IN DEPTH STUDYMORRIS VENDEN AND THE NEW OBEDIENCE 2SECTION
FOUR SOLVING
THE SIN PROBLEM NATURE OF SURRENDER THE
CROSS SYMBOLIZES THAT WE CAN'T SURRENDER "He
invites us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). He uses
the cross, the crucifixion, as a symbol to teach us that we cannot,
surrender ourselves; we must allow God to do the work for us. And He is
willing and able to bring us to the point of surrender if we will allow
Him to do so."- TKG, 40.' WRONG
SURRENDERING "We
can only live by faith, and by faith only, because of our very nature.
Surrender. Surrender! . . Now here is where we come to a major snag. In
the Christian religion we have gotten the idea that surrender was
surrender of giving up things. So a person gives up His smoking, drinking,
and dancing; and only strong people can do that much, and they get the
impression that they have surrendered. When if they gave up these things
apart from submitting, they gave up these things apart from submitting
themselves to Christ, then they did it in their own strength and what they
call surrender could be an escape from real surrender. . This is the
problem of laodicea: a church full of people who have given up things, and
thought they had surrendered, when they did it themselves! "What
is real surrender, then? It is giving up the idea that I can do anything
at all towards giving up my smoking, drinking, dancing, even if I give up
the external manifestation of them, -inside I'm still the same. Jesus says
that if you push out one devil, and that devil will come back and bring
more with him."-3 AUC CM. [Morris
believes that we are only legalists when we try to give up bad habits,
because of our inborn nature: We are not able to give up bad things and do
right things, so we should not try to do so.] HANGING
ONTO SOMETHING TO DO "It
very hard to get away from God, but often we will try everything we can,
every maneuver and escape, trying to outrun Him. And in all cases, we are
really running away from the same thing-self-surrender. We're trying to
escape that moment of truth in which we are faced with the realization
that we are incapable of handling life and the things of eternity. Our
pride and ego make it very difficult for us to give up on ourselves. Our
humanistic hearts prefer the 'do-it-yourself' religion in which we rely
on our abilities and inner resources. We want to hang onto something that
we can do; so we invent all sorts of ways to escape from
self-surrender." -MCR, 44. THE
WRONG ROUTE TO SALVATION "There
is an even more subtle way to run from God, however, one that we are not
always aware of or willing to admit. After we realize our need of God, we
may still balk at the idea of self-surrender. So we try to make up our own
routes to salvation. We take the initiative in the search, thinking
ourselves capable of finding Him. "Many
of us work on behavioral changes -something tangible to do. We analyze
ourselves, trying to seek God through self-realization, using the
psychological approach without God as its center and without Christ as
foremost. We try to give up our sinful practices and habits, our evil
associations, our wickedness. If we manage to succeed in modifying our
behavior, if we succeed in being good, moral people, then we think we've
found God."-MCR, 46. NO
ABILITY "The
final step in coming to Christ is the hardest of all, and it is at this
point that many of us start running again. We must acknowledge that we
have no ability to 'change ourselves. 'Although God is running after us,
He can't help us until we are are at the point of great need." -MCR,
48. ONLY
ONE THING . . ""There
are many ideas as to what constitutes coming to Christ, but the truth is
that coming to Christ involves nothing more or less than coming to His
Word and to prayer. . So everything in living the Christian life
eventually boils down to one thing -the personal relationship with
Christ."-MCR, 58, 59. THE
OPPOSITE OF DAILY SURRENDER "When
I determined to surrender my seven sins, I was actually a long way from
it. In fact, when I was fighting my faults, weaknesses, and problems, I
was doing just the opposite of genuine surrender."-MCR, 124. WHAT
IS SURRENDER? "
'Well,' says someone, 'then what is surrender?' "Surrender means
giving up the idea that we can do any thing at all except come to Christ
and seek a daily relationship with Him. It means giving up the idea that
we can do anything about our sins apart from Christ. Sin is stronger than
man's will power, whether: he is strong or whether he is weak. It is
useless for us to fight it. We must surrender ourselves! That's what Jesus
meant when He invited us to 'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest;' He
was appealing for us to give up the bad fight of sin and take up the good
fight of faith instead." MCR, 124. SURRENDER
IS GIVING UP THE IDEA "I'd
like to point out what surrender really is. Surrender is not giving up
things. Surrender is giving up the idea that I can do anything at all
about things, except one: to come to Christ just as I am. We must
surrender ourselves to Him."-FTW, 51. SURRENDERING
ON TRYING TO OBEY "[Story
of a woman who finally gave up smoking when she discovered how dangerous
it was.] No one ever surrendered to the other side while he still thought
he could win the war. Surrender comes only after all hope of winning is
gone. The reason why we have not surrendered in the first place, or not
stayed surrendered in the second place, is that our legalistic natures
keep rising to the top, and we keep hoping that perhaps if we fight a
little harder or a little longer, we can win by ourselves. Have you ever
come to the end of your rope on a particular problem, turned it over to
God, and experienced victory that comes as a gift from Him?"-GN, 61. GIVE
UP WHAT
WE GIVE UP WHEN WE SURRENDER "The
word surrender means 'giving up.' What do we give up? We give up on us! We
give up on the idea that we can do anything at all about our condition,
except one -come to Christ just as we are. And Christ loves to have us
come to Him just as we are. In fact, that's the only way we can come. We
can never become better through our own efforts. We must come just as we
are. The detour that many people take on this step is to try to give up
things instead of self. We try to give up our smoking and drinking and
gambling. We have the idea that the Christian life is based on how many
things one can give up. If surrender means to give up the idea that we can
do anything at all apart from Christ, then for the strong person the
giving up of things can become a sidetrack for giving up self." TKG,
38.39. [Yes,
we give up self. But in order to remain with Him, we must also give up our
sins. Two points here: (1) Venden's use of the concept
"surrender" is life-long, not just at the beginning, so- (2) he
does not believe or teach that it is ever necessary to surrender sin-any
sin-in order to remain with Christ through the years ahead. God takes care
of that.] GIVE
UP ON OVERCOMING BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT "We
fluctuate back and forth between surrender to God and trying to manage
things on our own. What will finally happen is that we will run out of
time. For those who are absolutely locked in on the relationship with
Christ but who have run out of time in learning how to be overcomers,
there is only one alternative left. It's the alternative God has been
trying to bring us to all along-it's to give up. Completely.
