Howell Microscopes

Severed From Earthly Things

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Ephesians 5:11.
Many professed Christians are well represented by the vine that is trailing upon the ground and entwining its tendrils about the roots and rubbish that lie in its path. To all such the message comes, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18).

There are conditions to meet if we would be blessed and honored by God. We are to separate from the world and refuse to touch those things that will separate our affections from God. God has the first and highest claims upon His people. Set your affections upon Him and upon heavenly things. Your tendrils must be severed from everything earthly. You are exhorted to touch not the unclean thing, for in touching this you will yourself become unclean. It is impossible for you to unite with those who are corrupt, and still remain pure. “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (verses 14, 15). God and Christ and the heavenly host would have man know that if he unites with the corrupt, he will become corrupt....

All our actions are affected by our religious experience. If our experience is founded in God; if we are daily tasting the power of the world to come, and have the fellowship of the Spirit; if each day we hold with a firmer grasp the higher life, principles that are holy and elevating will be inwrought in us, and it will be as natural for us to seek purity and holiness and separation from the world as it is for the angels of glory to execute the mission of love assigned them. 20

Our consecration to God must be a living principle, interwoven with the life and leading to self-denial and self-sacrifice. It must underlie all our thoughts and be the spring of every action. This will elevate us above the world and separate us from its polluting influence. 20 . HP 169.1-HP 169.5

The Measure of Responsibility

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:6, 7.

The degree of light given is the measure of responsibility. The path to heaven will be made plain to all who are faithful in the use of the knowledge they may obtain in regard to the future life.... Look at the first act of transgression in the Garden of Eden. To Adam and Eve were plainly stated the laws of Paradise, with the penalty for willful disobedience. They disobeyed, and disobedience brought its sure result. Death entered the world.

Transgression is disobedience to the commands of God. Had these commands always been obeyed, there would have been no sin. The penalty of transgression is always death. Christ averted the immediate ex*****on of the death sentence by giving His life for man.... Justice requires that men shall have light, and it also requires that he who refuses to walk in the Heaven-given light, the giving of which cost the death of the Son of God, must receive punishment. It is a principle of justice that the guilt of the sinner shall be proportionate to the knowledge given, but not used, or used in a wrong way. God expects human beings to walk in the light, to testify before angels and before men that they acknowledge Christ as the great propitiation for sin and that they respect His sacrifice as their greatest blessing....

For time and for eternity the sacrifice of the Son of God to save the fallen race will have a binding claim on man. If God had failed to act His part, if He had not fully revealed His will, if He had given human beings any reason for neglecting the great salvation, man might plead ignorance as a valid excuse. But He has made the way plain. He would have all men to be saved. To some is given greater light than to others. Each will be judged by the light given him.... God designed that you should cherish as sacred the light. HP 153.1-HP 153.4