Friday: Further Thought – Salvation and the End Time
Further Thought: We can have assurance of salvation, but we must not be presumptuous about it. Is there such a thing as a false assurance of salvation? Of course. And Jesus warned about it, too, saying: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:21-23, NKJV).
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
These people made two fatal mistakes. First, despite whatever great things they had done in the Lord’s name, they weren’t doing the Lord’s will, which was to obey His law. Jesus didn’t say, “Depart from me” you who were “not sinless” or you who were not “without fault” or who were “not perfect”. Instead, He described them as “lawless” — a translation of anomian , or “without law”. Second, notice their emphasis on themselves and on what they had accomplished: Didn’t we do this in your name? Or Didn’t we do that in your name? Or Didn’t we do this other thing, and all in your name too? Please! How far removed from Christ must they have been to point to their own works in an attempt to justify themselves before God? The only works that will save us are Christ’s, credited to us by faith. Here is where our assurance exists — not in ourselves or in our works but only in what Christ has done for us. You want assurance? Obey God’s law and rest only in the merits of Christ’s righteousness, and you will have all the assurance you need.
Discussion Questions:
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1corinthians 15: 10, it's only by the grace of God. I'd rather trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 14:5-10
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?
The disciples walking with Jesus did not know.
Paul as a Pharisee did not understand who Jesus was.
What is the adventist message?
HMS Richard Sr answer
Jesus Only
I'd say it is a mistery the fact that some seem to be touched by the love of God and some don't, in a world where all have sinned! It is difficult to think why some choose the true and some don't. Deep inside we all have the same rotten nature! Is it pride what separates us from God? Pride that make us think we have good within ourselves? Pride that separates us from the humble nature of Jesus? Pride was what first made a perfect heart to start decaying! We are nothing compared to the meekness of the heart of Jesus. We must learn from Him.
Perhaps it is pride for some people. But for many others it is a reaction against the 'God/religion' they were raised with or exposed to. Sometimes it was the priest/pastor who preached one thing and practiced another, or the religious education system where countless students literally had the 'fear of God'beaten into them, or the child who was molested and nothing was done about it in order to keep up appearances within the 'Christian' community, and so on.
Many people have not yet been able to be touched by the love of God, sadly due to their treatment as children by his alleged followers - and have instead rejected the God that has been portrayed as vindictive and demanding or uncaring and indifferent.
When one gets involved in peoples lives and hears their early-life experiences of their encounters with so-called 'Christian religion', it is not hard at all to understand why many people reject 'God'.
Yes, many have been burdened with seemingly unbearable "crosses" in their lives. Yet, these burdens will never approach what our Savior endured for us (Heb 12:2) and, in judgment, will not be accepted as valid excuses for rejecting the Gift (Romans 6:23).
I believe that our Loving Father reaches down however low we have fallen... or been pushed... and lifts us up with His mighty, loving hands and holds us forever (John 10:28) if we are willing... if we believe... if we accept the gift He freely offers.
Hi Sieg
My response was to the specific point being raised by JC Zielak that people who do not "choose the true" invariably do so because of pride. I was raising the counter-point that there are a range of reasons why people don't seem to be touched by the love of God at this point in time. These are explanations, not excuses.
I absolutely agree with the God you portray in your second paragraph - a God of compassion who can read the deepest 'heart-motive' of each person beneath the 'baggage'/wreckage that has accumulated in their life as a consequence of experiences like I mentioned above.
