Another email for a friend
Daniel,
I awoke early thinking of you. Thoughts about the gospel and Law were swirling around my head. That’s always a nice way to wake up. I long for the time when my whole days will have my head swirling with the grace and righteousness of God.
I don’t want you to think I am against the gospel. I don’t want you to believe that the Law is all that I care about. That isn’t the case. The gospel needs to be exalted. The grace and mercy of Jesus must be the foundation of our faith. Sometimes I fear that I don’t know the gospel well enough and don’t speak enough of it. I am still learning and growing.
But at the same time, I look back on my experience. My journey to God has been back and forth on both extremes of the Law and then the Gospel. But neither one helped me. Satan loves to put asunder what God has joined together. Divide the truth and conquer us. Alone, each does not bring us to God, not even the Gospel alone. Alone, each will take us away from Him, and send us to the devil. We can’t appreciate grace until God has prepared our hearts for it. We can’t appreciate the Law until God has prepared our hearts for it also. Our workmanship is God’s. We must surrender to His handiwork or spiritual life doesn’t happen.
From the Bible, the whole Bible and whole Bible only, we can see how God does His work. In the lives of so great a cloud of witnesses, we see Him wrestling with man and man resisting God. It’s not exactly a pretty picture. Often, it’s not until way down at the end of the life that God is able to really get through the way He wants. It’s not until a great many of His children are well up in the years that they surrender fully for His great work of sanctification. Few learned the lessons of faith early on in life. Enoch, Isaac, Samuel, David, Isaiah, John, and some others. But they were in the minority of all that came to God by Christ. Jacob took 60 years, Abraham 100, Moses 80. Many were middle aged, Paul, Peter, James, etc. Often God has been limited by His servants resisting His will for many years, thus leaving less time to be leaders of men for Him.
But many I hear today who talk about the gospel haven’t surrendered to the gospel. They are similar to, but the opposite extreme of, the Jews who followed after righteousness but never attained it. You know when folks haven’t surrendered to the gospel when they don’t talk much about Jesus. And when they shy away from His Law. If we are confident in God’s grace for us, then we have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to obedience. If I am a child of God and I fail at obedience, I innately know He will accept me back. It may take some mortifying on my part, some hunting through the darkness of my pride to get back to Him, but His law is nothing to be afraid of. His Law doesn’t represent bad news, it represents wonderful possibilities for the beauty of holiness.
Many who I hear speak of the gospel call themselves Christians. But if all I talk about is Paul, am I a Christian? Am I not, rather, a Paulian? Others talk only of EGW. They are EGWhitians. Others are Daniel-and-Revelatians. I love to study Paul and EGW and prophecy. They all build my faith. But that’s only because Jesus reconciled me to Himself and thus to His Father and His Father’s Law. First and foremost, my angry and unsettled heart was healed. My nerves were calmed. He calmed my storms and let me know He was present. With that background I am safe to learn from Paul and EGW and Daniel and the Revelator. Now I can rightly interpret the grandeur of the Gospel, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Now I can accept the solemn Testimonies for the Church; now I can better understand the intricacies of Bible prophecy. Now I can look with settled hope in the fulfillment of last day prophecy that is happening before our very eyes. I can gather wonderful faith from the reality of Jesus coming and not get so scared that I completely lose my head. “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.” Is. 33:14. This is going to be the fate of many so-called Christians when they wake up and see the final trouble that is already building strength and coming our way.
Only the work of God now can prepare us for the final cleansing in preparation for eternity in God’s presence. It’s His work to get us to Himself, to fix us up, and to bring us to His home. Those who cry that the work of salvation was finished 2,000 years ago or that it is only being done light-years away, instead of the hear and now, will be greatly surprised in that great day when the Judge presides. They never knew Him, He will say. “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Why did He call them workers of iniquity? because they derailed themselves and others from submitting to righteousness, His brand of righteousness.
