[Excerpt from a sermon preached by Ellen G. White at Santa Rosa, California, March 7, 1885.]
(3SM 353)
Says John, in speaking of the deceiver that doeth great wonders: he shall make an image to the beast, and shall cause all to receive his mark. Will you please to consider this matter? Search the scriptures, and see. There is a wonder-working power to appear: and it will be when men are claiming sanctification, and holiness, lifting themselves up higher and higher and boasting of themselves.
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Look at Moses and the prophets; look at Daniel and Joseph and Elijah. Look at these men, and find me one sentence where they ever claimed to be sinless. The very soul that is in close relation to Christ, beholding his purity and excellency, will fall before Him with shamefacedness.
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Daniel was a man to whom God had given great skill and learning, and when he fasted the angel came to him and said, “Thou art greatly beloved.”Daniel 9:23. And he fell prostrate before the angel. He did not say, “Lord, I have been very faithful to You and I have done everything to honor You and defend Your word and name. Lord, You know how faithful I was at the king’s table, and how I maintained my integrity when they cast me into the den of lions.” Was that the way Daniel prayed to God?
(3SM 353.3)
No; he prayed and confessed his sins, and said, Hear O Lord, and deliver; we have departed from Thy Word and have sinned. And when he saw the angel, he said, My comeliness was turned into corruption. He could not look upon the angel’s face, and he had no strength; it was all gone. So the angel came to him and set him upon his knees. He could not behold him then. And then the angel came to him with the appearance of a man. Then he could bear the sight.
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Only Those Far From Christ Claim Sinlessness—Why is it that so many claim to be holy and sinless? It is because they are so far from Christ. I have never dared to claim any such a thing. From the time that I was 14 years old, if I knew what the will of God was, I was willing to do it. You never have heard me say I am sinless. Those that get sight of the loveliness and exalted character of Jesus Christ, who was holy and lifted up and his train fills the temple, will never say it. Yet we are to meet with those that will say such things more and more.—Manuscript 5, 1885.
(3SM 354.2)
Let God, Not Men, Declare It
I want to say to whomsoever the glory of God has been revealed, “You will never have the least inclination to say, ‘I am holy, I am sanctified.’”
(3SM 354.3)
After my first vision of glory, I could not discern the brightest light. It was thought that my eyesight was gone, but when I again became accustomed to the things of this world I could see again. This is why I tell you never to boast, saying, “I am holy, I am sanctified,” for it is the surest evidence that you know not the Scripture or the power of God. Let God write it in his books if he will, but you should never utter it.
(3SM 354.4)
I have never dared to say, “I am holy, I am sinless,” but whatever I have thought was the will of God I have tried to do it with all my heart, and I have the sweet peace of God in my soul. I can commit the keeping of my soul to God as unto a faithful Creator, and know that he will keep that which is committed to his trust. It is my meat and drink to do my Master’s will.—Manuscript 6a, 1886.
(3SM 354.5)
Not Until This Vile Body Is Changed
We must establish an unyielding enmity between our souls and our foe; but we must open our hearts to the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.... We want to become so sensitive to holy influences, that the lightest whisper of Jesus will move our souls, till he is in us, and we in Him, living by the faith of the Son of God.
(3SM 355.1)
We need to be refined, cleansed from all earthliness, till we reflect the image of our Saviour, and become “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Then we shall delight to do the will of God, and Christ can own us before the Father and before the holy angels as those who abide in Him, and he will not be ashamed to call us brethren.
(3SM 355.2)
But we shall not boast of our holiness. As we have clearer views of Christ’s spotlessness and infinite purity, we shall feel as did Daniel, when he beheld the glory of the Lord, and said, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption.”Daniel 10:8.
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We cannot say, “I am sinless,” till this vile body is changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body. But if we constantly seek to follow Jesus, the blessed hope is ours of standing before the throne of God without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; complete in Christ, robed in his righteousness and perfection.—The Signs of the Times, March 23, 1888.
(3SM 355.4)
When the Conflict Is Ended
When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, then the sins of the repentant soul who has received the grace of Christ and has overcome through the blood of the Lamb, will be removed from the records of heaven, and will be placed upon Satan, the scapegoat, the originator of sin, and be remembered no more against him forever.... When the conflict of life is ended, when the armor is laid off at the feet of Jesus, when the saints of God are glorified, then and then only will it be safe to claim that we are saved, and sinless.—The Signs of the Times, May 16, 1895.
(3SM 355.5)
The Assurance of Salvation Now
The perishing sinner may say: “I am a lost sinner; but Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He says, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Mark 2:17). I am a sinner, and he died upon Calvary’s cross to save me. I need not remain a moment longer unsaved. He died and rose again for my justification, and he will save me now. I accept the forgiveness he has promised.”—“Justified by Faith” (a pamphlet published in 1893), p. 7. Reprinted in Selected Messages 1:392.
(3SM 356.1)
He who repents of his sin and accepts the gift of the life of the Son of God, cannot be overcome. Laying hold by faith of the divine nature, he becomes a child of God. He prays, he believes. When tempted and tried, he claims the power that Christ died to give, and overcomes through his grace. This every sinner needs to understand. He must repent of his sin, he must believe in the power of Christ, and accept that power to save and to keep him from sin. How thankful ought we to be for the gift of Christ’s example.—The Review and Herald, January 28, 1909.
(3SM 356.2)
Don’t Worry, Your Hope Is in Christ
A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to his strength, your ignorance to his wisdom, your frailty to his enduring might....
(3SM 356.3)
We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears. Say with the apostle Paul, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in his hands, he will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you.—Steps to Christ, 70-72.
(3SM 357.1)