His Grace is Sufficient
THIS DAY WITH GOD,
PAGE 167
His Grace Is
Sufficient, June 7
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12, 13.
Every one of us has a work to do in our own salvation, which is
to meet every requirement of God. God does not do anything independent of the
agency of him for whom the work is to be done. His grace is sufficient to work
in and with them that are His, in the fulfillment of every promise, while the
one for whom this grace is supplied is to obey every command.
The effect of God’s claims is to cause His people to come out
from the world and be separate, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness. Without holiness “no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
“Whosoever ...will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
While the Lord is working with us, we must be working for
ourselves. When the Lord sends His servants to us with reproof, with cautions,
with warnings, we are not to turn away and refuse to receive the message
because it does not come from learned men. We are not to say, This message is
not needed. Every message sent to you by God’s messenger is for your good, to teach
you the way of salvation more perfectly. What means has God to communicate His
will to men, unless it be through His delegated messengers? And are you not
afraid to select that portion of the message that pleases you, and reject that
which crosses your track?
You must not give expression to your doubts. They are the
suggestions of Satan. If you do not respect the ways and means God has employed
to reach you, will you consider what means He has in reserve to reach your
case? Has there not been utterly a fault among you to criticize the ministers
of God, to speak lightly of those whom the apostle has enjoined upon you to
regard highly for their work’s sake? Will men and women with very limited
experience refuse to be helped by the very means God has ordained—His
ministers? ...
What kind of respect do you think your children will have for
the messengers of God after you have taken it upon yourselves to talk
disrespectfully of these men as you have done? E. G. White—Manuscript 37, June
7, 1887, “Cooperating With God.”