Salvation

The Cost of God’s Grace

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Before modern modes of transport, it was a very rugged trip to cross the United States from the east coast to either Oregon or to California. Many people believed that there were great rewards to be gained in the West and with the desire in their hearts to make life easier for their families, they would set out on their journey to search for gold or other riches. Many were successful, but others were not so fortunate.

One man who left his wife and his son in the eastern United States and went out to California to seek riches prospered enough that he sent for his wife and son to come and join him. Instead of having them endure such a rugged journey as was involved in traveling on a stagecoach clear across the country, he arranged, as many did in those days, for them to board a ship for their journey. The Panama Canal did not yet exist, so the sea journey to California from New York or South Carolina took you all the way around the bottom of South America and up to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Tickets were purchased for this man’s wife and son to board the ship to California.

The straits at the bottom of South America are notorious for the violent storms that arise in that area. Unfortunately, the ship carrying this man’s precious cargo was involved in one of these storms and went down. As the ship was sinking, the passengers and crew scrambled to get on lifeboats. Looking desperately to save herself and her son, the mother discovered that there was only one seat left on the lifeboat. Without hesitation she lifted her son into that seat. As he looked up to her for the last time she said to him, “When you get to California tell your father that your mother died for you.” In order for him to live, she knew that she would have to die.

Grace is expensive  

Grace is the most expensive thing in the world. Paul wrote, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Again he says, “You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:1–9).

Grace is wonderful

Because of grace, your sins and my sins can be forgiven. In fact, Paul said that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). Even if you are the chief of sinners, the worst sinner in this world, your sins can be forgiven. But friend, don’t ever forget that the forgiveness of sins came at a great cost.

“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). By grace your sins can be forgiven, but that grace is expensive; it cost heaven the greatest sacrifice that has ever been made. The sacrifice was not just one of money, but a sacrifice that involved suffering, separation, and the agonizing death of the dear Son of God.

Grace received changes people 

We can never be the same or live the same after we have received grace. Why? Because it cost so much to give it to us. The little boy who took the last seat on the lifeboat would never be the same again because he knew that an infinite price had been paid for his life. He would be a different person for he gained life at the expense of another.

Writing to Titus, Paul said, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly [without being intoxicated], righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11–14). Notice especially verse 14. Jesus did not come to this world and die on the cross so that you could go on and just live the same as you did before. Notice why He did it. It says, “He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Receiving God’s grace will change you.

“He [Jesus] died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). As long as that boy lived, his most treasured memory would be of his mother, who gave her life for him. He could never live in a way that would bring dishonor upon her memory. Jesus died for all, so that we would no longer live for ourselves. Friend, if you’re living for yourself, you are living under the banner of the evil one and are still under his control. He claims you as his own (see The Desire of Ages, 130). The devil knows well that if he can get you to live for yourself then he’s got you; you are in his kingdom. Jesus died so that we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the One who died for us.

If that boy had lived his life for himself, lived a sinful life and brought dishonor upon his mother’s memory, it would have been considered a terrible crime. Jesus has died for all and whoever turns his or her back on Him, choosing to live selfishly commits a heinous crime. The Bible says, “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:26–29)? It is an insult; it is an outrage to the Holy Spirit, to go on and live in sin after receiving the grace of Christ and acknowledging His sacrifice.

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears” (Hebrews 12:14–17). Friend, grace is not something that can be trifled with. It is the most wonderful and generous gift in the world. It is expensive; it cost the greatest sacrifice that has ever been made. It shows that God is willing to save even the chief of sinners, but when a price like that has been paid to make grace available, it must be respected. Unfortunately, that is not what has happened in the Christian world for the last 2000 years.

Jude 4 says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, it is the thought that because of the abundance of grace available, you can just go on and sin because all you have to do is ask for it to be forgiven. Sin and repent, sin and repent again. This doctrine has overtaken a large part of the Christian world. People think they can deliberately sin and then go and confess it to the priest, or sin and then go and tell the Lord that they are sorry. Friend, that is a dangerous game to play. That is an example of premeditated sin, turning the grace of God into lewdness, making God’s grace essentially granting permission to sin. It is not uncommon for people to think that they can sin and then come and ask God for forgiveness. That is what Esau did. He thought he could come and be forgiven at any time, but he found out God was not Someone who could be trifled with.

“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Evidently it is possible to receive the grace of God in vain or we would not have been given this counsel. The grace of God does not only provide forgiveness from sins that are past, but the grace of God brings you the power to make it possible to live a new life, free from sin. If you don’t ever live the new life, then the grace of God is in vain for you.

Grace stabilizes a person’s life

From the time that little boy arrived in California, he felt duty bound to bring honor to his mother’s memory. He would maintain a constant effort to do what is right. Paul says, “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them” (Hebrews 13:9). Notice Paul says that grace will establish you; in other words, stabilize you so that you can’t be just blown about here and there by every wind of doctrine, till you are not sure what to believe.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Grace stabilizes a person’s life so they’re always attempting to do what is right.

Grace makes life serious, never a carnival – Life is precious because it has been purchased at an infinite price. Grace makes life serious. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Your neighbor’s life is also precious because of the infinite price that was paid for the entire race. Realization of that completely changes the way we regard and deal with each other. This is one of the main differences between Christian and non-Christian nations. Christian nations recognize that a human life is precious and will do anything that they can to preserve it. In non-Christian nations oftentimes life is cheap. Grace makes life more serious. True Christians recognize the infinite price that has been paid, not only for their own life but for the lives of all and affects the way they deal with each other.

A crude illustration is the way two different types of rock are treated. My house used to be on a country road about 300 feet back. To maintain the driveway, we would have dump trucks deliver rock which would be dumped on the driveway which I then smoothed out with the blade of my tractor. The reason the rock was brought in the dump trucks and dumped out and driven over is because that rock was common rock; it was not precious. But there are some rocks that are precious – a diamond for instance. You would not put diamonds in a dump truck and dump them on a driveway, smooth them out with a tractor and drive on them. Though they would make it a very hard road, diamonds are way too precious for that. Instead, you would place them in a velvet lined box and store them in a secure place, such as a safety deposit box or bank vault. Diamonds would be treated completely differently from the common rocks that you put on your driveway.

If I understand that all lives are precious, how then will I treat you? Some people, like rough diamonds, need their flaws removed and then to be polished. A diamond in the rough is still a diamond. It may need a lot of polishing and grinding in God’s workshop, but it’s still a diamond. Think about it. How do we treat each other? Do you treat your fellow men like gravel to be picked up and dumped here or there and driven on, or do you treat them like a diamond, though they still may be a bit rough?

Grace changes the way that we speak

There are many texts in the Bible about our speech. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6). “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).

In an Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah, it says, “You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever” (Psalm 45:2). A Christian speaks with grace. “He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the King will be his friend” (Proverbs 22:11).

The path of grace leads to character perfection

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14–16).

The Lord has promised that before the final outpouring of His judgments on this world, there is going to be a revival of primitive godliness among His people that has not been seen since the time of the apostles. We earnestly pray that we will accept the grace that has been freely offered, hold fast our confession, take up the armor of God and join with Him to take a part in this finishing work before Jesus returns.

(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.

The Heavenly Character

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John, in writing about the New Jerusalem from his lonely exile on the Island of Patmos, said that “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27). The word defiled in the Greek language means profane, unclean, dirty, unwashed, sometimes translated common; in other words, taking something that is holy and making it for everyday use. We know from this text that there is a requirement for entering the Holy City and a careful study of this text will reveal that requirement.

In a very simple way, Ellen White writes of the one requirement to have eternal life: “No unlikeness to Christ will be permitted in the holy city.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 171.

We can see by the strong language used in Revelation 21:27 that there are no exceptions to this. In English, a double negative is not used, but in the Greek language when you want to emphasize something that is not going to happen, a double negative is used, which means it will in no case happen; it will absolutely not happen. There it is; that is all you need to know. There are many other statements along the same line. The prerequisite or requirement needed to be in heaven is to have a Christlike character.

“God can only be honored when we who profess to believe in Him are conformed to His image. We are to represent to the world the beauty of holiness, and we shall never enter the gates of the city of God until we perfect a Christlike character. If we, with trust in God, strive for sanctification, we shall receive it. Then as witnesses for Christ, we are to make known what the grace of God has wrought in us.” The Upward Look, 99.

If all who are saved have a Christlike character, then we need to find out what it is like and aim to be like Him. Salvation has never been something you can earn; it is something that those who are like Christ receive as a free gift. The door will be wide open for them to enter through the pearly gate. Jesus has already paid the price for them to enter and all they have to do is follow Him.

When we start to study this subject, we begin to understand what Jesus said to the people while He was here on earth. He would say, “Follow Me.” Just before He left the earth the disciples said to Him, “Show us the Father.” But Jesus said, “Have I been so long with you and you don’t know who I am? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.” They said to Him, “Show us the way to heaven. We don’t know how to get there.” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (See John 14.)

Continuing in Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 171: “The process of gaining perfection of character is to be carried on in this life, that we may be prepared for the future immortal life. It is God’s purpose that His church on earth shall reach perfection.”

I have discovered during my years in ministry that there are many people who think it impossible for them to be perfect. They defend their belief using the parable of the wheat and the tares, but remember, part of that parable indicates that all the tares will be burned up. This statement says that God has a purpose for His church and His purpose is that His church is to reach perfection. To the human eye this seems impossible, but when God purposes something, He can make it happen. The devil is determined that it will not happen, and he is busy working in every family and every church to keep this from happening.

“It is essential that His [God’s] directions be strictly obeyed. The members are to help and strengthen one another. No self-exaltation or accusing or harshness are to be shown in our dealings with one another. We must purify our souls through love and obedience to the truth. … We must act like saints toward one another, preparing ourselves, drilling ourselves, to be without fault in character, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” Ibid.

Every defect of character will be overcome. There are many places in the New Testament that we could read that would confirm this need. We could read from almost any one of the apostles, or from James, Peter or Paul (see Ephesians 5; Philippians 1; 1 Corinthians 1), and in the book of Revelation; in fact, all the authors of the New Testament say the same.

“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things [2 Peter 3:10–13], be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless [without blemish]” (verse 14). There is only one prerequisite to having the gift of eternal life given to you and that is to have a Christlike character.

In the magazine The Southern Watchman, April 16, 1903, Ellen White made this statement: “It is not money or lands or position, but the possession of a Christlike character, that will open to us the gates of Paradise. It is not dignity, it is not intellectual attainments, that will win for us the crown of immortality. Only the meek and lowly ones, who have made God their efficiency, will receive this gift.”

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” We must walk as He walked (1 John 2:6). The people who are ready for His return will be like Him (1 John 3:1, 2). “Nothing should divert the mind from the main object in life, which is to have Christ in the soul, melting and subduing the heart.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 278.

To become like Jesus, surely that ought to be our main goal in life and to be ready when He comes.

Two big questions are then raised.

1  What does it mean to be Christlike?

2  How do I become Christlike?

Simply knowing what it is to be Christlike will not do any good unless that knowledge is used to change the person. The devil knows well what Christlikeness is, but it does him no good because he has chosen the different path. Consider these 13 main points about what is involved in acquiring a Christlike character.

 

  1. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden [weighted down], and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle [meek, humble] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy [kind] and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Being gentle and lowly in heart was one of the main reasons Jesus was rejected and crucified. This characteristic is not a natural tendency. In fact, most people are just the opposite. However, if you surrender your heart and your life to Jesus and begin to learn from Him, copy Him, the Holy Spirit will work a change inside so that your nature will become gentle.

In the book of Numbers is recorded that Moses was the meekest of all men who lived on the earth. We know that did not happen when he was in Egypt; it happened during the 40 years while he was herding sheep. You would not generally send a person who had the equivalent of a Ph.D, a doctor’s degree, been trained as a military general, someone who was in line to rule a kingdom, out to herd sheep, but that’s exactly what God did to Moses because He had something more to teach him.

