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The purpose of the Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church is to prepare a people to stand in the Judgment, and thereafter to inherit everlasting life. Its message calls out to those who are willing to receive the gift of the Gospel, to receive a life that is free from sin through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of Yahweh. Its fellowship is composed of those who have gratefully accepted this gift, through no merit of their own (for salvation is of faith, not of works – Gal 2:16), and now rest in the Sabbath of their Creator’s love. Their choices and actions are brought into harmony with the divine Law, their commitment is to process their thoughts according to the “mind of Christ,” (1Cor 2:16) and their characters grow ever more Christ-like through the ongoing journey of sanctification. In short, it has a unique and necessary blessing for those seeking the Kingdom of Heaven.
It is with great pleasure, therefore, that the Church welcomes visitors to its weekly meetings, its members eager to share with new ears their testimony of the good things that they have received through faith in the Messiah, and the joy of a life that has been set free from the heavy shackles of sin.
In the past few weeks, there has been a higher than normal number of guests that have attended our Sabbath-morning studies, and this has been a great and joyful turn of events. It is not, however, without its challenges.
As much as we rejoice over lambs seeking the true Sheepfold, we are aware that they do not draw near in an undamaged state. The churches of the world have left most people unfamiliar with, and even worse, unprepared to hear, the straight testimony - the clear and unadulterated Good News, that Christ’s work on behalf of mankind was an unmitigated success; it destroyed the work of the devil in the repentant heart, (1John 3:8) and inspires genuine and consistent righteousness by faith. This work is a token, a foreshadowing, of the ultimate destruction of Satan in the Lake of Fire, (Rev 20:10) but the real wonder of Yahshua’s redemption is that we do not need to wait to receive its benefits!
Satan’s greatest triumph in the corruption of genuine religion was the introduction of the idea of a “delay.” The Scriptures are clearly written, and have been preserved by supernatural means. Thus, the Enemy could not argue that Christ did not come, or that He did not die for the sins of mankind. He could not convince those seeking the truth that salvation is not available to every repentant soul; instead, he has changed what “salvation” means to the Christian, and convinced him that it is an ethereal, spiritual reality that will only be fully manifest after years of work, study, patience, or the simple passage of time.
Unfortunately, as a direct result of this, most come to visit, and interact with those teaching the truth, with a number of damaging beliefs already deeply ingrained. The saints have the answers that they seek, and a power to heal that would bring rest to their troubled souls, but they must believe the promises they have been given, or the ministry of the saints can be of no genuine effect. They must believe that Christ in them, the Hope of glory, will free them – truly free them – from their sins. This means, not merely the results of their sins, the consequences of their sins, or the judgment resulting from their sins; no, the Gospel is greater than this, in that it frees them from sin itself. No more, as Paul says, does the carnal flesh, corrupted by sin, have the power to control the thoughts and actions. He writes, “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom 6:17, 18)
With no reinterpretation or rewording, this is the living reality of the saints of Yahweh. This is what it means to the life of one who accepts the teaching that “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” (1John 3:9) It is not a warning. It is not a condemnation; it is a glorious promise. All who are willing to give up their sins, to cease making excuses for the carnal nature, rejoice that it is first possible and then, as they truly come to believe it, that it is inevitable in all who recon themselves dead to their old experiences, and alive in the Savior’s light.
