Q. Is your interpretation of the 1888 message that every soul has been saved at the cross before he accepts by faith Jesus Christ as his savior?
A. Yes, in a sense. But this understanding of justification should be worded in a way that makes its meaning crystal clear. When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He set the human race free. Whatever Adam did when first he sinned was cancelled out by Christ, immediately, in His commitment to the cross. We call this forensic, or legal, justification.
This concept was brilliantly explained by Ellen G. White in the book, Ministry of Healing, page 90: "With His own blood Jesus signed the emancipation papers of the human race." The use of the word "emancipation" here is significant. Christ's dying on the cross is likened to the setting free of the slaves.
When Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation papers declaring all slaves free, every slave was immediately free, legally. Of course, there was a war still to be fought, but the effect was still the same. However, even though the emancipation papers had been signed, we do not hear of slaves walking off the plantations immediately. Why not? Because they had not yet heard the good news! When the news reached them they could immediately walk away free, but again, this may not necessarily have taken place in all cases. There was one more bridge to be crossed. They had to believe the good news.
They may have heard that they were free, but unless they believed the report, they were as much in slavery as they were before. It takes all three factors to make emancipation effective: the signing of the emancipation proclamation, hearing the good news, and finally, believing the good news.
What has added to the problem is the constant use of the expression, "You must accept Christ." Use of the word "accept" has given people the idea that you have to do something first before you can be saved. The truth of the matter is that salvation is ours already. We do nothing to initiate salvation. Our part in all of this is to believe. God is the One who initiates the process. It is here that we have been bogged down for so long. The unwillingness to grasp this truth has been the stumbling block the people of God have yet to overcome. We have just not understood the importance of the word "believe."
While in Australia not too long ago I encountered a man who had such a problem understanding this. For a long time he had been told that as long as a man believes everything is all right, then he can continue to sin and it doesn't matter. I am sure that whoever told him this did not word it just this way, but this is the way he understood it, and he thought that I was just rehashing the "new theology" idea all over again. I told him that there was a difference, a big difference. There is a big difference between saying that all a man has to do is to believe and he can go on sinning, and saying that if a man truly believes he can walk away from temptation and sin and overcome completely. There is a text which says this clearly:
Romans 10:10: "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." To believe "unto righteousness" is a long way from the idea that a man can truly "believe" and continue to sin.
Sometimes I illustrate this by an experience I had many years ago while I was growing up on a South African farm. My companions in this isolated area were all members of the Sotho tribe. They were the only pals I had around there. We used to spend much of the time hunting rabbits and pigeons and then roast them over a fire for lunch. Of course, that was long before this health message came into my life.
The problem was that I was not as skillful at hunting these birds and animals as were my companions. They had grown up using their throwing sticks to bring down small prey, so I was always a "tag along," as it were. But I could use a rifle, and well, but I did not own one, and how badly I wanted one. But my parents at the time could not afford to buy me a rifle.
One day my mother took me on a train journey to the city of Durban on the coast, the city where I lived later for a long time before leaving for the USA. While in the home of the people my mother had come to visit, we were all sitting in the living room one evening, and the adults were in deep conversation. I was the only young person. While the grown-ups were talking, my eyes were riveted on something in the corner of the room. It was a rifle. And how beautiful it looked to me! Suddenly a voice broke in on my thoughts. It was the one who owned the place. He asked, "Do you like it?" I said, "Yes, it's beautiful." He took the rifle from its place in the corner and gave it to me and said, "Try it." So I held it and sighted along the barrel and squeezed the trigger and felt its balance. The man asked, "Do you like it?" I said, "Yes, it's beautiful!" And he said, "Well, it's yours!" I just smiled and gave it back to him, because, even though I was only little, I knew what he was going to do. He was going to pretend to give me the rifle, and then, just when I thought I had a rifle, he would take it back and make me look silly in front of all those people. He tried again and again to get me to take the rifle, but I persistently refused. Finally he gave up and put the rifle away in its place.
