Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

December 16, 2018

12/16/2018

Focus on Jesus                        OUR GREAT DEFENDER

        Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight. John 18:36.

    What is the method of sanctification? It is by faith alone. In John 15:5 Jesus said, "Without me ye can do nothing." He's talking about producing the fruits of the Spirit and the fruits of obedience in the Christian life. If without Him we can do nothing, then it's all going to have to be done by faith in Him.

    In our text for today, Jesus said, "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." Whether fighting sin and the devil, or whether fighting men who are under the control of Satan, as were the Jewish leaders, Jesus does not ask us to try to defend ourselves. Our part is to remain in relationship with Him, depending on Him for deliverance.

    Some people asked Jesus what they should do that they might work the works of God. Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (chap. 6:29). Jesus says, He that eateth Me shall live by Me. What does that mean? Verse 63, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." In Mark 14:38 He said, "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Here He gives us another clue as to how to depend on Him.

    The methods of sanctification are through His Word, through prayer, through watchfulness concerning relationship with Him, through dependence upon Him. In John 1:29 we read that it was said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." This verse can be seen in several ways. First, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" can refer to Jesus' death as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world. Second, it can refer to relationship, "Behold the Lamb of God." It is by beholding that we are changed. And third, it can refer to sanctification, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." In Luke 10:42, Jesus told Martha that there is only one thing needful, and that is to sit at His feet. This is accomplished through His Word and through prayer. It is through this relationship that we accept His justifying grace, and it is through this relationship that we are enabled to behold Him, which results in our lives being changed into His image.

December 15, 2018

12/15/2018

Focus on Jesus                        BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION

        And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. John 17:19.

    The mission of the remnant people was to build on the foundation of the Reformation. That's why we have so much information concerning sanctification. The world is still waiting to hear the twofold message of justification by faith, and sanctification by faith as well.

    Some feel that the good news of sanctification is that Jesus is always our substitute in living, as well as in dying. This is not the case. Please notice a difference here, for it is very important. Those who believe that Jesus continues to be our substitute in living, as well as in dying, believe that we can't obey--so He has obeyed for us. His sanctification is in our place. If this is true, then we will be sinning and falling and failing right up to glorification; but they say, Jesus' life will substitute for our lives, and our lack of obedience will be covered by His obedience.

    Sanctification by faith, on the other hand, accepts Jesus as our example. It finds Him to be our pattern in sanctification, that we might be sanctified in the same way in which He was sanctified. In sanctification by faith, we are invited to live as Jesus did, through dependence upon a power from above, and the same obedience that He experienced we can experience as well, through the faith relationship with God.

    "Christ declared He sanctified Himself, that we also might be sanctified. He took upon Himself our nature, and became a faultless pattern for men. He made no mistakes that we also might become victors, and enter into His kingdom as overcomers....We are to be brought into a sacred nearness with the world's Redeemer. We are to be one with Christ as He is one with the Father. What a wonderful change the people of God experience in coming into unity with the Son of God! We are to have our tastes, inclinations, ambitions, passions all subdued, and brought into harmony with the mind and Spirit of Christ. This is the very work that the Lord is willing to do for those who believe in Him. The Spirit of Christ is to have a controlling influence over the life of His followers....The grace of Christ is to work a wonderful transformation in the life and character of its receiver."--My Life Today, p. 252.

December 14, 2018

12/14/2018

Focus on Jesus                        FOUNDATION AND WALLS

        For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Luke 14:28.

    Satan's original charge was that the law of God could not be obeyed. When man broke the law of God, Satan rejoiced and added another charge, that man could not be forgiven. He had no idea that God would pay the penalty Himself. But Jesus' life and death proved that sinners could be forgiven and that the law of God could be perfectly obeyed, not only by Jesus but by those who live the life of faith as He did.

    This twofold message of forgiveness and obedience is the heart of the remnant mission during the time of the three angels, and the final work of Christ in heaven. Jesus as our High Priest provides forgiveness for sinners and power to obey. These two truths are equally necessary. It is extremely important that the remnant church understand this twofold work of Christ in heaven, otherwise it will be impossible for them to fulfill their mission. Justification by faith, God's work in us, are the themes to be presented to a perishing world.

