Abundant offense makes abundant grace

Will we be offended? Will we know condemnation for justification?

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom. 5:20).

I just read a synopsis of Martin Luther by Marvin Moore.

“Martin Luther was a tortured soul, if ever there was one. He grew up with a warped understanding of God as harsh and severe. And becoming an Augustinian monk only made matters worse. He followed all the rules of the Catholic Church with diligence: praying, going on pilgrimages, attending mass, and doing everything he could think of to make himself acceptable to God. But none of this brought peace to his distraught mind. He thought of God as a cruel tyrant rather than a kind heavenly father.

However, through a careful study of Paul’s writings, especially Romans, Luther came to understand that righteousness is a gift that God gives to those who believe in Jesus. He came to realize that he didn’t have to do all manner of penances and fasting and prayers in order to be acceptable to God. Rather, his acceptance by God was gained simply by believing that God covered his sin with Christ’s righteousness…” Signs of the Times, October 2017, pg. 33.

I have a problem with Elder Moore’s take on justification by faith. He leaves out the foundation for justification—the wrestling, the offense, the rebuke of God.

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” (Rom. 7:9).

Just as the Law entered this world that offense might abound in our sinful race, the Law entered Paul’s conscience at the start of his journey to salvation. The Law entered his conscience so that offense would abound in him.

The wrestling is utterly essential to the gift of God’s grace. God never gives away cheap gifts, and He never has had a great gift giveaway. Any salvation, which avoids pining away through a long night of tears, is cheap—it is the fornication of Babylon. But, His true science of salvation the world refuses. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” (Rev. 18:3).

“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:7).

Every Christian who buys into the cheap doctrines of a painless, indolent victory has joined in the world’s passion for Astarte, Ishtar, Isis, Ashtoreth, Diana, Venus, Mary.

“So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great Goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” (Acts 19:27).

“And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” (Acts 19:28).

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Rev. 17:5).

The great Vestal Virgin surrounded by the masses makes it appear that she will win the war against Christ. But, though heart join with arrogant heart, the wicked shall not go unpunished.

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:3,4).

Why does the whole world go after Antichrist? Because she makes salvation easy for the taking. Is that the salvation Jesus offered? Not at all.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:13,14).

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. for whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matt. 16:24,25).

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” (Phil. 3:7-10).

This is a high standard, one not welcome to the world. This is why the whole world wonders after the modern Ashtoreth of our day. Far removed from the true gospel, diametrically opposed, is this easy, law-abrogating, Spirit of Prophecy-avoiding, conviction-dodging, correction-evading, death to self-eluding new (yet the most ancient) gospel that is arising again from the bottomless pit.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matt. 7:15,16).

“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.” (Phil. 3:2).

These warnings are still inestimably applicable. The gospel today is surrounded by wolves, dogs, and evil workers—the modern concision. The concision of Paul’s day was the Pharisees, rabbis, priests, the “circumcision”, which had confidence in the flesh. But, contrariwise, Paul declared, “we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil. 3:3).

Paul exemplified for us how to come to Jesus—by fighting our way through the rebuke of God, wrestling under His condemnation of our sins, resolving the indignity against our self-made moral greatness, until surrendering to His true assessment of us. We need to see ourselves as the Schoolmaster sees us, which is our true condition. But the new paradigm destroys our pride and boasting. It kills self; it slays us.

“When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 7:9-13).

It is true that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. But, we must remember that God is good to us even when He is bad to us. Not if, but when.

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil^H7451: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isa. 45:7).s

H7451 From H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun:- adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), misery, naught (-ty), noisome, + not please, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong.

“For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.” (Isa. 30:15-17).

God would do bad things to His children? Yes, He will. That has always been the promise from our loving heavenly Father. Hasn’t it? Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and you will see that He isn’t always nice; but He is always love. His strong threat was repeated again to Solomon.

“And the LORD said unto him [Solomon], I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.

And if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep My statutes and My judgments:

Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

But if ye shall at all turn from following Me, ye or your children, and will not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other Gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.” (1Ki. 9:3-9).

