The Sun that Melts Wax also Hardens Clay

By Hazel Holland

In spite of the fact that God sovereignly displayed His supreme power through the supernatural signs and wonders of the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt, Pharaoh hardened his heart. This display of God’s sovereign love for His people in Egyptian bondage hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Initially, Pharaoh was responsible for hardening his own heart as the plagues began to fall. Then as he refused to submit to God’s plan of freeing the Israelites from slavery, Pharaoh’s already proud and unbelieving heart was hardened by God.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened because he resisted divine revelation. He resisted the illuminating grace of God that was revealed in how God had compassion on a bunch of stiff-necked Israelites. He hated this truth about God’s sovereign grace being displayed on behalf of a nation of unrighteous slaves. So he suppressed the truth about God’s mercy in further unrighteousness by refusing to listen and fear God. Since Pharaoh considered himself to be a god, He bucked against the sovereignty of the true God that showed Himself to be greater than Pharaoh.

By arrogantly resisting God’s will to deliver the Israelites after 400 years of slavery, Pharaoh’s hardened heart was used by God in order to spread the good news of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to the surrounding nations. Even though Pharaoh didn’t fear and have respect for the God of Israel because of the plagues that He brought upon Egypt, we later learn how the Philistines did (1 Samuel 4:8). In fact, perhaps that is why some of the Egyptians chose to leave Egypt when Israel did, because they feared and had respect for Israel’s God (Exodus 12:38).

It must be emphasized here that God was not determining the eternal destiny of Pharaoh when He chose to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Rather, God was using Pharaoh’s own desires to further God’s own purposes for delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, thus furthering salvation history. In the same way that the sun that melts wax also hardens clay, so the same sovereign mercy of God displayed on behalf of a nation of Israelite slaves was received by some hearts, but resisted by others.

As believers, we also were once a “nation of unrighteous slaves” before God chose to display His sovereign grace on behalf of a lost world by sending His Son to become our Deliverer. In the same way that the sun that melts wax also hardens clay, so the same sovereign mercy of God displayed on behalf of all people on planet earth will be received by hearts that have been softened by the Spirit of God, but resisted by hearts that have become hardened to the Sovereign work of God though His Spirit.

Just as the sun melts wax, may our hearts continually melt with gratitude to God for His sovereign grace and mercy displayed towards each one of us in Jesus Christ. Let us continually remember that while we were dead in our sins Christ died for us in order to redeem us from sin’s slavery. If we do not resist the illuminating grace of God that has been poured out upon us by His Spirit, our hearts will remain soft and “melt within us” as we behold God’s sovereign love towards us revealed in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Link:  Election Determines History not Eternal Destiny

Accepting God's Goodness

By Hazel Holland

The Bible tells us that we as believers are the righteousness of God in Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Therefore, as believers we can boldly say to the enemy when he tempts us to doubt God's love for us, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ!"

I don't have a righteousness of my own, but I'm wholly dependent on the righteousness of the blood of Jesus Christ. So when I'm reminded of my shortcomings, and I battle the accusations of the enemy, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin, and sets me free from the lies of the enemy!"

When I'm having a difficult time forgiving someone who has hurt me, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ! Since the blood of Jesus Christ has already forgiven them, I choose to forgive them, too."

When I'm faced with sickness or I'm grieving over the loss of a loved one, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ! The blood of Jesus Christ heals me and comforts me in my loss."

What if I were to live my life each day recognizing that what God says about me is true? No matter what circumstance I find myself in, I am the righteousness of God in Christ!

Would the truth of what God has said about me make a difference in the way I live my life? Would I relate differently with the people around me? Would I begin to long to share with others the power of His resurrection?

I can't earn the righteousness of God that He freely gives me in Christ. I can only accept God's goodness. I can't work at it or make myself more worthy to receive it. No. It is God's free gift to me. It is a blessing of the gospel.

As believers in the finished work of Jesus Christ, you and I are the righteousness of God in Christ. I want to live the rest of my life with this truth firmly fixed in my mind and spirit. How about you?

Deliverance from "Correct Theology"

By Hazel Holland

Having grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church, I was taught that everything I believed could fit tidily into an assortment of various little SDA “boxes” of truth. This belief system claimed it had an answer for every teaching in Adventism and a Scripture, or a quote from Ellen White to prove it.

Although it’s been a number of years now since I left the SDA church, I recognize that growing up on the “proof text” method of understanding the Bible has left many of us unable to read the Bible as it is, and be comfortable with paradoxes that we don’t understand. Our comfort level is upset, and we feel compelled to try and harmonize paradoxes that threaten our belief system. To a certain extent I would venture to say that this is true of most belief systems.