The Apostle tells us that “whosoever” is born of Yahweh experiences this blessing. Thus, it is not a special, select few believers who overcome sin through their acceptance of the Faith of Yahshua. It is not the elite, the practiced, or the chosen, who cease from committing all known sins. It is not the experienced, or the brilliant, nor the veteran who has walked with Christ for many years before achieving some uniquely enlightened state. No, it is the low in spirit, the humble in nature. It is the worst of sinners and the most unremarkable of men and women who find themselves transformed. The Apostle tells us that they “do not commit sin.” It is not that they “will not commit sin,” starting at some undetermined point in time. Whosever – anyone – who accepts Yahshua’s invitation is transformed, re-created, as one who (at the present, and continually) does not commit sin. Because Christ has won the victory already over the Enemy, and destroyed the work of the Devil, this experience begins, in its entirety, the moment the soul is born again. It is the damaged soul, the wounded heart, who has been deceived into thinking that God does not know how to give His children good gifts when they ask them of Him. As it is with the body and mind, so it is with the spirit, for the same Healer deals with the repentant sinner as He does with the diseased leper suffering from a less deadly curse: “And Yahshua put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be thou clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Mat 8:3)
Because our Father has called us, we are able to receive eternal life, not at some point in the future, but now, as it has been written that He “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Yahshua,” (Eph 2:6) and “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son:” (Col 1:13) This is all present. Now, the Word says, even this very moment. This is not a promise for tomorrow, or next year, or the close of probation. This is not the reality of the last day, but of this day, the day in which the sinner repents and accepts the unspeakable gift of forgiveness, atonement, and transformation from the Father and Son. It is the reality that awaits all human beings the moment they say, “Lord, save us; we perish.” (Mat 8:25)
How, though, do we reach those who have been trained in the great deception, that freedom from sin is theirs now only as an idea, as an aspiration, as a goal, only to be revealed fully after climbing a mountain of failure and regret? We can certainly answer their questions about the Bible, if those questions are sincere. If they genuinely wish to reconcile the Gospel truth with the verses they have been taught to misunderstand, the saints have answers from Heaven.
“Doesn’t the Bible teach us that everyone sins?” It certainly does not. Paul wrote, in an often misquoted verse, that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) This is certainly true; all “have” sinned, and this makes it plain that all men need salvation due to the sins they have all committed in their lives thus far. It does not indicate a continuing state of sinfulness after accepting the Savior; there is no verse whatsoever that teaches salvation in deliberate, known sin.
“Doesn’t the Bible describe the saint as being captive to sin, even after accepting Christ?” It certainly does not. The seventh chapter of Romans is often cited as a narrative written by Paul of an ongoing, internal conflict between the sinful flesh and the faithful spirit. What it actually describes, however, is his experience in coming to realize his guilt under sin despite being a law-abiding Pharisee that once believed in salvation by works. He speaks of the time, as he describes in the opening verses, “when we were in the flesh, [and] the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” (Rom 7:5) This is the state of every human being before coming to Christ, and the passage concludes, at the beginning of the following chapter, thus: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Yahshua, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1) The flesh is sinful indeed, and shall remain so until the end of human history; however, those who are “now” in Christ are not subject to this flesh. After they have been set free, they no longer “walk after” that flesh, as we are told immediately afterwards. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” (Rom 8:9)
“Doesn’t the Bible say we shouldn’t sin, but even when we eventually do, we have an Advocate with the Father?” It certainly does not. The message is far stronger and more glorious than that. Those who are in sin must recognize that they are guilty, and when they do, they are not to despair, but to rely on the Advocate to bring them into harmony with the Father. This verse, 1John 2:1, is not describing the continuous experience of the born-again believer dealing with known sins, but the necessary work of confessing all sins to Yahweh when they are discovered. This is true both for those coming to Christ for the first time from a life of sin, and for those in the process of sanctification as they discover some previously unknown transgression of which they have been guilty. As we may read just before, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) It must be remembered that ceasing to commit known sins does not automatically or immediately perfect the character. There are still sins committed in ignorance, through a lack of knowledge or errors in judgment, that must be identified, confessed, and then put away. John does not say that, “as many times as we confess a sin, He restores us.” If that were as good as it could be, that would be the very painful process to which most Churches shackle their adherents. The truth is better.
Within the context of a victorious life that is actively being sanctified, when we confess a sin, something we have discovered in ourselves that is contrary to our Father’s will, He not only promises to forgive us, but critically, “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That is the promise. A properly identified and confessed sin is forgiven and cleansed. It is not by a human hand, or by human will, that the sin is cleansed; instead, it is cleansed by the perfect and divine hand of the Creator, never thereafter to return. The Scriptures go so far as to tell us that Yahweh will, with repentant sinners, “heal their backsliding.” (Hos 14:4) Thus, there is no power in Heaven, on earth, or even in the sinful flesh, that would induce a saint to commit a sin that has become “known” through the process here described by John.
With these, and many other simple explanations, the saints declare the perfect and consistent message of Scripture. The deceptions of Satan are revealed in the light of divine reasoning, and, with no excuses left, the sinner must choose to step into the light and be truly, genuinely cleansed, immediately set free from his besetting sins, or to remain in the darkness and fall prey to his self-justification and impiety. Those are the only two options, for in the end there will be only those who have become sheep, and those who have become goats. That future day of judgment, though, does not make anyone a sheep or a goat; it merely reveals the choice that each individual has made when given the opportunity to believe.
