Monthly Archives: May 2013

Timothy Jennings and God Does Destroy

93 Replies

The Teachings of Timothy Jennings

An Evaluation by Eugene Prewitt

 

Introduction

I first heard of Timothy Jennings in connection with the Good News Tour. This was not, in my mind, a positive association. But it was not until a friend of mine suggested that my students listen to a series of his lectures that I took a personal interest in his teachings.

I listened to six hour-long lectures by Dr. Jennings while taking copious notes. From these notes I wrote a brief paper for the administrative committee at Ouachita Hills College. This paper strongly recommended that we not assign our students to listen to Dr. Jennings’ lectures.

Several months later I had, in one week, two individuals call me and ask about Dr. Jennings’ teachings. After writing the second response (to the two individuals) I concluded that I should place my paper to the executive committee in the public domain. I posted it on my website.

About three weeks later I was surprised to receive a call from Dr. Jennings himself. He kindly informed me that I had misrepresented him in my paper and had not acted in harmony with Bible principles by placing that paper in the public domain without having first contacted him.

That phone call persuaded me that I had not in all respects well summarized his teachings. It did not, however, persuade me that Brother Jennings was safer than I had first indicated.

This paper will replace the original. I hope to improve on that paper by more accurately representing what Timothy Jennings really teaches, by giving him an opportunity to see the paper before it is in the public eye, and by clarifying statements that were ambiguous or easily misunderstood.

But first, let me address the reason that I do not believe I must confront false teachers before exposing them. A false teacher neither offends me nor sins against me. I do not pretend to know his character. He is not ashamed of his teachings (if indeed he places them in the public domain). I oppose his teachings, not his person. And for that reason Romans 16:17-18 rather than Matthew 18, applies to my situation.

Yet I will admit that it is generally a good thing to talk to someone about what they believe before telling someone else what they believe. Misunderstandings are common. In the case of Mr. Jennings I felt that I well understood his position before writing. And after talking with him, I feel that I was fundamentally correct regarding what he teaches.

Initial Summary

Dr. Jennings’ lectures are content rich and are profusely illustrated. And if I am correct, Dr. Jennings is in grave danger.

Like Dr. Kellogg of yesteryear, he has been used by God to uncover a great deal of truth in his professional studies. His teachings regarding the relation of the various faculties of the mind (will, appetites, passions, reason, conscience, emotions, imagination, etc.) are profound and incredibly consistent with EGW’s teaching on the same.

And like Dr. Kellogg of yesteryear, he has woven into his presentations a deadly net of falsehoods that destroy the most fundamental of Christian virtues – faith.[1] I do not mean that Dr. Jennings teaches any of the same errors taught by Dr. Kellogg. Rather, I mean that both doctors eventually became icons of a dangerous mixture of truth and error.

In short, Dr. Jennings believes that God takes no initiative in causing prolonged pain during the destruction of the wicked, and that to prolong or cause punitive suffering is torture and that such a view of God (that he would cause prolonged pain as part of punishment) destroys love and trust.

More than this view, which is explained thoroughly in two of the lectures given at the Forest Lake church in Florida, and is alluded to in two others, Dr. Jennings has espoused a theory of the atonement that mirrors in some fundamental ways the moral influence theory[2].

He does not, for example, believe in substitutionary atonement. He makes light of the idea that sins must be “paid” for.

Jenning’s epistemology is troubling. He argues, when defending the views above, that we must reject any doctrine that requires us not to reason. But he explains this in such a way that if we believe that God is loving, and that God burns people for rebelling, such a dichotomy is not reasonable and the some point of it must be rejected.

Thus he, in his recorded lectures, inadvertently sets individual reason above inspiration. When a man’s reason can not grasp the harmony of two ideas (as Satan could not perceive any harmony between justice and mercy, a similar perplexity to the one facing Jennings), the man concludes that at least one of the ideas must be flawed. This has always been the essence of unbelief.

Jennings also repudiates ideas associated with the investigative judgment. He thinks not that sins are blotted from a record in heaven during the judgment. He mocks the idea that the our personal sins will be forever forgotten.

These views, woven into such a collection of profound insights into human nature, make for an extremely cogent parallel to the book Living Temple with its incredible insights into physiology interwoven around a philosophy of life-is-God.

And like the book Living Temple, which was critically evaluated by Jones, Waggoner, and several other notable messengers of God, and was pronounced harmless by them all, the lectures of Dr. Jennings seem to have elicited no protest from the audience. (This I gather from the 30 minute question and answer period at the conclusion of the final lecture.)

I must conclude that it would be irresponsible to encourage anyone to listen to his lectures.

The Doctrine of Justice

I have written elsewhere regarding the doctrine of justice. See, for example, my article on the draft.

There are several Bible facts about justice that relate to this discussion.

First, the angels (who are in the know) believe God’s judgments are perfectly fair. These heavenly beings witness pain and suffering caused by the seven last plagues. These plagues are punitive rather than corrective. (That is, they occur after the close of human probation.) And the suffering is fair, it is just. God is “holy” who judges the wicked. That is obvious, “manifest”, according to the righteous ones in Rev 15.

. . . the rivers and fountains of waters . . .  became blood. 5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 6  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.” 7  And I heard another out of the altar say, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”

And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 10  . . . and [some] gnawed their tongues for pain, 11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. Re 16:4-11

And [the righteous] sing . . .  saying, “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” Re 15:3-4.

Second, when brethren study the Bible and despite their best efforts to harmonize yet can not see eye-to-eye, God has ordained the gifts of the Spirit to serve as a protection. They keep us from being blown around by winds of doctrine. And on the question of God’s executive judgment, the prophetic gift speaks plainly.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; . . . That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Eph 4:11, 14.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ suffered in man’s stead, and the human nature of the Son of God staggered under the terrible horror of the guilt of sin, until from His pale and quivering lips was forced the agonizing cry, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”; but if there is no other way by which the salvation of fallen man may be accomplished, then “not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).  {TMK 64.2}

The power that inflicted retributive justice upon man’s substitute and surety, was the power that sustained and upheld the suffering One under the tremendous weight of wrath that would have fallen upon a sinful world. Christ was suffering the death that was pronounced upon the transgressors of God’s law. It is a fearful thing for the unrepenting sinner to fall into the hands of the living God. This is proved by the history of the destruction of the old world by a flood, by the record of the fire which fell from heaven and destroyed the inhabitants of Sodom. But never was this proved to so great an extent as in the agony of Christ, . . . when He bore the wrath of God for a sinful world. . . .  {TMK 64.3}

Man has not been made a sin-bearer, and he will never know the horror of the curse of sin which the Saviour bore. No sorrow can bear any comparison with the sorrow of Him upon whom the wrath of God fell with overwhelming force. Human nature can endure but a limited amount of test and trial. The finite can only endure the finite measure, and human nature succumbs; but the nature of Christ had a greater capacity for suffering; for the human existed in the divine nature, and created a capacity for suffering to endure that which resulted from the sins of a lost world. The agony which Christ endured, broadens, deepens, and gives a more extended conception of the character of sin, and the character of the retribution which God will bring upon those who continue in sin. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.  {TMK 64.4}

Satan rushes into the midst of his followers and tries to stir up the multitude to action. But fire from God out of heaven is rained upon them, and the great men, and mighty men, the noble, the poor and miserable, are all consumed together. I saw that some were quickly destroyed, while others suffered longer. They were punished according to the deeds done in the body. Some were many days consuming, and just as long as there was a portion of them unconsumed, all the sense of suffering remained. Said the angel, “The worm of life shall not die; their fire shall not be quenched as long as there is the least particle for it to prey upon.”  {EW 294.1}

The wicked receive their recompense in the earth. Proverbs 11:31. They “shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 4:1. Some are destroyed as in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished “according to their deeds.” The sins of the righteous having been transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit. His punishment is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on. In the cleansing flames the wicked are at last destroyed, root and branch–Satan the root, his followers the branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the demands of justice have been met; and heaven and earth, beholding, declare the righteousness of Jehovah.  {GC 673.1}

Third, the idea that men receive a reward that is “according to their works” is a theme of scripture. The reward of the wicked includes “tribulation” and “wrath” and punishment more sore than dying without mercy under the law of Moses.

2Co 5:10  . . . that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

1Pe 1:17  . . . without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work.

2Co 11:15  . . . whose end shall be according to their works.

Re 20:12  . . . the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Re 20:13  . . . they were judged every man according to their works.

Re 2:23  . . . I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

2Ch 6:30  . . . and render unto every man according unto all his ways

Jer 17:10  . . . I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Ps 62:12  . . . for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Isa 3:11  Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Mt 16:27  . . .  and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

 

Ro 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Ro 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds: Ro 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: Ro 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Ro 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, . . .  For there is no respect of persons with God.

He 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb 10:28-31.

Fourth, Christ’s illustrations of the executive judgment harmonize well with the idea of a finite punishment that is painful and precisely just. And when Ezra prayed about God’s judgments on Israel (that included great suffering and horrible deaths inflicted by Babylon), he acknowledged that they had been punished “less” than they deserved.

Mt 18:34  And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

Ezra 9:13  Seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve.

Fifth, the danger of experiencing the wrath of God is part of the third angel’s message.

Re 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

In short the doctrine of justice is present truth and it is no surprise that the devil would oppose it.

Dethroning Reason

Now when I talked to Dr. Jennings on the phone (April 17, 2009) he referred me to a statement where Ellen White talks about the idea of God torturing sinners as being a falsehood that overthrows reason.

From listening to his lectures it seems to me that Dr. Jennings believes that the purposeful painful punishment of sinners is irrational if one believes in a loving God. Now to me it seems perfectly rational that a loving God would nevertheless be willing to be fair even if being so was painful to himself. To inflict pain on the man that ordered torture for a humble servant of Jesus seems only just. In fact, it is when the persecutors are already dead that the blood of the martyrs calls out for God to avenge “our blood” in Revelation 6. So painful punishment seems rational to me and irrational to Jennings.

But whether it seems rational to Tim Jennings or myself is not a very important question. God is wiser than man. We must assume that his ideas are higher than ours even when we can not attain to them. Nevertheless, reason is one of the ruling powers in the Christian mind. It, rather than the appetites, is to guide the will. And when reason is “dethroned”, it is not because a man chooses to believe God’s Word. Rather, it is because he has become either a lunatic or a slave of his passions.

The following is the statement to which Tim was referring. I hope you can see that it does in no way excuse a man for exalting his reason over the plain statements of scripture. See the last sentence where teachers are bidden to check their sources of authority.

“I have since thought that many inmates of the lunatic asylums were brought there by experiences similar to my own. Their tender consciences have been stricken with a sense of sin, and their trembling faith dared not claim the promised pardon of God. They have listened to descriptions of the orthodox hell until it has seemed to curdle the very blood in their veins, and burnt an impression upon the tablets of their memory. Waking or sleeping, the frightful picture has ever been before them, until reality has become lost in imagination, and they see only the wreathing flames of a fabulous hell and hear only the shrieking of the damned. Reason has become dethroned and the brain is filled with the wild phantasy of a terrible dream. Those who teach the doctrine of an eternal hell, would do well to look more closely after their authority for so cruel a belief.  {LS80 153.3}

Ellen White does attack as contrary to our sense of justice the doctrine of eternal torment, or the doctrine that God enjoys punishing the wicked. But the very logic of the statements implies that a finite punishment would be a just yet unpleasant reality. See the second portion of the appendix.

The irony is that Satan, by teaching eternal torment, hoped to lead men to some of the very same conclusions that Tim Jennings has espoused. Men would conclude that God’s punishments must not be expected to be “literally” fulfilled.

Satan told his angels to make a special effort to spread the deception and lie first repeated to Eve in Eden, Thou shalt not surely die. And as the error was received by the people, and they believed that man was immortal, Satan led them still further to believe that the sinner would live in eternal misery. Then the way was prepared for Satan to work through his representatives, and hold up God before the people as a revengeful tyrant; that those who do not please him, he will plunge into hell, and cause them ever to feel his wrath; and that they will suffer unutterable anguish, while he will look down upon them with satisfaction, as they writhe in horrible sufferings and eternal flames. Satan knew that if this error should be received, God would be dreaded and hated by very many, instead of being loved and admired; and that many would be led to believe that the threatenings of God’s word would not be literally fulfilled; for it would be against his character of benevolence and love, to plunge beings whom he had created into eternal torments. {1SG 114.2}

Though Jennings has not gone as far down the road as the universalists (Ellen White mentions them in the context of the statement above), yet he has taken one key step in the same direction. The “threatenings,” some of them, have been explained as non-literal prophesies.

Still it is true that lost men, even while being consumed, will be bemoaning their sins. The thoughts of one such man are recorded by Solomon.

Pr 5:11  And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 12  And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; 13  And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! 14  I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

While this essay is far from a thorough treatment of justice, and even further from a rounded treatment of atonement (see my article, “Atonement Cleansing”), yet it is sufficient I think to demonstrate why Jennings should not be followed as he travels down the road of being wise “above that which is written.”

Eze 33:20  Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

God’s ways are fair.

Appendix Part I – A Critique of the Six Lectures Given at Forest Lake Academy

Lecture One

In his first lecture Dr. Jennings sets the stage for what he will develop more thoroughly in lectures four and six. He begins to explain that “lies believed” destroy love and trust. Then he begins to hint that the audience may even believe lies. Then, to paraphrase (all statements in quotes are quotes from my notes, paraphrases only of Dr. Jennings) him from my notes,

“The most destructive lies we believe are lies about God himself. Some of you will be shocked by the evidence. I want you to look at the information and weigh it.”

This idea is important to him. He emphasizes repeatedly that:

“Trust broken makes fear and selfishness…as a natural consequence. This idea is known as survival of the fittest – the opposite of God’s principle of love.”

What comes clear later is that if one believes in the standard Adventist position on the executive judgment and the substitutionary atonement, one will not trust God, but will become selfish and self protecting from such a cruel Being.

The first lecture ends with six suggestions. Suggestion number two introduces an idea that will be repeated throughout the series,

“If you have seen me [Jesus], you have seen the Father.”

This Jennings develops into a hermeneutic such that if Jesus didn’t punish then the Father won’t, if Jesus could forgive men before dying, then the Father could forgive men without Jesus dying. But that comes in lectures 4 and 6, and the person listening doesn’t realize what the repetition of the “principle” is setting him up to experience.

Lecture 2

This is the lecture on the Law of Liberty. It is fascinating. The short of it is that if a husband, for example, threatens to beat his wife if she will not obey, the natural consequence of this will be that

“love is damaged, and eventually destroyed. A desire to rebel is instilled.”

“If the woman stays, she loses her individuality, she becomes a shadow person.”

The principle seems true and obvious as it relates to marriage. But Dr. Jennings has wider applications in mind, and he begins to make them in this lecture.  If you believe that God threatens disobedience with punishment, “love is damaged” and see above for the rest. This places the cause for rebellion squarely at the feet of whoever inspired a prophet to threaten. Dr. Jennings indicates that he is very aware of the implications (though there is no evidence he is thinking of the implication just mentioned).

On a light note in a serious article, he says that the “stimulus package of Bush is a example of the law of love.” I don’t think this represents his best judgment.

In this lecture Jennings introduces one of what he calls “lies”, namely that:

“One of the lies is that the law of God brings death.”

He is saying that the law does not condemn men in such a way as to require their death.

He says:

“Does God have to use his power to kill? To inflict penalties?”

The implied answer is “no.”

There is an illustration that Jennings uses four or five times in his lecture series. Imagine, he says, a happily married couple. Someone approaches the wife with digitally altered photographs that falsely prove that her faithful husband has been having an affair. How will she react. Each time he uses the illustration he concludes:

“Lies believed lead to fear and selfishness.”

