IN DEPTH STUDY

MORRIS VENDEN AND THE NEW OBEDIENCE 2

SECTION 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..

SECTION FIVE

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.

continued Part 4