 I Want to Give My Heart to Jesus #8:
Salvation as Portrayed in the Writings of Ellen G. White
Larry Kirkpatrick ++ Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists ++ 13 October 2001
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Today our series continues. "I want to give my heart to Jesus," is the cry of each of our hearts. But I want to pause as we begin today to introduce what we are going to be doing. For the past several talks, we've been working through fundamental points of truth, walking along the foundations as it were. Of course, our previous sermons in this series have been strongly centered on the Scriptures. Many have even been given entirely as Scripture only. Now today's talk is a bit different.
Seventh-day Adventists, having very carefully worked in the Scriptures and cautiously determined what are the biblical tests for prophets, have arrived at the conviction that the life and teachings of Mrs. Ellen G. White are such that they fully harmonize with the Bible. We understand her to have experienced the gift of prophecy, and manifest it to the church. Then it will obviously be the case, everything else being in order, that we will in fact be most interested in what she has to say about the Bible's teaching about giving our heart to Jesus. What she has to say about salvation will interest us especially.
We've spent, so far, several hours in our first seven parts. Then it makes complete sense that we might spend 40 minutes today taking a close look at what she has written about these same topics that we have been studying in the Bible.
Some present here today may never even have heard of Mrs. White or her writings. Don't worry. If you have never weighed them, tested them to see whether they matched the Bible, that's OK. But we do hope that at your earliest convenience you will give consideration to these writings. I can tell you that millions of sincere Christian believers in the Bible the world over have carefully examined what she has written and it has changed their lives. This message today is however, predicated on the previous seven in which we have examined the Scriptures. In that context then, we share what follows.
What we share next will, because of time limitation, necessarily be but a tiny sampling. We make no claim that it is complete or even balanced. These writings are voluminous.
Now to Adventists out there, let me add one last caveat. Sometimes some of us take short-cuts. Some skip the careful study of the Bible and jump straight to the Ellen G. White writings. This was never the method of study she advocated. Always she urged people to found their faith upon the Bible. Hers, she said, was but a lesser light leading to the greater light, and the Bible constituted that greater light. But while the Bible is the ultimate test, if her writings harmonize with it, they are equally inspired to it, for there are no degrees of inspiration. A writing is either inspired, or not inspired. Paul is equal to Moses, and Amos is equal to Luke, and so it goes. But there is a danger. Sometimes an article or a sermon or a presentation in a classroom will come in and the speaker will teach something very original (by which I mean original even to God, if you catch my meaning!), and grease everything with a few carefully chosen quotes from the pen of Ellen White. May I warn you: often those the most opposed to what she has really taught do that very thing. So be on your guard. Take nothing for granted. Look up the references when they are given to you. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Pardon and Forgiveness
Let's start with pardon and forgiveness. Here. Let's begin with a statement from Mrs. White's book, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 114:
God's forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart. David had the true conception of forgiveness when he prayed, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.' Psalm 51:10.
"God's forgiveness is not merely . . . " Now let's notice this. That is, God's forgiveness is, just not merely is, "a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation." We affirm that. God's servant goes on to affirm that it is more. "It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin." To forgive is not just to drop that sin away to nothingness, eternal forgottenness, but our God takes the forgiven one and with that forgiveness includes "reclaiming from sin."
This is very biblical. For the Bible says of the person who accepts the salvation of Jesus, that "death hath no more dominion over him," since "sin shall not have dominion over you" (Romans 6:9, 14). To be forgiven by Jesus is to be reclaimed by Him, and where His claim stands, death has no last word. Jesus has conquered that dominion, and brings light into the blackness, life into the place of death. In the place where sin was, Jesus shines the light of forgiveness, but that light is a lot stronger than we have thought, for with that light comes reclaiming from sin. At the blackened, charred crater where Satan has reigned now is a holy place, a life reclaimed for Christ. And sin has no dominion there.
Restating this truth in another way, we read that forgiveness-reclaiming "is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart." That is, something is coming from the heart of the infinite God and entering the heart of the broken human agent. It is love, a love that is divine. In fact, it is here called "redeeming love," a love that is a buying-back, a re-purchasing sort of love. And God never does anything half-way. He doesn't buy us back for continued service in sin, but the service of a life reclaimed from sin.
