Holiness

by Ellen White

The holiness that God's word declares he must have before he can be saved, is the result of the working of divine grace, as he bows in submission to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth....

The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one. Day by day God labours for man's sanctification, and man is to co-operate with Him, putting forth persevering efforts in the cultivation of right habits. He is to add grace to grace; and as he thus works on the plan of addition, God works for him on the plan of multiplication. Our Saviour is always ready to hear and answer the prayer of the contrite heart, and grace and peace are multiplied to His faithful ones....

There are those who attempt to ascend the ladder of Christian progress; but as they advance, they begin to put their trust in the power of man, and soon lose sight of Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith. The result is failure-the loss of all that has been gained. Sad indeed is the condition of those who, becoming weary of the way, allow the enemy of souls to rob them of the Christian graces that have been developing in their hearts and lives. AA 532

Through the same faith we may receive spiritual healing. By sin we have been severed from the life of God. Our souls are palsied. Of ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than was the impotent man capable of walking. There are many who realise their helplessness, and who long for that spiritual life which will bring them into harmony with God; they are vainly striving to obtain it. In despair they cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?"[1 ROM. 7:24, MARGIN.] Let these desponding, struggling ones look up. The Saviour is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, "Wilt thou be made whole?" He bids you arise in health and peace. Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe His word, and it will be fulfilled. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practise, the master-passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses."[2 EPH. 2:1.] He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin.

DA 203

No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. God designed that its observance should designate them as his worshipers. It was to be a token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God. But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves by holy. Through faith they must become partakers of the righteousness of Christ. When the command was given to Israel, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," the Lord said also to them, "Ye shall be holy men unto Me."[4 EX. 20:8; 22:31.] Only thus could the Sabbath distinguish Israel as the worshipers of God. DA 283

These promises will be fulfilled when Christians take the position which God wishes them to fill. It is His desire that they shall demonstrate to the world that human beings can live pure, upright lives. That He might "purify unto Himself a peculiar people," Christ left the royal courts and clothed His divinity with humanity. He lived out in the world the principles of God's law, showing that His grace has power to redeem men and women and raise them to a plane of moral integrity. Amid the awful confederacy of evil now existing in the world, Christians are to stand firmly and bravely for the Redeemer, protesting by blameless lives against the prevailing apostasy. ST DEC.18,1901

The great Teacher, in His lessons, presents the life-diffusing power of His grace, declaring that through His grace men and women may live the new life of holiness and purity. He who lives this life works out the principles of the kingdom of heaven. Taught of God, he leads others in straight paths. The working of the Holy Spirit in his life shows that he is a partaker of the divine nature. Every soul thus worked receives so abundant a supply of the rich grace of heaven that, beholding his good works, unbelievers acknowledge that he is controlled and sustained by divine power, and give to God the glory.... ST JUN.28,1905

The world today is in crying need of a revelation of Christ Jesus in the person of His saints. God desires that His people shall stand before the world a holy people. Why? -because there is a world to be saved by the light of gospel truth; and as the message of truth that is to call men out of darkness into God's marvellous light is given by the Church, the lives of its members, sanctified by the Spirit of truth, are to bear witness to the verity of the massage proclaimed. TM 458

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