I’d like to begin this morning by reading what I believe are the two best known verses in the Bible as it relates to the great Advent movement. The best known verse at the beginning of the movement was Daniel 8:14 where the angel Gabriel quoted to Daniel the words, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” This verse, we’re told, “is the scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith.” But it’s the second best known verse I want to talk about this morning. The verse I’m thinking of is the one that was given great emphasis not long after the great disappointment of October 22, 1844 when the Sabbath was discovered, or I should say rediscovered, because the seventh-day Sabbath was instituted at creation, wasn’t it? The papacy has done a good job of covering it up, and it’s still trying to cover it up with the help of the Protestant churches and it’s our job to expose this plot of the devil.

This verse I’m thinking of is still the most important one for these last days. The verse, as you have probably guessed, is Revelation 14:12, where we have another angel, represented by those “who receive this message and raise the voice of warning to the world” we’re told in Testimonies for the Church, volume 1, page 77, proclaiming a last day message of great importance who said, “Here is the patience of the saints (or the cheerful endurance of the holy ones): here are they that keep the commandments of God (not just those who talk the talk, but those who actually walk the walk), and the faith of Jesus.”

Now the part I’d like to zero in on is the last part of this verse, because many years ago we were told that “the faith of Jesus” had been neglected and not understood as it should be, and from what I have observed over the past many years, I think that still holds true today. Let me quote a couple inspired statements and you’ll see what I mean.

Selected Messages, book 3, page 184, “The soul-saving message, the third angel’s message, is the message to be given to the world. The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are both important, immensely important, and must be given with equal force and power. The first part of the message has been dwelt upon mostly, the last part casually. The faith of Jesus is not comprehended.”

Now that was written in the late 1800s when righteousness by faith was being given great emphasis by elders Waggoner and Jones, because notice what the prophet said in the 1888 Materials, page 560, “As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain. We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God.”

In many ways the Adventist church of today has sort of flip-flopped and now preaches the second part of the message and neglects, or only casually presents the importance of keeping the commandments of God as part of the salvation process. In fact, in many churches they fully believe that no one can truly stop sinning, and not only that, but when they do preach about the faith of Jesus, it’s a faith that is of the warm fuzzy feeling type, or we could say having faith in Jesus, but not the faith of Jesus, and I’ll explain that further as we go along, because there’s a big difference in those two little words.

So what I’d like to do this morning is balance things out a little bit and study that part of the third angel’s message that has been spoken of only casually, or we could say, the real truth of it has passed over without much notice.

Here’s another quote from Selected Messages, volume 3, page168, “The faith of Jesus has been overlooked and treated in an indifferent, careless manner. It has not occupied the prominent position in which it was revealed to John.”

Then on page 172 of the same book it says, “The third angel’s message is the proclamation of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. The commandments of God have been proclaimed, but the faith of Jesus Christ has not been proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists as of equal importance, the law and the gospel (or we could say the law and the faith of Jesus) going hand in hand. I cannot find language to express this subject in its fullness.”

So when she says, “the law and the gospel going hand in hand”, that means that the faith of Jesus is the gospel part of the message, it’s the good news part, because law keeping apart from the faith of Jesus can’t save us, in fact, keeping the law without the faith of Jesus is an impossibility. You can read that in The Desire of Ages, page 172, but when both parts are understood and given equal importance, then we have something that will save our souls, something that will fit us to be citizens in God’s eternal kingdom, and a message that will be exactly what the world needs to hear.

Forty-six years ago I was brought to the foot of the cross in a Pentecostal church that understood and proclaimed the faith of Jesus, or we could say the gospel, but they didn’t understand the importance of keeping the commandments of God. I didn’t join that church or subscribe to what I later found out were their Babylonian doctrines, but they got the faith of Jesus right, because I was born again the day I heard the gospel at that church, and it was apart from the law. Several months later I came in contact with Seventh-day Adventists when they still kind of believed the whole truth about the third angel’s message and got the law part of it, but I have never forgotten that the faith of Jesus is what started me down the path to eternal life.

Notice what it says in Galatians 2:16, because it’s Satan’s studied effort and purpose to keep us from believing in Christ as our only hope, and I emphasize only. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” And you can read similar words in Romans chapter 3.