Maybe some terrible experience you may be going through in your life is just plain unexplainable. You may wonder how so many bad things could happen to one person. I can’t explain, but I know one thing, if out of all the trouble you may be going through you end up becoming gentle and lowly in heart, it will be worth it because you will then be fit to live in the presence of holy beings. In heaven, gentleness will be the trait of all. This is hard to imagine, a place without anybody who is rough, coarse, overbearing, proud, or haughty. We must examine ourselves to see if we would be a good fit there!

 

  1. Many people around us are gloomy and despondent, who in the midst of this gloominess eventually get to complaining. In The Adventist Home, 431, Ellen White wrote, “Do you ever see me gloomy, desponding, complaining? I have a faith which forbids this. It is a misconception of the true ideal of Christian character and Christian service that leads to these conclusions. It is the want of genuine religion that produces gloom, despondency, and sadness. Earnest Christians seek to imitate Jesus, for to be Christians is to be Christlike. It will be really essential to have correct conceptions of Christ’s life, Christ’s habits, that His principles may be reproduced in us who would be Christlike.”

Oh friend, do you know of any time when Jesus was gloomy? There wasn’t any time. When Jesus went to the cross, He went not only willingly, but without a murmuring thought, in order to save mankind.

We read in the book of Numbers how the children of Israel continually fell into complaining and despondency. In most English translations it says the people became impatient. In the Hebrew language it talks about their temper and says it got short. In their discouragement they accused Moses of promising them a good land of vineyards, olive orchards and fig trees, but just led them out into a desert. Who was leading them? Was Moses really the one leading them?

 

  1. In John 15:10, Jesus said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” If we become Christlike, we will be obedient to God’s commandments.

 

  1. Jesus was always courteous (Luke 7). Can we say the same? The Bible says that the man that never says anything offensive with his tongue is perfect (James 3:2). In heaven, everyone will always be courteous – the angels and the saved.

 

  1. In John the 13th and 14th chapters, Jesus told His disciples to love others the way that He loved them. It’s unfortunate that men at times bang their wives over the head with their words, claiming Ephesians 5 where Paul says the wife is to submit to her husband. But look at the context of that statement. It says that the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church (verse 25). This text is hard on men. I’ve read that text and said, Lord, that’s impossible. I’ll never be able to love any human being the way Christ loved the church. How can this ever be? Christ loved the church so much that He eagerly pressed His way toward Jerusalem in 31 A.D. so that He could be crucified for it. He was eager to do that without one murmuring thought.

A husband who struggles with his wife should go to the Lord and ask that He work a miracle in his heart so that he could love his wife just as Christ loves the church and see if anything happens.

 

  1. Jesus was pure. It says in 1 John 3:3, “Everyone who has this hope [of eternal life] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Purity is a subject that needs careful study because we live in a world that is impure and the worldly ideal of purity is far from the ideal of Christian purity.

Some believe you can think whatever you want as long as you don’t do it. However, purity involves the mind, heart, and feelings.

 

  1. A favorite characteristic of Jesus to meditate on is His mercy. When you begin to recognize your own great need of mercy you become compassionate to others and treat them with more mercy. The person who is not merciful is not going to receive mercy. (See Matthew 6; James 2:13.) Mercy forgives somebody when they have made a mistake. What if they make more than one? The disciples wanted to be sure they got liberal on this so Peter said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times” (Matthew 18:21)? Then Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (verse 22). That is mercy.

 

  1. Jesus could endure contradiction without becoming angry or upset or impatient. “To be a Christian is to be Christlike, to possess humility and a meek and quiet spirit that will bear contradiction without being enraged or becoming insane.” Testimonies, vol, 2. 573.

 

  1. Jesus had a pitying tenderness for sinners. How do you feel about sinners, especially when they have done something against you? Forget about the sinners that have done something against somebody else. How do you feel about the sinners that have done something against you? There are so many instances in the scriptures where Jesus had a tender pity for them. Remember the woman brought to Him who had been taken in adultery. After Jesus arranged to have her accusers leave, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you” (John 8:10)? She expected to be stoned. “She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’ ” (verse 11).

Jesus had tender pity for people who were caught in the bondage of sin. Sin is like a net or a spider’s web. When an insect gets caught in there, a battle goes on. While the insect is trying to get out, the spider waits until it gets weak enough and then comes in for the kill. Sin is like that. There are people all around us that are caught in the spider web of sin and unless Divine power sets them free, they will never get free. Our condemnation will never help them. We need to have tender pity for those who are caught in the web of sin, praying that the Lord will set them free.

 

  1. Jesus had a spirit of forgiveness. When He was nailed to the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23:34). The verb used in the Greek New Testament in this verse has a continuous meaning. It wasn’t just something that He thought for a moment; it was something that was going through His mind. In fact, some scholars believe that this is something that He said over and over again. It’s recorded only once in the Scripture.

 

  1. Jesus was self-denying and self-sacrificing. Repeating it many times to His disciples, He said, “If any man will come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24 KJV). In Luke 9:23, the word “daily” is added. “Take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Nobody will be in the kingdom of heaven that has not learned the lesson of self-sacrifice and self-denial. That is an integral part of the character of Christ.

 

  1. Jesus was kind, so kind that the children loved to climb up and sit in His lap. Children don’t usually like to climb up and sit in the lap of a person who is unkind; they are afraid of them.

 

  1. If we are Christlike, we will have unity among us. “Christ in one worker will acknowledge Christ in a brother worker. Those who are exacting, who are faultfinding, who think evil of others, are advancing the work of the enemy, tearing down that which God would have built up. All these discordant elements represent the powers of darkness, and show that Christ, the hope of glory, is not found within.” Testimonies to Southern Africa, 26, 27.

Those who are exacting, faultfinding, and think evil of others are doing the work of the enemy and demonstrate that Christ is not formed within their hearts. This one touches us all.

This evil surmising of others is going on all over the world and it is not Christlike. Pray that the Lord will help us overcome the temptation to think and speak evil of others. Ask that the Holy Spirit will help you to determine to become Christlike. We can never do it unless God works a miracle. But the Bible says that the God we serve is faithful and that He will do it; He will sanctify us totally (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24). Do you want that miracle to happen in your life?

“He who has given his life to God in ministry to His children is linked with Him who has all the resources of the universe at His command. His life is bound up by the golden chain of the immutable promises with the life of God. The Lord will not fail him in the hour of suffering and need. ‘My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4:19). And in the hour of final need the merciful shall find refuge in the mercy of the compassionate Saviour and shall be received into everlasting habitations.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 24.

God’s promise to complete the work He began in us are “leaves from that tree which is ‘for the healing of the nations’ (Revelation 22:2). Received, assimilated, they are to be the strength of the character, the inspiration and sustenance of the life.” The Ministry of Healing, 122.

We need that promised complete change of character. Determine to make whatever sacrifice you need to make to be Christlike. Ask the Lord to help you to have each one of these characteristics.

(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.

The Atonement and the Sanctuary

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The Spirit of the Lord has given pointed warnings concerning the doctrine of the atonement.

“The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill.” The Great Controversy, 488.

“Satan is striving continually to bring in fanciful suppositions in regard to the sanctuary, degrading the wonderful representations of God and the ministry of Christ for our salvation into something that suits the carnal mind. He removes its presiding power from the hearts of believers, and supplies its place with fantastic theories invented to make void the truths of the atonement, and destroy our confidence in the doctrines which we have held sacred since the third angel’s message was first given. Thus he would rob us of our faith in the very message that has made us a separate people, and has given character and power to our work.” Evangelism, 225.

These words are being fulfilled before our very eyes today. The word atonement is mentioned only once in the King James translation of the New Testament and reads: “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:9–11). However, the word reconciliation or its derivative (translated from the same Greek word or its derivative) is found nine times, five of which are found in 2 Corinthians 5:18–20 and two in Romans 5:10. The other two (1 Corinthians 7:11 and Romans 11:15) do not pertain to the cross of Christ.

Speaking of the reconciliation, Paul says, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:18–21). Paul says God has reconciled us and the world and given to us the ministry of reconciliation to go forth as ambassadors, taking the word of reconciliation, which is a call to be reconciled. How can people who have been reconciled be called to be reconciled?

When we think of the atonement or reconciliation, we usually limit our understanding to the cross. Yet we are told that Jesus is ministering as our High Priest, not the sacrifice, to make reconciliation. “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). This word is primarily different from the previous word in that it does not carry the connotation of being restored to divine favor, but denotes the mercy received through Christ as our “propitiation.”

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14–16).

Although the word atonement is found only once in the New Testament, it is mentioned 80 times in the Old Testament (10 times in Exodus, 49 times in Leviticus, 17 times in Numbers, and once each in 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and Nehemiah). Over half of these are found in the book of Leviticus and pertain to the sanctuary service. Therefore, to fully understand the atonement, we must also understand the biblical doctrine of the sanctuary. There is only one people in the whole wide world that even remotely understand this great Bible truth, and many of them have but clouded concepts of this glorious doctrine.

Most Christians have come to believe that the atonement is based solely upon the cross. But what good would the sacrifice of Jesus have been, if He had remained in the grave? You see, the atonement consists of much more than many are aware. “It was not alone His [Christ’s] betrayal in the garden or His agony upon the cross that constituted the atonement. The humiliation of which His poverty formed a part was included in His great sacrifice. The whole series of sorrows which compassed humanity Christ bore upon His divine soul.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1103.

The atonement is as much an ongoing process as is salvation. Under the Levitical law, when the animal was sacrificed, was not the person forgiven? Was not an atonement made? Why then did the blood have to be taken into the sanctuary? Why was it necessary that there be a yearly “cleansing of the sanctuary” if a full and final atonement had already been made in the death of the sacrifice?

Notice what Scripture says: “And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with Him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:7–10).

If the death alone was sufficient, why did the blood have to be carried into the sanctuary? Why was an atonement made as much as a year after the sacrifice? Because it took more than the sacrifice. This is what Paul meant when he said, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain” and “we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:17, 19).

On the surface the popular evangelical view of the atonement sounds so good, and thus we join in thought with the errors of evangelicalism and claim that it all happened 2000 years ago; that the atonement is finished, over, final, and complete. However, this presents a real problem, for where does that leave us? Where does it leave Jesus? Where is Jesus now? What is He doing? What are we to be doing? Why are we still here? Why hasn’t Jesus come back? These are questions that find no satisfactory answer if one holds the common view conveyed to Christianity through Catholicism.

We find the parallel to the ministry of Jesus, our high priest, in the heavenly sanctuary in the services of the earthly sanctuary. God gave the following instruction for the earthly high priest on the day of atonement. “And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:20–22).

While here on this earth Jesus was declared to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” and more than 700 years before His birth, the prophet Isaiah had declared that He was to be “brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (John 1:29; Isaiah 53:7).

Beyond any doubt, the Son of the Living God became our Sacrifice to cleanse us from sin, for “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). But the good news of the Gospel of Christ is that He was more than just a Sacrifice. He did more than just die for us. He now lives for us as well. He burst forth from that tomb victorious and He declares: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18).

Death could not hold the Son of God, who is now “set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1). “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Herein lies our hope, for there is but “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6).

Jesus died as our Sacrifice, but more than this, He ascended to heaven to minister as our Intercessor, our Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary. There He began the first apartment phase of His ministry—that of the forgiveness of our sins through the merits of His own shed blood.

Without this ministry of Jesus where would we be? “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But praise God, Jesus is there, and “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” and “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 2:1; 1:9).

This ministry of Jesus had its parallel in the daily ministry of the priests in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary and “For eighteen centuries this work of ministration continued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ, pleaded in behalf of penitent believers, secured their pardon and acceptance with the Father, yet their sins still remained upon the books of record. As in the typical service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before Christ’s work for the redemption of men is completed, there is a work of atonement for the removal of sin from the sanctuary. This is the service which began when the 2300 days ended. At that time, as foretold by Daniel the prophet, our High Priest entered the most holy, to perform the last division of his solemn work—to cleanse the sanctuary.

