I am am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” [John 15:1, 2.]
When the purging comes, we frequently feel that the Lord is against us. Instead of this, we should look to ourselves, and see if there is not something we have left undone, or something we need to take away from our lives, before we can stand in right relation to God. We should let nothing interpose between us and the beams of light that will come to every one of us if we will comply with the conditions specified. We do not want to be the branch that shall be taken away, but the branch that shall produce fruit.
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” [Verses 3, 4.] It is for our present and eternal interest that we understand these words. Do we let our petitions come up before God daily? Do we realize that we must have an abiding Christ if we would represent Christ to the world in our speech, in our characters, and in all our dealings with our fellow men? When this is our experience, we shall not be found fruitless.
“I am the vine,” the Saviour continues, “ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” [Verses 5, 6.]
How important it is that we so relate ourselves to our Creator and to our Redeemer that the influence we exert shall represent Christ and represent the Father. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that those who abide in Christ might become the sons of God. Everything is at stake here. What will you do about it, my brethren and sisters? Are you going to let worldly ideas, worldly customs and practises [sic], come into your lives and characters? Are you going to study what this one or that one will say? Or are you looking to the One who so loved the world that he did not withhold from us his only begotten Son? God gave Christ to the world to reveal to men that humanity united with divinity could overcome the temptations that are in the world through lust. This union we must experience. We must be living branches of the True Vine, daily laying hold of our Redeemer, that we may bear the fruits of a Christian character. Christ is our only hope. “I am the vine,” he declares, “ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
“I in him.” It is of the greatest importance that you abide in Christ, and that in your humanity you lay hold upon divinity. Unless you take hold by living faith of his divine power, you will miss that life that measures with the life of God. We can not afford to miss that life. We can not afford to live careless, indifferent, selfish lives; for such God can not accept.
God has given Christ as a pattern of what our lives should be. Do you see him walking in the streets, and looking upon and pitying the sick? His heart is drawn out in compassion for them. He weeps for the afflicted and the suffering. He draws them close to his heart of love, and heals them. . . .
What we need . . . is a faith that abides in Christ, that lays hold upon his power, that is obedient to him, and that leads us to take up the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice. This unites the soul to Christ, and makes us one with him.
To every one of us the Lord holds out this privilege if we will cut away our own wrong habits and practises [sic]. There are many who think that they can retain their wrong habits, their perverted appetites and passions, and at the last get into a condition of self-denial. But the longer selfishness is practised [sic], the harder it is to break away from it. What the Lord wants now is men and women who have the missionary spirit, who understand why Christ gave his life, why he laid off his royal robe and kingly crown, and came to the world as a little child, to be brought up in poverty.
The Lord has the power to forgive the sins of every soul, . . . if you will repent of your backslidings, if you will turn to the Lord, and will cut away from your lives wrong habits and dispositions and your hardness of heart. What you need is the humanity that was in Christ Jesus, that laid hold upon divinity. Take hold upon that divinity, and bring it into your life, and you will be a savor of life unto life. Every one of us should stand in that position where we can receive a commission from God. Will you not come into that place? Will you not humble your souls before God, that you may comprehend and respond to the immense sacrifice that has been made in your behalf?
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,” the Saviour said, “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.” [Verses 7, 8.] There is peace to be found in continuing in Christ’s love, and in daily carrying out the conditions upon which our salvation depends.
What can you do in the work of saving the lost unless Christ imbues you with his divine power? A little is being done in our world; but O, that the good work might spread abroad and reach every needy soul! O that the present truth might be proclaimed in every city! This great need is kept before me night and day. Some nights I can not sleep. I seem to be proclaiming to companies as large as this the great salvation, the great power of God, the great glory to be obtained by the exercise of a living faith. We need to lay hold of Jesus Christ, that we may have the power to become the sons and daughters of God.
There is something for each one of us to do. It is no use to talk of being Christians if we leave unhelped those who are perishing all around us. . . .
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples.” It is fruit that Christ wants. When we are willing to practise [sic] self-denial and self-sacrifice, as Christ practised [sic] it in his life, we shall bear fruit to God’s glory. Often after a day of toil, although tired and worn with labor, while his disciples were sleeping, his voice could be heard all through the night pleading with the Father that he would clear the highway, that the words of the living God might reach the multitudes, and that they might lay hold of the truth. Such labor as this costs something. It does not mean the making of a little sacrifice. It costs much to be men and women of God. . . .
The General Conference Bulletin, May 17, 1909.
To be continued . . .
Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world’s attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ’s second advent.