The apostle Paul wrote that we are to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1,2. The laying aside of sins is achieved by looking unto Jesus. He is the One who accomplishes this difficult task.
So often we read the first part of this text and then stop reading; and thus we conclude that we must expel sins by ourselves. This is not what Paul wrote. We are to look unto Jesus, the One who launches our faith and inspires us, and the One who finishes our faith, as well. He enables us to lay aside sin and run the Christian race with patience.
What is the work that we do in sanctification? What are the works that are required, if any, in this thing called sanctification? The Lord is the One who is the prime mover, and the Bible says we accomplish these things by looking unto Him. He is both the author and finisher of our faith.
Paul states this somewhat differently in another text: “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3. If God is the One who by His Spirit started us down the Christian road, do you think you can finish the work yourselves?
Ellen White discusses this problem and asks some questions about it. “Many have an idea that they must do some part of the work alone. They have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, but now they seek by their own efforts to live aright. But every such effort must fail.” SC 69. So often we think that in conversion and justification, the Lord takes care of that for us; but after that, after having been launched down the Christian road, now we must grow by ourselves and be sanctified by our own efforts. Of course, this is not the way it is.
Another thought concerning this is found in this well known text: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18. Hebrews 12:2 mentions looking unto Jesus, and here Paul speaks of beholding His glory. We are changed by beholding Christ. Looking and beholding are activities. They are works. They are not just mind-processes. Each is something that we do; and something happens when we do this.
Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:4. Looking, beholding, abiding. These are the three works that we accomplish in sanctification. We look unto Jesus, we behold Him in His glory, and we abide in Him. These aspects of Christianity seem so simple, and yet we do not understand them adequately. At least it is difficult for us to practice them.
This is faith in action. Faith is far more than a mental process. There is an activity that is part of faith, which functions in looking, beholding, and abiding. Jesus talked about how faith is an action, or a work: “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. This is a work or activity—that we believe on Jesus whom God sent to this world. So believing is more than a mental assent to truth. It is more than believing in someone or something.
As we behold the marvelous love that God has for us as manifested in Jesus, the normal response is to love Him who first loves us. As you respond to His love by loving Him, you want to behold Him. The two demoniacs out of whom Jesus cast so many devils begged Jesus to stay with them. That is normal, for you like to be with those you love. Jesus told them to go back to their hometown and tell others what He had done for them. It was a hard thing to separate from Jesus when they loved Him so much, because He had done so much for them. Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven devils, always wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus. When you love someone, you want to sit and behold that person and listen to every word. It is most pleasant to do that, and it is unpleasant to be away from that person. Christ said of Mary sitting at His feet that “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42. This is a better activity, and more important than some other things we think are so necessary to do. Mary did not let her household duties crowd out her affection for Jesus. She found time to sit at His feet because she loved Him so much.
This beholding, this looking, this abiding is an activity of love. It is all based on love. It is not something I try to stir up in myself and say, “I am going to do it if it kills me.” We do not love that way, do we? Love is not something we can manufacture. But if you find a lack of this love for Christ, all you have to do is take your Bible and certain Spirit of Prophecy books and start reading about how much He loves you. Sometimes He will manifest Himself to us in nature, or by other people telling you about His marvelous love for them. That makes us realize He loves us, too. Then you will want to sit at His feet and behold Him.
I recall those days when I tried to do the works of a Christian if it killed me. I determined to read my Bible through, and by sheer grit and determination I managed to read just over half way through. But nothing was accomplished. I suddenly realized that I was no better off than when I started. It was just a difficult job to force myself to read the Bible. A year or so later, I found myself, after working long hours in the field on the farm, staying up late every night reading my Bible. I could not get enough. I was the same person, but I suddenly had a different appetite.