What makes us trust EGW is that she faithfully exalted God’s right to rule in our everyday lives. While E.J. Waggoner gave us a framework of Righteousness by Faith, Ellen White filled it in with God’s Law. EJW gave us a somewhat convoluted explanation. EGW gave us a clear legacy. We can trust the person who treats Law with respect, whether its civil laws, family rules, marriage vows, or divine Law. This is what Christ spoke of when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbed up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.” This principle goes for every religious leader. The door represents righteousness. Those who preach the gospel as opposed to the Law, or at the expense of the Law, cannot be true shepherds. They are thieves and murderers. If they avoid the subject of the Law, if they don’t love the truth of it, how can the honest person trust in them? The true sheep won’t obey the false shepherd’s voice. They will be very nervous of him.
Smoky, my dog, knows me so well that when I walk around in the pitch black of night, without my even making a peep, he won’t bark. But anyone else who comes around will have him hysterical. He is very territorial and doesn’t even like my neighbor. But he loves me to death. I have proven myself to him and he trusts in me.
If we’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good, if we’ve tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, then we recognize when the counterfeit is offered to us. If we’ve come to trust in Jesus and His acceptance, then we will love His Law, which is His Father’s Law, the perpetual Law of the divine Government. Any other offer comes from His arch enemy, the great deceiver who deceiveth the whole world. Only Gospel and Law together can expose his masterful arguments. This needs to be understood by our people. We need to work constantly to uncover the great delusion now underway.
“Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Brother, we are already in the middle of it.
I awoke early thinking of you. Thoughts about the gospel and Law were swirling around my head. That’s always a nice way to wake up. I long for the time when my whole days will have my head swirling with the grace and righteousness of God.
I don’t want you to think I am against the gospel. I don’t want you to believe that the Law is all that I care about. That isn’t the case. The gospel needs to be exalted. The grace and mercy of Jesus must be the foundation of our faith. Sometimes I fear that I don’t know the gospel well enough and don’t speak enough of it. I am still learning and growing.
But at the same time, I look back on my experience. My journey to God has been back and forth on both extremes of the Law and then the Gospel. But neither one helped me. Satan loves to put asunder what God has joined together. Divide the truth and conquer us. Alone, each does not bring us to God, not even the Gospel alone. Alone, each will take us away from Him, and send us to the devil. We can’t appreciate grace until God has prepared our hearts for it. We can’t appreciate the Law until God has prepared our hearts for it also. Our workmanship is God’s. We must surrender to His handiwork or spiritual life doesn’t happen.
From the Bible, the whole Bible and whole Bible only, we can see how God does His work. In the lives of so great a cloud of witnesses, we see Him wrestling with man and man resisting God. It’s not exactly a pretty picture. Often, it’s not until way down at the end of the life that God is able to really get through the way He wants. It’s not until a great many of His children are well up in the years that they surrender fully for His great work of sanctification. Few learned the lessons of faith early on in life. Enoch, Isaac, Samuel, David, Isaiah, John, and some others. But they were in the minority of all that came to God by Christ. Jacob took 60 years, Abraham 100, Moses 80. Many were middle aged, Paul, Peter, James, etc. Often God has been limited by His servants resisting His will for many years, thus leaving less time to be leaders of men for Him.
But many I hear today who talk about the gospel haven’t surrendered to the gospel. They are similar to, but the opposite extreme of, the Jews who followed after righteousness but never attained it. You know when folks haven’t surrendered to the gospel when they don’t talk much about Jesus. And when they shy away from His Law. If we are confident in God’s grace for us, then we have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to obedience. If I am a child of God and I fail at obedience, I innately know He will accept me back. It may take some mortifying on my part, some hunting through the darkness of my pride to get back to Him, but His law is nothing to be afraid of. His Law doesn’t represent bad news, it represents wonderful possibilities for the beauty of holiness.
Many who I hear speak of the gospel call themselves Christians. But if all I talk about is Paul, am I a Christian? Am I not, rather, a Paulian? Others talk only of EGW. They are EGWhitians. Others are Daniel-and-Revelatians. I love to study Paul and EGW and prophecy. They all build my faith. But that’s only because Jesus reconciled me to Himself and thus to His Father and His Father’s Law. First and foremost, my angry and unsettled heart was healed. My nerves were calmed. He calmed my storms and let me know He was present. With that background I am safe to learn from Paul and EGW and Daniel and the Revelator. Now I can rightly interpret the grandeur of the Gospel, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Now I can accept the solemn Testimonies for the Church; now I can better understand the intricacies of Bible prophecy. Now I can look with settled hope in the fulfillment of last day prophecy that is happening before our very eyes. I can gather wonderful faith from the reality of Jesus coming and not get so scared that I completely lose my head. “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.” Is. 33:14. This is going to be the fate of many so-called Christians when they wake up and see the final trouble that is already building strength and coming our way.