“As anciently the sins of the people were by faith placed upon the sin offering, and through its blood transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary, so in the new covenant the sins of the repentant are by faith placed upon Christ and transferred, in fact, to the heavenly sanctuary. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. But, before this can be accomplished, there must be an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigation—a work of judgment. This work must be performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem His people; for when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to every man according to his works (Revelation 22:12).

“Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic word saw that, instead of coming to the earth at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement preparatory to His coming.” The Great Controversy, 421, 422.

This has always been the position of Seventh-day Adventists until recently. F. D. Nichol stated in his book Answers to Objections, 408: “We believe that Christ’s work of atonement was begun, rather than completed, at Calvary.”

The cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service to be completed in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of the atonement, the removal of and putting away of the sins of the people, and it prefigured the work of our High Priest in heaven in the removal or blotting out of the sins of His people, which are registered in the heavenly records, as well as the removal of sin from their lives. The atonement is not over, regardless of what Babylon may say.

Notice what God says is to take place when it is over. “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people” (Leviticus 23:27–30). The word here translated “cut off” means to kill or destroy. (See Exodus 4:24; Hosea 4:6; Daniel 9:26.)

“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. … While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God’s people upon earth. This work is more clearly presented in the messages of Revelation 14.

“When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing. … Then the church which our Lord at His coming is to receive to Himself will be a ‘glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing’ (Ephesians 5:27).” The Great Controversy, 425.

The passionate pleas of the prophet should awaken in our hearts and minds a riveting realization of who we are and the tremendous importance of the fact that we are living in the day of atonement.

“Shall we forget our holy calling, brethren? Shall the mournful deterioration of piety be seen among us, that caused the rejection of the Jewish nation? Shall we who have had so great light upon Bible truth let a dry, dead formalism take the place of zeal and faith? … We must arouse and take in the situation. We are in the day of atonement, and we are to work in harmony with Christ’s work of cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people. Let no man who desires to be found with the wedding garment on, resist our Lord in His office work. As He is, so will His followers be in this world. We must now set before the people the work which by faith we see our great High-priest accomplishing in the heavenly sanctuary. Those who do not sympathize with Jesus in His work in the heavenly courts, who do not cleanse the soul temple of every defilement, but who engage in some enterprise not in harmony with this work, are joining with the enemy of God and man in leading minds away from the truth and work for this time.” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, January 21, 1890.

“Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary, and He is there to make an atonement for the people. He is there to present His wounded side and pierced hands to His Father. He is there to plead for His Church that is upon the earth. He is cleansing the sanctuary from the sins of the people. What is our work? It is our work to be in harmony with the work of Christ. By faith we are to work with Him, to be in union with Him.” Ibid., January 28, 1890.

If we accept the Evangelical position on the atonement, we must say there is no such thing as a cleansing of the sanctuary, the day of atonement, or an investigative judgment beginning in 1844. Yet the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy are very clear that we are today living in the great day of final atonement and investigative judgment. When this work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary has been completed, Jesus will leave the heavenly sanctuary making the awesome pronouncement, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:11, 12), and return to this earth to receive His people.

“As the priest entered the most holy once a year to cleanse the earthly sanctuary, so Jesus entered the most holy of the heavenly, at the end of the 2300 days of Daniel 8, in 1844, to make a final atonement for all who could be benefitted by His mediation, and thus to cleanse the sanctuary.” Early Writings, 253.

“Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself, ‘The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me’ (John 14:30). Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father’s commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble.

“It is in this life that we are to separate sin from us, through faith in the atoning blood of Christ.” The Great Controversy, 623.

Joe Gresham was raised in an agnostic, humanistic environment and first experienced the life-changing power of the love of God at age 27. His transformation from a life of crime and violence into an international speaker is a miracle of God’s grace. An ordained minister, evangelist, author, radio and TV speaker, Joe served on the staff of Andrews University as adjunct professor of religion.

A Song for You

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It happened in 1829 to a young girl by the name of Susanna Foster. She had a younger sister by the name of Elisa who lived to be very old. She also had some brothers, one of which was Steven Foster, a famous song writer from the last century. Susanna was a very promising musician and singer, but while she was still young, she contracted tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs. She was seriously ill and was expected to die. Some of her friends stayed up all night with her, not knowing at the time that it would be her last. At 4:30 in the morning, she awoke and sang a song. Her voice was clear and crisp; however, a short time after, she died, never to sing again.

Her family mourned her loss. Steven Foster was so young when she died that he never really got to know his sister personally, but the memory of her song on the night she died lived on.

There are often discouraging experiences in life that we simply do not understand. Some years ago, another young woman with two young daughters and a little baby boy died. After having a surgery for cancer, she went through a course of chemotherapy followed by some other treatments in an effort to help her get better. However, she did not get better; she got worse. When you are only 29 years old and you have two beautiful daughters and a beautiful baby boy, the last thing you want to do is die.

In the Bible, there is a story about a man who was told that he was going to die. The prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him to get his house in order, thus he was given forewarning. Hezekiah did not want to die right then so he turned his face towards the wall and he said, “Lord, I do not want to die.”

Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord that he would live a little longer and the Lord answered his prayer telling him that he would lengthen his life another fifteen years. However, a very sad thing happened during that time. Hezekiah fathered a child by the name of Manasseh who was one of the most wicked kings that ever ruled Judah. It was Manasseh who was responsible for martyring Isaiah the prophet and it was because of his influence that the children of Israel were taken into captivity.

This was the terrible consequence that resulted because Hezekiah did not die at the right time, at God’s appointed time.

Sometimes it is hard to accept God’s will when we do not understand the big picture. This young lady, only 29 years old, did not want to die either, but her condition worsened. The last time I saw her at church she was so sick that she was in a wheelchair and on oxygen. Her husband, standing beside her, too sad for words, just gave a nod of recognition. No words were exchanged; it was just too sad to say anything. Unknown to me then, it was the last time I would see her alive; a few days later she died. I visited her husband with his three children and felt the emptiness and the hollowness inside their home. The light of that house was no longer there; this man’s crown of rejoicing was no longer with them.

Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28, 29, literal translation).

This young lady had deteriorated so much that she had to be taken to a hospital. The family all knew she was dying, but still every effort was made to try and save her life and help her to stay a little longer. As the evening grew on, her husband decided to stay there with her all that night. In the afternoon she had asked him, “Who are all these people in my room?” He looked around and said, “I don’t see anybody; there’s nobody here.” She was insistent that there was, that the room was full of bright shining beings who were all around her bed, but he did not see anybody.

Pretty soon it was supper time. Surprisingly, for being in her condition, she ate a good supper and after supper they had a wonderful conversation together. They did not know then, but it would be their last conversation together, and then she went to sleep.

This lady had prayed, “Lord, if I have to die, because this is so distasteful to me leaving my children, please let me die in my sleep.” The Lord that night answered her prayer, and she went to sleep. About 5:00 o’clock in the morning, her husband who was sleeping in a chair by her bed, woke up with a start. He felt her and saw that she was not breathing. Ten minutes before, the nurse had checked on her and had seen that everything was fine. The doctors tried to resuscitate her, but it was too late; she was gone. She was only 29 years old, leaving two beautiful girls, a two-year-old baby boy, and a loving husband. Who can understand?

Life is so uncertain. At every opportunity show the members of your family the affection that you ought, so that if something should happen and they are taken suddenly from you, you will have some pleasant memories of the way you talked to them, and the way you treated them.

A physician was working in his office when his wife stopped by on her way to do some business downtown. She had wanted some time with him but was brushed off because he was “too busy.” A few minutes later he received the telephone call that everyone dreads. A policeman was on the other end of the line informing him that his wife had been involved in a serious car accident. A few minutes before, he had been impatient and “too busy.” Would those words be the last he would ever speak to her, words of impatience?

What if something happened to somebody you love? Would the last words you spoke be words that you would want to remember? Always make sure that your parting words are a pleasant exchange and never impatient or fretful. Life is uncertain and none of us know how long we have our loved ones with us. We need to take advantage of every opportunity to show love, sympathy and affection to those we love.

“Home should be made all that the name implies. It should be a little heaven upon the earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and polite courtesy to one another. The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in our world, is because true affection has been regarded as weakness, and has been discouraged and repressed. The better part of the nature of those of this class was perverted and dwarfed in childhood; and unless rays of divine light can melt away their coldness and hard-hearted selfishness, the happiness of such is buried forever. If we would have tender hearts, such as Jesus had when He was upon the earth, and sanctified sympathy, such as angels have for sinful mortals, we must cultivate the sympathies of childhood, which are simplicity itself. Then we shall be refined, elevated, and directed by heavenly principles.” The Review and Herald, June 22, 1886.

We need to express love and affection in our homes so that our children don’t grow up to be hard-hearted. What kinds of words do you speak with your spouse and with your children, with your brothers, and with your sisters?

That Sunday morning, I was on the way to the prison and needed to get all the sadness from my mind for the prisoners needed to be encouraged. I had been going to this jail for some time and I knew there would be between 15–25 inmates who would be there to sing songs and hear the gospel. Out of that jail ministry there were people who had accepted Christ, some who had become Seventh-day Adventists, and I was going there to be an encouragement to them and cheer them up. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1–3).

Promises like this we would share with the people in the prison and tell them that there are no jails in heaven. Neither will there be hospitals or any other trouble at all in heaven. The prisoners loved to hear about heaven and they loved to sing the song, “Power in the Blood.”

As Jesus comforted His disciples when they were in trouble, He left us an example. In the first chapter of 2 Corinthians you can read how Paul also comforted those who found themselves in all kinds of trouble. While behind bars many inmates reach out for hope of a better life. This can be a very fruitful field for evangelism for Christians who are able to comfort prisoners and give them hope.

As I was on my way to the jail, I was preoccupied with thoughts about these children who had just lost their mother from cancer. I just could not shake it out of my mind as I went up into the cell block that morning. One of the prisoners, whom I knew quite well, recognized a different expression on my face at once and asked, “What’s the matter with you, preacher?”

My purpose for being there that day was to encourage these people and not to tell them my troubles. He had asked a direct question, so not to tell a lie, I told him about my friend whose wife had just died from cancer, that she was only 29 years old with three children, two older girls and a little baby boy, two years old, and that when he grows up he will not even be able to remember his mother.

That whole cell block went quiet. Though I was only talking to this man who had asked me the question, everybody else was listening. I came right up to the bar that divided us and he did the same, and looking up into my face he began to tell me the story of his life.

He said, I have two older sisters, and when I was two years old my mother died from cancer. She was only 29 years old. When my mother died, my father could not cope and as a result became an alcoholic. There was nobody to take care of the children, so we were separated. My two sisters were raised somewhere else and I was taken to an orphanage.

This man had heard the Gospel presented a number of times with never a response, but now, all of a sudden, I understood what had happened to this boy, what had happened to this man. He had grown up deprived of a mother to love him, without the special tender love of a family, and no one to express that love and sympathy and affection that is so needed. With his mother, whom he never knew, and his father an alcoholic as a result, he had become hard-hearted, and as he became a man he had gotten into trouble with the law and ended up in jail.

Never before had this man responded after hearing the Gospel, but this time his heart was touched. I had been given the key to his heart as he had told me the story of his life, and he was now ready to respond and receive hope and comfort.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South. They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:3–6).

With all the prisoners still listening, even though I was just talking to this one man, I asked him if his mother was a Christian. He said that his sisters had told him that she had been a Bible believing Christian. Then I asked him if he would like to see his mother again some day, and he said, “Yes.” I commenced to tell him how that could happen. Someday Jesus is going to come back to this world; He is going to come back from heaven. The Bible says that every eye is going to see Him and when He returns, He is going to look down on this world, and He is going to say, “Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust” (Isaiah 26:19).

