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From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
#154627
08/04/13 03:11 AM
08/04/13 03:11 AM
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OP
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http://assortedramblings.weebly.com/part-1---the-obvious-mystery.htmlThis was from last year. I'll post the rest of the series as time permits. I thought it might be a catalyst to a better understanding of the debate over the nature of salvation. As always, comments are appreciated.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154628
08/04/13 03:21 AM
08/04/13 03:21 AM
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Theme: There is a characteristic of God that is so obvious, yet so mysterious to us. But it is the foundation of everything about God and His plan for us.
Scripture: 1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
The Obvious Mystery by Arnold Sy Go
God is love. We’ve heard it many times. It seems obvious, but it is still a great mystery to us. Paul tells us that Christ’s love passes knowledge: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19) Yes, we can know many things about the love of God, but there is still a long way to go.
This poses a problem because the Gospel – God’s good news – is firmly rooted in His love. Love is the foundation of the Gospel. And we are commissioned to go out and preach the Gospel. Therefore, it behooves us to know as much as we can about God’s love.
We’ve heard about “love at first sight.” But does that really happen? No. We can have “infatuation” at first sight, but love develops as we interact with each other.
But God is different. He loved us BEFORE He saw us. Jeremiah 1:5 says that He knows us even before we are born. And even going back to our beginning, when God created this world, we see that He lovingly created the perfect home for our perfect parents.
But it’s easy to love perfect people. So it is more impressive when we see love manifested toward imperfect people. We see this when parents love their imperfect children. We see this when men and women love their imperfect spouses.
God is no less loving than we are. We read in Genesis 3:6-7 that Adam and Eve sinned. Our perfect parents made themselves imperfect by transgression, and they hid from God. Sin had so damaged them, in that short span of time, that they saw God as a severe judge, ready to punish every error and sin. Instead, God showed them a tiny sliver of His infinite love by replacing their fig leaf garments with tunics of skin. Yes, God loves the imperfect.
But what about the rebellious? Can rebels be loved? When our children rebel, do we love them? Yes, we do. We love them no matter what.
God is no less loving than we are. Mark 14:1 tells us that “the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.” Why did they want to kill him? We find the reason in John 11 – Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Here were the priests and scribes, tasked with teaching the people about God’s plan to save them from death. And when He came and did just that, what did they do? They plotted to kill Him! Rebels if there ever was one! But those are exactly the ones that Jesus came to save. He came to save sinners, to call sinners to repentance. He died to save the ungodly, His enemies. See Luke 5:32, Rom 5:6-10, 1Tim 1:15.
Jesus always manifested God’s love, especially to those who rejected Him. In Luke 9:51-56, when His disciples wanted to call down fire on those who rejected Him, Jesus told them that they were not working in His Spirit. In Matt 5:43-44, Jesus said that we should love our enemies. He practiced what He preached.
So, is God always loving? “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Nothing at all can separate us from God’s love – not our sins, not our rebellion, not even our choice. He loves us no matter what.
Why is this? Because God does not simply love. To Him, love is not merely something that He does; love is what He is. John tells us that God IS love. Love does not merely describe God’s actions, it defines God’s nature. It is much deeper than we realize.
So how about those who suffer the Second Death? Does God love even those who are ultimately lost? Yes, He does. God’s love is manifested even in eternal death. We will study that in more detail in the next installment of this series.
What does that mean for us? It means that of all the things we can count on, God’s love for us is the most unchangeable of them all. Furthermore – and this is where it is going to get really difficult – Jesus told us in John 15:12 that we are to love as He loved us. That’s deep. That is so much against our nature that it is humanly impossible.
But the good news is that we are not left to human resources. If God told us to do it, we can be sure that He also gives us the divine grace to accomplish it. And when we allow Him to do that – to fill us with His love so that we can love each other as He loves us – we will be effective tools in His hands to spread the Good News that God is love.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154631
08/04/13 05:28 AM
08/04/13 05:28 AM
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Nothing at all can separate us from God’s love – not our sins, not our rebellion, not even our choice. He loves us no matter what. Rev. 18:8, "Therefore her plagues will come in one day — death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her."
