The Way of Salvation

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 11, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 31.

The Way of Salvation.

There is only one way of salvation, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." God's name is his character. See Ex. 34:6, 7. Jesus, the Son of God, is the revealer of that character to the world. Matt. 11:27; 2 Cor. 5:19; John 14:9, 10.

His Name His Character.

In his name we receive; by his name are we saved. His name is what he is; what he is is his character. His character is righteousness and life, eternal and immutable, possessing within and of himself absolute immortality, with power to bestow it upon others. But the life and character are inseparable. God's life is God's righteousness. Righteousness is right being and right living; and right being and right living is the only true life there is. God only possesses absolute life and incorruptibility, because he only is absolute in right being and right living.

Life Is Salvation.

Man is a sinner. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory [character, life, righteousness] of God." Rom. 3:23. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:4. Death is not salvation, but destruction. It is cessation of existence, the end of life, the extinction of being. Yet it is all that man, of himself, has to which to look forward as the end of all his brief existence here. He is lost, the race is hopelessly, irremediably lost, so far as aught that man can do. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him," for the simple reason that he himself owes all he has to God, and has forfeited all birthright, by sin.

There Is Salvation.

But man's case is not hopeless. There is salvation in Christ's name. He names it upon us. He invests us with his character. He puts within us his life. He covers us with "the robe of righteousness;" he places upon us "the garments of salvation." He could not be holden of death (Acts 2:24), because he possessed the righteousness of eternal life. With his righteousness upon us, with his Spirit within us, death cannot hold us. We may be subject to the infirmities of the flesh for "a little while," even as was he, but eventual and eternal triumph is ours.

God's Pledge.

God's pledge of salvation is Christ Jesus. It is in the death of Christ, the culmination of the Sacrifice which is the evidence of God's love. Christ died for us, in our stead. He gave his life that we might have it. He redeemed us by his death, buying us back from the death to which man sold himself. He lives again, ever lives, to make intercession for us. His resurrection is a pledge of our life. And yet all these truths avail us naught as historical facts of eighteen centuries ago. They must be vital, living truths now. Christ's death must be manifest in our body in putting to death the lusts of the flesh, in the crucifying of self, in the putting away of sin. Christ's life must be manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:10, 11), in following his footsteps, in walking as he walked, in doing righteousness as he is righteous, in keeping all his commands. This will be God working in us "both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." This is the continual and ever-increasing working of his mighty power in us, which is a pledge of the glorious change to immortality at his coming. See Eph. 1:18-20; Phil. 3:20, 21.

What Shall We Do?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." That simply means receiving him, submitting to let him work in you that which he has promised. It is not believing in him as the Saviour of somebody else, or a Saviour of eighteen hundred years ago; it is taking him now, as your personal Saviour, with all that such faith or belief means. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." A belief that stops short of that will never prove salvation. He who truly believes Christ, yields to do God's will, whatever it is. He may know but one thing to do, but if he yields to do the one thing, he has connected with the life of God and the salvation which is in Christ. But, on the other hand, if he declines to do one duty, if he rejects one truth of God's word, he, in so doing, cuts himself off from the Source of life. God asks the whole heart; he demands the whole life—not alone to please him, but because his pleasure is the only thing which will insure our salvation.

Come.

Then come and find salvation in Christ. There is hope for hopeless man. There is help for the helpless, light for the blind, strength for the weak, healing for the sick, life for the dead. There is a Balm in Gilead; there is a Physician there. He knocks at your heart; he waits for your invitation bidding him to enter, with life, blessing, and healing. He will partake with you of your sorrows, burdens, cares, and trials. He asks you to sit at his table, spread with all the delectable things of Paradise. Will you not open your heart? Will you not come to him? "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. . . . And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."