Michigan Camp Meeting 2018: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Going the Distance

Mark Howard

1. Not Far

2. The Little Engine that Couldn’t

3. Tragic Tale from Tinker Creek

4. Justification by Faith

5. Identifying Your Superpower

6. It’s Complicated

7. The Peril of Prayer

8. Finishing Strong

Listen, we've got an exciting topic this morning.

I want to mention a couple of things as we begin this morning.

Again, I want to welcome you this morning.

I want to welcome those who are joining by, you know, it's funny, you have the campers who say, I heard you this morning.

That means is I woke up and I really was thinking about getting out of bed and I wasn't quite sure I wanted to do it, but that's fine.

You're listening and the Lord, you know, faith comes from hearing, not by seeing, right?

And those who are streaming online want to welcome you this morning as well.

Yeah, this, I want to mention to you, I've talked about loosely basing this, I say loosely on the book Steps to Christ because there's so much in that book.

You know, yesterday we talked about repentance, but we really didn't get into the confession aspect of it.

Those 2 chapters I wanted to cover, but there's just more than that you can cover.

There's 13 chapters in the book Steps to Christ.

I'm saying that because as I had gone through that and I am going through it in preparation, There is so much rich and beautiful practical instruction in that book that goes so well with what we're saying, better than what I'm saying and how I can say it.

I just want to encourage you if it's been a while since you've looked at the book Steps to Christ, or if you've never read the book, go through that book and it will be, it will, no matter where you are in your experience, it will help you to step closer and closer to Jesus.

In fact, I like to tell people it doesn't only help you to step to Jesus, but also with Jesus.

And so, this morning we're going to ask that the Lord would bless our time as we move forward in our series.

I'm going to ask if you bow your heads with me I'm going to kneel and ask the Lord to bless our time this morning.

Father in heaven, we are thankful this morning for your presence.

We're thankful for the opportunity we have to come together and study.

We know it's not an opportunity that we will always have.

I pray that we would treasure it as we should.

I pray this morning Lord for your Holy Spirit to give us understanding Lord, to keep us free from distractions.

I pray that you would not only be with my words, but we with our ears and our hearts, that we would receive and embrace the truth you have to teach us this morning, but we ask it in Jesus' name.

Our series is entitled Going the Distance.

Looking at my AV man and I'm thinking, oh, I didn't put anything up there yet.

Today I want to talk to you about justification by faith.

Now yesterday we had talked about repentance.

We learned that repentance is the first step toward Christ.

And the first part of repentance, as we talked about yesterday, is sorrow for sin.

We can't just muster up sorrow for sin or make ourselves sorry for sin.

It's God's part in drawing us to himself.

Just as we said on our first day, God always takes the initiative.

Now God does this, draws us to himself, by revealing Christ to us through his word and through his law.

You don't get Christ out of the law, but Christ is in the law.

And so we see elements and aspects of his character.

We see that in the word and those things lead us to look upon him whom our sins, our transgression of that law, have pierced.

In the cross we see sin in all its ugliness, contrasted with God in all his glory and goodness.

It leads us to abhor sin and long for holiness of heart and life, a character like Christ's.

By his grace we choose to turn from our sin, the second part of repentance, and seek the Lord.

As I mentioned, we didn't go into confession of sin, where we go before God and verbally confess those things specifically that we have been shown by the Lord that stand between us and Him.

And then God points us to Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, amen?

And assures us that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

This experience is often referred to as justification by faith and that's what we're going to talk about this morning.

How many of you read the book Steps to Christ here?

I never realized this until I got ready for this particular message.

The book Steps to Christ really is a book on salvation.

And as I ironically as it is such a book on salvation.

In fact it's said to be by some a response, I don't want to say a response, but coming in in that context of God's revival of the message of righteousness by faith among his people in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In light of all that, I was a bit surprised to discover that Ellen White does not use the word justify or justification in the whole book.

You'll never read it in the book Steps to Christ.

The word justified is in there in 1 place, page 40, where it says those who acknowledge their guilt will be justified.

The words justified, justified, and justification all come from variations of the Greek word for righteousness, dikaiosune.

And today, often we use the term righteousness by faith when we're discussing how to receive the righteousness of Christ for justification.

Neither does Ellen White use the words sanctify, sanctified, or sanctification in the book Steps to Christ.

I was floored when I said, wait a minute, it's got to be in here.

There's a reason I think that she did this, the author Ellen White.

Here in Review and Herald article written in 1885, it says, the righteousness by which we are justified is what?

The righteousness by which we are justified is what?

It's imputed, the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted.

The first is our title to heaven, the second our fitness for heaven, And as I'm going to share with you a quote in a minute, some people want to major in the differences between these 2 things.

Somebody once said that it's like 2 pieces of the, 2 sides of the same sheet of paper.

Now I could ask you to take a sheet of paper and divide it and you'd think, I can rip it in half this way, no not that way, this way.

Justification in the Christian life is the equivalent of that new birth experience.

Justification is like being born and Sanctification is like staying alive, and you really wouldn't separate the 2.

If I asked you which one's more important, being born or staying alive, it's kind of like, well, they both have their advantages.

So she uses this terminology here in other places, but she doesn't use it in Steps to Christ.

That work of a moment, sanctification, the work of a lifetime.

One's our title for heaven, the other is our fitness for heaven.

But she does speak of the concepts in the book Steps to Christ as you're going to see here, page 63.

Says our only, our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

Now elsewhere she said justification, but you won't read that in the book Steps to Christ.

Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us, and in that wrought by his spirit working in and through us.

Those are the 2 components, and both make up righteousness by faith.

So why would she steer clear of the terms?

Now I'm not sure, I couldn't ask her, but I have an idea and I'm going to share with you a statement that I've read and maybe you've read it in the book Faith and Works page 18.

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Series

Going the Distance

4. Justification by Faith

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary

For My King

39m

Plenary

The Ancient Etiquette of Foot Washing

1h 38m

The End of Hatred

47m

A Beginning With No End

How to Investigate a Crime

1h 2m

Choosing Between Blessings & Curses

59m

Fire in My Bones

42m

Ambassadors for Christ

37m

The Embrace of Identity

38m

The Power of Prayer

01 The Power of Prayer: Making a Difference in the Gap

41m

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Sanctuary

18 When the Day of Atonement Ends

50m

Is Fundamentalism a Threat?

56m

Sherlock Holmes and the 3 Angel’s Messages

53m

Sound Doctrine