Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Lesson 5: "Love and the Law"

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
The Book of James
Lesson 5: "Love and the Law"

Our lesson this week could be titled, "Law and Love: Inseparable or Incompatible?" There are two ideas that have become provoking to many Adventists: legalism and love. Love is often invoked as a cloak to cover illicit passion, the kind that flouts the holy law of God. And for some Christians, the word love also has become a synonym for sentimentalism, a brand of theology that is soft on sin. Sometimes righteous people say they have heard enough about love; they want more stern calling sin by its right name. More law. More judgment.
There are also earnest Christians who are fed up with legalism masquerading as the gospel. Legalism was promoted for decades as "the third angel's message," the basic problem in the 1888 history. Ellen White said that our ministers of that era had "preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain." Yet earnest Seventh-day Adventist leaders were demanding more of the same, saying, "'You should not be reaching for the righteousness of Christ, and making so much of that. You should preach the law.'" [1] That was legalism, pure and simple! But do we have a problem with it today? Yes!
The problem now is that Lucifer has discovered a "sugar-coated" brand of legalism to confuse us while we vainly imagine that we have outgrown the old kind. The new form is more deadly than ever. Let us ask several simple questions: (1) What is, and what is not, legalism? (2) What is, and what is not, genuine love? (3) How can law and love be inseparable? They appear (on the surface) to be incompatible.
Obedience to God's law is never legalism. The perpetuity of the law is not legalism, nor is preaching the importance of obedience. Legalism is not overemphasis of the law, as though there were some secret line of balance between legalism and grace--fifty-fifty. "Balance" is not the issue; 99% gospel and 1% legalism nullifies the gospel, or "frustrates" it, to use Paul's expression (Gal. 2:21, KJV). The 1% of legalism will poison the whole like a small dose of arsenic ruins bread.
What is, and what is not, genuine love? There are some 200 references to love (all positive) in the New Testament. One says, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). If that is true, we should be preaching love a thousand times more than we do!
The problem is that the Enemy has kidnapped the New Testament idea of love (agape) from Christianity and substituted the Hellenistic, pagan idea instead (eros). Most Christians do not understand the difference. The New Testament idea of love is not soft on sin--it is the only effective antidote to it. There is nothing mushy about agape; the same God who is agape is also "a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). Long before the flames of the last days are let loose, that holy fire will have burned highly refined self-centeredness out of every Laodicean heart where genuine faith in Christ will let it do so.
To talk about the law without understanding agape "brings about wrath" and actually contributes to sin. That was the 1888 problem. Brethren did not understand what true obedience is. Only "agape is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 4:15; 13:10). It follows that the remnant church who "keep the commandments of God" will be a people virtually obsessed with agape. "The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory" [2] This message is not soft on sin.
Our human love is dependent on the value of its object. Our lesson asks how we can "learn to express [selfless] love for those whom we deem undeserving or who don't love us back" (Tuesday).Not one of us on our own has what the New Testament says is the real thing.What we have in common with everybody is the natural endowment of eros--the love that loves others because they are nice to us, or because they are beautiful, or valuable to us.
It's natural for us to invite people to lunch who we think will invite us back. But agape is a love that creates value in its object: "I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold" (Isa. 13:12). God delights in transforming hopeless people into infinitely precious people equivalent in value to His own Son whom He gave for them!
When the Bible says that "God is love," it says "God is agape." This kind of love loves the unlovable, even enemies. Eros, on the other hand, is a love that rests on a sense of need. But agape is so rich that it has no need, and loves with no thought or desire for reward of any kind. What a treasure! It makes life worth living!
Thus we return to our question: How can law and love be inseparable? When New Testament love is seen to be agape, law and love are blended into one. This is why Paul could say that "agape is the fulfilling of the law." The secret is the cross. When self is "crucified with Christ," "the body of sin" as its root is "done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Rom 6:6). The Ten Commandments suddenly shine with new splendor: they become ten promises of the glorious power involved "under grace."
It comes as a shock to many people to realize that the famous Ten Commandments are primarily ten promises, not ten rigorous, burdensome prohibitions. The secret is realizing what the Prologue means: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Ex. 20:1, 2). God is telling us, I have already redeemed you; I have already delivered you out of slavery to "self" and thus to Satan's principles of self-governance; I have already brought light to you, new hope, new joy; now, believe that I am your prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God, your Friend, your Savior; and then, says God, I guarantee you will never come under the bondage of breaking this perfect "law of liberty" (see James 2:12). You will sing with David, "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts" (Psalm 119:45).
This is why we are urged over and over to glory in the cross, to make it central in our preaching, to know and experience the contrition that comes from kneeling at its foot. Why is that preaching of the cross so unpopular and so rare today? Is it because of the widely prevalent love of self and upward mobility that pervades many even in the ministry? Many valleys of dry bones may witness miracles of new life when agape comes into its own.
How can we learn to love with agape? Not by trying, not by working at it, not even by vainly praying for it (though prayer is good, of course). We learn by looking, and looking again: "In this is agape, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. ... And we have known and believed the agape that God has for us" (1 John 4:10, 16).
--From the writings of Robert J. Wieland
Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, "Christ Prayed for Unity Among His Disciples," Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 11, 1890.
[2] Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 415, 416.
Note: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org