In order to teach this fuller sense about what forgiveness includes now, Mrs. White goes to the Bible and says this: "David had the true conception of forgiveness when he prayed, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.' Psalm 51:10." So "the true conception of forgiveness" is the creation of a new heart in the believer, a clean heart, a spirit made right through the power of God.
Brethren. Do you want to be forgiven by God? Does it seem larger now than it did before?! That is the kind of forgiveness I want!
Well, you say, maybe that was a strange mis-speaking from sister White; maybe she never repeated that idea anywhere else in her writings. Here now, try this one on from Reflecting Christ, p. 303:
To be pardoned in the way that Christ pardons is not only to be forgiven, but to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. The Lord says, 'A new heart will I give unto thee.' The image of Christ is to be stamped upon the very mind, and heart, and soul. The apostle says, 'And we have the mind of Christ.' Without the transforming process which can come alone through divine power, the original propensities to sin are left in the heart in all their strength, to forge new chains, to impose a slavery that can never be broken by human power. . . .
Here is another word for forgiveness, "pardon." And here again, she goes out of her way to state that there is a particular way in which Christ pardons. His pardon "is not only to be forgiven, but to be renewed in the spirit of our mind." She refers here now to several Scriptures. She says, "The image of Christ is to be stamped upon the very mind, and heart, and soul." Here are several points. First, we are speaking of the image of Christ. Next, it is to be "stamped upon." That presents a picture of deep impression into and onto a substance sufficiently yielding to take the impression. Then it says that this stamping upon takes place on "the mind, heart, and soul," but what's more, upon "the very mind, heart, and soul." Now it is the next words that help us to see something of what this means.
"The apostle says, 'And we have the mind of Christ.' Without the transforming process which can come alone through divine power, the original propensities to sin are left in the heart in all their strength, to forge new chains, to impose a slavery that can never be broken by human power. . . ." Again, we are looking at a process that inspiration names "transforming." Note also that it is a transforming "process," not a transforming moment only. It is a process that can come alone through divine power. If it does not occur, then the original propensities to sin are left in the heart, and in how much of their strength? [Response: "in all their strength."] And if they are left there, and the positive transforming process is left undone, and the negative transforming process continues unabated, then they do what? [Response: "They forge new chains."] And they impose what? [Response: "A slavery."] And can that slavery ever be broken by human power ever? [Response: "No."].
Here's another on this, this time from a little item called "Appeal and Suggestions to Conference Officers," p. 25-26:
The forgiveness of sins and iniquities and transgressions, belongs in a special sense to this time. We are in the anti-typical day of atonement, and every soul should now be humbling himself before God, seeking pardon for his transgressions and sins, and accepting the justifying grace of Christ, the sanctifying of the soul by the operations of the Holy Spirit of Christ; thus the carnal nature is transformed, renewed in holiness after the image of Christ's righteousness and true holiness . . . . Faith is made perfect through works, and is evidenced in the character.
Now I ask you, what belongs in a special sense to our time? Yes, that's right, "the forgiveness of sins and iniquities and transgressions." We all should be humbling ourselves before God, seeking pardon for our sins, accepting the justifying grace of Christ, and receiving the sanctifying of the soul how? "By the operations of the Holy Spirit of Christ." And then what will happen in us? Our carnal natures will be transformed, renewed, made holy. There will be works and there will be faith. The evidence will be there in the character. And the universe will praise God.
Just one more on this, from Christ's Object Lessons, p. 419-420:
The religion of Christ means more than the forgiveness of sin; it means taking away our sins, and filling the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit.
Again and again my friends. More than forgiveness as commonly denominated. They are not just forgiven, but removed; and in the removal comes the insertion of something renewing -- the infilling of the graces of the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel.
So there we are. Our choices are two. Either "to be pardoned in the way that Christ pardons," to be forgiven in a more than merely judicial sense, to be transformed here and now through divine power, or the second choice. And that second choice is to be forgiven merely judicially, without the reclamation from sin (that is, to not really even be forgiven). To be forgiven without renewal, to refuse the emplacement of the image of Christ, to continue to have the original propensities to sin left in the heart in all their strength, is to be forging new chains that we can never brake. What a choice.