On the way home in the train I mentioned that rifle again to my mother. "That's a beautiful rifle that man has back there." She replied, "You mean its a beautiful rifle he used to have." And I said, "But it's his isn't it?" And again my mother said, "It used to be, but he gave it to you, and now its yours." By now all this was getting to me. I said, "Wait a minute. He didn't give me that rifle. He was only pretending." But again my mother said, "Oh no. I've known him too long. He would never do anything like that. That's simply not his way. He gave you that rifle, and now it's yours." I thought about this some more, and then asked, "Are you sure about this?" My mother said, "Of course. You've been bugging me for a rifle for a long time, and now you have one given to you and you leave it behind." I was left with my thoughts.
Some weeks later I was sitting on a rock out on that farm and thinking about what had happened on that trip to the big city. My thoughts were something along these lines: "Why don't I own a rifle?" And the only conclusion I could come up with was that it was because I would not believe that that rifle had really been given to me. And this is exactly the problem so many have with God. Salvation full and free has been given to everyone on earth, but to get people to believe this is the problem God has with the human race. It was exactly that way with God's people in ancient times. Because of their pathetic unbelief they perished!
Justification is what we are dealing with here. When our Lord died on the cross of Calvary He set the whole human race free. Free from sin. From its penalty, from its power, and, ultimately, from its very presence. We call this forensic, or legal, or corporate, justification. It is our title to heaven (Messages to Young People, p. 35). When a man hears the good news and believes it, faith takes hold of this good news of justification and it changes his life. Then he is justified by faith. His sin-hardened heart is broken by the love of God that was poured out on the cross of Calvary for him. As mentioned earlier:
"With His own blood He has signed the emancipation papers of the race." Forensic justification. Justification by faith. There is only one justification, but there are two sides to the coin. This is based upon Romans 5:18 and Titus 2:1l.
Q. Please explain Revelation 3:20 and John 3:3 in the light of this belief.
A. Revelation 3:20 reads: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; If any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Remember, the good news must be heard, and then believed. The knocking at the door is the gentle but loving appeal of the Lord Jesus to bring us to the place where we believe. "Any man" is "tis" in the original Greek, and more likely means "a certain one," the one to whom the message to Laodicea is addressed, that is, the leadership of the church. Exactly the same idea applies to the leadership of the church as to the individual.
John 3:3 reads: "Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." There is no problem here and no contradiction to what we said previously about salvation's being given to every man. Remember that while the cross set every man free, the emancipation does not have full effect until the good news is first heard and then believed. When the sinner hears the good news he is led to behold the cross, and as he does this, and contemplates the love which was revealed there in the shedding of the blood of the ultimate Sacrifice, his sin-hardened heart is broken, and he believes the good news. This is justification by faith! This is the other side of the coin.
This is beautifully expressed in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4 page 625:
The precious blood of Jesus is the fountain prepared to cleanse the soul from the defilement of sin. When you determine to take Him as your friend, a new and enduring light will shine from the cross of Christ. A true sense of the sacrifice and intercession of the dear Saviour will break the heart that has become hardened in sin; and love, thankfulness, and humility will come into the soul. The surrender of the heart to Jesus subdues the rebel into a penitent, and then the language of the obedient soul is, "Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." This is the true religion of the Bible. Everything short of this is a deception.
Consider this question: When was the prodigal son converted?
Most people say at the pigsty. I don't think so. When he was at the pigsty, and was about to eat the husks (carob pods) that the pigs were eating, he began to think about his home, and he remembered that even his father's servants had better to eat than the food which was fed to pigs. He began to feel sorry for himself and decided to go home. But when he approached home, even while still a long way away, he saw this old man running toward him, and he recognized his father, and saw that his hair had turned white! Friends, that is when his heart broke; and that is when he was converted! This is exactly what happens to us when we behold the love which was demonstrated for us on the cross of Calvary. If I should never preach another sermon except the "agápè" sermon which centers on the cross of Calvary, then I will still be fulfilling my mission of preaching Christ and Him crucified and nothing else!
