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"Ye are Complete in
Him," Part 3
Abstract of a
sermon at Melbourne, Australia, December 19, 1891
by Mrs. E. G. White
[For Part 1, click here.]
When Moses prayed, "Lord, show me thy
glory," the Lord took this atom of humanity, and yet this mighty man of faith,
and placed him in the cleft of the Rock, and covered him with His hand, and the
Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by
no means clear the guilty." He first puts Moses in the cleft of the Rock, and
this is where each one of us must be placed before we can see the glory of the
Lord, for no man knoweth "the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal him." The glory of the Lord is His goodness and love. Then do
not teach your children that God frowns upon them, but that when they sin they
grieve the Spirit of Him who always loves them. Draw your children to Jesus.
But if you would draw your children
to Jesus, you must not enter your home with cross words, with a frown upon your
brow. If you come from your business weary and worn, just plead with God for
His grace, for His restful Spirit, that your heart may be melted into
tenderness, that your lips may be filled with words of kindness and comfort.
Bind your children to your heart. Recommend your religion to them by its
pleasantness. Your children are a part of you, and you do not want to have them
separated from you in the day of Christ's coming. Give them a representation of
the character of Christ, and let your home be as a heaven upon earth. Do not
live in such a way that your children will feel that they do not want to go to
heaven if father is to be there. Do not live in such a way that your wife will
think heaven is an undesirable place if you are to be there, and let not the
wife manifest such a spirit that husband and children will feel a relief in
being away from her presence.
The religion of Christ will take away
all the ruggedness of the character, and will melt and subdue the soul. It is
the Spirit of God that we need, and we are looking for its revelation among us,
even at this conference, and if this is to be, we must now begin the work of
reformation by turning unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. Let the work
begin, that the heart may be softened, and that Christ may mould and fashion
you after His own divine image. But many feel that they cannot go to Jesus in
confidence. They say: "It does not seem as if God heard my prayers. I have
tried and tried to rid my soul of sin, but I cannot do it." Then say, "Lord, I
am powerless, and I cast my helpless soul on Thee." That is what Jacob did. All
night long he had been wrestling with One whom he supposed was his enemy, but
it was the great I AM, the mighty God, the Prince of peace, and just as long as
he continued his wrestling, he found no comfort, no hope. It was a
life-and-death question with him, and his strength was almost exhausted. Then
the Angel touched his thigh, and he knew that he wrestled with no common
adversary. Wounded and helpless, he fell upon the One with whom he had
wrestled, just as you and I must do, just as any soul does when he falls upon
the Rock and is broken. "Let me go, for the day breaketh," pleaded the Angel,
but Jacob ceases not his intercession, and Christ has to make terms with this
helpless soul. He cannot tear Himself away from a soul wounded and helpless,
and crying unto Him for help. And Jacob pleads, with determined spirit, "I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me." Who was it that inspired his spirit of
persistence?--It was He who wrestled with him, it was He who gave him the
victory, who changed his name from Jacob to Israel, and said, "As a prince hast
thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
But many of you say, "The nearer I
seek to come to Christ, the worse I feel." Did not Jacob have this very
experience? Will you not be bruised and wounded as you see the wounds and
bruises that sin has made in you and in your divine Redeemer in your behalf?
Have you not felt distressed again and again as you have looked to yourself for
merit? I have. And now the question is, What will you do? You can say, "I
cannot wash away one stain of sin from my soul, I must come to Jesus
'Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me.'
I can only come, saying:--
'Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling.'"
You might say, "I'll give all my
goods to feed the poor; I'll give my body to be burned," but that would not
better your case. Man can do nothing to merit the favor of heaven. That which
avails for the sinner is to accept with gladness the sacrifice that Christ has
made, to appreciate His love, and to lay hold of His righteousness by faith.
You are to realize that He loves you, and that you love Him because He first
loved you. Then you will feel that every power belongs to Him. You take His
free gift to you, and then come to Him and give yourself freely to Him. Say, "I
come to present myself to God in the name of Him who has died for me. I give my
heart to Jesus, and I desire His blessing and His Spirit;" and the power of God
will come upon you.
But when you ask God for His
blessing, do not mark out a way in which you think the Lord must give you that
blessing. You will not always receive the blessing in just the way you think it
will come. Just ask the Lord to give you the very blessing you need, in the
very way in which He sees it will be for your best good. Let your prayer be,
"Give me that which my soul needs in order that I may be a faithful sentinel
for God."
"Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Can we
not believe the promise of God, and know that He will do just that for us which
He has declared? That which we need is the vital touch of faith, that we know
that the mercy of God is extended toward us. God accepts us through Christ, and
we are not to feel that we are of no value in His sight. He sent His
only-begotten Son into the world to die for us, and we are to value ourselves
in the light of the cross of Calvary. Jesus declares, "I will make a man more
precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." And we may
all be made precious in Christ, for He says, to those who feel their own
weakness, "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me;
and he shall make peace with me."
If the life of Jesus were in you, you
would be filled with vital energy. The church would not be in a cold,
backslidden state, but we should see the revival of the missionary spirit. You
would not rest in ease, taking the privileges of the gospel as if they were
meant exclusively for you, but you would seek to extend the glad tidings of
salvation to this and that relative, to this and that neighbor or friend. You
would go to them, not in a Pharisaical spirit, but in the spirit of love,
seeking to break down all opposition. You would melt your way into their hearts
by telling them of the love of Jesus. You would select those for whom you
carried a burden to present to the Lord in prayer, praying Him to give you this
or that soul as a precious sheaf for the heavenly garner, to bring to the feet
of the Master.
We are all to be missionaries, and we
are now on missionary soil, and it is essential for every one of us that we
have the righteousness of Christ to go before us, and the glory of the Lord to
be our rearward. My heart is lifted up as I think of the blessings that are in
store for those who rightly relate themselves to God, and it causes a hope to
spring up within me that we may be baptized with the Holy Ghost in this place.
Jesus is holding out His precious gift to you, and will you receive it? It is
the Comforter that He promised should come and abide with you forever. Thank
God for this precious promise.
I want to glorify Him by my words and
in my character. I want to reveal to others that do not know Him what a Savior
I have found, that they too may love Him. How important it is that we reveal
the fact that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Do any of us who
profess to know Him indulge in light, trifling conversation? Oh, do not permit
your lips to utter that which will be as a stumbling-block to those who are
looking to see what benefit you have received by your faith in Christ. Lift the
minds of those around you to dwell upon eternal realities. God will work with
the church, but not without their cooperation. "Ye are laborers together with
God." May every soul of you who has tasted of the good word of God, "let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven."
The Father knows how you represent
Him to the world. He knows just what impression you make upon those around you.
Your words and actions are all written in the books of heaven, and in order to
rightly represent Jesus to the world, the converting power of God must be felt
upon your own heart from day to day. When you go forth to the people, in the
market-place, as you walk the street, in whatever occupation you are engaged,
you are to have a living connection with God, and represent the character of
Christ to the world. Jesus said, "As the Father hath sent me, so have I sent
you." As Christ was to represent the Father, so the followers of Christ are to
represent their Lord to men. Your life is to be hid with Christ in God.
Self must be hidden in Christ. There
is to be no great I in heaven except the great I AM, and we must learn to lift
up Christ before the people, realizing and rejoicing in the fact that He must
increase and we must decrease. I would glorify His name before you, for I want
you to be like Him, to love Him. Jesus says, "Ye are the salt of the earth; but
if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot
of men." The saving salt, the savor of the Christian, is the love of Jesus in
the heart, the righteousness of Christ pervading the soul. If the professor of
religion would keep the saving efficacy of his faith, he must ever keep the
righteousness of Christ before him, and have the glory of God for his rearward.
Then the power of Christ will be revealed in life and character.
Oh, when we come to the pearly gates,
and have an entrance into the city of God, will any who enter there find room
to regret that they devoted their lives unreservedly to Jesus? Let us now love
Him with undivided affections, and co-operate with the heavenly intelligences,
that we may be laborers together with God, and, partaking of the divine nature,
be able to reveal Christ to others. Oh, for the baptism of the Holy Spirit! Oh,
that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness might shine into the chambers
of mind and heart, that every idol might be dethroned and expelled from the
soul temple!
Oh, that our tongues might be loosed
to speak of His goodness, to tell of His power! If you respond to the drawing
of Jesus, you will not fail to have an influence on somebody through the beauty
and power of the grace of Christ. Oh, let us behold Him and become changed into
the image of Him in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead, and realize
that we are accepted in the Beloved, "complete in Him which is the head of all
principality and power."
Published in Signs
of the Times, February 8, 15, 22, 1892.
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Ellen
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"Ye
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"Ye
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