However, the Bible is full of paradoxes. Some can be explained by rational thought, but others cannot. Sometimes my view of God is far too small, and sometimes my view of man is far too big. I believe the Scriptures reveal truths regarding God and man that, as hard as I try, I cannot logically reconcile.

For instance, I believe that God predestines, and that everything is fore-ordained, but at the same time I believe that man is responsible for all his actions and choices. These two biblical truths seem to logically contradict each other. In our human endeavor to try and figure out the mind of God revealed in Scripture, do we sometimes forget that we lack wisdom and understanding, and that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts?

Could it be that these two biblical truths, along with other apparently contradictory biblical truths, are like two parallel lines? For centuries man has been diligently trying to discover where they converge. My answer right now is that they converge somewhere in eternity in the heart of God. Someday in eternity we will understand. Until then we must live with the paradox, trust that God knows all things, and has chosen to reveal to us what is necessary for our salvation, and not try to twist and distort the Scriptures in order to make sense of what we don’t understand.

The Scriptures tell us that “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” and “Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:3-6). So I need to believe what the Bible says before I believe what a certain orthodoxy (for example: Calvinism or Arminianism) says about that Scripture. When the Holy Spirit tells us “all men” He means all men, not “some men.” However, although He desires that all men be saved, we know that some men will be lost, because they do not choose God back. They choose to reject His offer of grace.

We human beings have been struggling for years to somehow posses a self-consistent creed that will logically explain every truth in the Bible. However, in doing this, we are in great danger of throwing out much of divine revelation because we can’t reconcile it. We minimize one teaching in God’s Word, because we can’t understand how it fits together with another teaching. So we choose one teaching over another instead of choosing to believe both.

Another danger we need to face is that in our desire for logical consistency in interpreting God’s Word, we end up ignoring, rejecting or twisting Scripture that doesn’t fit our chosen theology or belief system. This happens, not only in Adventism, but in every belief system. Unfortunately, in doing this we become our own ultimate authority, our own god.

I believe that theology is a good thing as long as it’s a reflection of what the Scriptures teach, and helps us understand it better. However, when theology replaces Scripture’s authority, and causes us to reinterpret Scripture rather than accept it by faith, then it gets in the way of shedding light on God’s Word. Wherever Scripture seems to teach apparently contradictory ideas, shouldn’t our theology embrace those ideas, rather than reject part of God's revealed Word? I believe so.

My prayer is that as we read Scripture, we will ask the Holy Spirit to help us embrace the full breadth of God's revealed truth even when it disturbs out comfort zones. After all is said and done, our faith must not rest in our correct theology. Correct theology will not save us or give us the rest that our souls desire. Our faith must rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the One to whom all Scripture points.

I believe that God is calling us as His beloved children, no matter what theological camp we are in, to lay down our burden of “correct theology” at the foot of the cross. He wants to deliver us from our burden of “striving to be right”. All our correct theology and striving to be right will not save us, or bring us the rest that our souls desire.

In exchange for our “correct theology” and “striving to be right”, the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us the Good News of what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. After we release our “good” works at the foot of the cross we will be free to enter into the joy of His “good” work. We will be free to enter into His rest, and compelled to share Jesus Christ’s work of victory for us with the rest of God’s children.

Grace Under Fire

By Hazel Holland

The sovereignty of God’s grace was brought home afresh to me recently while reading an article entitled, “The Pelagian Captivity of the Church” http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.

After studying and pondering the seriousness of the subject, I began to better understand why I was hit so heavily by the Spirit when I read the title. Multitudes in Evangelical Christianity do not understand the truth of how a man is justified before God because Pelagianism has taken the gospel captive by its erroneous teachings.

Although Christianity initially turned the ancient world upside down with the Good News of God's way of reaching man, this central truth of how a man is justified before God was so contrary to classical thought that the world desperately opposed it, it was never fully accepted by the Church, and finally it was fiercely attacked by the papal system which grew out of the early church.

Pelagianism

So in order to further understand what Pelagianism is, let’s take a brief look at the teachings of the man who advocated these ideas. Pelagius, a monk who lived in the fifth century, believed that there was no such thing as original sin. Contrary to the Scriptures that tell us we are sinful from the moment of conception, he believed that Adam’s sin only affected Adam, and that there was no transference of guilt or corruption to Adam’s offspring. Pelagius believed that human beings are born without a natural inclination toward sin. However, the Scriptures tell us just the opposite.1

Additionally, Pelagius believed that it was possible for a person to live a life of moral perfection without any help from Jesus or the grace of God. He said that divine grace made it easier for you to be perfect, but you could actually be perfect without it.2

Augustine, a contemporary of Pelagius, vehemently disagreed with these aberrant teachings. He insisted that ever since the Fall our human nature has been infected by sin to the very core of our being. Consequently, we don’t have the moral power within ourselves to cooperate with the grace of God, because our human will is in bondage to its evil desires and inclinations.