The problem with this illustration and conclusion is that it is one-sided. If the only kind of lie that could be told about God is that He is cruel, Jennings’ illustration would be more sensible. But there is an opposite type of lie, that God accepts you as you are. What does this lie lead to? Not “fear and selfishness” but self-confidence and selfishness. There are many lies and they produce a plethora of evil effects.

Lecture Three

In this lecture, on the family, Jennings begins to really advertise for his future lectures on the issues. He begins by making the case that lies about God are commonly believed and are the reason that people have problems with their relation to God. He urges people to come to the fourth lecture.

Like much in the first two lectures, this lecture is full of useful material on human-human interaction. But he makes one questionable point by suggesting a different translation of the proverb. I have not checked into this, but my gut reaction is that this is the wrong solution to the problem of well-raised lost children:

“Raise a child according to his way and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Ironically, and interestingly, Dr. Jennings makes a good point about the damage done by threatening consequences to children and then not following through. He says the children will learn not to trust their parent. If only he had thought the implications of this through in relation to his theology regarding the judgment….

Lecture Four

“Our weapons are not spiritual, the battlefield is the mind, a war over ideas about what God is like. What happened in [a patient’s] mind when the preacher said what he did? She was hardened.”

This is the introduction to the primary lecture on what God is like.

The lecture boils down to “seven basic strategies” Satan uses, and defenses that “demolish Satan’s strongholds in our minds.”

1.         “Lies about God.”

“That he is cruel, etc.”

Lies harden us, and we create schemes to be protected from God.

“God will examine our healthy brother Jesus in our place.”

This second of what Jennings calls “lies” about God examining Jesus, is very subtle. It is the first attack on the idea of substitutionary atonement in the lectures. It mocks, by illustration, the idea of the Father accepting the righteousness of Jesus in place of our life in the judgment.

And how do we escape the lies?

“Defense: Examine the facts about the Father through the lens of Jesus. Don’t read the Old Testament to see Jesus, but study Jesus to understand the Old Testament.”

He sets up this unreal dichotomy as a standard. Such a standard would allow one to reinterpret obvious OT examples of executive execution.

Satan’s next strategy:

“2.       Antithetical beliefs. These turn off our brains.” Examples

“God is love.”

“Burn you in hell forever.”

“love and hell” are antithetical

“god is love” and “burn in hell” these “CANNOT BE TRUE AT THE SAME TIME”

Jennings must sense that at this point some in the audience are feeling very uncomfortable. The last statement seemed to indicate that even a finite hell where God burns men can not be true if “God is love.”

“Someone says ‘I take God at faith, I just believe him.’ “you just turned off your brain.”

This is a direct exalting of human reason over inspiration. But he comes back and challenges:

“You think you have some verses, some inspired materials, that indicate that God will burn people? Bring them this afternoon, I would love to tell you what I believe about hell.”

He says that the idea that “God will inflict penalties” is antithetical to “God is love.”

He says “God does not use his power to inflict external penalties. All God has to do is let go and if he lets go, we will die.”

What is the defense against such so-called “lies” (that originate in Bible verses…)?

“Examine your beliefs in light of truth. Reject anything that requires you not to think.” And by this he seems to mean, anything that challenges your understanding, such as the harmony of justice and mercy.

Satan’s third strategy – to remove the meaning behind symbols.

He talks about how we sing about being cleansed “by the blood” as an example of an empty metaphor. He explains that “blood is life” and “the blood of Jesus is the life of Jesus.” “We are cleansed by the life of Jesus.”

But we are not cleansed, in the metaphor, by the blood in the lamb. We are cleansed by the blood spilled from the lamb. We are cleaned by the death, the shedding of the life, of Jesus. And this is an important point.

The fourth through seventh strategies are mostly well explained and harmless. But on the fifth… “Surrendering judgment to others.”

Here methinks that Dr. Jennings shows that he has read Graham Maxwell. He makes a point that we can not surrender our beliefs to the “28 beliefs” of the church and then launches into the “servants or friends” theme of Maxwell. But this is speculative on my part and he doesn’t make any applications here.

Lecture Five

Lecture 5 was on Depression. I didn’t take notes and was doing two things at once while listening to it.

Lecture Six

“Our Goal is to know God better, to develop trust and love and faith in God.”

Jennings begins with a list of myths about forgiveness.

One of these myths identified by Jennings is that “Forgiveness comes after the offender says ‘I’m sorry’”

His good point, that we should forgive before persons apologize, is extrapolated into a statement about forgiveness of sins: God has already forgiven us, even before we ask.

But while it is true that God loves us, gave all to save us, is not angry with us, yet the Bible places forgiveness as conditioned on confession and repentance.

“Myth three: Forgiveness requires payment.”

And this is the attack on substitutionary atonement.

“Anybody heard that forgiveness requires payment for our sins?”

“How many believe that Jesus died to pay our debt? That God forgives our debts as we forgive our debtors? If you collect the debt, can you forgive it? If you forgive it, can you collect it?”

Thus he confuses the issue of relationship and justice. I forgive my debtors as a response to God forgiving me. But I am not their Lawgiver. They sinned against God and hurt me. I forgive the hurt. The judgment deals with the sin. So God says “vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay.”

He observes that in 1 Cor 13, “Love keeps no record of wrong” and uses this to belittle the idea of a record being kept of our sins in heaven.

He says that our view of atonement is a “split in the godhead” and thus false.

“Did Jesus need appeasement? Where did this distortion come from?”

Thus he seeks to equate what really expresses the idea of justice with what he calls appeasement. And that is a great fault.

He addresses this apparent objection to his views: “Without shedding of blood is no remission” He 9:22.

And his answer is a modern tweaking of the moral influence theory. Jesus died to show us love and thus change us. It is one truth pitted against another in such a way as to make the second look like a lie.

“ ‘[You say] the Father applies Christ’s record to our record and declares us innocent when we accept him.’ In what universe will it ever be true that Adam never sinned? If we say God declares us innocent, we make God out to be a liar.”

“The records will last through all eternity.”

You will find an attack on the doctrine of the blotting out of sins; you will find an attack on the use of records in the judgment of consecrated persons; You will find that sins are blotted “not from a book” but from our character. You will find that the punishment for sin is the damage the sinner experiences in sinning.

You will find him answer an objection or two about God’s OT threatenings by saying that God was desperate and risked being misunderstood by rebels by communicating in a way they might listen – in other words, (my extrapolation, not his:) God didn’t mean what He said.

You will find in the Q and A, after the lecture, that a lady asked him more about “hell.”

His summary is that God is a fire that burns sin, not material things, so the people won’t be burned, but will die naturally from the brightness of God and the sin in them will be naturally consumed by the fire of God’s presence, so God will not actually do anything to destroy them.

And this flies entirely in the face of both scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy.

You will find the strangest argument from the Greek word for sulfur in the third angel’s message.

Appendix Part II – Ellen White on an Eternally Burning Hell and the Sufferings of the Lost

How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief, earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught, and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: “The sight of hell-torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words: “While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”  {GC88 535.1}

Where, in the pages of God’s Word, is such teaching to be found? Will the redeemed in Heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic, or the cruelty of the savage?—No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men; but they are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” [Ezekiel 33:11.]  {GC88 535.2}

What would be gained to God should we admit that he delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that he is regaled with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering creatures whom he holds in the flames of hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show God’s hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God’s hatred of sin is the reason why he perpetuates sin. For, according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God’s glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.  {GC88 536.1}

It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.  {GC 536.2}

The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. They received it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God’s word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination.  {GC 536.3}

A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting are driven to the opposite error. They see that the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will consign His creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved. Many regard the threatenings of the Bible as designed merely to frighten men into obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled. Thus the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet expect to be finally received into His favor. Such a doctrine, presuming upon God’s mercy, but ignoring His justice, pleases the carnal heart and emboldens the wicked in their iniquity.  {GC 537.1}

 


[1] Dr. Jennings does not acknowledge that he undermines faith by his teachings. He feels that I misrepresent him on this point. To this I counter that faith is simply living by and believing all that God says. Any one, then, who teaches that God’s plain statements cannot be understood literally, undermines faith. More on this later.

[2] Dr. Jennings distinguishes his belief from the moral influence theory on the basis that he believes Jesus did much more than simply make a demonstration. He accomplished, Jennings correctly teaches, a great deal that is essential to our salvation. He worked out a perfect character that is made available to us. Nevertheless, this sounds more like a refinement of the theory than a repudiation of it. Peter Abelard was seeking to get away from the very same ideas of penal justice that Dr. Jennings seeks to discredit.

For the Word Document, Click Here: Tomothy Jennings and God does Destroy

Which are Diverse and Strange Doctrines

Leave a reply

Diverse and Strange Doctrines

How to Know which Winds Demand our Attention

A study prepared for Larissa Brown by Eugene Prewitt, February 2008

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. Heb 13:9

It is a simple matter to realize that Satan would like to distract men from their duty. Less obvious, however, is the way of determining which doctrinal issues are the distractions. Certainly it is our duty to study.

And it would not do to say that any doctrine that seems unimportant is a distracting one. The importance of the truth may not always be apparent to the casual observer. It makes no sense to some, for example, why God would use Sabbath as a dividing issue in the end of time.

Yet He will. And a careful study reveals the perfect propriety of choosing the fourth commandment as the basis of the final test.

Our text indicates that there are doctrines that should be labeled “diverse and strange.” To obey the text we must have some way of knowing which doctrines these are. Otherwise we can not resist being carried around by them.

Here are a few observations from the text:

1.         The strange doctrines are, metaphorically, winds. That is how they can carry persons about.

2.         There are good doctrines that differ somewhat from the strange ones. They establish the heart “with grace.”

3.         The strange doctrines are “meats.” This is apparently in contrast with doctrinal “milk” as described earlier in the same book.

4.         The strange “meats” occupy persons – keep them busy.

5.         The business does not “profit” persons.

With these hints we may find enough information to help us recognize which doctrines should not be permitted to carry us around.

Winds

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

From this passage we perceive that metaphorical children are more likely to be tossed around by winds of doctrine. From the verses before it (11-13) we find that God gave the gifts of the Spirit to prevent us from being carried about by the winds.

We would also learn that the winds are promoted by cunningly wise men who are anxious to promote their views.

And we would learn from these two verses that the opposite of being carried away is to speak “the truth in love” while growing up into the character of Christ.

We could conclude that the unhealthful doctrinal winds would be opposed by the gifts operating in the church, and that they would be zealously promoted by intriguing arguments.

It follows logically, at least, that the promoters would of necessity need to find some way to undermine the credibility of the gifts which expose their error.

Established with Grace

Stability is a Salvational issue. Those that endure to the end are saved. Matthew 24:15. Those that hold their confidence steadfast receive the promise. The others fall back to perdition. Heb 10:35-39. (See also 2Pe 1:4; 2:21-22; 1 Co 15:1-2.)

“The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” 2Th 3:3.

Holiness is the goal of stability. We are established, or settled, so that we will resist temptation. This process of being established in our resistance, the work of grace, takes “a while.”

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

 

Our leading text in this study contrasted the effect of “strange doctrines” with “grace.” While the latter gives stability to our hearts, the former do not. Then the more we learn about the way that grace builds us up, the better we will be able to indentify those “diverse” doctrines that make little contribution to our strength.

Doctrinal errors in Paul’s day were opposed[1] and this strengthened the church.

Ac 16:4  And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. 5  And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

What is the connection between resolving the doctrinal issue and the churches being established? Doctrinal division tends to bring out the worst in people. And it is difficult to bring new believers into churches that are the scenes of heated arguments.

Hebrews 13:9 contrasts this effect with that of our hearts being established with grace. It is grace that gives us “a good hope” and “everlasting consolation” and so comforts our “hearts.” When our heart is thus encouraged we are established in our right doing. We are morally lifted.

2Th 2:15 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Our hearts are established in these good words and works with love. By leading us to a more fervent love for our brethren God intends to settle us, to prepare us for Christ’s Coming.

1Th 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Argument, of course, does not tend to increase our mutual affection.

Yet doctrinal unity, rather than doctrinal apathy, was the stabilizing element in Acts 16 above. As we received Christ Jesus by repentance and faith, so we are to walk “in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught.” Col. 2:6-7.

But what if there is an issue that conscientious brethren can not see eye-to-eye on, an issue not authoritatively settled by prophets in the manner of Acts 15? How do we achieve stabilizing love and accuracy of teaching in such a case?

Just such an issue did surface after the Acts 15 meeting. Many men felt that Jesus had given continuity to the Passover by saying, at the last supper, that we should keep it till He returns.

They taught that we should keep the Passover as a holy day. While we need not eat the lamb (since we eat bread symbolizing the same thing), we should, they thought, eat the bitter herbs and participate in other Passover rites. Biblical presentations could be made on both sides of the question – for the complete abolition of the ceremonial system, and for the retention of this part of it.

Paul’s inspired answer to the perplexity promoted both mutual love and doctrinal integrity. We should, he taught, receive brethren that differ with us as brethren. But there is a limit to how we ought to receive them.

Ro 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

Men who kept the Passover and who ate only bitter herbs on that day were to be appreciated and treated with Christian respect despite their error. But they were not to be allowed to make an issue of their convictions for others.[2]

 

Why not receive the brother with his doubtful disputation intact? Disputations, doubtful ones, tend to “spoil” men through “philosophy.” This is the normal “tradition” of successful doctrinal winds. The various arguments bewilder the student. Inspiration itself is belittled as the confused person asks why inspired materials seem to contradict each other. See Col 2:6-10.

When Paul wanted to establish the Romans, he knew how he would accomplish the aim. The gifts of the Spirit build up love and faith. They encourage temperance and longsuffering. They settle doctrinal issues. In short, they establish the heart with grace.

Ro 1:11  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

The gifted Timothy was directed to distinguish between teachings that were well known to the church community and teachings that were obscure. The former, being well represented in the plain teachings of the apostle, were to be fodder for the gospel cannon.

2Ti 2:1 ¶  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

The verse above shows that doctrinal integrity is a family matter. Individuals need each other to attain it. They need “witness” from the community regarding what has been established to be true by faithful elders. They need teachers who have respect for well-established positions.

While each individual is to be a studious workman in mining the Word for truth, each is also charged to “strive not about words” when disagreements arise in the church family. Persons listening to such arguments tend to be overthrown in their faith.

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

While we should simultaneously study the Word and yet “shun profane and vain babblings.” “Profane” sounds sinister. But it really means “common.” It developed its evil sound from the truth that it is wicked to mix the sacred and the common.  “Vain” can mean either proud or useless. The latter meaning, empty talk, is intended here.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

So men are bidden to “study” in a way that God approves, to study helpful and sacred themes and not fall into bickering on other matters. Men with doctrinal innovations, ideas not taught by Paul among many witnesses, have a cancerous message.

In this passage two babblers concluded, likely from their study of Matthew 24, that the resurrection must have occurred at the Destruction of Jerusalem. “Some” were led astray by this fascinating teaching.

How are persons overthrown by doctrinal innovations? They are overthrown by the degradation of their moral character. Something is putrefying within even while they appear to grow in holiness, even while their followers are admiring their faithfulness.

Pride swells. The man becomes less inclined to hear “wholesome” correction. The bitter nature of argument continues its foul work.

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

The moral work of building character, described in 2 Peter 1 as climbing a ladder of virtues, gives us stability. Though we have heard the “present truth” many times, we need to hear it repeatedly.

