MY ENCOUNTER

WITH

JESUS
THE

GRACE OF GOD
D.K. NGUANDO- YAMOAH
TEL: 0243425685

CONTENTS
PREFACE
FORWARD
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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CHAPTER ONE (TOPICS)

- Who Needs the Grace of God?

- Do All Christians Need the Grace of God?
- For How Long Do We Need the Grace of Grace?

CHAPTER TWO (TOPICS)

- When Was The First Time You Meet Jesus?
- Obtaining the Righteousness/ Salvation of God By Grace Through Faith in Jesus

CHAPTER THREE (TOPICS)

- The Background of Chapter Three
- Privileges And Responsibilities Of A Christian Saved By Grace.

CHAPTER FOUR (TOPIC)

- Reflections On Faith and Obedience

CHAPTER FIVE (TOPIC)

- Let it Rain Oh Lord (The Two Phase Work of the Holy Spirit)

CHAPTER SIX (TOPIC)

- GROWING In Christ

CHAPTER SEVEN (TOPIC)

- The Two Coverings:
Adams Garment of Leaves
And Gods Covering of Animal Skin

- Appendix A
- Appendix B

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

No human life is an accident, notwithstanding the circumstances under which people were born.
God is the giver of life; and it is a gift, given for the purpose of glorifying the Maker and
blessing humanity (1Samuel 17:29; Ps. 139:13-16). We miss the mark and purpose of our
creation because we run our own lives without any regard for the Creators express will. As far

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as God is concerned nothing happens too late or too early for anyone who is in tune with Him
through His Son Jesus.
The author of this humble piece, Pastor D.K. Nguando-Yamoah, was born in 1947. He was the
fourth child of his mother and the third child of his father. He lost his father when he was four
years. This tragic loss seriously affected the education of the author and his older and younger
siblings. He lived with his paternal grandmother after whom he was named. All his pleadings
with his grandmother, and his uncle (fathers brother) to be sent to school felt on deaf ears. At
the age of eleven (11) he decided to give himself self-tuition. He asked his school going friends
to teach him how to read the alphabets both in vernacular and in English. Soon he began to read
simple sentences in vernacular.
His widowed mother seeing the efforts her son was making to educate himself, became
concerned and went to discuss what was happening with an uncle in Accra (maternal uncle). To
quote the uncle, he said, If at his age (about twelve by time) he is not ashamed to go to school,
let him go to school. My mother came back with an already sewn school uniform and in
January, 1959, at the age of twelve, this anxious boy too big and tall for class one, went to
school.
After about TEN MINUTES in class one he received his first promotion to class two, having
passed a reading test for which the Lord had already prepared him. The trend was to follow
throughout his primary education, getting double promotion at the end of each academic year:
P2-P4, P4-P6. He took only six (6) years to obtain the Middle School Leaving Certificate
(M.S.L.C.) instead of ten years. He passed a competitive selection test and entered teacher
training college, from 1965-1969, obtaining Teachers Cert A, ten years after starting class one
in 1959. He obtained a second professional certificate in teaching (Certificate in Music
Education) at the National Academy of Music, Winneba (1973-1975). The author currently holds
a B.A degree in Religious Studies from Valley View University. Conversely, he took sixteen
years to obtain this degree, 1981-1997.
Nine (9) years after teaching, he received a call into the Gospel Ministry from 1978-2012 when
he retired after thirty-five (35) years, making a total of forty-four years of service to God and
mankind. He served as a church pastor, district pastor, teacher training college chaplain,
ministerial secretary and as Family Ministries Department Director of South Ghana Conference
of the Seventh - day Adventist Church, Accra, Ghana. He also acted as Executive Secretary for
three months when the substantive secretary went for a course.
He delights in reading Spirit of Prophecy Books, sharing his experience and insights in the
subject of Righteousness by Faith, or Salvation by Grace. He has a deep concern for the
spirituality of his church members. He believes that the promise of the Second Coming of Jesus
is a sure promise which must engage the serious attention of all believers, young and old. To this
end he dedicates his time to researching, writing, teaching and preaching to arouse the people of
God. The author is blessed with a wife, Mrs. Agnes Nguando-Yamoah, and three (3) children -
one girl and two boys, who are all independent by Gods Grace.

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Life as a race does not belong to the swift, but to all who trust and wait upon the Lord (Isaiah
26:3)

To God be the glory; great things He hath done.

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 DEDICATION

This book, My Encounter With Jesus The Grace of God is dedicated to my wife Agnes
Nguando Yamoah and my Children, Christiana Yamoah Akyen, E.E. Yamoah and Gaddiel
Yamoah, for always being there for me through thick and thin.

It is also dedicated to the Remnant Movement of Seventh day Adventists, the world over
who are in transit from Egypt to Canaan, who need this flickering light to find Jesus, the Light of
the world, our Great Shepherd and Guide Who is leading us home.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to acknowledge all who in diverse ways have had a hand in the production of this
material. The following secretaries of South Ghana Conference: S.B. Nyanney, Charles Parbie,
Patricia Owusu, and Richard Odoom deserve mention for time spared for this work outside their
official schedules.

The courage to step out to undertake this divine assignment was derived from colleague pastors
and workers of South Ghana Conference and Ghana Union Conference. I owe a lot to the
following: Pastors I.G. Morrison, N.A. Nai, Nathan Odonkor, Emmanuel Osei Bonsu, Sister
Solace Hlordzi Asafo, Communication Director of GUC, for moral support and encouragement.

I also appreciate all church members of East Ghana and South Ghana Conferences , all students
of Asokore - K'dua, Teacher Training College from 1997 2000, whom I had the privilege of
ministering to, in the thirty five years of pastoral ministry. For the first time, this material is
going to be accessible and relevant to all our members who can only read Akan. I thank the team
of translators Mrs. Hannah Oppong Kwakye and Mr. John Klinsman Odoom, for dedicated hard
work.

Last but not least, is my acknowledgement to the management and staff of Emmldi Printing
Press, Agona Swedru, for working tirelessly to produce this beautiful work in English and
Akan.

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 PREFACE

Since 1997 the following statement:

The Church missed the opportunity of receiving the Latter Rain. It was 109 years ago, has
been capturing the attention of the Seventh - day Adventist World Church. In Ghana, Oman
FM, 107.1 has been repeating the above statement on its air- wave every Sabbath morning after
two religious presentations by the Church from about 5:15-6:00am, after the Babcock meeting
of Pastors and their wives of the West /Central Africa Division(WAD) in 2010- 2011.

The issue has to do with the apparent rejection by the Church leadership at the Maniapolis
General Conference session in 1888, of the Righteousness by Faith doctrine espoused by A.T.
Jones and his friend Waggoner. It was only E.G. White who supported them. If the Church had
received / accepted the message it would have been prepared to receive the Latter Rain.

The Latter Rain experience is intricately tied up with the Church receiving the Righteousness of
Jesus by faith alone. It is an offer of grace by grace. .

Unfortunately the Church in her generality still spurns the grace of God. It is largely a leadership
problem. If the leadership made up of Pastors and Elders will give a prayerful, diligent and
sincere study to the subject, the Lord will be pleased to bless us with an appropriate
understanding and experience the grace of God. For now what many of us have been doing is to
make casual references to the grace of God in response to antinomians who charge us with
legalism, to show that we also understand what the grace of God is. Unfortunately some of these
responses made in the presence of our church members who are struggling to understand the
subject of the grace of God, are very sarcastic, leaving the members confused or confirmed in
their ignorance of their greatest need of Gods grace. At a meeting of Pastors and Elders where
presentations were made on the above subject, a leader was asked to pray to close the meeting
after a presentation had been made. In his closing prayer he made a statement which could easily
undermine the efficacy of all the presentations made during almost one week.

He said, We must not hide behind grace,..... Some people of our ranks feel that those who
emphasize the grace of God do so to cover their disobedience to Gods commandments, and
become uncomfortable with any such sustained emphasis. The experiential truth is that anyone
who uses the grace of God to undermine the perpetuity of Gods Holy Commandments and the
need for obedience by all who claim to know and love Him, are themselves as ignorant of the
grace of God as those who out rightly or cleverly reject the absolute non-negotiable grace of

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God, for ALL mankind. According to Faith A. Oyedepo, the subject of grace is widely discussed
today,but very few people have discovered the great treasure deposited in it. She stresses again
that through grace, a positive change of heart and life becomes a reality, and that it is grace that
makes a saint out of a sinner and a treasurer out of a thief. ( Growing in Grace; pp 5,8). If we
do not hide or would not hide behind GRACE, as my man of God cautioned, where would we
hide?

Jesus is grace personified! If we fail to hide behind Him, can we hide behind our works or our
so called obedience and be safe?

Grace offers us the righteousness of Christ to qualify us to stand uncondemned before the law of
God. Justice said cut them down but mercy interceded, Lord, let them alone this year also
(Matthew Henrys Com. P. 18). Justice (Law) has condemned me and rightly so, but grace has
absolved me from my just condemnation to death and has given me a new nature, Christs
righteous nature which the law cannot condemn, because they are both holy, perfect and
righteous. (Rom. 8:1,2). According to Faith, Grace is not legalism. Legalism is law depending,
not law- keeping. (Growing in Grace, p.30). We need to keep the difference clearly in mind to
avoid confusion in law depending which undermines the work of grace, and law keeping which
must be the result of the work of grace in our hearts.

Over the years, there have been requests for me to publish the series of lectures as a legacy for
Gods children. Elder H.A. Mensah (deceased) one time Deputy Registrar of the University of
Cape Coast told me after three evenings of presentations on Righteousness by Faith, in his
local Church, in a suburb of Koforidua, that all that we had presented would be worthless if we
failed to properly document all the lectures. He said, If you die and go into the grave with all
that the Lord has given you, you would not have accomplished the purpose of your calling,
without living behind something people would read. You just put down the ideas and bring them
to me, and I shall refine the language for you. he urged. His challenge has haunted me for
about fifteen years since 1998 and I thank God I am still alive to execute the calls to get this
material printed. This handy material in your hand covers seven presentations at different places
and on different occasions.

The book does not probably follow the conventional way of book writing but God speaks
through each lecture and you are therefore invited to prayerfully go through every page and line
and chapter. So far I am yet to encounter any person who has read some of the printed lectures
and has not been touched by the Lord. You too would certainly be touched, as you read through
this humble, simple piece of Righteousness by Faith material. I believe it would be of immense
benefit and blessing to the world of Seventh Day Adventists whom God called me to minister
to, first and foremost, not respecting race, colour, education, gender, continent, or social status.

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You are welcome to begin an exciting and challenging journey into a new world of fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

FOREWORD

How can I be saved?

This simple, yet profound question is the most important question that can be asked. In this book
My Encounter with Jesus the Grace of God. Pastor Nguando-Yamoah presents a series of
lectures that adequately address this most important question of man.

In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus uttered these words: You therefore must be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect( Matthew 5: 48). But can sinful beings like us ever be perfect? Can
we on our efforts obey the law of God? The truth is that, on our own efforts, we cant possibly be
perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We dont love God with all our heart soul, mind, and
strength. We dont love our neighbours as ourselves.

We have a problem, and it taints everything, about us. Therefore, no matter how good we try to
be, we will never meet Gods standard of perfection. Our own righteousness is simply not good
enough and never will be, no matter how hard we try.

Through the series of lectures in this book, the author shows how man can receive the Grace of
God and become perfect as commanded by Jesus Christ. The Grace of God is not an intellectual
knowledge. It is an experiential knowledge and a personal encounter with the Savior. Pastor
Yamoah shares his own experience of how he encountered the grace of God which has given him
inner peace and joy knowing that God has saved him.

My earnest prayer is that every reader of this book will be led to the savior and receive the Grace
of God and live a victorious Christian life. May God bless you for reading this book to the last
page.

Emmanuel E. Yamoah, (MBA, Ph.D Can.)

Senior Lecturer
Valley View University
Accra, Ghana

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 RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH
LECTURE ONE

Topic(s): I. Who Needs the Grace of God? II. Do All Christians Need the Grace of God?
III. For How Long Do We Need the Grace of God?

Dear people of God, I am profoundly grateful and also privileged to find myself involved in the
discussion of a very important subject, Righteousness by Faith. This privilege is also a call to
me, I believe, from Heaven to share with Gods people my little insight, for me, in the most
important Christian doctrine, the mother of all doctrines: Righteousness by Faith, and
Salvation by Grace, a message I received direct from the Lord Jesus Himself, and I have also
been reading about to deepen my understanding. The following statements below underscore the
importance of the subject, and the need for every Christian to pay attention to its study and
assimilation.

I. The purpose of the Righteousness by Faith message is to get Gods people take a firm stand
by the side of Jesus in order to receive the seal of God.
II. The reception of the message of Righteousness by Faith makes the recipient more Christ
centered, Christ focused, and Christ dependent. It is the only true way for the transformation
of character, for it is by beholding Him that we become changed.
III. Righteousness of Christ: Contemplating Christ and His Righteousness leaves no room for
self-righteousness, for the glorification of self Study Bible p. 1355.
IV. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come
to claim them as His own COL, p64. It is Jesus Christ who reproduces Himself in us and in
all who believe in Him as Saviour and Lord, and surrender to Him. It is not we who reproduce
Christ character in ourselves by any human efforts. He is the Porter, and we are the clay. He
moulds us according to His own pattern. Our role is to submit to Him as clay submits to the
potter.

The three fold question for the topic underscores the negative attitude sometimes some of us take
towards issues about the grace of God.

The first quarter of 2000 Bible Study Guide was dedicated to the subject of Righteousness by
Faith. The quarterly title was, Our Assurance of Salvation. It dealt with the above subject so
well that I felt all the loopholes had been plugged. My interactions later with students and
church members however gave me the impression that all is still not well with many of us, and
that many members find it difficult to grasp the concepts of righteousness or justification by
faith, and salvation by grace, inspite of our good works.