A few months after hearing and accepting the gospel, I would find out that obedience to the law was the next step in the process, that would be the process of sanctification, but before that was revealed to me, I knew I was a different person, that the Holy Spirit had created within me a new heart, and God knew that I needed to be slowly led to the keeping of the commandments part of the third angel’s message after receiving the gospel, or the faith of Jesus part of the message.

In the Seventh-day Adventist church it had been just the opposite in the late 1800s. They understood and proclaimed the importance of keeping the commandments of God, but they didn’t understand and proclaim the faith of Jesus, not realizing that without the faith of Jesus they weren’t really keeping the commandments of God from the heart, which means they weren’t keeping them at all. Maybe outwardly, but not from the heart, and that’s why that righteousness by faith message that began to be given with great emphasis was so needed.

And so somehow the two parts of the message must be understood and proclaimed with equal force if we would reach the world with the last message of mercy that this world will ever hear, because that is the message that will decide the destiny of the last generation, and it’s looking more and more like this current generation could very well be that last generation.

You’ll notice as you read Revelation 14 that it’s those who reject the third angel’s message that will suffer the wrath of God, and chapters 15 and 16 make it clear that the wrath of God is contained in the seven last plagues. So if people don’t receive the third angel’s message correctly, they will not be ready to meet Jesus when He comes to deliver His people, but will instead be among the larger class of those that Jesus will deliver His people from, and we don’t want to be a part of them.

Here’s another quote from Selected Messages, book 3, page 172, “‘The faith of Jesus.’ It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel’s message? (Do you want to know? Here it is in simple language. It is) Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Saviour. He was treated as we deserve to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus.” In other words, the faith of Jesus is a message of entire dependence upon Him for victory in the Christian life, just as He depended entirely upon His heavenly Father, and we’ll talk more about that in a few minutes.

That is the simple message that was largely rejected when that righteousness by faith message was being preached by Waggoner and Jones, and it’s that message that must be given today with equal force with the law if the great commission of preaching the gospel to all the world is to be accomplished.

Now listen to what it says in The Faith I Live By, page 111, because it tells us what will happen when we fully understand the faith of Jesus part of the message.  “The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us (that’s justification, which means just-if-I’d never sinned), “The thought that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us (or credited to us), not because of any merit on our part, but as a free gift from God, is a precious thought (and remember, in Evangelism, page 190 we’re told that the third angel’s message is “justification by faith in verity”). The enemy of God and man is not willing that this truth should be clearly presented; for he knows that if the people receive it fully, his power will be broken.”

Do you want the power of Satan broken in your life? Then you need to understand what constitutes the faith of Jesus, and until we do, we won’t have much to offer to the world, and guess what? If we don’t give a balanced message where the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are given with equal force, there will be those in the near future who will give it, and with power, and we will be left behind.

Notice this next statement from Selected Messages, book 3, page 386. This is in the context of the experience following the Minneapolis conference where the faith of Jesus message was largely rejected. Here’s what it says, “There are many souls to come out of the ranks of the world, out of the churches, even the Catholic Church, whose zeal will far exceed that of those who have stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth heretofore. (This rank and file crowd is speaking about us by the way) For this reason the eleventh hour laborers will receive their penny. These will see the battle coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. When the crisis is upon us (this is speaking of the Sabbath/Sunday issue), when the season of calamity shall come, they will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt His law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty which reformers defended with toil and for which they sacrificed their lives.”

So, help is coming! Praise the Lord! I don’t know about you, but I’m a tired old soldier of the cross who has stood in rank and file for over 40 years, and God knows that we need fresh new blood infused into the cause in these last days if the work is ever going to be finished. Have you ever wondered how God is going to finish the work? It’s those eleventh hour workers, under the latter rain that will come out of the various churches, and also those from government leadership who are identified as the few good men who will uphold the truth for these last days with unanswerable arguments we’re told about in The Great Controversy, page 610. When this happens, it will give us all a new perspective, and hopefully we will be a part of it when the message goes with power. But let me just say this so no one gets the wrong idea and we begin to sit in idle expectancy waiting for it to happen, because if we are not laboring for souls now, as well as when these eleventh hour workers come to the front, we will not be ready to join them and help swell the loud cry of the third angel.