Faith and Works
Let's turn now to this perennial issue: faith and works. Let's take a careful look at two passages, and then throw in a few others. First, from Selected Messages, book 1, p. 374:
Faith and works go together, believing and doing are blended. . . . Through faith the Holy Spirit works in the heart to create holiness therein; but this cannot be done unless the human agent will work with Christ. We can be fitted for heaven only through the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart; for we must have Christ's righteousness as our credentials if we would find access to the Father. In order that we may have the righteousness of Christ, we need daily to be transformed by the influence of the Spirit, to be a partaker of the divine nature. . . . Man needs a power out of and above himself to restore him to the likeness of God; but because he needs divine aid, it does not make human activity unessential. Faith on the part of man is required; for faith works by love and purifies the soul. Faith lays hold upon the virtue of Christ. The Lord does not design that human power should be paralyzed; but by cooperating with God, the power of man may be efficient for good. 1SM 374 (RH Nov 1, 1892).
What do we have? "Faith and works go together." But many are saying today that faith and works do not go together, rather, that they are very separate. They are allowed to go together only if works can be relegated to the role of external result of the gospel. I wonder though. Can we reconcile such thinking with the restatement here, that after stating such "go together," says (and this is the actual wording!) "believing and doing are blended." Blended?! Oh yes. So blended that when the Holy Spirit works in the heart, holiness is created in it. Yet pay attention to this important line: "But this cannot be done unless the human agent will work with Christ." There was the formula, there was the word; the human agent "works" with Christ, or there will be no creation of holiness inside.
The next lines are equally powerful. "We can be fitted for heaven only through the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart; for we must have Christ's righteousness as our credentials if we would find access to the Father. In order that we may have the righteousness of Christ, we need daily to be transformed by the influence of the Spirit, to be a partaker of the divine nature. . . ." So there is a "fitting" for heaven we must undergo. We must have Christ's righteousness as our credentials to have access to the Father, and "we need daily to be transformed by the influence of the Spirit, to be a partaker of the divine nature." So our fitness comes as we are transformed, and that comes as we work with Christ. We bring none of our own righteousness even though we are engaged in the battle, but we bring that of Jesus.
Listen to the next line: "Man needs a power out of and above himself to restore him to the likeness of God; but because he needs divine aid, it does not make human activity unessential." We can never be restored unless we lay hold of divine power "out of and above" us. But while this is true, and we embrace it as truth, still "it does not make human activity unessential." What we have here is Ellen White advocating a serious synergism in salvation. "Faith lays hold upon the virtue of Christ. The Lord does not design that human power should be paralyzed; but by cooperating with God, the power of man may be efficient for good." It doesn't say here or anywhere that what we do has meritorious part in our salvation, but it does say that by our cooperating with Him, works will be efficient for good. Here is a very strong case for a gospel that is very different than what is commonly spoken of. The old-line religion was right on this line. As she says elsewhere, "God works and man works." But perhaps you want that whole reference. Here it is, from Acts of the Apostles, p. 82:
The work of gaining salvation is one of copartnership, a joint operation. There is to be co-operation between God and the repentant sinner. This is necessary for the formation of right principles in the character. Man is to make earnest efforts to overcome that which hinders him from attaining to perfection. But he is wholly dependent upon God for success. Human effort of itself is not sufficient. Without the aid of divine power it avails nothing. God works and man works. Resistance of temptation must come from man, who must draw his power from God. On the one side there is infinite wisdom, compassion, and power; on the other, weakness, sinfulness, absolute helplessness.
From our side comes "resistance of temptation." From God's side comes the strength to resist temptation. We are "absolutely helpless" in terms of having the strength to enforce the resistance, but we are not absolutely helpless when it comes to choosing to obey. God makes that possible too, but we have to throw the switch. And it can only be done by divine power. So who do you think then gets the credit! God gets it all.
This brings us to one other passage on this topic, from Steps to Christ, p. 62-63:
We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God. But Christ has made a way of escape for us. He lived on earth amid trials and temptations such as we have to meet. He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.
More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. So you may say, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. So Jesus said to His disciples, "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Matthew 10:20. Then with Christ working in you, you will manifest the same spirit and do the same good works -- works of righteousness, obedience.
So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.
Notice carefully, there is an accounting righteous. It even says that "Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God as if you had not sinned." But the Holy Spirit didn't stop there. He had another paragraph to share. "More than this, Christ changes the heart." More than what? More than being accounted righteous. That is the beginning, not the end; for "more than this," Christ does something. It is the "C" word again. "More than this, Christ changes the heart."