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The reasons for the lack of understanding, in spite of all the efforts being made by the church
leadership and administration, have been discussed in lecture two.

A Word of Assurance: To all who are privileged to go through the discussions of this life
changing subject are assured of a new or renewed experience with the Lord Jesus. You can
actually experience what others have experienced as you go through this lesson study: joy in the
Lord, and peace of mind such as the world does not know about, Phil. 4:7. You are in for an
encounter with Jesus the Grace of God an experience which may be you have never had which
you badly and urgently need to transform you into a child of God.

I conducted a week of revival with a small church in a town called Abamkrom, near
Asamankese, in preparation for evangelistic series. I mainly discussed the grace of God. As the
discussions progressed dawn after dawn, I observed the faces of the members, especially the
elderly, glow with joy and the peace of God, with heavings of deep sighs of relief. For the first
time they were led to look away from themselves and their works as sources of salvation to look
unto Jesus and trust Him completely for salvation and righteousness through faith. Before, they
did not know how they would be saved in spite of all their endeavours, but hope sprang up in
their hearts as they were led to look away from themselves and works as sources of peace and
salvation. They experienced the joy of salvation as they looked to Jesus Who is the Author and
Finisher of our faith. Even faith itself is a gift of grace from God, a seed which is sown in our
hearts to grow steadily through exercise, the exercise of continuously looking unto Jesus.

The Other Side of the Coin:

I must also confess that I have been encountering a few skeptics usually with the first lesson
when for the first time members hear a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor, summoning all the energy
in his being and without apology to anyone, declaring in no uncertain terms and vigorously
teaching that ALL are saved by grace alone.

By the end of the third lecture however, through the grace of God, and the power of the Holy
Spirit, almost everybody leaves the church house rejoicing and praising God for the timeliness of
the lectures.

My Encounter with the Grace of God

Now let me share with you where I have come from, and my encounter with the Grace of God.

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Before late 1989, the phrase Grace of God, had no special appeal to me. I thought it belonged
to people who did not want to keep the commandments of God, who use the Grace of God as a
cover-up for their disobedience. I perfectly well understand my colleague pastor who cautioned
that Gods children should not hide behind grace. I had the same attitude before I encountered
Gods grace, and my attitude changed.

When I entered the ministry in July 1978, I had two burdens: One was how to earn salvation for
myself, and as a pastor I knew I had been placed a head ahead of others. To this end, I worked
relentlessly all with the view of earning Salvation, but the more I tried to earn it, the more I felt
an emptiness and hopelessness in me. Only discouragement and a feeling of hopelessness
resulted from my efforts to earn salvation through works.

The second burden which compounded my problem was when as a pastor, I also felt it was my
duty to prepare all church members under my care for heaven. I was myself empty and did not
know how and where to find the fountain of life and to drink from it. How could I lead the
members to Jesus, the fountain of life, when I was myself groping in darkness.

My daily worry was how to turn over superficial Christian experience into a real and solid
relationship experience with the Lord Jesus. I carried these burdens for about eleven years of my
ministry. I knew and believed that the task was accomplishable through works hard work and
more hard work, in order to catch the attention of the Lord Jesus for the bestowal of His
blessings and Salvation.

The Appointed Time of the Lord

During the 2nd half of 1989, I read an article in the Ministry Magazine, published in May, 1986.
The article titled Righteousness in Christ my experience, was written by Carlyle B. Haynes,
a Seventh-day Adventist minister of the gospel. The problem I had after reading his article was
the amount of time he spent in the Lords vineyard and the huge successes he chalked as a world
famed evangelist, and yet according to him he did not know he was unsaved, though he thought
because of the quantum of his achievements, he had salvation. Preacher as I was and had been
for fifteen years, I was lost completely lost, he wrote. Later when the grace of God knocked
on his door and he opened it to receive the gift of Righteousness by Faith in Jesus, in spite of his
works, he made the following confession in his article: The central glory of the gospel is not a
great truth or a great movement but a great Person. It is Jesus Christ Himself. My dilemma
was, if such a successful preacher could not be saved by his gigantuan record of achievement
which was in the ration of about 100:1 of my record then there was no hope for me. My record
of achievements did not come anywhere close to his. I felt woeful, hopeless and lost without
hope.

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The article revealed to me that salvation is a gift of God through faith in Jesus, and it is by grace
but not through any mans efforts (works). It revealed that I did not have salvation if I did not
receive it as a gift by faith alone in Jesus. The transition period from salvation by works oriented
tradition and experience to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus was a terrible period for me.
It was SOUL CRUSHING. I became confused and carried a heavy burden for weeks. I thank
God it was for a brief period, and He intervened to save a wretch like me. Temporal life itself
would have been squeezed out of me, by the great burden of uncertaintly about my salvation and
relationship with Jesus, if He had not intervened quickly. One usual morning, I went to the place
of worship to meet the church to study the Sabbath School Lesson Study Guide for the day. I sat
alone waiting for the members to come for the discussions together. I waited for a good stretch
of time but not a single member came to join me, but the Lord did come to visit me.

The quiet atmosphere gave me the opportunity to pour out my heart in prayer and supplication to
God. I really agonized with the Lord for an understanding of the issues I had read about which
were confusing to me, the issues of salvation and righteousness and the roles of grace and faith
and works. Was salvation to be earned by works or to be received as a gift of God through faith
in Jesus? As I was deeply contemplating about the issues, suddenly, the Lord spoke to me and
told me in just a short statement: YOU ARE SAVED BY GRACE. Yes I heard it. Jesus told
me I am saved by grace, and for me, the matter is settled. It was the first time the Lord audibly
spoke to me, saved by grace, He told me! Joy indescribable filled my heart. I heaved a deep
sigh of relief and felt a heavy burden rolled away from my shoulders. The name Jesus began
to sound sweeter than before. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, indeed.

Insight Into Righteousness By Faith

As soon as the Lord spoke to me, He simultaneously gave me a deeper and richer understanding
of the doctrine of Righteousness by Faith, and Salvation by Grace, through faith alone in
Jesus. It has ever since been the subject I love to study and talk about. Scriptures like Rom.
6:23; 6:14 and Eph. 2:8,9 and others which I hated and feared to read and talk about suddenly
became very meaningful and some of my most cherished Bible verses.

After my encounter with the grace of God, another burden much heavier came to replace the first
one I had borne before. It was the burden for my church members because of how poorly many
of us understand Righteousness by Faith and therefore many are lacking in intimate
relationship with Jesus.

Lack of Intimate Relationship

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This lack of intimate relationship with Jesus through faith creates a feeling of hollowness in us.
This is different from the feeling of inadequacy which makes us to surrender to and depend on
Jesus who is our sufficiency. We attempt to fill our emptiness by going through a lot of
programmes of activities-but we find ourselves back to square one, because the emptiness cannot
be filled by mere round of church activities. It is filled only by the grace of God- the presence of
Jesus in the heart. The grace of God has the power of a dynamite. When received by faith into
the heart, it blows up and dismantles the old structure built of human works, and raises up a new
one built in the image of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new 2 Cor.
5:17. NKJVS

Lack of Peace

Do we not believe that there can be absolute peace in our churches if Jesus took His proper place
in our hearts? But many of our churches are filled with quarrels, power struggle, back-bitting,
suspicion, marital, and moral problems. It is not the issue of the nature of human society. This
is not just a human society. It is the family of God on earth. If we lack the peace of God in our
own hearts, we cannot make peace with other people.

The cause of the above problem is our attitude towards the grace of God which has resulted in
many people having only a concubine type of relationship with the Lord Jesus instead of being
properly married to Him, by grace through faith.

The Devil and the Teaching of the Righteousness by Faith Message:

The devil is behind the very poor treatment of this subject throughout the Christian world.

Quotes:

1. We have an enemy who is absolutely determined that the subject of Righteousness By Faith
shall not be understood. If It Is Easy, Why Is It So Difficult? p.24
2. The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH
should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be
broken (Gospel Workers p. 161) (Emphasis ours).
3. The very fact of his determination to neutralize the message and its inevitable effects, is
evidence of its great value and importance and how terrible must be the result of any victory
of his defeating it! Christ Our Righteousness p. 54
4. For we are told that the message of Christs righteousness is to sound from one end of the

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 earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the glory of God which closes the
work of the third angel 6Tp10. See also p.53 of Our Assurance of Salvation, quarterly for
2000, (first quarter).

What Has Caused Our Unique Problem With The Grace Of God?

Norval F. Pease, in the foreword to his book, By Faith Alone, (vii): says that in the early years
of our history as a church, our rugged forefathers in the faith believed it incumbent upon them to
stress strongly certain distinctive Bible doctrines which they saw had long been neglected. He
states that in their zeal and earnestness, they assumed a general understanding and acceptance of
the great truth of justification by faith. According to him, the pioneers stressed obedience to the
truth and to the commands of God which, in their opinion were too lightly considered and were
even looked upon with more or less indifference generally. These fore-runners, in their zeal for
Gods truth, observes Pease, overlooked the fact that obedience is a spiritual fruitage of
conversion and salvation through Christ, rather than a prerequisite leading to this experience.
Norval F. Pease concedes that the great underlying doctrine of the gospel, salvation by faith
alone was not always given its proper place.

Another impediment is the popular teaching by some Christian groups that being under grace and
not under law (Rom. 6:14) means Christians have been set free from obedience to the
commandments of God. This also helped push many of us to indirectly take a stand, though not
the collective body of Adventists, against the GRACE OF GOD.

Some of us in our eagerness to defend the law of our Creator against this teaching, owing to our
lack of experience of the grace of God, tended to be anti-grace of God, and so we have often
ended up slighting Gods grace, and have almost entirely failed to preach the gospel
justification by grace through faith in Jesus. We have entertained the fear that if we also
emphasized the grace of God as our only means of salvation, we would be sounding like the rest
of them, while we understanding from prophecy that we are a unique and peculiar people called
by God for a distinctive mission and work (Rev. 14:6- 12), in the last days of earths history.
(Rev. 18 : 1 4).

Another killer virus which infested us, has been caused by our end-time prophetic knowledge of
the persecution of Gods Remnant people, who would stand for the Word of God and be keeping
the commandments of God, especially the Sabbath commandment which the world would reject,
(Rev. 12:17). As I have conducted seminars on justification by faith, the idea has been expressed
that if we accept that we are saved by grace alone then what becomes of the keeping of Gods
commandments, especially the Sabbath, for which we are going to be persecuted? Because of
these, many of our church members ignorantly shun the grace of God, and believe in works for

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justification and salvation. Humans do a few things well but meeting Gods standard for
righteousness is not one of them (p. 133 of 1st Quarter, 2010).

A Look At Some Ideas About Grace And Salvation Held By Some Members And Other
Christians.

1. An elder, when he learnt that my mother became a Seventh-day Adventist before she died
exclaimed: Oh then there should be no problem for her! The impression has been created
that salvation is automatic for all who become Seventh-day Adventists especially because of
our supposed obedience to the commandments of God, Rev. 14:12.
2. There was an elder who bitterly opposed church members that responded. The Lord is
coming to the local Maranatha greeting. This elder had lived as a member of the Seventh-
day Adventist Church for over thirty years at the time I met him. His contention was that
looking at their (his)
works, he was not sure they have acquired enough righteousness to be ready for the Lord to
come.
3. I had a chat with an elderly woman who was a former member of the church. She
commended herself for still holding on to some of the diet laws the church taught her, and
accused some of the regular members whom she knew were not living according to the
practices of the church. This former member saw herself saved because she still believed and
practiced a health principle.
4. Another elder said he had been able to keep perfectly nine of the Ten Commandments and
he was left with only one to attain perfection and full righteousness. As I reflect on some of
these utterances and attitudes of some of our members regarding salvation, I am tempted to
suggest that we have been burying non Christians in the name of Jesus and of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church; people whose world view and understanding of salvation only reflect
the world view and understanding of pagans and those of the practitioners of other world
religions. The experience cuts across the Christian Spectrum.
5. I was at the send-off service of a retired minister, a very respectable man of God. In his
response to the speeches he decided to talk about the grace of God. The illustration he made
was about a student who submitted his Mathematics assignment to his teacher for marking.
The student scored almost a hundred per cent (100%) but for a slight error in one sum. The
teacher seeing the good work the student had done, decided to correct the little error and give
him credit for it so that he could give the student a 100% score. To this he likened the grace of
God. So to this Pastor, the grace of God is a top-up for a Christian who has worked so hard to
earn a high score but falls a little short of the 100% mark. I went away with a heavy heart
knowing that hundreds of people of church members and guests were going away with a
theological poison in their hearts, seeing how highly esteemed the retired minister was held by
people.

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6. Pentecostals and Charismatics huge problem: They teach that unless one spoke in tongues
one did not have the full favour of God.
.
People therefore strive to become children of God through speaking in tongues instead of
accepting it as a gift through faith alone in Jesus, (John 1:12; I Jn. 5:11-13).
7. Why John and Charles Wesley and associates were thrown out of the Anglican Church
(Church of England): John especially discovered and preached the true gospel Justification
by Faith, through grace and the equality of all believers, rich or poor before God. John learned
about the true gospel from some Moravian Missionaries during his sea voyage to America.
In the 1960s as we were growing in the Methodist Church, the focus had shifted from Jesus to
self and works, so that we were buying tickets for heaven.
8. A pastor at a camp meeting stated categorically that our names get recorded in the Book of
Life when we keep the Sabbath. This is another over-dose of a theological poison.

The True Picture Of The Church

Cold, Legal Religion: The saving salt is the pure first love, the love of Jesus, the gold tried in
the fire. When this is left out of the religious experience, Jesus the light, the sunshine of His
presence is not there. What then is the religion worth? Just as much as the salt that has lost its
savour. It is a loveless religion. Then there is an effort to supply the lack by busy activity, a zeal
that is Christ/less. R & H, Feb. 9, 1892.