--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Lesson 4: "Being and Doing"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic 

The Book of James

Lesson 4: "Being and Doing" 


James 1:22 tells us, "... be ye doers of the word" (King James Version). The New American Standard Bible renders it, "But prove yourselves doers of the word." Moffatt translates it, "Act on the word."

Become "doers of the Word" or "do the Word." What's the difference? It isn't complicated. It's as simple as the old and new covenants. When Israel first promised "All that the Lord has spoken we will do!" (Ex. 19:8, NASB). They had just arrived at Sinai but the Lord had not yet given them the Ten Commandments. They really had no idea what God was asking of them, but whatever it was they thought they would do it.

This seems pathetically naive considering how Israel's history demonstrates they failed miserably. Their promises were prompted by their slave mentality. A slave is expected to act on his master's orders regardless of his own will. The old saying "ours is not to reason why, but just to do or die" describes a slave. When humans think of God as their slave master, there is constant conflict between the will of God and the will of the human. When our first parents chose to do things their way in the Garden of Eden, that conflict was embedded in our genetic heritage. Adam and Eve had been at peace with God before their choice, but after, conflict was inevitable.

We misunderstand James when we think his epistle is a "how to" book of helpful hints to the happy Christian life. We interpret his sublime instruction to become "doers" of the Word as "do the word." We believe he is giving instructions on what to do, when he is really telling us what to be.

When the brethren met at the A.D. 51 Council in Jerusalem, it was James, the brother of Christ, who "chaired" the meeting (Acts15:13). He allowed everyone to finish speaking then did a summation and offered a solution. The issue was whether the new Gentile converts needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas withstood the promoters of this idea as bringing in a different gospel. The controversy was between the real gospel and a counterfeit. He recommended that circumcision not be required but that the new converts abstain from food offered to idols, from fornication, eating animals killed by strangulation, and eating blood. This seemed good to the brethren, but the issue didn't die. Throughout Paul's ministry, subversive Jews followed him, trying to give people a counterfeit gospel.

There are at least two major ways to counterfeit the pure gospel of freedom in Christ. One is to claim that freedom means no restrictions so the believer need not cooperate with the Lord in recreating our sinful hearts. We can go on sinning until Jesus comes and then, a magical change happens in the twinkling of an eye.

The other counterfeit is ordinary legalism cloaked in more Christian than Jewish terms. These legalistic Christians make the same mistake the Jews made by thinking that if we are outwardly correct God won't notice we haven't given Him our heart.

Taking an example from Paul's day, let's imagine someone brings food offered to idols to the potluck table at the agape feast. The head deacon knows where the food came from so he quietly removes it. The person who brought the food still doesn't understand the restriction, and even though the deacon's action prevented him from eating the forbidden food, he was doing the will of the deacon, not himself. The point is, God wants our actions or non-actions to flow from a recreated heart. He can't accept even correct actions that flow from an unrepentant mind trying to trick people and God into thinking the actions are genuine.

This makes most folks nervous. They say, "don't we have to do something while waiting for God to change our heart?" True, there is something, but it isn't trying harder to be good.

E. J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," expressed these concepts so clearly and simply in an 1890 article in The Signs of the Times:

"In the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of Colossians occurs this exhortation: 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.' This text, rightly understood, solves the problem of Christian living. ... That there is a power in the word of God, far above that of any other book, cannot be doubted. ... The word hidden in the heart protects against sin. ... The word of the Lord is the seed by which the sinner is born again. ... While those who are Christ's are born of the Spirit, the word of God is the seed from which they are developed into new creatures in Christ. The word, then, has power to give life. ... This is stated very plainly by Jesus Himself in John 6:63: 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.' This shows that the power of the Spirit of God dwells in the word of God.