Eventually, Pelagius was condemned as a heretic. Although Pelagianism ceased to exist as a movement after the 6th century, its erroneous ideas continued to live on and cause disputes within the Church.

Semi-Pelagianism

However, some within the Church continued to believe what is now called semi-Pelagianism. They believed that while we can’t be saved without grace, we are not so fallen that we don’t have the ability to cooperate with God’s grace on our own. Although our will is weakened, it’s not enslaved by sin. However the Scriptures do not describe humanity as being only partially tainted by sin.

Semi-Pelagianism taught that there remains in the core of our being a “little island of righteousness” that is untouched by the Fall. So when God reaches out to us, we must exercise that “little island of righteousness” that is at the core of our being, and take the important step that will determine whether we go to heaven or hell.

That “little island of righteousness” was mythical as far as Augustine was concerned, and the Church initially agreed. It condemned semi-Pelagianism as fervently as it had condemned Pelagianism.

Yet, by the time of the sixteenth century Reformation, the Church had done an about-face on the concept. It renounced what Augustine taught, and re-embraced semi-Pelagianism. The papal Church decided there still remains this “little island of righteousness” intact in the human will. They taught that if we cooperate by using whatever powers we have left, we will be saved.3

The Reformation Struggle

So how did the Reformers understand the human will to operate in relation to salvation? At the time of the Reformation, all the reformers agreed that we as fallen human beings are morally unable to incline ourselves to the things of God, because we do not have free will. They believed, as did Paul, Augustine and many others, that there was no such thing as a “little island of righteousness” at the core of our being. They understood that the sinner’s entire salvation is by free and sovereign grace only. They believed that apart from God’s sovereign grace, we are enslaved to Satan and sin, and unable to save ourselves. Hence the slogan, “sola gratia.”

In order to be saved, the Reformers believed that all people everywhere are totally dependent, one hundred percent of the time, upon the Divine work of regeneration in order to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they stressed that faith itself is a gift of God.4 Faith comes by way of grace from the Spirit that moves as the wind, blowing wherever it pleases so that we “were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” John 1:13 (NASB). Again, Paul emphasizes, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” Romans 9:16 (NASB).

The truth is not that when we hear the offer of salvation we will be born again if we choose to believe. No. That’s backwards. But my guess is that this is the way most of us have been taught and believed. The truth is, we can’t even believe until God in His grace and mercy first changes the disposition of our souls through His sovereign work of regeneration.

In other words, what the reformers all agreed upon was that unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God, let alone choose to enter it. And being born again is the fruit, NOT the cause of the regeneration that is wrought in us by the Spirit of God. So the necessary condition for anybody’s faith and anybody’s salvation is always regeneration.5

Regeneration must come first, because we are not just sick in our sin, we are dead. When we were born into this world we were born spiritually “dead on arrival”. We are spiritually stillborn. I’ve heard some people liken our condition to the swimmer who gets leg cramps in the ocean and calls out to the lifeguard to be rescued. However, the truth is, we’ve been lying for days at the bottom of the ocean, unable to breathe or cry out for help, because we’re already dead!

This is why the gospel is indeed good news! We sinful human beings, dead in our sins, spiritually stillborn, can do absolutely no good thing to save ourselves, or to cause God to accept us. God sovereignly chooses to bring us back from being spiritually dead by regenerating us by the work of His Spirit. We are justified, NOT by our own works, but by the saving work of God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This essential truth of the New Testament that teaches that man is justified by the work of Another, Jesus Christ, became the central article of our Christian faith and gave birth to the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation.

Sola Scripture

Let’s take a brief look at the Scriptures and see how they line up with the Reformation teaching on the human will in relation to salvation. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins.

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" Matthew 1:21 (NASB).

“…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” 1 Timothy 1:15 (NASB).

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NASB).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” John 3:17 NASB).

The Bible tells us that we are sinners by nature, because sin entered the world through Adam.

“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” Ephesians 2:3 (NASB).

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” Psalm 51:5 (NASB).

“Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…” Romans 5:12 (NASB).

The Bible also teaches us that we cannot come to Jesus Christ to be saved unless the Father first draws us. Our salvation depends on the Father drawing us by His Spirit before we can ever respond to the gospel invitation to come to Jesus Christ and be saved.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” John 6:37 (NASB).

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” John 6:44-45 (NASB).

And why must the Father first draw us before we can come to Jesus Christ? Because our human wills are enslaved to sin. Here are some Scriptures that shed light on our enslaved wills before the Father draws us.

“…if perhaps God may grant them repentance… and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NASB).

