-
Sola Scripture
The darkest ages for humanity came when the Roman Catholic Church sought to rule the conscience through enforcing its traditions with the threat of excommunication, suffering, torture, and death.
In political union with kings, she wielded the power to tax, to raise armies, to wage so-called holy wars against anyone who dared question her authority, including the kings themselves.
Thus we see how Satan carried on his work of persecuting Christ, using the same principles of misinterpreting and deny the Scriptures, of using false witnesses, and the authority of the state to condemn the Son of God to death on a cross
According to Revelation, chapters 13 through 18, when the deadly wound of the Roman church is healed, that is when she again has the power of the state to enforce her doctrine, history will repeat itself.
“One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.”
— Revelation 13:3
“It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.”
— Revelation 13:12Yet as it was in the past, God will bring her luxurious apostasy to an end, holding her responsible for shedding the blood of saints and putting an end, an eternal end, to her whoredom with the nations.
“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on earth.”
— Revelation 18:24For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
— Revelation 16:6The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
— Revelation 11:18Until that day we will live by this principle:
“But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain Thus saith the Lord in its support.”
E.G. White — The Great Controversy, p. 595.
In matters of truth and conscience you are responsible to God as an individual alone. He will teach his truth to you personally if your will is to do his. His word is truth and as you compare Scripture with Scripture you will hear him guiding you in every aspect of your life with him, and in relationship with others. No traditions, however sanctified by age, can supersede your conscience in standing before God alone and his truth. His word is truth.
As Scripture says:
If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
— John 7:17“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
— John 16:13-15None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 2:8-16 -
An Old Way For The New Year
So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
— John 19:5
Perhaps in this transition between the old year and the new, your reevaluations and your dreams have caused you to think about the meaning of things, even the meaning of your life.
Let me offer you this.
Do you believe in a life that is rooted in the weakness and foolishness of God, instead of the power and wisdom of men? Does that even make sense to you?
Or did you become a Christian and remain a Christian because you think God is all about the power and the glory? Because you’re just waiting for that promised second coming of Jesus when the world will see just how special you are?
I mean this, what is weaker than a man crucified on a cross, what is more foolish than to believe this is the wise way of life? But that was then and this is now, so surely God has something better for us? Didn’t Jesus die so we wouldn’t have to suffer like that, all that humiliation, all that rejection, all that injustice and shame, to be so misunderstood and lonely?
Yet this is the gospel, the good news, the way of salvation that this crucified and risen Jesus sends us out to proclaim. He actually says we must take up our cross and follow him as we do it, that the cross isn’t just a faith but also a practice, a way of living.
So we preach Christ crucified and resurrected as the heart of our message for the meaning of life.
But have we learned there is no handle on the cross, not like a briefcase or handbag or backpack. The cross is something very heavy, something we can barely carry because of our bleeding shoulders and our weakened frame.
And when others see us carrying this cross as we follow Jesus they don’t praise us for it or admire us. We are despised, held in contempt, and spit on for being followers of one so weak and foolish to allow himself to be treated in such a way. There’s no way a real God would allow this to happen to himself or his followers.
But, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed…
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.Yet…
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
— Isaiah 53:1,3-6Is this the Jesus that you want to be like? Is this the image you’re after?
What did you suppose this text meant?
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
— Romans 8:29The image of God is Christ crucified.
Or have you been all about the power and the wisdom of your faith, thanking God that you are better than unbelievers, full of pride because you made the “right” choice and they have not?
Have you really embraced the humiliation and rejection of the cross, of being seen as powerless in the face of evil and foolish for living a life that may bring you more suffering than you ever imagined?
Are you finding joy in this way of living, if indeed you are living this way, or do you secretly harbor doubts, fears, grumblings, and bitterness for not being loved and appreciated by a world that crucified your Lord? Are you secretly angry because you are disrespected? In the heart that no one can see are you harboring a spirit of revenge that would willingly punish your enemies if only you could get away with it?
Do you go to bed every night complaining to God because life hasn’t turned out the way you thought it should after you started following Jesus?