I told him that when Jesus comes in the clouds and says, “Awake, awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust and arise” (Ephesians 5:14), your mother is going to awake and come out of the grave, and she is going to look for you. If you surrender your heart and life to Jesus, you are going to be there. Your mother is going to look for you when she wakes up when Jesus returns.

By the way friend, when Jesus comes, is there anyone who is going to wake up and look for you? Are you going to be there? If you are there, then they are going to sing.

I believe one of the persons who will awake in the first resurrection and will look for me, is my father. My father died as a result of being hit by a car in April 2000. I remember when I was a small boy at home, over and over again I heard my father pray during family worship. He would ask the Lord that our family might be saved, without the loss of one. My father did not want anybody in his family to be lost. He continually worked for all people wherever he lived in the world to share the Gospel with them, but he always prayed that all his family would be saved.

Who is going to look for you? Are they going to sing? Are they going to have a song in the night for you because you are there?

In Isaiah 30:29 the Lord says that you are going to have a song in the night.

Isaiah 21 talks about the watchmen: “Watchman, what of the night? … The watchman said, ‘The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back’ ” (Isaiah 21:11, 12)!

The night of sin, friends, is almost over and the eternal morning is going to break very soon for the righteous. It will be eternal night for the wicked. So, because the night of sin is about over and the morning is going to come soon, the watchman says, “If you return, inquire and come.”

The context of the verses in Isaiah 21 is the fall of Babylon. In Revelation 18, when Babylon falls, the morning is coming. That is one of the reasons why people are going to sing, because the night is over. They will have a song in the night because the eternal morning is coming. With it, however, is also the night; eternal night for the wicked.

“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.” The Great Controversy, 464.

In order for the night of sin to end there must be a return to primitive godliness. As Jeremiah puts it, “ask for the old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16).

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Come out from among them and be separate. God wants a peculiar people who reflect His image, a people who will return to primitive godliness, a people who will reject worldly ways and its entertainments, adornments, and lifestyles. God wants people who are not afraid to be known as Christians and turn away from harmful substances like alcohol, and delight in the Sabbath, the special day that God gave to man for rest and worship.

The worldly ways that have been allowed to fester in the church have caused confusion and strife. Proverbs 13:10 says, “By pride comes nothing but strife.”

The Lord is coming! He is going to end this night of sin and we are going to have a song. But the people who have the song are going to be the people who beforehand had an experience in primitive godliness.

Make sure you are among that group of people, the ones who have a song, and are ready to meet their Lord and Savior when He returns (Isaiah 30:29, 30).

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

The Reconciliation of Man to God

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A Miracle of Miracles

It is a rare person who at one time or another doesn’t have need of reconciliation with someone whom they have offended. Opportunities for reconciliation are one of the means that Providence uses to develop character.

The Oxford dictionary defines to “reconcile” as to “restore friendly relations between.” A secondary definition reads to “cause to coexist in harmony; make or show to be compatible.” Strong’s Concordance is more direct: “Atonement; restoration to divine favor.”

Nothing is more in need of reconciliation, of “restoration to divine favor,” than the relationship between man and God after the Fall in the Garden of Eden. God has been working tirelessly for six thousand years to restore man to divine favor and bring about the reconciliation that must occur between God and the pinnacle of His creation before Christ returns to gather His saints. The big question is, Are we cooperating with that effort?

In one sense, reconciliation is simply another term for atonement. If we are reconciled to God, our character is once again aligned with the divine purpose of the plan of redemption—restoring the image of God in man.

Achieving that reconciliation, that atonement, requires exactly what Jesus told Nicodemus he needed during their nocturnal conversation recorded in John 3:3: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

No other Bible writer wrote more about this need than Paul. In his second epistle to the Corinthians, he wrote in great detail regarding the need for reconciliation and about how God is working to fulfill that need: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing [attributing, assigning] their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:17–21).

What an incredible statement! How clearly this passage shows the love of God for man. We are moved to cry out, “Abba, Father!” as we realize the intense longing that reigns in our Heavenly Father’s heart for the reconciliation of mankind to Himself.

In commenting on this text, Inspiration records, “ ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God. This change is in itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only believe, as declared by the Scriptures, it is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27).” The Acts of the Apostles, 476.

Note the harmony between reconciliation, atonement, and the new birth experience. They are bound together by one divine purpose: the restoration of the image of God in man. Still another term for this miracle of miracles is “redemption.”

“The work of redemption involves consequences of which it is difficult for man to have any conception. ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is ‘the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus’ (Romans 3:26). And ‘whom He justified, them He also glorified’ (Romans 8:30). Great as is the shame and degradation through sin, even greater will be the honor and exaltation through redeeming love. To human beings striving for conformity to the divine image there is imparted an outlay of heaven’s treasure, an excellency of power, that will place them higher than even the angels who have never fallen.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 162, 163.

Man, in and of himself, is completely incapable of achieving this reconciliation, this rebirth, without divine power.

“Nothing but divine power can regenerate the human heart and imbue souls with the love of Christ, which will ever manifest itself with love for those for whom He died. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. When a man is converted to God, a new moral taste is supplied, a new motive power is given, and he loves the things that God loves; for his life is bound up by the golden chain of the immutable promises to the life of Jesus. Love, joy, peace, and inexpressible gratitude will pervade the soul, and the language of him who is blessed will be, ‘Thy gentleness hath made me great’ (Psalm 18:35).” Selected Messages, Book 1, 336.

We can add yet another term to this miraculous process of reconciliation: conversion.

“Conversion is a work that most do not appreciate. It is not a small matter to transform an earthly, sin-loving mind and bring it to understand the unspeakable love of Christ, the charms of His grace, and the excellency of God, so that the soul shall be imbued with divine love and captivated with the heavenly mysteries. When he understands these things, his former life appears disgusting and hateful. He hates sin, and, breaking his heart before God, he embraces Christ as the life and joy of the soul. He renounces his former pleasures. He has a new mind, new affections, new interest, new will; his sorrows, and desires, and love are all new. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, which have heretofore been preferred before Christ, are now turned from, and Christ is the charm of his life, the crown of his rejoicing. Heaven, which once possessed no charms, is now viewed in its riches and glory; and he contemplates it as his future home, where he shall see, love, and praise the One who hath redeemed him by His precious blood.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 294.

A bit of meditation on this passage will reveal the incredible “broadness” and all-encompassing nature of the reconciliation process. It becomes plainly evident that reconciliation, conversion, atonement, redemption, and the new birth experience are one and the same. Man can succeed in this process only through cooperation with the divine agencies that God in His mercy has tasked with guiding man along the path of truth and righteousness.

God uses ways to achieve the new birth experience in each individual that we often do not recognize until after the fact—if at all. There are angelic hosts who intercede on our behalf in unseen ways; God moves upon those with whom we interact, often unbeknownst to them, to speak words of encouragement and edification at exactly the right time; the Holy Spirit speaks to us in that still small voice. How many times have we suddenly experienced an epiphany, a “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding,” when reading a familiar Scripture or a well-known passage in the spirit of Prophecy!

Often when we examine our lives and the daily activities—the thoughts, words, and deeds that make up a day’s activities, we become lost in despair of ever being able to meet the high standard that God’s law demands. That is not an unusual perplexity. It is at times like this that we must remember the Cross of Christ.

“Christ suffered in order that through faith in Him our sins might be pardoned. He became man’s substitute and surety, Himself taking the punishment, though all undeserving, that we who deserved it might be free, and return to our allegiance to God through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. He is our only hope of salvation. Through His sacrifice we who are now on probation are prisoners of hope. We are to reveal to the universe, to the world fallen and to worlds unfallen, that there is forgiveness with God, that through the love of God we may be reconciled to God. Man repents, becomes contrite in heart, believes in Christ as His atoning sacrifice, and realizes that God is reconciled to him. …

“The reconciliation of God to man, and man to God, is sure when certain conditions are met.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 369.

“Through Jesus, God’s mercy was manifested to men; but mercy does not set aside justice. The law reveals the attributes of God’s character, and not a jot or tittle of it could be changed to meet man in his fallen condition. God did not change His law, but He sacrificed Himself, in Christ, for man’s redemption. ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19).” The Desire of Ages, 762.

What does the manifestation and subsequent sacrifice of God in Christ mean to fallen, degraded mankind?

“God was to be manifest in Christ, ‘reconciling the world unto Himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19). Man had become so degraded by sin that it was impossible for him, in himself, to come into harmony with Him whose nature is purity and goodness. But Christ, after having redeemed man from the condemnation of the law, could impart divine power to unite with human effort. Thus by repentance toward God and faith in Christ the fallen children of Adam might once more become ‘sons of God’ (1 John 3:2).” Patriarchs and Prophets, 64.

By meditation on the incredible and incomprehensible miracle of the Word made flesh, the mysterious blending of the human with the divine, we can begin to appreciate the holiness of God’s character as revealed through His Law and how the plan of redemption enables us to meet the standard that the Law enjoins.

“Says the apostle: ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19). Only as we contemplate the great plan of redemption can we have a just appreciation of the character of God. The work of creation was a manifestation of His love; but the gift of God to save the guilty and ruined race alone reveals the infinite depths of divine tenderness and compassion. ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16).” Testimonies, vol. 5, 739. [Emphasis author’s.]

The worshipers in the church at Corinth were not the only ones to whom Paul explained the need of reconciliation. The converts in Ephesus were also given the benefit of Paul’s experience in the third heaven. His epistle to the Ephesians explained that through a common belief in Christ, there is reconciliation between Jew and Gentile, the “middle wall of separation” being “broken down,” so that “He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross.”

“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Ephesians 2:11–16).

That same dissolution of enmity between disparate mindsets is necessary today if the unity that Christ desires in His people is to be accomplished.

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul addresses another aspect of reconciliation. Not only is mankind in need of reconciliation with God, but Paul explained that creation itself lost the perfection that it possessed in the connection it enjoyed with the divine when the world was new. Christ’s sacrifice not only enables mankind to be reconciled to God, but it also provides a means of restoring nature to its original brilliant reflection of the holiness of God.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister” (Colossians 1:19–23).

As we contemplate this aspect of the plan of redemption, we can only be amazed at the unfathomable love that God through Christ revealed—not only to humankind, but to the universe. What an incomprehensible value this epitome of selflessness places on man.

“Jesus did not yield up His life till He had accomplished the work which He came to do, and exclaimed with His departing breath: ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). Satan was then defeated. He knew that his kingdom was lost. Angels rejoiced as the words were uttered: ‘It is finished.’ The great plan of redemption, which was dependent on the death of Christ, had been thus far carried out. And there was joy in heaven that the sons of Adam could, through a life of obedience, be finally exalted to the throne of God. Oh, what love! What amazing love! that brought the Son of God to earth to be made sin for us, that we might be reconciled to God, and elevated to a life with Him in His mansions in glory. Oh, what is man, that such a price should be paid for his redemption!” Testimonies, vol. 2, 211, 212.

Again we cry, “Abba, Father!”

John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

Fall on the Rock

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Many years ago, at a General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, one of the most powerful and successful evangelists gave his personal testimony. People were surprised to hear that although he was successful and looked up to as a leading minister for many years, he had become convicted that he was not converted.

This is not a rare situation. Over the years I have heard of many similar cases. It often takes a catastrophic event for a person to realize their true position with God and their need for a deeper conversion. It is easy for the heart to be divided. You may think you have a heart for the Lord, but often there is still something in this world that has a hold on you.

After a prophecy seminar in North Dakota, I was visiting the home of some of the attendees with another minister who at that time was a very successful evangelist. It was clear that these people understood the truths that had been shared and had no objection to anything, but they would not go the extra step and make a commitment to follow Jesus all the way. Something in the world had a hold on them.

