Saved Only “in Christ”
37
He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved
you. [
Steps to Christ, 70-72
.]
This You Can Count On
“He who through His own atonement provided for man an infinite
fund of moral power, will not fail to employ this power in our behalf....
In the whole Satanic force there is not power to overcome one soul
who in simple trust casts himself on Christ.” [
Christ’s Object Lessons,
157
.]
“Abundant grace has been provided that the believing soul may be
kept free from sin.” [
Selected Messages 1:394
.]
“In Him we have a complete offering, an infinite sacrifice, a mighty
Saviour, who is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God
by Him. In love He comes to reveal the Father, to reconcile man to
God, to make him a new creature renewed after the image of Him who
created him.” [
Selected Messages 1:321
.]
Peter’s Problem
The evil that led to Peter’s fall [in denying Christ at His trial] ... is
proving the ruin of thousands today. There is nothing so offensive to
God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency.
Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.
[41]
Peter’s fall was not instantaneous, but gradual. Self-confidence
led him to the belief that he was saved, and step after step was taken
in the downward path, until he could deny his Master. Never can we
safely put confidence in self or feel, this side of heaven, that we are
secure against temptation. Those who accept the Saviour, however
sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or to feel that
they are saved. [
Note: It is the privilege of the Christian to know that
on his acceptance of Christ he is saved from his sins and can rejoice
in this salvation. But neither the Scriptures nor the Spirit of Prophecy
writings supports the popular teaching: “Once saved, always saved.” A
person may be saved today, but failing to keep his eyes on Jesus and to
grow daily in Him, may become self-confident and be lost tomorrow.
The apostle Paul declared, “I die daily.” In a sense, conversion is a
daily experience
.