Only the work of God now can prepare us for the final cleansing in preparation for eternity in God’s presence. It’s His work to get us to Himself, to fix us up, and to bring us to His home. Those who cry that the work of salvation was finished 2,000 years ago or that it is only being done light-years away, instead of the hear and now, will be greatly surprised in that great day when the Judge presides. They never knew Him, He will say. “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Why did He call them workers of iniquity? because they derailed themselves and others from submitting to righteousness, His brand of righteousness.
What makes us trust EGW is that she faithfully exalted God’s right to rule in our everyday lives. While E.J. Waggoner gave us a framework of Righteousness by Faith, Ellen White filled it in with God’s Law. EJW gave us a somewhat convoluted explanation. EGW gave us a clear legacy. We can trust the person who treats Law with respect, whether its civil laws, family rules, marriage vows, or divine Law. This is what Christ spoke of when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbed up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.” This principle goes for every religious leader. The door represents righteousness. Those who preach the gospel as opposed to the Law, or at the expense of the Law, cannot be true shepherds. They are thieves and murderers. If they avoid the subject of the Law, if they don’t love the truth of it, how can the honest person trust in them? The true sheep won’t obey the false shepherd’s voice. They will be very nervous of him.
Smoky, my dog, knows me so well that when I walk around in the pitch black of night, without my even making a peep, he won’t bark. But anyone else who comes around will have him hysterical. He is very territorial and doesn’t even like my neighbor. But he loves me to death. I have proven myself to him and he trusts in me.
If we’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good, if we’ve tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, then we recognize when the counterfeit is offered to us. If we’ve come to trust in Jesus and His acceptance, then we will love His Law, which is His Father’s Law, the perpetual Law of the divine Government. Any other offer comes from His arch enemy, the great deceiver who deceiveth the whole world. Only Gospel and Law together can expose his masterful arguments. This needs to be understood by our people. We need to work constantly to uncover the great delusion now underway.
“Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Brother, we are already in the middle of it.
posted by David | 5:00 AM
2 Comments:
"The Door" is Christ Himself, my friend. Some try to make it be our righteousness, but Christ is The Door that is always standing open. There are those who try to enter the fold by going over the wall of works. But only those who enter through Christ are legitimate. I have been perusing your blog for some time now. Not sure what to make of it.
Christ certainly did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill, which He did, so I do not have to. Forgiveness is now available to all. This takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I can take my focus off my own performance and praise God for Jesus. I do not see how a focus on the gospel cannot bring one to God. To me this is an impossibility. When I realize what has been done on my behalf I am won over to the cause of Christ.
Anonymous, I completely understand what you are saying. But let me say, "Sin is the transgression of the Law." 1Jn. 3:4. When Christ takes sin away from me, obedience will immediately move into the vaccuum. If sin has been my undoing and I badger God to do something about it, He will come to my aid(Luke 18:1-8). It was the Law of God or His laws governing life that forced enough faith into me to go to Christ for help, and then Christ makes the devil go away. It can take awhile, but when I finally come to Jesus, then He acts immediately.
When we look at the gospel, we see a huge discrepancy between the self-sacrificing love of God and my self-centered love, His righteousness and mine. So the gospel even contains righteousness and demands obedience. "What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Pet. 4:17).
Just as the Law of God contains some of the gospel. "And shewing mercy unto thousands [of generations] of them that love me, and keep My commandments." (Ex. 20:6)
Christ is the door, and in Christ we see the mercy and justice of God, the grace and truth, His righteousness and peace. (Jn. 1:17;Ps. 85:10). As the door, He says, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." (Ps. 2:12). Jesus stands for more than just mercy, He also stands for righteousness. Hollywood has misrepresented Jesus, making Him into Mr. Niceguy. He was love and grace, but also love and truth and righteousness.
Anonymous, I hope to hear from you again.
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