Forever."-GN, 61, 62. ONLY
ACCEPT ALL
WE DO IS COME "We
are all invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and all we have to do
is accept the invitation. Jesus paid it all, and the friendly arms of the
cross still point the way to the heavenly country. When Jesus bowed His
head and died on Calvary, He purchased the right to forgive everyone ever
born in this world who will accept His forgiveness. We are all invited to
the wedding. There is nothing that we can add to what Jesus has already
done."-JSAP, 9. MY
ONLY CONCERN "My
only concern is my rejection or acceptance of the plan of salvation that
God has provided to answer the sin problem." -MCR, 10. HOW
SIN IS OVERCOME HOW
TO OVERCOME KNOWN SIN "Although
we will never claim to be without sin, we still have the opportunity
available today to overcome known sin; it is possible, it is necessary, it
is our privilege, and it is God's purpose for us. . How do we go about it
then -overcoming known sin? And how long does it take? I suppose that we
could join the ranks of the strong person at this point and say, 'Well, if
you know it's sin, just quit!' But the weak person says, I've tried, and I
can't quit.' The strong person replies, 'You could if you were really
sincere in wanting to quit.' And thus the weak person is given the
additional burden of being considered insincere, as well as sinful. . If
you follow this through to its logical conclusion, then you don't become
involved in an effort to keep from sinning, either. Your attention is not
on your behavior, any more than your attention is on trying to make
yourself have faith. You look totally to Jesus, in the faith relationship
with Him, and the rest comes as a matter of course."-ROE, 99,100,101. STEPS
IN OVERCOMING SIN "1.
The first condition for overcoming known sin is to admit and acknowledge
the thing to be sin. No one else can do that for me. . 2. The second
condition for overcoming known sin is to realize our helplessness to do
anything at all about it -except for one: give up. Give up what? Give up
on ourselves and on any thought that we can do anything about our sin
problem at all except come to Jesus, just as we are. . 3. The third
condition for overcoming know sin is to find out how to engage in the
right fight and to fight the battle where the battle is, instead of where
the battle isn't. . If you are trying to overcome in your own flesh, in
your own strength, there's going to be nothing but weakness. . 4. The
fourth condition for overcoming known sin is to realize that the faith
relationship insists on service and outreach. . 5. Another major point in
the conditions for overcoming known sin is to know that God justifies. .
6. Another condition is to know how to abide in Christ-not only to go to
Him in the first place and turn over my problems to Him, but to stay
there. . It is talking about learning to trust Him power and His strength
instead of our own power and strength. We cannot accomplish this-only the
Spirit can accomplish it for us.. We cannot rid ourselves of
self-dependence. We can only consent for Christ to do the work. . 7. In
order to experience and understand victory over known sin, we must know
God's loving presence-His loving presence. . 8. And finally, the last
condition for overcoming sin is to realize what sin does to Jesus.
"-ROE, 101, 102, 103, 106,107,108,109. NO
TEMPTATION SUCCESSFUL IN CHRIST THOSE
IN CHRIST NOT SUCCESSFULLY TEMPTED "It
wouldn't work for Satan to come to one who is abiding in Christ and tempt
him to break one of the commandments. Sin is repulsive to the one who is
abiding in Christ. So Satan comes instead with whatever will get our
attention off Jesus. It is only through abiding in Christ and keeping our
eves fixed upon Him that we have victory."-FTW, 204. [Venden's
concept here is that once one has entered a consistent relationship with
Christ, temptations no longer have any appeal and he has full, effortless
victory over sin. But elsewhere, Morris wavers on this point, and tells us
that we may have more temptations and fall more frequently once we are
maintaining a regular worship relationship with Christ, and that we must
patiently wait for God to come to the point where He sees it best to put
away our sins for us.] PEACE
NO OBEDIENCE WITHOUT PEACE "Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ, and
it is peace that enables us to even talk about obedience. If we don't have
the peace already, it is pointless to talk about obedience. Now there is
something else: It is this peace of total acceptance by God, just as we
are, that frees us for obedience."-S AUC CM. VICTORY
BY PEACE "We
do not get peace by getting victory; we get victory by getting peace.
