Tag / plan of salvation

by In Light Of The Cross

Where is the Most Holy Place?

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

 

Where is the most holy place? Is it a building on earth or in heaven? Or is it somewhere else?

While I was a child living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a tornado hit the surrounding area where I lived. Among the destruction was a Methodist church. That night on the news, I remember the Methodist pastor, saying in an interview, “The building has been destroyed but the church is just fine.” The pastor realized the church is not the building. The church is the people. As we study the sanctuary this quarter, that is a very important point to keep in mind. For example the climax of Christ’s ministry as our High Priest is not when the heavenly sanctuary building is cleansed, but when our hearts are cleansed!

In John 14 there is a wonderful promise that contains more than what appears on the surface.

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”John 14:1-3 NLT

The rooms Jesus is talking about are called “dwelling places” or “living rooms.”

In Exodus 25:8 God says,

“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”

The whole purpose of a sanctuary is so that God can live right with us. Now if Jesus were speaking of literal rooms in John 14, the question would be what is taking Him so long? He created the world in six days. Surely it does not take Him two thousand years to build literal living rooms. However, if He is preparing a place where He can live right with us, then He is not only preparing a place made of rocks and mortar. Yes, there are literal mansions prepared for us in heaven, but that is not what is taking Jesus two thousand years. What is taking so long is that He is working with hearts of stone, preparing those stony hearts to become a temple, a sanctuary where He can live right inside of us. So that we can always live and be right where Jesus is!

Seventh-day Adventists understand there is a literal sanctuary in heaven.Hebrews 8:1-2. We tell people that the earthly sanctuary was just symbolic of the heavenly sanctuary. True, but here is the catch. While both the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries are literal sanctuaries, they are both symbolic. The earthly sanctuary points to the work Jesus is doing in the heavenly sanctuary, while the heavenly sanctuary points to the work that Jesus is doing, not in a building, but in our hearts! Remember the wise Methodist preacher making a distinction between the building and the church? The church is not a building, it is a people. Likewise we must make the distinction between the building and the sanctuary. We are the sanctuary Jesus is ministering in and wants to cleanse for His eternal living area.

From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator. Because of sin, humanity ceased to be a temple for God. Darkened and defiled by evil, the heart of man no longer revealed the glory of the Divine One. But by the incarnation of the Son of God, the purpose of Heaven is fulfilled. God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart of man becomes again His temple……

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17. No man can of himself cast out the evil throng that have taken possession of the heart. Only Christ can cleanse the soul temple.  –Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Page 161  

All that Jesus is accomplishing in the heavenly sanctuary He wants to accomplish in our hearts.

In the courtyard is where the altar was for the sacrifice. This is where the act of justification took place. This is also to take place in our hearts.

Justification takes place when I live a perfect life in Jesus. Jesus counts Hisperfect life as my perfect life, thus saving me from the penalty of sin which is death. Justification is my title to heaven. See Romans 5:10 andEphesians 2:8-9.

Now while the altar in the courtyard is symbolic of the cross, many people say everything was accomplished and completed at the cross. Whoa! While the provision of a sacrifice was completed at the cross, the sanctuary does not end with the courtyard, where the sacrifice was provided. There are more exciting things to come.

When the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with the sword, out flowed blood and water. The blood was for our justification which took place inside the courtyard. The water was for our cleansing and sanctification.

The laver or wash basin in the earthly sanctuary was between the altar of sacrifice and the entrance to the holy place. So sanctification comes after the cleansing of justification. Jesus wants our hearts to be sanctified.

Revelation 10:7 NLT refers to the cleansing of the sanctuary and tells us God’s mysterious plan will be revealed. Iniquity is a mystery in how it developed inside a perfect angelic heart like Lucifer’s. This quarter we will be studying how the sanctuary reveals God’s mysterious plan of removing sin from human hearts.

Sanctification takes place as Jesus lives His victorious life in us. Thus we are being saved from sin by the power of God as He Himself writes His law of love in our hearts. By living in us, God is transforming us and preparing us for heaven. See Ephesians 3:19 and Colossians 1:27.

Just to make sure we understand; justification is me in Jesus. Sanctification is Jesus in me. This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” John 15:4 NLT Remaining in Christ is our justification. Christ remaining in us is our sanctification. Justification is our title to heaven and the salvation from the penalty of sin. Sanctification is our fitness for heaven and the salvation from the power of sin.

Now we enter the final compartment, which is the most holy place. This room is filled with the glory of God. Jesus represented the sanctuary where the Father dwelt in Him. Jesus’ humanity was the veil that kept us from being destroyed by His glory. Jesus wants us to share in His glory instead of being destroyed by it.

And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.Romans 8:30 NLT

Glorification is when Jesus saves us from the presence of sin. Those who love God and life will live in paradise, never again seeing the results or consequences of sin. See Revelation 21:1-4.

Jesus does not want to justify a courtyard; He wants to justify our hearts. Jesus does not want to cleanse the holy place of a building. He wants to cleanse our hearts. He does not want to live in the last compartment of the sanctuary building. He wants our hearts to be the most holy place so He can live right with us for all eternity!

Once Christ’s ministry as our High Priest has been completed, the sanctuary on earth and tabernacle in heaven will no longer be the most holy place. The most holy place will be right inside the hearts of the redeemed!

The mystery of iniquity is how did Lucifer’s heart, which was so perfect become so polluted with sin? God’s mysterious plan is to make our sinful hearts holy. And by the gospel presented in the sanctuary, not only do our sin polluted hearts become purified and become a holy place. They become the most holy place.