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” Romans 6:16 (NASB).

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin” Romans 7:14 (NASB).

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” 2 Peter 2:19 (NIV).

The Bible teaches us that we are morally unable as fallen human beings to incline ourselves toward the things of God. We are so totally powerless to do good that we cannot of ourselves choose God. We are unable to do God's will because were affected by the fall of Adam, contrary to what Pelagius taught. Therefore, our salvation is entirely a work of God from start to finish. We make absolutely no contribution to it at all.

“They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one” Psalm 14:3; Psalm 53:3 (NASB).

“All have turned aside, together they have become useless, there is no one who does good, there is not even one” Romans 3:12 (NASB).

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone’” Mark 10:18 (NASB).

This all means that we are TOTALLY dependent on the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in order to come to faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. It is not that we will be born again if we choose to believe. We can’t even believe until God first changes our souls through his sovereign work of grace. In other words, unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God. He has to see it first before he can ever enter it.

So if we manifest genuine faith in Jesus Christ, it is because God has sovereignly chosen us first. He has called us to Himself, and put within us the ability to believe and respond to the Gospel message. God has breathed life into our dead wills and quickened our power of choice by His Spirit so that we no longer remain dead and unresponsive to God.6 Sovereignly God regenerates us by His Spirit BEFORE we can ever choose to come to Him.

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit…” John 15:6 (NASB).

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” Ephesians 2:1-2 (NASB).

Let’s summarize what we have learned so far. Our salvation does NOT depend upon our will, because our will is enslaved by sin. Rather, our salvation depends on the Father first drawing us by His Spirit BEFORE we can ever exercise our will to choose to accept Jesus Christ.

After God chose us and called us to Himself, He gave us the gift of faith so that we can choose to believe the gospel. Furthermore, the faith that receives Christ for justification is itself the free gift of a sovereign God. It is the God-given means whereby God-given justification is received. Faith is NOT a condition of justification which is left for us to fulfill.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB).

Upheaval of Faith

As we look back and study church history we see so much debate and strife over the different ways people have interpreted the Scriptures regarding this whole subject of how we are saved. I do not plan to even go into any of that right now, except to briefly mention one of America’s most revered evangelists of the nineteenth century, Charles Finney. Since Finney’s teachings have had such a profound influence on the Evangelical church, particularly here in America, I want to briefly address how he understood the human will in relation to salvation.

What is disturbing to me is that in no uncertain terms Charles Finney viciously attacked the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. He adamantly believed that we didn’t need the imputation of the Christ’s righteousness. He also believed that there was no such thing as original sin. Here are several quotes taken from Finney’s Works.

“Gospel Justification is not the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Under the gospel, sinners are not justified by having the obedience of Jesus Christ set down to their account, as if He had obeyed the law for them, or in their stead. I can only say that this idea is absurd and impossible, for this reason, that Jesus Christ was bound to obey the law for Himself, and could no more perform works of supererogation, or obey on our account, than anybody else.”

“When we say that men are justified by faith and holiness… we mean that they are treated as if they were righteous, on account of their faith and works of faith.”7

“Do you wonder what influence Adam's sin has had in producing the sin of his posterity? It has subjected them to aggravated temptation but has by no means rendered their nature in itself sinful.”8 “Sinners make their own wicked hearts”.9

Finney adamantly wanted nothing to do with original sin, a substitutionary atonement, or the supernatural character of the new birth, and he proceeded to attack “the article by which the church stands or falls”— justification by grace alone through faith alone.”10 Finney insisted that justification ultimately hinges on the believer's own performance, not Christ's.11

Finney not only rejected the biblical essentials of justification by faith alone through grace alone, but he also abandoned the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, as revealed by his constant appeal to rationalism in support of his new theology. In essence, the movement that Finney led represents the wholesale abandonment of historic Protestant principles.12

If the Reformers are correct in their assessment that the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ are essential and biblical truths of Christianity, then Charles Finney was a full-blown Pelagianist. Despite the fact that he is a patron saint of twentieth-century Evangelicalism, and in the Hall of Fame of Evangelical Christianity in America, was he really a Christian?13

Are Finney’s denials of historic Protestant principles allowed to sit unnoticed in our evangelical Hall of Fame because in our tolerant age of discomfort with biblical doctrine we want to avoid almost all disagreement? Although Finney is a hero to many evangelicals, I believe no man is more responsible for distorting Christian truth, particularly the doctrine of salvation.14

What is additionally troubling to me is that our modern "evangelistic efforts" have been modeled after Finney’s evangelism style, including his embracing the heresy of Pelagianism. Adventism (my former belief system) also grew out of the same stream of theology from which Methodism arose, and Charles Finney's aberrant teachings.