Consider again the texts which tell of legal justification, or forensic justification: Titus 2: 11: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." The ASV reads: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." And Romans 5:18 tells us that as Adam's sin brought condemnation to all men, so the righteousness of Christ brought to all men the free and unconditional gift of justification of life.
Calvinists have given to this text the interpretation of predestination, saying that this reference to "all men" is only to those "predestined" to have eternal life. Universalists interpret the text to mean that all people will be saved and no one will be lost. Arminianism, which is where Seventh-day Adventists have been bogged down for more than one hundred years, teaches that God has only made "provision" for the salvation of humanity, and now we have to do something also. But here is where the 1888 message goes contrary to all this.
Consider this from the book, The Glad Tidings, by E. J. Waggoner, pages 13 and 14. After pointing out that God wills that all men should be saved, the question is asked, "Do you mean to teach universal salvation?" and he replies, "We mean to teach just what the Word of God teaches--that "the grace of God hath appeared bringing salvation to all men" (Titus 2:11)." And Waggoner continues, "God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him, but the majority spurn it and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was given to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession."
Consider again the case of the slaves. First the emancipation papers had to be signed. Then the good news had to reach the slaves. Then they had to believe it. And then they were free! And that is the way humanity is saved in true Christianity.
Q. Why all this emphasis on righteousness and justification by faith? Are we not supposed to be preaching the third angel's message to the world?
A. Interestingly, this same question came to Mrs. E. G. White in her day. It was about eighteen months after the 1888 General Conference Session. During this time there was much preaching and teaching on the subject of Righteousness and Justification by Faith from every possible angle. Letters began coming in to Mrs. White from different sources. She was asked this same question on the Three Angels' Messages and Justification by Faith. Her reply appeared the first time in the Review and Herald of April 1, 1890, and was later reprinted in Selected Messages, vol. 1, page 372. A direct reply to the question came from her pen. She said: "It [a reference to justification by faith, the 1888 message] is the Third Angel's Message in verity."
She could not have said it more clearly. The Three Angels' Messages, or, as we more often say, in Adventist terminology, the Third Angel's Message, can be summed up as the "everlasting gospel," from Revelation 14:6. And, from what we have just learned, the 1888 message of Christ's Righteousness, or Righteousness and Justification by Faith, are the Third Angel's Message in verity. That is why we emphasize all four of these because they are one and the same thing.
Q. What has been the response to the 1888 message from the current general conference leadership?
A. Sadly, there has been a lot of misunderstanding about this message on the part of many in responsible positions. I, personally, along with others I know, have been bitterly opposed in this work of taking this message across this country and to other countries around the world. Some countries I have visited two and three times, and others again once, with the possibility of more such visits. It is probably true to say that I have encountered opposition wherever an opportunity has opened up for me to preach. In one country, it was published far and wide that no church was to open its doors to me. But the doors seemed to open anyway!
There was one minister who talked to his local president where I happened to be at the time, and he said, probably teasing him, "You know, elder, we have a special speaker in our church this coming Sabbath." And the president said, "Oh, is that right? Who is he?" And the pastor told him it was me. Immediately the president became excited and said, "You can't do that! This man believes in a forensic justification as well as justification by faith, and he believes that Christ took the same fallen, sinful, nature that we have, that we can overcome all sin--in fact, that God will have a people who will conquer sin completely!" And the pastor said, "You know, elder, I have a problem here, because I myself believe exactly the same way." Before I left that country that same pastor had me speak in his church once again. These are the kind of evidences I see that the Lord is overruling. This battle is not ours. It is the Lord's.
Many times I have told people, "Do not be afraid of the 1888 message. If it is not of God, and if it threatens the Adventist Church, it will come to nothing. You will never have to worry one little bit about it. But if it is indeed the 'message that God commanded to be given to the world' (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 92), nobody's going to stop it. Nobody."
And this is exactly what Gamaliel told the council back in the days of the apostles. He said, "Refrain from these men and let them alone: for if this counselor this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God" (Acts 5:38-39).
