Signs of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 37. (9/21/1915)

Signs of the Times

Sep 21, 1915

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 21, 1915

THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS

By George B. Starr

Christ the Source of All Life—The Power of His Personality Given to the Believer—How This Power of the Divine Life Is Obtained

By GEORGE B. STARR

Sermon preached in Mountain View, California, May 15, 1915

MEN may hold the theory of the truth, outside of its proper relationship to Jesus Christ, the Author of truth; and so I want to talk about the truth in its right relation,—the truth as it is in Jesus. You will find the text in Eph. 4:21.

THE DESIGN OF TRUTH

Jesus Christ is Himself the truth; and all truth, when properly understood, leads to its Author. When He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He said that which was true. A truth, then—any truth, every truth—should lead the mind of the receiver back to its Author. That is the design of all truth—to lead to Christ, its Author, and finally lead the receiver to all the blessings, all the life, that there is in that truth for any one.

I wish to spend a few moments first in the study of truth in the abstract—truth separated from Christ—and then the truth in its right relation to Christ, so that you can see how different truth is when held aside from Him, or out of its proper setting. Take the truth of creation that we are all so familiar with. Every one believes there has been a creation;

THEY WOULD DEGRADE GOD

All these views that have originated with man in his effort to explain creation, degrade God—dethrone Him, almost, from His place of Creator; and they degrade man, by robbing him of his birthright as the offspring of God, and make him a creature of development from the lowest forms of life.

Now take the truth of creation in its relation to Christ, and see how different it sounds. What is its relation to Jesus? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1-3.

Instantly, with that view, we see Christ on every side. We see on every face of man the image of Jesus. We see in the animal kingdom His thoughts about these creatures. We see in the flowers about us the mind of Jesus. We love Him for what we see was in His mind before He made them, for everything existed in the mind of the Creator before it was formed.

THE GREAT TEACHER IMPARTING HIS TRUTH-LADEN MESSAGE

CREATED TO PRODUCE THOSE TONES

I was speaking on this topic one day in our chapel in Chicago, and I wanted to emphasize this point—that every song of every bird was heard by the Creator in His own mind, and He loved that song, before there was a bird to sing it. We had a canary that we thought a good deal of—a beautiful singer. He was hanging in the library room adjoining the chapel. Well, he seemed to think it was about time for him to speak, and so he trilled out his very best. The whole room was filled with the music. All sat and listened.

The throat of that little bird was made by Jesus Christ, to produce those tones; and He created everything else in the universe to express His mind on that subject. Do you know it takes all the roses of every variety on all the earth to express the mind of Jesus on the subject of roses? It takes every lily in the world to express His mind on lilies; and He says that one lily that He made was decorated more beautifully than Solomon in all his glory. You know, too, that it takes divine power to bring to perfection just one lily. He did not say, “Consider the lilies, how they grow,” and that God made a great field of them; but He said that “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”—just one.

I read in the Bible, “Who maketh thee to differ?” Who made you to differ?—Why, the One that made you. Who made us?—Jesus Christ; for “without Him was not anything made that was made.” Why did He make you to differ from everybody else?—Because He did not want two alike.

NO TWO ALIKE

I used to stand in the city of Chicago, when I was connected with the training school there, and watch people go past by the tens of thousands; and I said to myself, “If I were going to make ten thousand people, and make them all different one from another, I would want a bigger space to work on than the human face.” Just a little change—the eyes a little farther apart, the mouth a little different, and you have another man and another woman.

When I was a little boy in Iowa City, I would sit up with mother, as I was the oldest child living, waiting for father; and we would listen to the heel taps on the sidewalk. We would hear somebody coming, and I would say, “There is somebody coming,” “Yes, but it is not father.” How did she know?—There was not another man on the face of this earth who could set his heels down as did Calvin Starr. After a while, we would hear him coming, and she would say, “That is father.” Who made the feet to differ? Jesus Christ created me, and made me to differ from everybody else, because He wanted me different. And He loves each of us differently from everybody else. Nobody else can take my place in His heart.

HE DESIRES YOUR INDIVIDUALITY

People often say they would speak in meeting if they could speak as somebody else does; but the Lord does not want you to speak as anybody else does. He wants your testimony with your individuality marked in it. I like to think that that is the truth on the subject of my creation as it is in Jesus. Let us love Him with just our own love that He awakens in us.