As I ponder the implications of what all this means, I’m forced to ask some very difficult questions. Have multitudes of people been "accepting" Jesus Christ by human will power, rather than by a Spirit-created act based on humanity's total spiritual bankruptcy? Having started off wrong, have multitudes of people, continued to try to live the Christian life by continuing to rely on willpower they don't really have?15 Although many may say "Lord, Lord," do they know Jesus Christ? More importantly, does He know them?

Although most people within the Evangelical church today believe that nobody’s perfect, according to a recent George Barna poll, many people within the church believe that man is basically good. But that’s NOT what the Scriptures teach us. God says that no one is good, not even one.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV).

To say that we’re basically good is the Pelagian view, not the biblical view. We do not have the capacity within ourselves to turn from sin and do what is right and good. God must first choose us, and draw us to Himself. Then as He sovereignly regenerates our human hearts and frees our wills, we can choose Him back.

Yes, we are surrounded by Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism in the church and in our culture. This false teaching that denies the truth about our fallen condition, and God’s sovereign grace in saving us is so pervasive in Evangelicalism today that it is hard to find a church that is really biblical. In fact, I’m going out on the limb to say that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome and Pelagius than historical and biblical Christianity.

So here’s the Big Question. Is our salvation wholly of God, or does it partially depend on something we do for ourselves? Let’s remember, relying on our faith response to Jesus Christ is just as bad as relying on our works. It is still a false view of salvation and is not Biblical. Relying on our faith response means that we turn faith into a meritorious work (sound Catholic?), and deny the sovereignty of God in saving us. It means that we turn our backs on the central article of faith that was the very lifeblood of the Reformation. It means that we are more Catholic than Protestant.

In essence, to rely on ourselves for faith is no different in principle than to rely on ourselves for works. For saving faith, in and of itself is a gift from God. It’s not something we have in and of ourselves. Faith doesn’t rise up from within us. No. It’s God grace that gives faith to us in the first place. Jesus words still ring true. “No man can come to me unless it is given to him of the Father.”

Spirit-led Protest

Ponder with me for a moment what has happened to Protestantism since the time of the Reformation. Is the gospel of grace—the central pillar upon which the Reformation stood, still standing today? Or is the center pillar falling as the Evangelical church fails to understand man's nature and weakness, and so pursues a different gospel and a different Jesus?

Initially, the truth of how a man is justified before God blazed its way through the Western world like a wild fire as it changed the course of human history. Now man’s experience and man’s good works seem to be taking the center stage in almost every church instead of what God has done. But the gospel does not talk about man’s experience or man’s good works.

Instead, the gospel talks about what God has done through Christ’s experience, and Christ’s good work. The gospel does not tell us how man can get to God. Instead the gospel tells us God's way of reaching man. The gospel is the record of what God has done, not the record of what God has done in man.

Protestantism was born out of protest as believers refused to allow the blinding light of the gospel to be extinguished. Although many perished at the stake for their protest against the heresy of the Church, the truth of the recovered gospel continues to shine forth.

Will there be another Reformation? I don’t know. Will believers in the body of Christ be led by the Spirit to protest against a thinly-veiled version of Pelagianism that is destroying the central article of Christian faith today? I don’t know. But I do know that the center pillar of our faith is no longer standing. It’s falling! God’s grace is under fire! How will we respond? My prayer is that we will be among those who protest so that the blinding light of what God has sovereignly done for man will continue to shine forth into hungry hearts.

Footnotes:

1.See Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:10-18; Romans 5:12.

2.http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Pelagianism.

3.http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html

4.Our salvation is brought about by God's grace alone and for His glory alone. http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/Murphy01.html

5.http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.

6.Thoughts shared by a friend.

7.http://www.gospeltruth.net/1837LTPC/lptc05_just_by_faith.htm.

8.http://www.gospeltruth.net/finney-101/101serm/101-royalpardon.htm.

9.http://www.gospeltruth.net/1836SOIS/01sois_sinners_bound.htm.

10.http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar81.htm.

11.http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/finney.htm.

12. http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/finney.htm.

13.Thoughts shared by a friend.

14.http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar81.htm.

15.Thoughts shared by a friend.

See: http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.

Living in a World Without Grace

By Hazel Holland

From time to time God's wonderful message of grace gets diluted in this earthly vessel of mine. Although I don't want to pass on the awful legalism of my upbringing, at times I know I am guilty of perpetuating the very judgmental attitudes I grew up with, particularly in the way I criticize or condemn myself.

Although I know that I'm accepted in Jesus Christ and I'm so thankful that I don’t have to earn God’s approval, I still continue to beat myself up at times when I don't accomplish everything on that dreaded “to do list”.

