Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

Good Works are Necessary—for All Phases of Salvation

(with fair amount of corrections made on this page to the EGW quotations; including omitting some quotations that cannot be located.)

References: "http://www.sdadefend.com/Books-new-order/M Venden 1.htm".

In the exercise of faith we must faithfully work to bring forth fruit. This is indicated in the following inspired statements:

1. "We are to do all that we can do on our part to fight the good fight of faith. We are to wrestle, to labor, to strive, to agonize to enter in at the strait gate. We are to set the Lord ever before us. With clean hands, with pure hearts, we are to seek to honor God in all our ways. Help has been provided for us in Him who is mighty to save. The spirit of truth and light will quicken and renew us by its mysterious workings; for all our spiritual improvement comes from God, not from ourselves. The true worker will have divine power to aid him, but the idler will not be sustained by the Spirit of God.
"In one way we are thrown upon our own energies; we are to strive earnestly to be zealous and to repent, to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts from every defilement; we are to reach the highest standard, believing that God will help us in our efforts. We must seek if we would find, and seek in faith; we must knock, that the door may be opened unto us. The Bible teaches that everything regarding our salvation depends upon our own course of action. If we perish, the responsibility will rest wholly upon ourselves. If provision has been made, and if we accept God's terms, we may lay hold on eternal life. We must come to Christ in faith, we must be diligent to make our calling and election sure.
"The forgiveness of sin is promised to him who repents and believes; the crown of life will be the reward of him who is faithful to the end. We may grow in grace by improving through the grace we already have. We are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world if we would be found blameless in the day of God. Faith and works go hand in hand; they act harmoniously in the work of overcoming. Works without faith are dead, and faith without works is dead." Faith and Works, p. 48.

2. "[A] dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption [sanctification and glorification.]" Steps to Christ, p. 60.

3. "He who is trying to reach heaven [glorification] by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. Man cannot be saved without obedience, but his works should not be of himself; Christ should work in him to will and to do of His good pleasure." Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 364.

4. "If you sit down with the ease-loving ones, with the words on your lips, 'I am saved,' and disregard the commandments of God, you will be eternally lost." Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 318.

5. "When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man's best service, and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit." Faith and Works, p. 50.

6. "[T]hose who are waiting to behold a magical change in their characters without determined effort on their part to overcome sin, will be disappointed." Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 336.

7. "Let no one think that men and women are going to be taken to heaven without engaging in the struggle here below. We have a battle to fight, a victory to gain. God says to us, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” How? ... Man works, and God works. Man is called upon to strain every muscle, and to exercise every faculty, in the struggle for immortality; but it is God who supplies the efficiency" The Review and Herald, April 28, 1910.

8. "He [God] does not supernaturally endow us with the qualifications we lack; but while we use that which we have, He will work with us to increase and strengthen every faculty. By every wholehearted, earnest sacrifice for the Master's service, our powers will increase.... As we cherish and obey the promptings of the Spirit, our hearts are enlarged to receive more and more of His power and to do more and better work." My Life Today, p. 119.

9. "We hear a great deal about faith, but we need to hear a great deal more about works. Many are deceiving their own souls by living an easygoing, accommodating, crossless religion. But Jesus says, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.' " Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 382.

10. "Faith works by love and purifies the soul. Through faith the Holy Spirit works in the heart to create holiness therein; but this cannot be done unless the human agent will work with Christ."  Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 374.

11. "Many have said: 'You must do good works, and you will live'; but apart from Christ no one can do good works. Many at the present day say, 'Believe, only believe, and live.' Faith and works go together, believing and doing are blended." Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 373.

12. "Although the good works of man are of no more value without faith in Jesus than was the offering of Cain, yet covered with the merit of Christ, they testify [to] the worthiness of the doer to inherit eternal life [glorification]."  Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 381.

13. "The condition of eternal life [glorification] is now just what it always has been,—just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents,—perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness." Steps to Christ, p. 62.

14. "The Lord will receive the sinner when he repents and forsakes his sins so that God can work with his efforts in seeking perfection of character [sanctification]." Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 631.

15. "Faith and works are the two oars that must be used to urge the bark against the current of worldliness, pride, and vanity; and if these are not used, the boat will drift with the current downward to perdition." That I May Know Him, p. 295.