The last sentence is very powerful. “Obey God’s will and rest in His merits of righteousness.” Wow how do we, illistrate that? Well the preceding sentences gives us a hint. “The only works that will save us are Christ’s, here in is our assurance.” To truly obey we must be born again. To comfortabily rest in His merits we must be born again. Seems to me the author is quoting The Desire of Ages page 175. Page 87, 88 if you are reading from the Happiness Digest Series. Let me put it here for you. The author quotes from the paragraph above the portion of the paragraph I want to quote as the answer to how we obey God and rest in His merits. “The light shing from the cross reveals the Love of God. His love is drawing us to Himself. Then the Spirit of God produces a new life in the soul. (The heart is quickened. Mind you it is flesh now, no longer stoney. Ezekiel 36:26.). If we do not resist this drawing, we shall be led to the foot of the cross in repentance for the sins that have crucified the Saviour. Then the Spirit of God through faith produces a new life in the soul. Our thoughts and desires are brought into obedience to the will of Christ. The heart, the mind are created anew in the image of Him who works in us to subdue all thing to Himself. Then the law of God is written in the mind and heart, and we can say with Christ: I delight to do Thy will, oh my God. Psalams 40:8.” There is more. Pick up a copy of The Desire of Ages, strengthen your faith, and share your faith with a friend.
God is good!
Good day.
am enjoying the Sabbath school studies, please continue with it.
mayeya G FRM ZAMBIA(LUSAKA)
The piece linked below analyzes this week’s lesson. Below is an excerpt:
“Seventh-day Adventism has proved to be fertile ground for the theological amalgamation that is apocalyptic perfectionism. Like a menacing “little horn” rising out of Adventism, perfectionism concocted an intoxicating elixir of soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and eschatology (the doctrine of the end) sold under the alluring package of Last Generation Theology––with representatives in the highest echelons of the Adventist church.”
https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2018/04/27/salvation-and-end-time
Our assurance of salvation is a gift from God. God allows us freedom of choice, which is amazing, considering the wrong choices, and the ending results. The majority of earths inhabitants have little or no inclination to know who God is, or care. Our minds are focused on self during most of our waking hours. We have a determined evil tempter to accuse us of our guilt. Forgiveness and repentance are the gifts that mean the most to everyone of us. This we must understand because the Holy Spirit enlightens us. Looking forward to that Glorious day! Amen.
I'm confused about the last sentence in today's lesson: "Obey God’s law and rest only in the merits of Christ’s righteousness."
and/only?
This sounds like salvation by works "and/only" faith. What am I missing?
How is this consistent with the what the author says in Thursday's lesson: "showing that our salvation comes not from anything we can do nor from any creature merit, but totally as an act arising from God’s own loving character."?
Sieg, I think you are seeing evidence of editing/authoring by committee. 😉
That said, I think the intent is to just obey God and not worry about our salvation, because we are saved through the merits of Christ's righteousness.
It is surely evident that accepting Jesus as Lord results in obedience, and that obedience will change our characters to be more like the character of Jesus.
Obedience has nothing in it to merit our salvation, but it is certainly necessary for the changing of our characters and testifying to the effectiveness of God's plan of salvation. While we are not saved *by* our works, neither will anyone be saved *without* works. Even the thief on the cross demonstrated His faith in the efficacy of Christ's salvation - the only "works" he could do from his position on the cross.
I believe Andre is a little off base. Yes we are saved by grace only through faith. But both Paul and Ellen G. White don’t drop obidence in a hand basket. I have listened to the round table out in Calif., can we be perfect even as Christ was perfect? They tout yes, so do I. Matthew 5:48. Romans 12:2. Phillipians 3:15. James 1:4. But we don’t drop salvation by grace alone through faith in a hand basket. Anti-Trinity. Absolutely not. We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Existentialism is a little horn to worry about, not perfectionism unless it is proverted. Grace only can be proverted also, if we drop obiedence in a hand basket. I don’t see anything wrong with the authors persentation this last week. It is in natural sequence: The Love of Our Farther, The Love of Our Saviour, Assurance of Salvation, Ever Lasting Gospel. Psalms 22. Mathew 27:46. If we are born again we have assurance of salvation. Christ told Nicodemious if you are not born again ye will not enter the Kingsom of Heaven. John 3:5. The way I understand it, if I am born again, I will delight to do Thy will, oh my God. Psalms 40:8. Lets preach Christ righteousness in the congregation/classroom. Lets let Christ righteousness shine out of our hearts. Psalms 40:9-10. Now I put the ‘fight’ on Christ, as our wonderful Pastor told us last week. Exodus 14:14.