My failure to accomplish certain tasks on that list is often met with harsh self-criticism at the end of the day. Even my New Year's Resolutions recently fell by the wayside long before the first day of the New Year ever ended. Sadly, Christianity’s best gift to the world became momentarily lost to my aching heart when I chose to give myself ungrace instead of grace.

I have discovered that if I measure my worth by how far I have progressed down that list, my “to do list” becomes my cruel taskmaster, and I find myself struggling to live in a world without grace.

If I do give in to that uneasiness that grabs me by the throat and won’t release its grip on me until I finish doing one more chore even though it’s late and I’m dead tired, then I’m choosing to live in a world without grace.

Every time the tentacles of ungrace try to wrap themselves around my weary soul I must refuse to receive their harsh message of unforgiveness that is an echo from my past. I must choose to see my failures in the glorious light of God’s overwhelming grace.

Perhaps my flaws and blemishes are the very places through which God’s grace can pass so that I can get a better view of how He sees me—of how He sees all His precious children.

As I acknowledge my weaknesses and see myself as a sinner who cannot please God by any self-help method of improvement, I find that I freely receive the much needed help that God offers me—His perfect life is credited to my account in exchange for my imperfect life and many failures.

The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God’s grace is given free of charge to people who don’t deserve it. I am one of those people. And so are you.

As I continue to give God’s grace away to others, I hope it will become easier to receive more of God’s grace for myself. I am tired of living in a world without grace. How about you?

The Righteousness that Saves Me

By Hazel Holland

Having grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, I had always understood that it was Jesus Christ’s righteousness plus my obedience to His law that would save me. It was never spelled out as directly as that, but that was what I understood to be the teaching, because of the emphasis the church placed on keeping the law, especially the 4th commandment. Most definitely our “Sabbath-keeping” was a necessary good work that would insure our salvation.

After many years of struggling to do the good works, I remember a time period in my life when the light of the new covenant gospel began to shine into the darkened recesses of my soul. It was like Someone suddenly turned on the blinding headlights of a car. I could see nothing except Jesus and His glorious work for me.

From that time on, although I was still a member of the SDA church, I had a deep longing in my heart to really know the One who gave His life for me. This hunger in my soul propelled me to want to know the truth of the Scriptures, and to search out truth for myself. So when I received a prophetic dream from the Lord in 1996, it only drove me further into God’s Word. I believed that the Holy Spirit would lead me into ALL truth as He opened up my mind to understand the meaning of the symbolism in the dream.

As I avidly continued to pray and study the Scriptures, especially Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians, the words leaped off the page as I saw that God’s saving work for me through Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection completely justified me in His sight. Christ took the punishment for my sins upon Himself, and in exchange credited me with His perfect righteousness. My good works, including my Sabbath-keeping, had no role whatsoever in my being justified before God. Furthermore, none of my good works could ever be added to the righteousness of the One who had saved me. I must completely place my hope and trust in the “good work” that God’s Son alone had done.

This of course was certainly a different message from the one I had grown up believing. The uniqueness of the Adventist message represented bondage to the law, and stood out in stark contrast to the freedom offered me by Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. Although good works are the inevitable result of my being declared righteous by God, they in no way lead to my being justified. “For it is by grace (I) have been saved, through faith—and this not from (myself), it is the gift of God— not by works, so that (I cannot) boast. For (I am) God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for (me) to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

As I chose to believe and embrace Christ’s redemptive work through faith alone, I turned away from trusting in the unfinished work of the Holy Spirit in my life as the basis of my acceptance with God. I gave up believing that saving grace is the assistance God gives us through His Holy Spirit to keep the law. Without a doubt the basis of my acceptance with God is Christ’s finished work that took place outside of me on the cross. Justifying righteousness can be found in Him alone, never in what the Holy Spirit does in me.

Recognizing that even my good works fall into the category of filthy rags, I had a new urgency to share with others Jesus Christ’s glorious “good work” that will always trump our good works. As I focused my attention on His saving work on the cross, I noticed that He was not only beginning to equip me for the works He wanted me to do, but I also noticed that I was beginning to study myself right out of Adventism.

Since my hope is now built on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone I let this one defining truth direct my thoughts each day—I can never move beyond the glorious work of the gospel. His “good work” must take center stage in my life as I proclaim the good news of His death and resurrection until He comes. The righteousness that saves me is the righteousness of Another—Jesus Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21) Thank you, Lord!

See: Why I Left Adventism

Is the Gospel the Whole Deal?