It is possible to practice some of the Bible injunctions and be regarded as a Christian, and yet
perish because you are lacking in essential qualifications that constitute Christian character.
A.G. Daniells, Christ Our Righteousness.

There is not one in two hundred who understands for himself the Bible truth on this subject
(justification by faith) that is so necessary to our present and eternal welfare. Ibid. p. 87.

This I do know that our churches are dying for the want of teaching on the subject of
righteousness by faith in Christ and on kindred truth Ibid. p. 93.

EFFORTS BEING MADE TO CHANGE THE SITUATION

The church administration and some church members and leaders have realized the problem of
the masses of the church members (salvation by works) and are working hard to remedy the
situation by calling attention to the Righteousness of Jesus as our only hope and guarantee for
salvation.

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This is being done through week of prayer readings from the departments, and the Sabbath
School Bible Study Guides. Unfortunately when the messages come we throw them over board
because of our lack of personal understanding and experience in the message of righteousness
(justification) by faith. But surely there would be a break through with the sustained emphasis,
under the hand of the Lord.

CONCLUSION:

In concluding let me share with you why I find this message of righteousness by faith a heart
warming message.

Adam was created sinless, perfect, holy, righteous and reflected the image (character) of God,
though there was still room for growth. From this lofty height he fell. We have inherited the
results of his fall and become sinful, unrighteous, unholy, un-Christ-like, un-God-like, selfish,
greedy, immoral and without love. How then can we regain what Adam lost, by our mere human
effort. It can happen only by the grace of God, Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23 Eph. 2:8,9, and certainly
not by the works of man no matter how good those works are. How can human works impute
righteousness unto man? As humans we do not have holiness in us to infuse into our works, so
we cannot depend on works, for justification. God through His Son Jesus Christ imputes
righteousness to us, justifies us and declares us worthy of eternal life through our faith alone in
Jesus. It is all entirely the work of the Grace of God. John 3: 6; I John 5:11-13. Isaiah 1:18

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 RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH:
LECTURE TWO

Topic: 1. When Was The First Time You met Jesus?

2. Obtaining The Righteousness/Salvation of God By
Grace Through Faith in Jesus

Dear Family of God, I thank our Father in Heaven for this special privilege and honour extended
to me to be involved in the serious discussion of the important subject of Righteousness by
Faith or Salvation By Grace of God through faith in Jesus.

Looking at how I came by this message, as I narrated in lecture one, I count it as a special
grace of the Lord. Like Paul the Apostle I did not get it from man, but received it direct from
the Lord Himself. I believe that the reception of the message of righteousness by faith, will
make the receiver more Christ centered, more Christ focused, and more Christ dependent. This
is the only true way by which we can be transformed; for it is by beholding that we become
changed.

We are discussing the second lecture under two apparently different topics;
1. When was the first time You met Jesus?

The import of this question is to make the fact clear that when we meet Jesus for the first time,
something dramatic happens in our lives. It results in the conversion of the heart. There is a
complete turn about in lifes desires, direction, and aspirations. This is also called the new birth.
That was the experience of Saul who became Paul. See Acts 9:1 20.

The logical deduction that can be made is that, having named ourselves Christians, if we are still
the same old people, greedy, selfish, hypocrites, liars, and immoral, it simply means that we have
not met Jesus yet. Or we have met Him but have spurned His offer of His love, grace, mercy,
and friendship, so we have remained unaffected.

The second title under which also this second lecture is presented is: Receiving the
Righteousness/Salvation of God by Grace through Faith in Jesus.

The problem of the Christian church today is, everybody is talking about Gods grace and
righteousness by faith but there is apparently no corresponding positive effect on our lives.
There is apparently only a shallow intellectual knowledge about the subject. We apparently lack

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in the experience of the grace of God. As a people we are perhaps only paying lip service to
Gods grace.

A.G. Daniells in his book Christ Our Righteousness has stated that .. Justification by faith
should be as clear to our minds as the teaching regarding the law, the Sabbath, the coming of the
Lord, and every other doctrine revealed in the Scripture. But it is not so understood by many;
and because it is neither appreciated nor experienced as it should be, there is failure on the part
of such to present it in their teaching p.91.

He again observes that,

The ministers have not presented Christ in His fullness to the people, either in the
churches or in the new fields, and the people have not an intelligent faith. They have not
been instructed as they should have been, that Christ is unto them both salvation and
righteousness p.92.

The problem has been clearly underscored. Those of us who are to teach the subject to the
people, we ourselves lack in both the true understanding and the experience of the grace of God.

A prominent church officer was about to go on retirement after serving the church for many
years. One day in a conversation with a small group of people, I happened to be part, he made a
statement which challenged our understanding of Righteousness by Faith. He said he was
happy to be going home finally on retirement, and that he was going to spend the rest of his life
to prepare seriously for the Second Coming of Jesus. What was he going to do to make himself
more acceptable to the Lord? Was he going to improve upon his righteousness? Upon what was
his relationship with Jesus based, while in active service?

Martin Luther on Justification by Faith stated: If the article of justification be once lost, then
is all true Christian doctrine lost . He then that strayeth from this Christian righteousness
must, fall into the confidence of his own works

On 5th April, 2000, an Easter Monday, I was watching a religious programme on a local
television TV3, and a caller made a petition to the host. In her petition she said please ask
Jesus to make it easier to be righteous. It is too difficult to be righteous, so Christ must make it
easier. It could be that, that voice expressed the unspoken thoughts of millions of Christians.

This lecture is designed through the grace of God to assist many to experience the grace of God.
By experience we have come to know that when the subject is clearly presented without much

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ambiguity, people get a clearer understanding and it becomes easier to be righteous, through
faith in Jesus.

You Cannot Give What You Do Not Have

After teaching for four years as a Certificate A teacher, I gained an admission to The National
Academy of Music (1973 1975) to do a two-year certificate course in Music Education. I
shared a cubicle with a course mate, a tall handsome man. By my Adventist tradition, I did not
smoke, did not drink alcoholic beverages, and I also did not import ladies from the community
into our cubicle to have affairs with them. I attended church every Sabbath at the local branch.

One afternoon I was approached by my roommate with a request. He said to me; Brother
Yamoah, I need your help. I want to be like you. You do not smoke, you dont drink, and you
dont also chase girls, but you know I do all these things though really am not happy about
them. So help me to quit all these life-styles, he pleaded.

I immediately felt it was an opportunity for me to make a Seventh-day Adventist out of him. He
would be one of the stars on my crown in Heaven. It is sad to state that as a people we make
every religious activity a salvation earning endeavour, especially soul-winning. We do not love
to save souls but we save souls in order to have stars on our crowns, a reward for our
selfish interest and activity. I began teaching him our doctrines, and urged him to try to practice
the Adventist life-style. If we take Christ out of our teachings, they become our doctrines. I
knew the good life and victory over sin was in trying to be good.

After a few days, the friend came to see me again and said Mr. Yamoah, I am trying hard but it
is not coming at all All that I could tell him was that he should not despair but should keep on
trying and it would be okay. I lost him for Jesus. Very sad indeed. What I did not know was
that I was in a more deplorable state than the friend who knew he was unsaved and was crying
for help. I know that with his cry for help, the Good and Faithful Saviour and Shepherd would
find him one day and save him. I was lost myself but did not know it, for there is no salvation
outside of Jesus. Acts 4:12; John 14:6. Salvation is not in what we try to do. It is not found in
us. It is found only in Jesus. We do not commend ourselves to Him, but we receive Him by
faith.

Our Tragedy

When we are born or converted into the church, we take our salvation for granted because of our
church membership and our participation in church activities. Having been exposed to a rich
body of truth, we confidently embark upon working out our own salvation through our obedience

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to the truths revealed to us. While doing the Lords will we are confident about our standing
with Heaven which is indebted to us, on the account of our obedience and life-style, as Seventh-
day Adventists.

The Sinners Problem

The sinner who wants to approach God for favour through his/her personal efforts in obeying the
law of God or who wants to keep the commandments of God to earn Gods favour or salvation
only engages himself/herself in a losing battle against the law. When the law says: Do not kill,
do not covet, and do not break the Sabbath, you are already guilty of them. You are already
condemned by the law.

Why? The Nature of the Law of God and Our Human Nature:

To appreciate the nature of the conflict that ensues between man and the law of God, as man tries
to keep it, we must explore the nature of the law of God and the nature of man.

We are told in Rom. 7:12 that the law is holy, just and good. It is also spiritual according to
Rom. 7:14 1st part. On the other hand man is variously described as carnal, sold under sin, not
subject to the law of God, a filthy rag, fallen into sin, and is only deserving of death, Rom. 3:23;
6:23.

Therefore when as sinners we stand before the law of God, we are only shown our inside out.
Rom. 7:7,8. We are arrested by the law and charged for being hostile or enemies of our Creator.
Rom. 8:7,8. The law holds us prisoners, and until something is done by somebody, there is no
hope for us. Gal. 3:23,24. What can the sinner do for himself to set himself free from the just
condemnation to death by the law? Rom. 6:23, Isa. 64:6, Jeremiah 13:23.

The Devils Puzzle

In college, our Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, lecturer told the class about a puzzle the
devil framed up and threw at God to deal with. The lessons of the puzzle have continued to
touch my heart. According to the narration, Satan, upon succeeding in causing the rebellion and
the fall of man, seized upon his hopeless and helpless condition, and used it to play on the
integrity of God. He, the devil formulated a difficult two ended puzzle, which he wanted God to
deal with, to clear Himself before the universe. He framed it as follows:
I. If God is just then man must die because he has sinned
II. If He is a merciful God, then though man has sinned he must live.

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Satan thought that whichever way God answered the puzzle, He would be found wanting. If God
killed man because he has sinned, He would have proved Himself a just God, but He would have
failed to be a merciful God. If on the other hand, God let man go free, He would have shown
Himself a merciful God, but would have failed to be a just God.
While Jesus was here on earth as man, the devil using the Pharisees as his agents played the
same tricks on Him. On one occasion, they brought a woman caught in adultery and hurled her
before Jesus in the temple, asking Jesus whether He supports the law of Moses, that such
offenders must be stoned. If He answered yes, they would accuse Him of not being merciful, He
therefore could not be the Son of God He claims to be. If He answered no, He would also be
accused of not respecting Moses, and therefore He could not be the Messiah.

In all these, Satan sought to embarrass God before the universe in order to justify his claim that
God too is partial, unjust, and unmerciful. His commandments are not fair so they must be
rejected by the universe. In all of this battle of wits, the question was not about mans
righteousness, neither was it about what he could do to attain or earn Gods favour and pardon. It
was about Gods justice and His mercy (Gods character), but not about what man could do to
earn salvation. He was only to wait for Gods verdict of mercy or justice, options which were
the prerogatives of the sovereign God alone to exercise.

The Council of the Godhead

E.G. White, commenting on mans predicament has the following passage.

The Son of God, heavens glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His
heart was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him.
Before the Father He pleaded in the sinners behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result
with an intensity of interest. Long continued was that communing- the council of peace
(Zech. 6:13).

The plan by which alone mans salvation could be secured, involved all heaven in its infinite
sacrifice. The angels could not rejoice as Christ opened before them the plan of redemption, for
they saw that mans salvation must cost their loved Commander unutterable woe. In grief and
wonder they listened to His words as He told them how He must descend from heavens purity
and peace, its joy and glory and immortal life, and come in contact with the degradation of earth,
to endure its sorrow, shame and death. He was to stand between the sinner and the penalty for
sin. He must die the cruelest of deaths, as a guilty sinner. He must endure anguish of soul,
the hiding of His Fathers face, while the guilt of transgression the weight of the sins of the
whole world of every generation should be upon Him.

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Jesus broke the news to the angels. The angels prostrated themselves at the feet of the
Commander and offered to become a sacrifice for man. But angels life could not pay the debt;
only He who created man had the power to redeem him. Since the divine law is as sacred as God
Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for its transgression. None but Christ
could redeem fallen man from the curse of the law and bring him again into harmony with
heaven.(Gal.3:13)

The plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth; for Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8); yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the
universe, to yield up His Son to die for the guilty race. But God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life John 3:16, Patriarchs and Prophets pp63-65.

How John 3:16 Answers Satans Puzzle

By the death of Jesus in place of the sinner, God has shown that He is just. What the broken law
required has been met. The Scriptures say in Rom. 8:32 that God did not spare His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. God our Father is indeed just. He will rectify all injustices of man
against man. He will be ruthless in dealing with sin and sinners who refuse His reconciliatory
gestures, shown by the cross.

By the same death of Jesus in place of the sinner, God has exercised mercy and love towards
man. Man must live because Christ has died in his place, (Rom. 6:23, II Cor. 5:18-21, Rom 5:6-
11). This is unfathomable love. We have been loved beyond what is just. God is truly merciful,
gracious and love. He is also just, impartial, and no respecter of persons.

What is required of man to do is to accept by faith the gift of the Father, the gift of innocence, of
guiltlessness and of righteousness, (Eph. 1:7,8; Isa. 53:46, Heb. 9:22), all encased in His Son
Jesus. To receive Jesus as Saviour and to abide in Him, is to escape the justice of God in the final
judgment.

The penalty for all types of sinners: heavyweight, middleweight, or lightweight sinners, is the
same, eternal destruction. The redemptive price is also the same for all grades of sinners the
blood of Jesus which was shared on Calvary. Acts 4:12. My sins and your sins have been
adequately paid for. And now;
There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God,

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 O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us, who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.
(Cleland B. McAfee)

Stumbling Blocks In The Way Of Righteousness By Faith:

The subject, Righteousness by Faith is not well understood by many Christians, in spite of the
efforts the church leadership is making to get the message across to the world membership.

Several factors contribute to the unfortunate situation. Teachers of righteousness by faith who
overlook these fundamental problems will make very little success with most of our indigenous
people, and even sometimes some of our elites.