Recently, in one of our meetings attended by several guests, one – upon hearing the saints testifying about the immediate healing power of the Gospel – seemed to resist the idea that the born-again believer has truly ceased from sin at the point of the new birth. He spoke of his own experiences, indicating his belief that while it may be possible for the saint to cease from sin “someday,” many genuine believers (as he considers them) do not experience consistent victory in their lives. This is one of the unfortunate symptoms experienced by the wounded sheep. They have not been taught that God loves them so much that He has promised to save them from – not in – their sins, and to keep them entirely from falling, presenting them faultless before His glory. (Mat 1:21, Jude 1:24) They will say, “The Bible tells us that even a just man falls seven times,” believing (because this is what they have been told) that Proverbs 24:16 is describing a righteous person repeatedly falling into sin, rather than into misfortune and temporary setbacks, which is what that verse is actually about.
When these verses are all explained according to the consistent message of every Biblical author, a new danger arises. Fault is often found in the messengers as a way of invalidating the message. The saint, who claims the power of the Father and Son, is accused of being prideful because of the strength of his testimony. The testimony is strong, to be sure; however, it is not the strength of the believer, but the strength of the One in whom he believes that is exalted. A frail strip of paper may move a boulder, if it is pushed by a powerful hand. Faith the size of a mustard-seed will overthrow a mountain, if it is faith in the promises of the Almighty.
“But we cannot claim to be altogether victorious,” came the final objection from this guest. “After all, the Scriptures tell us that we are unworthy servants. If we are unworthy, how can we say we are entirely free from sin? How can we say we truly have righteousness by faith?”
In other words, the implication goes, even if we profess to serve Yahweh, the Bible tells us we are not worthy to claim the promises of the Father and Son. We are not able to fully receive what They offer, so we must be reading the Scriptures incorrectly, or applying an erroneous mindset to the Bible’s teachings. Something must be wrong with the message, or else something must be wrong with the messengers, because otherwise… my belief that I am unworthy has been wrong for years and years.
This is what it often comes down to. The saints truly do have answers to every sincere question. The problem is, many of the questions asked are advanced in an effort to justify the individuals’ current, sin-inclusive course, and not as a genuine attempt to understand how they may share in the glory being offered to them in sincere love.
The saint does not claim to be “sinless” in the absolute sense, because the Scriptures describe salvation as cooperative rather than compelled. Yahweh is the One who saves us, of course, entirely by His divine power. We must accept it in every aspect, however, and so while we cease from all sin that is known to us as sin, we must learn righteousness organically rather than by a surrender of free will. Similarly, the saint does not claim to be “perfect” in the absolute sense, because there is always more to learn. And yet, even this is too great a claim to adopt by those who have been injured by Satan’s many variations of the “salvation in sin” religion.
If the visitor, guest, or listening ear, genuinely believes himself to be unworthy of God’s gift, Satan will tell him that he would be presumptuous to grasp it. What they seek, then, is not a doctrinal answer so much as an assurance that Yahweh’s grace accounts us worthy, that His love reaches down through our unworthiness, and invites us to share a seat with His very Son. This is true evangelism, to see the needs of the suffering, and to provide them with healing for what ails them.
Is it actually true, though, that the Scriptures tell us that the saints are unworthy servants? Not in the way that the guest has supposed. It does not say that the saints are unworthy because they commit sin, because they are disobedient to known instructions or neglectful of known duties. Instead, they consider themselves to be unworthy (in a very specific sense) because all they have done is obey One who is righteous, rather than acting according to their own righteousness. This, as we know, would be impossible anyway, for Isaiah expresses this very same idea in these well-known words: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isa 64:6) This does not mean that we cannot do righteousness; only, we cannot be righteous of ourselves, without divine assistance.
Here is the actual passage that the visitor had in mind while making his concluding statement: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do.’” (Luke 17:10)
Note the passage well; the servants are unprofitable to their Master, not because they have failed Him, but, having done all the things they were commanded to do, they were not able to go above and beyond their duty. Such is the fate of man, who relies on the righteousness of Christ for his salvation. We know that our sins have caused the death of the Messiah. We know that we are only saved by the entirely undeserved love of our Creator. We lament that we cannot undo our transgressions and that, even when we are in active service to the Most High, our efforts cannot transform the world overnight, nor will every soul be saved.