Since Christ is no longer here personally, how do I abide in Him and look to Him and behold Him? We think the disciples had an advantage since they could see Him physically; and Mary Magdalene enjoyed His company right there in her own home many times in Bethany. But Christ said it was expedient for us if He went away. Here is a quote we need to read over and over again, for it is a subject that we barely comprehend and are seldom able to practice: “‘I am the Vine, ye are the branches,’ Christ said to His disciples. Though He was about to be removed from them, their spiritual union with Him was to be unchanged. The connection of the branch with the vine, He said, represents the relation you are to sustain to Me. The scion is engrafted into the living vine, and fiber by fiber, vein by vein, it grows into the vine stock. The life of the vine becomes the life of the branch. The soul dead in trespasses and sins receives life through connection with Christ. By faith in Him as a personal Saviour the union is formed. The sinner unites his weakness to Christ’s strength, his emptiness to Christ’s fullness, his frailty to Christ’s enduring might. Then he has the mind of Christ.” DA 675.
These are complex thoughts. When I discover how desperately I need Him, and what He offers me in salvation, then I begin to grasp by the faith that He has already given to me the enormity of His gift, and suddenly I love Him so much I never want to let Him go. The spiritual union is formed; and I find in me a desire to read about Him, to talk about Him, and to think about Him. We dwell together, my Lord and I. This is conversion, which is part of justification. Right now we are talking about sanctification. What is the next step beyond forming that spiritual union with Christ? What is the progression from this union to sanctification?
“This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained [this is where sanctification comes in]. Christ said, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.’ This is no casual touch, no off-and-on connection. The branch becomes a part of the living vine. The communication of life, strength, and fruitfulness from the root to the branches is unobstructed and constant. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live. No more, said Jesus, can you live apart from Me. The life you have received from Me can be preserved only by continual communion. Without Me you cannot overcome one sin, or resist one temptation.” DA 676.
This is the heart and soul of sanctification—this living in Jesus and abiding in Him. “Faith is the only condition upon which justification can be obtained, and faith includes not only belief but trust. Many have a nominal faith in Christ, but they know nothing of that vital dependence upon Him which appropriates the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour.” 1SM 389. Many of us are satisfied with a belief that He is our Savior, and have a mental awareness that He died for us, and even a casual experience of some kind in acknowledgement that He is good to us. But we do not abide in Him. We do not stay there and constantly trust in Him. We go off and try to do it by ourselves. Then when we fail in that, we think that He has disowned us, which is far from the truth. He does not leave us because we fail. These are the concepts we often have as to how He works with us.
This abiding in Christ is maintaining a vital, living dependency, like children depending on a parent. We never cease to be dependents, do we? We often think that when we get older we are independent, but everyone is dependent upon someone else; and all are dependent upon God. If it ceases to rain in your state for two years, you would not be washing your car or watering your lawn. I have seen wealthy merchants suffering because it did not rain. They had to borrow money on their inventory every month in order to eat, and all because it did not rain. We are always dependent, in the physical life and in the spiritual life.
Our dependency on Christ in order to advance in the Christian life is better understood when we consider these words of Jesus: “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Luke 12:27. The lilies never work, but they are growing. Sanctification has a lot to do with growing. All of us want that beautiful robe of righteousness, and some people think that the Bible teaches they have to work to have the robe; and there are many texts and quotations that seem to say that. But here we are told to consider the lilies in all their splendor and radiance. They do not work, and yet they grow. How did they get that way? Very simply because the marvelous Creator makes them that way. He not only causes them to sprout, He carries them on to all their splendor and glory. Even the richest and the wisest are not arrayed like them. We will be like Christ, the Lily of the Valley, when we are arrayed in His robe of righteousness.
There is a whole chapter on this one verse in the book Steps to Christ. The chapter is titled “Growing Up Into Christ.” Paul prayed that we might “all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13. This is growing up into Christ. Those who worry about Christian perfection should spend some time reading that chapter, for it has marvelous thoughts on sanctification and Christian growth. Consider these thoughts from that chapter: “The plants and flowers grow not by their own care or anxiety or effort, but by receiving that which God has furnished to minister to their life. The child cannot, by any anxiety or power of its own, add to its stature. No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth. The plant, the child, grows by receiving from its surroundings that which ministers to its life—air, sunshine, and food. What these gifts of nature are to animal and plant, such is Christ to those who trust in Him.” SC 68. It is receiving that which God supplies that causes us to grow, not our efforts at growing.