That's a switch -Just the reverse. How many of us have wasted countless
years in time and effort trying to get to the place where we can have
peace, by obeying good enough, by enough victory, by enough transformation
of character."-5 AUC CM. INCOMPATIBLE
BELIEFS HOW
CHANGED "We
are transformed by grace, through the continuing relationship with
Christ-not through our own struggles and resolutions and efforts in
fighting sin and the devil. For a long time in the Christian faith, many
have held two incompatible beliefs: on the one hand, that we can keep
God's commandments, that we can overcome, that we can have victory over
sin; and on the other hand, that we need God's help."- TKG, 96. [Truth:
We are transformed by the relationship-and, by grace working in us to
strengthen us to resist temptation and obey. Truth: We can keep the
commandments of God WITH His help. Truth: We can overcome sin in His
strength, even though He asks that we do our part in the effort to resist
and obey.] RIGHTEOUSNESS HOW
TO HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS "When
we come to understand that we are sinful by nature and what it is that
causes sin in the first place, we can better understand the need for
knowing God. Righteousness is never an entity in itself. It comes only
with Jesus. When I accept Jesus as my Saviour, my Lord, and my Friend, I
have all of His righteousness, because His righteousness comes with
Him."-TKG, 26. [This
is most excellent in regard to coming to Christ and receiving His robe of
righteousness. But when linked with Venden's other concept, that having
arrived we need never try to obey Him till the day of our death, for God
will take care of that, -then we find ourselves with a righteousness by
relationship apart from any connection with our behavior. And this is what
Venden repeatedly teaches.] JUSTIFICATION
THE ONLY BATTLEFRONT "Christians
usually think that there are two battlefronts: the bad fight of sin and
the good fight of faith, and we often try to fight both at the same time.
Is this what God wants us to do? "The
apostle Paul tells us that 'to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned
of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness'-Romans 4:4, 5." -MCR, 123. RIGHTEOUSNESS-NOT
RIGHT-DOING BUT A GIFT "Righteousness
has to be defined in terms of something more than right doing! I've found
only one satisfactory definition for the ultimate of righteousness, and
it's found in a person [Christ]. . It is a gift that we can only receive
when we come to Him. If we seek it apart from Him, we will never find it,
for righteousness comes only to those who seek Jesus instead. "Usually
we think that sin, being the opposite of righteousness, is 'wrong doing:
but if righteousness is Jesus, then sin becomes separation from Him. Sin
is doing or being anything, regardless how good or bad it may be, apart
from the faith relationship with Christ."-MCR, 125, 1,26. RIGHTEOUS
BUT SINNERS "Now
does the righteousness of Christ make us righteous? Have you heard that
one? Are we declared righteous or made righteous? Does it make us
righteous? . . The fact that Jesus was 'made sin for us never made Him a
sinner. Now I'll reverse it. The fact that we are made righteous in Him
never makes us righteous."-4 AUC CM. RIGHTEOUSNESS
TRAPS "What
is righteousness? We have some stock answers that we like to give. One of
them is that righteousness is right doing. That's true. You can find an
inspired-statement to that effect. But let's not miss all the rest of
them, too. Sometimes we become experts at taking sentences out of context
and forgetting the rest. If righteousness is nothing more than right
doing, then all you would have to do to become righteous would be to do
what's right. Do you see the trap? Someone else says that righteousness is
conformity to the will of God. That's true and you can find an inspired
statement for that. But there's also a trap there. You can be led, if
you're not careful, to the idea that all you have to do is conform to the
law of God."-FTW, 89.' OBEDIENCE
NEVER PRODUCES RIGHTEOUSNESS "Obedience
to the law can never produce righteousness."- TP,47. THE
CHRISTIAN WARFARE DON'T
TRY; IT'S ALREADY WON "
'But,' you will ask, does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and
warfare, and a fight?' Yes, it certainly does. 'Are we not told that we
must strive to enter in?' We surely are. 'Well, what then?' Only this,
that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to
strive.. assumed the responsibility of trying to win what He had already
won for me. This led me into failure."-SBF 109, 110. WHERE
HUMAN EFFORT IS TOTALLY USELESS "This
is one of the most important truths in understanding how to live the
Christian life. It is essential to realize where our human effort must be
directed, and where our human effort is totally useless. We are told that
if we will fight the fight of faith with all our willpower, we will
conquer. . This fight of faith is the only fight for the Christian spoken
of in the Bible. As we direct our energies and efforts toward that, Jesus
will fight sin and the devil for us as He has' promised to
do."-FTW,194. DELIBERATE
EFFORT ALL
THE DELIBERATE EFFORT "I'd
like to propose to you that this is where all the deliberate effort in
the Christian life must be centered. All of it. I don't spend part of my
time and effort on trying to be good and part of it on the relationship
with God. I put all my deliberate effort toward spending time with God,
and through the experience of faith and dependence upon Him, He does the
rest of the work of salvation in me."- TKG, 48. ONLY
TOWARD FELLOWSHIP "So
the deliberate effort in the Christian life is always and only toward
fellowship with Jesus, toward abiding in the Vine. It is never toward
producing the fruits of righteousness." - TKG, 107-108.. FIGHTING
FOR A CORNER "Have
you ever found that coming to Christ on a daily basis is hard work? It is
often that way. You'll have to admit that Paul used the right language
when he called it a fight, 'the good fight of faith' (1 Tim. 6:12). It
isn't always easy to keep a corner of your day reserved for one-to one
communion with God."-TKG,110. ONLY
ONE DELIBERATE EFFORT "Because
true obedience can only result from a faith relationship with Jesus, we
channel all our deliberate effort in living the Christian life toward
maintaining this relationship." -OOF.39. CHARACTER CHARACTER-NOT
BASED ON BEHAVIOR "Venden:
I have yet to find a clear definition of 'character' by the same author.
I've been looking for along time. . On the basis of my study of her [E.G.
