Saved by Hope
“We are saved by hope.” Romans 8:24, KJV. The fallen must be led to feel that it is not too late for them to repent. Christ honored sinners with His confidence and thus placed them on their honor. Even those who had fallen the lowest He treated with respect. It was a continual pain to Christ to be brought into contact with enmity, depravity, and impurity, but never did He utter one word to show that His sensibilities were shocked or His refined tastes offended. Whatever the evil habits, the strong prejudices, or the overbearing passions of human beings, He met them all with pitying tenderness.MHH 86.3
As we partake of His Spirit, we shall regard every person as a brother or sister, with similar temptations and trials, often falling and struggling to rise again, battling with discouragements and difficulties, craving sympathy and help. Then we shall meet them in such a way as not to discourage or repel them, but to awaken hope in their hearts. As they are thus encouraged, they can say with confidence, “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.” He “pleads my case, and executes justice for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I will see His righteousness.” Micah 7:8, 9.MHH 86.4
God “looks on all the inhabitants of the earth;
He fashions their hearts individually.”
Psalm 33:14, 15.MHH 86.5
He counsels us, in dealing with the tempted and erring, consider “yourself lest you also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1. With a sense of our own infirmities, we shall have compassion for the infirmities of others.MHH 86.6
“Who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?” “‘One is your Teacher, ... and you are all brethren.’” “Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?” “Therefore let us not judge one another, ... but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.” 1 Corinthians 4:7; Matthew 23:8; Romans 14:10, 13.MHH 87.1
It is always humiliating to have one’s errors pointed out. None should make the experience more bitter by needless censure. No one was ever reclaimed by reproach, but many have thus been repelled and have been led to steel their hearts against conviction. A tender spirit, a gentle, winning deportment may save the erring and hide a multitude of sins.MHH 87.2
The apostle Paul found it necessary to reprove wrong, but how carefully he tried to show that he was a friend to the erring! How tenderly he explained to them the reason for his action! He made them understand that it cost him pain to give them pain. He showed his confidence and sympathy toward the ones who were struggling to overcome.MHH 87.3
“Out of much affliction and anguish of heart,” he said, “I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.” 2 Corinthians 2:4. “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. ... Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. ... For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. ... Therefore we have been comforted.” 2 Corinthians 7:8-13.MHH 87.4
“I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.” Verse 16. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart.” “Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” Philippians 1:3-7; 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:8.MHH 87.5
Paul wrote to these believers as “saints in Christ Jesus,” but he was not writing to those who were perfect in character. He wrote to them as men and women who were striving against temptation and who were in danger of falling. He pointed them to “the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep.” He assured them that “through the blood of the everlasting covenant” He will “make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 13:20, 21.MHH 87.6