Is your faith a fraud or are you truly content, as the Apostle Paul says,
“For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
— 2 Corinthians 12:10What kind of contentment have you been seeking if not this?
I asked these questions because they’re so frequently a great contrast to the boasting proclamations of faith and practice made by Christians while there are appears to be little embrace of real suffering for the faith without complaints and bitterness.
The church is replete with fashionable, well-coiffed, entertained and entertaining, dazzling, talented, capable, educated, corpulently cultured consuming Christians, who disdain any association with their impoverished brothers and sisters, except perhaps on a well publicized missionary effort that reinforces their goodness in the eyes of their friends and family.
In the coming year may we plead for God to mercifuly spare us from our comforts apart from comforts of the cross, so that in the coming year “the word of the Cross” may be the life of the cross in a world that hates it, yet so desperately needs the One we nailed to it.
“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:21-31So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” — John 19:5
Can we say less?
-
Video / Immanuel: God With Us
-
My Latest Video, a Bible Reading & Commentary
A reading of 1st Thessalonians with commentary -
New Video: Who is the Israel of God? A Bible study in Ephesians 2: 8-22
I made two videos, the first being on surviving depression with God.
This one, the second, takes up a subject I touched on in the first: Who is the Israel of God in the New Testament and today? It’s a Bible study in Ephesians 2: 8-22, which has a very direct bearing on that question. Of course, the application is important for understanding God’s purposes with the state of Israel today. I do not teach dispensational theology, saying that for those who know what such a theology means.
I hope you enjoy the video and if you do, please like and subscribe on my channel.
-
Psalm 25: For the Israel of God
In Psalm 25, King David, asked for forgiveness, freedom from shame, deliverance from his enemies, for he is lonely, afflicted, troubled, and distressed.
He appeals to the Lord’s graciousness, his steadfast love, even his friendship, and faithfulness. He is determined to wait on God and yearns for his presence as the deliverer of his people.
Remember, this is a public plea from the King of Israel, a psalm sung by choirs of priests as they led God’s covenant people in worship.
It is meant not only as a private prayer but a corporate plea, one that the people of God can join in together. Psalm 25 applies today to all, Jew or Gentile, who now understand that they have a mediator in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
— Galatians 3:27-29While Israel of the Old Covenant worshiped in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Israel of God In the New Covenant, Jews and Gentiles brought together through faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, put their faith in Him as their intercessor in the heavenly Temple above (Hebrews 8-10).
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
— Hebrews 4:14-16The Israel of God today is the church (Galatians 4-6), the called and chosen in Christ, of His one body of whom he is the head, one Spirit, one faith, and one baptism. (Eph. 4:4-6; 2:11-22)
May God in His mercy and grace answer this prayer that we bring to him through the Messiah.
“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”
— Hebrews 9:24
Psalm 25Of David
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For your name’s sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles -
A Movement Toward The Cross
I began to write and then begin to move…
One thing I’ve learned in my studies: I’ve known more truth than I have been able to live, by quite a bit actually. Of course this raises the question that if you’re not able to live the truth do you really know it? For the kind of knowledge we’re talking about is a knowledge born of experience, an intimacy with truth that can only come through connection, not merely through observation.
I believe the only truth we can truly say we own as ours is the truth we live from day to day in the quiet moments of our life, and no one else is present to applaud or to condemn.
As you know by now the truth(s) that matter most to me are those about God and myself, about my relationship with him.
I say all this while still living in a state of depression. I remind you of that so that you can understand the context and my thinking.
I’m speaking to about my depression as a mental illness, including the chemical problems in my brain, as well as the faulty wiring of my thinking patterns. I am not ignorant of what’s happening but at times I feel quite helpless. I cried today after listening to two men talk about their own depressions in recent years. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear someone else acknowledge that only if you experience do you understand it. If you’ve never been depressed, I don’t mean feeling low, I mean being really depressed and anxious, then you really don’t understand, not through experience.