We loyally support our leadership in every way we can and in every place we go. Not only in the message we preach, but in our tithes and offerings as well. Our own tithe is paid into the proper channels, and we encourage others to do the same. Many times, where some have wanted to give us their tithe, we have persuaded such to put their tithe into the proper channels of the church. I would not want to hazard a guess as to how much tithe and offering money has come back into the church because of our influence.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church leadership is composed of many good and dedicated men and women. It is our hope that the time is not very far away when all of these, and throughout the church, there will be a uniting upon the platform of truth, the 1888 message of Christ's Righteousness, as we have never seen or known, and the stage will be set for those final events which will herald the glad day of our Lord's return in the clouds of glory.
Q. What kind of gospel or three angels' messages are we receiving from our leaders? Is it the errors of the evangelical gospel? What should be our response to our leaders?
A. Firstly and foremost we need to show to our leadership all the loyalty and support we possibly can give them. Many have not come out strongly and clearly on just what their understanding of the gospel is, I don't think. I do read in the Review an occasional attack on the 1888 message, which I don't quite understand. I think it is because of a sad misunderstanding on their part.
In the matter of which nature Christ assumed in the Incarnation there is a continuing and serious problem. We have been told again and again, that the denomination has never taken a definite, or clear, position on this question of which nature Christ assumed. Frankly, I find this hard to believe, because, as I read articles in the Review, I get the clear impression that they are strongly emphasizing the position that Christ took the unfallen nature of Adam.
I cannot conceive of a situation where someone would write no less than six articles establishing that Christ took our fallen, sinful nature, and having these articles published in the Review. I cannot see this happening. But, the reverse has taken place. This is one area where I believe we have a serious difference of opinion.
Generally speaking, I think we see the denomination adopting the "historic" Adventist position, with the exception that there has been a strong move away from the position which this denomination held for more than a hundred years, namely, that Christ assumed the fallen, sinful, nature of man.
The new position, which is traced back to about 1949, is that Christ took, or assumed, the sinless nature of Adam before the Fall. There has been a firm resistance to the 1888 message concepts. Remember, it was this "historic" Adventism which rejected the 1888 message a hundred years ago, because those who resisted and stood against the message of Jones and Waggoner were all "historic" Adventists standing by the "old landmarks." And in this continued resistance to the 1888 message of Christ's Righteousness we see the obstacle which stands against the giving of the message to the world, as God intends that it should.
Q. Please explain corporate repentance and what it means to the church.
A. This would take a long time, but I'll tell you about some of the essential elements of this concept. Corporate repentance is simply an understanding of the oneness of the body of Christ. We are part of the body of Christ. Whether it's our leadership, whether it's us as individuals, we recognize the sin that was committed a long time ago, even the crucifixion of Christ, is our sin but for the grace of Christ.
I was asked some months ago to give an example of this idea of corporate repentance from the Bible. I could have given a number of them, but I told about Nineveh. It is the story of Jonah, I am sure you all remember the story.
When God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them, he did not go there directly, but decided to take a more roundabout way. When he finally did get to Nineveh he preached, forcibly, that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days, and he must have sounded as if he were happy about it. He probably did not expect the result which ensued. There was an immediate response, not from the street cleaner or the garbage collector, but from the king and his nobles. The king's example was followed by all the people: they repented in sackcloth and ashes, and gave every evidence that they were sorry for their sins, and it is clear that they were deeply aware of them. This is an example of what we call "corporate repentance." And the city was spared!
Corporate repentance is no kind of disloyalty. I have said so for a long time, and I still say, that the only people who are in a position to understand true denominational loyalty are those who in the deepest sense, understand corporate, or denominational, repentance, because this concept is based upon an awareness of the oneness of the body of Christ. This is described so clearly by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. Loyalty to the church is easy when it is based on regular receipt of a monthly check or some business concession, but let the check stop or the business concession be withdrawn, and out of the window goes the loyalty. This will never happen to one whose loyalty is based upon this understanding of the corporate oneness of the body of Christ. And that is why we say that the only ones who can demonstrate true denominational loyalty are those who understand the principles of corporate repentance!
