Rebellion - The Eternal Gospel Church

REBELLION
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to do. You should labor earnestly to obtain a fitness for heaven.
Live for heaven. Live by faith. Ibid., vol. 2, 430.
We must have both a title to, and a fitness for heaven:
Righteousness within is testified to by righteousness without.
He who is righteous within is not hard-hearted and unsympathetic,
but day by day he grows into the image of Christ, going on
from strength to strength. He who is being sanctified by the truth
will be self-controlled, and will follow in the footsteps of Christ until
grace is lost in glory. The righteousness by which we are justified is
imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted.
The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.
Review and Herald, June 4, 1895.
Full or true righteousness comes by faith in Christ:
The proud heart strives to earn salvation; but both our title to
heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of
Christ. The Desire of Ages, 300.
We have no justification or title to heaven when knowingly disobedient
to Christ:
The advancement of the church is retarded by the wrong
course of its members. Uniting with the church, although an important
and necessary act, does not make one a Christian nor ensure
salvation. We cannot secure a title to heaven by having our names
enrolled upon the church book while our hearts are alienated from
Christ. We should be His faithful representatives on earth, working
in unison with Him. Testimonies, vol. 4, 16.
Neither do we have any sanctification or fitness for heaven when
we are knowingly disobedient to Christ:
Those only are truly sanctified who live by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How terrible is it to be a false
light, and, while claiming salvation through the merit of the blood
of Christ, to be sowing the seed of rebellion against the law of God
in the hearts of men! The Signs of the Times, April 30, 1896.
A Most Serious Consequence
Since the 1888 message was a repeat of the first angel’s message
of 1844, then those who rejected the experience of that glorious message
in 1888 also went into darkness. And then it can be true today that
those of our pastors, leaders, and laity who will not accept the experi-