"With the knowledge that the word of God is the seed by which men are begotten unto a new life, and that the hiding of the word in the heart keeps one from sin, we may easily understand 1 John 3:9: 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' ... Of course the word can do this only for those who receive it in simple faith. But the word does not lose any of its power. If the soul thus born again retains that sacred, powerful word by which he was begotten, it will keep him still a new creature. It is as powerful to preserve as it is to create. ... The Spirit is given to bring truth to remembrance, in time of trial; but that which one has not learned he cannot remember. But if he has hidden the word in his heart, the Spirit will, in the hour of temptation, bring to his remembrance just that portion which will foil the tempter.

"Many people earnestly long for Christ to come and dwell in their hearts, and they imagine that the reason why He does not do so is because they are not good enough, and they vainly set about trying to get so good that He can condescend to come in. They forget that Christ comes into the heart, not because it is free from sin, but in order to free it from sin; and they possibly never realized that Christ is in the word, and he who will make it a constant companion, and will yield himself to its influence, will have Christ dwelling within. He who has hidden the word in his heart, who meditates in it day and night, and who believes it with the simple faith of childhood,--such a one has Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, and will experience His mighty, creative power." [1]

--Arlene Hill

Endnote:

[1] Excerpted from Christ and His Righteousness, "The Holy Spirit Works Through the Word," pp. 152-157, Glad Tidings ed.; originally published as "The Indwelling Word," The Signs of the Times, July 14, 1890.

Note: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org


--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Lesson 3 "Enduring Temptation"

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
The Book of James
Lesson 3: "Enduring Temptation" 

The "1888 Message" is not another message in addition to all other messages, but is the plain Scripture and nothing more than that. This message presents justification through faith in Jesus; it invites all to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. This "is the third angel's message." [1]
The righteousness of Christ is obedience to all the commandments of God. Only Christ can do this and only Christ can keep us from sin.
Our lesson's title this week is in line with the power of this message and we begin with our lesson's main Scripture: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." Therefore "receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:12, 21).
The "blessing" of man is defined as follows: "God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities" (Acts 3:26). So a person who has been turned away from his iniquities, does not sin--or in the words from our lesson's text, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation."
A brief word about enduring temptation: If the "implanted word" is received with meekness, the man endures temptation and is kept from sinning--for this word is Jesus and He is the only One who is able to save our souls. A man who humbly receives this Word is justified by faith, because the Word can only be received by faith."
"Christ is primarily the Word of God, the expression of God's thought; and the Scriptures are the Word of God simply because they reveal Christ." [2]
Before Jesus was born, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). Now, Jesus saving "His people from their sins" is the same as Jesus keeping us from sinning--being "drawn away by [our] own desires and enticed" (James 1:14). He does this action only from within and never from afar. (Notice that the text in Matthew does not say He will "try to save His people," but that He will save them!)
The "implanted word" is Jesus Christ. He is the gospel--the Good News, the Savior of the whole world. Man is only able to endure temptation because of the humanity of Christ and His sacrifice as us and for us. "In seeking us, Christ came to where we are, taking upon Himself "the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Thus He is a Savior "nigh at hand, not afar off." He "is the Savior of all men," even "the chief of sinners." But sinners have the freedom to refuse Him and reject Him." [3]
From Friday's lesson we read: "'The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and ... the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul, to keep him from sinning.'--Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 311."
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). Dwelling among us is the same as dwelling in us--thus it is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" that is this implanted word.
"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same" (Heb. 2:14). Notice the text only says that Jesus was a partaker of the flesh and blood of "the children"--we are the children. "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like" us "for in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Heb. 2:1, 18). Therefore it is only Jesus that "knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations" (2 Peter 2:9).
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Christ living "in me" is the gospel in total. It is the mystery of God who sent His Son to save His people from yielding to temptation.
Those who endure temptation are Christ's and "have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24). A. T. Jones, one of the two 1888 messengers, wrote: "The Spirit of God is freely given to every believer so that they are led by the Spirit; the flesh, which is ever present, cannot do the things that it would naturally do, because the Spirit holds it in subjection. In a Spirit led life, God rules and causes 'the fruit of the Spirit' to appear instead of 'the works of the flesh'" [4]
"The only thing for which God gives an individual superhuman power, is to resist temptation." [5] "Through the Holy Spirit, Christ has consecrated a way through our flesh so that every soul, in spite of all the passions, lusts, desires, and inclinations of the flesh, can "inherit the kingdom of God." [6]
Our text states that the one who endures temptation, "when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." The approval here is the same approval spoken of in Genesis 1:31 when "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good." The Sabbath sealed up creation and is a sign of God's power to deliver us from sin. Thus the redemption and creation are the same and the Sabbath is the sign of each.
"I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them" (Ezek. 20:12). Sanctifying is the removing and the keeping from sin. The Sabbath is the evidence of this.
Now, "in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished" (Rev. 10:7). This mystery is: "Christ in you, the hope of glory"--His cleansing and keeping us from sin. This mystery is finished in the saints who have endured temptation and have been established and approved by God--sealed by God as evidenced by having "the faith of Jesus" and thereby "keeping the commandments of God" (Rev. 14:12).
Jesus "was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). "And He gives to us His own faith--"the faith of Jesus"--which is able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy. It has done it; this faith is already the victory that has overcome the world" [7]
"Let us, then, when temptations reveal to us what is in our hearts, not lose courage, and settle down in despair" for "God provides us with power to live even in sinful flesh as free from sin as He Himself." [8]
--Daniel Peters
Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91. 92.
[2] The first sentence of E. J. Waggoner's, "Personal Experience" (written shortly before his death May 28, 1916). See: http://www.1888mpm.org/blog/personal-experience-written-dr-ej-waggoner