Last month I spoke briefly about the Coronavirus and how that may be implicated in bringing about the little time of trouble just before human probation closes, and as I mentioned last time, maybe it will and maybe it won’t, but we’ll soon find out. I’m not making any predictions here, but it sure looks like something very significant is happening right now like never before, and we should be aware that this could be some of the last movements we’ve been told would come rapidly. But there’s something else happening right now as well that may lend credibility to this whole scenario, and it has to do with a financial crisis that happens right at the end as well.

There are two quotations I’d like to share with you for your consideration. The first is in The Great Controversy, page 590 where it says, “It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin (that’s interesting, isn’t it? The ones who are actually sinning by transgressing the fourth commandment will say that those who keep it are the ones who are sinning. You see that’s what the devil is so good at, turning the truth 180 degrees and casting the blame upon the saints. Now let me start over) “It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.”

So, we’re told here that the reason true Sabbath keepers will be called troublers of the people, which will end in a death decree by the way, is because they think we are the ones who are bringing trouble upon the nation and that God is cursing this country because of the violation of Sunday, and that they’re going to want temporal prosperity back. Now, in order to get something back, you first have to lose it. If our economy is thriving, which it was just a short time ago before the virus hit, we had temporal prosperity, didn’t we? But if it needs to be restored, that means it has been lost. So it’s very clear that according to this statement the economy is going to take a sharp nose dive, which I think we can agree is happening right now, and that this is one of the main things that will bring about the time of trouble. So with this Coronavirus we already have all the elements necessary in order to blame Sabbath keepers for this crisis. The only thing missing is for the papacy and apostate Protestantism to begin making the accusation, and if this is the time and if this is the crisis, then we should soon hear from Babylon that those who honor the fourth commandment are the ones at fault here, and if not, then it will be another time and another crisis, but sooner or later it’s going to happen. In some ways I hope this is it because it seems that the world is about ripe for the picking, and in other ways I hope it isn’t, because it’s going to end up being worse than anything that has ever happened in this world.

In The Great Controversy, page 622 it says, “The ‘time of trouble, such as never was,’ is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God.”

Are you ready for such a time of trouble? It says, “we shall need an experience which we do not now possess”, and it’s a correct understanding of the third angel’s message in all its parts that will give us the kind of experience we’re going to need. You see, there’s a preparation for this time of trouble that needs to happen in our lives, and we have got to be climbing Peter’s the ladder of sanctification if we’re going to make it through without denying Jesus and the truth.

We’re told in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 6, page 394 that “There will come a time when, because of our advocacy of Bible truth, we shall be treated as traitors.” Now I don’t know about you, but I consider myself a Patriotic person. I love this country and the freedoms upon which it was founded, and if we are true Patriots, it’s going to be hard to take when we are accused as traitors, don’t you think? They’re going to say, “don’t you love our country? Don’t you want to help us save our country from financial ruin, and perhaps this invisible virus enemy? Won’t you give up your crazy ideas about Sabbath keeping to save our country? Won’t you come into line with the rest of the world and come into unity with God’s people so He can once again smile on our country? Have any of our great and wise religious leaders seen any light in what you’re saying about the old Jewish Sabbath?” And finally, “if you don’t come into line you will be killed.”

What are you going to do when these kinds of questions and accusations and threats are leveled at you? When perhaps your own family members forsake you and betray you to the powers that be to save their own hides. Will you cave under the tremendous pressure that will be brought to bear, or will you be able to say, “no matter what, we ought to obey God rather than men?”

Here’s another quote from Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page 13 that mentions a financial crisis at the end of earth’s history. This is the chapter titled “The Last Crisis.” Here’s what it says, “Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain (that means they are losing the struggle) They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.”

Is that not what’s happening right now? As a country we are increasing our National debt by several trillions of dollars in just a few weeks because of the virus. If there’s a vain struggle to place business operations on a more secure basis, that means there are economic problems that can’t be solved. Is this the time? Is this the crisis? Again, it remains to be seen, but it sure fits, doesn’t it?

Well, there’s much more that could be said about our Constitution being repudiated and Martial Law being enacted should to many people get out of control and not abide by social distancing and the stay at home orders, but we have to get back to the subject at hand. Just keep in mind that once a people lose their rights and freedoms, many times they’re lost forever. Once the genie is out of the bottle, as the saying goes, it’s impossible to put it back in. There are already drones flying around in some places to see if people are following the distancing rules and taking peoples temperature from 200 feet in the air, and the Governors of Washington State and New York are encouraging people to spy and snitch on their neighbors who are not following the Corona guidelines, and they could be arrested, fined, and lose their business license if they are self-employed. And so, it’s almost like being under house arrest in some places without having committed a crime. The United States are no longer united and we’re more like a Nation under surveillance than a Nation under God. So the handwriting is on the wall for those to read who have a knowledge of the truth for these last days, that the end of all things is at hand, and now as never before we better understand and experience the message we’re supposed to take to the world.

