A reply to a friend in Uganda

Thank you, brother. I wrote another post on seeing Jesus through His holy people who were justified and sanctified by faith. If you read it Friday when I had just posted it, it might have sounded confusing. I just edited it again for clarity. I hope you can follow it. It is an idea I had in mind for the past year or two, but didn’t have an illustration to help explain what I was trying to say. Now I found a photo mosaic that I needed. Let me know what you think.

I am glad that you are a student of justification by faith. Justification is still the foundation of the gospel. And even though new horizons have been opened to prepare us for Christ’s return and the sealing, justification will always play a big part. The big problem we’ve had in the Advent movement during the past century and more has been staying busy getting ourselves sanctified when we weren’t justified. But, Paul’s whole Romans 8 freedom in Christ was based on being made exceedingly guilty before God and having every mouth stopped (Rom. 3:19), as in the case of Job. If a church member has never felt like he committed the unpardonable sin, then he has never needed a real Saviour in the only begotten Son of God. All throughout heaven there is more rejoicing over 1% of the church members who feared they were lost and then repented, than over 99% of the church who never felt the need to repent and be found. The 99% can try all they want to be sanctified, but all their offerings to God are defiled. They can stack up all the good works they want, He has never known them. He only knows the formerly lost 1% who recognized their lost-ness. Out in the world it is no different, except to substitute good works for ethical works. They are still trying to use some kind of spiritual alchemy to create good from evil, and light from darkness. Their hearts are evil and they cannot change them.

They are all alive before the commandment can convict them. If they will go to the commandment and let it convict them, then their sin will revive, and their self-sufficiency will die (see Rom. 7:9). The Law is given to each individual conscience so that offense might abound. If we never allow God to offend us and scourge us, then He can never receive us (Heb. 12:6-8; Rom. 8:9). We are none of His no matter how holy we look and sound.

Before the next revival for the final sealing, there must be another John the Baptist movement that will reset the Adventists and Protestants to the original foundation of the Reformers―justification by faith, conviction of sin, repentance, conversion. All of these were unacceptable to the religious leadership in John’s day because by their excellent spirituality they discerned that none of the Jews needed to repent and be cleansed; it was the wicked, cruel, carnal, pagan, occult Romans and Greeks and Barbarians that should repent and be baptized. But, God was sending John to call Israel to repent and be baptized. And who was baptized among all the other wicked and carnal sinners that listened to John? The Saviour of them all!

David