Q. Can agape alone rebuild child abuse victims?
A. I say yes! An appreciation of the agápè of the cross of Calvary, which is agápè revealed in its fullness, the power of God unto salvation, will make it possible for this miracle to be accomplished finally and absolutely!
Q. What does the word "forensic" mean?
A. Forensic means judicial or legal. When we talk about forensic justification we mean the judicial act of setting the whole world free at the cross. As we indicated earlier, there is another side to the coin, and that is when we hear the good news, and believe the good news. This is when we are in fact free! We call this justification by faith!
Q. What is the difference between breaking the law and transgression of the law?
A. No difference at all.
Q. Did Christ have to die to demonstrate the terrible consequences of separation from God?
A. Separation from God is the result of sin and refusal of salvation. God has given salvation to every man through the cross of Calvary, but He will not force it upon anyone. However, He will do everything He can to persuade every individual to make the right choice and be saved. Why Jesus died was to save a lost world. Since He paid the full price for our salvation, the agony He endured on the cross was primarily the mental anguish of experiencing separation from His heavenly Father to the full. This is called the Second Death in the Bible. This death will be experienced by all who have finally and forever rejected the saving mercy of God, and it will come to them at the close of the thousand years (Revelation 20). Jesus experienced the equivalent of this death while on the cross. Because He did this, the full price for sin was paid. But the reason for His dying was to save lost humanity.
Q. How does the 1888 message differ from the message being taught by Dr. Desmond Ford?
A As I understand the teachings of Dr. Ford, the message which he is giving is essentially reformationist theology, or Calvinism. In this we find the teaching that justification is forensic only, and the teaching of E. J. Waggoner, for example, that the other side of the coin, that justification by faith, makes a man an obedient doer of the law by faith, Ford does not believe. The Calvinistic belief is that sanctification is never complete in this life. And then, of course, there is the question of the nature which Christ assumed in the Incarnation. Here Dr. Ford believes that Christ took the unfallen nature of Adam.
Q. Was the sanctuary cleansed in 1844?
A Cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary began in 1844 when Jesus our great High Priest entered the Most Holy. This cleansing has not yet ended. As A. T. Jones explained it, the sanctuary can never be cleansed as long as God's people keep sending sins up there. And so the stream of sins which flows into the sanctuary must be stopped at its source in the hearts and lives of the worshippers down here before the heavenly sanctuary can possibly be cleansed. This understanding of the sanctuary is explained by A. T. Jones in his book, The Consecrated Way To Christian Perfection, beginning with page 115, where he discusses the question of the cleansing of the sanctuary. I suggest that you read this in order to get a clear understanding of the subject. This final cleansing of the hearts of the people of God will be accomplished when this message of Christ's Righteousness is preached into all the world under the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Q. What is hell?
A. Most of the time when using this word the Bible is talking about the grave. There is no suggestion that the word refers to a place of continuous torment as is so popularly promoted.
Q. What is your thinking on the Ellen White quotations which tell us that some among the wicked will burn longer than others?
A. Something of the sort is said about that. I will have to confess that I do not understand the statement completely. I am sure that the Lord's messenger is not trying to give the impression that God is some kind of tyrant who will enjoy roasting some people longer than others in order to extend their suffering. It has something to do with the mind which has turned against God, resisting surrender, and now is consumed with guilt. Somehow Satan will live long enough through all this suffering to see the final outcome of all that he has done in his rebellion against God, until he himself will acknowledge on bended knee that God was right and just in all His doings. This will be God's final vindication. So thorough a work will God do in bringing about His ultimate vindication that sin will never arise again.
Q. Are the 144,000 the same as the first fruits?
A. The text reads: "These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Revelation 14:4, last part). Therefore the answer is Yes. The entire passage suggests to me that the 144,000 are those who are translated without seeing death at the Second Coming of Christ. I also believe that the number is not literal but figurative, because the entire context is a figurative one.
Q. I have frequently been given this picture of Christ pleading for us before his heavenly Father. does this mean that god loves us less than Jesus does?