[3] Robert J. Wieland, Ten Great Gospel Truths That Make the 1888 Message Unique, "Gospel Truth #5."
[4] A. T. Jones, "Studies in Galatians. Gal. 5:22-26," Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Oct. 2, 1900.
[5] Jones, "Notes," American Sentinel, May 26, 1898, pp. 321, 322.
[6] Op cit. (Jones, "Studies in Galatians. Gal. 5:22-26").
[7] E. J. Waggoner, "Every Temptation", The Present Truth, April 26, 1894, p. 263.
[8] Waggoner, "Why Does God Permit Temptation," The Present Truth, Oct. 11, 1900, pp. 645, 646.
-- 
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Fwd: Fw: Sabbath School Today, Lesson 2, Quarter 4-14

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
The Book of James
Lesson 2: "The Perfecting of Our Faith"
 
We are prone to think of justification by faith as theoretical, high-flying theology. But, with the dynamic of the 1888 message, it is the joy of our present Christian life with God. We are invited to see this precious perspective in the book of James.
When our "sinful flesh" is tempted to doubt and discouragement by the trials of life, the answer James gives is to link "faith," "patience," and "perfection" with the "wisdom" of God. "The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:3-5).
In James 2:21, 24, 25 he discusses justification by faith and works. "By works a man is justified, and not by faith only." In chapter one, James presents how the faith that justifies works amidst trials. Genuine justification by faith patiently endures trials, and the end result is Christian character perfection. It is a gift from God discerned by His "wisdom." God, in His mercy, sent the beginning of this "wisdom" to us in our 1888 history.
Why do trials come our way? Is it the trials that mess up our otherwise good record? If you lived somewhere that wasn't so stimulating, wouldn't it be easier to live a better life? Where do temptations come from? Don't the temptations come in from all around us? However, don't temptations also come from within ourselves? Do they not arise from within our mind and then eventually work themselves out in our day-to-day living? Some reason that God is to blame for all this. After all, didn't He make us this way? So then, how can He demand of us perfect obedience? We're only human, so all we can expect is weakness and continued lapses into sin.
If this is the case, then is God unjust in giving us the ten commandments? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ not powerful enough to overcome sin in sinful flesh? If this is the case, then there is a disconnect between the gospel and the law. In the most subtle ways the law is diminished or done away. Satan rejoices. He has achieved his purpose. He has undermined the government of God. Everyone is a law unto themselves.
The purpose for trials is not to mess up our record. Trials reveal to us what already exists in our flesh that we didn't know existed. Unknown sin is revealed by trials and temptations. Say I have a glass pitcher filled with water. The water is clear as crystal. If I take a spoon and stir up the water, the settlement at the bottom which had gone unnoticed would be agitated and cause the water to become murky. Now the water is undrinkable.
This is the way it is with trials; they do not introduce something into the life that didn't exist before. They merely stir up what is already there. For example, you may be calm and peaceful for days on end, thinking that your emotions are under control. But let someone cut you off in traffic, and suddenly you flare up and let out some bad words. The incident didn't introduce something new into your character. It simply revealed what was already there and now you know that it continues to exist.
The work of conversion and a change of heart introduced by the Holy Spirit is a miracle from above. You are given a new heart, which means a new mind or character. It is the mind of Christ, which is selfless. Whereas before the new birth you were self-centered, now you have been given a new nature characterized by agape. The Holy Spirit changes your mind. But your "flesh" remains the same. The new birth does not convert your sinful nature. The new character imparted to you by the Holy Spirit enables you to choose the will of God for your life and say "No" to your sinful flesh.
Day by day, hour by hour, it is the Spirit that grows your character. But it is your choice to continue abiding in the Vine, Christ Jesus. As a branch your life is only sustained by the life-giving sap that is supplied by the Stock. Thus it is possible for character to mature continually as right choices are made. These choices are all prompted by the Holy Spirit. This is the process of justification by faith.