Now, when we think of the last part of Revelation 14:12, I want you to notice what it does not say. It does not say, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and are faithful to Jesus”, although we must be faithful to Jesus. It  doesn’t say “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and have faith in Jesus”, although we must have faith in Jesus. But the Greek says the saints will “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”, it’s something they have, something they possess; or we could say the saints have the same kind of faith that Jesus had. Does it make a difference? Am I straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel here? I don’t think so.

Notice this next quote from Review and Herald, August 29, 1893, “Kings, and rulers, and governors have placed upon themselves the brand of antichrist, and are represented as the dragon who goes to make war with the saints, with those who keep the commandments of God, and who have the faith of Jesus.” They have it! It’s not just something they just believe in or something they just assent to, or something that is theirs vicariously. They don’t just experience it in their imagination or through the actions of another, namely Jesus, but a faith that they possess themselves just like Jesus possessed.

The dictionary says the word “of” is “used as a function word to indicate a particular example . . . denoted by the preceding noun.” The noun in the phrase “the faith of Jesus” is faith, and the example is the kind of faith Jesus had. You see, Jesus is not just our substitute, but He is our example in all things, and His faith is one of those things. So what kind of faith did Jesus have, and what did He have faith in? Whose power was it that He relied upon? Was it His own? As One member of the Godhead He obviously had divine power, did He not? But did He use it in order to advantage Himself in any way is the question to be answered, because what we believe about this will determine our eternal destiny.

It’s very important that we understand that Jesus was born into this world with a fallen human nature and had to fight the battles of life the same way we do, and that He had no advantage over those who have partaken of the divine nature when it comes to fighting those battles. Do we have power in and of ourselves to be able to resist the temptation to sin? No! Did Jesus? Yes, He had the power of divinity, but He didn’t use it, at least not to benefit Himself. Because He had divine power, if anything, His trials and temptations had to be far more severe than ours in that He could have stopped lying tongues and crushed His enemies like a bug, but He didn’t, because He was committed to live life as a man who had to rely on the power of another, and that’s the same kind of faith we have to have.

The reason we know that Jesus had fallen flesh, aside from all the Bible verses and Spirit of Prophecy quotes that plainly say so, is because Jesus inherited a fallen nature through the same process we do, because on the human side He descended from the seed of Abraham, who was fallen. You can read that in Hebrews 2:9-18. The only way Jesus could have had an unfallen human nature was to be descended from someone with an unfallen human nature, does that make sense? The only two human beings that ever lived on this planet who had unfallen human natures were Adam and Eve before they sinned. Human nature after that point was fallen, and that’s the human nature Jesus inherited. To believe that Jesus had the unfallen human nature is to believe in the Catholic teaching of the immaculate conception of His mother Mary, and that’s impossible, because Mary herself was born of the fallen seed of Abraham, and that’s about as far as I want to go in trying to explain this before I get in trouble, because the incarnation of Christ has ever been, and will ever remain a mystery. Wiser men than me have tried to explain it and haven’t been able to do it justice, so I’m not even going to try.

There’s plenty of evidence in the Scriptures that Jesus had a fallen human nature, but we don’t want to make Him all together such a one as ourselves, otherwise He couldn’t be our Saviour. In every possible way Satan tried to prevent Jesus from developing a perfect childhood, a faultless manhood, a holy ministry, and an unblemished sacrifice, but he wasn’t able to do it, and that’s what gives Jesus the right to be our Saviour and our example.

We can and must resist temptation like Jesus did, but we can’t do it on our own, and neither could Jesus by the power of His human nature alone. It takes divine power to do that, and we receive it when we accept Christ and partake of His divine nature, and to do that, we need the faith of Jesus as mentioned in the third angel’s message.

Let’s look quickly at a few verses of Scripture that will help us understand what the faith of Jesus is and how we can receive it.

