can’t afford to do it. Accept that as a perfect opportunity to put the God of heaven to the test. In fact, He says, “Try Me now in this” (Malachi 3:10). 

When my wife and I took a leave of absence and went to Southern California to graduate school we got into a situation where our expenses were more than our income for several months, so I know what it’s like to be financially tried. However, we did not stop paying tithe. In giving back a part of what God has given to us we are not enriching God, but we simply showed that we appreciated what the Lord Jesus has done for us.

Another way to show appreciation for what God has done for you is to consider others in their need. Remember Jesus said to do for others what you would want men to do for you, for this is the law and the prophets. He points us to people around us, to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed. 

In Matthew 25:31–33 it says, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”

Verses 34–36: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ ”

They say, Lord, when did this ever happen? We don’t know when that ever happened. We don’t remember doing any of those things. 

Look at verse 40: “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ ”

Notice, Jesus identifies Himself with those who are in trouble – the people who need food, the people who need clothing, the people who are sick, the people who are in prison, as will those who identify with Him. 

Paul wrote, “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated (became Christians) you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven” (Hebrews 10:32–34). 

Too often it is considered that people in trouble have caused it themselves and they should be left to suffer the consequences. Adam and Eve made a conscious choice to do the wrong thing, but they were given help to recover from the consequences. 

Remember Jesus’ rule, Whatever you want men to do to you, you do to them. Ask yourself, what would I want if I were in the hospital, or in jail? What if I didn’t have enough food or money to buy the clothes that I needed? Would I want somebody to say, Well, it’s your own fault because you made these mistakes back there. After all, don’t we all make some bad decisions at times?

The best illustration of appreciation is recorded in all four of the gospels. “Then one of the Pharisees asked Him (Jesus) to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, ‘This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.’ ” (Luke 7:36–39).

She was looked down on by everybody in that society because of the terrible sins that she had committed. It was common knowledge throughout that region who this woman was and what she had done. And how arrogant of Simon, who had been cured by the Lord Jesus of leprosy and saved from a living death himself, to criticize this woman who he, himself would not touch. 

“And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ So he said, ‘Teacher, say it.’ ‘There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?’ 

“Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom He forgave more.’ And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged.’ Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’ Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’ ” (verses 40–50).

Notice. There are still both types in the world today, those who, like the Pharisee, look down on “big sinners,” considering them unworthy, and the truly repentant ones who know they are sinners and accept the forgiveness of Jesus.

This woman, considered one of the worst sinners in town, accepted the grace offered her by her Saviour. To show her appreciation she bought an alabaster box containing oil of spikenard, one of the most expensive perfumes that has ever been developed or made. The oil she used in anointing Jesus does not wash off and the fragrance remains for approximately 30 days. 

As horrible as it was when Jesus went to the cross, He knew from the fragrance poured on His body six days earlier that there was at least one person in the world who appreciated what He was doing, making it possible for her sins to be forgiven. Jesus told His disciples that anywhere in the whole world that they would preach the gospel, they were to tell this story. 

Everyone wants a response from those they love. Jesus’ love for you is greater than any human love and He also would appreciate a response. The way you live, the way you treat your fellow men, how you support His work is evidence of how much you appreciate what He has done for you.

Thank Jesus Christ for what He has done for you. In the way that you support His work, in the way that you treat and relate to your fellow men, you will show to the whole universe your appreciation for the gift of salvation. 

 (Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Stay Close to Jesus

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At the beginning of John 6, we observe one of the two great banquets that bounded the last year of Jesus’ life on earth. One was the feeding of the five thousand on the shores of Galilee, and the other was the Lord’s Supper. At each banquet, Jesus was the host; at each banquet, there was a great disappointment; and at each banquet, Jesus gave one of the greatest of His appeals.

About three and a half miles up around the northwestern boundary of the Sea of Galilee was the village of Bethsaida. Bethsaida, the place where Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were born, literally means “the house of fishing” or “the place of fishing.” It was a fishing village. They had moved, however, to Capernaum and were making it their fishing headquarters at the time of our story.