You may study this quarter’s SS lesson on the sanctuary here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Sequential Evangelism and Witnessing:

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

For a video presentation of the Gospel click here.

Our key thought for this week’s SS lesson is, “In all evangelism and witnessing, it is important that we first present the simple truth of the gospel.”  Is this true in the last days with so many pressing issues confronting the church and world, as Bible prophecies reach their climax? Yes it is!

“More people than we think are longing to find the way to Christ. Those who preach the last message of mercy should bear in mind that Christ is to be exalted as the sinner’s refuge. Some ministers think that it is not necessary to preach repentance and faith; they take it for granted that their hearers are acquainted with the gospel, and that matters of a different nature must be presented in order to hold their attention. But many people are sadly ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation; they need more instruction upon this all-important subject than upon any other.” – Evangelism, Pages 185-186

With this in mind, I would like to share with you the same Gospel presentation that I have been sharing with people for almost 20 years now.  I encourage you, if you don’t already have a Gospel  presentation chain referenced in your Bible to chain reference this one.

If you choose to chain reference your Bible, you can write in the back of your Bible somewhere:

“Gospel Presentation   GP 1 John 5:13”  Gospel Presentation for the name of the study and “GP” for the abbreviation we will be using as we continue chain referencing the study. 1 John 5:13 is our first verse. At each verse just write nearby, “GP,  the key thought or question (can be abbreviated) for each verse followed by the next verse you will go to.”  Okay let’s go to our first verse now.

Key Question:  “If Jesus were to come today would you be saved?”

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.  1 John 5:13

God wants us to know we are saved. He does not want us, wondering or hoping, but knowing that we have eternal life. We have done nothing to earn this, but then again, what did the angels do to earn their place in heaven? Nothing! They were just created there. Before and after sin and the cross, life has always been a free gift and always will be.

Key Question: “If you were to stand before God and He asked you why He should allow you into His kingdom what would you say?” Please assure your Bible student that this is a hypothetical question. God wants you in His kingdom and won’t be saying, “Why should I let you in?” He wants you in!

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

I like to share that if I was asked that question, I would just point to Jesus and say “Ask Him?” Jesus would then explain that He was treated the way I deserve to be treated so I may be treated the way He deserves to be treated.

“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His.” Desire of Ages, page 25

Key Thought: “Why do I need grace?”

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23

Key Thought: “What are the wages of sin?

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 6:23

I like to share right here, that the wages of sin is not eternal torment in hell. John 3:16 says those who believe shall not perish instead of being tormented for all eternity.

Key Thought: “What is sin.” Important to know since sin causes death.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  1 John 3:4

Good news is, it is not a sin to be human or tempted. It is a sin to willfully and knowingly break God’s law. Obviously the law is still in effect. If there was no law I could not break God’s law and sin, and therefore I would not need grace. The fact that I need grace shows there is still a law.

Now if I run a red light just one time I deserve a ticket. Likewise one sin is all it takes for me to deserve death. This leads us to Romans 5:10,19

Key Thought: “How does God deal with the fact that I don’t have a prefect life to offer?”

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  Romans 5:10

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  Romans 5:19

I am not only saved by His death. I am also saved by His life! His life stands in the place of my life. Again, Jesus was treated as we deserve so we can be treated as he deserves.

Key Thought: “Jesus takes our sins and gives us His righteousness.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus took the punishment for my sins in which He had no share, so that I may have the reward of His righteousness in which I had no share. Jesus was treated the way I deserve to be treated so I may be treated the way He deserves to be treated.

Key Thought:  “Jesus gives us eternal life and then helps us to hate the sins we now love and to love the good things we now hate.”

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.  1 Peter 2:24

If you are chain referencing your Bible, you will want to write “GP End” by 1 peter 2:24 so that you know this is the last verse and you don’t need to look for a next verse.

You want to ask the person you share this with to accept Jesus as their Savior. God already accepts them, the question is, will they accept God? Ephesians 1:6

Prayer: “Dear Jesus thank you for be treated the way I deserve to be treated so I may be treated the way you deserve to be treated. Thank you for dying for my sin so I may have the reward of your righteousness. Thank you for coming into my heart and giving me eternal life, and now please help me to love the good things I once hated and to hate the sins I once loved. In Jesus’ name Amen.”

May I suggest that if you are sharing this in someone’s home that you politely excuse yourself right after the prayer? This way they are left with the study and prayer lingering in their heart and mind instead of small talk after the study.

by In Light Of The Cross

Redemption in Romans, Lesson 12

I am writing tonight from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

This week’s  SS Lesson covers Romans 12 and 13. Romans 12:19 reads, “…avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” A while back I was reading this and I saw it in a light I had not seen before. When God says “I will repay” could He mean not so much that He will pay the offender back for his wrong, but even more so that God Himself will repay the offended party what the offender owes them?  In the plan of salvation we see that *Jesus was treated the way we deserve to be treated so we may be treated the way Jesus deserves to be treated. Has it dawned on us that Jesus was also treated the way our enemy deserves to be treated so that we can now treat our enemy the way Jesus deserves to be treated? When we do that, we can expect God to pay us back what our enemy owes us, and just go on treating our enemy the way we would treat Jesus.

 

* Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” – Desire of Ages, p. 25

You may find more studies and devotionals at In Light of The Cross.