Then the quote goes on to give many Scriptures that describe Jesus as the One who produces all the elements for growth. These include “everlasting light” (Isaiah 60:19); “a sun and shield” (Psalm 84:11); “the dew unto Israel” (Hosea 14:5); and “the bread of God…which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:33). All these are different symbols of Christ’s function as a life-giving agency that produces growth as well as life itself. He is not only the LifeGiver, He is the Life-Sustainer, in spiritual as well as in physical life. As we take the simple lessons from nature, we begin to consider the lilies and how they grow and that tells us how we grow, which is by receiving the sunshine, the rain, and the nutrients that God has provided for growth, whether it be spiritual or physical.
Another illustration is given about how nature functions in this respect. “As the flower turns to the sun, that the bright beams may aid in perfecting its beauty and symmetry, so should we turn to the Sun of Righteousness [Jesus], that heaven’s light may shine upon us, that our character may be developed in the likeness of Christ.” SC 68. Jesus teaches the same thing when He says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” Just like the flower following the sun across the sky that it might have its beauty and symmetry, we are to abide in Christ. We do not understand this as we should.
Right in the middle of this idea of abiding in Christ are these words of Jesus: “For without Me, ye can do nothing.” John 15:5. This is a text that for some is self-effacing. They think it brings us down. We always think we must do something. There is something for us to do, but He says that without Him, we can do nothing. So often we try to make a frontal attack on our deficiencies and sins and bad habits. The Lord says we can try that, but it won’t help us. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23. It is not by trying to change this or that habit or external act. It is by a connection with Jesus, by looking unto Him, by beholding Him, and by abiding in Him. This changes the heart. This creates a new life. This brings a new power. We must not trust ourselves; we must trust only Jesus.
“You are just as dependent upon Christ, in order to live a holy life, as is the branch upon the parent stock for growth and fruitfulness. Apart from Him you have no life. You have no power to resist temptation, or to grow in grace and holiness. Abiding in Him, you may flourish. Drawing your life from Him, you will not wither nor be fruitless. You will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” SC 69. Somehow there is a battle we have, insisting that we can do it, and especially after we have experienced conversion. What can I do apart from Him? It is like with small children where there is the potential for them to be an adult, but the child is not yet an adult. And we do all kinds of foolish things as little children like running out into a busy street. Maybe father and mother will let you run out there, but they have an eye like a hawk, watching you every second; and they come out to snatch you from any danger that appears. Does not God our heavenly Father stay very close to His little children? Sometimes we think He is so far away; but He said He would never leave us or forsake us. We cannot bear to have Him far away, or we will destroy ourselves. He knows this even though we may not be aware of it. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Psalm 34:7. He is always there caring for the tender, little plant.
The quote continues: “Our growth in grace, our joy, our usefulness— all depend upon our union with Christ. It is by communion with Him, daily, hourly—by abiding in Him—that we are to grow in grace. He is not only the Author but the Finisher of our faith. It is Christ first and last and always. He is to be with us, not only at the beginning and the end of our course, but at every step of the way.” This concept of walking with Jesus, of abiding in Him, of dwelling with Him—this is the Christian life. There is no growth without that. Somehow when we see failure in our lives, we feel that He is far away. But in reality, all we have neglected to do is to maintain the abiding. We get so busy, and by our own unbelief and our own sinful acts He seems far, far away from us. But He says He is always there. The Psalmist learned this through a difficult experience which gives us some of the reasons for his success. “I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalms 16:8. I can resolve all day long to stop sinning, but it is not the resolution, it is the presence of Jesus. He is my stability; and it is my faith in Him, not my resolution that makes the difference. If He is there, He will keep me.
Too often we think that we must perform and thus earn His presence. If we have done well, He commends us by joining with us. Then, we think, we can walk the Christian life. But we fail of ever producing the goodness that brings Him. In reality, He is a God of grace that joins Himself with us while we are unworthy. While we were yet enemies, He died for us. Otherwise we could never do a thing to be joined to Him. He comes down from heaven to meet humanity and joins with us, and says, “I am reconciled to you; be reconciled to Me.” Then we walk and talk with Him because He first loved us, not because we earned that favor.