2Pe 2:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Character building, in harmony with Christ’s core teachings, keeps us from falling. The cultivation of the ladder’s virtues assure us an abundant entrance “into the everlasting kingdom.” This is, and always will be, “present truth.”

More than this, the present truth’s tone and content condition us to recognize moral value with our spiritual sight. It enables to perceive the big-picture value of various topics and so aids us in identifying “strange doctrines.” But those who neglect either character-construction or defect-reduction lack such insight.

2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 12 ¶  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 13  Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

So, in summary, how may our hearts be established with grace? By individual study of the Word with the aim of character development. The Word empowers such activity. Central doctrinal tenets of the church family, those well represented by the plain teachings of the apostles, deserve constant attention.

Side issues spoil men’s character while diverting their studious energies away from the work of character preparation. But the wholesome and plain teachings of the Bible are no canker. They are able to build us up.

Ac 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Flesh for Infant Consumption

It is an irony that diverse and strange doctrines target spiritual “babes.” The metaphor of “meats” reminds us that spiritual life develops in an orderly fashion. While we still struggle with basic human courtesies or with being able to teach men skillfully how to use the Bible to “discern good and evil”, we are spiritual infants and need the “milk of the Word.”

1 Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

And just as we are learning to crawl spiritually Satan arranges for us to have a pound of flesh. Long-term health issues mean nothing in this illustration. At the moment death from choking is the immanent danger.

We don’t have the teeth needed to be benefitted by the flesh. As our teeth mature we will also, simultaneously, grow in wisdom. By the time we are able to chew steak we will also be equipped (if taught well) to know which foods to accept and which to refuse.

This is all true in the spiritual life as well. The church, not more spiritual today than Corinth of yesteryear, is more a nursery than a school. While pastors are invited to play the discerning part of nurses, even the infants are commanded to “desire” the milk. These infants may diagnose their spiritual youthfulness with the keys of 1 Corinthians 3 and of Hebrews 5.

And how are the “strange” doctrines of Hebrews 13 characterized? They are “meats.” They are inappropriate for consumption at our age even if otherwise wholesome.

They are not, of course, wholesome. But at our age we might not be able to discern that, so we are to desire the “milk.”

What is the “milk”? What are those “first principles” of Hebrews 5:12? The answer is in the next verse after those already quoted:

Heb 6:1 . . .  the principles of the doctrine of Christ . . . the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Here are the basics. Study repentance, study faith, study the meaning of baptism. Understand the purpose of ordination. Sink your shaft into the mine of truths that center around the hope of resurrection. Meditate on the scenes of the judgment.

And as mother’s milk has been found to jump-start the development of an infants immune system, so these topics will be found to inoculate many from the very errors that are being fed to the church today.

Occupied with Strange “Meats” or How Shall we Consider Jesus?

No activity promises such rich rewards as meditation regarding our Savior. In Him we find themes to engage our imagination with utmost profit. There we find marrow and meat in due season.

But there are questions that may be asked about Jesus which, so far from aiding our contemplation of him, actually serve to distract us from his beauties.

As an illustration, we might begin with a description of his physical being while on earth. Was he tall or short? Brown hair or black? Was he Semite or of those Ethiopian Jews of the black race? Did he have a large nose or a more common one? Were his legs of equal length?

Of course we may not be able to answer these questions with any certainty. Though we have artistic descriptions of many of the world’s great men, though Jesus was the hero of many in his own generation, these kind of details were never revealed. They are casual facts – truths that carry no moral value.

The beauty of Jesus is “holiness.” We adore Him, not for his appearance, but for his character. We love Him, for example, because He first loved us. We fear Him because of his infinite power as manifest in the creation of the universe.

Ps 96:9  O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

1Jo 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Ro 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

When the Bible speaks about glorifying God it speaks of doing good works that others may see his glory. We are told to declare his mighty works among the heathen. Angels ascribe glory to him during the seven last plagues because his “judgments are made manifest.”

Re 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

So when the Bible bids us think on God, it recommends to our thought two categories of attributes – his mercy and his wrath.

Ro 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

In this way of thinking it is easy to understand how “knowing” Jesus brings us all things that pertains to life and godliness. We are changed by thinking about the very characteristics that we consider. His kindness, gentleness, wisdom and courage invite us to imitate his beauties.

We are not, however, invited to imitate the fact that he was a male. While there were reasons that he chose to be born as a boy, there is no moral value attached to the male gender. Ladies may be as completely holy as their male counterparts.

Christ’s patience under oppression could overcome our own lethargy, if we would let it. We would be changed into his same image.

When we consider the suffering, reproach, and indignity that Jesus suffered without murmuring or retaliating, that he might redeem man, and elevate him to his own right hand, how much are we willing to endure and sacrifice, that we may have a part in the work of rescuing perishing souls, and thus enter into the joy of our Lord? “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.” It is of the greatest consequence that we understand what we are placed in this world for. We are not here to glorify self or to seek our own pleasure, but to glorify our Father which is in Heaven, and to carry on the work begun by the great Teacher of righteousness.  {ST, November 3, 1887 par. 9}

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Jesus had character before he had a body. He was like his Father in character. He existed in the same “image” as the word is used in the text above. Not that the Father and the Son were identical twins, nor that they were a cosmic version of cloned persons, but that they shared the same beauty of holiness – that is the point of the following verse.

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Just as there are moral qualities regarding Jesus that we should know, and that help us grow; there are moral qualities about the Father of the same nature.

They are the same qualities.

John 14:8  Philip saith unto him, “Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” 9  Jesus saith unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, ‘Shew us the Father?’ 10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Jesus shows, in this passage, that his likeness to the Father, the likeness that men can see, is not a collection of facial features. Rather, it is a similarity, an exact harmony, of words and works.

Does God also have qualities that have no moral value? He has a face. He has “hinder parts” that Moses saw. But Moses didn’t describe them. No prophet has.

There are some other things that have never been revealed. They have no moral value for humans. They would not contribute to our faithfulness or to our success in doing all the words of God’s law.

De 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

What a trick of the devil it would be to lead us to speculate regarding the unrevealed aspects under plea that we should know Jesus.

I will venture to suggest that the popular differences of opinion regarding whether Jesus has existed from eternity, or from nearly that long ago is just such a characteristic as the color of God’s skin. While His divinity is “everything to us,” His particular age, whether it is billions of years or infinite, is not.

The question of the nature of the Spirit of God is another. We are changed by knowing the character of the Spirit.  We are strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man. We are dependant on the power of the Spirit to work through us.

But whether the Spirit has a body makes no material difference in our experience. Whether the Spirit is a third member of the Godhead, or whether the Spirit is the mind of the two members, or whether the mind of the other two has all the attributes of a personal being, or whether the nature of the Spirit is beyond human comprehension (a likely reality) – these theories just do not change the nature of how I need the Spirit to be active in my life.

These theories are empty. Or, in the wording of Hebrews 13:9, “vain.”

Spiritual Profits

In all labor there is profit. God teaches us to do spiritual labor and to reap spiritual growth.

Is 47:17  Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. 18  O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

Tranquility is part of the great gain gathered through doing what God says. How little of this, however, comes from strange and diverse doctrines. These “have not profited” those who have been occupied with them.

Peace affords efficiency in doing God’s work. The flip-side of this is that diverse and strange doctrines distract us from God’s work. In this way they are similar to romance during a time of lethal persecution. Both the romance and the strange doctrine hinder our attention to the work for this time.

1Co 7:35  And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

(The thought occurs to me at this juncture that the leading figures in promoting various strange doctrines are often full-time employed in this work. The effect of this is that they are able to produce an uncanny volume of written materials, correspondence and rebuttals that can not be matched, in volume, by family men holding positions of trust in God’s cause. Then if persons are prone to judge truth by the preponderance of writing they will surely fall prey to self-appointed teachers.)

The “profit” that Paul sought for others was that they might be saved. The profit that our Father in heaven seeks is our “holiness.” These profits always run together.

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

And though men carp to the contrary, salvation is not based on the acceptance of various and strange doctrines. It is based rather on the acceptance of the truths communicated by the work of the Spirit through the “gifts.” Such acceptance is “faith” and allows men to prosper in all things, “withal.”

1Co 12:7  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

The faulty use of languages removes the profit from spiritual revelations either by making the words difficult to understand or by sharing words that are not inspired. This shows plainly that the profit comes from the ease of understanding inspired statements.

1Co 14:6  Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? . . . 9  So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

The strange and various teachings of Hebrews 13:9 sound similar to the arguments regarding “words” in 2Ti 2:14.

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

The gospel, an inspired and easy to understand message, may fail of profiting men as verily as an error – if it is not believed.

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

And this shows that profit comes from believing the easy to understand revelations of the prophets.

Then which doctrines are “strange”? They would include those that find someway to get around believing the easy to understand revelations of the prophets.

Conclusion

There are steps to escaping the doctrinal gusts of our time. Foremost among these is the work of character development. Heresies are a fruit of the flesh (Gal 5:19) and “none of the wicked will understand” Dan 12:10.

Character development has been assigned to men especially during the judgment. Satan, even eager to distract us from our work, has sought to distract us from it.

So while the core truths for this time and the milk of the word and the character of Jesus are a unit that changes us as we meditate on it, there are other doctrines that fail to profit in this way.

They are doctrines that do not show us how to live. They are doctrines that skirt simple inspired statements with some sort of unbelief. They are complex doctrines that defy the average man to untangle them. They, accordingly, are sources of “doubtful disputations” and “doting about questions” which promote evil feelings between brethren.

“Desire the milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.” That is Peter’s counsel to us.

Paul’s counsel is to stay occupied with the beneficial themes.

And my conclusion is that there are many doctrines agitated today that qualify precisely for the “diverse and strange” ones that ought not to move us. But until we get moving in the work of adding virtue to virtue we may find ourselves blind to know which winds are “strange.”

Then let us seek holiness and claim the promise:

“The wise shall understand.” Dan 12:10

 


[1] Many parts of the New Testament are easier to understand when one studies the book of Acts. We find there that Christian Jews differed from Paul regarding which Old Testament laws ought to be kept. Particularly, the Christians from Jerusalem said that we must be circumcised. They also enforced certain parts of the “Law of Moses” that they felt were not abrogated at the cross. Acts 15:5, et al.

The world church in representative session met to decide this question based on the writings of the prophets. When it was resolved (on the side of Paul and against the Jerusalem Christians), the decision was delivered to the various cities where Christianity had churches.  This “established” the churches “in the faith” and facilitated their growth.

[2] Both sides of the question were to acknowledge the conscientiousness of each other, to be fully (studiously) persuaded of their own position, and to prepare for the judgment.

Ro 14:1 ¶  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 2  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3  Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4  Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 5  One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. . . .  10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

For the Word Doc, click here: Which_are_Diverse_and_Strange_Doctrines and the Godhead

How to Study the Bible, YD 2007

2 Replies

Young Disciple Camp – July 2007

Deep Bible Study

Our Text: Isaiah 58:6-11 — Our Method: To be taught of God

 

Day One – Read the first evening

BEFORE WE GET TO OUR TEXT

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Is 29:9-10.

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand Da 12:10  .

 

What do these verses tell us? First, there are people that God will make to understand doctrine. These are individuals who have (a) exercised their powers of investigation. And these are individuals who have (b) begun searching for themselves.

No longer are they like nursing infants that only receive nutrition when someone brings it to them. Those taught of God have been weaned from dependence on others and have understood the fundamentals of the Christian Faith.

The second passage, Daniel 12:10, assures us that the wise will understand. If the wise understand and if God teaches those who are weaned from human dependence, then it must follow that: Wise Christians are weaned from human dependence. Think it through and see if this logic is sensible.

More than that, we are told that the wicked will not understand. Regardless of either the genius or the extensive researches of the Bible student, if he is yet a slave to his appetites and passions, he will not understand.

Supporting Passages: 1Co 3:1-2; Heb 5:12-6:3; 1 Pe 1:22-2:3; Ga 5:19-20.

Other conditions of being taught of God hinge on these same principles.

When we are willing to do whatever God may desire, He will teach us.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 7:17

 

When strengthened by the Spirit we understand deep meaning in simple statements.

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; . . . that ye . . . may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. . . Eph 3:16-19

 

WHEN WE ARE READY TO APPROACH OUR TEXT

Different prophets have written about the same ideas. Since the different prophets had different levels of education, different vocabularies, different writing habits and abilities, they have often chosen different words to talk about the same idea.

Here are some hints about how to find parallel passages that will help us understand the one we are studying.

 

  1. Use creative word studies
    1. By computer or by Young’s Concordance
    2. By using Strong’s Lexicon
    3. By creative thought
  2. By miracle – after depending on God’s promise to teach you
  3. By cross references, and especially by the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (or by computer)

And here are some pitfalls that lead to misunderstanding of the scripture:

 

  1. Using a lexicon to find what you think are “hidden meanings” or to expose what you think is a “poor translation.”
  2. Looking for something new or odd or that might help you get attention from others.
  3. Speculating at answers to the wrong questions—questions whose answers have never been revealed (See De 29:29).
  4. Using equal signs for statements of positive relation (i.e. “Jim is tall” therefore anywhere I find the word “tall” I can substitute “Jim”)
  5. Being hasty to make a conclusion

OK, NOW THE TEXT 

 

After the practice session…give a short study on Isaiah 58. It is written to (A) Spiritual Israel. It is written to those who look forward to Christ Coming (C) and to those that enjoy devotional time and (D) to those that have not forsaken the ordinance. Conclusion: It is for SDA’s. A special chapter for our church, for our movement.

 

DAY ONE EVENING ASSIGNMENT

Let’s practice. Read the chapter slowly two times with your pencil nearby. What do you observe? I will try to give you an idea of what I mean by sharing my observations from the first memory verse.

6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Observations:

Our God has chosen a type of “fast.”

Our God likes to ask questions to make us think.

Wickedness has bands – causes bondage.

God’s fast releases men from bondage.

God’s fast takes heavy burdens off.

God’s fast lets oppressed persons go free.

God’s fast requires me to do something – “ye break…”

God’s fast is thorough – “every yoke”.

During the observation stage I am trying only to note truths that are actually in the text. My next step, other than asking more help from God, is to start studying some of these observations.

Tonight, you are to observe verses 7 – 11 for very simple short ideas like those above. Bring them to Deep Bible Study tomorrow.

Day Two – Read the second evening

For practice, let’s study the first of the observations I made yesterday from verse 6. “God has chosen a type of fast.” Next Step: Finding other parts of the Bible on the same topic.

 

Where else does the Bible talk about fasting? If I just do a word search on “fast” I might miss words like “fasted”, “fasting”, and “fasts.” A good plan, if I can use a computer, is to do a search for “fast*” The asterisk (*) tells the computer to find every verse that has a word that starts with the letters “fast” no matter how the word ends.

If I don’t have a computer to help me, I can do the same thing with a concordance. And I can use cross references from either the computer or from a study Bible to help me also.

Now I tried the “fast*” search and … it returned too many verses. It found words like “fasten” and phrases like “hold fast” and “fast asleep.” Perhaps I could do separate searches for “fast” and “fasted” and “fasting”, but if there are too many verses it may be more helpful to use the cross references.  That is what I decide to do next:

Cross References

In reading the passage it looks to me like the idea I am studying, of God choosing a fast, begins in verse 5. I want to find passages related to the topic, so I look for cross references to verse 5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. This morning (July 2) I read them for my devotions.

I found several stories that involved fasting. I love stories. They help me see how ideas fit together. And the mental pictures help me rememberhow they fit together.

