"Since we can be lost either way, what difference does it make whether we regard our deeds as directly involved in salvation?" you inquire. It effects whether salvation is a free gift secured by God or whether it is a work earned by man. And it involves whether I will be secure or uncertain. Even as a Christian, I am sorry to say, I have made many mistakes. But I can affirm through Christ that they will not determine my salvation. As long as I am "in Christ," I am accepted and fully belong. M concern is that I do not do something to change my attitude toward Christ so that I will leave Him.
How can we realize such security? First, we must understand the significance of Christ's sacrifice. "The Lord would have his people sound in the faith - not ignorant of the great salvation so abundantly provided for them. They are not to look forward, thinking that at some future time a great work is to be done for them; for the work is now complete" (1 SM 394,395). "No sin can be comitted by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary" (ibid., 343). We talk about attaining salvation, but it is not within our power to achieve. God, independent of out activity, has taken care of it.
Second, we must accept. "The perishing sinner may say: '...I need not remain a moment longer unsaved. He died and rose again for my justification, and He will save me now' " (ibid., 392). "What must I do to accept?" you ask. "Coming to Christ does not require a severe mental effort and agony. It is simply accepting the terms of salvation that God has made plain in his word" (RH, February 14, 1888). Say, "Lord, I want You." That's all. "I want You." No striving, no painful agony. Is the Christian life one of struggle? To say that life is not would be to mislead you. But a battle for what? Salvation? Never! Need a Christian struggle? In the conflict we fight with self, yes. But need we be insecure Christians? No! We will struggle, we will strive, but never with uncertainty. It is with complete confidence that we belong. If we have accepted Jesus Christ, we are saved, and we can say that now.
Third, we can trust. "If we will but keep our eyes fixed on the Savior and trust in His power, we shall be filled with a sense of security; for the righeousness of Christ will become our righteousness. . . .We dishonor Him by talking of our inefficiency. Instead of looking at ourselves, let us constantly behold Jesus" (MYO 107).
One of the great temptations we face today is insecurity. If Satan can get us to turn our attention from Jesus Christ and start weighing our own good deeds and misdeeds in determining whether or not we are saved, we get discouraged, and when we get discouraged, we will give up. If we are to have victory in Christ, we must rest secure in His salvation.
Can I know that I am saved? Without a doubt!
When we reason this way, we make two assumptions. First, that between an act of sin and the confession of it we are lost. Second, that confession secures our forgiveness.
I don't believe that either is true. In the first place, sinning to a Christian does not imply rejection. "If in our ignorance we make missteps, Christ does not leave us" (GW 263). Again, "Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God" (SC 64). Now, if God does not forsake and reject us, it implies that we are accepted, we belong, we are saved. Our Lord tells us in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave thee, not forsake thee." Thus, "Christ will never abandon the soul for whom He died. The soul may leave Him and be overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn from one for whom He has paid the ransom of His own life" (MB 118,119). Right here you can see that many of us have made a wrong assumption regarding the unpardonable sin, as if somehow we tire God and He becomes disgusted with us, and after having put up with us long enough He leaves us. Nothing could be more foreign to Scipture than that God spurns us. When a Christian sins, it does not automatically follow that God eternally rejects him or that as a result, he is lost.
In the second place, forgiveness is not based on confession. "We should not think that unless those who have injured us confess the wrong we are justified in withholding from them our forgiveness. It is their part, no doubt, to humble their hearts by repentance and confession; but we are to have a spirit of compassion toward those who have trespassed against us, whether or not they confess their faults" (MB113,114). Now, can you conceive of God asking us to do this if He were unwilling to do it Himself?
You recall the thief on the cross who asked our Lord to remember him? What sin did he confess? Had he lived, he undoubtedly would have made confession. I don't doubt that. But he didn't live, and we have no record of his confession. Could it be that it was not central to his salvation? The prodigal son had his confession memorized, but here we find one of the most beautiful interruptions in the whole Bible. The father meets him, cuts into his prepared confession, throws his robe around him, embraces him, and takes him home. Why didn't he let him confess? Because the father had forgiven him already. Such instances suggest that forgiveness does not rest on our confession.
I believe that we have two great needs in our theology. The first is that we need a new look at and a new understanding of forgiveness. The second calls for a reappraisal of confession. Let's take forgiveness first.
I want to make three key statements regarding forgiveness. First, God provides forgiveness through Christ apart from any asking or endeavor on our part. It is easy for us to think that our prayers form the basis for our forgiveness. But forgiveness never arises from our prayers, but Christ's prayer. Spekaing of Christ prayer on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not whatthey do," Ellen White commented, "That prayer of Christ for His enemies embraced the world. It took in every sinner that had lived or should live, from the beginning of the world to the end of time" (DA 745). Did the Father answer that prayer? Yes, and calvary backs it up. That isn't to say that everyone accepts it, but it was granted.
Futhermore, forgiveness is an accomplished fact for the race, apart from any human response. In the first chapter we learned that reconciliation takes place independently of anything we might do in the future. It was an issue with God, a matter of revealing His character to the universe. And it was a problem which God solved apart from our reaction to it. The apostle Paul declared in Romans 5:10 that "while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Forgiveness does not have to do with what we do know in our prayers, in our confessions, or in our deeds. Calvary accomplished it. "The atonement of Christ sealed forever the everlasting covenant of grace. It was the fulfilling of every condition upon which God suspended the free communication of grace to the human family. Every barrier was then broken down which intercepted the freest fullness of the exercise of grace, mercy, peace, and love to the most guilty of Adam's race" (MS 92,1899). Heaven provides forgiveness through Christ apart from any asking or any endeavor on our part.
