Sermons and Talks, vol. 1

Words to Students

(A Talk given by Ellen White at the opening of the Fernando School, October 1, 1902.)

I am indeed glad to see so many here this morning. Students, will you remember that the prosperity of the school depends in a large degree on your endeavors? Will you remember that you are to help to make the school a success? Your teachers will find their task difficult as they try to understand for themselves and to help you to understand what the Word of God means and what its requirements comprehend. Will you resolve not to make the work of your teachers harder by your perversity? I plead with you as Christ's purchased possession to help your teachers and your fellow-students by being so closely connected with God that into this school heavenly angels can enter and abide. Let everyone see what he can do to bring into the school sunshine and sweetness. Let everyone manifest that conformity to God's will that brings His rich blessing. 1SAT 334.1

Students, you are here to fit yourselves to enter the higher school. You are here to obtain a knowledge of God, to learn how to obey His commandments. Obedience is our life in this world, and it will be our life in the world to come. And remember that a knowledge of God and of Christ is the sum of all science. God teaches us to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. To know God and Christ—this is eternal life. Incorporated with the life, this knowledge fits us for heaven. And all other knowledge, however high or broad, unless charged with it, is valueless in God's sight. 1SAT 334.2

You have been bought with a price—and what a price! Who can measure the line let down from heaven for the saving of the subjects of sin. Who can compass a love that is as broad as eternity? Think of the sacrifice that Christ made for you. He stepped down from His high command, and came to this world with the treasures of heaven, that every human being might have power to reach the standard set before him in God's law. Clothing His divinity with humanity, He came to stand at the head of the human race, in our behalf to live a perfect life, that He might know how to help us in our conflict with sin. Through His sacrifice, human beings may reach the high ideal set before them, and hear at last the words, You are complete in Him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness that He wrought out for you, Your imperfection is no longer seen; for you are clothed with the robe of Christ's perfection. 1SAT 334.3

After His baptism, Christ knelt on the banks of Jordan and offered prayer to His Father, And as He prayed, the heavens were opened, and the glory of God, like a dove of burnished gold, rested upon Him, while from the highest heaven there came the voice, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” [Matthew 3:17]. Christ's prayer was offered for us, and it cleaves through every shadow that Satan casts between us and God. In our behalf the Saviour laid hold of the power of Omnipotence, and as we pray to God, we may know that Christ's prayer has ascended before, and that God has heard and answered it. With all our sins and weaknesses we are not cast aside as worthless. “He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells of the power of prayer—how the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find acceptance in the courts of heaven. The light that fell from the open portals upon the head of our Saviour, will fall upon us as we pray for help to resist temptation. The voice that spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, “This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” 1SAT 335.1

You remember the experience of Daniel. He received wisdom and understanding because he placed himself in right relation with God. God has intelligence for you, just as He had for Daniel. He has knowledge for you that is far above all human knowledge. If you stand where Daniel stood, you will gain a progressive education, and a progressive education means a progressive sanctification. Such an education will prepare you to inherit the kingdom that from the foundation of the world has been prepared for God's faithful ones. As you strive to obtain a knowledge of God, He will commune with you as He communed with Daniel and his companions, and will give you power that will prevail. 1SAT 336.1

Your teachers will do all that they can to help you. They will try to show you what you must do to inherit eternal life. They will try to show you how to become conversant with the living principles of truth, that you may stand before God and men on vantage ground. Will you cooperate with your teachers? Will you strive earnestly to become useful men and women? Christ is waiting to help you, and He is an all-powerful Helper. When God gave Him to our world, He gave all heaven. He placed in His hands every power, every facility of heaven, to give to those who receive Him. Christ came to our world to give us an example of what we may become, to show us that we may live a perfect life. He says to us, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” [Matthew 28:20]. 1SAT 336.2

What are you here for? Is it to obtain an education that will help you to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service? This is the highest education that you can possibly obtain. The Word of God declares, “Ye are laborers together with God.” “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” [Philippians 2:12, 13]. As you stand firm for God, filled with courage and perseverance, constantly revealing self-denial, angels from heaven will come into this school. They will keep guard over you. Your health will be precious in God's sight because you keep His commandments. 1SAT 336.3

Do not let self-assertion mingle with your work. Remember the lesson that Christ gave to His disciples when they were contending as to whom among them should be the greatest. Placing a little child in the midst of them, He said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 18:3, 4]. 1SAT 337.1

In your school work, do not spend time in learning that which will be of little use to you in your after life. Instead of trying to gain a knowledge of foreign languages, strive first to speak the English language correctly. Be sure to learn how to keep accounts. Gain a knowledge of those lines of study that will help you to be useful wherever you are. 1SAT 337.2

Remember constantly your need of a union with Christ. United with Him, you will bring into your work the fragrance of His character, and your well-ordered life will be a blessing to your teachers and your fellow-students. The sanctifying presence of God will be with you as you seek to do His will with a sincere desire to glorify Him. 1SAT 337.3

Among these students there are those who have come here to prepare themselves for missionary work. May the Lord help you, and bless your efforts. The number of our missionaries is not half large enough. The fields are white, ready to harvest, but the laborers are few. God is waiting to endow you with power from on high, that you may go forth to work for Him. 1SAT 337.4

I want to speak a few more words to you about helping one another. Not all are able to grasp ideas quickly. If you see that a fellow-student has difficulty in understanding his lessons, explain them to him. Be patient and persevering, and by-and-by his hesitancy and dullness will disappear. He will gain courage and strength to endure trial. And in the effort to help others, you, too, will be helped. God will give you power to advance your studies. He will cooperate with you in your efforts to help your fellow-students, and in heaven the words will be spoken of you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 1SAT 338.1

Let two or three students meet together, and ask God to help them to be missionaries in this school, a blessing and a help to their fellow-students. The lives of such ones will exert a powerful influence for good on those who scoff at religion. 1SAT 338.2

Let your faith be pure and strong and steadfast. Bring all the pleasantness you can into the school. Let gratitude to God fill your hearts. Remember the words, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth God.” When you rise in the morning, kneel at your bedside and ask God to give you strength to fulfill the duties of the day and to meet its temptations. Ask Him to help you to bring into your work Christ's sweetness of character. Ask Him to help you to speak words that will draw those around you nearer to Christ. 1SAT 338.3

Live in this world to some purpose. If you waste the life that God has given you, when Christ comes to gather His children home, you will have no place in the mansions that He is preparing for those that love Him. 1SAT 338.4

God wants you to receive the wisdom that He has for you. He wants you to be Bible students and Bible believers, living in obedience to the words, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself” [Luke 10:27]. Then he can bestow on you the power of His truth. Then He can mold and fashion you after the divine similitude. Living in conformity to Christ's will, you will be changed into His likeness. You will grow up into Him, and at last the pearly gates of the holy city will for you swing back on their glittering hinges, and you will enter to hear the words, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” [Revelation 22:14]. In your hands will be placed a golden harp, and touching its strings, you will join with the redeemed host in filling all heaven with songs of praise to God and His Son. 1SAT 338.5

Students, do your best. This is all that God asks of you. He who has given His life for you will aid you in your efforts to win eternal life. God wants you to have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Obey Him, and in this school His salvation will be revealed. I want to meet you all around the throne of God. Learn here the lessons God desires to teach you, and you will join in the song of triumph in the heavenly courts.—Ms 125, 1902. (“Words to Students,” a talk given at the opening of the Fernando School, Oct. 1, 1902.) (MR 900.7) 1SAT 339.1