The Lord of life and glory clothed His divinity with humanity
to demonstrate to man that God through the gift of Christ would
connect us with Him. Without a connection with God no one can
possibly be happy. Fallen man is to learn that our Heavenly Father
cannot be satisfied until His love embraces the repentant sinner,
transformed through the merits of the spotless Lamb of God.
The work of all the heavenly intelligences is to this end. Under
the command of their General they are to work for the reclaiming
of those who by transgression have separated themselves from their
Heavenly Father. A plan has been devised whereby the wondrous
grace and love of Christ shall stand revealed to the world. In the
infinite price paid by the Son of God to ransom man, the love of
God is revealed. This glorious plan of redemption is ample in its
provisions to save the whole world. Sinful and fallen man may
be made complete in Jesus through the forgiveness of sin and the
imputed righteousness of Christ.
Power of the Cross
Jesus Christ laid hold on humanity, that with His human arm He
might encircle the race, while with His divine arm He grasped the
throne of the Infinite. He planted His cross midway between earth
[138] and heaven, and said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto Me.” The cross was to be the center of attraction.
It was to speak to all men, and draw them across the gulf that sin
had made, to unite finite man with the infinite God. It is the power of
the cross alone that can separate man from the strong confederacy of
sin. Christ gave Himself for the saving of the sinner. Those whose
sins are forgiven, who love Jesus, will be united with Him. They
will bear the yoke of Christ. This yoke is not to hamper them, not
to make their religious life one of unsatisfying toil. No; the yoke
of Christ is to be the very means by which the Christian life is to
126
Living Experience 127
become one of pleasure and joy. The Christian is to be joyful in
contemplation of that which the Lord has done in giving His onlybegotten
Son to die for the world, “that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Loyalty to Christ
Those who stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel
should be faithful soldiers in Christ’s army. They should
never be disloyal, never be untrue. Many of the young will volunteer
to stand with Jesus, the Prince of life. But if they would
continue to stand with Him they must constantly look unto Jesus,
their Captain, for His orders. They cannot be soldiers of Christ, and
yet engage with the confederacy of Satan, and help on his side, for
then they would be enemies of Christ. They would betray sacred
trusts. They would form a link between Satan and the true soldiers,
so that through these living agencies the enemy would be constantly [139]
working to steal away the hearts of Christ’s soldiers.
I ask you, dear youth, who profess to be soldiers of Jesus Christ,
what battles have you fought? What have been your engagements?
When the word of God has plainly revealed your work, have you
refused to do it because it did not suit your inclination? Has the
attraction of the world allured you from the service of Christ? Satan
is employed in devising specious allurements; and by transgression
in what seem little matters he draws you away from Jesus. Then
larger attractions are presented to seduce you fully from God.
You may have your name upon the church books and claim to be
a child of God, yet your example, your influence, misrepresents the
character of Christ, and you lead others away from Him. There is
no happiness, no peace or joy, to a professed believer whose whole
soul is not enlisted in the work the Lord has given him to do. He
is constantly bringing the world into the church, not by repentance
and confession and surrender to God, but by surrendering more and
more to the world, and engaging on Satan’s side in the battle rather
than on Christ’s side.
128 Messages to Young People
Experimental Knowledge Needed
I would appeal to the youth to cut the finest thread which binds
you in practice and in spirit with the world. “Come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye
[140] shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
Will our youth heed this voice of invitation? How little do our
young people realize the necessity of setting before their youthful
associates a Christlike example in their life and character. Many of
our youth understand the theory of the truth, but how few understand
by experimental knowledge the practical bearing of the truth upon
their every action. Where are youthful missionaries doing any work
that presents itself to them in the great harvest field? Where are
those who are daily learners in the school of Christ? Let them never
feel that they are prepared to graduate. Let them wait in the courts of
the Lord, that they may be directed as to how to work in unison with
the heavenly intelligences. Dear youth, I wish to speak decidedly
to you because I want you to be saved. Lose no more time. You
cannot serve God and mammon. You may apparently be Christians,
but when temptations come, when sorely tried, do you not generally
yield?
Christian Fellowship
The conflict in which you have to take an active part is found in
your everyday life. Will you not in times of trial lay your desires
by the side of the written word, and in earnest prayer seek Jesus for
counsel? Many declare that it is certainly no harm to go to a concert
and neglect the prayer-meeting, or absent themselves from meetings
where God’s servants are to declare a message from heaven. It is
safe for you to be just where Christ has said He would be.
[141] Those who appreciate the words of Christ will not turn aside
from the prayer meeting, or from the meeting where the Lord’s
messenger has been sent to tell them concerning things of eternal
interest. Jesus has said, “Where two or three are gathered together in
My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Can you afford to choose
your pleasure and miss the blessing? It is indulgence in these things
Living Experience 129
that has a telling influence not only on your own life and character,
but upon the life and character of your associates.
If all who profess to be followers of Christ would be so in deed
and in truth, they would have the mind of Christ, and would work
the works of God. They would resist temptation to indulge self,
and would show that they do not enjoy the frivolous pleasure of the
world more than the privilege of meeting with Christ in the social
meeting. They would then have a decided influence upon others,
and lead them to follow their example.
Actions speak louder than words, and those who are lovers of
pleasure do not appreciate the rich blessings of being in the assembly
of the people of God. They do not appreciate the privilege of influencing
their associates to go with them, hoping that their hearts will
be touched by the Spirit of the Lord. Who goes with them into these
worldly gatherings? Jesus is not there to bless those assembled. But
Satan will bring to the mind many things to crowd out matters of
eternal interest. It is his opportunity to confuse the right by mixing
it up with the wrong.
Through attendance at worldly gatherings a taste is created for
exciting amusements, and moral power is weakened. Those who [142]
love pleasure may keep up a form of godliness, but they have no vital
connections with God. Their faith is dead, their zeal has departed.
They feel no burden to speak a word in season to souls who are
out of Christ, and to urge them to give their hearts to the Lord—
The Youths’ Instructor, April 23, 1912, par. 8, also in The Youths’
Instructor, March 30, 1893, par. 7.