One fundamental problem was how the conversion of our indigenous people was done. From the
word go, Christ was not the focus of the teachings of the missionaries. Perhaps they took it for
granted that Christ would be formed in them while they have the truth. The teachings were
steeped in salvation by works, and once our people got it, it was over. There are stories of some
elders who in the evening went from house to house, with ladles hidden in their clothes, and
checking what women had in their cooking pots. Compliance with church doctrines implied
salvation and righteousness for members. Yes, they were taught that Christ died to save sinners,
but the sinner must not expect salvation without doing some work to earn it.

Breaking the camels back are these other ideas about salvation which have infiltrated the church
from traditional beliefs and the teachings of other religions.

I. People think of salvation as something to be earned in the future, so they must work
towards that future goal of being rewarded with salvation.
They obey to please God, so God would in return save them in the future. This is a none
Christian teaching which has taken the Christian community captive. The teaching of the Bible
however is to the contrary. The gift of salvation and all that go with it is immediate, consequent
only upon our own readiness to accept it by faith. We must daily choose to accept it by faith;
faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Solution: We are not saved in the future but NOW so that even right now, before this lecture is
concluded, all receiving it either by reading it or by hearing it can receive salvation as Gods free
gift. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord Rom. 6:23.

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Prayerfully read the following references.

Isa. 1:18; Luke 19:9, 2Cor. 6:2, John 1:12,13; John 3:36; I John 5:11-13; John 20:31; John 8:36;
Gal. 4:4-7; John 6:47, 39; Gal. 5:1

That salvation is available to the sinner the moment he accepts Christ as Saviour is so clearly
stated in the book of Ephesians. It states; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast
Eph. 2:8,9 TNIV

There are some important points in the verses to note.

1. For it is by grace you have been saved. The verse does not say we will be saved
in the future because of our good works. We have been saved!
2. It says that salvation is by grace. It is not partly by grace and partly by works.
In the matter of salvation, grace stands alone without the companionship
of our works. Works have their own merits but they are not required in order to be saved.
They are the fruits or results of our gift of salvation received from Jesus.
3. It is through faith in Jesus alone, and that it is not the result of works. It must not be seen as a
future event or reward for our works. Though its full consummation is in the future, with the 2nd
coming of Jesus we can still enjoy its present reality as Jesus lives in our hearts and we bear the
fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:28-29).
4. Salvation is entirely the gift of God, given freely on the basis of our faith in Jesus and also
received by faith alone perhaps the only acceptable works required before salvation. We do not
merit it by works of mere obedience so no one should boast. No, no one!

Many of the hymns we sing attest to the same truth. The second stanza of the SDAH No. 341 for
instance reads:

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives. (emphasis ours)

The case of the thief on the cross speaks eloquently about the wonderful grace of God. He was
justly being executed as a hardened criminal, but a few hours to his demise on his cross, he
recognized Jesus as Saviour and surrendered his life to Him. He had no record of good works,
but that moment he received a pardon from Jesus and he died as a child of God and a candidate

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for heaven. Jesus had taken over his place, and had offered His own place to him. Though
people around saw only a dying criminal, Heaven saw a dying saint, a child of God. It can
happen to all of us now as this lecture is being delivered. We can act now and be blessed now!

The Human Nature:

We are born with our fists clenched, - holding our own something hence the difficulty we have
in accepting or receiving the free gift of salvation. Eph. 2:8,9.

If we will open the clenched fists and let go everything we are holding: doubts, works, sins, self-
righteousness and by faith receive the gift of Gods love, mercy, grace, pardon, and salvation, we
shall be immediately accorded the citizenship of heaven, (Titus 2:11, Heb. 4:16; Heb. 2:3).

II. The second core problem which militates against the reception of Gods gift of
salvation and righteousness by faith is the cherished belief that we must obey to make
ourselves perfect before or in order to be saved.
The truth rather is that, God saves/accepts the sinner and bestows perfection upon him as
a gift, based on his faith alone in Jesus, before He gives him His law. Deut. 14:2,3; Exo.
20:2-3. Gods law is for His saved children. The practice of teaching the law to the
unsaved sinner undermines the gospel and only results in filling our churches with
legalists. Of such converts they are likened to the dog and the sow in scriptures found in
2 Peter 2:22:

Of them the proverbs are true:

A dog returns to its vomit and
A sow that is washed returns
to her wallowing in the mud TNIV

Unless the sow is given a human heart, nothing can make her forsake her mud; and unless human
beings are given the life of Jesus we shall forever be slaves to sin no matter how long we go to
church.

III. The third problem is the idea that we only need Gods grace to begin our
Christian journey, but to make it to the end depends on our individual personal efforts
or obedience.

IV. The fourth problem falls into three views:

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 1. That we must work to earn about 90% righteousness to merit 10% grace from God.
2. That salvation, righteousness and Heaven must cost the sinner at least 10% of good
works, because Heaven must not be so cheap.
3. Recently, during the study of Romans, another bizarre was been expressed in a class I
visited that we must accept Jesus as Saviour and obey Gods commandments in order to
earn or merit the grace of God.

In conclusion, we shall look at three issues under pinning all these thoughts.

1. Our concept of gift:

Culturally, gifts are not free. We exchange gifts in Africa. If some favour is done me, I must
find a way of reciprocating. So the idea of Gods gift is not a too welcome thought. Why should
God give us such a priceless gift when we have not done anything to earn it. No, the gift must
wait until we are sure we have done something to earn it. Then it becomes exchange of gifts.
We give to God and He gives to us. So for us as human beings the only way we can give to God
is to obey Him and keep His commandments and do good deeds to earn His favour and justly
earn Salvation. Everything from God must first be earned through obedience and religious
activities. If our prayers are not answered, it is because we are not holy and righteous. We are
our own standard and not Jesus. We measure ourselves by our obedience and our participation in
religious activities and other formal and informal religious meetings. At worship, we would
usually appoint somebody we perceive to be more righteous than others to pray on the most
difficult issues. We believe prayers are answered according to our religiousity but not according
to our measure of faith, in Jesus and in His Promises. God owes us for being His followers, His
commandment keepers and worshippers so someone more religious must pray to demand or
elicit answers from Him.

2. The teachers perception about grace, faith, law, and obedience is part of the problem. Some
of our teachers themselves have cloudy understanding of the relationship between grace and
obedience. They are in favour of obedience being the cause of our salvation. In their teaching
therefore, they attempt to play down on the grace of God in order to project obedience and the
law; hence the strange ideas expressed by many church members.

3. Last but not least, Righteousness by Faith is generally not a valued subject in some
churches. When preachers mention the name of Jesus in their sermons, they think they have
preached Christ. Statements like Jesus loves you, and Give your heart to Jesus, have almost
lost their appeal and meaning. They are stale statements. How can Jesus love us when we are
sinners who have not worked out our salvation with trembling and fear?

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Preachers and non-preachers would normally by-pass books with Righteousness by Faith titles
and would go in for books on end-time prophecies, and other eye catching titles. At the last
session of South Ghana Conference, Jan. 2009, I visited the book stands to see what books were
on display. I saw a book with the title Christ Our Righteousness by A.G. Daniells. It had been
used before so it looked a bit old. I asked about its price and five Ghana cedis was quoted. I did
not have enough money on me, but I was interested seeing it deals with the richest subject I love.
I told the seller I was interested and that I would call again to buy it later if it had not been
bought by another person. In fact I told him to sell it to anyone who would be ready to buy it. It
was Thursday afternoon. On Sunday morning, the closing day of the session, I went to check to
see if the book was still on the shelf. What did I see? It was still there, among some few books
left, I paid for it and took it, and today it is one of my cherished books on Righteousness by
Faith. There is an apparent lack of interest in buying and reading books which deal with the
subject, righteousness by Faith, hence the much ignorance.

No wonder A.G. Daniells, quoting E.G. White, says there is not one in two hundred who clearly
understand Righteousness by Faith.

Righteousness by Faith is not a theory. People may hold a theory about it and at the
same time be ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness
Righteousness by Faith is a transaction, an experience. It is a submitting unto the
righteousness of God.
It is a change of standing before God and His Law. It is a regeneration, a new birth.
Without this change there can be no hope for the sinner, for he will remain under the
condemnation of Gods changeless, holy law; its terrible penalty will still hang over his
head. A.G. Daniells, Christ Our Righteousness, p21.

But I when am lifted up will draw all men to myself, Jesus said, John 12:32. The
Son of God is up on the cross, let us look upon Him and be drawn to Him and live, Isa,
45:22.

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 RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH
LECTURE THREE

THE BACKGROUND OF LECTURE NO 3

I can easily identify with the experience of Martin Luther, described by E.G. White, which
Norval F. Pease quotes in his book By Faith Alone (p 115), in the following words:
He tried through works to obtain the favor of God; but he was not satisfied until a gleam
of light from heaven drove the darkness from his mind, and led him to trust, not in works,
but in the merits of the blood of Christ; and to come to God for himself, not through
popes nor confessors, but through Jesus Christ alone.

Having had my own doubts, fears and darkness cleared from my heart and mind, through the
grace of God, to see and experience the excellence of Gods grace, I had a burning desire to
share the good news about Gods free grace, which we tried to work for.

Noval F. Pease, quoting White, again says:

There is a wide difference between a pretended union and a real connection with Christ
by faith. A profession of religion, he quotes, places men in the church but this does
not prove that they have a vital connection with the living vine

When this intimacy of connection and communion is formed, our sins are laid upon
Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us. He was made sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him, (p122).

For eleven years of my ministry I had no living connection with Jesus. I was all along trying and
working hard to earn salvation. The amazing grace of God was poured into my heart, and
everything changed including my ministry. This was in the latter part of 1989. In 1992 I was
transferred to go and man one of the districts in Accra, the capital of Ghana. As soon as I
arrived, I launched out into the full teaching of the good news of Righteousness by Faith. I
presented lecture one in the first Church I visited but before I would conclude lecture two the
second evening, I sensed much agitation among the members. The tension was so high that to
prevent a boycourt of the following meeting I had to make a change of the subject the next
evening.

What was the problem? It was the unapologetic emphasis on the grace of God as our only means
of salvation without our works. It was the first time the members were hearing a whole Seventh-
day Adventist Pastor, standing before a Seventh-day Adventist congregation, teaching that we

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are saved by grace alone, without our works. The members wondered whether I was a true
Seventh-day Adventist minister that had been posted to them. It was uncharacteristic of
Adventist preaching and teaching in those days and even still now in many congregations in
Ghana. I sounded heretical, or at best more of a charismatic minister than a Seventh-day
Adventist Pastor. In one church, an elder in his closing prayer prayed, Lord we thank You that
prophecy is being fulfilled, that in the last days wolves in sheep clothing will come into the
church I got his prayer message. I was the wolf in sheep clothing, all because, I had dared
teach that salvation is a gift of God by grace through faith in Jesus. I thank God our Father that
the situation is changing due to the sustained emphasis being given the subject today, though
doubts still exist in many places. Today some churches voluntarily call for the lessons to be
presented to their congregations.

When in my agonizing cries unto God to let me know what to do to be saved, and He had spoken
audibly in my ears and told me, YOU ARE SAVED BY GRACE, what else more or less can I
talk about, than the grace of God?

To put the members at ease and not to scatter them as indeed a wolf would do to a flock of sheep,
I announced after lecture two that the next lecture would be on the role of obedience. After all
that was what they wanted to hear. If they are saved entirely by grace then what happens to their
obedience to the law of God?

It does appear that the church has been more comfortable with the expression Righteousness by
Faith, than, Salvation by Grace. The former has been used in the church for ages without
exciting the kind of indignation, doubts and anxiety, that the expression salvation by grace
alone often creates. The former only appeals to our intellectual taste without we actually
knowing what it implies and involves. The latter expression Salvation by Grace alone
confronts our ego, and arouses the defensive mechanism within us, in defense of our supposed
obedience of the law of God which we believed was required before we would be saved.

LECTURE THREE

PRIVILEGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CHRISTIAN SAVED

BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Dear saints of God, before I go into the full discussion of lecture three, I wish to appeal to you to
pray God to give you an understanding from above. I wish to concede that I am not an authority
on the subject of Righteousness by Faith. I am a student just like you, so I pray daily for more
insight from above. I also read books on it to deepen and enrich my understanding and my
experience. The subject is so dear to God, that He would not deny or refuse anyone who pleads

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for an understanding from Him. It is one subject which enables us to have a saving relationship
with Jesus, the Fathers gift to all mankind.

Three elderly ministers were discussing the conditions of our world: the toughness, the
roughness, wickedness, poverty, hunger, accidents, and the general insecurities. One of them
suggested that Jesus should come soon to bring to an end the woes plaguing humanity. The other
two colleagues queried their fellow minister for praying that Jesus should come soon to put an
end to the problems of the world. They asked him if he was sure he was ready and fully
prepared to so pray that Jesus should come soon.
Question for reflection discussion:
A few years later, one of the two was unfortunately hit by a vehicle and he died.
i. Was he fully prepared and ready when the accident which brought his life to an abrupt end
occurred?
ii. What did he do with the passage of time to ensure his readiness for the second coming?
iii. As a minister what had he been teaching his congregation about salvation?
iv. As leaders, have we been blind leading the blind? Thank God for His grace.
Our Concept of Readiness:

What was the two pastors concept of readiness for the second coming of Jesus? They looked at
readiness from the point of view of their works, their human efforts, and not from faith in Jesus
and their relationship with Him. If we are not ready to day through faith in Jesus, we shall not be
ready if given twenty more years. We are made ready by Christ Jesus by grace through faith in
Him. Our readiness depends on our relationship with Jesus and not on our works. Good works
acceptable to God are the results of that relationship. We must therefore be careful as preachers
and teachers when we are talking about getting ready for Jesus second coming so that we do not
create the impression that readiness is entirely a human activity of dos and donts, leaving
the faith and relationship aspects which are the most essential. In Acts 3:12 is recorded the
statement of Peter in reaction to peoples perception of him and his colleagues because of a
miracle the Lord performed through them.

