March 24, 2022 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Friends, have you ever wondered how people who were once evil become good? How is that those who were once full of hate become loving and kind? Those who have been enslaved by drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other debilitating habits become free? How does this transformation take place? Does one become “good” simply by trying hard?
The truth is, trying to be “good,” apart from Christ, can become very discouraging because we can never, on our own, be “good enough” to be saved from sin.
The experience of salvation that reaches deep into the soul comes from God alone. Speaking of this experience, Christ said in John 3, verses 3 and 5, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Only through Jesus Christ can one experience salvation, because, as we are told in Acts 4:12, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6.
The experience of transformation—that is, salvation—comes only through Jesus Christ.
Our tenth Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief explains it this way:
“In infinite love and mercy God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might be made the righteousness of God. Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, Substitute and Example. This saving faith comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God’s grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God’s sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the Spirit renews our minds, writes God’s law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life. Abiding in Him we become partakers of the divine nature and have the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment.”
Jesus freely offers each of us the gift of total salvation from sin. Our part in accepting this gift is explained in Romans 10:9-10:
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”
Once you accept God’s amazing gift, He forgives your past sins and looks at you as if you’ve never sinned. He then promises to help you overcome sin through Him. We read this beautiful promise in the book of Jude, verses 24 and 25:
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
You see, friend, after we have accepted Jesus, we are called, as it says in Romans 6:4, to “walk in newness of life.” God’s Son came to “save His people from their sins” Matt. 1:21. God wants to show you a better, happier way to live. In Ezekiel 36:26 we read this beautiful promise: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.”
Jesus meets us where we are and delights in saving us from our lost condition. There is no path too dark for Him to travel to save us. There is no life too sinful that His grace and forgiveness cannot remake us.
Because of His great love, we respond to Him with love and thankfulness. “If ye love Me,” Jesus says, “keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Our love response to the amazing sacrifice of Jesus Christ is to follow Him and to obey His teachings. If we profess to love God, but refuse to follow His leadership, our profession doesn’t mean much. Our choice to follow His guidance is our response of love for His amazing sacrifice.
But if we make mistakes or wander away, God is still there for us. The night before Jesus was crucified, He warned His disciples, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). Even though we’ve chosen Jesus, we will still be tempted to sin. But God doesn’t leave us alone. He promises in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you, or forsake you.”
In response to God’s love and care for us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to live changed lives. “For the love of Christ compels us,“ the apostle Paul writes, “that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” 2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
Paul goes on to say, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
When we accept Jesus as our Savior and give our life to His control, we can be sure of our eternal salvation. John writes, “Little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
In closing, I would like to share with you this beautiful description of what it means to truly experience salvation in Christ. It comes from a marvelous book, Steps to Christ, which is available free at egwwritings.org. Here is what the inspired author writes:
“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. So you are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul’s contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness” (Steps to Christ, p. 70).
If you have not yet experienced this life of restfulness in Christ, I invite you to accept this beautiful experience of salvation today. Please join me as we pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the way in which the Holy Spirit works upon the heart. How Christ transforms our lives, brings us into a right relationship with the Father. Now Lord, as each of us face the challenges each day that come our way, help us to lean completely upon Christ and his power to transform our lives, so that we become more and more like Jesus. Thank you for this promise, for now and for eternity and for the promise of Jesus soon return, when we will be completely made new, and we will live in a perfect setting forever. Thank you for hearing us. In Jesus name we ask it, amen.