By Hazel Holland

Ever since leaving Adventism I am compelled by the Spirit to place every teaching from the Bible through the litmus test of the new covenant gospel. The gospel has become the plumb line by which I test all my beliefs. That means that if a teaching is assumed to be biblical, but no direct Scripture evidence can be found, then it must be studied further in order to see if it agrees with God’s already revealed will, or if it is just a popular teaching that is held by some, but has no basis in Scripture. Beliefs or teachings that are assumed to be biblical, but actually have no biblical foundation must be discarded as man's doctrines—not God’s witness through Scripture.

Is the Gospel Just the Beginning?

I became aware over the last few months that some people are teaching that the gospel that brings us salvation is only the first part of the message of Gospel of the Kingdom? They believe that the rest of the message of the Kingdom has to do with transformation—God’s plan to use the church to impact our world by changing our neighborhoods, restoring our cities and transforming our world. In other words, is the gospel that brings salvation just the beginning of the restorative process? Is it what gets the ball rolling towards the larger goal…restoration?

I’m sure many of us at times have felt like there was a “great divide” between hearing the truths of the Kingdom, and actually experiencing the freedom that comes from letting those Kingdom truths change our lives. Perhaps we wonder why we see no clear and measurable impact of a community living out such Kingdom principles as we see recorded in the early church.

If it’s because we have not been doing the right things, how do we do the right things? What do we need to do in order for Kingdom truths to change our lives and transform our world?

Acts 1:8 says that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us we will receive power to become God’s witnesses… to the ends of the earth. So why then are we seeing so little of God’s power displayed by our witness… at least here in the western world?

Looking Inward instead of Outward

I believe the reason we are seeing such little power in our witness is because many of us coming from an evangelical or charismatic background are far better at looking inward than we are at looking outward. We are often more focused on our own inner feelings and experience than we are on looking outward toward the cross. As a result we often allow our feelings to guide our thinking so that our feelings become vested with final authority that should only be reserved for God’s Word.

As I read the Scriptures I believe that God is calling us to look outward (beyond ourselves) to the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf (justification)—not inward at His work in us (sanctification). True biblical faith is never directed to what has happened in us as believers, but rather to what has happened for us as believers. Paul says in the following verses that faith looks outward not inward.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV)

We are called to live our lives by focusing all of our attention on the Person of Jesus Christ who willingly gave His life on the cross in order to redeem us from our sins so that we can be restored back to intimate fellowship with the Father. This is the heart of the gospel—the objective truth that is never-changing and constant—that is perfectly reliable and completely true.

The gospel is a powerful proclamation from the Father’s heart of what He has already done for us in Jesus Christ for all the inhabitants of planet earth. The gospel is an announcement of pardon from sin that Christ’s good work alone has accomplished for all mankind. But this Good News demands a response from us.

What will our response be? There is really only one choice. To repent of our pride and release our "good" works at the foot of the cross. Then we can be free from our bondage to enter into the joy of His "good" work. As a result of our choice to believe the gospel, the Holy Spirit empowers us to share Christ’s work of victory for us with the rest of His children, and enter into His glorious rest. People will be transformed into Christ’s image by the Holy Spirit as they behold the glory of His finished work in the new covenant gospel.

The Gospel Is the Whole Deal

Is the gospel that brings us salvation only the first part of the message of Gospel of the Kingdom? Is the gospel only the “beginning of the story” because transformation is the desired end result? Is the gospel only the beginning of the whole deal—not the whole deal itself?

If we answered “yes” to these questions I believe we are minimizing what God alone has done for us in the gospel, while maximizing what the Holy Spirit does in us by transformation. In essence, we are taking the fruit of the gospel (transformation) and elevating it over the root, the gospel itself. In doing this we are robbing Christ of His glory by putting the Spirit's work in us above what Christ has done for us in His doing and dying on the cross. Christ’s doing and dying becomes subordinate to the inner life of the Spirit, and the reconciliation of the sinner is nothing more than just the “beginning of the story”.

Is the greatest news in the whole world what happens in us as believers at the new birth and the resulting transformation? Or is the greatest news in the whole world what God did for us on the cross in the doing and dying of Jesus Christ for our sins? By focusing on the transformation of ourselves and our communities aren’t we actually teaching that a good thing is the best thing—that the work of the Spirit is greater than the work of the Son?

This emphasis suddenly shifts our attention away from the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ to ourselves (2 Corinthians 4:6). We have moved away from the objective truth of the gospel that Paul is describing in 2 Corinthians 3:12-17 to the subjective truth of what God does in us as we are being transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). Transformation (sanctification) then becomes more important than justification. What God does in us then becomes greater than what He has already done for us on the cross. We become the objects of God’s glory instead of Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

Since God is the One who sanctifies us and transforms us as we are being led by His Spirit to believe on His Son, we can take no credit for any of this. It is all of God and not of us. He is the One who deserves all glory and praise and honor for coming up with this wonderful plan to restore us to fellowship with Himself before the creation of the world.