I have found myself in that same scenario many times. From a very young age I had been taught that once we preached the gospel in all the world for a witness to all nations, Jesus would come and we could all go to Heaven. It seemed easy if we would all get busy. But I got a reality check from a retired missionary to South America while visiting with him one morning. He said that if it were just the information of the three angels’ messages that was needed, God could give it to every single person in the world in one night in a dream. The trouble is, it takes more than information to finish God’s work.

In order for God’s work to be finished, those spreading the three angels’ messages need a change of heart, what we call conversion. There is division amongst God’s people. Some people have become upset with some Bible translations because the word converted in the King James Bible is translated turned in many modern translations. However, the Greek word used actually means to turn around and go a different way. It is not enough to have the information, to have an intellectual knowledge of the truth unless the truth has changed my life.

Pastor David Kang was another well-known minister who experienced a deeper conversion. He was born in Korea and immigrated into the United States with his wife in 1975. After studying at Andrews University, he became a very successful Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Florida pastoring a number of Korean churches.

In 1984 as he was studying, he said the Holy Spirit convicted him of being a hypocrite. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, a choice must be made. Either you accept the conviction and the reproof, or you reject it. Pastor Kang began to spend many hours each day in serious study of the Spirit of Prophecy. Those privileged to have heard him preach know that his preaching was intensely practical. He preached about practical godliness and the blessing of really experiencing the gospel and living the life of Christ. He saw the need of reflecting to the world an image of the character of Jesus.

The theme of Pastor Kang’s message came from 2 Peter 3 where the apostle Peter tells us that the day of the Lord is going to come as a great surprise. It says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (verses 10–13).

The new earth in which righteousness dwells is what we are expecting and looking for. So Peter says, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless” (verse 14).

Pastor Kang would repeat to his staff the necessity of being without spot and blameless to be ready for the Lord to come. He preached so much about practical godliness that he had to resist the criticism from people all over the world that his message was too strict.

Another preacher, Elder Fordyce Detamore, one of my favorites, had another style of preaching and burden to share. It is important to allow each preacher to share what the Lord has put on his heart. In making his appeals at camp meetings, it was not uncommon at all for him to spend 30 minutes in an appeal. To those whose hearts were warmed with his message, it seemed like just a few moments.

At the end of the meeting on one occasion while making his appeal he called for those who knew somebody in the congregation that needed to make a decision to follow the Lord all the way, to go up to them and tell them that if they would go forward, you will go forward with them. He suggested that if you encourage them to make a commitment, they will not hold it against you in the day of judgment.

It just so happened that while sitting in the back of the meeting I noticed a lady to whom I had given Bible studies sitting probably two or three rows from the front. She believed the truths that I had shown her, but I had been unable to help her to make a decision. As Elder Detamore made his appeal I was convicted that I had nothing to lose if I encouraged her to go forward. Even if she might get mad at me, she would not hold it against me in the day of judgment. So I walked up to her and made the offer to go forward with her if she should choose. She made a decision and went forward and was baptized just a few days later.

If you are almost saved, you are still totally lost. On the day of judgment there will be many people like Felix Agrippa (Acts 26:28). He heard the gospel and he believed it but put off making a decision until a convenient time that never came. Consequently, he will be lost.

A mere intellectual knowledge of the truth will not save you. The Pharisees knew the truth better than anyone, but they refused the power necessary for that truth to change their hearts and lives.

After Pastor Kang’s deeper conversion experience in 1984, he started to preach that unless our characters are without spot and blameless, we will not be fit to go to heaven, even if we know the truth. This teaching infuriated the church leaders who accused him of fanaticism and smeared his reputation as a proponent of heresy. At his funeral, a man who had attended the seminary in Korea with him said that for many years he would not listen or read anything from Pastor Kang solely because the church had been told not to have anything to do with him. However, when he did investigate, he found that Pastor Kang did speak truth and wondered why the church was so against it.

Pastor David Kang had such a conviction, not just to get information out, but for the need to show people by example what has to happen in their heart to be ready for Jesus to come. As a result of the mission projects that he started, there are seven hundred literature evangelists working in China under very dangerous conditions. In fact, Pastor Kang came in danger and narrowly escaped being put in prison himself on a number of occasions.

Hundreds of Sunday keeping pastors from different countries in the Far East that attended Pastor Kang’s sanctuary seminars found out that God has a sanctuary in heaven, and that within the veil of that Most Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven there is an ark that contains the ten commandments. The news about the unchangeable character of God’s law has been fearlessly presented in Korea, China, and other Asian countries and is spreading underground like wildfire.

It is not enough to know truth; the truth must change lives to be effective. If the knowledge of the truth you know has not yet changed your life, it is not too late for you to have a conversion experience. Maybe your conversion is just superficial, and you need a deeper experience in your life. The good news is that the door of salvation is still open, and Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking and longing to be invited in. Now is the time to open that door, for the time is coming when the door of salvation will be closed.

God’s offer of salvation is made even to the world’s most wicked, to the people that the world most despises because of their crimes, if only they would hear and respond to God’s Spirit. We can read in the writings of Ellen White that on one occasion salvation was offered to Nero. Nero was one of the most wicked men that has ever lived yet salvation was still offered to him but he did not accept it. Nero was guilty of killing his own mother as well as murdering at least one of his wives and who knows how many other people.

We wonder how someone as wicked as Nero could ever be saved, but Jesus came into the world to save sinners and if Nero had accepted the invitation and allowed the Holy Spirit to transform his life he could have been saved. But like most, he saw no value in the gift that was offered. However Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, considered himself “the chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He had chased down the saints of God who feared him and would set out to capture them to be imprisoned or even put to death. When salvation was offered to him on the Damascus Road, he repented and was forgiven. His former companions, the Pharisees, all turned against him. Now if you really have a change of heart so that you go full out for the Lord; in other words, you are fully committed to God and His cause, you are going to have some opposition in this world. Some people that used to be your friends will not be your friends anymore. That is just the way it will happen so do not be too surprised when it does happens.

When your life is fully surrendered to Jesus you are no longer in charge of your life, because you are walking in a different way. Sins that once had an attraction and a hold on you are discarded as you walk the narrow path.

Thank God that our sins can be forgiven. We are told in Romans 3:25, 26, “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Notice that when you come to Jesus, you are forgiven for the sins that you have previously committed, but this does not give license to go on sinning. Forgiveness is always in the past. There is no such thing as being forgiven for a sin that you are going to commit tomorrow. This is contrary to what some Roman Catholic theologians believe.

When the woman was taken in adultery and brought to Jesus in John the 8th chapter, Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11). There were people in the early church who had a hard time with that story and were afraid that if everybody knew about that, it would give people a license to sin. They feared that people would be at liberty to go and sin because they knew they could be forgiven. They thought that the Lord was being too lenient with the woman. But notice that when Jesus forgave that woman of everything that she had done in the past, He said to her, “Go and sin no more.” He did not say to go on a 5-day plan to stop sinning or to cut down on her sin. He said to not do it anymore.

No matter how bad a sinner you are, if you are willing to quit, the Lord can forgive you for what is in your past. Maybe you have a besetting sin that nobody knows about, not even your husband or your wife. Be sure that God knows about it and that your secret sin of which no one else knows is written down in His book. Sins that are not erased by confession and repentance will come up again in the judgment and even though you may profess Christ and go to church every week they will cause you to be lost.

The Bible contains warnings about being ready for the end of the world and for the second coming of Jesus:

“Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare [a trap] on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34–36).

“Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch” (Mark 13:35– 37)! Are you sleeping like the foolish virgins? Pray that the Lord will keep you alert and awake.

“When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:11–14). No one is allowed into the wedding feast of the Lamb without the wedding garment, a righteous Christ-like character.

“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil: He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure” (Isaiah 33:14–16). There are some people who need to pay special attention to Isaiah 33:15.

Zephaniah 2 was always a very scary passage to my mother. She would talk to me about what it could mean, but I had no answer. “Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you! Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice, seek righteousness, seek humility, it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (verses 1–3).

The part of the text that was so scary to my mother is where it says, “it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” which does not sound like a guarantee.

Isaiah 4 describes a time coming when all human pride will be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and everyone that is left among the living in Jerusalem will be holy. At that time when only those who are holy are alive, where will you be?

“And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City not Forsaken” (Isaiah 62:12).

God is preparing a holy people who are ready to meet Him, ready to meet the Lord when He comes.

A time is coming when there will be no more weeping. But right now it is the time to say, Lord, I am surrendering myself totally, completely to you. Whatever change needs to be made in my life, I am surrendering myself totally and completely to the control of Your Holy Spirit. If you are willing to make that kind of a decision, God is willing to answer your prayer and transform your life. The time will come when there will not be any more tears because the former things will be in the past and will never be repeated. It will be a time of rejoicing for those who have kept their garments white and are ready to meet the Lord in peace.

May the Lord prepare our hearts for what is going to break upon this world as an overwhelming surprise; that we might not only know truth, but that the truth will change us from the inside out by the power of His Holy Spirit.

(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.

What Occupies Your Mind?

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In the space of one week there are one hundred and sixty-eight hours. If you sleep for eight hours each night you will be asleep for fifty-six hours, leaving another one hundred and twelve hours. God claims twenty-four of those hours to be kept as a Sabbath and that leaves you with eighty-eight hours of your own time each week to do as you will. Possibly half of that time is taken up with employment, but how do you spend that free time and what is it that you do to occupy your mind during those hours each week?

The world today, especially the Christian world, seems to be in a condition very similar to that into which Jesus came as a baby. The minds of the people were engrossed in the common place matters of daily life in this world. This was just as Satan had designed to keep people so busy in their temporal affairs that they would not notice the arrival of the One sent from Heaven, who alone could deliver them from sin. Satan well knew that sin and love of the world would have to be expelled from the hearts of the people in order for the love of God to accomplish its work and make a people ready for salvation. For this reason, all manner of distraction has been invented to blind the eyes of the people and for many centuries the devil has had overwhelming success in his evil deeds.

One of the chief purposes of Jesus in coming to this world was to remove from the heart of man his love for material things and his love of sensual pleasure and replace it with a heart of love for God, which had been lost since our first parents sinned in the Garden of Eden. But the world that Jesus came into did not receive Him because His teaching did not harmonize with that of their man-made religion.

The religion of the Jews in the time of Christ consisted of forms and ceremonies and the offering of sacrifices. These sacrifices, intended to prefigure the great sacrifice that would be offered on the cross of Calvary, were an abomination to God, because they had lost their meaning and were not offered with contrition and humility and in faith of the coming Messiah. Instead, their religion was useless. Jesus told them that their religion was in vain and that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus came to bring an adjustment, a transformation, and He foresaw that at the end of the world the situation would be very similar to the way it was at His first coming. He talked to His disciples about this: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly, For it will come as a snare [a trap] on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth, Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34–36).

Some manuscripts read in verse 36, “Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may have strength to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

So, what is it that occupies your mind? The choices you make on a daily basis will determine your eternal salvation. It is not enough to have a shallow experience, expecting your religious belief to save you. Unless your religion changes your heart into the likeness of Jesus, that religion will be a trap and a snare.

The Bible describes those at the end of time as having a marvelous religious experience and having the greatest revival of all time. But the majority will meet with a dreadful disappointment when Jesus comes.

Matthew 7:21 to 23 says,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”

This passage of Scripture is describing religious people. Remember Cain. He was a religious person. In fact, it was religion that got Cain in trouble. In Genesis 4:3 and 4 it says, “In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering.”

