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Mrs. White
states in Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 155:
“Those who accept Christ, and in their first
confidence say, I am saved, are in danger of
trusting to themselves. They lose sight of
their own weakness and their constant need
of divine strength. They are unprepared for
Satan’s devices, and under temptation many,
like Peter, fall into the very depths of
sin. We are admonished, “Let him that
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he
fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12. Our only safety
is in constant distrust of self, and
dependence on Christ.” (1900 edition).
And in Selected Messages, Vol.
1, p. 314, Ellen White again said:
“We are never to rest in a satisfied
condition, and cease to make advancement,
saying, “I am saved.” When this idea is
entertained, the motives for watchfulness,
for prayers, for earnest endeavor to press
onward to higher attainments, cease to
exist. No sanctified tongue will be found
uttering these words till Christ shall come,
and we enter in through the gates into the
city of God. Then, with the utmost
propriety, we may give glory to God and to
the Lamb for eternal deliverance. As long as
man is full of weakness—for of himself he
cannot save his soul—he should never dare to
say, “I am saved.”
But what
do the Scriptures say?
John 3:15-16 says, “that whoever believes in him
may have eternal life. “For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.”
John 3:36
says, “Whoever believes in the Son has
eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God
remains on him.”
John 5:24 says, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, whoever hears my word and believes him
who sent me has eternal life. He does not
come into judgment, but has passed from
death to life.”
John 5:39 says, “You
search the Scriptures because you think that
in them you have eternal life; and it is
they that bear witness about me,”
John 6:37 says, “All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me
I will never cast out.”
John 6:39 says, “And
this is the will of him who sent me, that I
should lose nothing of all that he has given
me, but raise it up on the last day.”
John 6:40
says, “For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who looks on the Son and
believes in him should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:47 says, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
John 6:54 says, “Whoever feeds on my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 10:27-29 says, “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them
out of my hand. My Father, who has given
them to me, is greater than all, and no one
is able to snatch them out of the Father’s
hand.”
John 17:2-3 says, “since you
have given him authority over all flesh, to
give eternal life to all whom you have given
him. And this is eternal life, that they
know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.”
Acts 16:31 says,
“And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your
household.”
Romans 6:23 says, “For
the wages of sin is death, but the free gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
Romans 8:1 says, “There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:38-39
says, “For I am sure that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things
present nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:13 says, “For “everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.”
Romans 11:6 says, “But if it
is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of
works; otherwise grace would no longer be
grace.”
Romans 11:29 says, “For the
gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 says,
“In him you also, when you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
believed in him, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his
glory.”
Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom
you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
2 Corinthians 1:22 says, “and who has
also put his seal on us and given us his
Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of
this, that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ.”
2 Timothy 1:11-12
says, “And of this gospel I was appointed a
herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is
why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not
ashamed, because I know whom I have
believed, and am convinced that he is able
to guard what I have entrusted to him for
that day.” (NIV)
2 Timothy 4:18 says,
“The Lord will rescue me from every evil
deed and bring me safely into his heavenly
kingdom. To him be the glory forever and
ever. Amen.”
1 John 1:9 says, “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.”
1 John 2:25
says, “And this is the promise that he made
to us—eternal life.”
1 John 5:11-13
says, “And this is the testimony, that God
gave us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. Whoever has the Son has life;
whoever does not have the Son of God does
not have life. I write these things to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God
that you may know that you have eternal
life.”
Jude 1:24-25 says, “Now to him
who is able to keep you from stumbling and
to present you blameless before the presence
of his glory with great joy, to the only
God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and
authority, before all time and now and
forever. Amen.”
Who
should we believe, the Bible or Ellen G.
White? They both can’t be right!
God wants us to know for certain that we
have eternal life as a present possession
(1 John 5:11-13; Eph. 2:8-10; Col. 1:12-13).
Our salvation is not based on
anything we do, but on what Christ has
already accomplished for us through the
cross. God has promised to make sure we
persevere until the end by placing the Holy
Spirit in our hearts as a seal, or guarantee, of
our inheritance (Phil. 1:6; 2 Tim. 1:11-12; Jude 1:24-25;
1 Cor. 1:4-9; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21-22).
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