He lives in it by faith, and you maintain your connection with Him by faith and continual surrender to Him. "Then with Christ working in you, you will manifest the same spirit and do the same good works -- works of righteousness, obedience." You heard it right. With Christ working in us, we will "do the same good works -- works of righteousness, obedience." If all these ideas seem overly tall, unusual to hear uttered, then hear her summary that comes next:
"So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation." I hope that this is clear. See, whenever we speak of the gospel on this way, an alarm seems to go off for folks, and the siren sound of the "anti-legalism" alarm is heard. But do we really want to charge Ellen White with that? Here she states as plainly as the English language permits, that we have nothing, no ground, for boasting or self-exaltation, for claiming the slightest fraction of credit in our salvation for ourselves. But then comes the next sentence; one that utterly kills the false gospel. Listen again!
Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.
"Our only ground of hope," notice, is singular, not plural. That is, there is one ground of hope for us, just one alone. It is twofold: "in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us." How are we saved? By this twofold truth; by righteousness imputed side-by-side with righteousness imparted. And both are necessary if we would be saved. No, you will not commonly hear these lines emphasized by those so wont to quote from sister White and then take a helicopter journey into the new theology. But we are gathered here to hear truth, not fables. Look it up today when you get home. Make your own examination. And seek for this working in your own life. The question here is, is my ground of hope the same as what God intends it to be? This is a personal matter for those who would give their hearts to Jesus.
How about one more? Faith and Works, p. 27:
Divine power and the human agency combined will be a complete success, for Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything.
Notice the paradigm here. Divine power -- that is power from God, and the human agency -- that is active participation by Christian men and women, "combined" will be a complete success. Why? Because it is only when the circuit is made that Christ's righteousness is manifested on the battlefield. Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything, but it only does so when divine power and the human agency are interacting. Here then is a statement helping us understand these sweeping Ellen White statements very clearly.
Why all this dwelling on faith and works? Perhaps because on page 60 of Steps to Christ, we learn that a "dangerous eror" is the idea that, ". . . our works have nothing to do with our redemption." Obedience is not salvifically meritorious. Yet over and over again it is noted as the non-merit-bearing necessary condition of salvation. The same page says that "Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience." We are not released from faith or obedience, but even so, "There is no bondage in obedience" (Signs of the Times, June 1, 1891). But there are many today proposing in whatever stealth-wording that they can, that there is bondage in obedience. I, and the inspired writings, disagree very fully with that analysis.
Justification
Faith and Works, p. 100 has this:
God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul. . . . In order for man to be justified by faith, faith must reach a point where it will control the affections and impulses of the heart; and it is by obedience that faith itself is made perfect.
This must be a hard passage to swallow for those who would insist in limiting justification to a moment in time and that point being a barrier beyond which no loss of salvation is possible. Here is a condition before justification can take place: "entire surrender of the heart." To retain it? "Continual obedience." How shall we manifest continual obedience? "through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul."
Further, our justification by faith is here stretched out far beyond any mere moment, for there is the issue of its retention once we have it, and more than this, there is the issue of when do we receive it? The answer to that is that "In order for man to be justified by faith, faith must reach a point where it will control the affections and impulses of the heart." What point has my faith reached? has yours? Obedience has a powerful part here also in the life of justification.
Let's do one more here. This time, from Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, p. 98-99:
Only by perfect obedience to the requirements of God's holy law can man be justified. . . . Those only who through faith in Christ obey all of God's commandments will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression. They testify to their love of Christ by obeying all His precepts.
Justification here is such that it introduces a change of condition. While our bodies physically are not changed until the resurrection/translation experience, it seems that through a life of closest connection to Jesus we can come to the place where we cease from all sinning. Adam before he fell was in just such a condition -- he was living without sinning. This experience can and must be our own as well.
Fitness and Title
Let us consider this truth, from Review and Herald, June 4, 1895:
Righteousness within is testified to by righteousness without. He who is righteous within is not hard-hearted and unsympathetic, but day by day he grows into the image of Christ, going on from strength to strength. He who is being sanctified by the truth will be self-controlled, and will follow in the footsteps of Christ until grace is lost in glory. The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.
