Assurance of Salvation

In the beginning, God created us:

  1. In His image (Gen. 1:26) = Live to serve others (Mk. 10:42-45), the very essence & happiness of heaven, from the Father (Jn. 14:9) to every citizen!
  3. Invited us to submit to His will (Mt. 26:39) for our happiness, liberty, & life to the full (Jn. 10:10)!
  4. To enjoy face-to-face communion with Him, the Creator of the universe (Jesus, Eph. 3:9), forever!

When we sinned (Gen. 3), we:

  1. Became selfish (We justify, protect, & exalt self.).
  2. No longer naturally submit to God’s will.
  3. Broke our face-to-face communion with God.

In love God devised the Plan of Salvation that fully:

  1. Restores His selfless image back in us.
  2. Restores our submission to His will.
  3. Restores our face-to-face communion with Him.

In fact, God illustrated this plan in the sanctuary (Ps. 77:13), & through it He shows how He saves repentent sinners, answers Satan’s false accusations, removes sin forever from His universe, & restores face-to-face communion with Himself forever! This is the focus of Dan. & Rev., the entire Bible, & the Great Controversy.

Mt. Sinai = The Mt. of Law & Grace

Exterior

Repentant Sinners = Whosoever Will (Jn. 3:16)

Courtyard

  1. Altar of Burnt Offering (Ex. 40:6,29)
  2. Laver (Ex. 30:18; 40:7, 30 cf. 2 Chr. 4:10)

Interior [of Santuary]

High Priest = Christ

Holy Place (HP)

  1. Table of Showbread, on the north side (Ex. 26:35; 40:4, 22, 23; Lev. 24:5-8; 1 Chr. 9:32)
  2. Candlestick, on the south side (Ex. 26:35; 40:4, 24; Lev. 24:1-4)
  3. Altar of Incense, on the west side before the inner vail before the ark of the testimony (Ex. 30:1-10; 40:5, 26; 1 Kg. 6:22 cf. Heb. 9:4)

Most Holy Place (MHP)

  1. Ark of the Covenant, within the MHP behind the inner vail & the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant (Ex. 26:33, 34; 40:3, 20, 21) = the 10 commandments (Ex. 34:28; 1 Kg. 8:9, 21)

The 3 Angels’ Messages & The Everlasting Gospel

God’s plan of salvation is so simple a child can understand & share it! That’s great news! Especially for those proclaiming The 3 Angels’ Messages of Rev. 14:6-12 they have the privilege of living & sharing since these 3 messages open with “the everlasting gospel”! And that gospel produces an assurance of salvation (Isa. 32:17; 1 Jn. 5:13) in the very context of The Pre-Advent Judgment (Rev. 14:6, 7; Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14)! Now that’s an everlasting gospel worth telling the world about! But how can we live & share God’s life giving gospel if we don’t understand it in its simplicity ourselves? Therefore, the main purpose of this panel is to be sure we who proclaim The 3 Angels’ Messages understand God’s simple plan of salvation so we can live & share it with all we meet, “…to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people…” (Rev. 14:6) in the very context of The Pre-Advent Judgment & The 3 Angels’ Messages!

Assurance of Salvation INSIDE The Pre-Advent Judgment

Assurance of Salvation comes from

  1. knowing God’s expectations,
  2. seeing they’re simple, reasonable, & doable, &
  3. doing them through Christ.

Result = Assurance of Salvation God says we may have in OT (Isa. 32:17) & NT (1 Jn. 5:13). It’s that simple! Q. Must God lower His expectations after the Fall? A. No. He helps us meet each one through Christ (steps 1-5 below).

[in 12 pictures]

God’s Expectations of Us:

  1. Be Holy (Lev. 19:2)
  2. Obey Christ (Jn. 14:15)
  3. Conform Entirely to God’s Will (Mt. 26:39)

BOXES / PICTURES 1-4 = CREATION: The better we understand the TRUTHS illustrated in these 4 boxes…

[Box / Picture 1]

Before God breathed the breath of life into Adam & Eve (Gen. 2:7), they were physically all there (e.g., eyes, ears, arms, etc.), but they weren’t alive yet. Sound like Box 9 below?

[Box / Picture 2]

Adam & Eve – Our 1st Parents

God created Adam & Eve in His image (Gen. 1:26): selfless, innocent, & holy (agreement with God, Amos 3:3), enjoying face-to-face communion with Him intended to last forever!

[Box / Picture 3]

Then God invited them to submit to His will & Lordship since He knows obedience brings happiness (Jn. 13:17), liberty (Jm. 1:25), & life to the full (Jn. 10:10), but only if they loved Him (Jn. 14:15), for He desires only willing obedience. Also notice: (1) they obeyed God in the strength He created them with (i.e., God did not obey for them); & (2) by obeying Him, they retained all His freely given gifts.