    It will come as a surprise to some to discover that when you study the life and teachings of Jesus, you will find that Jesus had far more to say about the work of God in us than He did about the work of God for us. The analogy of the foundation and the walls of a structure could be a good example. Justification by faith is the foundation of salvation, and sanctification by faith represents the walls to be built on that foundation. Although the walls cannot be secure if the foundation is not solid, the foundation alone is not sufficient.

    In Luke 14:29 Jesus told of a man who began a structure by building a foundation, but was unable to complete the job. For years the nominal Christian world has been in that position. They have had only a foundation, and have never gone forward to complete the building. On the other hand, perhaps our problem as Seventh-day Adventists has been that we have spent much futile effort trying to build walls when we have tended to take our foundation for granted. But it takes both walls and foundation to make a building that will stand.

December 13, 2018

12/13/2018

Focus on Jesus                        THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION

        For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:15.

    Even though Jesus took on Himself our infirmities, or weaknesses, He lived without sinning, doing always those things that pleased His Father. Not only did He not sin, but He was sinless. He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He was tempted more than anyone who ever lived, but He overcame in the same way that we can overcome. It is often asked, "Didn't Jesus have an advantage over us?" Of course He did. He was born God. But He never used this advantage, because He laid down the power of divinity within Him and lived His life as a man through the power of His Father from above Him. He gave us an example of victory from above rather than from within.

    Obviously then, man's beginning is different from that of Jesus. This leads some to insist that there would have to be a doctrine to explain how Jesus could be born sinless, of human parentage. But there are some things that we cannot and do not need to explain. "The incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain, a mystery. That which is revealed, is for us and for our children, but let every human being be warned from the ground of making Christ altogether human, such an one as ourselves; for it cannot be."--The SDA Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, on John 1:1-3, 14, p. 1129.

    Another mystery that we often waste endless hours in discussing is how Jesus could be in every way tempted as we are. "It is a mystery that is left unexplained to mortals that Christ could be tempted in all points like as we are."--Ibid., pp. 1128, 1129.

    The two mysteries concerning the nature of Christ are (1) how He could be born sinless of human parentage, and (2) how He could be in all points tempted as we are.

    There are two things of major importance that we should remember concerning the nature of Christ. Number one, He had no advantage over us in meeting sin and the devil, and number two, He overcame sin and the devil in precisely the same way we can overcome. By His death, Jesus provided a way of escape for us, that we might not die; and by His life He gave us an example of how to live.

December 12, 2018

12/12/2018

Focus on Jesus                        JESUS, OUR EXAMPLE

        For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2:21.

    All through His life, including His perfect sinless behavior, including His miracles, including Gethsemane and the cross, Jesus lived through a power from above Him. It was always through the faith relationship of prayer and communion with God that Jesus experienced this power.

    Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may be with us (The Desire of Ages, p. 123). His sinless life was given as our example (ibid., p. 49). By His own obedience to the law, Christ proved that through His grace, the law could be perfectly obeyed by every son and daughter of Adam (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 49). Jesus' life in you will produce the same as in Him (ibid., p. 78). We are to overcome as Christ overcame (The Desire of Ages, p. 389). "The Saviour was deeply anxious for His disciples to understand for what purpose His divinity was united to humanity....God was manifested in Him that He might be manifested in them. Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that man may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was." --Ibid., p. 664.

    Don't let anyone tell you that we cannot perfectly obey the law of God. There's too much evidence that this is not true. And it all comes from Jesus and the life that He lived, and the teachings that He gave concerning His own life and how He lived it.

    Jesus becomes an example to us, if we consider the issue of sin in terms of relationship rather than simply behavior. The real issue is relationship with God, and dependence on Him, versus choosing to try to control ourselves. Jesus was our example in living His entire life through dependence upon God.

    When I study this subject, I feel as though I'm on holy ground. It is humbling to realize that Jesus came and lived like I have to live. Does this make me feel as though I'm far behind? It surely does. Does it discourage me? No, because Jesus has given too much evidence already that He loves us and will continue to help us understand how He lived His life, so that we too can overcome. We can take courage from thattoday.

December 10, 2018

12/11/2018

Focus on Jesus                        JESUS, THE SECOND ADAM

        And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. John 8:29.