White's] writings, my understanding of perfection of character has to be
in terms of relationship, rather than behavior."-TTI-1. 7-8. INVOLVEMENT
GETTING
INVOLVED IS FIGHTING GOD "There
are two ways to fight God. One way is to say, 'I don't believe in God. I
have no use for Him, no time for Him.' So I don't go to Him. There is a
more subtle way that is just as effective. That is to go to 'God with the
thought that God helps those who help themselves. I take my problems to
Him, but I don't leave them with Him. Instead I get myself mixed up in the
whole situation. . I come to God and I say, 'Now, God, I'd Iike to have
You do this and this for me.' But then I get myself all mixed up in the
operation. I'm trying to do part of it and trying to let God do part of
it, and in this confusion, the mixing of my own efforts with God's power,
comes defeat." -FTW, 52. COOPERATION MY
EFFORT WITH GOD'S POWER BRINGS DEFEAT "I
come to God and I say, 'Now, God, I'd like to have You do this and this
for me.' But then I get myself all mixed up in the operation. I'm trying
to do part of it and trying to let God do part of it. and in this
confusion, the mixing of my own efforts with God's power, comes
defeat."-FTW, 52. [This
is an extremely important topic. We are here discussing the principle of
Divine-human cooperation in the resistance of sin and obedience to His
Laws. "Cooperation" is a very strategic point in the Spirit of
Prophecy. Over the years I have been personally awed by the emphasis she
places upon it. We are to actively cooperate with God in the work of
coming to Him, fighting temptation, obeying His standards and laws,
helping others, and witnessing for Him. But Venden declares that we are
only to "cooperate" with Him in the act of coming to Him and
witnessing for Him-and in nothing else. Anything else than surrender is
termed "getting myself all mixed up in" God's work to remove sin
from my life apart from my willpower or personal choices.] HOW
WE ARE TO COOPERATE "How
much is nothing? It's nothing! It's not 50 percent: or 10 percent or even
1 percent. It's zero. There is no such thing as the subsidy form of
salvation. . You may say, 'But man is supposed to cooperate with God in
living the Christian life: Yes, but not in the way some of us have
understood. The cooperation is in admitting that by our own efforts we
can't overcome sin and obey God and in casting ourselves in helplessness
at His feet. The cooperation is in giving up on ourselves- that is, on
our self-sufficiency and self-effort. The cooperation is in realizing that
apart from: Him we can do nothing, in coming to Christ to let Him take
control of our lives and in trusting Him to do a work in us through the
Holy Spirit that we could never do for ourselves. That is where the
cooperation is!"-RET, 52. COOPERATE-ONLY
BY FINDING HIM 'But,'
someone says, 'isn't this kind of cooperation rather passive? Aren't we
talking here about sort of sitting back in our rocking chairs and watching
Christ do all the work?' .
"Every once in. a while someone gets the idea, when we talk about
living, the Christian life, that we are proposing an effortless religion.
And I'd like to clearly go on record as being opposed to the idea of a
passive, effortless religion. There is human effort involved in this
cooperation between God and man in overcoming sin and living a Christ like
life. But notice, if you will, the direction of that effort. "First
of all, it takes effort for me to come to Christ -to seek His presence and
power in my life. The devil doesn't worry about me as long as he sees me
struggling along on my own, making great efforts against sin and toward
righteousness. But when he sees me making efforts to connect with the
only real Source of power, he does everything he can to discourage or
divert me. So it takes real effort on my part-because of this determined
opposition -to seek God on a continuing basis. . And the proof that I
don't have the real thing is when I have to force myself to obey. . So
there is human effort involved in this work of cooperation with God. But
my effort is not toward trying to make myself good enough to save. . If I
am trying to work my way to heaven by my good deeds, my performance, my
behavior-then I am still trying to save myself. The only person who gives
glory to God in the work of the gospel is the one who depends upon Jesus
for all aspects of salvation:'-RET, 52,54,55. THE
GROWTH PROCESS THE GROWTH PROCESS "So
it's a process of growth. . It doesnt happen overnight. But as we
move more and more constantly into the stance of surrender, of total
abandonment of ourselves and our own ability, as we learn to distrust self
and trust in Him, we will obey -naturally and spontaneously -because we
have given up on our own abilities, and are relying on Him, who lives His
life in us."-OOF, 44, 45.. SOME
THINGS TO AVOID WORKING SIMPLY
ACCEPTING THEM "He
gives us rest from trying to earn our way to heaven, from our own attempts
to overcome sin and the devil, and from fighting the battles that Jesus
has promised to fight for us . . Remember that a gift is a gift. It is not
something you earn, merit, or pay for. You cannot work for one of God's
gifts. . Are there one or more of the gifts under this Christmas tree that
you have not yet received? Is it possible that it is because you still are
trying to work for them instead of simply accepting them?"- TCT, 5. GIVING
ATTENTION TO FRUIT "And
if you want righteousness, you don't work on righteousness; you put your
effort on knowing Jesus, who is righteous. If you want faith, if you want
love, you don't work on either; they are fruits of the Spirit:'-3 AUC CM. FAITH
PLUS WORK BRINGS IMPERFECT OBEDIENCE "Those
who believe it: sanctification by faith plus works can believe only in
imperfect obedience until Jesus comes. But those who believe in
sanctification by faith alone can believe that perfect obedience is
possible any time that they are depending upon Jesus instead of their own
power." AS, 7. DON'T
TRY WORKING 'Well,'
says someone, 'then how do I get over my problems?' "Accept
the fact that you can do nothing apart from Christ (John 15:5). This text
doesn't say that you can do 90% or 30% apart from Him, because it is
talking about man's inner nature, where all are equally helpless. We can
do nothing apart from Christ. "If
I want to give up my temper, I don't try working on my temper. I don't
even pray overly much about it, because it is possible, even in my
prayers, to fight the bad fight of sin; 'Lord help me today not to do
this, and this, and this: My attention is then on myself or things! "Instead,
I focus the attention on my relationship-on Him!"-MCR, 128. HE
DOESN'T NEED OUR HELP "God
said, 'You won't have to fight. The Lord will fight for you: And the first
thing they did was to begin scrapping with their enemies. They too had to
learn that God has the power to do what He's promised, and He doesn't need
our help to do what He has promised to do for us. Admitting our
helplessness to do it ourselves is the final step before coming to Him:'-FTW,
49. TRYING TRYING
HARD TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT "I
must teach you how to grow a healthy apple tree. An apple tree bears
apples because it is an apple tree, never in order to be one. A Christian
does what is right because he is a Christian, never in order to be one.