The disciples had just returned from the first missionary journey that Jesus had sent them on, and they needed some quiet time and unhurried conversation with Him. They had had some wonderful experiences and a few disappointing ones. Some mistakes had been made along the way that Jesus needed to discuss with them. More importantly, on their way back to Capernaum, they had heard about the death of John the Baptist; this was very disconcerting to the twelve apostles and they were having a hard time putting all of it together.

“After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.” John 6:1. Across the sea from Capernaum, on the eastern side, there is a lovely, green slope. It is the Passover season—springtime;—everything is beautiful.

Travelers moving southward toward Jerusalem for the Passover, as well as many of the nearby villagers, had heard the wondrous stories about the miracles of Jesus; and they sought to follow Jesus and His disciples. Some gathered into the boats that could be found and followed them out across the sea, while others, after waiting long enough to make sure where the boat was heading, walking around the shore to meet it.

The day that was intended to be a day of counseling turned out to be a day of ministry, a long, long day of ministry, with the people far from their homes. The problem of good eventually arose, and you remember that beautiful story of the feeding of the 5,000. This event created great excitement. There were more than 5,000 persons gathered, the biggest crowd to follow Jesus that the disciples had every seen; and they were awe-stricken. It seemed to them that the great momentous hour must be moving in on then when Jesus would take the kingdom, assert His power, and declare Himself to be the rightful ruler of Israel. The crowd kept talking about making Him king, and the disciples were doing nothing to discourage them because it was sweet music to their ears.

Jesus knew the damage that would result; so, to the bitter disappointment of the disciples, near the close of the day, He sent them back to Capernaum in the boat, something they certainly did not want to do, while He withdrew to the mountain to escape from the crowd.

The next morning, as Jesus and the disciples were back in Capernaum in the synagogue and Jesus was teaching, there was a most unusual dialogue between Jesus and the people. As we look at this dialogue, we cannot help but wonder what is going on. Jesus does not seem to be in His usual diplomatic, tactful frame of mind. With each exchange of thoughts, we can see the tension building. The dialogue begins innocuously enough with the foolish question, “When did You come here?” as if there could be any doubt.

In response, Jesus looks at them for a long moment and says, “You are looking for bread, aren’t you?” (See John 6:26.)

My, what a beginning! The disciples look on in astonishment. Not knowing exactly what else to say, the people ask, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” John 6:28.

Jesus answers, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him [Me] whom He hath sent.” Blunt, straight, and direct, “This is the work of God, that you believe on Me.” Well, this sort of makes them gasp. Then in verses 30 and 31 they pick up on the idea of bread, thinking that this will give them a way to reason with Him and get His thoughts going in the way that they want them to go.

They said, “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

They were attributing the gift of the manna to Moses, but Jesus said, “Moses gave you not that bread. My Father gave you that bread, and My Father is giving you this bread. Believe on Me.” (See John 6:31, 32.)

Oh, my, where is all of that tact, all of that diplomacy? But the people continue, “Lord, evermore, give us this bread.” Verse 34. They are still hoping to bend the conversation in the way of their own interest and their own desires.

Jesus answers saying, “I am the bread.” Then in verse 35, He says, “I am the bread of life.” The Jews began to murmur, “Is not He from Nazareth? What is this business about Him coming down?” (See verses 33, 42.)

Then Jesus introduces a new symbolism which is even stronger than the first, “Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, ‘Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. . . . I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.’” Jesus will not back off the slightest bit. “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” Now He makes it even stronger, “And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:43, 44, 48–51.

Then the murmur becomes striving and arguing, and the people begin to get angry. “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat.” Verse 52.

But Jesus still will not back up. He just pushes it even more strongly. “Then Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”’” I know of no way that you could express it more strongly than that. “For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven.” Verses 53–58. The record says that at that point, a lot of them, the great majority of that huge crowd, turned their backs and walked away to follow Jesus no more.

