In the 1960s and 1970s when I was growing up, there were many in the church who focused primarily on behavior. The implicit message that was left in my head was that if you were good enough, God would love you and save you. People who knew me back then would tell you that I was a well-behaved kid. For the most part, they were right, but I have to confess that it wasn't always for the right reasons. Often, I got my kicks vicariously from the "bad" actions of my friends. I noticed that no matter how "good" I acted, often I felt empty and fearful.

It was while I was a student missionary in Puerto Rico that I came to a new understanding of salvation. That year Morris Venden was a week of prayer speaker at my college, Andrews University, and the school sent out cassette tapes of the series to all the student missionaries. Many nights I lay in bed listening to what Morris had to say about a God who loved me only because I was His son, and He is love. Morris said also that He made complete provision through the death of His Son Jesus for the pardon of my sins. It was that series of sermons that made something click in my head.

I know now that while I had misunderstood salvation, it had been clear to many Seventh-day Adventists since our denomination was founded. Ellen White was very clear on the subject when she wrote: "Nothing but the righteousness of Christ can entitle us to one of the blessings of the covenant of grace. There are many who have long desired and tried to obtain these blessings, but have not received them, because they have cherished the idea that they could do something to make themselves worthy of them. They have not looked away from self, believing that Jesus is an all-sufficient Saviour. We must not think that our own merits will save us; Christ is our only hope of salvation. 'For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:12).

"When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can desire. Let none look to self, as though they had power to save themselves. Jesus died for us because we were helpless to do this. In Him is our hope, our justification, our righteousness. When we see our sinfulness we should not despond and fear that we have no Saviour, or that He has no thoughts of mercy toward us. At this very time He is inviting us to come to Him in our helplessness and be saved" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 431).

Feeling Saved

While I now understood the theology of salvation and accepted in my head that God loved me and had made provision for my salvation that did not depend on my merits, I often struggled with the whole idea of "feeling saved." It wasn't until my last few months as a ministerial student in the seminary that I was finally able to come to grips with this issue.

I was taking a course from Mark Finley, and we were discussing in class how to lead someone to accept Christ. The discussion led to my asking the question, "If someone doesn't feel saved, does that mean that he isn't saved?" My burdens were lifted that day as Mark took me and the rest of the class through passage after passage of Scripture that underscore that we are saved by grace. He suggested a practice that I have followed ever since—the rehearsing of those passages again and again, so that they become the audio recording that plays in my head. One of those Bible verses, Ephesians 2:8–9, has become my mantra: "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Ellen White, in the same passage of Patriarchs and Prophets quoted earlier, wrote: "When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can desire. Let none look to self, as though they had power to save themselves. Jesus died for us because we were helpless to do this. In Him is our hope, our justification, our righteousness. When we see our sinfulness we should not despond and fear that we have no Saviour, or that He has no thoughts of mercy toward us. At this very time He is inviting us to come to Him in our helplessness and be saved. While the sinner cannot save himself, he still has something to do to secure salvation. 'Him that cometh to Me,' says Christ, 'I will in no wise cast out' (John 6:37). But we must come to Him; and when we repent of our sins, we must believe that He accepts and pardons us. Faith is the gift of God, but the power to exercise it is ours."

Simple Truth

Several of us young ministerial interns were standing around talking at a pastors' retreat at Camp Au Sable many years ago. Newly graduated from the Seminary, we were sharing our deep theological knowledge with each other. After a while, we were all called back to our meeting. Jim Danforth, one of the experienced pastors had stood there listening quietly to us as we talked. He said as we were dispersing, "Guys, I never went to the Seminary, and I don't understand all the things you have been talking about. I just want to say that I stand with H.M.S. Richards Sr. who quoted these words: 'Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.'"

While the subject of our salvation through the grace of God is profound enough to spur our study throughout eternity, it is also easy enough that someone can understand it right now. When Paul and Silas were asked by the jailer, "What must I do to be saved?" they replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:30, 31). And the Bible says they believed and were immediately baptized.

Transforming Grace

In some circles today, grace has become a scary word. That is primarily because of the abuse of the word. It has come to be seen by some as an excuse for lawless living—living without boundaries. But true grace is transforming grace, it is the power to live a life of discipleship to Jesus.

Ivan Blazen's class on Romans was another place where I learned about grace. It seemed like the entire first two weeks of the class he simply took us from one passage to another that spoke of God's great gift, and he would punctuate the study by saying, "When I think what God has done for me through the gift of His Son, it takes my breath away."

I don't believe that anyone who grasps what Jesus did on the cross for him or her can help but be transformed into a follower, someone who is being transformed by that amazing grace. Conversely, I don't think that someone who is tied up in knots trying to earn their salvation through their good actions can have joy or peace. They, above all people, are miserable.

At a camp meeting not too long ago, a preacher spoke on the topic of God's free gift of grace. He explained it well. Later in the day, a church member stopped me and told me what an impact the message had on her. She told me of the nights she had lay awake worrying that there might be some unremembered and therefore unconfessed sin in her life that would cause her to lose her salvation if she died during the night. She told me that now she felt freed from an immense burden. But then, she added that she was angry that no one had explained this to her before. We need to be telling the story that, as the song says, "Burdens are lifted at Calvary."

Today, I am not perfect, but Jesus is. And as I abide in Him, He is transforming me from day to day. My job is to cooperate, and let Him finish the good work He has begun.

Kenneth Denslow is the president of the Illinois Conference.