A. No, it does nor mean that at all. The Godhead is One in love for the human race. Remember, "God so loved the world that He gave ... " As Christ suffered for us on the cross the Farher was there suffering with Him, but was unable to reveal Himself because Christ had to drink the "cup" to its last bitter dregs.
Q. Is it not true that Satan claims that we are not worthy to be saved, while Jesus defends us and pleads his blood on our behalf, not to convince god, but the on looking universe, that he has a right to take us from this sin-cursed earth into the kingdom of god?
A. That's about it. The unfallen beings of God's kingdom have a right to be guaranteed that their love and loyalty to God will not be jeopardized by the introduction into the kingdom of God of people who were at one time fallen in sin. The Investigative Judgment is a process by which Jesus establishes that He has the right to take once-fettered men and women from a sin-cursed planet into the unfallen kingdom. Remember, the Investigative Judgment is not "nail-biting time" for God's people. It is a time of "vindication."
Q. Please explain James 1:6-8.
A. The text reads: "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." This text warns us against a lack of faith in our prayers. Bur there is also a delicate theological problem here. We may pray in faith, "nothing wavering," but what we pray for may not be the best for us. And so we pray "Nevertheless, may Thy will be done." Then, when our prayers do not produce the desired result, we say, "It was not the Lord's will," when in fact the problem may have been our lack of faith! Trying to distinguish between the two is not always easy! We should pray for strong faith, bur I also feel that we should always be willing to yield to the will of God.
Q What does Paul mean when he says he dies daily? Is it to sin?
A. Essentially, yes. I believe that Paul is trying to lay emphasis on the vital truth of justification. "The just shall live by his faith," he says, quoting Habakkuk 2:4. We have learned that justification by faith is when we contemplate the cross and ate so moved through an appreciation of that sacrifice that we "die to sin." Our sin-hardened hearts are melted, broken, and sin becomes hateful to us. This experience must be continuous, daily, and this, I believe, is what the apostle is telling us.
Q To say that it is hard to be lost and easy to be saved is indeed true when one is converted, but can it be applied to the person who has rejected Christ?
A. According to what A. T. Jones tells us it is as easy, under grace, to do right as it is easy, under the reign of sin, to do wrong. When someone rejects Christ I would say that he puts himself under the reign of sin. And in this case he finds it easy to do wrong, but hard to do right. The man in this position can turn from his wicked way and turn to Christ, in which case he puts himself under the reign of grace, and then, of course, he will find it easy to do right. And we can also say that the man who is outside of Christ, because of his rejection of Him, can still find it easy to be saved if he will but believe and return to the fold.
Q. According to the title of one of your presentations, that it is hard to be lost but easy to be saved, I would conclude that this is true for everyone, but you showed one quote which implied that it is easier to be lost than to be saved.
A. This is similar to our previous question. Let's take a look at the exact words of the 1888 messenger, A. T. Jones. There are several such statements, but let me take this one from the Review and Herald of July 25, 1899: " ... When the power of sin is broken, and grace reigns, then grace reigns against sin, and beats back all the power of sin. So it is as literally true that under the reign of grace it is easier to do right than to do wrong, as it is true that under the reign of sin it is easier to do wrong than to do right." A. T. Jones made several statements very much like this one. The answer to your question is clear from what he said. The difference is whether sin reigns or grace reigns.
Q. When Jesus said, "my yoke is easy," was he not referring only to those who believed in him?
A. Of course, but unless you believe, you won't take His yoke.
What Jesus said is true, regardless. His yoke is easy, whether one believes or not. And once a man believes, and takes Christ's yoke upon himself, he will find that it is easy.