Did not Jesus know what would be the result of that uncompromising attitude on His part? Why did He lose that crowd? He had all of these people coming to church. Why did He do what He did? “When Jesus presented the testing truth that caused so many of His disciples to turn back, He knew what would be the result of His words.” The Desire of Ages, 394. He knew what He was doing. He did it deliberately. “But Jesus brought about this crisis while by His personal presence He could still strengthen the faith of His true followers.” Ibid.

Between those two sentences, the messenger of God tells us that Jesus knew that twelve months ahead of Him was the last Passover and He knew exactly what was going to happen at that Passover. Jesus knew that if this great crowd of unconverted and half-converted people was part of the group of His followers all the way until the crucifixion and then they all left, as they would certainly do, they might even drag the disciples with them. He deliberately used this confrontational style to separate the chaff from the wheat at a time when He would still be there to help the disciples to cope with that discouragement.

Jesus was not impressed with crowds, really, as human beings are. It is so easy for us to think that when we get a lot of people coming to church by any means whatsoever, we are doing a great work for God; but that is not necessarily so. If the people are coming for the bread, that is wonderful. If they are coming for spiritual junk food, that is something else; and the two do not merge well together.

The gospel causes institutions to come into being, and there are always those who look at those institutions and see opportunities for material and financial gain. This has always been and will always be a problem in the church, so Jesus had to deal with that. But most of all, as I just said, He had to let His disciples figure it all out while He was still alive to help them. He had to confront the unconverted as if He was drawing a line and saying, “All right, now is the time for you to decide. Do you really want the gospel of the kingdom or do you want the gospel of this world? You have to decide now.” Given that choice, most of them said, “We will take the world.”

As the disciples, in anguish of heart, watched that great crowd turn their backs on Jesus, that crowd whom they thought would surely usher Him into Jerusalem, He was there and was able to take them aside and explain all of these things to them. Whereas, if He had let that crowd stay right up until the very end, the disciples probably would have been carried away by discouragement; and He, being in the grave, in the tomb, would not have been able to help them. Ellen White has an interesting comment on this. She picks up Matthew 3:12 with the words of John the Baptist, “’Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner.’ This was one of the times of purging. By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat.” The Desire of Ages. 392.

Chaff . . . wheat . . . fan . . . purging . . . Oh, yes; you remember now, do you not? “But the days of purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true. In the mighty sifting soon to take place we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand and He will thoroughly purge His floor. . . . Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 80, 81.

I was recently in the library in Loma Linda looking through some Ministry magazines for the years 1956 and 1957. I came across an article that caught my attention, “We Are Now One Million Strong.” That was in 1957. Now you could say, “We are five million strong.” What does that mean to our Lord? Not much, unless we are here for the real spiritual bread. Our Lord is not impressed by numbers but is looking at intentions, and that is far different.

The second banquet that brought disappointment and rejection is recorded in John 13. The disciples were disappointed because Jesus would not become king at the first banquet, and they were disappointed that He would not defend Himself at the second. These two banquets were the occasions for the two great appeals; but when you look at them, the language is so similar that you could almost call them one and the same appeal. Jesus was looking at the dangers ahead.

If you take John 6 and read all of the way through and then go on to chapter 7, the very first verse says that the Jews tried to find some way to kill Jesus; and they did not stop. They kept on trying during the following twelve months. Jesus knew that those last twelve months were going to be very, very dangerous.

You remember in John 11 when Lazarus died and Jesus said, “Let us go to Bethany”?

The disciples asked, “Do you not know that the Jews are trying to kill You? Are You going to go back and put Yourself right into their hands, put Yourself right in their power?”

Jesus’ answer was, “Yes.”

Then the disciples said with resignation, “Well, we will go and die with You.”

As Jesus was looking at trouble ahead, please notice His words. He does not say, “There is trouble ahead; therefore, make sure that you have your church history straight,” although church history is very important. He did not even say, “There is trouble ahead; make sure that you have your theology straight,” even though theology is very important. What did He say? He said, “There is trouble ahead. There is danger ahead. Stay close to Me. Stay close.”