Cross references lead me to the story of the revival under Nehemiah and Ezra. The revival involved fasting of a leader (Ezra) over the sins of his people. It also involved the fasting of the whole church over their own sin in marrying unbelievers. These stories are in Ezra 10 and Nehemiah 9.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge also leads me to the story of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20) when he was threatened by three large united armies. He led the nation in fasting and prayer. God rewarded him by saying that his people would not even need to fight for the victory God would give them. I found the story of Esther when she chose to risk her life to save her people. Her people had already prayed and fasted before she made the decision. She asked them to do it again after she made the decision. And what did God do? He turned everything around for them. The fasting is found in Esther 4.

I found that Jesus talked about which fasts God notices and rewards. That is a very similar topic to the Isaiah 58, so I mark Matthew 6 for further study.

And I am very excited to find Daniel 9 and Leveticus 16 listed as cross references on the topic of fasting. Why? Because I live at the end of earth’s history and I especially want to understand things related to the end of earth’s history. The sanctuary (the subject of Leveticus 16) and the book of Daniel are both subjects especially helpful in my day. Anytime I am studying a passage that is related to the truth for today, I will be glad to seek to know what it says about my life and how I should live.

Tonight, or in your devotions tomorrow, you are to read three stories or passages that speak about fasting. You could find your own or use the chapters mentioned above, but be sure you read Daniel 9. Tomorrow we will talk about what you noticed in that chapter. Bring your observations on Daniel 9 (up to verse 19) to Deep Bible Study tomorrow.

After the lesson, during the “practice time”, do not have them break into their groups. Rather, have them read silently right where they are…practicing silence… Have them read 1Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18. What are three religious things that people do for show? What is their reward when the do it for show? 2Or read Is 22:12-14. What was wrong with “joy and gladness”?   3Or read Jonah 5:5-8. Was this fast like the one described in Isaiah 58? What was its effect?

Also, regarding verse 7: Neh 5:5; Lu 10; 1Jo 3:17

Day Three – Read the third evening

Present Truth – Leveticus 16  

The book of Leveticus doesn’t even have the word “fast” in it. If I had just used a concordance I would not have connected it with Isaiah 58. The cross reference was very helpful here. Someone knew that when Leveticus 16 says men are to “afflict” their soul that it means doing just what Isaiah 58 is describing as a spiritual “fast.”

Leveticus 16 is all about the Day of Atonement.

I remember from my previous studies that since 1844, we are living in the Day of Atonement.

HINT => Memory plays an important part in being taught of God. The Spirit that guides us into all truth often guides us by bringing back to memory things God has taught us previously.

This is good news for you. When you start studying the Bible, the names of people and places, certain phrases, and new ways of thinking will be unfamiliar to you. You may get discouraged because you don’t understand hardly anything you are reading. What we are learning here is to get started. The things you learn today will help you learn tomorrow. And it will not be too long before you feel that the Bible is a familiar book—if you search it as a man digs for hidden treasures.

Read Leviticus 16. Did God’s people just watch the priests on the Day of Atonement, or did they have something to do? What did the common people have to do?

HINT => Is it possible that Isaiah 58 is about the Day of Atonement? Here comes an important discovery. We are about to study the context of our passage to see if we can learn something more about our topic.

Isaiah 58:1-2  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

HINT => A big part of studying the Bible involves praying to God for help and then asking yourself questions about the verse. Here are some questions I would ask myself from these two verses.

Does God claim people as his own who have sins and transgressions in their lives?

Do the people God claims in this passage have devotions? Consistently?

Do they enjoy learning about God and His truth?

Are they like people that have rejected one of God’s commands? Or like people who have not rejected one of them?

Do they pray for the world to end? For Jesus to return as the Judge of all the earth?

When I ask myself these questions I conclude that Isaiah 58 is written for Seventh-day Adventists. Can you see why I think so?

Tonight, or in your devotions tomorrow, find answers to the five questions above. Then you are to read your memory work, Isaiah 58:6-11 and write down things that we can do during the Day of Atonement that would please God. Bring your answers and list of helpful activities to Deep Bible Study tomorrow.

Day Four – Read the fourth evening

 

NOW MEDITATION

Our last verse, Isaiah 58:11, has an incredible promise.

And the LORD shall guide thee continually.

This thought is far too large to be understood in a moment. When we talk about deep Bible study we want to understand that deep doesn’t always mean symbolic or obscure. God’s love is deep. It is not symbolic. Many ideas in scripture are so profound that we need to pause when we find them. We need to take time to just think about them.

Try it. Close your eyes and think about what it would mean to have God guide you all the time. How wonderful and helpful that would be! Can you feel the verse changing your heart while you take the time to meditate on it? That is how simple truths become deep truths.

NOW DISCOVERY

During these four days I have shared a number of little hints on how to study the Bible. Some of them you have read already.  Many other ideas are in two outlines that you can review tonight. If you do not understand a few of the ideas, or do not remember them, that is OK.

What you are going to do tonight is pick one of the verses in our passage…any verse except verse 6…and practice studying it. Use whatever you have learned this week. When you come tomorrow, come prepared to not only share what you found, but to share how you found it.

Tonight, or in your devotions tomorrow, read the two outlines: “How to Study the Bible” and “Additional Thoughts.” Then read Isaiah 58:6-11. Pick one of the verses (7 to 11) and spend 25 minutes to one hour studying it. Bring your findings (and how you found them) to Deep Bible Study tomorrow.  [Since many of you may not have good cross references available to you, I have give the cross references from the Online Bible for each of the verses below.].

VERSE SEVEN: Isa 58:10; Job 22:7; Job 31:18-21; Ps 112:9; Pr 22:9; Pr 25:21; Pr 28:27; Ec 11:1-2; Eze 18:7, 16; Da 4:27; Mt 25:35-40; Lu 11:41; Lu 19:8; Ro 12:20-21; 2Co 9:6 -10; 1Ti 5:10; Phm 1:7; Jas 2:15-16; 1Jo 3:17-18; Isa 16:3-4; Ge 18:2-5; Ge 19:2; Jud 19:20-21; Ac 16:15, 34; Ro 12:13; Heb 13:2-3; 2Ch 28:15; Job 31:19-20; Eze 18:7; Mt 25:35-45; Lu 3:11; Ge 19:14; Jud 9:2; Ne 5:5; Lu 10:26-36; 1Jo 3:17

VERSE EIGHT: Isa 58:10; Isa 58:11; Job 11:17; Ps 37:6; Ps 97:11; Ps 112:4; Pr 4:18; Ho 6:3; Mal 4:2; Isa 57:18; Jer 33:6; Ho 6:2; Ho 14:4; Mt 13:15; Ps 85:13; Ac 10:4; Ac 10:31; Ac 10:35; Isa 52:12; Ex 14:19

VERSE NINE:  Isa 1:15; Isa 30:19; Isa 65:24; Ps 34:15-17; Ps 37:4; Ps 50:15; Ps 66:18-19; Ps 91:15; Ps 118:5; Jer 29:12-13; Mt 7:7-8; 1Jo 3:21-22; Ge 27:18; 1Sa 3:4-8; Isa 58:6; Isa 57:4; Pr 6:13; Isa 59:3-4; Ps 12:2; Eze 13:8; Zec 10:2

VERSE TEN: Isa 58:7; De 15:7-10; Ps 41:1; Ps 112:5-9; Pr 11:24-25; Pr 14:31; Pr 28:27; Lu 18:22; Isa 58:8; Isa 29:18; Job 11:17; Ps 37:6

VERSE ELEVEN: Isa 49:10; Ps 25:9; Ps 32:8; Ps 48:14; Ps 73:24; Joh 16:13; 1Th 3:11; Isa 33:16; Job 5:20; Ps 33:19; Ps 34:9-10; Ps 37:19; Jer 17:8; Ho 13:5; Ps 92:14; Pr 3:8; Pr 11:25; Pr 13:4; Pr 28:25; Isa 61:11; So 4:15; Jer 31:12; Eze 36:35; Job 6:15-20

How to study the Bible – An Outline

 

  1. What kind of person to be so God can teach me
  2. A man that is willing to do God’s will
  3. A man that is wise
  4. A man that is single-mindedly believing
    1. What to do to be taught of God
    2. Earnestly pray for help in understanding—always
    3. Carefully read the passage in context, perhaps repeatedly
      1. Note observations
      2. Emphasize various words
      3. Be familiarizing yourself with scripture
      4. Make yourself a channel for God’s blessings
      5. Use the best tools
        1. The Bible itself
        2. The Concordance
          1.                                                                                                                                        i.      Not for etymology
          2.                                                                                                                                       ii.      Not for translation correction
          3. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
          4. Cross References and textual notes
          5. Brethren of experience
          6. Find parallel passages
            1. By using the tools in 5 a-d
            2. By miracle and open-eyed reading
            3. Explore contexts of parallel passages
            4. Meditate
            5. Find inspired commentary on the context
              1. NT on OT
              2. SOP on NT or OT
              3. Take copious notes
              4. Share immediately and repeatedly
                1. What not to do
                2. Use point 8b as a substitute for the work of digging. God will not cooperate.
                3. “Strive about words”
                4. Use forms of “be” uncritically as verbal equal signs
                5. Treasure shock-value or oddity; or try to prove you are smart
                6. Follow a man’s development of a thought uncritically
                7. Reject a man’s development of a thought without giving it a hearing
                8. Listen to teachers known to be causing divisions and problems by opposing the truth you have learned
                9. Entertain foolish questions that require speculative answers
                10. Search the Bible for evidence to support your position
                  1. Rather, seek for evidence regarding your position
                  2. Rather, take no position until the evidence is in
                  3. Use a two-way passage, or an obscure one, to explain a simple passage
                    1. How to conclude
                    2. Write logically and simply
                    3. Use the plain-practical clever
                      1. If it passes, test it with the Brethren
                      2. If it fails, store it for future use
                      3. Express your thankfulness to God for teaching you.
                        1. Privately
                        2. Individually when sharing with another
                        3. Publicly, making efforts not to exalt self

 

Additional Thoughts:

  1. Study when you are alert
  2. Start with appropriate material – incrementally challenging
  3. Memorize – your arsenal for quick advancement
  4. Keep the mind uncluttered by wicked and vain thoughts
  5. Find a private place
  6. Give yourself sufficient time

VII. Remember that pay-day in research is later rather than earlier

  1. Reread Stories for new meaning
  2. Do your homework in your Father’s Home-School
    1. Revelation 3, 7, 12-14; Daniel 7-9, 12
    2. Isaiah 53, 58; Righteousness by Faith
    3. Master the fundamentals early
    4. Study passages rather than verses
      1. Think of passages as connected
      2. Recognize sections
      3. Pray interactively as you read; ask God what a phrase means; ask for help; repent of evil thoughts

XII. Carefully use faith-based commentaries

  1. Like those from www.onlinebible.net
  2. Like those from SDA Pioneers
  3. Treat commentaries as friends; not as teachers
  4. Know your computer program. Here are hints related to “online Bible.”
    1. I can search for unordered words or phrases
    2. I can search several versions of the scripture and other books simultaneously
    3. I can copy or “append” to the clipboard
    4. I can toggle between showing Strong’s numbers and not, and between showing marginal readings and not. Typically, I keep marginal readings on.
    5. When I want to look up a word in the lexicon, I toggle to showing Strong’s numbers and then hover over the number.
    6. I can search for a Strong’s number. I can mix numbers and words in my search.
    7. I can view, in one window, the texts of TSK by showing “cross references.”
    8. The best commentaries, when I need to use one, appear to be “Clarke”, “Henry,” “Gill,” and “Jamieson, Fausset and Brown.” None are SDA and the closer you get to material that was once sealed, the less helpful they are.
    9. Know that God uses curiosity to make assignments. When you wonder “why?” it is often because He arranged for you to wonder it by writing something out of the ordinary. (See Ex 12:26; 13:8; Josh 4:21.) Do your assignment.
    10. In complex passages try this: Start with the last phrase and work backwards. If a verse said “read truth for it will help those who for the love of God are giving their lives for the benefit of others to see them saved” you would read it like this “To see people saved is the benefit that is worth dying for. The love of God motivates us to that kind of giving. Those that are motivated like that are benefited from reading truth.” Hebrews tend to write “effect, cause, cause, cause.” Englishman tend to write “cause, cause, cause, effect.” Reading “backwards” will simplify many long sentences.
    11. Use a Bible dictionary for unfamiliar words like “rereward”

Day Five – Now it is time to share. See below.

AND NOW SHARING

When we come back to share, remember that our goal is not to prove that we are smart, but to honor God for the gift of understanding He has given us through His Spirit.

 

What if there is not enough time for you to share during the service? This is the best part of learning: You can share with anyone whenever you can find a good opportunity to talk.

And when you share what you have learned, God will teach you more. When you share what you have learned, God will help you understand it better. When you share what you have learned, it will become easier to remember what you have learned. Sharing is the best.

Tonight, or tomorrow, share something special you have learned this week with one of your friends here at camp. Then invite them to share with you something they have learned.

That is your last assignment for Deep Bible Study at camp this year. Do the assignment over and over and over and you will have a wonderful year of discovery before you come back for camp next summer.

Amos 9:8  Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

9  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

11 ¶  In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

Is 58:1 ¶  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Isa 56:10  His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

Ps 40:9  I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

Ps 40:10  I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Every unkind criticism of others, every thought of self-esteem, is “the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity.” This lifting up of self in pride, as if you were faultless, and magnifying the faults of others, is offensive to God. It is breaking his law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” “Be kindly affectioned one toward another.” We have no right to withdraw our confidence from a brother because of some evil report, some accusation or supposition of wrong. Frequently the report is made by those who are at enmity with God, those who are doing the enemy’s work as accusers of the brethren.  {HM, January 1, 1892 par. 5}

Some one not so mindful as he should have been of Christ’s words, “Take heed how ye hear,” allowed his unsanctified ears to hear wrong, his perverted senses to imagine wrong, and his evil tongue to report wrong. Many a man will not come openly to talk with the one he thinks in error, but will go to others, and under the mask of friendship and sympathy for the erring, he will cast reflections. Sometimes he openly agrees with the one whom he covertly seeks to injure. Suppositions are stated as facts, without giving the person charged with wrong, a clear, definite statement of his supposed errors, and without giving him a chance to answer the charges. This is all contrary to the teaching of Christ. It is the subtle way in which Satan always works. Those who do such things have set themselves up as judges, through admitting evil thoughts. One who engages in this work, communicates to his hearers a measure of his own spirit of darkness and unbelief; his evil surmisings sow in their minds the seeds of bitterness and suspicion toward one whom God has delegated to do a certain work. If he makes a mistake, it is seized upon, magnified, and reported to others, and thus many are led to take up the reproach against their neighbor. They watch eagerly for all that is wrong, and close their eyes to all that is commendable and righteous.  {HM, January 1, 1892 par. 6}

I call your attention to the sure results of heeding the Lord’s admonition to care for the afflicted: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.” Is not this what we all crave? O, there is health and peace in doing, the will of our Heavenly Father. “Thy righteousness shalt go before thee; the glory of the Lord shalt be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”  {MM, June 1, 1891 par. 11}

Let Christians now repent before God of their half-hearted work. Let them regard themselves as only threads in the great web of humanity, and without delay redeem the time and represent to the world a pure, unselfish benevolence. Representing in character the attributes of Christ, they may carry forward to a glorious completion the work which he left them of reconciling the world unto himself.  {MM, June 1, 1891 par. 12}

This is the special work now before us. All our praying and abstinence from food will avail nothing unless we resolutely lay hold of this work. Sacred obligations are resting upon us. Our duty is plainly stated. The Lord has spoken to us by His prophet. The thoughts of the Lord and His ways are not what blind, selfish mortals believe they are or wish them to be. The Lord looks on the heart. If selfishness dwells there, He knows it. We may seek to conceal our true character from our brethren and sisters, but God knows. Nothing can be hid from Him.  {2T 34.1}

The fast which God can accept is described. It is to deal thy bread to the hungry and to bring the poor which are cast out to thy house. Wait not for them to come to you. The labor rests not on them to hunt you up and entreat of you a home for themselves. You are to search for them and bring them to your house. You are to draw out your soul after them. You are with one hand to reach up and by faith take hold of the mighty arm which brings salvation, while with the other hand of love you reach the oppressed and relieve them. It is impossible for you to fasten upon the arm of God with one hand while the other is employed in ministering to your own pleasure.  {2T 34.2}

If you engage in this work of mercy and love, will the work prove too hard for you? Will you fail and be crushed under the burden, and your family be deprived of your assistance and influence? Oh, no; God has carefully removed all doubts upon this question, by a pledge to you on condition of your obedience. This promise covers all that the most exacting, the most hesitating, could crave. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.” Only believe that He is faithful that hath promised. God can renew the physical strength. And more, He says He will do it. And the promise does not end here. “Thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” God will build a fortification around thee. The promise does not stop even here. “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am.” If ye put down oppression and remove the speaking of vanity, if ye draw out your soul to the hungry, “then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought [famine], and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”  {2T 35.1}

Am 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

MAINTHOUGHTSFORSABBATHSCHOOL

 

  1. Selfless Service brings Spiritual Filling; Spiritual Filling brings All Other Blessings; John 7:38-39
  2. Putting forth the finger means “a fault-finding spirit”; speaking vanity means “lifting oneself by putting down another.”; Is 29:20-21; Jer 20:9-11 [two terrible ones]
  3. Hunger and Thirst – Give [lessons] to Receive [lessons] Am 8:11
  4. Continual Guidance – Is 30:20-21

For the Word Document, Click here: How to Study the Bible — YD 2007

How to Study the Bible, YD 2006

2 Replies

Young Disciple Camp

Deep Bible Study

July 2006

 

Our Text: Psalm 91

 

Our Method: To be taught of God

BEFORE WE GET TO OUR TEXT

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Is 29:9-10.