And when Peter saw it he

answered unto the people,
Ye men of Israel, why marvel
Ye at this? Or why look ye
so earnestly on us, as though
by our own power or holiness
we had made this man to
walk?

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They gave all the credit to Jesus.

Paul, before his encounter with the grace of God could boast of many things, Phil. 3:4-6. To him
and the Jews, the more a person achieved by means of works of the law, the more righteous they
thought they became. When the grace of God took over his life, Paul had a different view of
himself.
To me, he wrote, who am less than the least of all the saints,
this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, Eph. 3:8.

Again, Paul recounting his experience to the Philippians said:

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. And be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith; Phil. 3:7-9 (NKJV).

The Problem With Righteousness/Salvation by Works:

People who depend on their works for salvation are bound to fail. Since they know they are
working for a reward, they ask themselves whether what they have done will be acceptable.
Dissatisfaction with self and works fills them with fear, as they wonder whether the Creator will
be satisfied with their works to merit any reward. Truly our righteousness is like filthy rags
before Him.

Adam in his pure and holy state fell and dare any man in the fallen state try to earn
righteousness, and salvation by his own efforts and works. We must first pay for our sins with
our lives and be able to overcome death, (Heb. 9:22). Will that even impute unto us any kind of
holiness and righteousness that will be acceptable to God? Rom. 3:23. Righteousness is not a
human nature and no human activity can create it or generate it. We are clothed in filthy rags
regardless of what we do. Isa. 64:6, Isa. 6:1-6, Ezech. 3:1-4, Jer. 13:23. Christ Jesus, the Son of
God, the sinless one, out of mercy and love and by grace gives it as a gift to us through our
implicit faith in Him. Rom. 6:23; Isa. 53:4-6.

RECEIVING JESUS WHAT IT MEANS

When by faith we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we are in fact accepting two things.

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 I. The Blood: We are accepting His Blood in place of our own which must be shed
because of sin, Heb. 9:22
II. The Life: We are also accepting His pure and holy life in place of ours, Gal.
2:20-21.

Implications of the Above:

These are for two important things.

The Blood: Through repentance and confession and by faith alone, we accept the blood of Jesus
for justification, pardon, forgiveness of sin and also cleansing from sin. (Rom. 3:24-26); I John
1:29.

At this point we are already pronounced righteous, and Christs righteousness is imputed to us,
having accepted Him as our substitute and our propitiation for sin. God wipes out our sin debt
record because Christs shed blood has paid for it all. God credits the perfect record of Jesus to
our account. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.! According to A.G. Daniells, Justification
by Faith is Gods way of changing weak, sinful, defeated men and women into strong righteous,
victorious Christians. Christ Our Righteousness p65. We participate in this transaction only by
faith. Our works, however good they may be, do not contribute to it. The merit of Christ alone
does it all. This is Justification, made possible through faith in the shed blood of the Lamb of
God, on behave of sinners.

In heaven it will be indicated on our records that we never sinned, never lied, hated, stole, never
were immoral, and never violated the Sabbath. Is it really true that we never sinned, never hated,
but were always loving, and never broke the Sabbath? It is the record of Jesus perfect life of
obedience including His perfect Sabbath keeping that has been put on our record. For the first
time Jesus has become our personal Saviour. You are a child of God. Your name is recorded in
the Book of Life, Gods family book, all on the account of Jesus shed blood and our implicit
faith in Him. We are no more under the condemnation of the law. (Rom. 8:1; Rom. 6:14). We
are no more under the power of the law of our sinful nature, which played us against Gods holy
law which condemned us to death. Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 7:21-25; 8:2, John 1:12, 13.
These are the privileges we receive as gifts of grace from God our Father through faith in His
Son Jesus. This is what believing in Jesus as Saviour and in His shed blood for the atonement of
our sins accomplishes for us. A hymn writer has penned the following beautiful lines:
Years I spent in vanity and pride;
caring not my Lord was crucified,
knowing not it was for me He died at calvary;

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 Mercy there was great and grace was free,
pardon there was multiplied to me,
There my burdened soul found liberty,
On Calvary.

The Life: By grace, through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit we also receive the life of
Jesus of obedience so that we may walk as He walked. I Pet. 2:21, 24; Jn. 13:13-17.

This is imparted righteousness. Having received the perfect life of Jesus as our own through
faith, Jesus becomes our Lord, as we subject ourselves to His will. This work of living the life of
Jesus is done by Jesus Himself through the agency of the Holy Spirit with our faithful
cooperation, through our life which we have surrendered to Him..A progressive activity of living
the life of Jesus moves on towards maturity on daily basis, as we surrender to Him daily. This is
sanctification, the process of becoming like Jesus through a life of obedience. It is a life time
experience, until we are sealed and Jesus declares it is done, he who is holy, let him be holy
still. Rev. 22:11 Jesus command and benediction ,Be you therefore perfect even as your
Father who is in Heaven is perfect, is finally accomplished and fulfilled (Matt. 5:48 KJV 2000).

Jesus, Saviour , and Lord

The important point to note is that Jesus first becomes our Saviour before He becomes our Lord.
If Jesus has not saved you do not worship Him. It will profit you nothing. The statement which
a wicked servant made that the Lord reaps where He has not sown, and gathers where He has not
scattered was a wicked statement. Jesus sows before He reaps. He sows love to reap love, sows
peace, kindness and loyalty in our lives to reap the same. He saves us so that we will serve and
worship Him as Lord. A three-fold relationship is established between us and Jesus:

1. Saviour and saved sinner relationship;

2. Lord and servant relationship; and
3. Father and son relationship; established by oath and covenant.

So that you are not a child of God today, and because of a shortcoming, a mistake, an accident,
or sin tomorrow, you are no longer a child of God. John has the following counsel in I John 2:1.
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (NKJV) If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I John
1:9 (NKJV). The impression is given that the names of the saints in the Book of Life keep being

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erased and being re-written over and over when we fall into sin and when we repent and confess
our sins. On the contrary once a name is written in the Lambs Book of Life that name will
remain in it until the declaration in Rev. 22 : 11 is made. It is there and then that names of
individuals who were once saints of God but later fell into sin and remained in it would have
their names completely blotted out of the Book of Life.
Daniells also says, When we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we shall have
no relish for sin: for Christ will be working with us. We may make mistakes but we will
hate the sin that caused the sufferings of the Son of God. COR p101.
God gives the power and the determination to hate sin.

Jesus after pardoning us and cleansing us from sin takes the holy law which is His own nature,
into our hearts and lives it through us by the power of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 8:8-10).

Here is where the Christian battle is fought. The battle is the day to day handing over of our life
to Jesus to take control of. Jesus does not kill our power of choice when we accept Him as
Saviour and Lord, so we can always choose to be our own driver of our vehicle and push Him
away from the steering wheel. So for daily victorious living we need to pray each morning when
we get up:

Thank you Father for the gift of another day and for your
free gift of salvation by grace through faith in Your Son
and my Saviour Jesus Christ. Today also my life is Your
life and Your life is my life, so live Your holy life through
me.

You are assured of daily victory as you consciously do this. Jesus gives us His holy life as a gift,
and it is our responsibility to depend on Him, to empower us to protect the name and the life of
our gracious Saviour from being dragged in the mud of sin. Here is where obedience to the
Word of God comes in.

Motive For Obedience

Being overwhelmed by what the Lord has done for us, the question asked in Psalm 116:12
becomes our own question:
What shall I return to the Lord for all His goodness to me? TNIV
The question must be answered from two perspectives. One, from our perspective and two, from
the perspective of God. Psalm 116:13, 14 provide the answer from the point of view of mankind
who has received the bountiful blessings of God.
I will take up the cup of salvation,

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 I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His
people. NKJV. Living to exalt the name of Jesus in all situations and circumstances,
through a life totally surrendered to the Lord is what these verses call for, and it is our pleasure
and joy to live such a life to the honour and glory of Him who gave His life for us.

The answer from Gods perspective is recorded in John 14:15 and 15:14
If you love Me, keep my commandments: (NKJV.
You are My friends if you do whatever
I command you Mark 3:32-35 NKJV
I Cor. 10:31 also says, Therefore, whether
you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all
to the glory of God NKJV

Obedience therefore is a choice we make to show: 1. love, 2. appreciation, 3. gratitude and

honour, and 4. to glorify our Maker and Saviour.

Obedience is shown not to earn righteousness/salvation. It is a natural outgrowth of our

relationship with Jesus, Ps. 1:2; Ps. 119:24. A more extensive work has been done on the why of
obedience in the part four of these series.

The Unfortunate View About

What Constitutes Salvation

Many Christians answer the question What must I do to be saved, according to what they are
able to do well, or what Christian or religious activity they are able to practise most often.

Prayer warriors think if we pray a lot we shall be saved. Those who are evangelistically
inclined base salvation on their soul winning activities. Those who fast and pray think that is
what must be done to earn righteousness and salvation.
Others who give to and practice charity stress such good activity as the means of earning
salvation and righteousness.

Avid Bible students make Bible reading the way to be saved. Some emphasize the acquisition of
spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues as how we are saved. In the church some may begin
answering this important question with if you accept Jesus as your Saviour, and would add,
and keep Gods commandments, you will be saved. All these are important religious exercises
but in themselves, there is no salvation. They do not impart salvation or holiness to their
practitioners.

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So which is the answer? Truth is always one, and the truth about this question, the question
about what to do to be saved is clearly settled in the Word of God unequivocally and
unambiguously, in the following Bible verses: Acts 16:29-31, Acts 8:37; 13:39; John 3:16, 36
etc; and that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus, Eph. 2:8,9 Rom. 6:23. We
quote one reference in full. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and
fell down before Paul and Silas. And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be
saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.
Acts 16:29-31 (KJV 2000) (Emphasis ours).

The Prince of Darkness and of this world has so blinded the eyes of humanity, that we fail to
appreciate the enormity of sin and how we are depraved by it and steeped in it. If we would
realize how deplorable our state is as the result of our sin infested and maggots filled hearts we
would not look for righteousness and salvation from within ourselves, and from what we are able
to do. We would rather cry with Paul who wrote: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver
me from this body of death? Rom. 7:24; And agree with the hymn writer who wrote:
Amazing grace! How sweet
the sound, That saved a wretch
like me! I once was lost, but
now am found, Was blind,
but now I see.

Sin made us abhorable to the whole unfallen universe. We were under the dominion of sin.
Even when we have been set free and could shout, no more under the power and condemnation
of sin, sin still prowls about, crossing our paths frequently, and it takes only one step to fall
back into its arms. Our only safety lies in abiding in Christ. This is affirmed in Maranatha
in the following words: Not one who is abiding in Christ will fail or fall. Again in COL p
157 there is this assurance for all who are in union with Christ by faith. In the whole Satanic
force, there is not power to overcome one soul who in simple trust casts himself on Christ The
point we are underscoring is the hopelessness and uselessness in mans attempt to regain Gods
favour by his own efforts. After all who gave holiness, righteousness, and perfection to man in
the first place? It was God who gave Adam and Eve the life of holiness as a gift. They lost this
precious gift when they failed to walk in the path of holiness and obedience to the revealed will
of God, and chose their own way and the way of Satan. Can man take it back to himself what he
has lost? Holiness is Gods nature, and it is He alone who can restore man to his original
creation, to a life of innocence and guiltlessness, as a gracious gift, at the cost of the life of His
Son, Jesus. That is what sin has done to man, to God, and His Son Jesus and the whole universe.
The whole universe will frown at any man who attempts to gain Gods favour and righteousness
by his own endeavour. It is only a privilege to receive Gods favour as a gift, and it is also our

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responsibility to choose to walk in the paths of righteousness by depending totally on God
Himself for power and strength.
Enoch and the Thief

Enoch has no quarrel to pick with God in heaven because of the presence of the thief who was
granted pardon on the cross, when we all gather before the White Throne, the throne of glory,
together with the thief.

Enoch walked with God for three hundred years and fully reflected the character and the image
of God before he was taken to Heaven without seeing death.

The thief on that eventful day, when he and the Son of God were crucified, was on his cross
because of his wickedness. As a result of his surrender to Jesus, and the faith he professed in
Him as Saviour, he received pardon, and was given a new heart, and had the righteousness and
obedience of Jesus credited to him. He was fully qualified for Heaven the same way Enoch was
qualified, though he had not the privilege of demonstrating the gift of new life, because he died
on the cross and had no chance to come down a living being.

The Problem of the Christian World:

Saviourship & Lordship of Jesus

Some Christians only accept the Saviourship of Jesus Christ and reject His Lordship. Some also
accept His Lordship and play down on His Saviourship. By believing that we are saved by grace
and so there is no need to keep Gods commandments, we are rejecting Jesus Lordship.
Similarly by depending on our human works for salvation, we are rejecting the Saviourship of
Jesus. Neither is profitable, and both may lead to eternal destruction. Jesus is both Saviour and
Lord! Haleluyah!! A Lord or king has a kingdom and laws to govern his kingdom. It is the duty
of all citizens in such a kingdom to live according to the laws which are found in it. Can Christ
rule without laws? Impossible. To qualify as citizens of Christs kingdom we must receive Him
as our Saviour and Redeemer, having ransomed us from the kingdom of darkness, hatred,
wickedness, and sin, by shedding His blood. We have been transported from the kingdom of sin
and death into the kingdom of light, life and love. We respond to this act of grace by living a life
of obedience, purely from love. God bless you.

LECTURE FOUR:
Reflections On Faith And Obedience

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Tit. 2:11.

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It is rather strange that such good news, the gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus,
should cause so much apprehension and confusion in the Christian community. There is the
perception that mankind has so much good works that God must reckon with in determining our
status in the kingdom of Heaven. The Christian world splits along four (4) major groups as they
relate to issues about Grace and Law, Faith in Jesus, and obedience to the commandments of
God.