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: James Peterson]
#154646
08/05/13 02:58 AM
08/05/13 02:58 AM
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That is also a manifestation of God's love.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154652
08/05/13 04:09 AM
08/05/13 04:09 AM
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That is also a manifestation of God's love. ??? ... ...
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: James Peterson]
#154663
08/05/13 04:22 PM
08/05/13 04:22 PM
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Wait for part 2. I covered it there in more detail.
But for now, let's recognize that God IS love. He is the very definition of love. And if He does something that our human sensibilities see as incongruent with love, I say that we don't know love.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154666
08/05/13 07:41 PM
08/05/13 07:41 PM
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Wait for part 2. I covered it there in more detail.
But for now, let's recognize that God IS love. He is the very definition of love. And if He does something that our human sensibilities see as incongruent with love, I say that we don't know love. I say you lack commonsense. God is not a one-dimensional character (floating around in a fluffy world of eternal smiles, and a tear rolling down his cheeks for every occasion) but expresses the same range of emotions as we do, except HIS is tempered by infinite wisdom, deep understanding and unshakeable patience. Do not forget that it is ALSO written, "For our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29)
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: James Peterson]
#154677
08/06/13 02:09 AM
08/06/13 02:09 AM
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And you can't imagine how God can be loving and be a consuming fire at the same time?
You have a stunted concept of love, if your idea of it is "floating around in a fluffy world of eternal smiles, and a tear rolling down his cheeks for every occasion." The love that will give eternal life to the repentant is the same love that will give eternal death to the impenitent.
Last edited by asygo; 08/06/13 02:12 AM.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154681
08/06/13 03:18 AM
08/06/13 03:18 AM
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And you can't imagine how God can be loving and be a consuming fire at the same time?
You have a stunted concept of love, if your idea of it is "floating around in a fluffy world of eternal smiles, and a tear rolling down his cheeks for every occasion." The love that will give eternal life to the repentant is the same love that will give eternal death to the impenitent. THE WRATH OF GOD:"And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, NEITHER HAVE YE PITY: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women ..." (Ezek. 9) THE LOVE OF GOD:"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23) --- There is a stark and very real difference. As it is written, that for the wicked, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God." But for the righteous, "The sun shall arise with healing in his wings!" ... ..
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: James Peterson]
#154698
08/06/13 05:08 PM
08/06/13 05:08 PM
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OP
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The sun that hardens the brick also melts the butter. The glory that revives the believer also destroys the unbeliever. Don't blame God for our faults.
To you, it looks like God treats people differently. But the reality is that people react to God differently. God loves all, but reactions to that love differ.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154709
08/06/13 10:55 PM
08/06/13 10:55 PM
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The glory that revives the believer also destroys the unbeliever. The mind that dwells in darkness stumbles in the light. To you, it looks like God treats people differently. But the reality is that people react to God differently. God loves all, but reactions to that love differ. When God has NO PITY, he has NO PITY; but there are those who will be broken and crushed thinking to themselves that they are loved. (Psalm 59:8) THE WRATH OF GOD: "And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, NEITHER HAVE YE PITY: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women ..." (Ezek. 9) THE LOVE OF GOD: "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23) --- There is a stark and very real difference. As it is written, that for the wicked, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God." But for the righteous, "The sun shall arise with healing in his wings!" .... ...
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: James Peterson]
#154711
08/06/13 11:17 PM
08/06/13 11:17 PM
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> I believe we cannot be TRUE > FOLLOWERS of Jesus while "holding back" in our total loyalty and commitment > to Him.
> I therefore do not believe that a person who has been > TRULY born of God will knowingly or deliberately commit sin because a > person who TRULY LOVES GOD knows that sin grieves the Heart of God (Eph. > 4:30). And we do not deliberately hurt or disappoint those whom we TRULY > LOVE.
Bro M. A.,
I fully agree with this. It does not seem possible to be born of God AND deliberately commit sin at the same time; one must choose one or the other.
Something that concerns me, though, is how often Bible-believing people find ways to excuse their known sins. I believe it lulls us into a false sense of security.