Now the language back in John 6 says, “You must eat My flesh and drink My blood.” At the last supper, Jesus breaks the bread, passes it, and says, “This is My body which is given for you. Eat all of it.” He passes out the wine and says, “This is My blood which is shed for you. Drink it.” (See Matthew 26:27.) What was He saying to them? “To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it, unless it becomes a part of our being. So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. A theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Him; receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, must be assimilated.

“So fully was Jesus surrendered to the will of God that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points like as we are, He stood before the world untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. Thus we also are to overcome as Christ overcame.” The Desire of Ages, 389. This is what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood. It is an appeal for intimacy, an appeal for intimacy in the strongest language.

Stay close to Jesus in prayer. If you have been praying five minutes a day, how about making it ten? Stay close to Him in feasting upon His Word. In the same chapter, Ellen White writes, “The life of God, that gives life to the world, is in His Word.” Ibid., 320. If you have been reading the Bible ten minutes a day, how about making it twenty minutes? Stay close to His counsels in that precious treasure of the Spirit of Prophecy. Do no try to solve your problem by going off by yourself. We do not deny the problems, but the solution is not to withdraw. Stay close to Him in prayer; stay close to His Word in study; stay close to His counsels, cherishing and studying them; and stay close to His people. Jesus says to us, as He said to His disciples, “There is trouble ahead. There is danger ahead. Stay close to Me. Stay close.

Getting Out of a Bad Marriage, part 3

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There is peace in the thought that God works out all things after the counsel of His own will and that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Then it does not matter what comes against us; for in that it comes against us, it comes against the purpose of God; and that is as sure and firm as the existence of the Almighty can make it. Now who is against us? Satan is against us. That does not make any difference if he is. Satan has tried his power with Christ, and it has proved itself to be nothing. “All power in heaven and earth is given to Me” (see Matthew 28:18), says Christ. Then if all power has been given to Christ in heaven and in earth, and it has been given, where is there any left for Satan? There is none. In a contest with Christ, Satan has no power; so if we have Christ for us, nothing can be against us.

Bible Truth in Song

Some of us have been talking about the power of Satan in the past, but he has none; there is none left for him. Technically speaking, Satan is against us. Who is he? “The prince of the power of the air.” Ephesians 2:2. He brings pestilence; he brings disease; he puts things in our way and arrays them against us. But the very things which he arrays against us to work our ruin, God takes and makes them for us. They are all good. We often sing:Let good or ill befall, It must be good for me,Secure of having Thee in all, Of having all in Thee.

But we very often sing things that we do not believe at all. Now I would not have anyone sing these things any less, but I would have you believe them more. It is often the case that if you took the words from the music and put them into plain prose, there would not be anyone in a whole congregation who would believe or dare to say them. Let us believe them, not because they are in the hymn, but because they are Bible truth.

We are like the people who are represented by the prophet Ezekiel: “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against [about] thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.” That is to say, Come, let us go to meeting and hear the sermon. “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” Ezekiel 33:30–32

I say that a great many of these truths are just a song to many people. They hear them and are interested in them and then pass on, but they do not believe or do them. But the Lord has given them for us to both believe and to do, and they will be our strength. So everything works for good to them that love God. We cannot always see how or tell how; but God has said it, and we know it is so. There are many things that we cannot tell why we believe and to our very senses they do not appear to be so; but the very fact that God has promised that if we do believe them they will be so, makes them so, when we take hold and believe them. We can never know this till we do believe; but when we do believe, then we will know. So if God be for us, who can be against us?

Think of that lone prophet of God, Elisha. He was down in Samaria; the mountains were all around him. A whole host of armed men had come to take him. He stood alone with his servant, and that servant was afraid. He did not think in that moment, nor did he say, that the King of Israel ought to send a troop of horses or some infantry to defend him. The young man came to him and said, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” Elisha prayed, “Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15, 16

The whole mountain and plain was filled with chariots and horses, and any one of them was stronger than the whole host of the enemy. It is as true in our case as in that of Elisha, that “they that be for us are more than they that be against us (see verse 16);” and the only thing for us to do is to get our eyes open so that we may see that this is so. What opens our eyes? The Word, it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path; and if we believe it, we will know that they that are for us are more than they that are against us.