There is a righteousness by which we are justified, and a righteousness by which we are sanctified. It is the same righteousness, for elsewhere we read that, "Both our title to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ" (Desire of Ages, p. 300). The point of making such a distinction (between title and fitness), obviously is to insist on more than the merely conventional sense in which the idea of forgiveness so often is understood. Yes, we receive a title from Christ, but along with the title goes the actual property, the fitness. Both are found in the righteousness of Christ, which becomes ours as we let Him will and do His good pleasure in us (Philippians 2:13). That much of Mrs. White interest is to portray the astonishing reality that the work of the gospel is actually to make us right with God rather than merely to count us that way, is highlighted by texts such as this, and even a question occurring early in Steps to Christ, p. 23, where she plainly asks it:
How shall a man be just with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous?
The answer adorning that book front to back, is through a process of regeneration accomplished by the Holy Spirit with our cooperation. This is the reason for her repeated statements, "more that this, Christ changes the heart," and etc.
Character Perfection
Have you heard some of the character perfection quotations from the book Steps to Christ? Didn't think so. Consider this from the last page:
Then the redeemed will be welcomed to the home that Jesus is preparing for them. There their companions will not be the vile of earth, liars, idolators, the impure, and unbelieving; but they will associate with those who have overcome Satan and through divine grace have formed perfect characters. (Steps to Christ, p. 126).
Did they perfect their characters after arriving in heaven? Not at all. We associate at last with those who -- like ourselves -- will have overcome Satan through divine grace. We will have formed perfect characters while we were here, and will associate with one another then there as fellow victors through Christ.
Here's one that is a favorite of mine, perhaps because it is so despised by those seeking to recast Mrs. White's theology. It is found in Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Peter 3:12).
Now here is something that Jesus is waiting for, and He waits "with longing desire." That should interest us. It is something that should happen in us, in His church. As He indwells us, our characters are changed. They take on His glow. Just as our Father's character was shown in the life of Jesus, so shall it be shown in the life of the follower of Jesus. Our Christlikeness will be such that its reproduction in us will accelerate the completion of God's work on this planet. Note that this incredible reproduction is such that the text speaks of its perfect reproduction in us. They used to sell cassette tape on TV with the slogan, "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" We will never become Jesus, but a transposition of His likeness into us shall be so close and so complete that we are told that "the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people."
We weary of those so anxious to deny what here is said. In many sly ways this text is regularly revisited in the pages of certain of our publications, and every obfuscation is wrapped around it in an effort to make it say what it does not. All of this is because what it says is too plain, too obvious to be missed by the reader willing to take this text and the chapter it occurs in at their face value.
The truth is that there is a war on today within the church against the idea of character perfection through the power of God. I spoke the other day with a minister who's credentials are coming up for renewal, and he has been told that one of our unions wants to talk to him. Their sole concern is that his theology is aligned, they say, with that of a certain self-supporting ministry. Actually, the war is not against that pastor, nor against those of us who persist in repeating this teaching. Their war is not even against our own press which publishes these writings of Ellen White. Their war is not even against Mrs. White herself. Their war is against the God of heaven and His Holy Spirit through whom these writings were inspired and given to us. We are just messengers. But the shape of God's truth does not please many who prefer to shape it themselves in ways that are more easily lived with by the carnal heart. To every such warrior for error, I appeal; make your calling and election sure. Do not kick against the pricks, for you are fighting the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Truth. You are a consumer of truth, not a crafter of it. Receive it in the shape that it comes to you, and let it mold your life. It is not too late to turn back, and become a faithful messenger to all those in need. But the hour grows shorter and shorter.
But can we become perfect? Christ's Object Lessons, p. 332 says:
Be ambitious for the Master's glory, to cultivate every grace of character. In every phase of your character building you are to please God. This you may do; for Enoch pleased Him though living in a degenerate age. And there are Enochs in this our day.
Have you ever been asked whether you know anyone who is perfect? But that's not the question. The question is, does God know anyone that is that way? And the answer of inspiration is, "There are Enochs in this our day." That is good enough for me.
Obedience and Overcoming
Jesus was indeed our Substitute. But He was such in order to renew in us the capacity to obey, not just to make us spiritual spectators. Here is a line from Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 49:
By His own obedience to the law, Christ testified to its immutable character and proved that through His grace it could be perfectly obeyed by every son and daughter of Adam.
