Homeward Bound: From Victory to Victory, April 20

This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.—1 John 5:4.

Through Christ, restoration as well as reconciliation is provided for us. The gulf that was made by sin has been spanned by the cross of Calvary. A full, complete ransom has been paid by Jesus, by virtue of which the sinner is pardoned and the justice of the law is maintained. All who believe that Christ is the atoning sacrifice may come and receive pardon for their sins; for through the merit of Christ, communication has been opened between God and mankind. God can accept me as His child, and I can claim Him and rejoice in Him as my loving Father.
We must center our hopes of heaven upon Christ alone, because He is our Substitute and Surety. We have transgressed the law of God, and by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. The best efforts that we in our own strength can make are valueless to meet the holy and just law that we have transgressed; but through faith in Christ we may claim the righteousness of the Son of God as all-sufficient. Christ satisfied the demands of the law in His human nature. He bore the curse of the law for sinners, made an atonement for them, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and sinners are made overcomers with Christ; for they are made partakers of the divine nature, and thus divinity and humanity are combined.
All who are trying to reach heaven by their own works in keeping the law are attempting an impossibility. We cannot be saved without obedience, but our works should not be of ourselves; Christ should work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. If we could save ourselves by our own works, we might have something in ourselves in which to rejoice. The effort that we make in our own strength to obtain salvation is represented by the offering of Cain. All that human beings can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin; but that which is wrought through faith is acceptable to God. When we seek to gain heaven through the merits of Christ, the soul makes progress. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” we may go on from strength to strength, from victory to victory; for through Christ the grace of God has worked out our complete salvation.—Review and Herald, July 1, 1890 (Selected Messages, book 1, 363, 364)