All Things A Blessing to Us

He who is with us is the living God of Israel, Who has power to turn darkness into light and weakness into strength; and every evil thing that comes against us, He turns into a blessing to help us on our way.

“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32. Why will He with Christ also give us all things? Because all things are in Him. “Which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:23

He that hath put on Christ is “strengthened with all might!” (See Ephesians 3:16.) Why? Because God has placed Christ “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:21–23. Therefore, everything is in Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He has all power given Him in heaven and in earth. Do you not see that this being the case, it is a foregone conclusion that when God gave Christ for us and freely delivered Him up for us all, that in Him He does give us all things?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3Christ has all power, and He hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Notice that the past tense is used. This has been done for us. Then why do we not have them? For just one reason—because we do not take them. We have been mourning for so long and saying that we want these things. Well, we can have them; they have been given to us, and there is no reason why we should not appropriate them to ourselves.

Suppose that I come to you and say that I am very hungry and I would like something to eat. “All right,” you say, “Just sit down here at the table and we will get something for you.” Soon you place the best of what you have on the table and tell me that there it is and now, eat. But I say, “O, I am so hungry and I do want food so much.” All right, take it and eat. “But I am so hungry and I do want something to eat. I have not had anything for days.” Well, take it. “Yes, but I do want food so badly.” You would say that I was out of my mind if I acted that way and did not eat of the food that was so freely placed before me.

Someone says, “If that is the way that the Lord does with these blessings that pertain to life and godliness, we are certainly foolish that we do not take them; but I do not think that the illustration is a fair one because we cannot see these things that the Lord has to offer, and we can see the food.” Neither do I think that it is a fair illustration, because it does not half fill the bill.

Unseen Realities

Did not you often think that you saw something that you did not see? Does not your sight often deceive you? Sometimes you think you saw a thing that you did not see and then again you saw things that when you came to look at them closely were not as they really appeared to be. But the Word of God never deceives. Therefore, I am more sure of the things promised in the Word of God than if I could see them. “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.” Romans 4:16

We think that anything that we can see is all right and sure. Therefore we get hold of a house or a piece of land or some other property and think that we have something because there is in our possession something that we can see. But the truth of the matter is that the only things that we can depend on are the things that we cannot see. (See 2 Corinthians 4:18.) We can see the earth, and we can see the heavens; but they are going to pass away. “But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:25

With the psalmist we can say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Psalm 46:1, 2. The time is coming when the earth will reel to and fro like a drunken man and be removed like a cottage, and the mountains will skip away and pass over into the ocean. This is going to happen; and there will be some people at that time who will feel perfectly calm and trustful, but they will not be composed of men and women who have never learned to say that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. The man who doubts God now will doubt Him then. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

All Good Things Belong to Us

Yes, we have everything; we are children of the King, of the Most High. What difference does it make if people do not own us? God owns us, and He knows us; and therefore if men heap on us reproach and persecution, the only thing that we can do is to pity them and labor for them; for they do not know the riches of the inheritance.

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33. Well, there is one that will do it surely. We have his name, Satan. Here is a testimony concerning him. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Revelation 12:10. Yes, Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He has done it day and night, and he is doing it still—laying everything he can to the charge of God’s elect. But he is cast down, and now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of His Christ. Christ has all power; how good that is.

But one says, “I believe all that, and I have confessed my sins, and I believe that God is faithful and just to forgive them and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; but these sins keep coming up before me all the time!” Are you sure that it is Satan that brings them up? That is an important point; for if you are sure of that, and they do come up, you ought to be one of the happiest creatures alive.

Why does Satan bring these things up? Because he is the accuser of the brethren, and he is a false accuser; he is a liar and the father of it. Therefore, if Satan brings these sins up and accuses you, then you know that they are forgiven, because he would never have brought them up if they had not been forgiven. He could not tell the truth if he tried; and unless they had been forgiven, he never would bring them up, never in the world, because he would be afraid that you would confess them and they would be forgiven.