God hates sin in all its forms. God has power to overcome any inherited and cultivated tendency to evil. All that's left for us to do is to choose to submit to God. And when we choose to do that which God abhors, we are not submitting to Him. Consequently, rather than fleeing, Satan sets up camp in our hearts.
And if we are unsubmissive to God on any level, regardless of anything else, we are not His children, and we are not saved. People bring up the "trend" quotes (which I hope to address soon) and the momentary weakness stuff, but I don't think they excuse or even mitigate lack of submission or surrender. It may sound a little daunting, but I think the promises of victory found in the Bible are overwhelms any reason to fail.
By God's grace, Arnold Sy Go -end- > I was shown that it was when David was pure, and walking in > the counsel of God, that God called him a man after his own > heart. When David departed from God, and stained his virtuous > character by his crimes, he was no longer a man after God's > own heart.
> The terrible calamity that God permitted to come upon > David, who, for his integrity, was once called a man after > God's own heart, is evidence to after generations that God > would not justify any one in transgressing his commandments; > but that he would surely punish the guilty, however righteous > and favored of God they might once have been while they > followed the Lord in purity of heart. When the righteous turn > from their righteousness and do evil, their past > righteousness will not save them from the wrath of a just and > holy God.
It's exactly what I believe. No matter how "born of God" we've been, a single instance of willful sin reveals, not causes, our failure to remain born of God. One known sin shows that self is alive, we are walking in the flesh, and are dead in trespasses and sins.
At that point, we need to realize our lost condition, and like Peter, cry out, "Lord, save me!" But it is important to realize our lost condition because only the lost seek a Savior.
By God's grace, Arnold M. Sy Go -end- > The bottom line is God loves us and desires to save us; not > destroy us. John 3:16 proves that. I believe that God desires > to forgive us of our sins, even when we deliberately sin. But > I also believe that God will not forgive us of sins we commit > intentionally UNTIL WE STOP COMMITTING THEM by way of the > Power He has made available to us:
Amen!
There is never any question that God wants to save us. The item in question is if we want to be saved.
Let no one say, "I cannot overcome my defects of character;" for if this is your decision, then you cannot have eternal life. The impossibility is all in your will. If you will not, that constitutes the cannot. The real difficulty is the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the will of God. {YI, September 7, 1893 par. 10}
By God's grace, Arnold M. Sy Go -end- Link
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: Mountain Man]
#154713
08/06/13 11:27 PM
08/06/13 11:27 PM
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For burning the incense they took common instead of the sacred fire which God Himself had kindled, and which He had commanded to be used for this purpose. For this sin a fire went out from the Lord and devoured them in the sight of the people. {PP 359.2}
Next to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu had stood highest in Israel. They had been especially honored by the Lord, having been permitted with the seventy elders to behold His glory in the mount. But their transgression was not therefore to be excused or lightly regarded. All this rendered their sin more grievous. Because men have received great light, because they have, like the princes of Israel, ascended to the mount, and been privileged to have communion with God, and to dwell in the light of His glory, let them not flatter themselves that they can afterward sin with impunity, that because they have been thus honored, God will not be strict to punish their iniquity. This is a fatal deception. The great light and privileges bestowed require returns of virtue and holiness corresponding to the light given. Anything short of this, God cannot accept. Great blessings or privileges should never lull to security or carelessness. They should never give license to sin or cause the recipients to feel that God will not be exact with them. All the advantages which God has given are His means to throw ardor into the spirit, zeal into effort, and vigor into the carrying out of His holy will. {PP 359.3}
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: Mountain Man]
#154762
08/08/13 04:33 PM
08/08/13 04:33 PM
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MM, thanks for the quotes. I agree with all of them, including mine. (I had forgotten that I wrote those until I saw my signature.) But I'm not seeing how they are germane here. Please explain.
By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Re: From Sinners to Saints, Part 1 - The Obvious Mystery (sermon by Arnold Sy Go)
[Re: asygo]
#154807
08/10/13 02:33 AM
08/10/13 02:33 AM
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By God's grace, Arnold
There is no excuse for any one in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. RH 12/20/1892
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Here is the link to this week's Sabbath School Lesson Study and Discussion Material: Click Here
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