It is by faith that I recognize His presence; and He makes Himself very near to us. You can go through life and think you have forfeited His presence by some act or habits, but then suddenly, almost out of no place, He manifests Himself to you. And you say, “I thought He was gone. I thought He had forsaken me.” And there He is.
I have had people who would not dare tell me about their past come to me utterly amazed and shocked that the Lord manifested Himself to them. That means that they are very precious to Him. After Jacob cheated his brother Esau and ran away, when he slept that first night he discovered that God was not far away. He called that spot Bethel— the house of God. He was literally in God’s presence but all the while thinking that He was miles and miles away. But there He was. How many there are who think they have chased Him away. He does not leave quickly. It is very difficult to get rid of Him. He sticks closer than a brother, the Bible says. If the Father gave His own Son to die for you, and if Christ gave His own life, it is going to take an awful lot to get rid of Him. It is unbelief that eventually chases Him away, but not our sins and bad habits. As soon as we discover He is present, suddenly those sins and habits flee away. They do not interest us any longer when God is there. It is the abiding presence of Christ that takes care of all of our problems.
Abiding in Jesus has such a depth of meaning that we need to go back and look at the branches and the vine more carefully. We need to examine what takes place to understand what He is saying to us in this parable that is so poorly understood. “This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained. Christ said, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.’…Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service. The channel of communication must be open continually between man and his God. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character.” DA 676. You have seen how those little tendrils just cling to a vine; and thus we are to cling to Jesus. Remember that the plants receive the sunshine and rain and nutrients, and by receiving they grow. We are to receive from Him the things that come from His Spirit and make us grow. Even the perfection of His own character comes from Him. He is always dispensing it to those who will receive it.
In addition, there is a “life of unreserved surrender to His service.” This is giving to others what we receive from Him. We know that if we only receive, we become like the Dead Sea—just poisoned springs. If we never give it away, our hunger and thirst eventually go away. We must dispense that which we receive. As soon as you begin to give to others because you love souls, then immediately you have a hunger and a thirst. And as we constantly give, we want to receive even more, and we become open channels through which God works. A vine is a channel that eventually produces fruit.
This unique process is different than many have thought it to be. “By faith you became Christ’s, and by faith you are to grow up in Him—by giving and taking. You are to give all—your heart, your will, your service—give yourself to Him to obey all His requirements; and you must take all—Christ, the fullness of all blessing, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helper—to give you power to obey.” SC 70. Whatever He has, we must reach out and embrace Him and take Him in, for only by Him am I able to do these things.
He is not only my help and my strength, but also my righteousness. He is my perfection. He is not only the enabling power, He is the goodness and the right-doing. He is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He gives that to me, too. He is the perfection. These come to me as a gift, and I must receive them. As you partake of the very nature of the vine stock, it will produce grapes like the stock (not like the branch). The Parent Stock is the life of the person; the branch apart from Him has no life. When as branches we try to function without Him, we have problems. We receive from Him not only the power, but also the righteousness of Christ Himself.
The lesson is simple. I look to the Vine, not to the branch. I look unto Jesus, beholding His glory, abiding in Him, not in myself. So often our time is spent looking at ourselves and worrying about ourselves, and especially in the area of growth. We look to see how we are doing. That is a dangerous business. It might be occasionally necessary, but it should not become a habit of any kind. Our main occupation ought to be looking to the Source of life. We are to be good soil and not good farmers. He is the farmer. As we are good soil, He produces a good crop in us. Our hope is not in ourselves but in Him.
We have difficulty spending time looking to Jesus and abiding in Him, especially in this day and age when we are so everlastingly busy. We think that if we are busy at good things, it is alright; but it is not alright. Does anyone or anything come before Jesus? Do wives ever get upset with their husbands because they spend all their time at their jobs? After a while the wife says, “I think you love that job more than you love me.” After a while, there comes to be an alienation of affections. You will never convince Jesus that He is supreme in your affections when you spend all your time doing other things. It takes time to be in love, and to maintain the love. Part of love is sharing time, is it not? If you rob your love affair of time, you have thrown away the love. Spending time with Jesus is part of our love affair with Him. Time with Him is called devotions because I am devoted to Him. Our time with Him is not something I try to manufacture so I can make Him love me. I love Him because He first loved me. He instigates the whole thing.