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand Da 12:10  .

 

What do these verses tell us? First, there are people that God will make to understand doctrine. These are individuals who have exercised their powers of investigation. And these are individuals who have begun searching for themselves. No longer are they like nursing infants that only receive nutrition when someone brings it to them. Those taught of God have been weaned from dependence on others and have understood the fundamentals of the Christian Faith.

Our second passage, Daniel 12:10, assures us that the wise will understand. This must be the same class as those that have been weaned from the milk. More than that, we are told that the wicked will not understand. Regardless of either the genius or the extensive researches of the Bible student, if he is yet a slave to his appetites and passions, he will not understand.

Supporting Passages: 1Co 3:1-2; Heb 5:12-6:3; 1 Pe 1:22-2:3; Ga 5:19-20.

Other conditions of being taught of God hinge on these same principles.

When we are willing to do whatever God may desire He will teach us.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John 17:7

 

When the spirit strengthens us we can understand deep meaning in apparently simple ideas.

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Eph 3:16-19

 

WHEN WE ARE READY TO APPROACH OUR TEXT

 

Different prophets have written about the same ideas of God. Since the different prophets had different levels of education, different vocabularies, different writing habits and abilities, they have often chosen different words to talk about the same idea.

Here are some hints about how to find parallel passages that will help us understand the one we are studying.

 

  1. Use creative word studies
    1. By computer or by Young’s Concordance
    2. By using Strong’s Lexicon
    3. By creative thought
  2. By miracle – after depending on God’s promise to teach you
  3. By cross references, and especially by the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (or by computer)

And here are some pitfalls that lead to misunderstanding of the scripture:

 

  1. Using a lexicon to find what you think are “hidden meanings” or to expose what you think is a “poor translation.”
  2. Looking for something new or odd or that might help you get attention
  3. Speculating at answers to the wrong questions—questions whose answers have never been revealed (See De 29:29)
  4. Using equal signs for statements of positive relation (i.e. “Jim is tall” therefore anywhere I find the word “tall” I can substitute “Jim”)
  5. Being hasty to make a conclusion

OK, NOW THE TEXT

Lets practice. Read the chapter slowly two times with your pencil nearby. What do you observe? I will try to give you an idea of what I mean by sharing my observations from the first three verses.

1 ¶  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2  I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Observations:

God has a secret place.

A man can dwell there.

God is the Almighty.

He has a shadow.

Verse one is present tense.

Verse two is future tense.

Verse three is future tense.

Verse one is about any man.

Verse two is about me.

Verse three is me talking to you about God.

There are things I can say about the Lord.

I can praise Him for things that He will do in the future.

I can speak of my commitment to trust Him even into the future.

Jehovah is a refuge to me.

Jehovah is a fortress to me.

Jehovah is my God.

I can trust Him.

I can share certainty about Him with others.

I am like a bird and fowlers have set snares for me that I can not see.

God will deliver men from snares they can not see.

God will deliver men from disastrous plagues.

During the observation stage I am trying only to note truths that are actually in the text. My next step, other than asking more help from God, is to start studying some of these observations. For practice I will study with you here the first two of these observations, both of them from verse one.

God has a secret place. My first thought is to wonder if the Bible ever mentions a “secret place” anywhere else using the same words. Using my computer I do a search for “secret place” and find seven results. Three seem to be relevant, perhaps, to our verse.

He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Ps 18:11 

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Ps 81:7 

My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. Eze 7:22 

Before I go on I must read the contexts of these three passages to see if they offer any idea of where God’s “secret place” is. This is a good place to notice a common mistake made in deep Bible study. In our first verse God makes the darkness of storms his “secret place.” I could mistakenly conclude, from this passage, that every time I see “secret place” I should read “darkness of storms.”

But language is not like math. God could have several “secret” places.

When I read the context of Ps 18:11, I learn so much. Even though I set out to study Ps 91, I end up discovering Ps 18. Young Disciples, this is how Bible study works. We are taught of God. He directs the lesson. We may not find the very answer we were seeking for, but if we are seeking, we find the very answer He was seeking to give.

Here is the passage I noted from Ps 18:

6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8  There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

9  He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10  And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

11  He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

NOW MEDITATION

Incredible. The earth shakes, hills move, fires are ignited. And what is the cause? A distressed man trusting in God prays. And God, in heaven in His temple, hears and moves. The power of prayer is a large thought. It is too big to just pass by while I look for another discovery. I need to spend time thinking about it. I want it to change my thinking and to transform my day.

When I am ready to return to my study of God’s “secret place” I observe that in Psalms 18 God is originally in His temple and when He leaves he makes the stormy darkness his “secret place.” This leads me to wonder what His secret place was before He heard the prayer. Was it the temple that He inhabited in verse 6? To ask the question is good. To answer it before you have enough data is premature. Now we go on to look at the context of the second passage, Psalm 81.

1 ¶  <<To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.>> Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

2  Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

3  Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

4  For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

5  This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

6  I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

7  Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

It is apparent that this was written by a different person than David. This may not be very significant. But different authors sometimes use different words for the same idea, so it might help sometimes to notice this.

Asaph leads a praise session. Is it a joyful one? Or a solemn one? This is an example of a bad question. By limiting the answers to one or the other I may eliminate the option of the true answer. The true answer appears to be: both (verse 1 and 3). I can gain something from this idea—praise can be joyful and solemn.

I also note that the Feast Days were established for God’s people when He took them from Egypt and freed them from slavery. This might be a helpful theological idea if I meet persons teaching that the Feast Days are like the Holy Sabbath, obligatory for God’s people to keep today. I make a note of this and go on because I am trying to study Psalm 91.

The passage in Psalm 81 is similar, in ways, to Psalm 18. Man cried, when in trouble. God answered from His (perhaps new) “secret place” of storm. Added to this is an allusion to a story. I don’t remember exactly what happened at the waters of Meribah, and I am afraid of missing an important thought by not knowing the story, so I go back and read it in Ex 17.

(I found it quickly by using the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, or TSK, on my computer. Cross references are often better for finding stories than concordances because names are very often spelled differently in different parts of the Bible.)

What I find there is that, after God delivered the people from Egypt, He allowed them to suffer thirst. They began to doubt He was with them (Ex 17:7) and they didn’t know God was testing them. I stop to think about this. I am still studying Psalm 91, but I am discovering many other things while I study.

Now I come to the third passage that uses “secret place”—Ezekiel 7:22. The context this time is Ezekiel 7 to 9. The secret place here is certainly the sanctuary of Jehovah. God’s people are pictured as desecrating the sanctuary and God destroys them for this activity. The passage is full of imagery and makes me want to study it. But if I am going to make much progress on Psalm 91 I will have to leave Ezekiel 7 through 9 for a while.

(But not for long. Ezekiel 9 describes the sealing of God’s people. That is part of God’s curriculum for this age. I must get back to it.)

What do I conclude? I put my ideas together like this—”It appears that where God dwells is His secret place. He is in the temple. That is His secret place. But He is not under house arrest. He can fly. He can ride upon chariots. He can make the darkness of storms into His secret place when in Divine anger He answers the prayer of His servant.”

The word “appears” helps save me from pride problems. It may be that I will find more evidence in favor of this idea as I study. And it may be that I will find evidence that the idea is quite faulty. I want to be ready to rethink my ideas when I have more evidence.

I am ready to move to my second observation—namely that a may can dwell in God’s secret place. [I could have spent a lot more time on the first phrase—looking up cross references and other similar words to “secret place.” If this was my own study I would have done this even though I might have spent a whole day on half a verse.]

I will begin by looking at the TSK for Psalm 91:1. Here is part of it:

Ps 27:5  For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Ps 31:20  Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Ps 32:7 ¶  Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

Ps 52:8  But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Ps 61:3  For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

Ps 61:4  I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

Ps 90:1 ¶  <<A Prayer of Moses the man of God.>> Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Isa 8:14  And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Eze 11:16  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

Ho 14:5  I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

Ho 14:6  His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

1Jo 4:15  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

1Jo 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Ps 25:13  His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

Now this is exciting. I find confirmation of my conclusion. Ps 27:5 and 31:20 and 52:8 and 61:4 all have similar ideas. Men can dwell in God’s secret place by dwelling in His sanctuary or tabernacle or pavilion. I can tell from other passages that dwelling in this sanctuary is a metaphor. God made Himself to be a sanctuary for those that could not travel to Jerusalem (Eze 11:16) and for those that saw Jesus (Is 8:14).

Then I remember that Jesus said of himself “destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” Memory plays an important part in being taught of God. The Spirit that guides us into all truth often guides us by bringing back to memories things God has taught us previously.

This is good news for you. When you start studying the Bible the names of people and places, certain phrases, and new ways of thinking will be unfamiliar to you. You may get discouraged because you don’t understand hardly anything you are reading. What we are learning here is to get started. The things you learn today will help you learn tomorrow. And it will not be too long before you feel that the Bible is a familiar book—if you search it as a man digs for hidden treasures.

OK, let’s practice. Let’s study the idea of dwelling with God. Use the tools you have learned here, whichever ones you can. Use a pencil or pen. Come back prepared to share whatever God teaches you, even if it does not seem to help answer the question, “How can I dwell in God’s temple?” Remember, we do not determine what God teaches us. He is the teacher. We study the Bible and He guides us.

AND NOW SHARING

When we come back to share, remember that our goal is not to prove that we are smart, but to honor God for the gift of understanding He has given us through His Spirit.

How to study the Bible – An Outline

 

  1. Who to be
  2. A man that is willing to do God’s will
  3. A man that is wise
  4. A man that is single-mindedly believing
    1. What to do to be taught of God
    2. Earnestly pray for help in understanding—always
    3. Carefully read the passage in context, perhaps repeatedly
      1. Note observations
      2. Emphasize various words
      3. Be familiarizing yourself with scripture
      4. Make yourself a channel for God’s blessings
      5. Use the best tools
        1. The Bible itself
        2. The Concordance
          1.                                                                                                                                        i.      Not for etymology
          2.                                                                                                                                       ii.      Not for translation correction
          3. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
          4. Cross References and textual notes
          5. Brethren of experience
          6. Find parallel passages
            1. By using the tools in 5 a-d
            2. By miracle and open-eyed reading
            3. Explore contexts of parallel passages
            4. Meditate
            5. Find inspired commentary on the context
              1. NT on OT
              2. SOP on NT or OT
              3. Take copious notes
              4. Share immediately and repeatedly
                1. What not to do
                2. Use point 8b as a substitute for the work of digging. God will not cooperate.
                3. “Strive about words”
                4. Use forms of “be” uncritically as verbal equal signs
                5. Treasure shock-value or oddity; or try to prove you are smart
                6. Follow a man’s development of a thought uncritically
                7. Reject a man’s development of a thought without giving it a hearing
                8. Listen to teachers known to be causing divisions and problems by opposing the truth you have learned
                9. Entertain foolish questions that require speculative answers
                10. Search the Bible for evidence to support your position
                  1. Rather, seek for evidence regarding your position
                  2. Rather, take no position until the evidence is in
                  3. Use a two-way passage, or an obscure one, to explain a simple passage
                    1. How to conclude
                    2. Write logically and simply
                    3. Use the plain-practical clever
                      1. If it passes, test it with the Brethren
                      2. If it fails, store it for future use
                      3. Express your thankfulness to God for teaching you.
                        1. Privately
                        2. Individually when sharing with another
                        3. Publicly, making efforts not to exalt self

 

Additional Thoughts:

 

  1. Study when you are alert
  2. Start with appropriate material – incrementally challenging
  3. Memorize – your arsenal for quick advancement
  4. Keep the mind uncluttered by wicked and vain thoughts
  5. Find a private place
  6. Give yourself sufficient time
  7. Remember that pay-day in research is later rather than earlier
  8. Reread Stories for new meaning
  9. Do your homework in your Father’s Home-School
    1. Revelation 3, 7, 12-14; Daniel 7-9, 12
    2. Isaiah 53, 58; Righteousness by Faith
    3. Master the fundamentals early
    4. Study passages rather than verses
      1. Think of passages as connected
      2. Recognize sections
      3. Pray interactively as you read; ask God what a phrase means; ask for help; repent of evil thoughts
      4. Carefully use faith-based commentaries
        1. Like those from www.onlinebible.net
        2. Like those from SDA Pioneers
        3. Treat commentaries as friends; not as teachers
        4. Know your computer program. Here are hints related to “online Bible.”
          1. I can search for unordered words or phrases
          2. I can search several versions of the scripture and other books simultaneously
          3. I can copy or “append” to the clipboard
          4. I can toggle between showing Strong’s numbers and not, and between showing marginal readings and not. Typically, I keep marginal readings on.
          5. When I want to look up a word in the lexicon, I toggle to showing Strong’s numbers and then hover over the number.
          6. I can search for a Strong’s number. I can mix numbers and words in my search.
          7. I can view, in one window, the texts of TSK by showing “cross references.”
          8. The best commentaries, when I need to use one, appear to be “Clarke”, “Henry,” “Gill,” and “Jamieson, Fausset and Brown.” None are SDA and the closer you get to material that was once sealed, the less helpful they are.
          9. Know that God uses curiosity to make assignments. When you wonder “why?” it is often because He arranged for you to wonder it by writing something out of the ordinary. (See Ex 12:26; 13:8; Josh 4:21.) Do your assignment.
          10. In complex passages try this: Start with the last phrase and work backwards. If a verse said “read truth for it will help those who for the love of God are giving their lives for the benefit of others to see them saved” you would read it like this “To see people saved is the benefit that is worth dying for. The love of God motivates us to that kind of giving. Those that are motivated like that are benefited from reading truth.” Hebrews tend to write “effect, cause, cause, cause.” Englishman tend to write “cause, cause, cause, effect.” Reading “backwards” will simplify many long sentences.
          11. Use a Bible dictionary for unfamiliar words like “buckler.”

