Mercy - when you don't get what you deserve
Grace - when you get what you don't deserve
it is the gift of God. Eph 2:8
by Richard Nies
Without a Doubt (Can I know that I am saved?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1 - 4.html
The War is Over (Can I be sure that I am forgiven?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4 - 6.html
In Good Hands (Can I have peace regarding the unpardonable sin?).. Page 6 - 8.html
He's on Our Side (Can I survive the investigative Judgement?). . . . . . .Page 9 - 12.html
You Can Make It (Can I be among the 144,000?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13-15.html
References link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16.html
A missionary driving a truck, came acrossed some nationals carrying heavy baskets of wares on their heads. He stopped to pick them up. After several minutes he looked back to see how they were doing and discovered to his surprise that they still had the baskets balancing on ther heads. Halting in the middle of the road, he turned and asked, "Why don't you put those heavy baskets down and rest while you ride?"
"Oh, no!" they replied. "You've done enough. The least we can do is to carry our own burdens."
Unfortunately, many of us have carried our own burdens as if our salvation depended upon our own personal activity. We have been reluctant to state with convinction that we are saved.
But why can't we claim to be saved? Seventh-day Adventists usually reply that Ellen White has warned against it. "Those who accept the Savior, however sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or to feel that they are saved. This is misleading. Everyone should be taught to cherish hope and faith; but even when we give ourselves to Christ and know that He accepts us, we are not beyond the reach of temptation" (COL155). And so we feel that insecurity has some kind of virtue, as if claiming to be saved, accpeted by Jesus Christ, would be presumptuous.
We should note that at the time Ellen White wrote the previous statement she was not alluding to any virtue in insecurity but was speaking to individuals who believed that once they were saved, it was forever permanent, and nothing could change it. It was a false security. Thus she wrote, "When we give ourselves to Christ and know that he accepts us, we are not beyond the reach of temptation." Thus when someone declares, "I am saved," within that frame of reference, he is wrong.
Yet in one way we can positively say that we are saved, and Ellen White never intended to obviate that security. She stated, "We should not make self the center, and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved" (SC 72). "It is not the will of our heavenly Father that we should ever be under condemnation and darkness" (GC 477). "Even his physical health improves by the realization of his security in Christ" (CH 28,29).
She herself claimed such security; "I have no assurance that my life will last long, but I feel I am accepted of the Lord" (FE 548). The apostle Paul makes the same positive declaration in 2 Timothy 4:6-8; "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
We, too, should know that we are saved. John wrote in 1 John 5:13, "these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life." The same view appears in the following statement: "We should know that we are enjoying the favor of God, that he smiles upon us, and that we are his children indeed, and in a position where He can commune with us, and we with Him" (RH March 29, 1870).
To some Seven-day Adventisits such assurance may sound highly dangerous, but many others will find it a welcome relief. But can we find a basis for such conviction in God's revelation? If we want to find out what salvation is all about, the logical place to begin is at the cross.
Why did God have to go to such lengths to save man? Couldn't He have done it some simpler way? Someone has said that the Lord has moved heaven and earth to save us. It is a wonderful thought, but what does that actually mean?
First, God had a moral responsibility for the human race. Sin began in heaven when the beings there misunderstood their creator. Lucifer called into question God's purpose in Creation and claimed that His motives were not pure. He asserted that God's desire to secure the angels' allegiance through love was all a front, that no one would serve God simply because of His character. Satan claimed that God must bribe, must threaten. He argued that God's character had nothing inherent in it that would lead to successful universal government. Could anyone serve the Lord just because He was a God of love? The universe stood in doubt because Satan challenged, "Everyone would turn against You if they weren't afraid of You."
At that crucial time God created our earth. Man, not having witnessed what had gone on in heaven, appeared on the stage of action.. He was not biased. God and Satan would woo him . . . . .
