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HOW JESUS SAVES

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 20.

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HOW JESUS SAVES

By J. Doan

J. DOAN
An intelligent person will not undertake an intricate piece of work without a well-defined plan, and he will work to his plan so far as he can, changing it only as its defects become apparent. The Scriptures declare that Jesus possesses all power in heaven and earth. It is plain therefore that no power or circumstance not included in the “all power” granted to Jesus can hinder or obstruct the application of His power to save a sinner. The only conceivable power in the universe that could prevent a sinner’s salvation is his own unwillingness to be saved according to the divine plan. The sinner naturally desires some part in his own salvation, and when the Holy Spirit has wrought in his heart a keen sense of sin, the question, What must I do to be saved? is intuitively asked.
This question at once suggests an unwillingness to be saved without his own efforts being credited with a portion, at least, of the merits of his salvation, when in reality the only thing an unsaved sinner can possibly do to aid in his salvation is to obey the divine commands of his Saviour. It is just as impossible for Jesus to save a sinner that persists in suggesting some alternation or deviation from the divine plan, however slight, as it is to prevent his salvation when willingly submitting to be saved in God’s own appointed way. No person understands a piece of machinery better than the maker or inventor. No person is better qualified to give commands concerning its construction or operation. No person knows the perils and dangers of a road better than he who has traveled it. Nor can there be any one better qualified to give instruction pertaining to the salvation of a soul than the Author of salvation. No person needing salvation is qualified to criticise or improve the instruction given by the Saviour.
Suppose, for an illustration, a vessel is driven upon the rocks by the raging storm, and is in danger of becoming a wreck. No person on that vessel is better qualified to give orders than the captain. And while the helpless vessel is rocked to and fro by the winds and waves, the captain of a life-saving crew observes the danger, and hastens to the rescue. No person in the vicinity of the doomed vessel is better qualified to give commands concerning the salvation of the passengers of the helpless vessel than the captain of the life-saving crew. This temporal deliverer sees at once that all on board must go down unless speedily rescued. He therefore orders the passengers to leave the wreck, and commit themselves to his care for deliverance. What person in such peril, with all avenues of escape cut off except the one offered by the life-saving crew, would argue or attempt to dictate any change in the plans of his deliverer? Who that would not obey the orders of their temporal savior in that perilous condition, could hope for salvation from a watery grave?
What sinner, much less a professed Christian, that would not submit in detail to the plans of his Saviour, could consistently expect salvation from the power of the enemy? Yet I often hear persons who openly profess to follow the commands of their Saviour, say to Him, This way is just as good. When He says, Believe, and be baptized, they say, It is just as well to be baptized first and believe afterward. When He says that to be baptized is to be buried, they say a few drops of water taken from a cup or basin and sprinkled on their heads is just as good. When He says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” they say, Another day is just as good, or, It makes no difference in the day so long as we observe one day in every seven.
When the Christian throws himself upon the mercy of God, and expects salvation only through Christ’s merits, he enjoys that peace which flows like a river. There are heights and depths in the Christian life never experienced except by a complete surrender to the will of God, as expressed in His word.
In the illustration given, what father would leap from the sinking wreck, and leave behind a helpless child, without first exhausting every means in his power to save his child, even at the peril of losing his own life? Yet many parents, instead of doing all they can to guide their children into the ways of salvation, actually obstruct the highway of the Lord, and turn them aside into bypaths of their own construction, by suggesting an improvement in the strait and narrow way as surveyed by the Creator of the universe. They see in the divine highway an obstacle, a test of faith, and immediately set to work to construct a path around it, thereby creating doubt in the minds of their children concerning the wisdom of the all-wise God, and thus, instead of helping them on in the way of righteousness and truth, lead them into the bypaths of doubt and infidelity.
I have heard parents, not in full accord with the divine plan, say to their children, who had become impressed with the plain teaching of God’s word, and were anxious to follow their Lord in the ordinance of baptism, “You are too young yet to understand the nature of this ordinance. Wait a little while, and perhaps you will change your mind as to the mode of baptism. Perhaps you will think a little water sprinkled on your head, administered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will answer the divine command just as well as to be plunged into a river in His name; and it will be much more convenient, and less distasteful to the world. Baptism is only the answering of a good conscience toward God, and God does not care how you answer. Learned men differ as to what day is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, although you now think that the Bible teaches that the seventh day is the Sabbath. You may, when you have had more experience, see that God is not particular as to what day you keep, but how you keep it. I do not believe it makes any difference what day we keep holy, so long as we keep one day in every seven.”
In view of such teaching from parents, I do not wonder at the infidelity of children. The mere suggestion of doubt by the parent is the devil’s seed sown in the rich, productive soil of God’s garden. And it is one of the immutable laws of God that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” O parents, awake, awake, and before making or suggesting any alteration in the divine plan of salvation, ask God to choke out the evil seed already sown in the minds of your children, by a flood of divine grace overwhelming not only your children but yourself also.