    Although Jesus took human nature when He was born into this world, He was never a sinner. He never sinned. Sometimes we debate whether Jesus was like Adam before the Fall or after the Fall. That question will keep you going till midnight! But in a sense, it is the wrong question, because in some ways Jesus was like Adam before the Fall, and in some ways He was like Adam after the Fall. And that's why the question becomes so complicated. Jesus was like Adam after the Fall in terms of physical, mental, and moral strength (The Desire of Ages, p. 117). But Jesus was like Adam before the Fall in that He was sinless.

    Jesus had all the liabilities of Adam. This means that He was able to be tempted. It means He was able to give in to temptation. It means He could have fallen and failed and sinned. Jesus had all these liabilities. But there was no sin in Him. "No trace of sin marred the image of God within Him [Jesus]. Yet He was not exempt from temptation."--Ibid., p. 71.

    This means that He had a spiritual nature, or a spiritual side to His nature, that carried with it no propensities to sin. The spiritual nature of Jesus had no tendencies toward sin. The spiritual aspect of Jesus' nature had no desire for sin. Can you say that about yourself? Can you say that about anyone else who was ever born into this world? No, our spiritual natures are fallen.

    Then did Jesus have an advantage over us? Yes, He had an advantage over us! Luke 1:35 says He was born "that holy thing." We weren't. Jesus was never tempted to continue in sin. That's one of our biggest temptations. There are people who have struggled for years with the momentum of sin that has built up--it's a heavy temptation. Jesus never had that. Jesus hated sin. From a child, He hated sin. You cannot say that about us. These were advantages.

    But in the Desire of Ages, page 119, you will find it stated that Jesus had no advantage over us! How can you explain that? Because Jesus never used the advantage of being born God. He lived life as we must live it, by dependence upon His Father and relationship with Him.

December 9, 2018

12/11/2018

Focus on Jesus                        NO ADVANTAGE OVER US

        Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Heb. 2:17.

    Jesus was born God. He was also born a man. Sometimes we debate about how much of a man He was, how human He was. Was He just like us, or not? In The Desire of Ages, page 117, we discover three ways in which Jesus was like us. He became a man, after four thousand years of degenerating human nature. The race had been diminishing in terms of physical strength. Jesus was shorter than Adam. He got tired, when perhaps Adam wouldn't have. The race had also been degenerating in mental power. Inherently, Jesus wasn't as smart as Adam. Apart from God, Adam would have been smarter than Jesus. It sounds almost sacrilegious to say it, but it's the truth. Jesus accepted the weakness of humanity in terms of mental power.

    The third way in which Jesus was weaker than Adam was in moral strength. He didn't have the willpower and backbone to control His actions, apart from God, that Adam would have had. He wasn't inherently worth as much as Adam in grit and determination and willpower. Jesus accepted all these weaknesses that were passed on by the great law of heredity (The Desire of Ages, p. 49). But it made no difference so far as what we see produced in the life of Jesus, because He wasn't depending upon willpower. He wasn't depending upon His weak human nature. He was depending instead upon God's power. And that's the difference.

    The law of heredity doesn't mean that sin is passed through the genes and chromosomes. In other words, just because a man is a drunkard doesn't mean that his son will have a weakness for drink. But a man who is a drunkard can pass on physical, mental, and moral weakness, and because of that, his son can be more susceptible to the problem of sin, no matter what form it takes.

    Satan will never be able to charge God with giving Jesus an advantage in overcoming sin, because Jesus accepted not only human nature as Adam was created but the weakness and decay that resulted from sin. He lived life as we must live it, by depending upon the power of God to sustain Him. He had no advantage over us.

December 11, 2018

12/11/2018

Focus on Jesus                        JESUS WAS NOT FORSAKEN

        The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. John 14:10.

    "Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts....Jesus was to unveil this deception. As one of us He was to give an example of obedience. For this He took upon Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences....He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God....His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God."--The Desire of Ages, p. 24.

    How did Jesus live His life of obedience to God? Through dependence upon a power from above Him, rather than depending upon the power within Him. His weakened human strength would have been insufficient. He lived through dependence upon another power, in the same way that you and I can live. Jesus said, in John 5:30, "I can of mine own self do nothing."