Many think the way to be a Christian is to try hard to do what's right.
That is not the way to be a Christian:'-3 AUC CM. TAKING
OVER OUR BATTLES "God
can only deliver us by taking over our battles for us:'-MCR,131. . YOU'LL
HAVE TO DO IT ALL "
'I do need You. I'll always be a sinner, and if You want me to live
victoriously, You'll have to do it ALL for me:'-MCR, 132. [Emphasis his.] NEVER
STAMPED OUT "The
principle and premise of the great theme of righteousness by faith is
that as Christ comes into the life, sin is crowded out by Him. It is not
stamped out by us."-MCR, 134. STOP
TRYING HARDER "We
must leave our battles against our sins, our problems, to Him. Here is one
of the hardest ideas for human beings to accept, probably because of
humanity's natural pride and self-sufficiency. We cherish the thought that
we can do more if we try harder:'-SBF, 77.. NEVER
FORCE YOURSELF TO OBEY "The
results of that saving faith -doing what's right, living a good life
(inwardly as well as outwardly) -are not coerced. Whenever I have to force
myself to obey by trying to conform to the principles of conduct in
Christian life, I am simply acknowledging that I'm an immature
Christian:'-SBF, 49. FIGHTING
AND TRYING "But
then he said that in sanctification, you've got to work really hard,
fighting the devil and trying hard to overcome sin and to obey God's
requirements. But if sanctification is the fruit, then it will be the
result of accepting justification:'-OOF,85. WHEN
THE OBEDIENCE BECOMES IMPERFECT. "To
whatever extent we are involved in trying to obey, to that degree will the
obedience be imperfect. The person who believes that perfect obedience is
possible through the grace of God, also recognizes that we must give up on
ourselves and let Christ dwell within. He concludes that obedience comes
by faith alone, plus or minus nothing. And if it is ever going to be a
perfect reality, it will have a result exclusively through God's
doing."-OOF, 61,' OVERCOMING OVERCOME-BY
NOT TRYING TO DO RIGHT "The
reason we've become so discouraged in trying to live the Christian life is
that we've never known how to overcome. We often talk about what we should
do, but people say, 'Yes, I've tried that, and it doesn't work.' "Eventually
the follower of Christ must give up trying to 'do what is right' in his
own power. He gives up on the idea that he can do, anything about his
life, except to go to God, because surrender has primarily to do with
self, not sins." -MCR,124. YOU
HAVE NO PART TO DO IN OVERCOMING, "It
didn't help my morale when I received a pamphlet describing, One
Hundred Sins That laodicea Must Repent Of.' It was discouraging! Is
fighting the bad fight of sin the plan that God has for each of us? "Someone
else told me, 'look, you don't realize how the victorious life is
obtained. Victory comes when you do your part and God does His. You have
enough will power to do part of it. You choose to be good with your will,
then you act with your will power in carrying out your choice. Do the best
you can, and God will make up the difference by removing the evil from
your heart.' "This
plan might be termed 'subsidy religion,' in which God would subsidize my
weak power, if I would do my 30%. But I didn't even have the will power to
do that much. If I was trying to overcome my temper, I was supposed to
make sure that I didn't slap my enemy. Then God would take the hate out of
my heart. But my backbone was like wet spaghetti -I couldn't even do my
part so that God could take the hate out of my heart. This 'subsidy'
program kept me frustrated, wondering just how far short I was falling
each time. "When
I tried harder to conquer my problems, I discovered it to be a fierce and
hopeless battle. If I had any time left over after fighting my sins, then
I'd read a verse or say a prayer to keep God happy, but usually after
hassling all of my problems, I didn't have enough time or energy to
bother. "I
found that it was possible to fight the devil so hard that I became more
like him."-MCR. 121. 122. ' THE
ONLY WAY TO RESIST THE DEVIL "
'Wait!' objects someone, 'You're describing "cheap grace," but
the Bible says that we have to fight.' "True.