Paul is not teaching us in 2 Corinthians 3:18 to strive to attain some higher level of glory and blessing beyond the cross as if we are climbing some sort of spiritual ladder. Being transformed into Christ’s likeness as we reflect the Lord’s glory is not an achievement that we are to strive to attain. It happens as a natural result of being in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and resting in His finished work. We can’t get any higher or go beyond “finished”. We can only go deeper into the heart of the Father as we behold the cross and experience the ever-increasing glory that shines forth from the face of Jesus Christ.

Why so little Transformation?

The sad truth is that dangling these “glory” carrots in front of believers often works, because our sinful human natures are very works oriented. Perhaps we strive to reach the next level of glory because we've heard there's a greater anointing there. We want to have something to do to confirm our salvation. Our proud hearts want to add to what Jesus has already finished for us on the cross. We often feel better about our lives when we see ourselves as having accomplished something for God. The trouble is that when we start to look within ourselves for confirmation that we are on the right path (going from glory to glory) instead of keeping our eyes on Him, there's a danger that we have actually gotten off the right path.

I believe that the reason we see so little transformation in people’s hearts when we try to share the gospel is because many of us do not know the gospel—all we know is the fruit that we see in people’s lives and we think that is the gospel. Consequently we cannot be led by the Spirit to share what we have not experienced ourselves. So we share some watered-down, man-made formula that has no power behind it, and wonder why it doesn’t change people’s hearts or cause them to turn away from their sins.

The Unshakable Gospel

Since the gospel exists independently of us, it cannot be affected by how we feel about ourselves or what is going on in our changing circumstances or daily lives. It is the one objective Truth in a swirling sea of subjectivism. But this one objective truth can change and transform our lives forever if we will choose to believe what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is vital that we come to know what the Good News of the gospel is so that we can enter into an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son through the work of the Holy Spirit who continually points us to the flame of God’s love—the cross. The cross then becomes my theme and my song as I am drawn by agape love into the very heart and presence of the Father.

As I obediently lift up the cross of Jesus Christ, and share the true gospel message, the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon me as Jesus promised in order to bring conviction of truth that will transform people’s hearts.

The Gospel Equips the Saints

What will bring conviction of truth and transform people’s hearts? Hearing the true gospel. Then after people have responded to the gospel message, how does the Holy Spirit begin transforming people’s lives? How does He equip us for works of service “so that the body of Christ can be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God”? Ephesians 4:12-13

I remember being troubled after hearing a pastor say one time that he would not be preaching a gospel sermon on most Sundays, because that time was going to be spent for the “equipping of the saints for the work of service.” He went on to explain that the place for the gospel to be shared was by members during the week as they met together in various small, cell group settings in people’s homes. His words perplexed me because I thought, "What if an unbeliever comes to church that day and leaves without hearing the plan of salvation offered to them in the preaching of the gospel?

After mulling over his words in my mind for several weeks, it finally dawned on me why his words concerned me. It is the hearing and sharing and praying of the gospel that equips us saints for the work of ministry! Jesus is our very great reward! Lifting Him up draws us to the Source of Life and agape Love from which we receive our strength. Lifting Him up draws us to continue to trust in His righteousness alone and release our own filthy rags at the foot of the cross.

I, as a saint, need to hear the gospel message just as much as those who have never heard it. Why? So that I don’t fall back into trusting in what the Holy Spirit does in me instead of what God has already completed for me in the Person of Jesus Christ. The gospel equips us to keep first things first. It empowers us to bring our priorities into order as we choose to depend on His righteousness alone. It reminds us that we must leave all of our spiritual trophies on the other side, because they won’t fit through the Narrow Gate. Jesus plus anything is simply not Jesus!

Therefore, I can never compare what Jesus did for me on the cross with what He does in me through His Spirit. They are not even in the same ball park. Good works that He has prepared in advance for me to do still give me no advantage as far as salvation is concerned. They are only the natural outcome of living a spirit-filled life.

Conclusion

The transformation that the Good News works in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit is the result of believing the gospel, but it isn’t the gospel—it’s still the fruit of the gospel. The Holy Spirit continually points us to Jesus who is the Source of Life—the Living Water. The Holy Spirit never draws our attention away from the Source in order to cause us to inspect the fruit of what He is doing in our lives.

Ultimately, the Good News of the Kingdom proclaims that Jesus Christ’s “good work” trumps our good works. In view of the fact that even our “good works” fall into the category of filthy rags, we must focus all of our attention on His saving work on the cross that will inevitably equip us for good works. Since our hope is built on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone let this one defining truth direct our thoughts every day—we can never move beyond the glorious work of the gospel. His “good work” must take center stage as we proclaim the good news of His death and resurrection until He comes.