And because of that you need to be careful so you don’t make matters worse when you’re with someone who is depressed or when you think you’re trying to help them.
Knowledge doesn’t become wisdom until it’s been tested by experience, not only tested but proven.
The wisdom that comes through suffering is one of the most valuable things on earth.
We see this at the cross. Theologians of the cross see things as they are, said Luther. As much as our sufferings teach us something, if we are listening and willing, there is no greater teacher than the sufferings of Christ at Calvary… But only if we enter into his sufferings because we cannot let him go. We only know the truth of his suffering if we suffer with him, the wisdom of suffering that comes through a knowledge proven by experience with the cross. We cling to him because he clings to us. The bond between us is blood, blood from his body shed by our hands. We abide with him in life because we abide with him through blood. The Life is in the blood.
As He said, “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you”.
So faith says…”…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
— Philippians 3:10-11 -
Come Rest Awhile
This is an excerpt from, “The Desire of Ages”, a late 19th century volume on the life of Christ, written by Ellen White. It is taken from chapter 34, “The Invitation”, an exposition of Matthew 11:28-30.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
— Matthew 11:28-30
“”Learn of Me,” says Jesus; “for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest.” We are to enter the school of Christ, to learn from Him meekness and lowliness. Redemption is that process by which the soul is trained for heaven. This training means a knowledge of Christ. It means emancipation from ideas, habits, and practices that have been gained in the school of the prince of darkness. The soul must be delivered from all that is opposed to loyalty to God.
In the heart of Christ, where reigned perfect harmony with God, there was perfect peace. He was never elated by applause, nor dejected by censure or disappointment. Amid the greatest opposition and the most cruel treatment, He was still of good courage. But many who profess to be His followers have an anxious, troubled heart, because they are afraid to trust themselves with God. They do not make a complete surrender to Him; for they shrink from the consequences that such a surrender may involve. Unless they do make this surrender, they cannot find peace.
It is the love of self that brings unrest. When we are born from above, the same mind will be in us that was in Jesus, the mind that led Him to humble Himself that we might be saved. Then we shall not be seeking the highest place. We shall desire to sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him. We shall understand that the value of our work does not consist in making a show and noise in the world, and in being active and zealous in our own strength. The value of our work is in proportion to the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Trust in God brings holier qualities of mind, so that in patience we may possess our souls.
The yoke is placed upon the oxen to aid them in drawing the load, to lighten the burden. So with the yoke of Christ. When our will is swallowed up in the will of God, and we use His gifts to bless others, we shall find life’s burden light. He who walks in the way of God’s commandments is walking in company with Christ, and in His love the heart is at rest. When Moses prayed, “Show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee,” the Lord answered him, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” And through the prophets the message was given, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” Exodus 33:13, 14; Jeremiah 6:16. And He says, “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18.
Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest. The Lord says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.” Isaiah 26:3. Our lives may seem a tangle; but as we commit ourselves to the wise Master Worker, He will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own glory. And that character which expresses the glory—character—of Christ will be received into the Paradise of God. A renovated race shall walk with Him in white, for they are worthy.
As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here. But what is this compared with the hereafter? There “are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Revelation 7:15-17.”
~ Ellen White, The Desire of Ages, 330–331
-
The Blessing No One Wants
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
— Matthew 5:11-12
Jesus is not saying you are blessed when someone reviles you because of your selfish petty ways, because of your bigotry or your lies, because of your pride and your vanity, because of the contempt and anger you feel towards others. You are not blessed because others revile your lust and greed and self-righteousness.God himself reviles these things.
Jesus says you’re blessed when you are reviled for your likeness and allegiance to him, when you are reviled for being good though you feel no goodness, though you feel despair over your sin, though you feel a deep longing and hunger for what you have not.
You are blessed when you are reviled for your meekness and your hungering and thirsting after righteousness. You are blessed when you are reviled for being a peacemaker among those demanding spirits who only want their own way. You are reviled because you are not like that. You are reviled for wanting only one thing, for being pure and hard. Purity of heart is to will one thing and that one thing is the will of God.