Let me add something here that might make things a little clearer. It has to do with faith and works. Let's go through a little drill. We all believe that we are saved by grace through faith. That's Ephesians 2:8. Would you say that we are saved by grace through works? Of course not? How many of you believe that we are saved by grace through faith all by itself? Some of you do. How many of you believe that we are saved by grace through faith and works? Quite a number. This difference of opinion points up our problem. Here is where we have been bogged down for more than a hundred years. Once we say that we are saved by grace through faith and works we are saying that each contributes something to our salvation: faith 50% and works 50% perhaps, or faith 90% and works 10%, or faith 99% and works 1 %, or whatever. The truth is that works do not contribute one tiny iota to our salvation.
The best way to say it is the Bible way: we are saved by grace through faith which works. Read Galatians 5:6: Faith which works by love (agápè). When the word "works" is a noun, we have it wrong, but when it is a verb, we have it right.
Let us suppose, as an illustration, that there is a man in a little boat floating down the Niagara River and heading for the falls. I understand that there is a point called the "point of no return" beyond which one cannot be saved. Let us say that this boat is nearing this point. A man on the shore has a rope in his hand and a strong arm, and calls to the man in the boat, and shouts, "You're going over the falls. Grab this rope and I'll pull you out to safety." So he throws the rope, it snakes over the river and across the boat, the man in the boar takes hold of the rope, braces his feet against the side of the boat, and is pulled to safety. This is the way I used to illustrate the way Christianity works. But I do not use it any more. And why not? Simply because, in this illustration, the man who is being rescued has to contribute quite a bit of his own effort to being rescued. We have works by the man on the shore, and works by the man in the boat. So this does nor really illustrate Christianity?
To illustrate Christianity more correctly, let us say the man in the boat continues to float down the river, oblivious to his danger. On the shore stands a man who sees the danger, calls to the man in the boat, and shouts, "You're going to go over the falls. Hold on and I will try to save you." And so the man on the shore, who, shall we say, is a very strong swimmer, dives into the river and swims toward the boat. When he reaches the boat he takes hold of it and, with powerful leg strokes, moves the boat toward the shore and safety. This is how Christianity works.
Now some would be tempted to say, "Well, if that is the case, you are saying that nobody can be lost." Not at all. Let us take the same illustration just a little further. Suppose that as the would-be rescuer gets close to the boat, the man in the boat says to himself, "Honestly, it has actually gotten to the place where a man cannot even go for a boat-ride on a Sunday afternoon without some clown sticking his nose into someone else's business." And so, as the would-be rescuer nears the boar, the man picks up an oar and whacks him over the head, and says, "Now go away, and mind your own business!"
Friend, that is the only way anyone can be lost. He has to beat God our of his life. And that is not easy! God's love for human beings is so great that He continues to plead, year after year, for the sinner to repent, until at last, when the case is hopeless, God has to give up, His heart filled with sorrow! It's hard to be lost, really. The fact that so many will be lost at last does nor change that. To be lost is still hard. Being saved, that's easy! Incredible' Perhaps. Good news' Absolutely!
Remember now, genuine faith will always produce good works. It is impossible for genuine faith not to produce good works. But those works which are the result of faith do not contribute the tiniest particle to our salvation.
Ellen White makes a statement to the effect that while we cannot be saved by our works, we cannot be saved without our works. To many this sounds like one of those "no win" situations which we encounter all too often. And yet it is not hard to understand. The works, as we have said, even the good works of faith, do not contribute anything to our salvation, but if the works are not there, that shows that genuine faith, through which God saves us, is not there either. So the works must be in evidence, and in abundance, to prove the genuineness of the faith which produces them, but at the same time they contribute nothing to our salvation. The works merely show whether the faith is genuine (see Christ's Object Lesson, p. 312).
Love, agápè, is what motivates us, the agápè of the cross poured out for each one of us. And faith is a heart appreciation of the love which God revealed on the cross of Calvary. This is true New Testament faith. "A true sense of the sacrifice and intercession of the dear Saviour will break the heart that has become hardened in sin; and love, thankfulness, and humility will come into the soul" (Testimonies fir the Church, vol. 4, p. 625).
And here is the power of the cross, the power of the Gospel. As the great apostle tells us, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." Our work is to tell this to the people of earth. Remember, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. This is the good news we have been commanded to take to the hungering multitudes of earth.