There is a reason why we have difficulty spending time with Jesus. Someone knows that the time you spend with Jesus will make you different. He knows it better than we do. “When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan’s constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour, and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life’s cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections—to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind.” SC 71. I can get so wrapped up in the sins of others and all the terrible things that have happened to my church that I never see Jesus. I can get so absorbed in my imperfections that I never see Jesus. I can get wrapped up in pleasures, trying to escape my misery. I can do all of these things that break communion with Christ. There is trouble everywhere today, and the devil makes the troubles omnipresent to keep my mind off Christ.
Continuing on with the quote: “Do not be misled by his devices. Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ, he hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center, and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears. Say with the apostle Paul, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and 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.’ Galatians 2:20. Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you.”
It is easy for everyone to be self-centered. We think we must be anxious or we will not show that we value the Christian life. But our anxiety is not to be about ourselves; otherwise we will not trust Him. Is He able? Is He sufficient? Can He be trusted? Can you lean on Him? Is He a good Father? Is He a good provider? He never slumbers or sleeps. He always watches over us. When you discover the answer to all these questions, you can lean back on the everlasting arms and say, “He takes care of it.” This is not a totally passive life. What about the looking, the beholding, the abiding, the seeking, the trusting? This is a day-by-day activity, making the contact like plugging the appliance into the socket. Keep it there and never let it go. Always I must abide in Him, clinging to Him like those little vine tendrils holding on to Jesus. When we have this living connection with Christ, we have spiritual growth.
This is faith. It is the whole heart of Christianity; and the Bible tells us He gives to every man a measure of faith. We are able to do this. We are not able to fight the battle of sin; but Paul tells us to “Fight the good fight of faith.” 1 Timothy 6:12. Keep trusting and keep looking up. This is the clue to all Christian living. Then, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13. Apart from Him I have nothing.
This next quote sums up all of this: “A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His enduring might. You are not to look to yourself, not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection of His character. Christ in His self- denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness. Christ is His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul’s contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His likeness.” SC 70,71.
This you can do. This He will inspire you to do. Day by day He will give you a loving prod to do these things. Seek Him first every morning. If you notice in the morning both the Bible and the newspaper are there, He will give you a little nudge to read the Bible first. He does not scold or rebuke or get angry or condemn. He just asks, “Won’t you seek Me first? Let’s talk a little while. Let’s become reacquainted today. Let’s walk through this day hand in hand.” The Lord does this so nicely. This is my faith in action. This is expressing my love for Him in response to His love for me. And as we walk through life together, you will be amazed at the transformation. It is not by trying. It is by trusting. Just cling to Jesus, looking to Him. And that is not a distasteful task, is it? Many just revel sitting at His feet, like Mary who did not want to be taken away from His presence.
Friend, this is the Christian life. We have made it so vastly different, and it seems impossible because we keep looking to ourselves, trying to make ourselves grow; and we become so frustrated and come to think the Christian life is hopeless. And all the time the marvelous Provider of all growth and life is standing there and saying, “Let Me give you all the good things that make you grow abundantly.” Aren’t you amazed at how fast things grow when the sun shines, and when it rains, and fertilizer is added? It just seems to boom right out of the ground; and soon it is mature.
In these last days before Jesus returns, He will shine in all His radiance, and in all His glory and beauty. The Latter Rain will come and the Lord will literally beam down His Spirit upon the earth causing Christian plants to grow and grow, until we are like Jesus in our glorious fruitfulness. And throughout all the ages of eternity we will praise Him from whom all blessings flow.
May God bless you with much receiving, and much giving; always abiding in Him, until your heart is filled with praise for that very precious One, our Lord Jesus Christ.