 

DEEP BIBLE STUDY ASSIGNMENTS

Monday: In class, read Psalm 91 twice with pencil making observations. Share some observations.

Monday: Homework, each unit take one and study it and bring something back

Ideas:

God hearing and answering prayer

Lions and snakes and treading on them

Time of trouble, God with us

Angels charge over thee

Keeping thee “in thy ways”

Reward of the wicked

Loving God

Being honored of God

Shield and buckler of the believer

The habitation of the believer

“surely” and “verily”

The idea “safety” (like “no evil shall befall thee”)

satisfaction

Tuesday: In class, share result of previous study. Trade topics.

Tuesday: Homework, each unit take the new topic and bring something back

Wednesday: In class, share results of previous study.

Wednesday: Homework, Every individual study: Ezekiel 7-9. Find parallel passages. On Thursday we will take a break from Psalm 91 to explore our assignment from heaven—to study the Seal of God and the purification of God’s church.

Thursday: In Class, share results of previous study. Take careful notes of today’s lecture. I am going to give a study for you to evaluate critically. I will try to tell only the truth, but it will be controversial truth and you will have to use all you have learned in this class if you will come to a right understanding and not just follow me or your parents or a pastor.

Thursday: Homework, Critically evaluate today’s deep lesson from Rev 18; 2 Thes 2; Jer 51; Is 1; Jer 23; Mal 3; Num 14, 16, 20; Ps 106; Eze 14, 22; Joel 2; etc.

Friday: In Class, Sharing. No further homework except to use what you have learned for the rest of your life.


For the Word Document, click here:

Within the Veil in Hebrews

9 Replies

Within the Veil

A Bible Study

Introduction

Since the 1860’s, but especially during the last twenty years, a succession of men has concluded that the sanctuary doctrine, as they once taught it in Adventism, was wrong. This, of course, is no trivial change in position. If the sanctuary doctrine is wrong then another thought follows quickly: Ellen White was wicked (not just wrong).

Since the latter issue is so crucial to Seventh-day Adventist, and since it would be begging the question to use Ellen White to prove a point when the question was whether she had integrity, a Bible study is in right order.

Books of objections require books of answers. Anyone reading “Cast out for the Cross of Christ” knows that it contains hundreds of arguments against the standard Adventist position. Anyone reading “Hebrews” by M. L. Andreason knows that it contains hundreds of arguments in favor of the standard position. The same could be said of books by Ford, Canright, and others (like Ballenger’s) and of books by James White, Uriah Smith, J. N. Andrews, and others (like Andreason’s).

If someone is looking for a verse by verse answer to Ballenger’s objections they will find it in the form of opposing books. There is a reason that Ballenger did not state his position in the form of a verse-by-verse countering of the already-written Adventist position: It would have taken a mammoth book. I am being generous to say that is the only reason.

In summary, that is the same reason that no-one has taken up a paragraph-by-paragraph refuting of Ballenger. It is easier to write a Bible study that explains the truth.

In this study, however, I will limit myself to a Bible study on issues vitally relevant to Ballenger’s material on the sanctuary.

Christ at God’s Right Hand

Christ sits at the Father’s right hand.

Ÿ  “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”           Ps. 110:1

Biblical observations: This passage is written in the present tense, though it was fulfilled more than 1000 years after it was written. This is not strange or abnormal in scripture. Consider the following familiar passages from the Psalms:

I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; This day have I begotten thee. Ps 2:7

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Ps 45:7

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Ps 22:16-18

It would be shallow to take these or other passages, especially from the Psalms, and to say that they must have been fulfilled in the Old Testament times because they were written in present tense during that time. A classic example of this from outside the Psalms is Isaiah 6.

In this passage Isaiah sees the Lord “high and lifted up” in the temple. Was Isaiah looking at the situation as it existed in his own day? Or did he look at it as it would exist in the future? What did he see?

 

  1. He saw a time when angels commented that the whole earth is full of his glory (v. 3)
  2. He saw a time when the house was filled with smoke (v. 4)
  3. He saw a time when there was an altar with incense (v. 6)
  4. He lived at a time when a message of hopelessness would be preached until the earth would be uninhabited (v. 11-12)

From Revelation it is easy to make a general statement about the timing of the fulfillment of Isaiah 6.

 

  1. The glory of the Lord filling the earth happens in Rev. 18:1. It is still future in the Old Testament (Num 14:21) and was even future in Isaiah’s time (Hab 2:14; Is 11:9).
  2. The house fills with smoke during the seven last plagues. Rev. 15:8. It signifies the close of human probation.
  3. Intercession at the altar commenced in Revelation 8:2. There Jesus was given incense, representing His own merits, to offer with the prayers of all saints. It ends in 8:5 when the censer is thrown down.
  4. The millennium, when the earth is again void, follows the close of probation and Christ’s coming and the time God when will have “removed men far away” (Is 6:11).

So Isaiah 6 is a prophecy of the closing of Christ’s work in the heavenly sanctuary. This point could be proven by a great deal more evidence.

The sum of what we have shown, as related to Ballenger’s arguments, is that the ministration of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary commenced when Jesus was “given much incense.” The prophecies of Isaiah 6 and of the Psalms that speak of Christ’s ministry in the present tense must not be understood to contradict others that speak of it in the future tense. The former are prophecies of the natural type by a God that speaks of “things which be not as though they were.” Ro 4:17.

What does the Bible say about the location of God’s throne? Namely, that the throne is mobile. Ezekiel 10 describes a vision very similar to that of Isaiah 6. There Ezekiel sees God’s throne (v. 1) above the cherubim. The timing is following the sealing of Ezekiel 9. Coals from the altar are thrown down to “the city.” (v. 6). The brightness of God’s glory fills the earth (represented by the court, v. 4) and the cloud fills the temple (v. 4).

The summary of the rest of Ezekiel 10 (and of Ezekiel’s first vision) is that the four living creatures are the base of God’s mobile throne. God’s glory moves from the Most Holy and leaves the temple (v. 18).

This is helpful to understand. In Daniel 7:13 Jesus is brought near to the Father on the clouds of heaven. This follows, in point of time, the rise of the ten horns and the little horn. Jesus is on His throne, no doubt. And it is mobile. What apartment is it in?

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. . . . And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. Re 4:2-6

In Revelation 4, at least, it was in the apartment represented as having the candelabra. In Revelation 8 Christ was with the altar of incense. No doubt that when the judgment commences in Daniel 7:13 and Revelation 14:7, the throne has moved to the Most Holy Place.

Vails and Veils

There are two different spellings of the word “veil” in the KJV. This is almost trivial except for the person trying to find the instances of each with a concordance. The spellings are “vail” and “veil.” The former is used in all Old Testament cases except So 5:7.

In the New Testament two different words are indicated. “Vail”, as used by Moses to cover his face, is kaluma. It corresponds to the Hebrew masveh as can be readily seen by comparing Ex 34:33-35 with 2Co 3:13-16.

“Veil” in the New Testament is derived always from katapetasma. This word is a compound of the Greek preposition “kata” and a form of “petomai.” The latter verb means, literally, to “fly” and the former indicates a downward motion or relation. Simply put, the word means “spreading down” or, more flamboyantly, “flying down.” It is a nice word for “curtain.”

Ballenger clearly equates katapetasma with poreketh. In terms of usage, however, it is more like masak.

Poreketh          06532, translated always “vail” in the Old Testament

Masak              04539, translated usually as “hanging.”

Kaluma            2571, translated always “vail” in the New Testament

Katapetasma   2665, translated always “veil” in the New Testament

“Hanging” is the proper idea of katapetasma and explains why Paul would deviate from an Old Testament distinction of the veils. In the sanctuary there are two hangings, masak, (a third guards the courtyard) though there be but one vail, poreketh.

In four passages masak and poreketh are used together. In those passages masak is translated “covering.” These passages are Ex 35:12; 39:34; 40:21 and Num 4:5. These cases refer to the second veil. In cases where masak refers to the first curtain it is translated “hanging.”

The summary of these things is that argument drawn from poreketh as the “vail” of the Old Testament is misleading when applied to katapetasma in the New Testament. There are two katapetasma’s in the holy places. There are two masak’s in the holy places. There is only one poreketh.[1]

Veils in Hebrews

Three passages in Hebrews speak of the veil. The second of these, Hebrews 9:3, falls in the middle of a passage that is vital to the larger question we are addressing. Hebrews 9, when understood, either overthrows the sanctuary doctrine of Adventism or ratifies it. With that end in mind we will examine it first.

Ballenger dismisses the word “second” as a triviality that should not be used to undermine his primary thesis. But the word does directly undermine his thesis in the most simple manner and his readers would not be wise to follow him in dismissing it.

The passage we will study is below with several important Greek transliterations highlighted in superscript. Emphasis is supplied.[2] If one will look for answers to the following questions while reading the passage he will find the answers: What furniture is in the hagia, the first tent? What furniture is in the hagia hagion, the second tent? Was the way of the second tent manifest in Paul’s day? Was the meaning of the first tent relevant to Paul’s day? Which tent was Paul unable to speak about particularly?

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuaryhagia. And after the second veil katapestasma, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of allhagia hagian; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. [YLT] And into the second, once in the year, only the chief priest, not apart from blood, which he doth offer for himself and the errors of the people, the Holy Spirit this evidencing that not yet hath been manifested the way of the holy places hagion, the first tabernacle having yet a standing; which is a simile in regard to the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which are not able, in regard to conscience, to make perfect him who is serving, Heb 9:1-9

If you have answered each of the questions above from the passage you can say with clarity that the Holy Place represented the ministration of Jesus during the time of Paul. You can say that the Most Holy Place would not be explained to men until the Holy Place ministry was closed.

You could also gather that hagia hagion is better translated holy (hagia) of holies (hagion). (The adjective, as per Greek grammar, is also plural. English does not do the same). The first apartment, hollowed by the presence of Jesus, is called hagia.[3]

The third of the three veil passages in Hebrews is in the next chapter.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the  [YLT] holy places hagia. by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil katapestasma, that is to say, his flesh; Heb 10:19-20

From the previous chapter we learned that the way of the first tent, called hagia, was for the present time of Paul. We saw that the way into the second tent was not yet manifest.

What was manifest is that the way, or progression, of the holy places would be manifest at some point. Hebrews 10 tells us that the way into the holy places, whichever apartment happens to apply to our time, is by the blood of Jesus. The plural “places” removes all difficulty.

If the passage had to be limited to one apartment or the other, we would have to say it is the holy place—for the hagia of chapter nine had the table of showbread. But it is better, perhaps, to allow it to mean both as it apparently does in the term “way of the” holies in chapter nine.

Here we should observe that Hebrews 9 is a masterpiece of revelation. The task of the apostle was to write to persons to whom the book of Daniel was sealed and, at the same time, for persons that would understand it. He was to write in regard to the Most   Holy Place sufficiently to make it plain that a future progression would be revealed—but without revealing it.

It is the latter quality of Hebrews 9 that demands that we begin with prophetic interpretation and proceed to the interpretation of Hebrews 9.

Ballenger’s primary point in Hebrews is undermined by both Hebrews 9 and 10. Both use the term veil in such a way as to overthrow his interpretation of chapter 6. Hebrews 9 used the term “second veil” as if a first veil had been mentioned somewhere. Hebrews 10 uses the term “veil” to refer to the entrance of the sanctuary or holy place, the hagia, itself.

Hebrews 6 parallels Hebrews 10 in thought and provides the antecedent that explains “second” in chapter 9.

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil katapestasma; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Heb 6:18-20

Forgiveness in the Old Testament

Paul briefly addresses the issue of Old Testament forgiveness in Romans 3. How could God forgive men and grant them righteousness prior to the cross?

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a mercy seat (margin) through faith in his blood, [YLT] for the shewing forth of His righteousness, because of the passing over of the bygone sins in the forbearance of God—for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being righteous, and declaring him righteous who is of the faith of Jesus. Ro 3:24-26.

Though Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, all forgiveness that antedated Calvary was apparent injustice to those not knowing the future. It was a forbearance that might mar God’s reputation for righteousness. The cross showed, in the present time of Paul, that the passing over the past sins had been, indeed, righteous.

This perspective is not divine. God inhabits eternity. The Father and the Son understood the nature of the sacrifice to be made and treated men, such as Abraham, with the same quality of righteousness that is granted to us today. Nevertheless, this “everlasting righteousness” was not brought in until the cross. Daniel 9:24.

The pre-cross application of this righteousness is the salvational meaning of Revelation13:8. The term “before the foundation of the world” is used by Peter, Paul, Matthew and John to refer to God’s ordained plan for saving men.

This did not make the cross superfluous when the time came for the sacrifice. Nor did it make Christ’s intercession superfluous when the time came for his mediation to begin. Nor does God’s plan make the judgment superfluous now that the books have been opened.

Defiling of the Sanctuary

Ballenger is correct when he writes that it is the sins of God’s people, not their confessions of the sins, that defile the sanctuary. The sins of Judah are written on the horns of the altars. Jer. 17:1. The sins of men, every thought, are recorded in the books of record. Ecc 12:14. These records of sin are the source of defilement.

But the pioneers were not in error when they emphasized the cleansing of the sanctuary by the putting away of sin and by the judgment. On the Day of Atonement the sanctuary’s defilement was removed in two different ways.

For those who partook in the services the sins were transferred from sinner to Savior. The record was cleansed. Their sins were, in type, blotted from the sanctuary.

For those who neglected to take part in the services the names, in type, were removed from the register of God’s people. The book of life was freed of their presence. They, along with Satan, bore the brunt of God’s wrath against the impenitent.

A Summary of the Study

The strong points of Adventist eschatology are built on the bedrock of prophetic interpretation. This study has not reviewed the connection between Daniel 7 and 8, or 8 and 9. It has been, rather, confined to the ground chosen by Ballenger for opposing our position.

And here, in the ground thought by Ballenger to be most fit for establishing his own thought and overthrowing that of the movement, he has been shown to be weak.

But that weakness will be so much the more apparent to those that review the fundamentals of Miller’s interpretation of Daniel and the study of Crosier’s self-repudiated article on the types. These works contain no references to modern visions. Yet they present a work more thorough, a ground more winning, a scholarship less faulty, than that of Ballenger.

We live in a time when what can be shaken will be shaken.

May men remember that “none of the wicked will understand.” Yet the wicked have great minds, powerful wit, and help from at least one experienced source in their expositions. The wicked “by good words and fair speeches deceive the” hearts of the uneducated. They are to be avoided. Rom. 16:17-18.

And only those who are seeking to conform their lives to God’s standard of holiness will escape the curse of 1 Cor. 11:19.

John 7:17 is still true. What sin have you cherished? What command have you slighted? What counsel have you despised? Then repent before you step into the seat of the Bible expositor. It is your only safety.

 


[1] As a balance to this I should add that Old Testament words often converge in New Testament terms. New Testament writers seeking for a Greek word to reflect either masak or poreketh might have had no better choice than katapetasma. But rather than hurting the argument here, this rather helps explain why the gospels use katapetasma for the second veil without specifying “second.”

[2] Verses 7 to 9 are from Young’s Literal Translation. The KJV mistakenly uses a past or pluperfect tense in these verses where the Greek has a perfect tense. Young’s renders it correctly and is used here for that reason. The change in version is signified by [YLT].