God created them with a “full tank of power” to obey Him.

[Box / Picture 4]

Then God tested their obedience, faith, & love at the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil for their destiny (Gen. 2:16, 17). If they passed the test, they’d live forever; if they failed, they’d die. And notice, they were to resist temptation (Jm. 4:7) & overcome on their own account (Rev. 21:7; 22:14), not God for them.

Question: Shall I obey God?

Goal: Yes! In all things. For I love & trust Him so (Heb. 5:8)!

Think About This. If all God desired was selflessness, innocence, & holiness, He had that in Adam & Eve before their fall. And if all God wanted was obedience, He had that in them without flaw before their fall. Thus, the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil shows God saw fit to test their loyalty before they could be rendered eternally secure (Rev. 21:7; Patriarchs and Prophets, 48:4 – 49:0).

BOXES / PICTURES 5-8 = SIN…the better we may understand what we lost by sin in these 4 boxes…

[Box / Picture 5]

Adam & Eve died & returned to dust just like God said (Gen. 2:16, 17; 5:5).

[Box / Picture 6]

They lost everything in Box 2: God’s selfless image, innocence, holiness, & direct communion with God (Gen. 3).

[Box / Picture 7]

They lost everything in Box 3: Christ’s mild rule in exchange for Satan’s tyrannical rule, power to obey, love for Him, happiness, liberty, & life to the full; & they became naturally selfish & rebellious against God (Gen. 3).

[Box / Picture 8]

They lost everything in Box 4: Their 1st probation, right to live, & access to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22 – 24). But notice their “gains:” a knowledge of sin, a sense of guilt, tendencies to sin, death, misery, & woe. Were their “gains” worth the price?

With these massive losses, Adam & Eve learned that sin is not liberating, but enslaving, deadly, & exceedingly expensive! As someone said, sin takes us farther than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, & costs us more than we want to pay. So let’s flee sin in every form (2 Tim. 2:22) in the strength Christ bought for us on Calvary to have life & that more abundantly (Jn. 10:10)!

BOXES / PICTURES 9-12 = SALVATION…and the better we understand God’s simple plan of salvation in these 4 boxes.

Now we’re ready to more fully understand & appreciate God’s simple plan of salvation for us illustrated in Boxes 9-12.

[Box / Picture 9]

Before God recreates His image back in us, we are dead in sins (Eph. 2:1) & full of wounds (Isa. 1:5, 6).

[Box / Picture 10]

Through Christ, we regain everything we lost in Box 2 by sin: innocence, holiness, selflessness, submission to God’s will, & communion with Him! We’re a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17), accepted (Eph. 1:6) & complete in Christ (Col. 2:10; 1:22) = At-one-ment!

[Box / Picture 11]

Through Christ, we regain everything in Box 3 we lost by sin in Box 7: Christ’s mild rule, the power to obey (Phil. 4:13), happiness, liberty, & life to the full (Jn. 10:10)!

[Box / Picture 12]

Through Christ, we regain everything in Box 4 we lost by sin in Box 8: (1) a 2nd probation in which God gives us passable tests to recreate a heart in us that says, “Yes, Father! I’ll obey You in all things, come what may, for I love & trust You so;” (2) ways of escape to pass each test (1 Cor. 10:13), & (3) promises to complete this miraculous work with Christ’s help in this life despite our failures, their frequency, nature, or size. This probation is not given sometime in the future; we’re living it now! Also, we are to resist temptation & overcome on our own account, not God for us. Results: Pass = Live forever; Fail = Die 2nd death.