I believe we make a great mistake in our lives, and lose much sweetness out of them, by not telling Jesus that we love Him, and talking to Him as we would to our dearest friend. Do you not know that God is love, and that nothing can satisfy His heart of love but the expression of love from His children?

Boston Photo News Company
SCENE IN THE AUSTRIAN ALPS WHERE THE ITALIAN AND AUSTRIAN ARMIES ARE FIGHTING — Boston Photo News Company SCENE IN THE AUSTRIAN ALPS WHERE THE ITALIAN AND AUSTRIAN ARMIES ARE FIGHTING

IF I COULD HEAR HER SAY “MAMMA”

As I walked down the streets of a city in New South Wales, Australia, one day, I saw a woman with a child about twelve or thirteen years of age, in a little carriage. I knew at once there was something wrong, and I wanted to sympathize with the mother. I stepped up to her, and spoke as kindly as I could. I said, “I suppose it is a lifelong affliction that the little one has.” “Yes,” the mother said. “Is she paralyzed?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied; and then the tears began to come. I thought I was getting into trouble. I was anxious about what to say next. Then she said, “That isn’t the worst of it.” I said: “I am sorry. I ought not to have spoken to you perhaps.” She replied: “It is all right. You have not said anything but what was right, and that was not what made me weep.” Then she told me, “The child is deaf and dumb.” And she said, “I would give all the world if I could hear this little girl say ‘Mamma’ just once.”

Do you know what I thought? I thought, God has many deaf and dumb children around, and He would give much if He could hear some of them say, “Father, I love you,” and, “Jesus, I love you.” I think that we ought in the morning, when we first get up, to say: “Jesus, I thank You for keeping me through the night. I do not love You as I ought, but I do love You some. I love You because You loved me in spite of all my sins and my wickedness.”

Do you know “a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother”? A teacher asked a little boy in school what a friend is. The boy replied, “A friend is one that knows all about you and loves you just the same.” Now, that is Jesus Christ. He knew that Peter would deny Him. He knew all about those sons of thunder, James and John. But He loved them just the same, didn’t He? That love broke their hearts. How tender He has been with you and me in our sins, in our long delay to respond to His efforts to save us!

THE SABBATH AS IT IS IN JESUS

Take the Sabbath as it is in Jesus. What has the Sabbath to do with Jesus Christ?—Why, it has everything to do with Him, if “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made,” then He made the Sabbath; for He said, “The Sabbath was made for man.”

But there is more to it than that. If you take the Sabbath outside of Jesus Christ, what can you make of people that keep the seventh-day Sabbath?—You can make Pharisees; and if you turn it over to Sunday, you make counterfeit Puritans, and that is all you can make.

But take the Sabbath in Jesus Christ, and you will find that no man living can keep the Sabbath, and rest on that day, unless he has first found rest in Jesus Christ; for there is no rest to the wicked, is there? Have you ever heard of a wicked man really resting? He must find rest from his sins first, and he can only find that in Christ.

A SNARE IF OUTSIDE OF CHRIST

The world, you know, is looking forward to a time when there will be peace everywhere; and God has said in His word, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” People catch that up, and they hope that peace is near.

Now there is a truth; but outside of Christ, all sorts of plans are introduced to bring peace about. Some of the rulers in Europe are sure that if they could rule the world, there would be rest and peace; but if they ruled the world, the only peace some of us would find doubtless would be in the grave. We think that if we could only have the chance, we would do differently; but I wonder how much differently we would do. I read in the Bible this question: “Are we better than they?”

When I read that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, I believe it, I believe He is King of kings and Lord of lords now, to-day. And I want to ask you if all thrones and principalities and powers in heaven and earth were not made for Him and by Him. Does not Colossians say so? There never has been a king that swayed a scepter who did not sway that scepter by the permission of Jesus Christ; and all the power he exercised was delegated from Jesus Christ, who possesses all power.

The study of these subjects in that particular way has led me to be a little careful about what I say concerning kings on the thrones to-day. When God permits a man to reign and Jesus Christ, who is my King, permits him to reign, I think he better reign until Jesus changes the word, and I think He wants him there, else He would get him away from there, and put on somebody else. Nebuchadnezzar learned that God set up kings and put down kings. “The Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men,” was his decision.