In this passage, Christ is presenting the Christian experience to His disciples, as He always does, as one of perfect, unbroken, obedience motivated by love. Even among those who consider themselves unprofitable, they have done all. It is afterwards, after doing what is commanded, that they see the work still before them, the sick and dying souls still unconverted despite the divine efforts they have put forth. They are wistful that they could not do more, and so they declare themselves unprofitable.
Mercifully, even this sadness is destined to fade, for it is written, “And Yahweh shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.” (Rev 21:4) This is the end of all guilt, regret, and sorrow. Clearly, though, even while these things yet exist, they do not prevent the life of victory over sin. They do not prevent the power of the Holy Spirit from filling each believer with the very life of Christ, bringing him into perfect harmony with the Law, so that on reflection we will indeed “have done all those things which are commanded.”
Failure, disobedience, and backsliding have no part in the Christian experience. This is not a condemnation of those who have been deceived into thinking that they do. It is an invitation to put away the work of the Enemy, and to leave behind the compromises, the excuses, and the self-justification. It is an invitation to believe that Yahweh has called each human being valuable, not because of his own virtues, but because of his potential for righteousness that is fulfilled when, through Christ, the soul is born again and saturated with the divine spirit. Never, never, does the Word of Yahweh call the genuinely repentant sinner “unworthy.” He is always welcome in the heart of Yah, and so loved that the Father sent the Son to redeem him from death at an inestimable cost to Himself. The most popular verse of the Bible tells us this beyond controversy: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) There can be no greater measure of worthiness than this.
This is what the sin-sick soul needs to hear, a reply that begins as an answer to his question, perhaps an explanation of this or that Scripture, but that ends in a revelation of the love that the Father showed in sending His Son, the love that the Son clung to while dying on the cross, and the love that motivates a small, often misunderstood Church to reach out and search for the lost and dying. The answers are here, available for all who ask them with genuine curiosity, but what the soul needs most, and most desperately, is acceptance, affection, and love, all without justifying or excusing sin.
Satan must be told that he is wrong, that the promises of Yahweh are faithful and true, that the life we are offered is indeed ours for the taking. He must be rebuked and cast away, and his steadfast teaching, that sin in the Christian life is inevitable, must be utterly rejected and denounced. Satan’s works had no power over the Savior’s life, and it is that life – that very life – that now abides in the heart of every born-again believer.
Does that mean that many who believe they are born-again are deceived? Yes, it does, and this is why the saints’ testimony must be direct. It must be loving, and patient, and kind, but it must also be as sharp as a sword, (Heb 4:12) and more pointed than that which was borne by John the Baptist, who once said to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptismal ministry, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Mat 3:7)
Not many will be pleased by the declaration of this Gospel. Not many will see genuine love and affection in the testimony, “Dear brother, dear sister, you have been deceived.” But it must be that way; it must cut through the flesh and awaken the slumbering conscience, for one who is sleeping in trespasses and sins cannot be taught that he is loved. He cannot be convinced that he is worthy of the gift of the Father and Son. He cannot be invited to be a faithful and dutiful servant, one who is so sensitive to righteousness and the work of the harvest that he genuinely wishes he could do more.
And yet, we have the hope that some will listen. Some will hear the message of righteousness by faith, and shake off the deadly work of the Enemy, the promptings of both the carnal flesh and the impure preachers to “delay,” to “cease from sin, but not yet,” to “wait for a more opportune moment.” Some will hear of victory over sin, and wish it to be so, claiming it by faith so that the all-powerful Author of our salvation will make it just so in their lives. Whatsoever we believe our Father can do for us, with whatsoever estimation of magnitude or speed, the reality is infinitely greater. Those who put their trust in Him will never be disappointed, nor rebuked for believing Him too deeply or too completely. The People of Yahweh are the People of Miracles, and there is no greater miracle than that of the transformation from the goat to the sheep, from the sinner to the saint, from the spiritual procrastinator to the enthusiastic prophet, who says to the invitation of the Most High, “Here am I; send me.” (Isa 6:8)
We pray, with earnest expectation, that many of the visitors who find their way to our fellowship will be of this hopeful company.
David.