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| Satan has invented many ways in which to squander the means which God has given. Card playing, betting, gambling, horse racing, and theatrical performances are all of his own inventing, and he has led men to carry forward these amusements as zealously as though they were winning for themselves the precious boon of eternal life. Men lay out immense sums in following these forbidden pleasures; and the result is, their God-given power, which has been purchased by the blood of the Son of God, is degraded and corrupted. The physical, moral, and mental powers which are given to men of God, and which belong to Christ, are zealously used in serving Satan, and in turning men from righteousness and holiness. {CS 134.2} |
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| How is our light to shine forth to the world unless it be by our consistent Christian life? How is the world to know that we belong to Christ, if we do nothing for Him? . . . There is no neutral ground between those who work to the utmost of their ability for Christ and those who work for the adversary of souls. Everyone who stands as an idler in the vineyard of the Lord is not merely doing nothing himself, but he is a hindrance to those who are trying to work. Satan finds employment for all who are not earnestly striving to secure their own salvation and the salvation of others. . . . Whenever a Christian is off his guard, this powerful adversary makes a sudden and violent attack. Unless the members of the church are active and vigilant, they will be overcome by his devices. {AG 308.2} |
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| Jesus died to rescue man from the grasp of Satan. He came to set us free by the blood of His atoning sacrifice. The man who has become the property of Jesus Christ, and whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, will not be enslaved by the pernicious habit of tobacco using. His powers belong to Christ, who has bought him with the price of blood. His property is the Lord's. How, then, can he be guiltless in expending every day the Lord's entrusted capital to gratify an appetite which has no foundation in nature? {SL 31.2} |
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| Satan uses human agents to bring the soul under the power of temptation, but the angels of God are searching for human agents through whom they may cooperate to save the tempted ones. Angels are looking for those who will work in Christ's lines, who will be moved by the realization that they belong to Christ. They are looking for those who will feel that those who fall under temptation, whether high or low, are the ones who need their special labors, and that Christ looks on those who are passed by, neglected, wounded, and bruised by the enemy, and ready to die, and is grieved at the hardness of men, who refuse to exercise the faith that works by love, which will purify the soul. {1SM 97.2} |
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| How is our light to shine forth to the world unless it be by our consistent Christian life? How is the world to know that we belong to Christ, if we do nothing for him? Said our Saviour, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." And again: "He that is not with me, is against me." There is no neutral ground between those who work to the utmost of their ability for Christ, and those who work for the adversary of souls. Every one who stands as an idler in the vineyard of the Lord is not merely doing nothing himself, but he is a hindrance to those who are trying to work. Satan finds employment for all who are not earnestly striving to secure their own salvation and the salvation of others. {RH, July 17, 1883 par. 13} |
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| It is only through earnest, persevering effort, aided by the grace of God, that we can reach this height of moral excellence. But this is the religion that is the light of the world. The church is becoming weak for the want of consecrated members, who feel that they are not their own; that their time, their talents, their energies, belong to Christ; that he has bought them with his blood, and is pleading for them in the sanctuary above. There are many who have never felt the necessity of subduing self, and overcoming wicked tempers. They cherish bitterness and wrath in their hearts, and these evil traits defile the soul. They thus deny Christ, and darken the pathway of others. None will be excused for the exhibition of uncontrollable tempers; thousands will miss of Heaven through their want of self-control. {ST, December 17, 1885 par. 10} |
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| We do not belong to Christ |
| This is the religion of Christ. Anything short of it is a deception. No mere theory of truth or profession of discipleship will save any soul. We do not belong to Christ unless we are His wholly. It is by halfheartedness in the Christian life that men become feeble in purpose and changeable in desire. The effort to serve both self and Christ makes one a stony-ground hearer, and he will not endure when the test comes upon him. {COL 50.1} {CS 197.4} |
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| Brethren and sisters, are we following in the steps of Him who sought not his own will but the will of his Father? If we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot belong to Christ and to Belial. If we are the world's in our habits and practices, we do not belong to Christ. We may be his, in the sense in which the earth and the beasts of the forest are his, but we are not his chosen ones. We shall be prepared to stand as stewards of God, only as we are in Christ. By his grace alone can our life be such as to advance the cause of truth. We must learn in the school of Christ if we would have wisdom to work the works of Christ. {RH, January 1, 1884 par. 15} |
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| We are not saved as a sect; no denominational name has any virtue to bring us into favor with God. We are saved individually as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." We may have our names recorded on the books of the most spiritual of the churches, and yet we may not belong to Christ, and our names may not be written on the Lamb's book of life. Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." If we could reach heaven through our own merits and efforts, then Christ need not have come to the world, to endure suffering, reproach, and shame, to be subjected to humiliation, mockery, insult, and death. He made an infinite sacrifice, because it was the only way whereby man could be saved. Those who believe in Christ will reveal it in their life and character. By beholding Christ they will be changed into his image, and Christ will be represented to the world by his followers. If we are branches of the True Vine, precious clusters of rich fruit will appear in the life as the natural result. Practical faith in Christ will result in the doing of his words; the believer in Jesus will work the works of God. "We are laborers together with God." "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing." In and through the grace of Christ we can do all things. {RH, February 10, 1891 par. 5} |
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