1. One group believes in salvation partly through the grace of God and partly by human good
works.
2. Another believes in human good works and sees salvation as a reward for their obedience.
They do not need any grace because they can earn salvation by their works.
3. The third group of people believes and teaches that Gods grace abolishes the law of God,
especially the fourth commandment, setting people free from obedience to Gods law.
4. The number four (4) group of Christians believes that salvation is a free gift of God offered by
grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone. Eph. 2:8-9. Together with this gift, however, is
also offered the believer a new life of obedience which is found in Jesus and which satisfies the
righteous law of God. This new life is not earned. It is given as a gift of grace, received by faith
and lived through the power of the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor. 5:17. This view is what is clearly taught in
the Bible and believed in by the early Christians.

Over the years as we have shared this last view with fellow ministers, church members and
students, the cardinal problem that has hindered many people from appreciating this view, is the
role of obedience to the commandments of God while being saved by grace alone without that
same obedience. Some local church leaders even express the fear that, though the message is
true and good news, it would make members of their congregation abandon their obligations to
God and the church if they are taught to fully understand and accept that salvation is free and full
in Christ through faith in Jesus alone and by the grace of God alone.

The notion has been held that the message will keep people away from obedience.

One day as I was pondering about how best to explain the role of obedience to people though not
being saved by any such obedience, the ideas which have been captured in this lecture began
pouring into my mind. I believe they came from my dear Saviour who years ago about 1989 told
me You are saved by grace, and gave me the burden of sharing this good news with His
people.

I invite all, therefore, to carefully and prayerfully examine the forty (40) points found in this
chapter, which deal with our relationship with our Heavenly Father. The kind of relationship we

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have with the Father ultimately affects our human relationships as well: spouse, parents,
children, believers and non-believers.

The kind of obedience we render also, determines the kind of relationship that exists among
individuals and with God.

Many people, Christians and non-Christians alike hold various opinions about what should
motivate obedience. Do we obey in anticipation of what we would receive in return and or to
escape punishment? Do we obey in order to trap God or some other person into granting us what
we desire? Why must we obey Gods commandments? For salvation? Salvation is not based on
our good deeds, but it is based on the grace of God. It is Gods free gift graciously given to all
who believe. Hence obedience must be based on the right motive. Eph. 2:8-9; John 3:16

Following are thought provoking points about obedience and faith. Prayerfully meditate on each
point as you go through them.

1. Our obedience demonstrates our love to God, Who first loved us and gave Himself for us,
(John 14:15; 1John 5:1-6

2. Our obedience is the practical result of our faith in God

3. Our obedience to God shows we are Jesus friends; Mk. 3:34,35.

4. Acceptable obedience must be the result of Gods gift of salvation to us and not the
cause of our salvation.

5. Our obedience is for the purpose of glorifying our Maker, Lord, and Saviour. I Cor.
10:31.

6. Obedience is a pleasurable duty of sons and daughters of God. Mark 3:34,35.

7. Obedience must be a gift of God given to those He has adopted as sons and daughters
through His son Jesus whom they have received as Saviour and Lord through faith. Heb.
13:20,21.

8. Obedience is a fruit of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22,23.

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9. Now, by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He who says
I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
I John 2:3, 4.

10. The obedience of a son and the obedience of a slave/servant:

(a) A son obeys his parents to make them happy. It is a heartfelt obedience.
(b) A slave/servant obeys to please his Lord/Master. This may not necessarily be a
heartfelt obedience.

11. A son finds obedience joyful. A slave finds obedience burdensome/a yoke. Planned
benevolence makes giving pleasurable; systematic compulsion kills spirituality. The first
belongs to Gods children. The second belongs to strangers in Gods house.

12. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law (Rom. 2:12).
People who blatantly refuse to accept Christ as the Lord of their lives and those who
teach that there is no law will perish without law, for Christ is the embodiment of the law
of God. Christ in you by faith is the law fulfilled in you and through you.

13. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. (Rom. 2:12).
Christians who by their lifestyle crucify Christ afresh on daily basis and those who feign
ignorance of the law of God will be judged according to the law of their master without
an intercessor (Rom. 2:3,21-24, Heb. 6:5,6).

14. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
vine; neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in me, and I in him bears fruit; for without me you can do nothing (John
15:4,5).

15. A branch comes out of the tree, and to bear fruit it must remain attached to the tree. We
also came out of our Father in heaven and for us to bear fruit, we must remain in him
through Jesus, who stands in between us and the Father, and connects us to him.

16. Of these, Paul says. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) but according to the
Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-23; Rom 8:1,2)

17. God cannot condemn Himself and so He cannot condemn us because we are part of
Himself, through His dear Son, Jesus. (Rom. 8:1,2).

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18. Faith and obedience are not twins, neither are they competitors. They are a mother and a
child.

19. Faith in Jesus gives birth to obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit through the
grace of God.

20. Obedience which is acceptable to God emanates from faith. The bonding of a mother and
her child is stronger than the bonding of twins. Thus the men and women of old could
die in obedience to God because of the bonding of their faith in God to such obedience.
They are truly inseparable. Hence faith without works or obedience is dead, no faith at
all. Rom 16 :25-27

21. Faith and obedience from man are directed to God.

22. Grace and law (all) reveal the character of God and are directed towards man.

23. God however shows grace toward man first and saves him by it through his faith in His
Son Jesus.

24. Law follows after grace has done its work of establishing a bonding between the sinner
and the Saviour.

25. God therefore saves the sinner first before he gives him His law by engraving it upon his
heart. (Heb. 8:8-10) Exo. 20:1-3, Deut. 14:2,3.

26. Giving the holy law to the unconverted sinner and expecting obedience is like placing the
cart before the horse.

27. The law is meant for Gods children to be their guide but it is not meant for the
unconverted and unbelievers, who will perish without law and without a saviour.

28. The law reveals to Gods children the foot print of Jesus (I Peter 1:21).

29. The Holy Spirit empowers the children of God to walk in the foot prints of Jesus through
faith and obedience.

30. We love to do it because we love our Saviour, and we want to be like Him, though
through faith His righteousness has already been credited to us.

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31. The Holy Spirit who himself imparts to us a desire to obey the Lord (Heb. 8:10; Eze.
36:26-28) takes our whole hearted readiness to obey the truth as our mandate to him to
systematically purify our souls to produce Christ-likeness in us. In this transaction, the
focus however is not the law but Christ and Him crucified.

32. Can two walk together unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3). For peaceful and
harmonious co-existence, there is a need for mutual submission to each other. How can
there be peace and unity in the home when the husband and wife are going in different
directions?

33. What is our proof to God of our love to Him when we are going contrary to His
commandment. How can we be in Him and He in us when we are not willing to submit
to His will revealed in His law, the ten commandments, especially. His genuine children
find obedience pleasant and joyful and not burdensome.

34. Faith establishes our relationship with God as our Father through Christ Jesus.
Obedience shows the kind of relationship, whether genuine or a mere lip service. (Mark
7:6, 7 Matt. 15:7, 8).

35. It is only through obedience that the world will know who our master is, whether Jesus
Christ or Satan. (Rom. 6:16).

36. Obedience is the practice of the life of Jesus Christ which has already been credited to us
by grace through faith in Him.

37. Obedience to God is laying low our personal glories, letting go personal convenience,
despising self and lifting up Jesus and honoring Him above self and everything else.

38. Obedience to God is the turning away from doing our will to doing the will of God. It is
turning from seeking our own pleasure to seeking the pleasure of God our Father, and it
is turning from seeking our own honor, and delight to seeking the pleasure, honor, and
delight of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of our Father in heaven. (Isa. 58:12).
39. But more still these believers keep the commandments of God. They have experienced
the marvelous change from hating and transgressing the law of God, to loving and
keeping its righteous precepts. Their standing before the law has been changed. Their
guilt has been cancelled; their condemnation has been removed, and the death sentence
has been annulled having accepted Christ as Saviour, they have received His
righteousness and His life. (A.G. Daniels), Christ Our Righteousness, p.66.

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 40. Last but not least obedience shows and demonstrates our acceptance of and delight in
what heaven has done for us, the offer of the free gift of justification and salvation which we
did not earn nor did we merit by any means, but through our faith in Jesus, It does not lead to
faith but it follows faith in Jesus.

CONCLUSION
Though the thoughts expressed are directed at God-human relationship yet they are also true for
all human relationships. Their applications in our homes and churches and in other human to
human situations will enhance relationships and promote peaceful co-existence. (Matt. 7:12).
God be with you.

LECTURE FIVE:

LET IT RAIN OH LORD

The Two Phase Work Of The Holy Spirit

Texts:

1 Zach. 10:1 (NKJV)

Ask the LORD for rain

in the time of the latter rain.
The Lord will make flashing clouds;
He will give them showers of rain,

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Grass in the field for everyone.

Luke 11:13 (NKJV)

If you then, being evil, know

how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

In the foregoing quotations one word stands out. It is the word ASK. In each case, it is followed
by a promise, the promise of an out pouring of the Holy Spirit. God our Father is actually
pleading with all His children, who constitute His world-wide Family and Church to ASK for the
gift of the Holy Spirit.

In response to this, the world-wide Seventh-day Adventist movement is praying for the Latter
Rain.

In order not to pray in vain, we must be able to know whether we are ready for the Latter Rain
power or not.

To know it we must know well the two-phase-work of the Holy Spirit, which are accomplished
under the Early/Former Rain, and the Latter Rain.

We are to recognize what is to be achieved under each phase of the work of the Holy Spirit. To
pray for the Latter Rain when we cannot measure the effect of the Early Rain power may lead to
disappointments.

What Is To Be Accomplished Under The Early Rain:

The Early or Former Rain represents the out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the early Christian
Church in moderate measure at the beginning of its work on the day of Pentecost.

The Former Rain was not limited to the early Christian Church, but continues throughout its
entire history and is given to prepare the church for the Latter Rain.

The Early Rain accomplishes purposes entirely different from the Latter Rain.

The church could repeat the mistake of the Old Testament Church which looked to the Law to
accomplish for them the work which belonged to the Saviour alone. It tried to earn the peace of
God, salvation, and righteousness through the obedience of the law of God. These were and are

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entirely the mission of the Saviour, Who does them for us through our faith in Him, (John 3:16).
It seems we are waiting for the Latter Rain to come and accomplish for our lives both what the
Early Rain should accomplish together with the work of the Latter Rain itself.

The Early Rain is to lead us:

(a) Into all truth about God and His will for us, to a complete knowledge of ourselves our
true condition, our weaknesses, our faults, our deficiencies of character, our unknown or
unconscious sins, and our need of constant dependence upon God.
(b) to a thorough repentance, confession, and forsaking of all of our sins
(c) to a perfect surrender of our will to Gods will, to a whole hearted obedience to all that
God asks of us.
(d) to gain the complete unbroken victory over every besetting sin, to reflect the image of
Jesus fully, to become fully mature men and women.

With this picture of the work of the Early Rain power, are we ready for the Latter
Rain? Nearly all (Seventh-day Adventists) who profess to believe present truth
are wholly unfitted to receive the latter rain 1T466.

THE LATTER RAIN

There is no break between the Early Rain and the Latter Rain. The Early Rain
merges with the Latter Rain. It is like during a rain fall. It begins with little
showers and then suddenly there is a torrential rainfall.

The Latter Rain is given to meet the greatest crises of the ages-the National Sunday
Law, final persecution, the giving of the final Loud Cry, and the finishing of the
work.

The Latter Rain is more abundant and greater in extent than the Former Rain.
Christ said greater works than these shall ye do This is explained to be greater
in extent I saw that the latter rain is coming suddenly as the midnight cry and
with Ten times the power. E.G. White Letter, Spalding Magan Collection, p.3,4,;
Vision of Sept. 1852.

SEVEN PURPOSES OF THE LATTER RAIN

1. The Latter Rain fully ripens earths harvest and thus prepares it for the sickle.

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2. The Latter Rain seals Gods people, making permanent their Early Rain experience of
complete unbroken victory over sin.
3. The Latter Rain empowers Gods people to give the loud cry signified by the 3rd Angel
4. The Latter Rain prepares Gods people for the time of trouble.
5. The Latter Rain prepares Gods people for the finishing touch of immortality and
translation
6. The Latter Rain prepares Gods people for the coming of Jesus
7. The Latter Rain prepares Gods people to look upon the face and to live in the presence
of a Holy God

The Latter Rain does not cause conversion and transformation of character. It is
the work of the Early Rain. If we are therefore looking to the Latter Rain to do
what the Early Rain should do we shall be disappointed. When the Latter Rain is
poured out, all who by then have not received the benefits of the Early Rain
conversion and character transformation would not be benefited by it. They will
be lost!

Soon many Seventh-day Adventists will cry out in anguish and bitterness of
soul, The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved Jer. 8:20

How Did The Disciples Prepare To Receive The Early Rain?

1. Putting away all differences, all desire for supremacy, they came close together in
Christian fellowship AA, 37
2. They did not wait in idleness. The record says that they were continually in the temple
praising and blessing God Lk. 24:53
3. They humbled their hearts in true repentance and confessed their unbelief AA 35.
4. They drew nearer and nearer to God. AA 37
5. They were weighted with the burden of the salvation of souls AA 37
6. The disciples prayed with intense earnestness for a fitness to meet men, and in their
daily intercourse to speak words that would lead sinners to Christ AA 37.

The Effect Of The Early Rain On The Early Christian Church

1. Under the Holy Spirits working even the weakest, by exercising faith in God, learned to
improve their entrusted powers, and to become sanctified, refined and enobled. As in
humility they submitted to the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, they received of the
fullness of the Godhead, and were fashioned in the likeness of the divine. AA 49, 50.

