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The Youth’s Instructor

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January 11, 1900

“Tempted in All Points Like as We Are”

Part 4.

EGW

Christ bids you bring all of heaven you can into your life. Talk of the great reward that awaits the overcomer. Set your face as a flint heavenward, saying, as you advance, Hear what the Lord has wrought for me. Shall we not come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty? Shall we not work with all the power that God has given us to oppose the work of Satan? An eternal weight of glory awaits the overcomer. If we gain heaven, we gain everything. Shall we not put away sin, and let Christ abide in our hearts by faith? Not until we have the mind of Christ shall we be like him, and see him as he is. When the warfare is ended, and we have gained the crown of immortality, the harp of God, the palm branch of victory, and wear the white robe of Christ's righteousness, we shall say, Heaven is cheap enough. YI January 11, 1900, par. 1

By right of inheritance the universe belonged to Christ, but for this world he battled and fought; and by a terrible struggle he obtained the territory. When he yielded up his life on Calvary, he drew back into favor with God this world, which was lost. It is here that the saints of the Most High will reign. When the earth is cleansed by the purifying fires of God, those who have laid hold of the merits of Christ will dwell in the kingdom prepared for them. The disciple John writes: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” YI January 11, 1900, par. 2

It is impossible for us to understand the depth of the ruin from which we have been rescued, only as we realize how deep the Son of God has reached to save us. We may estimate the love of Christ by the chain of mercy let down to lift us up. The disciple John could not find words to express the measureless love of God, and he calls us to “behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” We must accept the provisions of the gospel; we must be reconciled to God through obedience to his law, and faith in Christ. Through repentance, faith, and good works, we may perfect a Christian character; and through the merits of Christ we may claim the privileges of sons and daughters of God. The principles of divine truth, received and cherished in the heart, will carry us to a height of moral excellence that we have not dreamed it possible to reach. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” YI January 11, 1900, par. 3

Mrs. E. G. White