There are hundreds of millions of people in the world today, and have been in times past, who believe there is an infallible church. But, there is no such thing.
The first church I have studied about in history that believed this was the Jewish church. “The Jewish people cherished the idea that they were the favorites of heaven, and that they were always to be exalted as the church of God. They were the children of Abraham, they declared, and so firm did the foundation of their prosperity seem to them that they defied earth and heaven to dispossess them of their rights. But by lives of unfaithfulness they were preparing for the condemnation of heaven and for separation from God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 294.
The Jews were confident that they were the true church and always would be. They defied earth and heaven to deprive them of their rights. But heaven had a response to that kind of self-confidence and sent them a message and a messenger to shake them out of their self-complacency. You can read it from the Bible in a sermon that John the Baptist preached. This is what he said in Matthew 3:7–12: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ ”
The Jews were the descendants of Abraham and claimed the right to the covenant that God made with Abraham (Genesis 17). God promised Abraham that He would be God to his children and that they would be His people and He promised to Abraham’s children special blessings.
Some people would say that there is a lot of sin in the church. But even though that is the case, the church is going to go through, because the Lord has promised us, through the prophet Jeremiah that the church is going to go through no matter how much sin is in it. “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (the Lord of hosts is His name): If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.’ ” Jeremiah 31:35–37.
And they would read that and they would say, “Do you see here what the prophet Jeremiah said? He said, ‘As long as the sun is in the sky and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, that long, the children of Israel are going to remain.’ ” So, is the sun still in the sky? Well, yes. Does the moon still come up at night? Well, yes. Are the stars still in the sky? Well, yes. Then if that is so, we are God’s people.
What they did not understand was, Who is the real Israel? I have been told, with great confidence by Adventist ministers, that the Jewish nation was God’s people right up until Matthew 23:38 and 39. This belief is contrary to the words of Jesus and the words of John the Baptist who told them not to even think they were Abraham’s children. It is no wonder so many Adventists have been deluded on this point, because many of our ministers have the very same delusion that the Jews had in the time of John the Baptist.
The Jewish leaders were so deluded that just before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, in 70 A.D.,
“The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and torture their wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other’s forces and slaughtered without mercy. Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their horrible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God’s own city.” The Great Controversy, 29.
Ellen White goes on to say that right until the time the Romans came in and slaughtered them all, plowed and totally destroyed the whole city, they thought that Jerusalem could not be destroyed because they were God’s people and Jerusalem was God’s city. Over a million people lost their lives because of that delusion. They really believed they were God’s people and could prove it from the Bible.
In the book, The Desire of Ages, 107, Mrs. White explains very clearly what John the Baptist, who, according to Jesus, there was not anyone born of women greater than him (Matthew 11:11), was talking about. He clearly defined who the church is and who the people of God really are.
“ ‘And now also,’ said the prophet, ‘the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire’ [Matthew 3:10]. Not by its name [Israel], but by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction.” John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was to be decided by their character and life and not whether they could trace their genealogy. John the Baptist taught that profession was worthless, and if their lives and characters were not in harmony with God’s law, they were not His people. That principle is still true today.
God had called the Jewish nation and their mission was to represent Him on the earth. However,
“The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan.” Ibid., 36.
A very sober message was given to the church of today that in these last closing days of earth’s history ministers are going to have to give a message that is even straighter than that given by John the Baptist. One wonders how this can be possible when John the Baptist addressed the leaders of the Jewish church, calling them a bunch of poisonous snakes and not to even think they were children of Abraham. In other words, do not think that you are the church just because of your heritage.
Jesus said, “ ‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants [according to the flesh] but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father’ [the same argument they used with John the Baptist]. Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’ Then they said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’ ” John 8:37–44.
Notice what Jesus is saying here. He first acknowledges that they are the physical descendants of Abraham, but He says, “You are not really the children of Abraham.” Why? “You do not have the same character or the same religious experience that Abraham had; you don’t have the same connection with God that Abraham had, so spiritually, you are not the children of Abraham at all. Your spiritual father is the devil.” This is the same thing that John the Baptist said. It is character that counts and not profession.