We read in Patriarchs and Prophets, 62, that Adam and Eve and their children came every Sabbath day, the seventh day, to the entrance of the Garden of Eden. There an angel guarded the way and they were prohibited from entering the garden because of sin. However, they came to the entrance where they conducted their worship service. It was on one of these Sabbath days that Abel brought a sacrificial offering and God had respect to Abel and his offering. However, though Cain brought an offering that was valuable, God did not have respect to his offering. It was easy for Abel to bring a lamb for his offering because he was a shepherd. His business was keeping sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the soil and he brought produce from his business.

The problem here was that Abel’s offering showed that he believed not only that he was a sinner, but that he needed a sacrifice, a blood atonement, to pay the price of his sin. The animal sacrifices all were a figure or type of the coming Saviour. Each time an animal was sacrificed at the hand of the penitent one, he saw that animal die at his own hand. The sacrifice was designed to teach the lesson that though we are all sinners and deserve to die, God has made a way that the price has been paid for us. Every animal sacrifice represented the fact that someday the real sacrifice, the Son of God, would pay the price for our sins.

It was known that animal sacrifices did not pay the price of sin. Our first parents knew the sacrificial lambs were just representative of the Savior to come. Cain’s offering made no confession of his sinful condition or acknowledgment that he needed the sacrifice of Christ for him to be given pardon and eternal life.

Cain determined to worship God in his own way, demonstrating his self-sufficiency. Throughout history, and even today, there are many people just like Cain who look and depend on their own achievements for salvation. The Bible teaches that we are helpless to do anything to save ourselves. Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Our eternal salvation depends on a sacrifice. Before Christ died, the people looked forward to the Saviour to come, Jesus, the true sacrifice. Today, we look back dependent on Jesus, the sacrifice that has been made.

What this sacrifice represents and has achieved and what it has established is a huge subject of study. Ellen White says in the first few pages of The Desire of Ages that both the unfallen angels and the redeemed will study the subject of the cross of Christ throughout all of eternity. In fact, she said that eternity itself can never totally reveal the immensity of this subject. Even though it will never be exhausted, we need to study to understand as much as we can because it establishes some things that we must learn if we are going to be saved.

The cross establishes an immutable accountability of the whole human race. Accountability is an unpopular subject in today’s society, but a necessary subject for those preparing for the kingdom of heaven. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, all have obligations that cannot be evaded. Paul wrote, “You were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

If we were bought at a price, we no longer belong to ourselves. The whole race was lost and has been bought from the bondage to Satan and sin. “For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Peter 2:19). “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12).

Because of Christ’s sacrifice the human race no longer belongs to the devil. We are Christ’s possession even if we do not acknowledge the fact. He purchased us so we would no longer have to be slaves to sin. Accountability is needed in this generation. A whole generation of youth and young people are being raised without understanding the concept of accountability. As a result, our country and this world are headed toward a time of trouble like we have never seen or heard of before.

Ellen White wrote in The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891, a few things about accountability. She said, “The life He has given us is a sacred responsibility, and no moment of it is to be trifled with; for we shall have to meet it again in the record of the Judgment. In the books of heaven our lives are as accurately traced as in the picture on the plate of the photographer. Not only are we held accountable for what we have done, but for what we have left undone.” This should bring us to our knees to ask if there are things that have been neglected.

“We are held to account for our undeveloped characters, our unimproved opportunities.” Ibid. God provides people opportunities which He expects to be taken and used. Remember, “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matthew 10:26, last part).

Moses said, “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Never think you can sin without meeting it again. No, we are accountable. If you respond to the Holy Spirit and repent and confess your sins and be converted, Jesus Christ will forgive you and your sins will be covered. Later, at the cleansing of the sanctuary, your sins will be blotted out. No sin is ever committed alone in the depth of the night that nobody else in the world knows, for God knows. The wise man said, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

1 Timothy 5:24 says, “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.” Those sins that “follow later” are those that are not confessed, not repented of, and not forsaken. One of the biggest games in this world is the attempt to cover sin.

Sins that are not covered cannot be forgiven and will not be blotted out. They will be met again at the Judgment. That judgment of the lost will occur at the end of the millennium and those sins will be revealed. (See Revelation 20:11–15.) Those who are saved will have already been in heaven for a thousand years.

We have no idea what kinds of books or records God has. In this age we have electronic books ourselves. God’s ways are beyond our imagination, but we can be sure His records are exact and there is a time coming when those who have refused the gospel invitation will give an account. Then they will be without excuse, for the evidence will be overwhelming. Every thought and feeling, every motive and comment, every deed done will be laid bare.

Today is the day to learn the lesson of accountability and take hold of the invitation for salvation. We are not only accountable to God, but also to those whom we have wronged. For some reason to admit to our sins is a really hard lesson to learn.

“We must deny self, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. Not one of us can reach heaven, save by the narrow, cross-bearing way. …

“The cross is not to please self; it lies directly across the path of the pleasure-lover, and cuts through our carnal desires and selfish inclinations. The cross rebukes all unfaithfulness in your labors. If you bear the cross of Christ, you will not shun responsibilities or burden-bearing. If you are abiding in Christ, learning in His school, you will not be rude, dishonest, or unfaithful. The cross of Christ cuts to the root of all unholy passions and practices.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891.

Notice that those abiding in Christ and learning in His school will not be dishonest, or rude, or unfaithful. Unfortunately, often a person who finds it necessary to tell the truth about something that is unpleasant for a person to hear is considered rude.

The Bible talks about a person who rebukes sin being considered hateful or an undesirable person. However, the Bible teaches that if you are a follower of God, not only do you have love in your heart, but you will have a hatred for sin. Solomon said, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).

“Whatever the nature of your work, you will carry the principles of Christ into your labor, and identify yourself with the task given into your hands. Your interest will be one with that of your employer. If you are paid for your time, you will realize that the time for work is not your own—but belongs to the one who pays you for it. If you are careless and extravagant, wasting material, squandering time, failing to be painstaking and diligent, you are registered in the books of heaven as an unfaithful servant.

“Those who are unfaithful in the least of temporal affairs, will be unfaithful in responsibilities of greater importance.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891.

Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own” (Luke 16:10–12)?

Our talents belong to God and should be devoted to His service. If we do nothing for our employer except that which is commanded, knowing that the prosperity of the work depends on extra exertion on our part, we fail in being faithful servants.

“There are many things not specified that wait to be done, that come directly under the notice of the one employed. Leaks and losses occur that might be prevented if painstaking diligence and unselfish effort were manifested.” The Review and Herald, September 22, 1891. Ellen White elaborates on this theme of honesty and how it carries over into a person’s service for God. Ephesians 6:6–8 about servants is quoted: “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.”

If you are a faithful worker, you will be rewarded by the Lord someday. The real reward is not the wages you may receive in this world, but eternal life. Never forget that you have been bought at an incredibly high price and have an obligation to be a faithful servant.

The question that comes to mind is how will you respond.

Paul’s prayer for the church was, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17–19).

“That He [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:16–20).

God wants to do something in you that is beyond anything you can ask or think. Do you appreciate what has been done for you and are you willing to respond to His appeal?

It may not look like it at the present time, but the time is soon coming when the cross of Christ is going to triumph over every opposition in this world. When that happens, will you be a soldier of the cross and triumph with it? Notice what Paul says about this in Philippians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

There is no neutral ground. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30).

There is a war raging between good and evil—righteousness and wickedness. The war is between the government of God and the government of the devil. There are no fence-sitters. Either you are lending your time, your influence, and your money on the devil’s side or putting your energy to the Lord’s side. At the end of time many people will call themselves Christians who will find out when it is too late that they were on the wrong side of the great controversy. You either support God’s side or you are hindering it.

The Christian religion is not a pretend or fairy-tale religion. It deals with reality every passing moment every day of the week and not only the few hours of worship on Sabbath mornings and at prayer meeting. The religion of Jesus Christ permeates every decision you make and everything you do. When that is your experience you will look forward to the day when Satan, the “accuser of the brethren,” will be silenced and you will hear the words of Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:23).

(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.

How to Be Among the 144,000, Part I

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In this article, I want to look at how we can be among the 144,000. This is a very important topic for us to study because inspiration has told us that we should “strive with all the power that God has given us to be among the hundred and forty-four thousand.” Review and Herald, March 9, 1905. Learning how we can be among this special group requires more than simply learning facts, we must ask for the Holy Spirit’s blessing on us if we are to truly grasp these vital truths.

I first want to consider these questions: Is there anything that we can do to be among the 144,000? What makes the 144,000 ready so that they can be translated when Jesus comes? (Only two people in all of earth’s six-thousand-year history have ever been translated. Our God in His wonderful mercy offers us a gift that even Jesus did not have, because He loved us so much that He died in our place. What a privilege to be living in this day and age.)

We will next search for answers to these questions: Are the characters of the 144,000 a gift from God or must their characters be developed? Does it come at a certain time, called the Sealing? Could this type of character development have happened before 1844, or is it reserved for a special group right at the end?

I would like to propose the idea (and we will study what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy have to say about it) that the 144,000 go through a unique experience that no one else has gone through except Jesus. The character that they develop, however, is the character that God has wanted every Christian to develop throughout all of earth’s history. It is a character that all should have developed and that many did develop. The character of the 144,000 is not supposed to be unique.

In Hebrews 7, Paul wrote about Christ our High Priest. He said: “Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him since He ever lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25. It has always been Christ’s ministry to save to the uttermost (there is nothing beyond the uttermost) all who come to God through Him. God has ever wanted His people to develop a pure character. John wrote: “And every one who has this hope in him purifies himself just as He [Jesus] is pure.” 1 John 3:3.

It is impossible to be more pure than Jesus, and God wants everyone to have a purity that is like the purity of Jesus. That is good news! We can develop pure characters through Jesus Christ.

Why is it so important for us to understand this? Sister White gives us the answer: “Those who would be saints in heaven must first be saints upon the earth; for when we leave this earth, we shall take our character with us, and this will be simply taking with us some of the elements of heaven imparted to us through the righteousness of Christ.” The Review and Herald, August 19, 1890.

Is it only the 144,000 who take their characters with them to heaven? No, all “who would be saints in heaven must first be saints on earth.” The process of developing a pure character is not something that we are to wait to do for some time in the future. It is something that we are to engage in today, by the power that God has given us.

Power to Develop Christ-like Characters

What is this power? Can it help us to develop perfect characters like Christ’s? Or did Jesus have some special powers above and beyond what is available to us? The Desire of Ages, 664 says: “Jesus revealed no qualities and exercised no powers that man may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess.”

All the power that was available to Christ is available to each and every one of us, in order that we might develop pure characters like His. Every one since Adam, who has grown to maturity, could have developed that character. God has given us the privilege and ability today to develop that character, just as He did the people in all ages.

I believe there is a special work that is to be done after 1844. I believe with all my heart in the sealing. But there is a danger in any theology that teaches that there are some special powers for the development of character to be given in the future. This type of theology is a temptation to many to wait until “that time” for the character to be developed.

We have the only power today that will ever be given to us for character development. And this short life is the only day we will ever have for this work. Character cannot be given to someone—it must be developed. Character comes because of the free gift of God’s power that is given to us day by day, but it is something that must be developed. It is the work of a lifetime.

The 144,000 will go through a unique experience similar to what Christ endured in the Garden of Gethsemane. But Jesus’ character was developed before He came to the Garden of Gethesemane or He would never have been able to go through that experience.

Anyone who is waiting for some time in the future for their character to be developed, so that they can go through the time of trouble, will be sadly disappointed. It will never happen. They will be unprepared and they will not receive the latter rain, for it only falls on those who have purified their souls “from every defilement.” (Evangelism, 702.)

Three Theological Views

There are three views of theology that affect how we prepare for Jesus’ Second Coming. All three of these views are found in Christendom as well as in the Adventist Church.

The first major theological belief is that Jesus came in Adam’s unfallen nature. Those who believe this generally tend to say that Jesus was born with a different nature than we have, so therefore, we cannot overcome. And, since we cannot overcome, we do not have to overcome. We can just go on enjoying our life of sin, and as long as we believe in Jesus, we will be saved. But the Bible refutes these falsehoods. It says that only those who overcome as Jesus overcame will sit with Him on His throne. (See Revelation 3:21.)

