*Further Study Notes* _To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God._ Revelation 2:7. SD 365.1 *Let the solemn question come home to every one who is a member of our churches, How am I standing before God as a professed follower of Christ? Is my light shining forth to the world in clear, steady rays? Have we as a people who have taken vows of dedication to God, preserved our union with the Source of all light? Are not the symptoms to declension and decay painfully visible among the Christian churches of today?* Spiritual death has come upon many who should be examples of zeal, purity, and consecration. *Their practices speak more loudly than their professions, and witness to the fact that some power has cut the cable that anchored them to the eternal Rock, and they are drifting without chart or compass.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 2 The True Witness desires to remedy the perilous condition in which his professed people are placed, and he says: _“I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”_ *Christ will cease to take the names of those who fail to turn to him and do their first works, and will no longer make intercession for them before the Father.* He says, _“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”_ *Yet the case of those who are rebuked is not a hopeless one; it is not beyond the power of the great Mediator.* He says: _“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.”_ *Though the professed followers of Christ are in a deplorable condition, they are not yet in so desperate a strait as were the foolish virgins whose lamps were going out, and there was no time in which to replenish their vessels with oil.* When the bridegroom came, those that were ready went in with him to the wedding; but when the foolish virgins came, the door was shut, and they were too late to obtain an entrance. But the counsel of the True Witness does not represent those who are lukewarm as in a hopeless case. *There is yet a chance to remedy their state, and the Laodicean message is full of encouragement; for the backslidden church may yet buy the gold of faith and love, may yet have the white robe of the righteousness of Christ, that the shame of their nakedness need not appear.* Purity of heart, purity of motive, may yet characterise those who are half-hearted and who are striving to serve God and Mammon. *They may yet wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 3 Today the question is to come home to every heart, *Do you believe in the Son of God?* The question is not, Do you admit that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world? and that you should repeat to your soul and to others, “Believe, believe, all you have to do is to believe;” but, *Do you have practical faith in the Son of God, so that you bring him into your life and character until you are one with him?* Many accept of the theory of Christ, but they make it manifest by their works that they do not know him as the Saviour who died for the sins of men, who bore the penalty of their transgression, in order that they might be brought back to their loyalty to God, and through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, might find acceptance with God in their obedience to his law. *Christ died to make it possible for you to cease to sin, and sin is the transgression of the law.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 4
*Further Study Notes*
_To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God._ Revelation 2:7. SD 365.1
*Let the solemn question come home to every one who is a member of our churches, How am I standing before God as a professed follower of Christ? Is my light shining forth to the world in clear, steady rays? Have we as a people who have taken vows of dedication to God, preserved our union with the Source of all light? Are not the symptoms to declension and decay painfully visible among the Christian churches of today?* Spiritual death has come upon many who should be examples of zeal, purity, and consecration. *Their practices speak more loudly than their professions, and witness to the fact that some power has cut the cable that anchored them to the eternal Rock, and they are drifting without chart or compass.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 2
The True Witness desires to remedy the perilous condition in which his professed people are placed, and he says: _“I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”_ *Christ will cease to take the names of those who fail to turn to him and do their first works, and will no longer make intercession for them before the Father.* He says, _“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”_ *Yet the case of those who are rebuked is not a hopeless one; it is not beyond the power of the great Mediator.* He says: _“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.”_ *Though the professed followers of Christ are in a deplorable condition, they are not yet in so desperate a strait as were the foolish virgins whose lamps were going out, and there was no time in which to replenish their vessels with oil.* When the bridegroom came, those that were ready went in with him to the wedding; but when the foolish virgins came, the door was shut, and they were too late to obtain an entrance. But the counsel of the True Witness does not represent those who are lukewarm as in a hopeless case. *There is yet a chance to remedy their state, and the Laodicean message is full of encouragement; for the backslidden church may yet buy the gold of faith and love, may yet have the white robe of the righteousness of Christ, that the shame of their nakedness need not appear.* Purity of heart, purity of motive, may yet characterise those who are half-hearted and who are striving to serve God and Mammon. *They may yet wash their robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 3
Today the question is to come home to every heart, *Do you believe in the Son of God?* The question is not, Do you admit that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world? and that you should repeat to your soul and to others, “Believe, believe, all you have to do is to believe;” but, *Do you have practical faith in the Son of God, so that you bring him into your life and character until you are one with him?* Many accept of the theory of Christ, but they make it manifest by their works that they do not know him as the Saviour who died for the sins of men, who bore the penalty of their transgression, in order that they might be brought back to their loyalty to God, and through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, might find acceptance with God in their obedience to his law. *Christ died to make it possible for you to cease to sin, and sin is the transgression of the law.* RH August 28, 1894, par. 4