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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