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Commentary on "The Promise of Prayer"
Day 5: Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - "Because You Do Not Ask"
Overview
Today’s study deals with the question of whether or not our prayers can cause God to act in ways He wouldn’t normally act. The author sends the reader to several scripture passages showing the nature of prayer in the relationship between God and Man. The author states that while we cannot always understand how it works, God does respond to human prayers and we must take Him at His word. The author then discuss the role of repentance in prayer and the fact that we must confess our sins so that He will forgive us for our sins.
Observations
It is true that there is a paradox about how prayer works. On the one hand, scripture is clear that God is sovereign and man cannot thwart His will. On the other hand, God commands His people to pray. This paradox is much like that of election and choice. Both are true and while we cannot completely understand them or dogmatically explain them, scripture teaches both and we must submit to God’s word.
The scriptures for today’s study teach that we must ask in God’s will and not our own in order to receive from the Father. We also see that the prayers of the righteous are powerful, and that the prayer life of the believer is accompanied by confession of sins and a repentant heart before God.
The focus of today’s commentary will be on the authors last two sentences which follow her quoting 1 John 1:9,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The author writes, “We confess our sins, and He forgives them, a process that also results in His cleansing us from our unrighteousness. The clear idea implied here is that if we don’t pray, don’t confess, we aren’t forgiven. No question, in these cases, God acts in response to our prayers.”
1 John 1:9 is a proof text in Seventh-day Adventism used to validate the heretical doctrine of the Investigative Judgement. This doctrine teaches that after placing their faith in Jesus, believers then enter into a phase of judgement. Their deeds are recorded by angels in a book and the only way the blood of Jesus will cover them is if they confess every sin recorded in this book. E.G. White admonishes her adherents to be certain to remember every single sin and confess them or God will not forgive them and they will not be saved. This is why, in Adventism, one cannot know if they are saved until the Investigative Judgement ends.
“Those who accept the Saviour, however sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or feel that they are saved.” E.G.White, (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 155 )
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” God’s Word (1 John 5:13 )
Furthermore, E.G. White teaches that a time will come when believers will stand before God without Jesus Christ as their mediator and at that time their personal righteousness will determine their fate. Surprisingly, not all Adventists are aware of this teaching since Adventism has worked to appear more evangelical. However, whether or not younger Adventists are aware of that particular detail, they are not taught the assurance of salvation and they do believe in the investigative judgement. It is through the process of continual repentance for every sin (forgotten or not) that Adventist doctrine teaches they will be “cleansed from all unrighteousness.” This process is what brings a person to the place of keeping the 10 commandments perfectly so that they can stand without the covering of the righteousness of Christ. This very doctrine reveals the fact that it is our personal righteousness that ultimately determines our fate. For more details on this, including EGW quotes, see Dale Ratzlaf’s article on Progressive Sanctification: http://lifeassuranceministries.org/proclamation/2011/1/sanctification.html
What does scripture say about born again believers?
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:17-18
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” John 5:24
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:12-13
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8
We see from these four passages some very important things for every believer to know. First, all man is judged and condemned until he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, he is pardoned by the imputed righteousness of Christ and passes out of death and into life immediately when his spirit is regenerated (see Tuesdays commentary for more on this) and he is placed in Christ and Christ in him. Third, this believer does not come into judgement. Last, believers can know that they are saved (past tense). These are only four verses among so many that completely destroy the Adventist doctrine of the Investigative Judgement.
So what does 1 John 1:9 mean for the born again Christian secured in salvation by the seal of the Holy Spirit through faith in the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our eternal intercessor before God?
Initially believers confess their sins to receive salvation. Once saved, we continue to live a repentant life through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit working in our hearts. Through our submission to God and His word we are sanctified before Him (Again, Dales article is wonderful at explaining this).
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17
As we abide in God’s word, the Holy Spirit illuminates scripture and He reveals truth to us. The veil spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3:14-15 that kept those who looked to the law from perceiving truth is removed in Christ Jesus (v. 16). Indwelt born again believers are then able to perceive the glory of God and are then transformed by it-- not so that we can be saved, but because we already have been! Hallelujah!
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Lets break this down.
“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom…”
The Spirit of the Lord indwells believers and they are free from the curse of death!
“…we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord…”
Through the removal of the veil we are able to behold (also defined as “perceive”) the glory of the Lord!
“…are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another…”
By the working of the glory of God within us we are transformed into the likeness of Christ!Every moment God reveals His glory to us through His word and His working in our hearts (we must abide: John 17:17) we cannot help but submit to the Lord of Lords resulting in the sanctification of our hearts.
“For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
This is not by our doing, but by the inner working of God in our hearts!
Imagine if you will that all of man is naturally ice cold to their core. This iciness is our unrighteousness (bear with me here). Now, God offers a robe to all who desire to be with Him in His kingdom. This robe is the the righteousness of Christ and without it we cannot enter in. The natural reaction of having the robe is that we are warmed and changed over time (gradual personal sanctification). When it comes time to enter into the kingdom, the robe is all that matters. No one is there to take our temperature. All that matters is that we are covered in the robe of Christ. Each person will have had it for different periods of time and the result is that each person has a different temperature, but that doesn’t matter. It is the righteousness of Christ that saves us. The personal sanctification of believers has nothing to do with our entrance into the kingdom of Heaven, it is simply the natural result of having been saved.
Paul explains in Corinthians that if our foundation is Christ, we are saved. Period. However, how we build on that foundation (live out our faith) will be examined. Not for the purpose of salvation, but for the purpose of rewards;
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” - 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
1 John 1:9 is about a life lived in Christ. It is about building on the only foundation that saves. It is about living honestly before our Father and remaining in fellowship with Him. To use this passage as a proof text for a doctrine found nowhere in scripture is to ignore the rest of God’s word, and furthermore it is an abuse of God’s word.
Summary Points
- Initially man confesses sin to receive salvation, after that it is a matter of maintaining fellowship with the Father.
- 1 John 1:9 does not support the teachings of the sanctuary doctrine.
- We confess as an act of submission to the inner working of the Holy Spirit to transform us from one degree of glory to another.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 5, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
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