The Evangelical preachers love what they call the gospel and they love to quote Hebrews 8:8-12. But they “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Rom. 1:18). They walk “in craftiness, … handling the word of God deceitfully.” (2Cor. 4:2). They are false prophets. They are ravening wolves.  And one day, as a nation, the Evangelical Protestants will speak like the dragon, enforcing a death decree against all who will not worship according to the dictates of the Evangelical lawless doctrines and spiritualistic worship practices.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that despise Me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.” (Jer. 23:16,17). “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.” (Jer. 23:15).

The Evangelicals fulfill the curse from Deuteronomy 29,

“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the Gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.” (Deut. 29:18-20).

The Evangelicals love their gospel of painless grace. They have even built it into their pre-trib rapture eschatology.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb. 8:8-12).

Paul here quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34.

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34).

Ah, there is a lot of good news in this new covenant! Wonderful! The new covenant is wonderful and good news. It gave Jeremiah a small reprieve from the wrath of God.

After hearing Jesus say, “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul,” Jeremiah wrote, “Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.” (Jer. 31:25,26).

The new covenant is our hope and God’s good pleasure. But, please notice its context in Jeremiah 30 and 31. Look at what Jesus had to do in order to write the Law in their hearts and minds, and put a new Spirit within them.

“… I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict… In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:28-30).

That’s not good news, it’s bad news. “Lord, do You mean in the new covenant days whoever sins his teeth will be set on edge?” What does it mean by the Lord plucked up, broke down, threw down, destroyed, afflicted His people before He would forgive their iniquities? Afflict them with what?

“The sword” (Jer. 31:2). “He … scattered Israel.” (Jer. 31:10). With a “yoke [on] thy neck, and … bonds, and strangers … serv[ing] themselves of him.” (Jer. 30:8).

How far did He scatter Israel? “The north country, and … the coasts of the earth.” (Jer. 31:8).

“For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble….

I have scattered thee … I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous….

All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.” (Jer. 30:5-7,11-12,14-15).

“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the nemy hath magnified himself.” (Lam. 1:1-9).

“How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger!

The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: He hath thrown down in His wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; He hath brought them down to the ground: He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.

He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel: He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.

He hath bent His bow like an enemy: He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: He poured out His fury like fire.…

Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?…

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast killed, and not pitied.

Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’s anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.” (Lam. 2:1-4,9-13,19-22).

Jeremiah stood alone against the array of false prophets who claimed they had a burden of news from the Lord. But, all of their messages were of ease and continued prosperity.

“Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.” (Lam. 2:14).

The false prophets’ message from the throne of God was only good news. “Jehovah would never hurt His children! He used to do that during the ancient times of the judges. But that was then, and this is now. As long as our temple and religion stand, Jehovah is for us. As long as we worship Him He will protect us. Nebuchadnezzar will come and the Lord will defeat him! For ‘Immânȗ El! ‘God is with us’ (Isa. 8:10)!”

“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.” (Isa. 1:4).

“Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (Isa. 1:5-9).

“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts?

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (Isa. 1:10-15).

Is Isaiah’s harsh language from Jesus the makings of justification by faith? Yes, it sure is! Trouble, tribulation, affliction makes justification by faith? Yes it sure does! I’m sorry to say that it’s the only way. Why is it the only way? Because “thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous….” (Jer. 30:12). “Thus saith the LORD.”

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.… If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isa. 1:16,17,19.20).

But, once they resolved His assault on their character, they could come with happy and humble hearts. That’s the good news. That’s great news!

“They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.” (Jer. 31:9).

Ah, the goodness of God. The goodness of divine, wise love. Will we have justification? Will we have sins forgiven? Will we end up with Paul in his wrestling, crying out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). Will we be corrected, reproved, rebuked? Will we be instructed in righteousness? Will we surrender to the correction, reproof, the rebuke of our God, His instruction, and then be justified?

The path of the just goes through this strait gate. To be just is to be justified. And to be just we must succumb to the strait testimony of the True Witness, Jesus. Will we go to the Testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophecy, and have our souls slain? Will we let the Law lean on us and grind our wretched flaws to powder? Will we wrestle and survive our processing of His rebuke, and finally surrender to the Law’s pummeling? This is the strait gate that few ever find.

