Lay Not Again The Foundation Of Repentance

To all those who are dissatisfied with their present spiritual status, and thus no longer “lukewarm,” comes this divine challenge: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ [or, as the margin says, “the word of the beginning of Christ”–the first principles], let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.” Heb. 6:1. {9SC1-12: 6.1.7}

Make absolutely certain that advancement to perfection be real, not imaginary; do not slide back into Laodiceanism. This urgency upon us as message-bearers cannot be over-emphasized. {9SC1-12: 6.1.8}

Let us all, as a Davidian band, remember that we are called to the high office of conservators of the gospel, restorers of the old paths, repairers of the breach. We are called as the first of the “firstfruits” from Laodicea, and thus we are to serve as “saviours” to and of Laodicea (Obad. 17, 21). Hence, obviously, before we can save our brethren from the fatally pernicious malady of Laodiceanism, we must first save ourselves from it. And to do this, we must now and forever absolutely stop treating symptoms, and instead get at the cause; stop dosing ourselves first for this, then for that, but instead correctly apply the sovereign remedy, the message in the heart, until a complete cure is effected. {9SC1-12: 7.2.6}

Accordingly, he who really means to be present and accounted for in the swift-coming Kingdom of God is perseveringly exploring and applying the divine principles and laws of the Science of Salvation. He is earnestly laying hold upon the all-enabling power of divine grace to do all that the Truth bids him do, first things first, and all things “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40), not each thing catch-as-catch-can when the urge strikes. {9SC1-12: 8.1.1}

It is this careless, sporadic, hit-and-miss, irregular sort of effort to live “the principles of the doctrine of Christ,” that has resulted in Seventh-day Adventists’ laying again and again down through the years “the foundation of repentance from dead works.” While all the time thinking ourselves full of zeal “according to knowledge,” we all, as Seventh-day Adventists, have grown more and more lukewarm, lapsing little by little into a mechanical, cut-and-dried performance of the Truth, which must inevitably cause all who persist in it to be spued out. {9SC1-12: 8.1.2}

The Davidian who is determined to escape this fearful end, and who is therefore taking the cure for Laodiceanism, is accordingly reversing his former thinking process, is rigorously disciplining himself consistently, day in and day out. He has “regular hours for rising, for praying, and for eating” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 181); indeed, he guards jealously his hours for prayer, Bible study, and self-examination. (See Gospel Workers, p. 100.) He rises on time, eats on time, goes to work on time, goes to bed on time, and above all he is always on time, never late, to church services. He is a time-keeping Christian; and not only a model of punctuality, but also a model of correctness in all things. {9SC1-12: 8.1.3}

Six days he labors and does all his work. He is as careful to order his home as himself. He has a place for everything and keeps everything in its place, and runs his home according to Bible order. {9SC1-12: 8.1.4}

All these things is the Kingdom-bound Christian faithfully doing day in and day out. Lest he be almost but not quite a real Christian, he is, most imperatively of all, practicing the golden rule. He has forsaken murmuring, criticizing, gossiping, and backbiting, and by the grace of all-enduring, never-failing charity, has become a peacemaker. {9SC1-12: 8.1.5}

To be such a man or woman, an “altogether” Christian, a true Davidian, means to be implicitly and absolutely obedient to the heavenly vision, as notably as was Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, and Paul. When the church has reached the state of such perfection, “Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the Lord, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.” Isa. 31:8, 9. {9SC1-12: 8.2.1}

“And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” Isa. 11:16. (See our Tract No. 14, War News Forecast.) {9SC1-12: 8.2.2}

“For I will take you,” says the Lord, “from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you….and I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Ezek. 36:24, 25, 27, 28. {9SC1-12: 8.2.3}

Let us therefore hasten that glad day in every way we can, by wasting not a moment of the precious time of which life is composed. Let us gear our Christian lives to the greatly increased tempo that present-day activities everywhere demand. {9SC1-12: 8.2.4}

That “the final movements will be rapid ones” must be seen in our spiritual progress as verily as in the social and political movements that are daily rocking the world with breath-taking swiftness and far-reaching consequences. {9SC1-12: 8.2.5}

We cannot afford at this late hour, if ever before, to allow one day’s developments to catch us “unawares.” {9SC1-12: 8.2.6}