When once the master of the house . . . hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are. . . . Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. Luke 13:25-27.

These verses raise the question as to who has the right to enter the heavenly mansions. The Master has shut the door knowing that His household is complete. Others outside, professing to be members of His family, continue knocking. Not having been workers of righteousness, however, they are of necessity workers of iniquity, in spite of the fact that they used His name. They did not belong in His house.

To be a follower of Christ is a wonderful thing, a new creation. It is a serious thing. It involves the development of a Christlike character. Life as Jesus lived it and as we are to live it are the same. To follow Jesus means to know where we stand on integrity morality, righteous love, and obedience.

We cannot afford to belong to a church or a religion that uses the name Jesus and neglects His power to save from sin. Young people, with all the enthusiasm that comes to people of that age, call "Jesus, Jesus" with the uplifting of hands and emotionally filled voices and radiant faces. There is nothing wrong with that, of course not. But the day has come when Christ our Lord stands out against the sky asking for total allegiance to His way of life and truth.

The truths and teachings of Jesus Christ bear the same relation to our lives as does the rosebush to the rose, the tree to the fruit. Without the bush or the tree, reaching down deep and bringing nourishment from rich soil, there would be no rose and no fruit. This is no time to take such a light dose of truth that it does not count for much.

Let us have no limited use of His name, no use that does not involve us in His truth. We have accepted the name Seventh-day Adventist because we cannot be Christian in any other way, because this church offers that religion which is the closest to the life and teaching of Christ our Lord.

Jesus has the first claim upon the whole of our lives. Keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath is a sign of it.