In case any of us were wondering whether perfect obedience by fallen people were a real possibility, now we know. You may "perfectly " obey.
Christ's Object Lessons, p. 333 says:
As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.
It seems that much of heaven's attention is directed to leading us into a cooperative operation with God, rather than to a mere passive, resigned docility. Of all the faculties given us, the will was singled out for special protection in the fall. It too is affected, but still we are pointed to its central importance in the plan of God's transformation of His children from darkness to light.
Assurance of Salvation
According to some, the magic-bullet missing in Adventism, the secret formula which must be pressed home upon all of our members, is the idea of assurance of salvation. This is a broader topic than we can grasp in a few moments here, and there are many ramifications, not all of which have been carefully canvassed and thought through. I will here share just a few quotes and leave them with you for your reflection. First, from Faith and Works, p. 16:
We cannot have the assurance and perfect confiding trust in Christ as our saviour until we acknowledge Him as our King and are obedient to His commandments.
Many would agree with the first part -- that until we acknowledge Christ as our King, we cannot have an assurance of salvation. It is the inclusion of the second part of the condition -- our being obedient also to His commandments -- that will be troubling to some. But there it is. Here is another quote, this time from Review and Herald, April 12, 1870:
You would prefer to hear us speak of the Christian's reward. We know that those who are faithful will inherit all things; but the great question with us should be, 'Who may abide the day of His coming; and who shall stand when He appeareth?' . . . . Without holiness, the word of God tells us, no man can see the Lord. Without purity of life it is impossible for us to be fitted and prepared to dwell with the holy and sinless angels in a pure and holy Heaven. No sin can be there. No impurity can enter the pearly gates of the golden city of God. And the question for us to settle is, whether we will turn from all sin and comply with the conditions God has given us, that we may become his sons and daughters. . . . We plead with you to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. It is perfection that is required; and nothing short of perfection will enable you to see the King in his beauty. . . . Should I tell you that you need not be very earnest, you need not be very active, the Lord is pleased to have you enjoy the things of this life, therefore you may be as calm and moderate in religious things as you choose, and while you are thus doing you will be gaining everlasting life, I should be telling you things not written in this book.
How timely is this reference from long ago. It would be preferred today that we speak of the rewards of the Christian, but here we find condemned the passive kind of faith, the moderate approach to Christianity. Instead of this peace and safety fluff-gospel, "the question for us to settle is, whether we will turn from all sin and comply with the conditions God has given us, that we may become His sons and daughters." The contemporary emphasis on assurance of salvation is alien to real Adventism. We may indeed have an assurance and a definite knowledge that we are living a "saved" experience, but such has never been emphasized among our people until the most recent years, and we might add, until the strong message of Adventism had reached a point that it was sufficiently muted that such an emphasis could be made prominent.
Union With Christ
Here are three items from Desire of Ages, regarding our union with Christ. First, Desire of Ages, p. 466:
Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve. In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no power to free ourselves from Satan's control; but when we desire to be set free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.
And this, from Desire of Ages, p. 668:
All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.
And this, from Desire of Ages, p. 671:
The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church.
These three passages combine to point to just how close the union between our Lord and ourselves can be. They encompass much cooperation between God and man, and a thorough change in man as a result. We are to live the regenerated life. These things are promised in the gospel of God.
Conclusion
We've looked, if but briefly, at the tiniest collection of statements on eight topics from the pen of Ellen White. What should be apparent to us after all the previous talks (which almost exclusively have been Scripture), and which have uncovered some ideas about salvation that are not always commonly shared today, is that through Mrs. White the Holy Spirit has shared with us truths that harmonize fully with the Bible, and that propose a giant change to be made in us by the power of the gospel. As we begin to approach the end of this series, we should be noticing that to give our hearts to Jesus means more than we may have comprehended. It means changed people, made pure, renewed, regenerated, made like Jesus by the power of Jesus, set loose upon the world to change it! Our Father would have us active, blessed human agents, bringing the light of hope and salvation wherever we voyage. There can be no other privilege higher than this.
Next Sabbath, part nine, as we return to Scripture and look at the three angel messages themselves, and what they mean for our experience. Let us pray.
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