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2. Daily they prayed for fresh supplies of grace, that they might reach higher and still
higher toward perfection. AA49.
3. Under the influence of the Spirit, words of penitence and confession mingled with songs
of praise for sins forgiven AA 38.
4. Those who at Pentecost were endued with power from on high, were not thereby freed
from further temptation and trial They were compelled to strive with all their God-
given powers to reach the measures of the stature of men and women in Christ AA 49.
5. The ambition of the believers was to reveal the likeness of Christs character, and to
labour for the enlargement of His kingdom AA 48.

The Central Issue in the Great Controversy

It is the perfection of Gods people which is going to reveal God to the world,
complete the demonstration, finish the work, defeat Satan, vindicate God and usher
in the end! This is what the Great Controversy between God and Satan is all
about! The honour and vindication of God is dependent upon the perfection of His
people. (The Early and Latter Rain p.15-D).

Satans Strategy

(1) Satan does not want this message, the message of righteousness by faith, to come to
Gods people because he knows that it is just that light which will entirely break his
power in their lives and eternally defeat him and eternally vindicate God. (ibid, 15-C).
(2) We, by our lack of understanding this great subject and by our failure to
experience righteousness by faith, are holding up the finishing of the work and the end.
(ibid,15-D).
(3) Satan therefore in the guise of defending the law of God, and the obedience of His people
to the commandments of God, is subtly fighting against the Righteousness by Faith
doctrine, using some ministers and some elders as his agents.
(4) The best way to defend and uphold the holy law of God is by reflecting the character of
Christ to the world. Lip service to the commandments of God while living contrary to
the principles of the same commandments is tantamount to hypocrisy and a denial of the
Saviour. The only true cure to our spiritual malady is total surrender to Christ and
receiving by faith the gift of His righteousness, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
the effect of the Early Rain. Christ came to magnify the law and to make it honourable
(Isa. 42:21). This He did not so much by what He said, but by the life He lived.

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(5) God is waiting, the universe is waiting, the world is waiting on the Seventh-day Adventist
Church! (source of information: THE EARLY AND LATTER RAIN by Elder Gordon
W. Collier. Sr.)

LECTURE SIX

GROWING IN CHRIST

- In the beginning of creation according to Psalm 33:9, God spoke and it was done; He
commanded and it stood fast. This procedure of creation includes all forms of life: plants
and animal life were all called into existence and they came into being already matured.
The creation of Adam and Eve was a bit different.
- God took time to form Adam out of the dust of the ground, and created Eve from Adam.
Gen. 1:24; 26-27.
- Man (Adam + Eve) came from the hand of his Creator, already an adult.
- Today, however, the procedure is different. Today we plant seeds to germinate to grow
from stage to stage.
- For a new lease of animal and human life, there must be the mating of female and male
adults. Conception takes place, new life is born, and growth also imperceptibly takes place
to maturity.

In the spiritual realm the tendency to talk about growth in Christ without talking about the new
birth is very common. In Orthodox Christianity, the new birth is taken for granted, though Jesus
Himself spent time addressing the need of a new birth with a no mean a person like Necodemus,
a Pharisee, who had memorized the whole Old Testament. John 3:3-5.

- In fact Necodemus also took the new birth for granted, because of his background as a
Pharisee. He was widely esteemed for his benevolence and his liberality in sustaining the
temple services, and he felt secured of the favour of God DA 171.

What the Pharisees Practiced

- They had a kind of righteousness that was methodically worked out.

- They kept the Sabbath meticulously (Matt. 12:1, 2)
- They returned tithes on the tiniest vegetable Matt. 23:23
- They were faithful to their wives

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 - They fasted two times a week. Luke 18:11, 12
- They were thorough Bible scholars and teachers. John 3:10 (6-10-years of age
memorized five books of Moses; (ii) 11-14-memorized the rest of the O.T.)
- Because of these experiences they thought they were Gods favoured children and citizens
of the Heavenly Kingdom.
- Their religion became behaviour focused instead of Relationship centeredness, (CHRIST
CENTERED) and they thought they had eternal life, because of their works. Matt 5:
We can not talk about growth to people who have experienced no birth.
- Therefore we are going to dwell a little bit on the new birth.
- There can be no growth without birth.
- E.G. White gives a formula for the new life in DA 324.
- When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart.
A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural
work, bringing a supernatural element into the nature. The soul that is yielded to Him
becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world and intends that no
authority shall be known in it but His own.

How Do We Surrender? Like somebody under police arrest, you submit totally to them.
You are a captive of the law. When we surrender completely to Christ, we become
captives of the Love of God. 2 Cor. 5:14.

In Steps to Christ, p67, E.G. White again says: The change of heart by which we
become children of God is in the Bible spoken of as birth

The great burden of every soul should be, Is my heart renewed? Is my soul
transformed? Are my sins pardoned through faith in Christ? 2SM 117. I John 1:9.

- But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God John 1:12, 13; John 3:16.

The old nature, born of blood and the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The
old ways, the hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up; for grace is not
inherited. The new birth consists in having new motives, new tastes, new tendencies. Those
who are begotten unto a new life by the Holy Spirit, having become partakers of the diving
nature, and in all their habits and practices they will give evidence of their relationship to Christ
6BC 1101.

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No one can enter the city of God who has not a knowledge of genuine conversion. In true
conversion the soul is born again. A new spirit takes possession of the temple of the soul. A
new life begins. Christ is revealed in the character RH 7-30-1901.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus
Christ 2 Cor. 5:17, 18.

That which was objectionable in the character is purified from the soul by the love of Jesus. All
selfishness is expelled, all envy, all evil-speaking, is rooted out, and a radical transformation is
wrought in the heart. RH 7-22-1890.

How Can We Know We Have Been Born Again?

- Who does not know who his/her parents are? Knowing God as your Father and believing
and accepting Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, (John 17:3; John 3:14-16,36) and placing
these relationships above any other.
- Loving God with all your heart and strength and loving your fellow human beings as
yourself including your enemies. (Matt. 22:36-38; 5:44).
- You will bear the fruit of the spirit through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Gal. 5:22,23)
- You will daily hunger and thirst after righteousness, looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith. You hardly would want to look away from Jesus.
- You will receive the peace of God. Is. 26:3.
- Genesis 3:15 will be fulfilled in your life. The Holy Spirit will create bitterness and hatred
against sin in your heart.
- Fear, worry, anxiety are removed from our heart by the abiding presence of Christ in the
heart through the Holy Spirit.

Growth In Christ;

- Now we have been born again, What next.

- As the flower turns to the sun, that the bright beams may aid in perfecting its beauty and
symmetry, so should we turn to the Sun of Righteousness, that Heavens light may shine
upon us, that our character may be developed unto the likeness of Christ. SC p 68.
- Growth is more in the area of our relationship with Jesus.
- The Devils tricks. Satan is content as long as we remain faithful to the routines of
religion while forgetting the core religious experience RELATIONSHIP SSBSG, 3rd
QEr 2007, Tres Ed. P25.

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- When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and
life. Hence it is Satans constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and
thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the
world, lifes cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults
and imperfections to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind SC p 71.
- By His death on the cross Jesus triumphed over the forces of evil. He who subjugated the
demonic spirits during His earthly ministry has broken their power and made certain their
ultimate doom. Jesus victory gives us victory over the evil forces that still seek to control
us, as we walk with Him in peace, joy, and assurance of His love.
- Continually committed to Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, we are set free from the burden
of our past deeds, no longer to live in the darkness, fear of evil powers.
- In this freedom in Jesus we are to grow into the likeness of His character, communing
with Him daily in prayer, feeding on His Word, meditating on it and on His providence,
singing His praises, gathering together for worship, and participating in the mission of the
Church.
- As we give ourselves in loving service to those around us and in witnessing to His
salvation, His constant presence with us through the spirit transforms every moment and
every task into a spiritual experience.
- In conclusion, let me throw some light on a developing trend that is seriously negatively
impacting the Christian Church without we being exempted.
- The strong emphasis being given to demonic activities has produced or is producing a
crop of ministers who are also forcing themselves to play the prophetic role.
- These days pastors also prophesy about their members as a sign of their high spiritual
growth/experience.
- The pressure is coming from the church members. A member gets a dream and he/she
wants their pastor to interpret it for them. But this area of dream interpretation is an
aspect of the prophetic role. If you are a Pastor and you are not able to interpret dreams or
prophesy about your members lives, you are seen as a spiritual dwarf. Members visit the
camps of the so called spiritual giants and seers secretly for them to receive prophecies.
- The priestly role and the prophetic role are two separate roles which are generally
mutually exclusive.
- Fellow believers, the Adventist Church has seasoned men, anointed by God for the
ministry. Lets support them to play their God given roles as pastors.
- Lets be careful the way we want to give prophetic meanings to every dream. In the
whole of my life it was only once I had a dream and it was fulfilled to the letter the
following day. It was the night before my ordination into the gospel ministry, 31st
August,1991.

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We were eight to be ordained into the ministry. The venue was Asokore Koforidua,
S.D.A Teacher Training College, the institution which gave me my professional training
as a teacher, 1965 -1969. The College was located in a rain forest area of the Eastern
Region, therefore it got very cold in the night to the early morning, especially when it
rained heavily during the day.

When I was going to bed I had a big worry. It was how I was going to manage a cold bath
in the cold morning and prepare for church and ordination. I do not remember the number
of dreams I had, but the last one I had I guess, it was about 3:00 am.; In the dream I heard
my industrious and ingenious wife calling me, Wives and Husbands were separated from
each other. I went out of my cubicle into the porch and leaned over a short wall up-stairs
to look at my wife.

And outside the ground floor I saw her holding a bucket. Then she said, Daddie I have
heated water for you so come down for it and go and bath. I hurriedly went down and
received the bucket of hot water from her and headed for the bath house. At the entrance
of the bath house I met a colleague who was also to be ordained. He was also holding a
bucket of water but he started to complain about his water. He said, How can I a
rheumatic person like me bath this cold water? I quickily assured him that my wife had
made hot water available for me to bath and that the quantity was enough for the two of
us. We entered the bath-house and I asked him to pour out his cold water for me to fill his
bucket with hot water from my bucket. The dream ended.

About 5:00am I was awake and was contemplating the cold bath I was soon going to have.
I had forgotten about the dream but I heard the voice of my wife calling me from
downstairs. I came out just as I did in the dream, leaned over the short wall and looked
down, and there stood my wife holding a bucket. She announced her mission and said
Dadie I have cooked some water for you so come down for it and go and bath. I went
inside to take my towel, sponge, soap, tooth brush and paste and came down for the water.
I thanked her and God for a woman like that. I headed for the both house, I entered the
bath house and set my bucket at the entrance of one cubicle.

Soon I saw the colleague Pastor I saw in my dream also with his bucket of water and set it
down at the entrance of a cubicle next to mine. He began to complain about his water
saying word for word what he said in the dream. I immediately assured him a portion of
my hot water from my wife. This apparent prophetic dream did not make me a prophet. It
was for my personal edification, an assurance from Jesus of His hand in my ordination.

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 A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there
should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your
weakness is united to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His
enduring might. SC p 70.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him The just shall
live by faith Gal. 2:6; Heb. 10:3

LECTURE SEVEN

CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE TWO COVERINGS:

ADAMS GARMENT OF LEAVES
AND GODS COVERING OF ANIMAL SKIN.

As long as we maintain our union with Christ by faith we cannot be lost. Our salvation is not
based on our good works, but on the faithful promiser who has paid the all sufficient price for
our redemption AA pp 552, 553 (1st Quarter 2000, p84)

Adam and Eve came and stood before God in garments of leaves they had made for themselves,
having by their own choice lost Gods glory which covered them. Rom. 3:23; Ps. 104:2. They
probably could partially cover only their nakedness, their waists.

Salvation by works had begun. They admitted they were naked in spite of their efforts to cover
themselves. Gen. 3:10.

The ever loving and merciful Father and Saviour made coats of animal skin in place of their
leaves, and covered their nakedness. To be able to do that God had to take the life of an innocent
animal, strip it of its beautiful skin, lay it naked in order to cover the nakedness of Adam and
Eve. That was a picture of what was to happen to the Son of God, mankinds substitute. Jesus
was put to an open shame, stripped naked and crucified so that through faith we might receive
and wear His garment of glory.

Comparing the two garments, coats of animal skin, and waist garments of leaves, we can make
the following observations and applications:

I. The coat of skin was obviously and certainly more beautiful than the waist covering of

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 leaves.
Application: CHRISTS BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER is what we need in place of
our own unfruitful works, to be able to stand before our Creator and be accepted.

II. It more adequately covered the shame and nakedness of Adam and partner than their
own hand made covering of leaves for their waists.
Application: When we stand before God clothed in the garment of our works, we are
still naked, in worn-out filthy rags (Isa. 64:6) JESUS IS OUR COMPLETENESS. To
put Him on by faith is to stand complete in the presence of our Maker.

III. The coat of beautiful animal skin could stand all weather, cold or warm (hot). How?
The nature of coats. They have an inside lining of such texture that protects the body
against warm (hot) weather. The outside of the coat is woolen and it protects the body

against cold weather.

Application: In our changing world today we need Christs coat of
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
- When the weather gets very hot and rough in the world and in the church, JESUS KEEPS
US CALM AND COOL
- When it is cold in the world and the church, HIS PRESENCE IN OUR HEARTS KEEPS
US WARM.

IV. The animal skin was more durable and could stand the test of time. Have you ever worn
shoes made of leaves? Leaves would either decay fast or would become dry and hard and
would easily dismantle or break to pieces.
Application: Our human variable, fallible nature cannot stand the test of time without
CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD. We need the UNCHANGING CHARACTER OF JESUS.
To be able to stand all situations and ultimately to fit us for the heavenly kingdom.

