Long-Standing Adventist and His Mistress
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forbearance, meekness, and all the Christian virtues. Here the righ-
teousness of Christ is laid hold of and becomes a part of our being. All
who have this righteousness will work the works of God....
But the robes of Christ’s righteousness never cover cherished sins.
No one can enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb without the
wedding garment on, which is the righteousness of Christ. Without
holiness no man shall see God. God is waiting to give divine power
to every soul to combine with human effort. “Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Christ is the perfection of divine character. He is the model we are
to follow. Peter’s words are full of meaning: “As obedient children, not
fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance;
but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” [
1 Peter
1:14-16
]....
Names in the Book of Life—John in Revelation, in his description
of the New Jerusalem, says, “And there shall in no wise enter into it
any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or
maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life”
[
Revelation 21:27
]. Well may you ask, “Is my name written there?”
It is registered in that book of life if you have a character that is pure
and holy like the character of Christ. Faith in the truth alone will not
save us. We must be like Christ if we shall one day see Him as He is.
[135]
“Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He
is pure.” Any hope aside and separate from purity and righteousness
is a snare of Satan, sophistry, and fatal delusion. Jesus came to our
world, and graciously stands inviting us to come unto Him and learn
of Him, believe in Him; and as we come, He grafts us into His life
and into His character. Our drawing nigh to Christ is faith, and the
grafting process is adoption; and by this mutual act we become sons of
God and joint heirs with Christ, partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Grafts Into Christ—This ingrafting in Christ separates us from
the world. No longer will we love the society of the vile and con-
taminated and contaminating. We will be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then rich clusters of
fruit are borne. The graces of the Spirit are borne in love, joy, peace,