There are many sincere people who believe each of these theologies. But sincerity does not change the effects of one’s belief. For many years people sincerely smoked cigarettes thinking that it was going to clear up their bronchitis. (It was prescribed for them by the doctors back at the turn of the century.) But their belief did not change the fact that many of them developed lung cancer. They may not have been held accountable, but it affected their life on earth. What we believe affects our salvation, and that is the reason why God would have us study and learn what is truth.

There is another group of people who also believe that Jesus came down in a human nature far different than we have. But they believe that although Jesus’ nature was different than ours, we must still live a life like He lived. They do not wish to throw out the verses in the Bible or the statements in the Spirit of Prophecy that say we must overcome, so they teach that we must live a life like Jesus, but that we have to be given the same unfallen nature that Jesus had in order to do this. This is called the Holy Flesh doctrine. It comes in many forms and species, but the essence of this doctrine is that God must come down and do the overcoming for us, because we cannot overcome anything in our fallen nature. It goes like this: as long as we “get out of the driver’s seat” and allow God to be the driver, and we do not get back in, God will drive us all the way through the pearly gates. As long as we spend some time with God every day, He will take care of the rest and He will overcome the sins in us, just the same as He did for Jesus who never really had any temptations!

I have talked to many Adventist preachers and others who believe this and they say, “Jesus was tempted in all points like we are, but He was never tempted to sin.” Now that sounds strange to some of us, but they say: “You see, we will never be tempted to sin once we have the true conversion experience. Jesus’ only temptation was to try to get back into the driver’s seat and drive the vehicle Himself instead of letting His Father drive it for Him. He was never tempted to be proud or selfish.”

This theology, like the first, makes salvation a very easy path. In fact, some would say that it is easy to be saved and difficult to be lost. This is nothing but a lie of the devil. There is nothing in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy to support such a false teaching. Every one can be saved, just like Jesus was saved, but it is not an easy path. Inspiration tells us: “The gaining of eternal life is no easy thing. By living faith we are to keep on reaching forward, ascending the ladder round by round, seeing and taking the necessary steps; and yet we must understand that not one holy thought, not one unselfish act, can be originated in self . . . All warfare is useless unless Christ’s power is combined with human effort.” The Review and Herald, November 11, 1890.

God’s inspired word is clear that it is a combination of Christ’s power and human effort that is the secret of successful Christian living. Either without the other is useless. Any theology that teaches human works without the power of God is an incomplete theology. It cannot save. And any theology that teaches the power of God to save souls without the cooperative effort of the individual, is also an incomplete theology. Jesus came down to unite humanity with divinity. With this combination of divine power and human effort, all victory is possible. (See Counsels on Diets and Foods, 153.)

We have looked at two theologies; both are “easy” theologies. One teaches that we do not have to overcome because we can continue to sin. The other asserts that we do not have to overcome because Jesus will do it all for us.

There is a third theology and it is not as popular because it is not so easy. This theology teaches that Jesus came down in our sinful, fallen nature. In that nature, He had to crucify the lusts of the flesh day by day. With that nature, He developed a character without a taint of sin. While Christ was not “a man with the propensities of sin” He did feel “all the strength of unholy passions and perverted appetites within His nature.” SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 112; Confrontation, 36. Yet, as He combined His human effort with the power of the Father, He gained the victory so that not even by a thought did He yield to the power of sin. He developed a perfect character within a fallen nature. That is the gospel. And it is the example that can be followed by everyone who is willing to be in subjection to God, as He was, and to follow the bloodstained path that He trod. We had no choice but to be born with a fallen nature, but by following His example we can overcome just as He overcame.

We can develop the same perfect character that Jesus had, but we will never look at ourselves as perfect because as we look at ourselves, we will see only that sinful fallen nature that has to be crucified day by day. The closer we come to the Lord, the worse we will appear in our own sight. And if anybody asks us about our righteousness, we will say, “I do not have any. I have to crucify my will every day. The only righteousness I have is Christ living within me.”

continued…

How to Be Among the 144,000, Part II

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Editor’s Note: Last month we looked at what kind of character the 144,000 must have and how they must obtain it. This month we will continue on with our study of what you and I must do to be among the 144,000 and what sanctification really means.

The closer we come to Christ, the more we will realize that within us there is no good thing. Self must be crucified every moment of every day.

Our will must be surrendered to God’s will. And we must allow God to live out His life within us. There is no one so weak that he cannot be saved, because all the power to win the victory comes from Christ. However, there also is no one so strong that he can be saved in his own strength. From the weakest to the strongest we must crucify self and turn to God for strength.

This crucifixion of self is a painful process. I wish I could give you some pleasing doctrine that would just open up the gates of heaven for you without any suffering or pain, but God in His wisdom did not make such a way. There is no way except the bloodstained path of the cross. Since this was true for Christ, should it be any different for us? Paul wrote of Christ’s experience, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Hebrews 2:10. “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5:8. Christ suffered with temptations. He had to daily crucify self, and having been perfected, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him.” Hebrews 5:9.

I propose that this is good news! Now it may not be good news to think that you have to go through some suffering, but it is good news that you can be perfected by it. And we have the promise that we will not have any temptations but those which are common to man, and God who is faithful “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13.

What type of temptations did Christ suffer? Peter wrote, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.” 1 Peter 4:1. Christ suffered in the flesh, what the Bible calls our fallen nature, and He overcame! That is wonderful to know, because all of us have sins of the flesh, which seem to bind us.

Some people say, “I know I lose my temper, but you have to realize that is the way I was born. You must take the good with the bad.” This is the fleshly nature, and the Bible says that if you live according to the flesh, (according to your inheritance) you will die! (See Romans 8:13).

So what do we do since we all have inherited sinful tendencies? We do not all have the same problems. Some have inherited a temper, others discouragement and others selfishness. However, in every life there is some special sin that will require a life and death struggle to overcome. These are what Paul called besetting sins (Romans 12:1), and the devil has been cultivating them in our lives since we were born.

When a baby is born the Lord says, “I died for this baby. He is mine.” But the adversary of souls says, “No, he is mine.” And the battle begins. The Lord works to keep that baby, but the devil begins to work from the day that baby is born to hold him in the bonds of sin. He seeks to develop within that little child’s heart some special desire for sin. Even if the baby is born into a worldly home, the devil does not know when he might someday have the opportunity to hear the gospel and be inclined to accept it. So he works every day to cultivate in that child a love for some besetting sin.

A Struggle to Overcome a Besetting Sin

I remember holding an evangelistic series in one of my first churches. About twelve had accepted the Lord and were preparing for baptism. In the baptismal class, I was reading some Bible verses on Christian adornment and jewelry. Suddenly, one young lady, who had been married for only six months, caught the drift of what the verses were saying. It was too much for her and she said right out loud, “If I have to take off my jewelry to get to heaven, I cannot go!” And she left!

I suppose that from the time she was born, Satan had tried to develop that desire within her. What is jewelry? A worthless piece of stone cut into a beautiful shape. I could cut a piece of glass and most people could not tell it from a diamond, but, for some reason, people have placed a special value on certain little stones. They are willing to pay thousands of dollars to wear them around on the fingers.

So it was for this young women. If you could review her life, I think you would find that the devil had arranged affairs throughout her childhood so that she had heard people comment about various ladies’ jewelry. In her mind, jewelry had come to signify success and being a woman, happily married, and all those ideals.

A few days later, I went to her home to visit her. I was surprised, when I stepped inside, to find two non-Adventist ministers standing in her living room. She had called these other preachers to tell her that she could keep all her jewelry on and still go to heaven. When I came in, it was like waving a red flag before a bull. They turned on me—this crazy, fanatical, legalistic fellow who thinks people must take off their jewelry to get to heaven.

I was not very interested in trying to discuss jewelry with these two preachers who were not really interested in the truth anyway, so I changed the subject. I said, “I can understand why you do not see any importance in jewelry. You do not even see any importance in keeping the Sabbath.” That turned the subject, and since they were little match for the Sabbath truth, they soon left.

Two days later, we had a baptism with all the other candidates and this lady came with her husband and all her jewelry on, but with a towel. She came up to me and said, “Could you go over those things again?” The church was full and everyone was there, ready for the baptism to begin, but we went into another room and we started going over the Bible texts. We were there for two hours as she struggled with a spiritual battle. Finally, the tears came to her eyes and she said, “I surrender.” She took off her jewelry and she and her husband were baptized along with the ten others.

For this dear lady, giving up jewelry was a trial. She had to suffer and sacrifice to give up this besetting sin. Your besetting sin may not be jewelry, we all have different weaknesses. But for each of us, the way to heaven is the way of the cross. We cannot just sit back and say, “Lord, make me clean.” That is not the way it is.

When Jesus cleansed the Jewish temple, He went in, uninvited, and drove all the wickedness out, but inspiration tells us that He does not cleanse the soul temple that way. (See The Desire of Ages, 161.) He is very willing to cleanse our soul temples, but He cannot do it without our invitation and cooperation.

The Right Use of the Will

“The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God. God gives the power, but we must exercise the effort.” The Desire of Ages, 466.

We cannot do what God must do for us, but neither will God do what He has asked us to do. Ellen White wrote about a man that she was asked to anoint. She did not feel that she could do that until she had taken the matter before the Lord. During the night she was given a vision, and the Lord showed her that this man had a besetting sin which he had developed in adolescence. He knew it was a sin and he had tried to overcome it by fasting and prayer, but he was still bound by it. God showed Sister White that this man’s prayers had been answered and God had given him the power to overcome, but he had to put forth the effort. God would not do for him what He had given him the power to do for himself.

“Everything depends on the right use of the will.” Steps to Christ, 47. We must learn that we have to choose to do what is right and refuse to do what is wrong. Then God can help us. It takes our effort and God’s strength.

The Secret of Samson’s Strength

The story of Samson, in the Bible, fitly illustrates this important spiritual lesson in physical terms. Samson had incredible physical strength. He could conquer every physical difficulty. One time he carried the iron gates of a city to the top of a hill and left them there. But was it really Samson who lifted those gates? Was the power really his own? No, he had no more natural strength before his hair was cut than after his hair was cut. It was the angels who were lifting those gates. But, the angels did not help without Samson putting forth all the effort he had.

Think of this promise. “All His [God’s] biddings are enablings.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 333. If God asks you to do something, He will provide the strength for you to do it. Nothing is impossible for Him. But He will not do anything, until you put for the effort.

“God saw it was impossible for man to overcome in his own strength, with his own feeble moral power; yet man is required to exercise all the capabilities and powers that God has given him in order to overcome, and then he needs a higher power, and help has been laid upon One who is human effort, that through Jesus man may stand free, a conqueror.” The Review and Herald, June 10, 1890.

“The pleasing fable that all there is to do is to believe, has destroyed thousands and tens of thousands, because many have called that faith which is not faith, but simply a dogma. Man is an intelligent, accountable being; he is not to be carried as a passive burden by the Lord, but is to work in harmony with Christ. Man is to take up his appointed work in striving for glory, honor, and immortality. God calls upon men for the use of every talent He has lent them, the exercise of every power He has given; for man can never be saved in disobedience and indolence.” The Review and Herald, April 1, 1890.

“There must be an earnest effort to conquer through the grace freely given of God.” The Review and Herald, January 24, 1893.

“The help of God is held in reserve for all who demand it. Divine help is to be combined with human effort, aspiration, and energy. But we cannot reach the battlements of heaven without climbing for ourselves . . . Not even divine power can lift one soul to heaven that is unwilling to put forth efforts in his own behalf.” Signs of the Times, August 14, 1884.