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The Truth as It Is in Jesus

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WHEN THERE WILL BE ONE KING

I like to think of the truth as it is in Jesus about the King of this world, when there shall be “one King.” Nearly every king that has reigned, has thought that if he could be that King, everything in the world would go right. But who alone can reign and everything be right? Not a man—oh, no!—but Jesus Christ. When He reigns as Lord of lords and King of kings, everything will be right, and it will be right forever. That is the truth on universal dominion as it is in Jesus Christ.

What is the truth outside of Jesus with reference to the human family? Are they in a very good condition, or are they in a very bad condition? Does not the world know that it is in a dreadful state morally, physically, mentally? Jesus Christ says, “Without Me ye can do nothing”—nothing toward reforming and uplifting mankind. Societies are organized for the uplift of humanity. But how far do they succeed?

NOTHING OUTSIDE OF HIM

The truth as it is out of Jesus is, “Without Me ye can do nothing;” but the truth in Jesus is, Through Christ I can do all things. Christ, who took humanity upon Him, and conquered humanity, with all its heredity, and lived a perfect life in humanity, can repeat that thing over ten thousand times. He can repeat it in you and me. He possesses all power in heaven and earth—all power to save. In one of our meetings in Massachusetts, a man said, “I am determined to live the life of Jesus Christ.” I replied: “You may as well find out to-night as later, that you cannot live the life of Jesus Christ. You might as well try to make a world. The only person in all the universe who can live the life of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ Himself.”

But He wants to live His life over again in you and me; and it is just as easy for Jesus Christ to live His own life as it is for Him to breathe. Let Jesus Christ into the life and into the heart, and let Him live His own life there. Let Him have His own way. Paul said: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

If you turn over a few of those giants to Him that you have been tussling with, and just see Him throw them down and let you put your feet on their necks, you will learn that Jesus Christ can do things, and the truth as it is in Jesus is that we have no other name among men by which to be saved. We have no other power than His own life.

SAVED BY HIS LIFE

Did you ever read in Rom. 5:10 that text which says we are saved by His life? Now do you know what the matter is with much of the present-day religion?—Why, men preach a dead Christ, and as a result, they have dead people in the church. There are many people who believe all their past sins have been forgiven, and that is good. But we must begin to live right; and the only way we can live right, is for Christ to live in the heart and in the life, and we be “saved by His life.” How is it brought about? How do we receive the life of Christ?

Jesus answers in the sixth of John: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” In the sixty-third verse He says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

PARTAKE OF HIS FLESH AND BLOOD

“The reception of the word of God, the bread from heaven, is declared to be the reception of Christ Himself. As the word of God is received into the soul, we partake of the flesh and blood of the Son of God. Man is called upon to eat and masticate the Word. As the blood is formed in the body by the food we eat, so Christ is formed within by eating of the word of God. He who feeds upon that Word has Christ formed within, the hope of glory.”

HOW SHE CONQUERED

A lady said to me, “For years, I have been trying to resist a certain temptation; but of late, I have put a promise of the word of God right in the face of that temptation, and I have conquered ever since.”

What does the Bible say about these “exceeding great and precious promises”?—It says, “That by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4.

THE LIFE IN THE BLOOD

“As the life of the body is found in the blood, so spiritual life is maintained through faith in the blood of Christ. He is our life, just as in the body the life is in the blood.” Is not that easy to understand? Here the blood is my life. So Jesus Christ, through the word of God, is the life of the Christian. Another has stated it thus:

“Just as the bone, sinew, and muscle are nourished and the whole man built up by the circulation of the blood through the system, in vital connection with Christ, in personal contact with Him, is found health for the soul. It is the efficiency of the blood of Christ that supplies its every need and keeps it in a healthy condition. By reason of the waste and loss, the body must be renewed with blood, by being supplied with daily food.”

We eat the grain, the nuts, the fruits, etc., and we are kept alive and in good health; and so each morning, if we open that Book, and read it, and take time enough to pray to Him who loves us, the spiritual life is kept alive and kept well and healthy.

“So there is need of constantly feeding upon the Word, the knowledge of which is eternal life. When a soul receives Christ, he receives His righteousness.” When the soul receives Christ through the Word, he receives the very Christ that was here on earth. He receives the very same Jesus, the very same righteousness, the very righteousness of Christ. He becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and he is victorious through that nature.