John 20:21  “Then said Jesus to them (to His disciples) again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

How was Jesus sent? Was He sent to show us how an unfallen human being can live without sin, or how God can live in a sinful world without committing sin, or was He sent to show us how fallen humanity and divinity combined could live without sin? Obviously, the latter. But in order to do that, He could not use His own divinity to do it. He had to rely upon His heavenly Father.

In Jesus’ last and longest recorded prayer to His Father for His disciples just before He went back to heaven, He said this in John 17:18, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

So, as the faith of Jesus relied upon His Father, so we are to rely upon Him, that’s the faith of Jesus. If the human nature of Jesus were unfallen, He could not send His disciples, who were fallen, into the world the way He was sent, could He? No!

John 14:10  “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

You see, the works that Jesus performed were not of His own doing, it was the Father who dwelt in Him, and just as the Father dwelt in Him, through the Spirit Jesus must dwell in us, and the works that we do will be the works of Jesus just as His works were the works of His Father.

John 8:28  “Then said Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.”

How much did Jesus do of Himself? Nothing! And how much can we do without Jesus? Nothing! In John 15:5 Jesus said, “without me you can do nothing”, and when we believe this, then we will have the faith of Jesus as we rely upon Him for everything.

John 5:30  “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”

Just as Jesus sought the will of His Father, so we must seek the will of Jesus as His disciples. That’s the faith of Jesus. Remember when Jesus was struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane and He prayed Father please take this cup from Me? Then what did He say? Nevertheless, not My will, but thine be done.

John 17:18 “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

You see, we are sent the same way Jesus was sent. Not to do our own will, not to rely upon our own works, not to think we can do something to benefit the world in our own strength or to save ourselves, but to do everything by the power He gives us through the Spirit. And so, it’s not about us, it’s about Him, it’s all about Him, and when we realize this and surrender all to Him, then we can have the faith of Jesus.

John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

It was the will of the Father that Jesus should live life in fallen human flesh the way we have to live it, totally dependent upon divine power outside of ourselves in order to form characters for heaven and to help others do the same. But what about Jesus? Did He inherit a perfect human character, or did He have to develop it like we do?

Notice what it says in The Desire of Ages, page 762, “The law requires righteousness, a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character.”

This means that Jesus accomplished what unfallen Adam failed to do, and He did it with a human nature that was inherently bad by comparison, and if we accept what Jesus did for us, He will help us to develop a perfect character like His. That’s the faith of Jesus.

Now let’s take a look at what God’s last day prophet has to say about whether or not Jesus used His divinity to resist temptation. Spirit of Prophecy, volume 2, page 92, The context is the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. “The long fast had physically debilitated him, the pangs of hunger consumed his vitals, his fainting system clamored for food. He could have wrought a miracle in his own behalf, and satisfied his gnawing hunger; but this would not have been in accordance with the divine plan. It was no part of his mission to exercise divine power for his own benefit; this he never did in his earthly life; his miracles were all for the good of others.”

Jesus, as God, had the power to perform miracles in His own name, didn’t He? But He always did it to benefit others and never to get Himself out of a jam, and neither did He use His divine power to resist the temptation to give in to His fallen flesh. He got that power from His Father, He got it by faith in the One who dwelt in Him, and that’s how He came off conqueror every time. And so, just as He depended upon the Father who dwelt in Him, so we are to depend upon Jesus who dwells in us.

Review and Herald, August 18, 1874, “It was not any part of the mission of Christ to exercise his divine power for his own benefit, to relieve himself from suffering. This he had volunteered to take upon himself. He had condescended to take man’s nature, and he was to suffer the inconveniences, and ills, and afflictions, of the human family. He was not to perform miracles on his own account. He came to save others. The object of his mission was to bring blessings, and hope, and life, to the afflicted and oppressed. He was to bear the burdens and griefs of suffering humanity.”  And that’s not how unfallen Adam was created.

Selected Messages, book 1, page 278, 279 “The Saviour of the world became sin for the race. In becoming man’s substitute, Christ did not manifest His power as the Son of God. He ranked Himself among the sons of men. He was to bear the trial of temptation as a man, in man’s behalf, under the most trying circumstances, and leave an example (and leave what?) an example of faith and perfect trust in His heavenly Father. Christ knew that His Father would supply Him food when it would gratify Him to do so. He would not in this severe ordeal, when hunger pressed Him beyond measure, prematurely diminish one particle of the trial allotted to Him by exercising His divine power.”