But how do I fight the devil? He's stronger than I am. . The only way to
resist the devil is to turn the battle over to superior forces. The good
fight of faith is the effort to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has
sent."-MCR, 123, 124. RIGHT-DOING DOING
RIGHT TO BE A CHRISTIAN "An
apple tree bears apples because it is an apple tree; never in order to be
one. And a Christian does what is right because he is a Christian, never
in order to be one."-FTW, 97. LIVING
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE WRONG
TO ATTEMPT IT "These
Christians have been mis-instructed. It is wrong for a person to attempt
to live the Christian life. We are not asked to do so."-SBF, 40. RIGHT
THINGS WHEN
EVERYTHING RIGHT IS WRONG "But
the point is that anyone who is living a life apart from Jesus is going to
do whatever right things he does for wrong, self-centered reason."-
TKG, 22.', GOOD
WORKS MORALITY
IS WORTH NOTHING "
'Wait a minute!' someone objects. 'Isn't morality worth something? Maybe
it will lead me to God eventually.' . . Our good works will not bring us
to God. The law only shows us our sins so that we will seek God. [Good
works do not bring us to God, but sin does] . . The only legitimate
obedience in the Christian life comes as a spontaneous result of our
relationship with Christ. If being good by not being bad were our method,
then we would be operating our wills in the wrong way. God never intended
us to employ them toward being good. He wanted us to use them only toward
knowing Him."-SBF,52. ' MORALITY THE
COUNTERFEIT TO REAL MORALITY "Of
course it does not mean that a religious life will lead to immorality.
Actually, true spirituality is the only thing that will produce a
genuinely moral life. But the world has a substitute for real morality,
a counterfeit known as conformity to right conduct and principles."-SBF,
25-26. MORE
DANGERS FROM MORALITY "Morality
can come from all sorts of bad motives. We can put on a good performance
because we want others to think well of us, because we want to stay out of
jail, or even because we're just too afraid to do anything elseI" -FTW,
184. MORALITY
IS NOT CHRISTIANITY "We
are not against morality. Morality is worthwhile. .It will keep you out of
jail. It will keep you from getting traffic tickets. It will keep you from
lying in the gutter. But morality is not Christianity, and it will not get
you to heaven."-FTW,47.' NO
SALVATION IN OBEDIENCE "How
are we supposed to know whose side we're on? Certainly not by our
behaviour alone. . If the strongest person in the world, the one with the
greatest self-discipline, cannot really change his heart one iota, then
what benefits result from being moral? Certainly there are some, but
salvation is not one of them, and neither is being a Christian. Being
moral or outwardly good will never save a person, for it is possible for
some to achieve it without a relationship with God."-SBF, 28-29. THE
BURDEN OF HOLINESS NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE "AII
of us in every generation have struggled with the burden of holiness. And
at times there's not much difference between the burden of holiness and
the burden of sin." TKG, 99. WATCHING
"WATCH"-BUT
NOT TO RESIST SIN "It
is true that Jesus told us to watch and pray. But He wasn't talking
primarily about watching for temptations on specific things. We need to
watch that nothing will separate or keep us from God."-MCR, 163. RESISTING
THE DEVIL RESISTING
SATAN MAKES US LIKE HIM "Remember
that God never intended that our sin, our mistakes, or our problems should
obsess us. Have you ever tried so hard to go to sleep at night that you
have kept yourself awake? It's possible to fight Satan so strongly that
you become more like him."-SBF, 109. GOD
DOES NOT EXPECT US TO FIGHT SIN "I
wish that we could clearly understand where the battle takes place. The
Bible tells us to 'fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed, a good
profession before many witnesses' (1 Timothy 6:12). Are we supposed to
combat the enemy? Or do we engage in the fight of faith? Is there a
difference between the fight of faith and the fight of sin? . . "
'Oh,' says someone, 'wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say, "Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you"?' Yes, it does in James 4:7.
But how are we supposed to do it? By battling against sin and the devil?
No. By submitting to God, by waging the fight of faith. "The
fight of faith takes every ounce of energy, self discipline, and
willpower, every bit of human effort that we can muster. God does expect
us to engage in this battle, but He does not expect us to fight sin."
-SBF, 70,71. HEADING
DOWNWARD WHEN WE FIGHT SIN "If
we continue to seek to fight sin and the devil on our own, then our
direction will be downward. Anyone who does not have a continuing
relationship with the Lord Jesus, whether, he has once become a Christian
or not, is giving Satan control of his direction."-FTW, 199. [Obviously,
the words "on our own" makes the above quotation correct. But
Venden does not believe or teach that we should fight sin IN GOD'S,
STRENGTH either - We are told not to fight it at aII] RESISTING
SIN RESISTING
SIN CHEAPENS GRACE "'Let's
not cheapen God's grace and His plan by saying that He helps us grit our
teeth and struggle more diligently to be good through our own deliberate
efforts."-SBF, 65. GIVE
THAT UP "If
you have problems, seek Christ instead of concentrating on your
problems. I don't fight the bad fight of sin; I give that up and seek
Christ instead. God has promised to fight for us; He's already gained the
victory, and it's ours as a gift if we accept Him. Our fight is to seek
Him!" -MCR, 134, 135. THE
BAD FIGHT OF SIN "Unfortunately,
most of us immediately confuse the good fight of faith, or trust, with the
bad fight of sin. We think that fighting the good fight of faith consists
of trying hard to live a good life. The problem is that the strong person
who fights sin might outwardly succeed to some degree, but becomes proud
of his success, and also fails to see his need of God. On the other hand,
the weak person who tries to change his life by fighting sin doesn't even
outwardly succeed -and he becomes discouraged. Neither understands what
the fight of faith is all about."-MCR, 30. NO
BETTER OFF "While
some are better able to keep from doing bad things, they are actually no
better off than the weak people who are obviously suffering defeat in
their Christian experience."-MCR,31. THE
SUM AND SUBSTANCE "Although
the sum and substance of the Christian life is being acquainted with Jesus
each day, we often don't believe that It's that easy. The devil tries to
get us to work on 01,11' righteousness and our faith, and usually after
we've spent our time battling the enemy, we don't have any time, left over
for getting acquainted with Jesus:'-MCR, 79, 80. STOP
FIGHTING THE WAVES OF SIN "[Illustration
of waiting to rescue people from drowning till they are almost ready to go
under.] Did you know that the salvation of man is based upon the same
principle? We must come to the place where we are ready to stop fighting
the waves of sin. Jesus sees us floundering in the sea of life. We're
struggling, desperately trying to fight our sin, trying to overcome our
problems.' But the devil is stronger and smarter than we are. It doesn't
seem we'll ever get victory. Finally, when we have given up and are about
ready to sink forever, we admit that we can't make it. . "You
may wonder why God hasn't given you the power to overcome your sins.