[3] Why the plural form for one apartment? Both apartments are holy. The adjective, since it applies to both, is made plural in both cases to match the scope of its nouns. But in its introduction here the two uses of hagia are clearly distinguished.

For the Word Document, Click Here: Within_the_Veil

What Shall I do to Inherit Eternal Life

6 Replies

What Shall I do that I may Inherit Eternal Life

A Brief Study by Eugene Prewitt

I.                     I need salvation

II.                    God knew my need before I knew it.

A.                    So He was working for my salvation before I was.

B.                    I should know what He has already done.

1.                    He has paid for my sins.

2.                    He has provided a model for my life. 1jo 2:16

3.                    He has granted me an ongoing probation

i.                     Probation was forfeited in Eden.

ii.                    Probation is forfeited every time a man sins.

iii.                  On-going probation, then, is a very precious gift.

4.                    He has provided power for my needed change to holiness.

i.                     The gift of the Holy Scriptures

ii.                    The gift of the Holy Spirit

iii.                  The assistance of Holy Angels

iv.                   The faculties of conscience, reason, and judgment.

v.                    The faculties of desires, appetites, and passions.

vi.                   The faculty of imagination

vii.                 The faculty of faith and of the will

5.                    He has provided a setting conducive to spiritual growth and prosperity

i.                     The home

ii.                    The woods

iii.                  The garden

iv.                   Useful occupation

v.                    Sacred music

vi.                   Nutritious food

vii.                 Sabbath and rest

6.                    He has provided for us to become heirs and children of holy men

i.                     By the Law of Beholding

ii.                    To undo our inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil.

iii.                  Ultimately, becoming a child of the Holy Jesus, and heir

1.                    By the same Law of Beholding

2.                    By the means of Christ’s sacrifice

7.                    He has set in operation means to draw us to Himself.

i.                     The powers and faculties and settings already mentioned.

ii.                    A command to believers to share the truth with you.

1.                    Gifts to the church to facilitate its work of sharing

2.                    Power to give efficiency to the church in its work

III.                  I don’t deserve any of this work that God has been doing to serve me.

A.                    Therefore all these things are grace, gifts freely given to me while undeserving

B.                    These gifts are evidence regarding the character and power of God

IV.                  Satan knows that we need salvation

A.                    He has been working for 6000 years to make it difficult to be saved.

B.                    I should be aware of his devices and of what he has done

1.                    He accuses me of my sins.

2.                    He provides alternate models for my life

3.                    He seeks to end my probation through death or presumptuous hardening

4.                    He opposes Christ’s work with the power of his demonic hosts

i.                     He provides alternate sources of authority and comfort

ii.                    He provides alternate sources of spiritual power and miracles

iii.                  He habituates mankind to a perverted use their faculties

1.                    Using the law of beholding against us through a perverted imagination

2.                    Exalting our desires and appetites above the dictates of conscience

iv.                   He attacks the nucleus of the family and of its devotion

v.                    He promotes city-living

vi.                   He promotes artificial amusements and sports

vii.                 He promotes alternate music

viii.                He promotes an unhealthy lifestyle

ix.                   He promotes skepticism

x.                    He assails the church and its effectiveness in these same ways

C.                    My setting, then, is a Great Controversy between Christ and Satan

V.                    My Part (and His)

A.                    I respond to what Christ is doing for my salvation

1.                    With love for Him

i.                     Resulting from my understanding of Calvary or other evidence of God’s love

ii.                    Resulting from my meditation on the same

ii.                    Not with sentiment alone, but with love – the putting of other’s needs before one’s own

2.                    With faith in Him and in His Word

i.                     Moved by the love as directed by the faith I….

1.                    Avail myself of Christ’s provisions

i.                     Depending on God’s promises

ii.                    Depending on God’s power

iii.                  Asking for the Holy Spirit

2.                    Harmonize the use of my faculties with His intentions

ii.                    Which means obedience, for living faith works obedience

iii.                  Which means confession, for this has been commanded

iv.                   Which means repentance, for this has been commanded

3.                    My part is His Part. He works in me to love and believe, to will and to do, and grants me repentance.

4.                    My part is to will; His part is to empower. I may not feel his part, but I will experience it.

B.                    I hold on, endure, continue as I have started, with a faith that works by love

VI.                  The Results

A.                    I am declared Righteous

1.                    I am forgiven

2.                    God’s Word, declaring me “righteous”, recreates me and continues to work in me

B.                    The result of that miracle-working Word, as long as I endure, is growth in holiness

C.                    When my name comes up in the judgment above…

1.                    My sins are written there with the record of their forgiveness

2.                    Jesus confesses my name before the Father and before the angels

i.                     The latter witness that my works justify Christ’s declaration of my faith.

ii.                    The Former confirms Christ’s request and my sins are blotted out.

D.                   Whether living or dead, it is now in heaven as if I had never sinned.

1.                    If on earth I am alive, I am sealed. God declares to the angels that I am secure.

2.                    If on earth I am dead, I rest.

i.                     When resurrected I am given a new nature.

ii.                    I am secure.

VII.                 Conclusion

A.                    Conversion is simple. Take God at His Word and live as if that Word is true.

B.                    Conversion is simple. Love and fear God and keep His Commandments. This is your only duty.

C.                    Conversion is simple. Consider Jesus (and thus come to love and fear and obey Him).

D.                   Conversion is simple. Consider Jesus (and thus come to take Him at his Word.)

E.                    Conversion would be simple if there were no devil. But as he opposes Christ at every turn…

1.                    We must follow God’s Word earnestly and closely to be kept secure from unbelief

2.                    We must depend on God’s wisdom and power and righteousness to overcome the evil one.

3.                    Organizing our life in harmony with God’s plan of living greatly simplifies the process of holding on to our faith.

Introduction

All my adult life I have pursued one theme, one aim. I am interested only in accomplishments that will last forever.

Saved souls live forever. For this reason I ought to know what is involved in saving them. I ought to know how to explain the process to them. And often I am asked questions that, boiled down to their sticky concentrated form, amount to “How can I be saved? How can I know if I am converted? What must I do to be sure of eternal life?”

The answers to these questions are simple and concise. Yet they are often asked in contexts that complicate giving an answer. A concise answer, combined with two or three well-designed demonic misunderstandings can combine in the mind to create a fall answer. This is why the Bible is much longer than the three sentences it  might otherwise take to explain the way of salvation.

In this essay I will endeavor to retain simplicity of expression and brevity of explanation. I am aiming to make the way of salvation plain even to persons that have been very much duped by the most common tricks of the devil.

The essay follows an orderly development. I need  salvation. God knew my need before I knew it and began working to save me even before I was born. Satan hates me and has been working for thousands of years to make the way of life more difficult. The work of God and the work of Satan oppose each other, each seeking either my well being or my destruction – and much of their labor for or against me was done before I had any awareness.

How should I respond to God’s work in my behalf? With love, and faith, and endurance. And when I do I am declared righteous and made to be righteous. And when I endure to the end my destiny is made certain. The Judgment declares Christ’s righteousness in place of my defects and sins. In conclusion, the gospel and its application to the soul is simple, as simple as can be, to understand. But it is work, a great deal of work, to be faithful. It is enough to wear out any man that is not considering Jesus and thus being strengthened by His power for the task.

I Need Salvation

 

I am born into a big problem. First, I inherited many evil tendencies and many physical imperfections and many social inadequacies. Second, I grew up in a defective society. Family relations, national relations, social values, or the lack thereof, plague my growing up. I learn from family, from friends, from TV, from school, indeed, from many sources, to despise Divine counsel. And what is more, I have sinned. What one sin can do is apparent in Genesis. I have sinned more than once. So I am doomed and weakened and separated from God. I have bad habits that came from bad decisions. Some of these, like my temper and my appetite, were cultivated when I was an infant and became strong before my muscles did.

So I am thoroughly lost before the gospel works its miracle in my life.

God comments that even discipline is vain for the ills in my life. Pain cannot solve my problems.

Is 1:5-6  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

No man responds to God’s invitations naturally. Rather, he is naturally inclined to ignore God’s wishes.

Ro 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

 

And no obedience of today can ever atone for any obedience of yesterday. We ought to know this intuitively. If a man steals today the fact that he does not steal tomorrow cannot save him from prosecution. But we do not know it well. As the verse above states, “there is none that understandeth.”

I am mortal and my nature has been deranged by sin. The effect of this is that I thoroughly enjoy my worst habits. I delight in making light of God’s counsels. I naturally hate them and wish they would leave me to myself.

Pr 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Pr 1:29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

Pr 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

All which problems make my case just about hopeless. I could, with propriety, just give up on having anything better than a painful and short existence. I could nearly justify suicide. There just is not sufficient light and hope to warrant breathing. I am promised that I will answer for my sins at the bar of God. And there I can muse with William Miller of old:

“Annihilation was a cold and chilling thought, and accountability was sure destruction to all. The heavens were as brass over my head, and the earth as iron under my feet. Eternity–what was it? And death–why was it? The more I reasoned, the further I was from demonstration. The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I tried to stop thinking, but my thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly wretched, but did not understand the cause. I murmured and complained, but knew not of whom. I knew that there was a wrong, but knew not how or where to find the right. I mourned, but without hope.” – GC 318:2.

God Knew my Need before I Knew I was Lost

 

So He was working for my salvation before I had any interest in it. In fact, He was working to secure my redemption before I was born. While I was growing up, a sinner from my earliest days, He was already working to win me.

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;      

Ro 5:6-8  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

I should know what He has already done. This will inform me regarding what, if anything, remains to be accomplished.

First, He has paid for my sins. And Second, by the same spotless life that was sacrificed in my place, Christ has provided a model for me to follow.

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1Jo 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Lu 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

When Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden, he left behind an opportunity to prove himself loyal and true to his Creator. The tree in the midst of the garden had been a test and he had been, as it were, on probation. Once fallen, his probation violated, he was barred from the Tree of Life.

Yet Christ has extended probation to us. He has redeemed us from Adam disgraceful fall. Though already fallen and guilty we have been granted a future judgment. By making the judgment future (rather than immediate) God has given us the gift of a probationary life. He has given us hope. See Tit 1:2 above and:

He 9:27-28  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

On-going probation, then, is a very precious gift. When a man sins this gift becomes most valuable. It postpones his judgment and gives him time to conform to God’s requirements.

Another thing God has provided is power for my needed change to holiness. This power was provided before I ever sought help. The mighty creative power of God has been placed in written form, in the Holy Scriptures. This is incomprehensibly good news.

And the fullness of the power of God has been granted to men in the work of the Holy Spirit. This power works for our salvation even before our birth, impressing and moving parents and grandparents, church members and others to act in such a way as to smooth our path to heaven. And this power may indwell even infants as it moved John the Baptist in his mother’s womb. Lu 1:41, 44.

The Power of God’s Spirit is accompanied by the power of hundreds of millions of Holy Angels. These have been commissioned to aid us.

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

The Faculties of the Mind

 

Beside these mighty influences, the Scriptures, the Spirit, and the angelic host, God has fashioned mankind with powerful faculties ingeniously equipped to bring us to Him. The faculties of conscience, reason, and judgment have been given to act as a cabinet serves a president. They give direction. And the first of these is susceptible to direct communication from heaven. These higher powers of the mind are called, in scripture, the “inner man” and they have been fashioned to “delight in the Law of God.”

Ro 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Built to serve the mind in an entirely different capacity, the lower powers of desires (including our appetites and passions) were crafted to create a hungering and thirsting after righteousness that only the gospel could satisfy. Man was made to desire wisdom, power, beauty, wealth, development, intimacy and health. These boons, all resting in the gifts of the gospel, have been designed to draw men heavenward.

The imagination, created by God as an image to His power to see the past and the future, allows men to benefit from scenes far in the past, far in the future, and even scenes at a great distance. This faculty, the mind’s eye, may picture Jesus on Calvary, Jesus in the Judgment, Jesus returning to earth. As if man was omnipresent, his faculty of imagination allows him to rise above his circumstances to place his mind in heavenly places or wretchedly in hollows ones.

To our race God has entrusted a free will. This faculty, combined in every man with a measure of freely given faith, governs the soul. Made impervious to Satan’s attacks, this fortress is capable of choosing the right even when it is utterly incapable of performing the same. When used in the way intended by the Creator, as a servant of faith, the will becomes endued with God’s power and becomes indomitable.

Ro 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

God’s Gift of a Setting Conducive to Growth

Fashioned after God’s wisdom, the Garden of Eden lacked nothing that would promote the spiritual life of Adam and Eve. The setting God provided, so conducive to spiritual growth, has been granted in principle to every man that will avail himself of it.

Part of that setting we call the “home.” Family, functioning in God’s order, with a priest and with a  family altar, with love blended with discipline, with security and well-placed intimacy, is a most precious gift. It points many souls heavenward before they are even able to reason from right to wrong.

Nature, with her woods and hills and flowers and their lowly inhabitants, the birds and small animals, bears testimony to her Creator.  She is a preaching gift uninhibited by human laws and national traditions. There is no place where her voice has not sounded.

Ps 19:3-4  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

As God’s place of chosen interaction with nature, the garden was one of the first gifts to men. Agriculture was intended to promote man’s spiritual life and to afford him a lesson-book purposed by heaven to teach him most essential lessons.

Not that every man was to be a farmer by trade. While all might cultivate a small plot of ground, God gave the race a larger variety of occupations. Useful work puts the breaks on societies downward slide. Where men are gainfully employed crime diminishes and taverns languish.

And the hours of work, with hours of recreation and family time, have been joined to hours of devotion by the heavenly gift of music. Existing before the earth’s creation, this powerful medium can communicate spiritual power, courage, wisdom and contrition. It serves its highest purposes when promoting a holiness that praises God.

Fruits, grains, nuts, and eventually, vegetables have been given to mankind to build up a healthy functioning body. When unencumbered with sickness or disease, the human frame provides a setting for the faculties of the mind to serve the soul well.

And the setting given to men has been crowned with the gift of rest. Sabbath comes to us from Eden unchanged by the fall. As a sign of God’s Creative Power and of “sanctification” this Holy Day was given to make holy men.

These wonderful presents – home, nature, agriculture, useful work, sacred music, healthy food, and rest – form a setting that makes holy living comparatively easy, almost natural. They were given to us before we were seeking for them and constitute an important part of the Mighty Power acting in our behalf.

Inheritance

Satan’s effort to assure that I inherit a very degenerate set of morals is more than matched by Christ’s gift of inheritance. But this takes a little thinking to understand.

How do we inherit the characteristics of our parents? Clinically, we might answer “by genetics.” And, truthfully, this is how we inherit physical characteristics. But when we speak of moral characteristics, this is only half of the story. These are inherited by two means: genetics and infant observation. Children observe the behavior of their parents and are molded into the same image by what they see and hear. This is one of the laws of heredity – the law of beholding.

And this is why the Bible has more chapters about Abraham than about all the holy men before him combined. We are to become children of Abraham. In fact, we are to become children of Israel and children of Levi. By the use of the imagination combined with the Holy Scripture we may observe their spiritual victories and be changed into their image. We may become like them in character – and this is what it means to be a spiritual child – to acquire their moral character. In the case of the Jewish leaders, Jesus affirmed that they had inherited genetic material from Abraham, but denied that they were his children.

John 8:37-40  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

The law of beholding allows us, even late in life, to undo our inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil. It is a gift from heaven of most precious proportions. Ultimately, we become a child of our Holy Jesus by this same means. In particular, our continual consideration of Jesus and his sacrifice for us softens and subdues our hearts, inspires reciprocal love, and strengthens us for moral battles.