Christian character perfection is growing up in appreciation of God's love manifested at the cross. It is Christ who gives us agape, which motivates our choices of faith. Thus we are in a cooperative endeavor with our Saviour.
Does the Bible teach the possibility of sinless living in our sinful nature? This question can only be answered by seeing how near the Saviour has come to us.
If Christ was sent by God "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be filled in us" (Rom. 8:3), then the obvious answer is "Yes." Christ is both our Substitute and enabling Example. He demonstrated it once for all. He "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). And of His people it has to be said eventually, "In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God" (Rev. 14:5). They will overcome "even as I also overcame" (Rev. 3:21, says Jesus. No saint will ever overcome except through faith in the Great Overcomer, "the Author and Finisher of our faith." The overcomers acquire no merit to themselves, yet they gain everything by their faith. Christ "is able also to save them to the uttermost ... for such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:25, 26). [1]
If we take away the high priestly ministry of Christ in the second apartment as distinct from the first, this idea of preparation for the second coming disappears, and the impact of the Advent movement is reduced to a "me-too" echo of the popular evangelical churches.
Our unique message centers in the sanctuary ministry of Christ: When Christ comes the second time, will He find a body of people of whom it can honestly be said, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus"?
If the Lord wants to, He can accomplish the preparation of a people for the second coming of Christ. For the first time in human history, a divine announcement is made concerning a corporate body of people from "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people": "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12). Before the grueling inspection of the unfallen universe, they pass the test. The Lord is honored in them. And the next event is His coming (Rev. 14:14).
--Paul E. Penno
Endnote:
[1] E. J. Waggoner's Christ and His Righteousness, page 7 (Glad Tidings ed.), neatly summarizes his concept of sinless living. This is a summary in a nutshell of his Minneapolis message preached only a few weeks before being published in Signs articles:
"In the first verse of the third chapter of Hebrews we have an exhortation which comprehends all the injunctions given to the Christian. It is this: 'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.' To do this as the Bible enjoins, to consider Christ continually and intelligently, just as He is, will transform one into a perfect Christian, for 'by beholding we become changed.'"
A. T. Jones' teaching was in full harmony with Waggoner's. In The Consecrated Way to Christian Perfection, first published as Review and Herald articles in 1898 and 1899, he states it simply and powerfully:
"In His coming in the flesh--having been made in all things like unto us, and having been tempted in all points like as we are--He has identified Himself with every human soul just where that soul is. And from the place where every human soul is, He has consecrated for that soul a new and living way through all the vicissitudes and experiences of a whole lifetime, and even through death and the tomb, into the holiest of all, at the right hand of God for evermore. ...
"And this 'way' He has consecrated for us. He, having become one of us, has made this way our way; it belongs to us. He has endowed every soul with divine right to walk in this consecrated way; and by His having done it Himself in the flesh--in our flesh--He has made it possible yea, He has given actual assurance, that every human soul can walk in that way, in all that that way is; and by it enter fully and freely into the holiest of all. ...
"He has made and consecrated a way by which, in Him, every believer can in this world, and for a whole lifetime, live a life holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and as a consequence be made with Him higher than the heavens" (pp. 87, 88, Glad Tidings ed.).
Note: "Sabbath School Today" and Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson are on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org

--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com