Perhaps' you haven't yet reached the place where you realize your weakness
and helplessness: Perhaps you haven't learned what it means to surrender
to Him. "Most
of us realize the importance of 'surrender,' but we fail to understand
exactly what and how to give up. How easily our attention focuses on the
sins and the behavior. We usually think that righteousness in only 'right
doing' and that the way to do right is to stop sinning (doing
wrong)."-MCR, 119,120. TRYING
TO BE WHAT WE SHOULD BE "Isn't
this what we've usually done in our Christian experience? We know what we
should be like, and we often work on trying to be like that. Instead, we
should work on the cause of the goodness-the relationship. If my sins are
the result of separation from God, then I should seek to maintain the
close communion with God, and He will take care of my sins."-MCR,126.
. REFUSING
TO DO WRONG REFUSING
TO DO WRONG WE LOVE IS WRONG The
program that most of us have operated on at some time, at least, in our
Christian lives is this: we think we will always love sin, but we will
grit our teeth and stay away from it because we love God. The usual
concept in Christian circles is that in living the Christian life we
refrain from evil and do what is right because we love God, even though we
would like to do wrong. 'I love to dance. I always did. I probably always
will. But I won't do it, because I love Jesus. I love pork. Pork, was
always one of my favorites. I'd love to have some right now. But I've
given it up -that's my cross for Jesus, and I'll bear it for Him.'- I do
not believe that this is genuine 'obedience. . Yet how many of us have
wasted countless time and energy working on obedience, instead of seeking
to know God."-FTW,179. GIVING
UP SINFUL PRACTICES THE
GIVING UP THINGS GIMMICKS 'Well,"
says someone, 'we have to surrender all our sins and problems before we
can be righteous.' "So
we determine to give up these things. Have you ever tried it? One time I
became excited about living the victorious Christian life. I promised God
that I would surrender my evil habits. To accomplish this, I made a list
of seven major sins and resolved to work on them. The first sin on my list
was my ugly temper. The next day, I began trying to control my temper.
When I'd get angry, I counted to 10. Sometimes I succeeded in not slapping
my enemy, but as I counted to 10, my neck was red and the veins stood out,
my eyes were bulging, my stomach churned, and my fists were clenched.
Somehow this didn't sound like victorious living to me! . . .
"Someone told me that the real problem was with my thinking. I hadn't
learned to control my thinking. And because 'as a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he,' I needed to work on my thoughts. Have you ever tried
this one? . . 'Today I won't think about oops!- I just thought about it!'
. . "Finally
I reached the point where I felt I had overcome my temper; so I moved to
the next sin on my list. This time I was successful. I found I could get
rid of this sin easily, and I became proud of my own abilities.
Unfortunately, by the time I started working on no. 3, I discovered, much
to my chagrin, that my bad temper had returned."-MCR, 120. OBEDIENCE ONLY
TEACH OBEDIENCE TO CHRISTIANS "It
is only people who understand that they have already been accepted by God
who can safely talk about obedience. If I am not sure of my acceptance, it
is extremely hazardous for me to study the subject of obedience, because
it will be nothing but discouraging."-FTW, 158. GIVE
UP ON THE IDEA "If
we are sinners, and cannot produce genuine obedience apart from God, then
all we can do regarding ourselves is to surrender ourselves-give up on
the idea that we can ever produce genuine obedience. "-FTW, 168. DOESN'T
ACCEPT US BECAUSE OF OUR OBEDIENCE "In
the first place, God doesn't accept us because of our obedience. He
accepts us when we come to Him, presenting the merits of Jesus in dying in
our place. Our acceptance before Him, and the certainty of our
salvation, is already settled, as we continue to accept what Jesus did for
us at the cross." -FTW, 174. ALWAYS
AND ONLY BY FAITH "Obedience
is always and only by faith-because it is the fruit of faith, never of our
own efforts." -00F, 88. NOT
A CAUSE OF OUR SALVATION "Obedience
is not the cause of our salvation, even though it is a condition. It is
the result."-FTW, 187. WHY
WE CAN SAFELY IGNORE OBEDIENCE "Some
may still object that others will stop struggling to do what's 'right' now
for the purpose of learning to know Jesus later, and thus open the door
for an interim of anarchy. I'd like to propose that it is an unfounded
fear because of an obvious conclusion: The strong person who has succeeded
in behaving morally through his willpower and backbone without Christ
will continue what's 'right' for selfish reasons, whether or not he hears
about salvation through faith in Christ. A person who has succeeded in
staying out of trouble and out of jail will not suddenly scrap everything.