Many more things could perhaps be said about the two in comparison, but what makes the most
profound impression is the fact that the coat of animal skin was a gift, made available at the cost
of the Son of God. John 3:16; Rom. 6:23

We would not understand or appreciate our need of Gods grace unless we go back to the Garden
of Eden. Adam was not conceived and born in sin as we are, yet he needed Gods full grace to
be restored to His favour. Adam committed only a single act of disobedience in sympathy with
his wife Eve who was tempted and deceived by Satan, yet he lost all, including eternal life. Sin,
whether big or small, contaminates the soul and destroys relationships. His later obedience could
not restore or re-create in himself Gods holy nature. He could only provide leaves pieced
together to provide himself a covering, a false sense of security, (Rev. 16-18). For how long

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would the leaves stick together? Adams restoration would solely be Gods work. Was God
under any obligation to restore him? No! Did Adam initiate his restoration? No! He rather ran
away from God. God by initiating the restoration of Adam and going all the way to look for him
was a demonstration of supreme love and mercy for man, and an act of grace. We who are
conceived and born in sin, and grow and live in sin, what kind of good works can we present to
God to earn us His favour? What can we do to re-cloth ourselves with the righteousness of God?

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eph. 2:8,9 NKJV

God has for us a permanent beautiful garment of righteousness made from the Lamb of God, to
wear for eternity. It is a gift of God. We can only have it by rejecting our leaves and submitting
completely to Him to re-clothe us.

God bless us all. Amen.

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APPENDIX A

Definitions

The major key words in the above write-up are: faith, grace, and obedience. We wish to discuss
their meanings and their applications in the appendixes.

Faith: Strong belief; unquestioning confidence, (The Advance Learners Dictionary )

faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1,
NKJV)
E.G. White, gives several beautiful meanings for faith in her writings. She defines faith as:

- arm for laying hold on divine power, GW259

- clasping Christs hand in every emergency, ChS110
- hand that appropriates Christs merits and remedies for sin DA175.
- Hand that reaches upward to grasp Gods never failing promises SL47; and takes hold of
Gods offer of grace and mercy PP431.

These are just a few of her definitions.

Grace: favour; goodwill, something freely given, not taken as a right(Advance Learners
Dictionary).
Unlike faith, grace is not defined in the word of God.
In discussing grace, E.G. White says that the absence of it, makes gospel ministry powerless
to convict and convert (4T378) Grace has been defined by Bible scholars and teachers as
Gods unmerited favour, power, and saving love extended unconditionally to undeserving
sinners to enable them resist and subdue tendencies of their fallen nature. This has been made
possible at the cost of Christs life.

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Through the grace of God all Heaven with all of its resources has been placed at the disposal of
mankind to access freely for his unselfish benefits and welfare, to Gods glory and for the
blessing of others.

Obedience: The willingness to do, what one is told to do (Advance Dictionary)

E.G. White gives many admonitions to encourage obedience. She says:

- Belief that does not lead to obedience is presumption Mb146

- Departure from obedience is venturing onto Satans ground DA. 126
- Prayer and fasting are not substitutes for obedience, 2T37.
- Difficulties vanish when Christians move forward in obedience, PP437.
- Many peoples obedience is not an outflow of faith and love, PK708
- Christ gives men power to render obedience, SC70.
- Soul is brought closer to Christ, by every step of obedience, GC476.

Faith unites with grace to produce Christ-centered obedience which results in Christlikeness.

APPENDIX B

The inter-play of Faith, Grace, and Obedience

Margaret Davis in her book What Shall I Do To Inherit Eternal Life has compiled statements
from Scripture and Spirit of Prophecy sources that explain clearly the roles and inter-plays of
grace, faith and obedience in the life of the believer. A few are quoted in this section:

1. The graces of the Spirit will ripen in your character. Your faith will increase, your
2.
3.
4.
5. convictions deepen, your love being made perfect. More and more you will reflect the
likeness of Christ in all that is pure, noble and lovely (p98).
6. So long as we are in this world, we shall meet with adverse influences. There will be
provocations to test the temper; and it is in meeting these in a right spirit that the
Christian graces are developed. If Christ dwells in us, we shall be patient, kind, and
forbearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations. Day by day, and year by year, we shall
conquer self, and grow into a noble heroism. This is our allotted task; but it cannot be

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 accomplished without help from Jesus, resolute decision, unwavering purpose, continual
watchfulness, and unceasing prayer (p98).

In the above quotes, we see the inter-play of grace, faith, and obedience. Though it could be said
that grace is the mother of faith, and faith the mother of obedience, they all are the gifts of God
and they work together to fulfill the ultimate goal of heaven, the transformation of the human
nature to reflect the image and character of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the chief agent in this work.

Let us remember that we are born only once by grace through faith in Jesus. Growth is however
a life time process, with faith in Jesus, and empowered by the grace of God for obedience, being
the chief ingredient for growth. Failure to grow will result in spiritual stuntedness and eventual
death, the result of looking away from Jesus and self dependence.

Quoting Davis again, she says

7. Man is to cooperate with God, employing every power according to his god-given
ability. He is not to be ignorant as to what are right practices in eating and drinking, and
in all the habits of life, (p99).
8. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin, (p99).
James. 4:17.
9. Listen to my voice and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I
will be your God, (p99) Jer. 11:4.

We conclude with the following quote:

10. Moral perfection is required of all. Never should we lower the standard of righteousness
in order to accommodate inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing. We need to
understand that imperfection of character is sin. All righteous attributes of character
dwell in God as a perfect, harmonious whole, and everyone who receives Christ as a
personal Saviour is privileged to possess these attributes, (p100).

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CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS QUESTIONAIRE

NAME OF RESPONDENT: ..
LEVELOF EDUCATION: .
CHURCH OFFICE:
YEAR OF BAPTISM: .
MALE /FEMALE: AGE:

OCCUPATION: ...
TRIBE: .

PREVIOUS RELIGIOUS AFFILATION: .

=====================================
Please, respond to the following questions according to your understanding of the Christian Faith
and the important question of SALVATION.

You are cordially invited to attend three series of lectures on Righteousness By Faith or
Salvation By Grace.

1. Our confidence about our salvation is often based on our religious achievement, but not
on what has been promised in the Word of God. (Isa. 1:18).
a. True b. False c. Not sure

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2. The Lord Jesus Christ is important only as far as the forgiving of our sins is concerned,
but for our salvation each person must work it out for himself/ herself.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

3. In the judgement, our sins will be weighed against our good deeds and which ever
outweighs the other will determine whether we will be lost or we will be saved.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

4. When we repent and confess our sins we must do some good deeds to convince the Lord
that we have truly repented before we can obtain total forgiveness.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

5. Jesus said in Matt. 10 that we must not fear those who kill us, the reason being that, if
they do, they shall bear the penalty for all our sins.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

6. Come ye blessed of my Father, for I was sick and ye visited me. I was naked and ye
clothed me. I was hungered and ye fed me. This statement is supportive of the fact that
our good works can earn salvation for us.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

7. Children born to Seventh day Adventist parents do not need to make any personal
acceptance of the Lord Jesus as their personal savior because they are born into the true
church.
a. Correct b. Not correct c. Not sure

8. Can you really distinguish between intellectual faith and experiential faith?
a. Yes b. No c. Not sure

9. Which do you think is your experience?

a. Both b. Intellectual c. Experiential d. Neither

10. Here is the patience of the Saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and
the faith of Jesus. Rev. 14 :12. This text clearly teaches that a person is saved by both
his faith and obedience working together.
a. I agree b. I dont agree c. I am not sure about it

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11. If salvation has 100% marks, the sinner for whom Jesus died must contribute a least 10%
or more of good works and righteousness while the Lord Jesus by grace adds about 90%
to make the 100% mark before the sinner can be saved.
a. It can be true b. It is a heresy c. Not sure

12. Since the Sabbath constitutes the seal of God whoever at least keeps it will be saved.
a. True b. False c. Cant decide

13. An evangelist met a young lady and asked her, Are you a Christian? Her answer was I
am trying to be a Christian. How best would you described her experience?
a. As a hypocrite b. As a damned sinner c. I cant judge her

14. Working to give up our sins can keep us from giving up on ourselves. Reaction:
a. True b. False c. Not sure

15. We dont want to sin because we dont want to miss heaven. Reaction:
a. This promotes self righteousness b. Promotes respect for God c. Cant be
sure of it

16. Godly sorrow is being sorry we broke a heart and hurt our best friend.
a. True b. False c. Jesus cant be hurt

17. Forgiveness is free, but it is not cheap, it cost the life of Gods dear Son. Reaction:
a. So we must humiliate the body to obtain it
b. We must receive it by faith alone
c. We must contribute something min church to obtain it

18. Anyone who gets discouraged with his relationship with the Lord Jesus because of his
behavior is a legalist.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

19. The purpose of good works is not to save us but to bring glory to God
a. True b. False c. Not sure

20. Victory is not something we achieve, it is something we receive

a. True b. False c. Not sure

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21. If you cannot preach like Paul you can contribute to the gospel commission, so that
your salvation can be guaranteed. Reaction:
a. Preachers will be the first people to be saved
b. If you give faithful tithes and offerings your salvation will be assured
c. Salvation is a free gift of God

22. All who can PERFECTLY keep the commandments of God without the merits of Jesus
can be saved.
a. False b. True c. Not sure

23. God knowing the weakness of the fallen human nature, and He being merciful and
gracious, will lower the standards of heaven so that, with our little human efforts we can
qualify for heaven.
a. True b. False c. Because He is our Father

24. When we stop sinning there is automatic forgiveness for past sins without necessarily
having to confess them.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

25. It has been said in Supper Story that Poverty is not being without money, but being
without hope. What is your reaction to this statement?
a. It is not a Christian source so we cant believe it
b. There is much wisdom in it
c. We cant live without money

26. Gods forgiveness is not only forgiveness for sin and setting us free from condemnation,
but includes reclaiming from sin. Reaction:
a. It will make sinners too lazy to do anything about their sins
b. Sinners will not respect the commandments of God
c. That is the essence of Justification by faith

27. Confession passes the guilt and wages of our sin to Him who knew no sin. Reaction:
a. True b. False c. Not sure

28. The alter of sacrifice, as a symbol of Calvary, is to teach us the specific character of all
sin, of whatever nature and magnitude.
a. True b. False c. Not sure

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 29. God has purposed to answer the charge of His enemy with a demonstration of perfect,
willing obedience in the lives of fallen human beings. Reaction:
a. This can never happen b. We are so sinful we cant give perfect obedience
to the Law of God c. With God all things are possible

30. How can the above goal be achieved?

a. If we try harder and harder we can reach the goal of God for our lives
b. God will add up to our sincere efforts to achieve His objective
c. A total self surrender to God, the chief porter, is the only way.

THINK THROUGH / DISCUSS:

The following questions appeared on page 19 of the Teachers Edition of the Adult Sabbath
School Bible Study Guide (2014, 4th quarter).

If you died right now, would you be good enough to be saved? Or if you had died two weeks
after you had accepted Jesus, would you have been good enough to be saved? Do you think in
six months you will be good enough?

About the Author

No human life is an accident, notwithstanding the circumstances under which people are born.
God is the giver of life; and it is a gift, given for the purpose of glorifying the Maker and blessing
humanity (1Samuel 17:29; Ps. 139:13-16). We miss the mark and purpose of our creation
because we run our own lives without any regard for the creators express will. As far as God is
concerned nothing happens too late or too early for anyone who is in tune with Him through
the son Jesus.

The author of this humble piece, Pastor D.K Nguando-Yamoah, was born in 1947. He was the
fourth child of his mother and the third of his father. He lost his father when he was four years.
This tragic loss seriously affected the education of the author and his older and younger
siblings. He lived with his paternal grandmother after whom he was named. All his pleadings

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with his grandmother, and his uncle (fathers brother) to be sent to school fell on deaf ears. At
the age of eleven (11) he decided to give himself self tuition. He asked his school going friends
to teach him how to read the alphabets both in vernacular and in English. Soon he began to
read simple sentences in vernacular.

His widowed mother seeing the efforts her son was making to educate himself, became
concerned and went to discuss what was happening with an uncle in Accra (maternal uncle). To
quote the uncle, he said, If at his age (about twelve by this time) he is not ashamed to go to
school, let him go to school. My mother came back with an already sewn school uniform and
in January, 1959, at the age of twelve, this anxious boy too big and tall for class one, went to
school.

After about TEN MINUTES in class one he received his first promotion to class two, having
passed a reading test for which the Lord had already prepared him. The trend was to follow
throughout his primary education, getting double promotion at the end of each academic year:
P2 P4, P4 P6. He took only six (6) years to obtain the M. S. L. C. instead of ten years. He
passed a competitive selection test and entered teacher training college, from 1965 1969,
obtaining Teachers Cert A, ten years after starting class one in 1959. He obtained a second
professional certificate in teaching (Certificate in Music Education) at the National Academy of
Music, Winneba (1973 1975). The author currently holds a B. A. degree in Religious Studies
from Valley View University. Conversely, he took sixteen years to obtain this degree, 1981
1997.

Nine (9) years after teaching he received a call into the Gospel Ministry from 1978 to 2012
when he retired after thirty- five (35) years, making a total of forty- four years of service to God
and mankind. He served as a church pastor, district pastor, teacher training college chaplain,
ministerial Secretary and as Family Ministries Department Director of South Ghana Conference
of the Seventh- day Adventist Church, Accra, Ghana. He also acted as Executive Secretary for
three months when the substantive secretary went for a course.

He delights in reading Spirit of Prophecy Books, sharing his experience and insights in the
subject of Righteousness by Faith, or Salvation by Grace. He has a deep concern for the
spirituality of his church members. He believes that the promise of the Second Coming of Jesus
is a sure promise which must engage the serious attention of all believers, young and old. To
this end he dedicates his time to researching, writing, teaching and preaching to arouse the
people of God.

The author is blessed with a wife, Mrs. Nguando- Yamoah, and three (3) children one girl and
two boys, who are all independent by Gods Grace.

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Life as a race does not belong to the swift, but a to all who trust and wait upon the LORD (Isaiah
26: 3)

To God be the glory; great things He hath done.

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