He 12:2-3  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

1Jo 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

Mic 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Joh 6:40  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The Operation of Christ’s Church for our Salvation

In addition to the wonderful setting provided for our spiritual advancement, and to the incredible faculties built into our nature, God has set in operation a church to draw us to Himself.

Believers have been commanded to share the truth with the lost. And they have been given spiritual gifts to facilitate their work in saving me. God has filled the work of his consecrated workmen with Divine power, giving them efficiency in their attempts to reach me.

Ro 10:14-15  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Mt 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Mt 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Mt 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Grace

I don’t deserve any of this work that God has been doing to serve me and to save me. Therefore all these things are grace – gifts freely given to me while undeserving. These gifts, themselves, provide evidence the very best of God’s character and of His power to Save.

So the amount of power and wisdom invested in my salvation before I took any interest in the same has been immense. I, I did not deserve a chance, much less a helping hand. But what have I been given? Grace upon grace, power added to power, gifts and pledges and provisions and invitations. My salvation has occupied the attention of the universe’s greatest intelligences. Why? Because Jesus deserves that level of attention and grace came this way – God gives me, at Christ’s request, what the Lord Jesus deserves.

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

The Complicating Factor – Satan

Satan is the reason that I need salvation in the first place. It is no wonder that his continued existence complicates what might otherwise be a simple process. He has been working for 6000 years to make it difficult to be saved. I should be aware of his devices and of what he has done.

But it is one of my operating principles not to give honor to my enemy.  I will only note briefly his wicked activities that tend to darken pilgrims’ paths.

First, he accuses me of my sins. The Bible titles him “the accuser of the brethren.”

Re 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

If it was only in heaven that he accuses me nothing would be harmed, for my Savior hushes him up there. (small pun intended).

Zec 3:2  And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

But Satan accuses me…to me and to other persons. This confuses the otherwise straightforward issue of confession and repentance. The Holy Spirit works to convict me of sins that I have yet to confess and put away. Satan harasses me with sins already forgiven. The Holy Spirit works to convict me of my need of the hope God offers. Satan harasses me with doubts that my sinfulness allows for any hope. And while my mind is unaccustomed to discern between these two spirits I may be overwhelmed with thoughts of my sins. But Satan does not do the work of God’s Spirit. With many he seeks to belittle real and evil transgressions of the law as unworthy of notice, as not needful of repentance and confession.

The evil one’s second trap has been to provide alternate models for my life. Rather that Christ and holy men of old, Satan has exalted military heroes, men of wealth, men of might and of sporting ability, child prodigies, musicians, prominent uncles and wayward older siblings. These and others he has sought to thrust into my channel of attention and to thus eclipse the bright creative light shining through scripture biographies.

And he tries to kill me.

The gift of a life-long probation Satan seeks to minimize my shortening my life. Whether by violence or by ill health or by reckless amusements or by inciting to presumptuous sin, he seeks to cut off my opportunities.

A fourth method of his work is to rally his demonic hosts to do his bidding everywhere he can not be. These evil angels work together (doubtfully in good order and without bickering) to foist all manner of malicious ideas on mankind.

They work especially diligently to establish alternate sources of authority. The Living Word of God they fear. In its place they suggest the manipulatible sources of the church fathers. Or they put forward as unassailable the might of modern science. Or they suggest that truth is wholly unattainable, or that everyone is right. They exalt man’s reason as sufficient to guide him. Or they suggest that breaking from tradition is arrogant and selfish.

These sources of authority they oppose to Holy Scripture. To the comforting work of the Bible and of the Comforter they exalt escapism. From novels to DVD’s, from music to extreme sports, from drugs to masturbation to alcoholism, they open doors that bring cheap comfort by means of distraction or grogginess. They provide eight inches depth of sand for the ostrich.

The true power placed in God’s church they obscure as they did Moses’ miracle rod-serpent. False charisma in the churches, supernatural experiences in non-Christian religions, and the creative genius of natural selection slither everywhere hardening the hearts of modern Pharaohs.

But they work more particularly to pervert the habitual use of the mental faculties. Imagination is subjected to serve the carnal lusts or to entertain dreamy fantasies, or otherwise to assist the false comforts/escapes already named. Desires and appetites are encouraged in their clamors. (“Just do it.” “Want it? Get it.” “Indulge yourself.” Etc.) And reason and conscience, the rightful managers of the soul, are thus made to act as spectators of a life being wasted.

Where the Holy Christ blessed mankind with family, the evil one has cursed mankind with a society-wide apathy towards divorce. Popular teachers have inveighed against corporal punishment. (That means they have said spanking is bad.) Women have been led to take the lead in spiritual things and men to be passive. Children have been grouped, at Satan’s suggesting, in such a way that they are each other’s teachers – the more perverted ones taking the lead in teaching. Step families, over-busy fathers, single-parent homes, and even same-sex unions have each played their part in displacing God’s intention of a spiritual, loving, stable family.

The garden and the beauties of nature Satan has sought to make inaccessible by building cities. The first human seed “of the serpent” built the first city, “Chanock” just outside of Eden. Gen 4:16-17.

The city environment designed by him keeps noise and pollution ever present. It glorifies the alternate mentors and life-styles already mentioned. And the lack of physical employment in the open air has helped cultivate a competing love of amusement and sports. Music on the corners, on the radios, in the I-pods, at the schools, in the stores, and every where else is of an alternate (not to be read “alternative” as a genre) to the beautiful and calming sounds of nature. “Good music is like the singing of the birds, soft and melodious.” This Satan knows. And this he seeks to counteract.

He has arranged that man’s chief aim in life is some variety of a sedentary job. The leaders of society, except at the highest levels, are pudgy. Health is further threatened by man’s eating habits. Downtown grocery stores appear to contain isles of oil, sugar, white flour combined in hundreds of combinations (with food colorings and preservatives). 24% of the United States population still smokes. (And higher percentages exist throughout most of the world.)

Voltaire’s spiritual descendants, such as Richard Dawkins, have made open attacks on the Christian religion. The most popular magazines, even in Christian homes, breed skepticism. When in 2006 National Geographic featured an article on Charles Darwin it was to refute challenges to his theory. And the greatest promoters of modern infidelity are those with access to the children in their elementary years – the public schools, the internet, and television.

Satan’s devices work best when unsuspected. The Christian Church, placed on earth to promote the salvation of individuals, would necessarily find it in her list of things to do to expose him. The powers granted her would make short work of the assignment. And for this reason, beside spite to Christ, Satan has attacked the church. Part of her has been lulled to sleep. Another part has been roused to espouse Satan’s own worldly agenda as a means of converting the unchurched. Another part has been poisoned with bitterness. And nearly all parts share this: They stand unconverted – and thus robbed of the Spirit’s power, of spiritual gifts, of Biblical understanding, of courage, even of holiness.

In summary, Satan has taken from men what God has given to men. And this has made the way of salvation difficult for millions. A simple restoration of Eden’s gifts would prepare a great many of these for the truths of the gospel. Such a restoration the devil opposes.

Christ proposes the restoration. And thus the setting of my struggle for life is a Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

My Part (and His)

This essay is titled “What shall I do?” All the introductory material shared thus far has failed to address question. And the answer is so simple that Ellen White wrote:

     We find this is the great want of the soul–something that the needy, longing soul can grasp, something easy to be understood. The great reason why many do not lay hold of this truth is that it is so easy. They think they must do some great thing, and that God expects them to go through some wonderful process in order to be converted, but when we present the truth as it is, in its beautiful simplicity, they stand amazed. “Is that all?” they inquire.  

     We need to make the way of life just as clear as it is in Jesus, that all may see the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Simply to take God at His word seems so easy they hardly dare accept it. {10MR 195}

My part is to respond, in a certain way, to what Christ is doing for my salvation.

I am to respond to the evidences of His love, especially as manifest in the death of my Savior.  My understanding of that unspeakable gift ought to rouse a reciprocal love in my heart. Then, after knowing and understanding something of Calvary, my meditations on the theme are to continue to renew my affections and to promote contrition.

Ro 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1Jo 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Lu 7:47  Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

1Jo 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Jas 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Heb 12:2-4  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

My response is one of love and not merely one of sentiment. Love puts the needs of others before one’s own. Jesus put my need before his own. I respond by putting the needs of his beloved human family before my own. This love is accounted by Him as if lavished directly on his person.

Mt 25:37-40  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

1Jo 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Eze 33:31  And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

My response is to be one of faith.

This is not, truly, a distinct response from my response of love. Faith and love go together (See Eph 1:15; 3:17; 6:23; Col 1:4; 1Th 1:3; 5:8; 1Ti 1:14;2Ti 1:13; Tit 3:15; Phm 1:5; Jam 2:5.) The one is the will, the other the motive force. Faith works by love.

In view of Christ’s gift for me my love is roused to choose allegiance, to live by His word. This choice is faith. In the Old Testament it is described as loving obedience (See Ex 20:6; De 5:10; 7:9; 11:1, 22; 19:9; Jos 22:5; Da 9:4; Jo 14:15; 15:10;1Jo 5:2-3). In the New Testament it is described as faith working by love.

Ga 5:6  For in Jesus Christ . . . faith which worketh by love [avails].

Deut 30:14-20  But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: … I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:

Ro 10:8-10  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

My response of loving faith must seek direction in God’s Word. If I love him, I will obey Him. If I will obey Him, I must know his will. These two ideas together produce a third: If I love Him, I will love the truth.

Loving the truth is the way that I find direction for the power provided by my love. Love moves me. Faith directs me. Faith ties me, and my salvation, firmly to scripture. Faith, another word for “obeying the truth”, deepens the love that moves it. In short, love and faith cultivate each other in my heart.

Ro 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

2Th 2:10 [Men] perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Moved by the love as directed by faith in God’s Word, I avail myself of Christ’s wonderful provisions. This is how the work He has long been doing for my salvation becomes effective in changing my life:

1.         I avail myself of God’s promises. The Word becomes a treasure-store of creative power. Love for Christ moves me to depend on his mighty words in my day-to-day living. I read, claim, and am transformed by the “precious promises.” 2Pe 1:4.

2.         I avail myself of God’s power. I invite the Holy Spirit to live a holy life in me; to teach and guide me. I cultivate continual reference to and dependence on God’s Spirit.

Love and faith, not without my willful cooperation, reorganize my faculties to harmonize with God’s revealed will. My desires are removed from the throne. My conscience is crowned. My imagination is brought into captivity and made to serve its original holy purpose of mediation on redemptive themes.

When conscience, reason, and judgment are at the helm, the Spirit working through the first of them, I am obedient. Living faith works obedience.

Faith and love produce intelligent confession. They seek to compare themselves to the scripture standard and so know, Biblically, what to confess. Faith prevents them from both cherishing guilt over sins previously confessed and also from cherishing false assurance in relation to sins not yet confessed.

So faith and love move me to repentance.

My part is also God’s part. He is the one that gives me the gift of repentance. He is the one that, by the Spirit, works in me “to will and to do”, to love and to obey. His is the power that makes the promises effective.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Ac 5:31  Him [Christ] hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

In other words, no part of my salvation is done alone by me. Besides the tremendous volume of work done on my behalf without my cooperation, there is a great deal of work to be done in my behalf with my cooperation.

My part is to will, his part is to empower. I may not feel his part, but I will experience it. That is the meaning of the phrase “I live, yet not I, [it is] Christ….”

Ga 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

My part is to endure. His part is to motivate my endurance with thoughts of his love and sacrifice and faithfulness. My part is to pay attention to those things, to think on them. His part is to transform me while I gaze, with spiritual eyes, on my Savior.

Heb 12:2-3  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Heb 11:27  By faith [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Faith, working with my imagination, allows me to scan the ages, to see my future reward, to visualize the ongoing judgment, to see the stories told in Scripture. That is how we see well enough to walk spiritually.

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

The Results

Ultimately, the result of God’s great work and my enduring faith is salvation. But the meaning of salvation, and the process by which I receive it, are both worth considering. There is much more to redemption than many suppose.

First, I am declared righteous. God says “Eugene Prewitt is righteous.” Since God cannot lie, and since His Word is creative, when God says “that man is righteous”, however unrighteous he may have been, he becomes righteous.

Tit 1:2  God, that cannot lie, promised [eternal life] before the world began.

Ro 4:21-24  [Abraham was] fully persuaded that, what [God] had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Ro 4:5  But to him that . . . believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

It is “faith” that is counted as “righteousness” with God. This is deep. Faith, living by every Word of God, allows Christ to live in my heart. And when He dwells there, He works in me both to will and to do his Good pleasure.

In other words, persons with faith really do work righteousness.

Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

But the ellipsis in Romans 4:5, if filled in, reads “But to him that worketh not, but believeth….”

Why is this? When God declares me to be righteous, the perfect life of Jesus is credited to my account. His death for my sins is honored by giving Him the right to give me life for his righteousness. His right to forgive me this way is not based on any good thing I have done or ever will do. His right to declare me righteous is based on His work.

So though I speak about “my part” in the plan of redemption, I never mean that God owes me. No good thing that Jesus does through me ever atones for one of my sins. I am not employed in weaving my own robe of self-forgiveness.

When God forgives me, by saying “he is righteous,” His creative word does miracles.

One miracle is instantaneous. I am strengthened by God’s Spirit in my “inner man” so that God may live through me. In a moment I become a channel for Divinity, a partaker of the Divine Nature by depending on God’s promises (i.e., by faith.)

Eph 3:16-17  [I pray] that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

This is the “new birth”, and “conversion.” Both are metaphors for the miracle of a reordered mind, a supernatural presence in the heart, and all that these two changes bring with them.

Another miracle is ongoing. Like the seeds that germinate every spring since that powerful Word said “be fruitful and multiply”, my life is continually growing in holiness as long as I hold on to my faith. When God says “he is righteous” His Word goes on a mission. It does not return to God until it accomplishes what He sent it to do.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Mt 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Is 55:10-11  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

When my name comes up in the judgment my sins are found recorded along with a record of their forgiveness. Jesus confesses my name before the Father and before the elect angels. That latter witness that my works justify Christ’s declaration of my faith. The Former confirms Christ’s right to grant me His righteousness in place of my sins. My sins are blotted from the record.

Da 7:10  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Re3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Ac 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Whether I am living or deceased, it is now in heaven as if I had never sinned. Not that anyone in heaven is confused about the topic. All know that I richly deserved to die for my sins. But all are satisfied to have my sins blotted out and to welcome me through the pearly gates.

If I am dead, I rest until the resurrection of the just. At that point I am given a new nature. I am saved and secure. There is still a great deal more to the plan of redemption, but for the purpose of this article, that is the end of the story.

If I am alive, I receive the seal of God and eventually hear those words “let him that is holy be holy still.” I am secure and await the last Trump to change my nature and to clothe me with the gift of immortality.

Conclusion

Conversion is simple. Take God at His Word and live as if that Word is true.

Conversion is simple. Love and fear God and keep His Commandments. This is your only duty.

Conversion is simple. Consider Jesus (and thus come to love and to fear and to obey Him.)

Conversion is simple. Consider Jesus (and thus come to take Him at his Word.)

Salvation would be simple if there were no devil. Be as he opposes Christ at every turn,  we must follow God’s Word earnestly, closely, to be kept secure from unbelief. We must depend on God’s wisdom and power and righteousness to overcome the evil one.

Organizing our life in harmony with God’s plan of living greatly simplifies the process of holding on to our faith.

For the Word Document Click here: What_Shall_I_do_that_I_may_Inherit_Eternal_Life