    Jesus' life was a life that was lived as a result of the faith relationship with His Father. He became a mighty demonstration of the fact that this is available to every one of us. Not even His miracles were performed by His divine power. They were performed by faith and prayer (ibid., p. 536), by the power of God through the ministry of angels (ibid., p. 143).

    In coming to the close of His life and finding Him struggling in the Garden and sweating drops of blood, some of us have concluded that from then on, He had to go it alone. That although throughout His life He had been living in dependence upon His Father, from Gethsemane to the cross He had to do it alone. But Luke 22:43 says that an angel came from heaven to the Garden and strengthened Him. On the cross, when Jesus said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" we have said, From then on, He was on His own. But God and the angels were there at the cross (ibid., p. 754). Jesus didn't feel as though His Father was there. He felt forsaken. But God was there, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.

December 8, 2018

12/8/2018

Focus on Jesus                        THE GOD WHO IS MAN

        And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

    When we talk about Jesus and who He was, it becomes very fascinating to discover what He said about the subject Himself, as recorded in the four Gospels and the Spirit of Prophecy commentaries on the four Gospels. Among those who like to talk theology, the subject of the nature of Christ is one of the most divisive and difficult of all. Sometimes we have wasted endless hours on it, and whole churches have been split over it. So it is intriguing to find what Jesus had to say about it Himself.

    Almost all evangelical, fundamental, Bible-believing Christains believe that Jesus was God. We probably don't have to spend much time trying to prove that point. But let's notice a few of the major texts concerning it. "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). God Himself spoke at the baptism of Jesus, saying, "This is my beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). Even the devil knew who Jesus was, because he came to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation and tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. If he didn't know that Jesus was God, he wouldn't have wasted his time on such a temptation. None of us has ever been tempted with that one! And on more than one accasion, the devil or some of his cohorts said, "We know who You are, the Holy One of God." We are told that Jesus knew that He came from God, and that He was God (John 13:3).

    So Jesus was God. He continued to be God when He became man. And He continues to be God at the right hand of the Father today.

    But Jesus was also man. He was human. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (chap. 1:14). As a man, He exhibited certain triats that human beings are known for. He got tired (chap. 4:6). He went to sleep in the bottom of a boat (Mark 4:38). He got hungry and thirsty (John 4:7, 8). He was thirsty on the corss (chap. 19:28). He found out, as a man, what it is like to experience the needs that we experience.

    Becaue He was man, He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and understands our weakness. Because He was God, He is able to save unto the uttermost all who come to God by Him.

December 8, 2018

12/8/2018

Focus on Jesus                        THE GOD WHO IS MAN

        And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

    When we talk about Jesus and who He was, it becomes very fascinating to discover what He said about the subject Himself, as recorded in the four Gospels and the Spirit of Prophecy commentaries on the four Gospels. Among those who like to talk theology, the subject of the nature of Christ is one of the most divisive and difficult of all. Sometimes we have wasted endless hours on it, and whole churches have been split over it. So it is intriguing to find what Jesus had to say about it Himself.

    Almost all evangelical, fundamental, Bible-believing Christains believe that Jesus was God. We probably don't have to spend much time trying to prove that point. But let's notice a few of the major texts concerning it. "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). God Himself spoke at the baptism of Jesus, saying, "This is my beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). Even the devil knew who Jesus was, because he came to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation and tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. If he didn't know that Jesus was God, he wouldn't have wasted his time on such a temptation. None of us has ever been tempted with that one! And on more than one accasion, the devil or some of his cohorts said, "We know who You are, the Holy One of God." We are told that Jesus knew that He came from God, and that He was God (John 13:3).

    So Jesus was God. He continued to be God when He became man. And He continues to be God at the right hand of the Father today.

    But Jesus was also man. He was human. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (chap. 1:14). As a man, He exhibited certain triats that human beings are known for. He got tired (chap. 4:6). He went to sleep in the bottom of a boat (Mark 4:38). He got hungry and thirsty (John 4:7, 8). He was thirsty on the corss (chap. 19:28). He found out, as a man, what it is like to experience the needs that we experience.

    Becaue He was man, He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and understands our weakness. Because He was God, He is able to save unto the uttermost all who come to God by Him.