5 Steps to meet God’s 3 Expectations above:

  1. See we are sinners (Isa. 6:1, 5). Without this, no recovery is possible.
  2. Confess & forsake our sins (Prov. 28:13; 1 Jn. 1:9). Step 2: involves dying to self (Lk. 9:23-25; 1 Cor. 15:31). For no proud person, alive to self, will ever admit he’s wrong. Naaman had to humble / die to self by stepping into the muddy Jordan before he came up cleansed from the physical & spiritual leprosy of sin (2 Kg. 5:1-14). Even Christ had to lay self aside to become our Savior (Phil. 2:5-11).
  3. Accept Christ as Savior (Jn. 3:16; Acts 4:12; Isa. 43:11). Step 3: Christ our Substitute died in our place (Isa. 53:5, 8) & credits His perfect life to our account (Zech. 3:1-5)! Thus we are accepted (Eph. 1:6) & complete in Him (Col. 2:10)! Think about it this way. If Christ stood before the law, how many flaws would it find in Him? None! Then how many flaws does the law find in us clothed in His righteousness? None! Through Christ, we look like the man before the law in Box 10 & like Adam & Eve when they came from the Creator’s hand in Box 2. Then God takes our hand & says, “Let’s continue the work of redemption in you by restoring the power to you to obey so you can have happiness, liberty, & life to the full like I gave your 1st parents in Box 3 that they lost by sin.”
  4. Obey Christ as Lord (Heb. 5:9; Jn. 8:30, 31; Rm. 8:1). Step 4:We obey Christ, not because we’re forced to, but because we love Him (Jn. 14:15, 21). Notice, Christ does not obey for us like He did not obey for Adam & Eve in Box 3. Instead, He gives us power to obey Him (Phil. 4:13) because we love Him. Now God says, “Let’s complete the work of redemption in you by conforming your will entirely to God’s will.”
  5. Cooperate with God to conform our will entirely to His will (1 Pt. 4:1; Heb. 5:8). Step 5: Now God completes redemption’s plan in us as we cooperate with Him (1 Cor. 3:9) = Conform our wills entirely to His will. This work begins by our daily beholding Christ (1 Jn. 3:1; 2 Cor. 3:18) which awakens thoughts of love for God in our hearts that lead us to obey Him (Jn. 14:15, 21; 1 Jn. 4:19) that become actions of obedience (Prov. 23:7; Lk. 6:45) when repeated become a habit of obedience, & when fixed become an immovable character of obedience (Lk. 6:46 – 49); thus our destiny is heaven (Rev. 21:7; 22:14). This work is not aborted by our failures, their frequency (Mt. 18:21, 22; Lk. 17:3, 4; Prov. 24:16; Ps. 37:23, 24), nature, or size (Mt. 12:31, 32). And This work takes a lifetime & is accomplished before Christ returns (Phil. 1:6; Mt. 25:34-40 shows that all Christ’s sheep have their Shepherd’s selfless character before He returns). For example, Moses struck the rock twice near entering Canaan (Num. 20:1-13) & Elijah ran from Jezebel shortly before his translation (1 Kg. 19:1 – 18). Yet their failures did not reveal their character “…by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.” Steps to Christ, 57:2. So when we fall (1 Jn. 2:1), we don’t lose our salvation, though we may have to live with the consequences of our disobedience. Instead, we ask for forgiveness (Step 2), are clothed in Christ’s righteousness (Step 3), receive power to obey (Step 4), & continue this work of conforming entirely to God’s will (Step 5). In fact, failure sometimes teaches us the wisdom of entirely conforming our will to God’s will that we would not otherwise learn.

Who can take steps 1 – 5 above?

  1. All, in Christ!
  2. All, in Christ!
  3. All, in Christ!
  4. All, in Christ!
  5. All, in Christ!

Simple, reasonable, & doable?

  1. Yes, in Christ!
  2. Yes, in Christ!
  3. Yes, in Christ!
  4. Yes, in Christ!
  5. Yes, in Christ!

Result = Assurance of Salvation = Bull’s-eye! (1 Jn. 5:12, 13)

Salvation is a cooperation of the human & the divine (1 Cor. 3:9). Christ is our Husband (Isa. 54:5) meaning we are His bride (2 Cor. 11:2) & salvation is a marriage to the King of kings (Jer. 3:14)! And all healthy marriages = 100% participation of both spouses vs. “50-50” (legalistic) or 100-0 arrangements (i.e., Christ doing it all. If that were true, would we truly be in a healthy, 2 sided “relationship”?).

Christ’s 100% willing part as our Husband / Our 100% willing part as Christ’s Bride:

Step 1:

  • Christ – Reveals Himself to us (Isa. 6:1; Jn. 12:32).
  • We – Look & live (Num. 21:4-9; Isa. 6:5; Rm. 3:23).

Step 2:

  • Christ – Gives us repentance (Acts 5:29-31; Rm. 2:4).
  • We – Confess & forsake our sins (Prov. 28:13).

Step 3:

  1. Christ – Gave Himself as our Savior (Jn. 3:16).
  2. We – Accept Christ as our Savior (Jn. 3:16).

Step 4:

  • Christ – Shows what pleases Him & gives us power to obey Him (Phil. 4:13).
  • We – Do what pleases Him with the power He gives us (Phil. 4:13; Num. 13:30)!

Step 5:

  • Christ – Gives passable tests with a way of escape to pass each one & promises to complete this work in this life.
  • We – Pass each test thru the ways of escape God gives us & as our Example did: “It is written” (Mt. 4:1-11).

Christ as Central to this step:

  1. 100%
  2. 100%
  3. 100%
  4. 100%
  5. 100%

Our dependence on Christ (Phil. 1:6): Remember, in these steps our confidence is in Christ, not ourselves (Phil. 3:3).

  1. 100%
  2. 100%
  3. 100%
  4. 100%
  5. 100%

Sanctuary Location / Service for step:

  1. Courtyard – Daily
  2. Courtyard – Daily
  3. Courtyard – Daily
  4. Holy & Most Holy – Daily & Yearly
  5. Holy & Most Holy – Daily & Yearly