“But Pastor Jones, aren’t we told that Jesus was born into this world with no sinful propensities? And wouldn’t that mean that Jesus had an advantage over us? Isn’t that why He could live and be tempted in all points such as we are, yet without sin?” And I would say yes! But with the caveat that He had an advantage over those only who have not been born again and partaken of the divine nature. If we have not partaken of the divine nature He had great advantage over us, because we would still have the carnal mind, and Paul says, “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” And so, Jesus had no advantage over those who are born of God, but He had every advantage over those who have not.

Notice this next statement form Review and Herald, 4/24/1900, “We must learn of Christ. We must know what he is to those he has ransomed. We must realize that through belief in him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity.”

You see, humanity and divinity combined does not sin, that’s how Jesus did it in fallen flesh and that’s the way we must do it. When we partake of the divine nature as Peter said, then we have humanity and divinity combined, not that we become divine, but that the power of the divine One can then work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure just like Jesus did the will and good pleasure of His Father. When we have humanity and divinity combined, then we will have the faith of Jesus.

Notice Christ’s Object Lessons, page 314, “Satan had claimed that it was impossible for man to obey God’s commandments; and in our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But Christ came in the form of humanity, and by His perfect obedience He proved that humanity and divinity combined can obey every one of God’s precepts. ‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.’ This power is not in the human agent. It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives power to live the life of Christ.” That’s the faith of Jesus, and this is exactly what 1 John 3:9 says. Turn with me please. This will be our last Bible verse. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed (His divine seed) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Now this doesn’t mean that we have holy flesh, it just means that as long as Jesus dwells in us through the Spirit we will not sin, plain and simple, because Jesus and sin do not cohabitate, but if we chose not to abide in Him, sin is going to happen, it can’t be helped. The divine seed is what it takes in order to keep the commandments of God, and when the human agent has faith to believe that, then that’s the faith of Jesus.

Now I want you to notice what will happen if we don’t experience and proclaim the third angel’s message equally and in all it parts. Manuscript Releases, volume 16, page 277, “The message that was given to the people in these meetings (1888 Minneapolis Conference) presented in clear lines not alone the commandments of God, a part of the third angel’s message, but the faith of Jesus, which comprehends more than is generally supposed. And it will be well for the third angel’s message to be proclaimed in all its parts, for the people need every jot and tittle of it. If we proclaim the commandments of God and leave the other half scarcely touched, the message is marred in our hands.”

I can’t help but wonder how many people since 1888 to the present time will be lost because the message was marred in the hands of those who did not give the third angel’s message in all its parts with equal force, and it doesn’t matter if the commandments of God or the faith of Jesus is given more emphasis than the other, the message is still marred in the hands of those who give it, and hopefully it won’t be any of us.

I need to close, but let me read one more quote from Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, page 17, “The light we have received upon the third angel’s message is the true light. The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, nor will it be understood until the unrolling of the scroll; but a most solemn work is to be accomplished in our world.”

As we look at what’s happening in the world today, can we not see the unrolling of the scroll, at least to some degree? Everything is in place for the last movements to rapidly be fulfilled, and we have been given a message of the most solemn import. What will we do with it? Will we give it in the way God designed it should be given, or will we give an unbalanced message, or perhaps not give it at all, but instead get sidetracked by some fanaticism?

And let’s not forget what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, where he wrote, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Friends, we can’t have the faith of Jesus unless we are spending time with Him every day in study and by developing perfect trust in the word of God, because that’s how Jesus had the faith He had. He had to learn and develop His character as He went along. It wasn’t absorbed into His brain through osmosis, He had to read and study and learn the word of God, which started on his mother’s knee, and how is that any different than what we must do?

During His earthly life Jesus said to many different individuals, “follow Me.” What did He mean by that? The dictionary says “to follow” means “to imitate; to copy; to follow a pattern or model; to obey; to observe; to practice; and to act in conformity to”, and it is our duty to follow the command of Christ. Good soldiers follow the orders of their general, and good servants follow the directions of their master, and Jesus is both our General and our Master. Then let us follow Him so that our faith and the faith of Jesus will be of the same kind. That’s what we need, and it’s available to us as we follow our His example.

Sermon Notes in pdf  The Faith of Jesus