That is why all the Evangelical world haven’t found this strait gate. Falling on their face, at first despairing of hope, falling at His feet as a dead man with all their comeliness seen in its true corruption, is too much nerve-wracking discomfort. Being naked before Him is too disconcerting to the self-sufficient, unredeemed heart. It is too terrifying to fall into the hands of the living God. The pain of death to self, the vulnerable sensing that they have committed the unpardonable sin, is more than they can bear. It is unwelcome and subconsciously avoided, and therefore recognized. The Spirit of Truth came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?

She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

Unto you, O men, I call; and My voice is to the sons of man.

O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.” (Prov. 8:1-5).

While Jesus still dwelled among His disciples He taught them of His manifestation in them. “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:17).

The Spirit of truth was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Yet, for most, the dissecting Word of God, the Way, the Truth, the Life, must pass on. All who reject Him who died for their sins, then fall prey to the only other alterative—the devious spirit of Mary, the Queen of heaven, and the Co-Redemptrix/Mediatrix who can never experience infirmities and has never been touched with our feelings of infirmity. Her serene image is a mockery to all who are enslaved by sin. Her heart is stone cold; she never knew God’s “chastisement of our peace” (Isa. 53:5). Her redemption for our sins never cost her anything. Therefore her redemption is cheap and good for nothing.

But the Son of God has known our grief. “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” (Isa. 53:5). And “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13).

The affliction is past; His “warfare is accomplished” (Isa. 40:2); processing God’s condemnation is over; surrender to the Schoolmaster is forthcoming; despairing hope has turned into full faith. Now the soul is subject to the Law of God, ready and enabled to will and to do His good pleasure. Now the Schoolmaster brings the soul to Christ to be justified by his faith.

“Come now, and let Us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18).

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5).

Breathing into their soul’s nostrils the breath of life, He saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22). The gift of God, the powers of the world to come, the “blessedness” (Gal. 4:15; Rom. 4:6,9) from the heavenly One who is “God blessed for ever” (Rom. 9:5)! In His presence having the fullness of joy, at His right hand pleasures for evermore. Being in paradise with Jesus today. Sitting in heavenly places with Christ, tasting of His heavenly gift, in the Spirit, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Riding on the high places of the earth and feeding on the heritage of Jacob our father who also wrestled and was blessed by Jesus.

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.” (Deut. 32:13). They have sucked His grace from His stone commandment, and the Father’s reconciled Spirit out of His flinty, immutable Law. This is the only valid justification. It was a two step, not a one step, procedure. First the great Schoolmaster, then the meek Comforter.

“[1] Deep conviction took hold upon their minds and hearts. They were convinced of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come. They had a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and felt the terror of appearing, in their guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. In anguish they cried out: ‘Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ [2] As the cross of Calvary, with its infinite sacrifice for the sins of men, was revealed, they saw that nothing but the merits of Christ could suffice to atone for their transgressions; this alone could reconcile man to God. With faith and humility they accepted the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Through the blood of Jesus they had ‘remission of sins that are past.’

     These souls brought forth fruit meet for repentance. They believed and were baptized, and rose to walk in newness of life—new creatures in Christ Jesus; not to fashion themselves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God to follow in His steps, to reflect His character, and to purify themselves even as He is pure. The things they once hated they now loved, and the things they once loved they hated. The proud and self-assertive became meek and lowly of heart. The vain and supercilious became serious and unobtrusive. The profane became reverent, the drunken sober, and the profligate pure. The vain fashions of the world were laid aside. Christians sought not the ‘outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but … the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.’ 1 Peter 3:3, 4.” Great Controversy, p. 461.

 

But, the gospel of affliction and punishment from a loving heavenly Schoolmaster, although biblically sound, is bad news to millions of Evangelical false prophets today. Soon, Elijah will reappear to set doctrine straight. But, by then most of the false prophets will be sealed in their rebellion against the government of God.

Elder Moore, please rethink your position on justification by faith, before it’s too late to repent.

And I believe Martin Luther would agree with me. He would condemn the cheap version of Evangelical indulgences.