Blessed are the reviled for they alone love Christ above all things.
“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
— Matthew 5:2-9
Do you rejoice in this?
If, for Christ’s sake, being reviled, rejected, repulsed, or replaced by the world makes you murmur and complain and grumble then you do not belong to him in spirit, but only in name. Only those who belong to him in the heart rejoice when they are reviled and rejected for his sake.
Where is your joy in suffering the hatred of those you expected to love you, those you depended on for the gifts that only God could give?
Where is your joy when everyone around you makes you afraid and feeling worthless?
“Who” is your joy?
“Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
— Matthew 10:21-22
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
— Matthew 10:24-25
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
— Luke 6:22-26
Pray to God that he will protect your soul from the pleasure of being a powerful, popular Christian. -
Worship Without Blood Is Worship Without God
Worship without blood is worship without God; it is worship offered to the self.
Worship without belief in and trust in the merits of Christ’s blood is why the worship of those who have not accepted him as the Messiah, as their personal Messiah, the only Anointed One of God, the only Savior of their sin, is an act of empty vanity. God does not accept such worship or hear their empty, self-centred prayers. No blood, no blessing.
“….without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22
This is the teaching of Israel’s Old Covenant worship services in the sanctuary, services designed and ordained by God as types of the sacrifice of Christ in the New Covenant. The Book of Hebrews explains this connection of the covenants and the meaning of the blood as our access to God.
In that service, the incense rising to heaven that was a type of offered prayers was first moistened with the blood of the sacrificed animal. Otherwise, no grace was extended to the one praying.
Our prayer, our thanksgiving, our praise, our service to God are unacceptable to him if not offered through the merits of Christ blood. Many know this as a theory, but in practice refuse to acknowledge their part in shedding his blood, let alone making it the only ground of their acceptance with God. To do so undercuts the self-righteous boasting of their good works as the foundation for the favor of others. The favor of God they assume they have earned, his blessing, is only a means to the more immediate end of being honored and respected for their personal achievements, for that is their “goodness” in life.
The cross of Christ is our only means of grace, our only means of acceptance and freedom of condemnation for our sinfulness. And for his blood to be shed means there is blood on our hands. When we come in repentance and faith, each day, we come to the Crucified One as those who nailed him to his Tree. Worship without blood is worship without God.
Here is the root of our enmity toward God and the demanding spirit that pervades religious communities today. The cross does not accept, does not permit, boasting in our good works. Pride is not allowed at the cross and the cross is our only access to God.
If self will not be crucified with Christ it is condemned to suffer the just death it deserves for it’s defiance of the righteousness of God. The cross can only be counted for us, for our justification and peace, if we count it as our death to sin.
Therefore, we must, to have life, say with the apostle Paul, “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” Galatians 2:19-21
Would you know the reason for powerless, loveless, demanding, defiling religion today? It stands barren before God because is comes without blood. The mere religionists want a dry-eyed, dignified, upstanding worship that is admired by all, but their end will be with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” when Jesus says, “Depart from me, you lawless ones. I don’t know you”.
Yet there is hope! The Good News is this: The blood that condemns our sin is the blood that washes that sin away. If by faith we are crucified with Christ we shall also rise with him from our graves.
Because, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
~ Romans 8:1-4
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
~ Romans 6:5-11
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Heb. 10:19-22
“The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spotless purity, and unless the Intercessor, who is at God’s right hand, presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God. All incense from earthly tabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censer of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ’s propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable. Then gracious answers are returned.
Oh, that all may see that everything in obedience, in penitence, in praise and thanksgiving, must be placed upon the glowing fire of the righteousness of Christ. The fragrance of this righteousness ascends like a cloud around the mercy.”
– Ellen White, 1 Selected Messages, p. 344
Home
About Me
A Christian, thinking, vlogging, and writing online. I live elsewhere as well. I follow the theology of the cross in the faith and practice of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Formerly a pastor in Europe and America, now living semi-retired in Kentucky (U.S.), driving for the Amish and in-home carer.
Crucified Hearts 