ALL POWER IS HIS

How much power has Jesus Christ?—“All power . . . in heaven and in earth.” Letting the Saviour come in makes His power our property. When people ask me about healing the sick, I like to put it this way: “Do you belong to the family of God?”—“Yes.” “Are you a brother or a sister of Jesus Christ?”—“Yes.” “Well, then you are heir to His life, His health. It is a part of your family inheritance.”

I think we can more easily get hold of the truth that way. We feel unworthy of these things; but when we are introduced into the royal family by adoption, we become heirs of all that belongs to that family—heirs of His life, heirs of His power, heirs of His righteousness, heirs of His love, heirs to a part of His work of saving others. Let us rejoice in our goodly inheritance, and appropriate it, by faith, as our own.

Vigorous Character of a Christian

By Ellen G. White

The Gentler Virtues Must Be Blended with Courage, Force, and Perseverance — Shunning the Easy Tasks — Enjoying Toil and Sacrifice

By the late MRS. E. G. WHITE

CHRISTIAN life is more than many take it to be. It does not consist wholly in gentleness, patience, meekness, and kindliness. These graces are essential; but there is need also of courage, force, energy, and perseverance. The path that Christ marks out is a narrow, self-denying path. To enter that path, and press on through difficulties and discouragements, requires men who are more than weaklings.

THE FORCE OF POSITIVE POWER

Men of stamina are wanted, men who will not wait to have their way smoothed and every obstacle removed, men who will inspire with fresh zeal the flagging efforts of dispirited workers, men whose hearts are warm with Christian love, and whose hands are strong to do their Master's work.

Some who engage in missionary service are weak, nerveless, spiritless, easily discouraged. They lack push. They have not those positive traits of character that give power to do something,—the spirit and energy that kindle enthusiasm. Those who would win success must be courageous and hopeful. They should cultivate not only the passive but the active virtues. While they are to give the soft answer that turns away wrath, they must possess the courage of a hero to resist evil. With the charity that endures all things, they need the force of character that will make their influence a positive power.

God desires us to make use of every opportunity for securing a preparation for His work. He expects us to put all our energies into its performance, and to keep our hearts alive in its sacredness and its fearful responsibilities.

Many who are qualified to do excellent work, accomplish little, because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they had no great object for which to live, no high standard to reach. One reason of this is the low estimate which they place upon themselves. Christ paid an infinite price for us, and according to the price paid He desires us to value ourselves.

Be not satisfied with reaching a low standard. We are not what we might be, or what it is God's will that we should be. God has given us reasoning powers, not to remain inactive, or to be perverted to earthly and sordid pursuits, but that they may be developed to the utmost, refined, sanctified, ennobled, and used in advancing the interests of His kingdom.

SHUN THE EASY TASKS

Remember that in whatever position you may serve, you are revealing motive, developing character. Whatever your work, do it with exactness, with diligence; overcome the inclination to seek an easy task.

The same spirit and principles that one brings into the daily labor will be brought into the whole life. Those who desire a fixed amount to do and a fixed salary, and who wish to prove their fitness without the trouble of adaptation or training, are not the ones whom God calls to work in His cause. Those who study how to give as little as possible of their physical, mental, and moral power are not the workers upon whom He can pour out abundant blessings.

Their example is contagious. Self-interest is the ruling motive. Those who need to be watched, and who work only as every duty is specified to them, are not the ones who will be pronounced good and faithful. Workers are needed who manifest energy, integrity, diligence, those who are willing to do anything that needs to be done.

HOW TO BECOME INEFFICIENT

Many become inefficient by evading responsibilities for fear of failure. Thus they fail of gaining that education which results from experience, and which reading, and study, and all the advantages otherwise gained, cannot give them.

Man can shape circumstances, but circumstances should not be allowed to shape the man. We should seize upon circumstances as instruments by which to work. We are to master them, but should not permit them to master us.

Men of power are those who have been opposed, baffled, and thwarted. By calling their energies into action, the obstacles they meet prove to them positive blessings. They gain self-reliance. Conflict and perplexity call for the exercise of trust in God, and for that firmness which develops power.