Ellen White explains this same concept:
“The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. Jesus told them that this claim could be established only by doing the works of Abraham. The true children of Abraham would live, as he did, a life of obedience to God. They would not try to kill One who was speaking the truth that was given Him from God. In plotting against Christ, the rabbis were not doing the works of Abraham. A mere lineal descent from Abraham was of no value. Without a spiritual connection with him, which would be manifested in possessing the same spirit, and doing the same works, they were not his children.
“This principle bears with equal weight upon a question that has long agitated the Christian world—the question of apostolic succession.” The Desire of Ages, 466, 467.
Apostolic succession is the theological theory that God gave the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to the apostle Peter, and he was the first bishop of Rome, passing the keys on to the next bishop of Rome, right on down to the two hundred and sixty-fifth one we have today. The theory goes that the bishop of Rome has authority over the church because the keys given to Peter have been passed on right to this present day.
“Descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character. So the apostolic succession rests not upon the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but upon spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught, this is the true evidence of apostolic succession. This is what constitutes men the successors of the first teachers of the gospel.” Ibid., 467.
The successors of the first teachers of the gospel are the people who have the same spirit that they had, those who teach the same things that they taught. The Jews misunderstood who it was that truly represented Israel. They thought that by making a profession and joining their church, then you were part of Israel. But John the Baptist said no, a profession without a corresponding character is nothing.
If what was true then is still true now, then a true Seventh-day Adventist is not just somebody who makes a profession of the Adventist faith; it is somebody whose character backs up his or her profession. “God is honored, not so much by the great number, as by the character of those who serve Him. He appreciates moral worth. He draws the dividing line between those who bear His name by profession, and those whose character shows them to be His children.” The Signs of the Times, June 30, 1881. That is an interesting statement. Let us think that through.
It says that God “draws a dividing line.” Now this dividing line, by the way, is drawn through every church. Every professing Christian is either on one side or the other of this dividing line. On one side are those who bear His name by profession, and on the other side are those whose character shows them to be His children. Jesus is coming soon, and there are many people who have been deceived into thinking that by their profession they will be saved. We do not believe that. We believe that a character that is in harmony with it must back up the profession. The New Testament is full of instruction on this point. Look for example in the book of Titus. Paul wrote to the young minister about problems they were having with some people who were professing to be Christians. Notice the problem: “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” Titus 1:16.
“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 [that is, without being intoxicated], righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour 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.
The message that the apostle preached was not a message that you could be saved by profession of faith alone when your character was out of harmony.
So who is Israel?
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God [those who make a profession]; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed [those whose character is in harmony with their profession].” Romans 9:6–8.
Let me repeat, God has drawn a dividing line in our church, and every single one of us who professes the Adventist faith is on one side or the other of that dividing line. Paul emphasizes this over and over again to the Roman church. “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Romans 2:28, 29.
Again, saying it about as plain as it can be said: “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Romans 4:13–17.
If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed, you are Israel. That is what Paul said to the Galatians, in Galatians 3. If you have been baptized into Christ, if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s seed. You are Israel, and even if you can claim a genealogy that goes all the way back to Abraham, if you do not believe in Christ, you are not Abraham’s seed.
“Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7.
In Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 204, there is a statement that was written to Seventh-day Adventist physicians, but it applies to all of us. It says, “A profession of Christianity is not sufficient to constitute us Christians. We must each have the character manifest by our divine Pattern.”
There is a dividing line in the Adventist church. If you profess the Adventist faith, you are on one side or the other of the dividing line. On what side are you? The Christian religion is the most attractive and spiritual of all religions. The reason is that in the Christian religion Jesus Christ makes decisions in your behalf on the basis of your choice, the decisions that you make in your mind, and not just by going through some ritual.
If you want to follow Jesus, not just by profession but actually learn how to live His life, to become like Him, God will hear that, and He will answer that prayer. John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” I John 3:2.
It will be a terrible disaster to come to the Day of Judgment and find yourself on the wrong side of the great divide. Choose today the right side; Jesus is waiting to answer your plea for help to save you.
(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 Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.