The Review and Herald
August 27, 1901
Obedience the Fruit of Union With Christ—No. 1
Lift Him up, the Man of Calvary. Lift Him up, and cry, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Keep Christ before the people, and this will be giving to every man his portion of meat in due season. Jesus has said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.... Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day: for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.... It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” RH August 27, 1901, Art. A, par. 1
This plain, simple statement may be understood by all. We are to preach Christ to the people. We are to act as if the clouds were rolled back, and we were in full view of seraphim and cherubim. We are to realize that we are under the eye of Jehovah. We are to fight for an immortal crown. “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Every soldier engaged in the spiritual conflict must be brave in God. Those who are fighting the battles for the Prince of life, must point their weapons of warfare outward, and not form a hollow square and aim their missiles of destruction at those who are serving under the banner of Prince Immanuel. We have no time for wounding and tearing down one another. How many there are who need to heed the words that Christ spoke to Nicodemus: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.... Ye must be born again.” There are many who claim to be followers of Christ, and whose names are enrolled on the church books, who have not been a strength to the Church. They have not been sanctified through the truth. In the prayer of Christ for His disciples, He says, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” It is not simply receiving the truth, but practicing the truth, that sanctifies the soul. Let those who would be sanctified through the truth search carefully and prayerfully both the Old and the New Testament, that they may know what is truth. RH August 27, 1901, Art. A, par. 2
When the grace of Christ enters the heart, the mind at once becomes interested to know what saith the Scriptures. Those who are truly converted to Christ keep constant guard lest they shall accept error in place of truth. Those who think that it matters not what they believe in doctrine, so long as they believe in Jesus Christ, are on dangerous ground. There are some who think that they will be just as acceptable to God by obeying some other law than the law of God, by meeting some other conditions than those which He has specified in the gospel, as if they obeyed His commandments and complied with His requirements; but they are under a fatal delusion, and unless they renounce this heresy and come into harmony with His requirements, they cannot become members of the royal family. Goodness and truth alone will dwell with goodness and truth. Men may claim to be sanctified, but unless their sanctification is witnessed to by the law and the prophets, it is not according to Bible requirements. There are some who refuse to listen to the words of the Scriptures. They declare that they will have nothing to do with the Bible, for the Lord himself speaks directly to their souls. They declare that they are inspired by the Spirit of God; but when reminded that the Bible was written by men who were moved by the Holy Ghost, they reveal the fact that they are following the inspiration of another spirit. True inspiration never rejects true inspiration, but is in harmony with the Bible. Anything that leads away from the word of God is proved to be inspired from beneath. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” RH August 27, 1901, Art. A, par. 3
Those who claim to be sanctified, and who give no heed to the words of divine authority spoken from Mount Sinai, make it manifest that they will not render to God the obedience that the Lawgiver requires. The very excuse they urge for evading the requirements of God proves their sanctification spurious. They say, “I am sanctified,” and seek to prove this by setting up a standard of self-righteousness, a law of their own imagining. The law of God requires nothing short of spiritual perfection; and through the infinite sacrifice of the Son of God complete provision has been made that man may become a partaker of the divine nature, and through the merits of the blood of Christ be an overcomer. Of himself he has no perfection. “Without me,” Christ says, “ye can do nothing.” Provision for our perfection is found in union with Christ. “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” RH August 27, 1901, Art. A, par. 4
What pleasure could it possibly be to souls who would not be drawn to Jesus in this life, to study His character, and to be with Him in the life that is to come? They would prefer to be anywhere else than in the presence and companionship of Him in whom they had no delight. They did not know Him while in the world, and could not learn to know Him in heaven. But of His disciples Jesus said, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” RH August 27, 1901, Art. A, par. 5