HIS HEART IN HIS SERVICE

Christ gave no stinted service. He did not measure His work by hours. His time, His heart, His soul and strength, were given to labor for the benefit of humanity. Through weary days He toiled, and through long nights He bent in prayer for grace and endurance that He might do a larger work. With strong crying and tears He sent His petitions to heaven, that His human nature might be strengthened, that He might be braced to meet the wily foe in all his deceptive workings, and fortified to fulfill His mission of uplifting humanity. To His workers He says, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.” John 13: 15.

“The love of Christ,” said Paul, “constraineth us.” 2 Cor. 5: 14. This was the actuating principle of his conduct; it was his motive power. If ever his ardor in the path of duty flagged for a moment, one glance at the cross caused him to gird up anew the loins of his mind, and press forward in the way of self-denial. In his labors for his brethren, he relied much upon the manifestation of infinite love in the sacrifice of Christ, with its subduing, constraining power.

HIS LOVE LED HIM TO DO IT

How earnest, how touching his appeal: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8: 9. You know the height from which He stooped, the depth of humiliation to which He descended. His feet entered upon the path of sacrifice, and turned not aside until He had given His life. There was no rest for Him between the throne in heaven and the cross. His

love for man led Him to welcome every indignity, and suffer every abuse.

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Paul admonishes us to “look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Phil. 2: 4. He bids us possess the mind “which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Verses 5-8.

Paul was deeply anxious that the humiliation of Christ should be seen and realized. He was convinced that if men could be led to consider the amazing sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, selfishness would be banished from their hearts. The apostle lingers over point after point, that we may in some measure comprehend the wonderful condescension of the Saviour in behalf of sinners. He directs the mind first to the position which Christ occupied in heaven, in the bosom of His Father; He reveals Him afterward as laying aside His glory, voluntarily subjecting Himself to the humbling conditions of man's life, assuming the responsibilities of a servant, and becoming obedient unto death, and that the most ignominious and revolting, the most agonizing,—the death of the cross. Can we contemplate this wonderful manifestation of the love of God without gratitude and love, and a deep sense of the fact that we are not our own? Such a Master should not be served from grudging, selfish motives.

GOLD COULD NOT DELIVER

“Ye know,” says Peter, “that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold.” Oh, had these been sufficient to purchase the salvation of man, how easily it might have been accomplished by Him who says, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine”! Haggai 2: 8. But the sinner could be redeemed only by the precious blood of the Son of God. Those who, failing to appreciate this wonderful sacrifice, withhold themselves from Christ's service, will perish in their selfishness.

ENJOYS TOIL, HARDSHIP, AND SACRIFICE

In the life of Christ, everything was made subordinate to His work, the great work of redemption which He came to accomplish. And the same devotion, the same self-denial and sacrifice, the same subjection to the claims of the word of God, is to be manifest in His disciples.

Every one who accepts Christ as his personal Saviour will long for the privilege of serving God. Contemplating what heaven has done for him, his heart is moved with boundless love and adoring gratitude. He is eager to signalize his gratitude by devoting his abilities to God's service. He longs to show his love for Christ and for His purchased possession. He covets toil, hardship, sacrifice.

The true worker for God will do his best, because in so doing he can glorify his Master. He will do right in order to regard the requirements of God. He will endeavor to improve all his faculties. He will perform every duty as unto God. His one desire will be that Christ may receive homage and perfect service.

There is a picture representing a bullock standing between a plow and an altar, with the inscription, “Ready for either,” ready to toil in the furrow or to be offered on the altar of sacrifice. This is the position of the true child of God,—willing to go where duty calls, to deny self, to sacrifice for the Redeemer's cause.

At Harvest Time

By E. J. Urquhart

By E. J. URQUHART

“The fields are white to harvest,” I hear the Master say. “Why stand ye all day idle? Go forth and work to-day.”

“Go forth unto the harvest. The eleventh hour has come; And soon, with sheaves all gathered, The harvest will be home.”

“Go forth unto the harvest Before the shadows fall, Before the storm’s wild fury Casts darkness over all.”

“O, see! The storm is breaking! Perceive the setting sun, While in the world’s broad acres The harvest waits—undone!”

“Go forth, then, to the harvest, Where sin its captives claims. Tell them of Christ, the Saviour. His liberty proclaim.”

All tender and entreating, I hear the Master say: “Why stand ye all day idle? Go forth and work to-day.”

Continue reading: The Great Prince Stands Up