There is a time when God brings sins up before us, but it is when they have not been confessed. That is the only time. But it is the Comforter Who convicts of sin, so He comforts us in every place and in the very act of calling to our remembrance the wrongs that we have done. Then when God brings sins to my notice that I have not confessed, I will thank Him for the comfort. When Satan brings them up again, I will praise God again; for if they were not forgiven, Satan would never bring them up; but if they have been confessed, they have been forgiven.In Christ are mercy and truth met together. The same hand that holds the law, holds the pardon also. Remember that when the law was spoken from Sinai in thunder tones, it was in the hand of a Mediator, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the same hand which holds the justice and that which convicts of sin holds also the pardon. Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:35–37

“We have enemies to contend with,” says one. Do not talk about them or your trials and temptations, but talk of the power of Christ. All power has been given to Him. So when we wrestle, we will remember that it is not an even-handed battle; but we fight a fight of faith, and the power is given unto us whereby we can be more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound.

Who are conquerors? They are those who have gained the victory. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12. It is not flesh and blood that we are fighting against, therefore flesh and blood are of no account in the defense. Then how do we meet the foe? “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:12

There comes in that life question again. “Lay hold on eternal life.” The only power that can resist evil is the power of an endless life, and He that hath the Son hath that life. We are to fight the good fight of faith. What is faith? Trusting in another. If I fight a fight with my fists, I do the fighting. If I fight the fight of faith, someone else is fighting for me; and I am getting the benefit. We are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Victory A Certainty

Well how is this? Christ has fought hand to hand with Satan here on earth. He conquered Satan and all of his host, and He has put down all might and dominion; for He has been placed above all “principality and power and might.” Ephesians 1:21. How great was the victory of Christ over them? Christ met these very enemies that we have to wrestle with, and He triumphed over them and spoiled them. (See Colossians 2:15.) He has gained the victory over them. What is the result? What always must be the result when a battle has been fought and one side has conquered the other completely?—Peace. Satan would not give in, so the Saviour conquered a peace.

“He is our peace.” “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. As He has given us His peace and peace follows victory, so the victory has been gained already. And if we have Christ, that victory is ours already. We simply lay hold of the eternal life of Christ; and that is done by laying hold of His Word, which is spirit and life. Thus we bring Christ into our hearts, and so we have Christ and the victory that He has won for us.

Our Cause of Weakness

The great trouble with us is that sometimes we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory. Why? We have some darling sin that we do not want to give up; we are willing, we think, that all the rest should go but that, and so we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory and that that sin will have to be given up. We call Christ in to help defeat our enemy; and when He comes, He finds us on the side of the enemy. But if we will give up all of these things, Christ will give us something that is infinitely better. When we make up our minds from the Word of God that all that God has to give us is in Christ, that He is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, we will realize that the meager things of this earth are not worth having compared to what is going to be given us.

In 1 John 4:2–4, we have reference to the wicked spirits with which we have to fight, and this assurance is given to the children of God: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” So with Elisha we know that they that are for us are more than they that are against us.

Do we believe that Christ has conquered everything; that when we have Him, we have everything; and that there is no power of darkness that can do us any hurt?When our faith fully grasps this truth, we are crucified with Him. Our own lives have been given up to Christ, but we still live. Then it must be some other life that we live, and that life is the life of Christ. That is the life in which we glory. Christ is our life. He has the victory, therefore we have it. “Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11What is it to put on the whole armour? to stand in Christ complete? He is the truth, the Lord our righteousness. Shod with peace, He is our peace. It is Christ all through. Then take the sword in your hand; it is the Word of God, and Christ is the eternal Word.

“And ye are complete in Him.” Colossians 2:10. Having put on the whole armour, which is Christ, we are complete in Him. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!” Romans 13:14. He is the armour, and the armour is He. Thus it is that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave His life for us. There is nothing that can take the armour away from us. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39
The End