I haven't seen a 'strong' person yet who became immoral because he decided
that righteousness by faith meant that he could go ahead and do whatever
he had always wanted to do anyway so that 'grace may abound: Also I'd like
to suggest that the weak person who hasn't succeeded in doing right is
going to continue that way until he experiences genuine faith, and he
won't be any worse off than he was before."-SBF, 58-59. THE
PURPOSE OF OBEDIENCE OBEDIENCE
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SALVATION "It
isn't safe to talk about obedience and overcoming and victory and any of
that, unless we have it clearly in mind that we already have been accepted
because of what Jesus has done for us . .We will " get the impression
that our obedience has something to do with our acceptance. We will get
the impression that our obedience has something to do with saving us
eternally, as the cause of "our eternal life. And those
misunderstandings have been around too long. Do you know what the
purpose of obedience is? It is to bring glory to God. It isn't to save us
in heaven. If our obedience has nothing to do with causing our acceptance
with God, then who here tonight is totally accepted?"-5 AUC CM.
" GOOD
DEEDS GOD
DOES NOT LOOK AT OUTWARD ACTIONS "It
is the motives and desires on the inside that God looks at, not our
outward appearance. We may mow the widow's lawn, in itself a good deed,
but apart from Christ it is sin, because our motive will inevitably be a
selfish one." -FTW,164. " RIGHT
LIVING GOOD
LIVES AND BEHAVIOR "Many
people have exhibited good lives apart from Jesus, at least lives that
were outwardly good. Some in our world will give you the shirt off their
back, and yet curse God in the same breath. External good behavior can
result from all kinds of bad reasons."-OOF, 87.. " IT
DOESN'T PROVE A THING "Would
you like to know for sure whether or not you are a Christian? Would you
like to know for sure whether you are a genuine follower of Christ? 'Oh,'
someone says, 'the proof of it is if you are living a good life.' No, that
doesn't prove a thing."-FTW, 184. CONTROLLED
ACTIONS CONTROLLING
ACTIONS DOES NOT OVERCOME SIN "The
strong person may control his outward actions, but he hasn't overcome the
sin. Sin is always from within, and is only overcome by God's power.'-FTW,
209. VICTORY
OVER SIN VICTORY
FROM ABOVE; NO VICTORY FROM WITHIN "He
[Jesus] gave us an example of victory from above, rather than victory from
within. And that's the real issue in the end anyway."-SAH," 19. [A
victory from above (the Venden view): God does it all- the willing and the
doing; we only passively yield. Apparently, there is only growth and
maturing in yielding, and none in nobility of character and
determination to do the right because it is right. A victory from within
(Bible-Spirit of Prophecy view): As we come and yield ourselves to
Christ, He works out His will in our lives by strengthening our resolve
and our acts to do the right and resist the wrong. Continuing this
faith-that-works relationship with God, we grow into His moral likeness.
We do not have to wait for heaven to begin this ennobling process.] BEHAVIOR BEHAVIOR
CONCENTRATION TURNS US FROM JESUS "When
we begin to concentrate on our behavior and performance, our attention is
away from Jesus, and our dependence upon His power is broken. this can
happen even though the relationship with Him may be continuing day by day.
Whenever our attention is on our sins and weaknesses and problems, we are
overcome."-FTW, 199. YOUR
BEHAVIOR IS NOW ONLY HIS CONCERN. "
'Wait!' objects someone. 'If my behavior is supposed to improve when I get
acquainted with God through His Word and through prayer, then why is my
behavior worse than ever when I try this method? That doesn't make sense!' "Again,
you're measuring your Christian experience and closeness to God by your
performance and actions. But Christianity is based upon whom you know,
not what you do as you're learning to know Him better. Your part in the
great plan of God is to become acquainted with "Him, and your
behavior is His concern."-MPR, 142. WORKING
ON BEHAVIOR KEEPS YOU FROM CHRIST "When
I shift gears from behaviorism to fellowship and relationship with God,
then and only then does it become possible for me to continue seeking Him
constantly."-MCR, 148. GOOD
BEHAVIOR IS STILL SIN "The
strong-willed person who quits his smoking, drinking, and dancing, apart
from Christ, may become a 'good' church member. But who really did it? He
did:'-FTW, 168. CHRISTIANITY
IS NOT BASED ON BEHAVIOR "The
term surrender is grossly misunderstood by thousands of Christians. If a
person's idea of Christianity is based upon behavior, then his primary
focus will be on the Ten Commandments and trying hard to obey them. If he
is strong, he will 'succeed'; is he is weak; he" will fail. The
behaviorist philosophy never gets the person to the point of helplessness
to take him on to surrender. The behaviorist who is strong and apparently
succeeds doesn't realize he is helpless. The behaviorist who is weak says,
'I can't do it; I give up,' quits trying, and goes away from God at the
very point, if he only knew it, at which he is the closest to God that he
may ever be. "The
behaviorist thinks that surrender is giving up certain things in his
life-giving up his sins, giving up his problems and his weaknesses. So the
behaviorist says, I stand before God and this audience, and I promise that
from now on I won't smoke, drink, or dance anymore.' If he is strong, he
never does them again, and he becomes a so called 'good' church member. If
surrender has primarily to do with giving up things, the strong succeed
and the weak fall."-FTW, 51. BEHAVIOR
IS NO MEASUREMENT OF - IN CHRIST". "One of the proofs' that we are hopelessly hooked on the do-It-yourself approach is that often when a person begins to seek a relationship with God; he still measures whether or not he has a relationship by his behavior."-FTW, 82. |