Judas’ Doctrine

Any doctrine that is teaching people that they do not need to put forth effort to overcome sin is preparing people to be eternally lost. This was the type of doctrine Judas held. Look for a moment at how his story is told in The Desire of Ages, and let us trace the steps that he took before his great fall.

“He [Judas] witnessed the Savior’s mighty works in healing the sick . . . He felt in his own person the evidence of Christ’s power. He recognized the teaching of Christ as superior to all that he had ever heard. He loved the Great Teacher, and desired to be with him. He felt a desire to be changed in character and life, and he hoped to experience this through connecting himself with Jesus.” The Desire of Ages, 717.

This sounds pretty good. Judas loved Jesus and he wanted to be with Him. He wanted to be changed and he believed that if he associated with Jesus he would be changed. Doesn’t that sound like pretty good theology? Today a lot of preachers are telling people that if they will just spend time reading the Bible and studying every day they will be changed. But there is something more required than just reading and praying. There must be a crucifixion of self. When we are tempted to sin, we must refuse to sin with the power God has given us.

Continuing on with Judas’ story, it says, “He gave him a place among the twelve . . . He endowed him with power to heal the sick, cast out devils. But Judas did not come to the point of surrendering himself fully to Christ.” Ibid. That was the problem. Judas was no worse than any of the disciples in the beginning, but he never surrendered himself to Christ. He never went through the struggle, agony and the suffering of crucifying self. He never took up his cross. It makes me sad when I hear the doctrine of Judas being taught today, because I know that there are many people that will be as disappointed as Judas was.

Sanctification—More than Overcoming

A crucifixion of self is only half the Christian experience. It is not enough to get you to heaven. No one can ever get to heaven by simply overcoming sin. Sanctification is our goal. But what really is sanctification? Many people have been perplexed because they have equated sanctification with the process of overcoming sin, and they also know that sanctification is the work of a lifetime. Are we then supposed to spend our whole lives focusing on sin? No!

Sanctification is not the work of overcoming sin. That is only the beginning. When you overcome sin, your Christian life has just begun. We are all to go on to develop characters of righteousness. Adam, in the very beginning, although he had never sinned, had to develop a character. Jesus never sinned but His character had to be developed.

This development of character is something that is to go on as long as life lasts and will continue on throughout eternity. (See The Great Controversy, 678). There is so much more to living a Christian life than not sinning. It is not enough to quit stealing. We must go far beyond not stealing to giving unselfishly. We will not be saved because we do not curse. We must go far beyond not cursing until we are praising the Lord. We must go far beyond not hating our brother, we have to learn to love our enemy. We have to go far beyond not sinning. We have to go on in the path of righteousness.

We know that this is not an easy path. It requires us to struggle with agonizing efforts. (See Faith and Works, 48, 49). But, although it is a blood-strewn path, although it is the way through Gethsemane and Calvary, it is the only way to go that is worth living. For there is only one reason to live and that is to live forever.

There is nothing in this life. Soon we will see the final signs of Jesus’ Second Coming. And then we will see that cloud coming closer and closer. We will see the dead arising and we “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

When we get to heaven we will renew acquaintances. We will find people and make friends that have lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. I will look for my wife and children, my brother and sister, my parents. I will look for my friends and my church members whom I have learned to love. I will look for those with whom I have given Bible studies. Heaven will be very happy when I find someone there that I hoped would be there. It will be very sad every time I find someone not there.

I will go to the sanctuary because there is the greatest history class of the ages. A history that is in living color. I can see the battles that have been fought and I can go into the Councils with the Popes. I can see back before the flood or go to the angels and find out what happened in the great controversy in heaven. That will be so interesting! This life is passing away. It is not an easy way to heaven, but it is the only way out of this earth. It is the way of the cross. By God’s will and grace, I am willing to walk the bloodstained path. We must crucify self, every moment of every day. We must suffer in the flesh and yet we will have joy. That is one of the mysteries of the gospel. It is the only way of joy and yet it is the way of suffering.

There is no special time when God will send some mighty working miracle and all of a sudden you will be a different person. The only time there is to change character is today! There will never be any more power available than what has been given to us today.

If you cannot overcome today, you cannot overcome tomorrow. Right now in your present situation you must overcome the flesh. But you can do it! Jesus had all your weaknesses, and no more strength than He offers you and He was victorious. And you can be too. The very weakest Christians can be “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:37.

Let us commit ourselves to the Lord. My prayer is that you will not be missing on that great day.

Make Your Calling and Election Sure

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The most important election is the one that is taking place in heaven right now.

The world becomes intrigued every four years with the presidential election in the United States. There is a race, a competition, to influence the people to vote for certain people or parties. The people are bombarded with advertising and solicitations of all kinds and through every available media. Ellen White makes this relevant comment: “An intensity such as never before was seen is taking possession of the world. In amusement, in moneymaking, in the contest for power, in the very struggle for existence, there is a terrible force that engrosses body and mind and soul. In the midst of this maddening rush, God is speaking. He bids us come apart and commune with Him. ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).” Education, 260.

In God’s election, our vote—that is the life you live—will be the decision-making move.

The most important election is the one that is taking place in heaven right now and has been for 175 years. This is the election that will determine your eternal destiny. It is an election over which God the Father presides and over which Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is devoting His intercession 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (See Daniel 7, Zechariah 3 and Matthew 22.) It is an election in which your vote—that is the life you live—will be the decision-making move. The apostle Peter wrote, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10, 11).

“Every soul is elected who will work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He is elected who will put on the armor and fight the good fight of faith. He is elected who will watch unto prayer, who will search the Scriptures, and flee from temptation. He is elected who will have faith continually, and who will be obedient to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The provisions of redemption are free to all; the results of redemption will be enjoyed by those who have complied with the conditions.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 208.

“There is an election of individuals and a people, the only election found in the word of God, where man is elected to be saved. Many have looked at the end, thinking they were surely elected to have heavenly bliss; but this is not the election the Bible reveals. Man is elected to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He is elected to put on the armor, to fight the good fight of faith. He is elected to use the means God has placed within his reach to war against every unholy lust, while Satan is playing the game of life for his soul. He is elected to watch unto prayer, to search the Scriptures, and to avoid entering into temptation. He is elected to have faith continually. He is elected to be obedient to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and that he may be, not a hearer only, but a doer of the word. This is Bible election.” Testimonies to Ministers, 453, 454.

God’s word tells us that we are His “elect.” The apostles Peter and Paul made sure that this wonderful truth was never forgotten. We are privileged to still have their letters to the churches, God’s elect, because “. . . the word of God, … lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).

After the apostle Paul opens his first epistle to the Thessalonians expressing his ardent love and thankfulness for the report of his fellow worker Timothy concerning their faithfulness, he goes on to mention “O, brethren, beloved of God, we recognize and know that He has selected (chosen) you” (1 Thessalonians 1:4 [Amplified Bible]). Are you steadfastly fighting the good fight of faith “to make your calling and election sure (1 Peter 1:10)?”

“The apostle Peter had had long experience in the things of God. His faith in God’s power to save had strengthened with the years, until he had proved beyond question that there is no possibility of failure before the one who, advancing by faith, ascends round by round, ever upward and onward, to the topmost round of the ladder that reaches even to the portals of heaven.

“For many years Peter had been urging upon the believers the necessity of a constant growth in grace and in a knowledge of the truth; and now, knowing that soon he would be called to suffer martyrdom for his faith, he once more drew attention to the precious privileges within the reach of every believer. In the full assurance of his faith the aged disciple exhorted his brethren to steadfastness of purpose in the Christian life. ‘Give diligence,’ he pleaded, ‘to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ ” Acts of the Apostles, 533.

Nomination rivalry of leaders of an established nation can propel the people into sheer madness.

History has recorded that the rivalry between individuals competing for the nomination of leader of an established nation can propel the people into sheer madness. These historical frenzied circumstances would never have occurred if the people of this earth had never chosen to have an earthly ruler instead of the Creator, the Ruler of heaven and earth.

“When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man…even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. (Romans 1:21-25, 28).”

After many years of man’s departure from his Creator, God called out Abraham to be father of all who would have Him alone to be their God. … They worshipped Him, were faithful to Him for a while. Then, again, they rejected him as their ruler. They wanted to be like the nations of the land. They wanted a king.

“The first form of government over men was established by God himself and acknowledged him as the only Sovereign. He made known His will by written commands and revelations, by messages to His chosen servants, by dreams, by signs, and wonders. He would have continued to be their king, had they content with His paternal care. …

“The government of Israel had never been conducted with so great wisdom and success as under Samuel’s sole administration. In no previous ruler had the people reposed so implicit confidence. He had labored with untiring and disinterested zeal for the highest good of the nation. In every transaction he had been governed by justice and benevolence. And not only was his course wholly unselfish, but he was often inattentive to his own dues and rights. Hence, the selfishness manifested by his sons appeared more striking in contrast with the course of their faithful father.

“The arrogance and injustice of these judges caused much dissatisfaction among the people, who were far more troubled by dangers threatening their temporal interests than they had been by the profligacy and sacrilege of Hophni and Phinehas. Ere long many who considered themselves aggrieved presented their complaints to the elders of Israel. A pretext was thus furnished for urging the change which had long been secretly desired.

“Had Samuel been informed on the unjust course of his sons, he would at once have removed them and appointed others more upright in their place. When, however, the complaint against his sons was laid before him, followed immediately by the petition for a king, Samuel saw that the real motive was discontent and pride. He perceived that the desire did not spring from a sudden impulse, but was the result of long deliberation and a determined purpose. …

“Samuel carried this new and, to him, difficult matter to the Lord in prayer, and sought counsel alone from Him. His petitions were heard; ‘and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.’ The prophet was reproved for grieving at the conduct of the people toward himself as an individual. They had not manifested disrespect for him, but for the authority of God, who had appointed the rulers of his people. …

“It is a hazardous step to place the scepter in the hands of finite man and crown him monarch.” Signs of the Times, July 13, 1882

“It is a hazardous step to place the scepter in the hands of finite man and crown him monarch. God understands the human heart far better than men understand it themselves. A departure from the Lord’s wise arrangement would pervert authority into tyranny and subjection into slavery. Even if a ruler were naturally merciful and benevolent, unlimited power over his fellow-men would tend to make him a despot. Such power God alone is able to use with justice and wisdom. “The Lord had, through His prophets, foretold that Israel would be governed by a king. But it by no means follows that this form of government was according to His will. Though He foresees all things, He often permits men to take their own course when they refuse to be guided by the counsels of infinite wisdom. In this instance, He instructed Samuel to grant their request, but to faithfully warn them of the Lord’s disapproval, and also make known what would be the result of their course: ‘Now therefore hearken unto their voice. Howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.’ …

“But the people were bent upon following their own course. The solemn warnings from God, through His aged prophet, had no effect to turn them from their purpose. They returned the answer, ‘Nay; but we will have a king over us, that we may also be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.’

“ ‘Like other nations’–the Israelites did not realize that to be in this respect unlike other nations was a special privilege and blessing. God had separated Israel from every other people to make them His own peculiar treasure. But they, disregarding this high honor, eagerly desired to imitate the example of the heathen. What blindness! What ingratitude! …

“Would that this passage in Israel’s history had no counterpart in the present experience of God’s people! But alas, we see it frequently repeated! A discontented desire for change, a longing to conform to worldly plans and worldly customs, too often controls even professed Christians. As they depart from God, they become ambitious for the gains and honors of the world. Those who stand firm against conformity to the world, discouraging pride, superfluity, and extravagance, and enjoining humility and self-denial, are looked upon as critical, peculiar, and severe. Some argue that by uniting with worldlings and conforming to their customs, Christians might exert a stronger influence in the world. But all who pursue this course thereby separate from the source of their strength. Becoming friends of the world, they are the enemies of God. …” Signs of the Times, July 13, 1882

Article by John Grosboll Director of Steps to Life
Co-authored by Hilde Nunez Contributing Editor